PeteF You're So Thegn (35 Points)

Project 5 is SAGA. I started playing SAGA last year and cobbled together a utility army from Warlord Celts and Frostgrave Soldiers that could - at a stretch - represent most of the factions who don't have horses. They are a sort of celticy, germanic, stripey pants and plaid warband. In the end I'd like to have several actual armies (Jomsvikings and Anglo Danes recently arrived from EBay).

I came around to enjoying playing the Anglo-Danes - a faction that benefits from having large units - so I added some Saxon Thegns to the mix but, shamefully, never got around to painting them. A few months ago I experimented with blocking and dipping one in the hope that fast might work but in the end just kept showing up with these figures grey primed and shieldless.

The Painting Challenge has motivated me to finish these guys - I went for a sort of unifying green cloth and used the Painting War: Dark Ages for ideas and inspiration.

Before I was born my Dad came back from Australia with a boomerang for my brother - on the box it said "Read The Bluddy [sic] Instructions" and this phrase fell into regular family use. I wish I had read Gripping Beast's bloody instructions for their shield decals. I didn't and spent a lot of time gluing heavy plastic decals to the shields and trying to matt varnish them. Eventually I figured out something was wrong and that these were peel, stick then soak decals. They are nice decals but I need to learn more about how these shields were put together to make them work - the nicest looking pro painted ones take the shield design over the rim and have little nails at the back - in future I'll try and make the time to hand paint them.

7 foot for 35 points

Gripping Beast plastic 28mm Saxon Thegns.

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Well done Pete, a cracking looking unit nicely tied together with colour palette and basing.  I share your pain with the decals and have similarly fallen foul of them, cursing what should be a time shaving device and in fact turned out to be a bitter disappointment.  That said, I think you have rescued yours rather well and I wouldn't necessarily have appreciated your difficulty with them if you hadn't mentioned it.  Bravo Sir and another well earned 35 points to your tally.