Friday 26 February 2016

From BurkhardS, SAGA Anglo-Saxon Heathguards (88 points)

So this is last weekends output, some mounted Anglo-Saxon Heathguards for SAGA.
Now in general Heathguards seem to be a rare sight in an Anglo-Saxon war band in SAGA due to the fact that Anglo-Saxons benefit most from large units (10+). Given that you can only purchase 4 Heathguards for a SAGA point, that does not seem like a natural choice and to be frank... I am not sure if I am making a clever choice here. On the other hand, I feel that many scenarios do require the extra speed mounted troops provide, so I am willing to take that gamble.


But maybe that gamble will pay off. If I amalgamate these two SAGA points into one unit it will be 8 men strong. With the right dice played on the right ability, this unit will count as 2-4 men stronger. But obviously that will leave me low on SAGA dice... ahh lets just see!


Anyway, on to what is important for the Challenge... the minis. Mounted Anglo-Saxons are not the easiest models to find, so I decided to take another route here. As some might know, I am simultaneously building a Norman army for SAGA and for those I had bought two boxes of plastic mounted Normans from Conquest Games. Actually more than I will need, so I decided to convert eight of them to Anglo-Saxons. 


Now their equipment is a little different, since in SAGA the Anglo-Saxons are based on the late 9th to early 10th century, while the Normans are based on the middle 11th century. So I took the heads as well as sword / axe hands from the Gripping Beast Saxon Thegns box set and fitted those to the Conquest models. The hands were easy enough to do, but the heads required some work, due to the fact, that the Conquest models have the necks attached to the heads, while the Gripping Beast ones have the necks as part of the body. So that required some sculpting of chainmail around the necks. Which was half as bad, since the Conquest minis are all sculpted with their swords in their scabbards, so I had to remove the hilts and re-sculpt those sections anyway. Plus I love sculpting chainmail!


Otherwise I went for the round shields that came with the Norman cavalry. Tear shaped shields simply felt wrong for early Anglo-Saxons and that leaves me with tear shaped only shields on my Normans later on. So this was a win - win scenario for me there.


Painting wise I went a slightly new route here. I have always felt, that horses were a huge time drain to paint. So some time last year I decided to do the at least the base coat with my airbrush and these were actually the first mounted troops I did since then. And I think this was a good decision. In the past it took me about 10 minutes to base coat a single horse, now it was 10 for the whole group (including cleaning the airbrush afterwards). So I think this will become my new weapon of choice for horses.


All the rest was fairly standard straight forward painting. Not much to say there. Out of the eight shields, six are free-hand painted, with the two hanging by the horses sides sporting decals from LBMS. I really enjoyed painting these, especially trying to match their designs to those from LBMS, since all the other troops will have decals on their shields and I did not want them to stand out. 


But my favorite is the one below, due to the fact that it is a simple wooden shield with the design painted on the bare wood. That gave me a canvas to paint both the bare wood and a design, which was great fun.


And here are a few more close-ups of the other riders:


There is also something else that was a first for me with these minis. In the past I always used varnish from the can to seal my minis. As we all know, that creates a "no spraying time" when it is cold and/or humid outside. Something that kept me from a posting before last week and that is simply annoying.


I have also been suffering from another problem for a little over a year now. I have always used an industrial varnish that produced a perfect flat result. But some time in 2014 they must have changed the formula, which always resulted in a satin finish. This would go flat after 6-12 month, but it was still highly annoying. So I got myself a 0.4mm needle for my airbrush which allows me to use varnish in it. She these are actually the first troops to be varnished using an airbrush. Really happy with that, especially since it will allow me to varnish regardless of temperature and humidity.


All in all, I am really really happy with these riders. I feel plastic wargaming minis can be hit an miss. Some are marvelous, others can be awful. When I took these out of the box, I felt they were somewhere in between, but once assembled and painted, I can only say that they are lovely. Especially the horses, even though the animals require some filling where the body meets the neck. In that sense, I am really looking forward to painting the Normans later on!


