SAGA: Ages of Ages

A second Mercenary unit, this time Samnites.  They have come to make their fortune in the war torn island and have thrown their lot in with their fellow Oscan speakers.

Miniatures are Victrix Armoured Samnites and the shields supplied with the kit have been used.  Transfers as usual are LBMS.  A slight change in use of colour here.  I focussed on the minor complementary AP Speedpaint shades from the main scheme, that is the darker Poppy Red and the light blue Tidal Wave.  The initial zenith undercoat was initially reinforced with a faily heavy overbrush of white onto the chitons.  This gave a nice bright white for the overlaid colours which also gives a slight change of tone from the other units.  This gives a suitably similar but different look.

The first mercenary unit.  This faction will be using up to the maximum 50% of the force as mercenaries.  Expensive but very tough are the Greek Hoplites.  2 points for 8 Hearthguard who benefit from the phalanx rule.

The miniatures are all 6 of the Lucid Eye Ziggurat Greek Mercenaries with 2 Wargames Foundry World of the Greeks miniatures.  They match well as all were sculpted by Steve Saleh.  Paint scheme follows that already established for this force.  Shields were mostly Victrix plastic hoplon and transfers are from the Mercenary set for these sheilds by LMBS but only sold through Victix themselves.

For completeness I like to create a foot command base as well so I have that option available.  It is rare that I don’t prefer the additional movement of the mounted variant but in defensive scenarios this sometimes isn’t useful.

Here we have the Samnite/Italian Tribes characters by Fighting Hedgehog for Clash of Spears.  The standard is made from some brass rod and a plastic icon from a Warlord Games Roman set.  Other than that this is how they come, including the shields whose transfers are LBMS again.  I had to pick from a range of sets to find the ones that fit the best.

The army commander is a mounted tryant with his accompanying standard bearer.  The standard bearer’s shield features the Trinacria (Gk: triskelion), the three-legged symbol of Sicily (LBMS 1/72nd again).  Although dubbed a tryant this didn’t carry the same negative conotation of its current use in English.  Tyrant (Gk: tyrannos) was just the word for the ruler of a polis.

The general is from Crusader Miniatures, his standard bearer and delightfully armoured horse are both Redoubt Enterprises with a small conversion to add  extra feathers taken from a Victrix sprue.  A Warlord Games Cesarean bull icon was used to form the banner along with some greenstuff streamers.

The plains of Campania were apparently good horse breeding territory and I imagine that if our mercenaries did well they would want to take to battle on a trusty steed.  Models here are Agema Etruscans for the commander and standard bearer who has a minor conversion to carry a Victrix Samnite banner.  The others are some mostly good sculpts by Redoubt Enterprises, the odd one is showing their age a bit but as a group they look fine.

Painting for horses is as straightforward as with the warriors, speedpaints over zenithed undercoat.  Chestnut is the most common colour with bay (chestnut with black mane and tail) also very common in many breeds so a range of reddish browns is useful.  Speedpaints feature Hardened Leather, Ruddy Fur and Burnished Red.  I steer clear of mid-brown which is an unusual colour for a horse, they never quite look right.  Black is popular for modern sports horses so leaders tend to get those for leaders and I’ve a soft spot for coloureds (paint horses for the Americans) so usually go for skewbald (chestnut and white, sometimes with some black in mane and tail).  This pattern is painted on with standard acrylics – it is very hard to get a firm edge to the colours when using speedpaints.

These small shields meant I needed to use LBMS 1/72nd scale transfers.

Some Levy are very handy in the game and Javelins continue to be a very effective weapon given that you get a round of shooting for no fatigue if you use them correctly in a turn.

Models are mostly the Zigurat Mercenaries by Lucid Eye – sculpted by Steve Saleh.  There are a few Victrix plastics and one Foundry with a Victrix headswap to fill out the ranks.

Painting started with a zenithed undercoat and then Warrior Skin Speedpaint with some highlights of Vallejo Game Color Tan.  For their Colour scheme I’m inspired by the orange with blue highlights used by the Syracuse Orange College Football team.  Obvious I know but I can procrastinate terribly when trying to pick a scheme so this seemed like it might save some time deciding.  I’m using Speedpaints Fire Giant Orange and Bright Red for light and dark orange colours then some complementary options of Ancient Honey (yellow), Poppy Red and Tidal Wave (blue).

