Gripping Beast have managed to get some of Matt Bickley's valuable time to sculpt a range of witch hunters for Saga: Age of Magic. Named the Order Militant, they are specifically designed to be run as the legendary warband for the Great Kingdom.

Grand Commander Of The Order Militant // Gripping Beast

The Order Militant is the archetypal armed wing of a religion, composed of soldiers who are totally devoted to their faith. They go on crusade against those they judge to be heretics and miscreants and spend the rest of their free time burning witches on pyres.

The first sculpt is the warlord for the Warband, the Grand Commander of the Order Militant is a flamboyant fellow, apart from the slashed silks and epic mutton chops moustache, he has a spectacular flamberge sword. Although that is by no means his only armament as he seems to have more weapons than some small countries.

It's especially fitting as he can be taken with a great weapon or as a standard warlord, so you can easily explain your weapon choices away. Plenty of character touches on the figure as well from the cross emblazoned upon his eye-patch to the pendant around his neck he should make a striking leader for any warband.

Hexenjager // Gripping Beast

The hearthguard are next in the form of two packs of Hexenjager, or simply witch hunters. Going into the dark places armed with fire, faith and sword they're a motley crew united in their hatred of the heretic and willing to deal with them by any means to stop the rot.

The variety of armour styles and weapons show that they've been pulled together and equipped with whatever is available to the Commander, but it's the simple touches, such as the cross, torch and style of the clothing that still gives them a cohesive feel as a group.

Order Militant Fanatics // Gripping Beast

Finally, are the Order Militant Fanatics capirote wearing zealots armed with a variety of flails and weapons they give an imposing look. Again there are touches that may not be noticed at first blush, the mancatcher being wielded to trap a witch, many carrying pincers perhaps to hold hot coals for the purification of their quarry or even themselves!

The Fanatics are a warrior unit available to the Order Militant exclusively, up to three can be taken in a Warband and they sacrifice a point of armour to gain an attack. However don't think of these as an elite deadly unit in combat, they have the Primitive rule so may not have battle board abilities used on them in combat and also reduce their attacks in melee by the number of fatigue on the unit. It's not all doom and gloom as they do have Determination and so may charge without the use of a die and remember magic can still be cast on them.

Overall this is a terrific set of sculpts for Age of Magic, while still being generic enough that they could be used in any fantasy game I can see the Mordheim comments already. Matt has done a fantastic job in grounding the figures as well, so while you can use these models for some of the more esoteric members of the warband you can fill the ranks with appropriate historical figures from the late 15th century Italian Wars period. If you already have the historic figures then adding some of these could give you options to play with them in a different game and setting for a small amount of effort.

Will you be joining the hunt?