So simple math this week, as these should give me 80 points for eight 28mm mounted troops.

I also painted a bunch of Sci-Fi minis, but the bases bases on them are still giving me some troubles, so I am not sure, if I will be able to get those in before the Friday deadline. If not... Ei will be bäck! (Sorry for that one, but maybe this will give you an idea, of what is to come. ;-) )
Congratulations on finishing these fellows Burkhard - that is an awful lot of work you went through in terms of conversions and sculpting.  Well done!  The work on the shields is excellent, and your wooden shield in particular is very nice. I feel your pain on painting horses - a huge negative for me as well - but not enough to get me to touch an airbrush, so I salute your efforts in that regard.

You don't have to convince me of the more-hit-than-miss nature of plastic gaming figures, but you've got some excellent results here.  I think you deserve some extra points for the conversion and shield painting, so we'll make that 88 points for you.  Great job! We look forward to next week's entry...

33 comments:

  1. Thank you Greg!

    I have to admit, that I have had an airbrush for nearly 20 years now, if you can count that simple single action one I had first. But i have only grown somewhat good at its use a couple of years ago.
    No matter what, I have always just used it to paint tanks and other vehicles with it. Only last year have I started to think about other uses for it. Mostly priming minis in appropriate colors, doing terrain or simply stuff that is time consuming to paint the base coats on, like horses and artillery.

    Not sure if all that would have been worth buying an airbrush, but it certainly a worthwhile use since I already have one.

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  2. These look ace. No reason not to have some mounted. Historically the Anglo Saxons thegns would (and did) ride to battle and then dismount to fight. These are fab and I would not change them at all, just be aware that historically they would fight on foot as some pedantic ar*e-hole (like Me) is bound to point it out.

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    1. THX Clint.

      I SAGA you can not dismount during a game (which would be an interesting option for them as well), so they will have to stay this way during the game. But then again, I think few people would have the in-depth knowledge to point that out, so i should be safe! ;-)

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    2. Thank you DHC for your understanding. I am being a pedantic twat. Do not let anything I say stand in the way of having a very good game. The figures really are good and if you want to use them as Normans or Franks (East or West Franks)or Bretons feel free. The "Dark ages" saw every nation use every piece of equipment/weapon. many Saxons an Hastings would have used kite shields for example!

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    3. To be honest... I can be just as pedantic, which is why I would not use these as stand-ins for Norman or Frank riders either.
      I see SAGA as a historical beer & pretzel game, so I am willing to accept a little "looseness" in the historical interpretation there.

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  3. Muster the Rohirrim!!! Hey if Tolkien and imagine mounted anglo-Saxons it must be a good idea :).

    These look great and I envy your work on the shields.

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    1. Thanks!

      It is amazing, painting Anglo-Saxon how many Rohan elements you find in their equipment, especially comparing them to the GW models!

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  4. Very nice work Burkhard!

    Saxons can be a bit tricky to play and to really get the best out of the board you can only really be active with one unit per turn as you really need to load the board. But when you do it, oh boy they deal out pain.

    Never really used Hearthguard with them too much though. Warriors seem to work out much better as does Levy. 6 points of Warriors, a Bard and Alfred the Great has seen me win a few tournaments with the Saxons.

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    1. I might end up picking your mind there. There is a minor tournament here in Germany in April where i want to use them... not sure if I am going to get too many games in beforehand to learn how to play them.

      Right now the plan is to use the two points of Heathguards amalgamated into one unit of 8, the three points of Warriors as two units of 12 and the one point of Levies as one 12-men unit.
      I am planning to use a religious advisor warlord which would bring them up to 6 SAGA dice again. Just need to tuck him in, but the Levies should be good for that.
      And after that I need to paint the Spanish and learn how to play them for the German Grand Melee. LOL!