Basing follows the same schme as the Spartans.

Historical Notes

The Mamertines caused the fall of Carthage.  A big claim perhaps but their role was pivotal in instigating the first of the Punic Wars, conflicts which ultimately led to the destruction of Carthage.
The Mamertines were Campanian mercenaries hired by Agathocles, Tyrant of Syracuse to help fight the 7th Sicilian War which pitted the Greek colony cities of Western Sicily against the expanding empire of Carthage in the east.  Their name derives from Mamers, the Oscan name for the war god the Romans called Mars.  The war ended in 307BCE in Carthaginian victory and the strategic city of Messina was ceded to Carthage.  After the war the Syracusans attempted to expel the Mamertines from Sicily but rather than leave, in 288BCE, they seized the city of Messina.  From this base they became troublesome brigands, eventually coming to the attention of Syracuse again.  Meanwhile the Syracusans had once again began fighting the Carthaginians in Sicily, under pressure they eventually invited Pyrrhus to help. The Mamertines allied with Carthage to try to prevent his landing – the city of Messina controls one side of the shortest crossing from Italy.  He landed in Sicily, campaigned successfully and drove the Carthaginians back.  The Syracusans put Messina under siege after their Carthaginian allies were defeated.  The Mamertines this time appealed for help from Rome, a fellow enemy of Pyrrhus.  Their appearance in Sicily eventually brought them into conflict with Carthage.

Research

There isn’t a great deal to go on here.  Their cousins the Samnites have left some tomb frescos that provide a good impression of their warriors but there is little from Campania other than painted pottery and this often shows warriors kitted out in hoplite panoply.

An interesting side note is the style of chiton (tunic) that the Oscans favoured.  The Greek style is usually mid thigh, sometimes worn off one shoulder.  The Oscan version is incredibly short and barely covers either genitals or buttocks.  They are also gathered above the point of the hips, under the broad metal belt that was an important signifier of manhood in Oscan society.  This style is shown here:

Miniatures

Disappointingly there aren’t any 28mm ranges that accurately reflect Oscan warriors.  The common error is to give them the Greek/Roman fashion of chiton – straight across at the bottom at mid-thigh length.  This is easy to understand given the lack of readily available sources but a little research would reveal the error.  The Oscan range for Crusader, Victrix Samnites and Aventine Samnites all suffer from this problem.  There aren’t any suitable options.  All I could find were the Samnite Characters for Clash of Spears which at least allude to the correct style.  There are some accurate ones that Agema had sculpted before selling the historicals to Footsore.  They have never appeared but I’ve messaged him to find out where they went.  Pictures were hard to find (October 2021 in Agema’s Facebook):

List build

The Syracusans are covered by the Graeculi list in Age of Hannibal.  There is no list specifically for Mamertines, there is one for Italiotes but this is javelin focussed and probably best suited to hill tribes like the Samnites.  On the plains of Campania the preference seems to have been for heavier infantry with hoplite gear.  Assuming a few local adaptations over the years for our Mamertines we will work with the Syracusan Graeculi list.  I’m basing it around a core of Mamertine hoplites with Campanian cavalry representing the most successful mercenaries.  I reasoned that they would have the pick of mercenary bands entering Sicily as they were based in the nearest port to Italy.  The list therefore includes both Greek hoplites and Samnite warriors from the mercenary lists.  Finally I’ve got some psiloi, representing either local levy or some ne’er-do-wells attracted to the Mamertines in the hopes of easy loot.  The Greek hoplites are expensive so for my standard force of 6 points there are two options:

Core list:

Mamertine (Syracusan) Warlord Mounted, Tyrant  – 0pts, 1 dice
2x 4 Mamertine Campanian hoplite Hearthguards in a unit of 8, Phalanx – 2pts, 1 dice
8 Samnite Mercenary Warriors – 1pt, 1 dice
12 Levy javelinmen – 1pt 1 dice

Then, either;

8 Mamertine mounted Warriors – 1pt, 1 dice
8 Mamertine warriors on foot – 1pt, 1 dice

or;

8 Greek Mercenary hoplites (8 Hearthguards, phalanx) – 2 pts, 1 dice

So there is a maxed out mercenaries force with 50% of the points coming from mercs but with only 5 Saga dice.  The other version has the benefits of a cavalry unit and an extra Saga dice for a total of 6.