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    2. You seem to have quite a bit planned on the Saga front then :)

      With Alfred the Great, 3 units of 12 Warriors and 1 unit of 4 Warriors + the Bard you can get 8 Saga dice on the board (Alfreds special rules) and your opponent usually gets 1 less than normal (loses 1 die every turn he rolls a number on d6 lower than his saga dice count). With 8 saga dice you can really load up your board and Alfred also lets you leave the dice on an ability even after spending it. So a combat ability on your and your opponents turn as well. That special rules combo is almost so powerful that I'm a bit ashamed of using him sometimes :) Only really reserved him for tournament play and never take him on a casual game.

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    3. Well, I have been doing hardly anything for SAGa in recent years, but last years German Grand Melee really re-kindeld my interest.

      I have had Saxons and Normans lying around for ages, but never got to them. I expected my 4th opponent during the GM to play Scots (he turned out to be playing Anglo-Danes though), but reading up on them I liked them so much that I wanted a Scottish force as well, plus I can never have enough Scots.
      And I think a C&C war band is a most and the Spanish appealed the most to me.

      Anyway... the idea behind the religious advisor warlord is about the same. he will bring the army back to 6 SAGA dice. He can roll two more by taking one fatigue (which he will loose at the beginning of the next turn anyway), so that should give the same benefits as Alfred. I am really torn because of the dice Alfred leaves on the board. That would be a great plus, but on the other hand, I would have one less point to spend on units and that would rule out those Heathguards. Though one!

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  5. Those mounted figures are just beautiful. So well done and I like the way you did the shields-great variety.

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  6. Very fine work, Burkhard! They look rely sharp and the shields are impressive!
    I am looking for proxy troops to LotR forces as they are getting expensive on Ebay. These gave me ideas for Rohan Royal guardsmen! ;)

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    1. Thank you!
      Looking at your comment, I fear I sold my LotR models a couple years too early, since I hardly got anything for them. Grumble! ;-)

      Anyway these should make fine stand ins. If you (or someone you know) has the plastic Anglo-Saxon or Vikings sets from GB, there should be enough suitable spare heads left for you as well!

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  7. Stunning work Burkhard. Your conversions and painting are brilliant. Top shelf models here!

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    1. THX Curt.

      It is strange, but there are always some models that one paints and once done, simply loves. These are such models and your words just rang that bell, too.

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  8. Great work with the conversions and painting Burkhard :)

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  9. "Hwæt! We Gardena in geardagum,
    þeodcyninga, þrym gefrunon,
    hu ða æþelingas were really well-painted...!"

    OK, not exactly an accurate rendition of an Anglo-Saxon praise poem, but you get the idea - splendid stuff, Burkhard, especially all the effort you went to with those conversions!

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    1. I doubt the Anglo-Saxons had this Challenge in mind when they wrote the original, so I guess you are fine with your adaptation! ;-) And thanks a lot!

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  10. I really love these figures, Burkhard. You've done a fantastic job on them, and even the eyes, which are always tricky to do, seem to pop from beneath the shadow of the helmets.
    I might get some of these guys for an LOTR project.
    Nicely done, sir.

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    1. Thank you. I changed my technique for painting eyes like 3 or 4 years ago. Previously I had always painted a white line with a black dot in the middle. Usually that looked good, but there were the odd ones that looks crossed eyed or looked like they were in panic.
      I had always thought that it would not be easier to paint a black line with two white dots (after all, if you can get a crossed eye result wth two dots how could 4 even smaller ones be easier), but it turned out it was. And for some reason those always look good with helmets or caps where the rim is just above the eyes.

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  11. Wonderful, wonderful stuff Burkhard. Love the conversions, love the painting, and especially love the shields. Don't understand the horse issues though, they are the best part of painting cavalry IMHO.
    Cheers PD

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    1. Thanks.

      Well it is not that I dislike painting horses, I just feel that they can be a huge time drain, so the shortcut will come in handy! :-D

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  12. Great conversion work, very original and the end result is really nice.

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  13. You should be very proud of these. They are really good and I had this exact project in my round to it list. Making Anglo-Saxon riders from the Noram set! Great to see it worked out really well for you. Inspirational result mate. I am really happy to see this submission. Good stuff! Cheers

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    1. Thank you and glad it proved the viability of the project!

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