Finished so here they are.  Stuck them on eBay so you have a chance to own them if you are quick (finish this weekend).

On to basing.  Eagle-eyed viewers will have spotted that I started this before the final paint step.  Mixed Woodland Scenics fine turf scatter to form a patch of grass on between a third and half of the base.  My Mediterranean basing scheme wants the base to look quite dry and therefore I leave a ptach of sand/stones with just the earth colours on in the final finish.

Then some static grass tufts.  Mixed lengths and colours.  This scheme is based around Gamers Grass Dry Steppe set.  I do put mixed sets together myself but it is easier to use one of these commercial mixtures.  A couple of tufts on each base genrally, two different colours.  Sometimes only 1 especially if it is large or quite long, sometimes 3 if they are quite small.

A coat of matt varnish.  I have an airbrush but prefer rattle cans for speed and consistency and because varnish gums up my airbrush every time (I do use fine needles).  As Testors isn’t around anymore this is the current favourite Mr Hobby Flat Matt TopCoat.  Pretty good even over high gloss when I’ve dipped them – no dip for these though as I didn’t want to dull the colours which are spot on to what I wanted.

Final finishing touch is some shine back onto the pointy bit.  These Vallejo Metal Colors are intended for the airbrush but work beautifully as bright highlights applied with a brush.  Just the blade gets picked out.

So there we go all done.  He can join his mates in an 8 Warrior 1 point unit.

Now on to metalics.  There will be good speedpaint options soon but I’m stuck with a two part standard acrylic approach for now.  Spear head and butt spike first in Vallejo Gunmetal (not pictured).  Thn the skull cap which a few painters render in either leather or linen colours but I want in bronze.  For a nice bright bronze I go with a mid tone gold with a more coppery highlight. Glorious gold to start then – doesn’t matter if this is a bit patchy – any patches with the white showing through will provide a bit more interest and light variance in the final effect.

Did the basic earth colour on the base next.

Leatherwork next and rather than a basic leather shade I’m preferring this redder colour that I think looks good with ancients, Vallejo Burnt Red.

Bonewhite drybrush highlight on the base.

Back to the metal ics again for smaller details on the figure and the basic colours on the shield, gold front (over a white base coat) and red leather interior (over bare metal).  Once painted we attach the shield.  Scrape off paint on the forearm to ensure there is a metal to metal join which is a better quality of hold for the superglue.

Now the bronze highlight on all the gold bits to give us a nice bright bronze colour.  Sycorax Bronze from Citadel is not great for coverage either but the two rather thin colours overlayed give a final metal effect with depth and complexity.

I recorded the stages used to paint a Spartan unarmoured warrior from Wargames Foundry.  I suppose this is a bit of an homage to Kevin Dallimore’s painting guides, he did a nice armoured Spartan step by step which is still on the Foundry website.  Clearly I’m going a bit quicker than the three shade process here.  We start off by cleaning off the minimal flash and then arm our Spartan with a cast spear.  The best looking dory is made by Aventine Miniatures (Cast weapons AW03) and as they cast in pewter it isn’t bendy like a white metal one would be.  They are a little thick but are absolutely perfect in the somewhat exagerated hands of the Foundry sculpts.  Zenithal highlight applied with an airbrush.  I use Badger’s Stynylrez range as they cover brilliantly with a single thin coat and seem to shrink into all of the detail when they dry.  White zenith from 70 degrees over an all over grey undercoat.

Now onto the speedpainting.  Much as I dislike Contrasts for this technique I prefer the slightly more tanned look of Guilliman Flesh compared to the brighter AP Crusader Flesh.

Red next.  This is where speedpaints really come into their own.  I’d have to spend ages trying to get this sort of finish with regular layers of acrylics.

Hair next, black of course.

Now on to the spear.  Leather wrap first.

And then the shaft.  Despite the picture this colour was Sand Golem.  It provides a lovely light wood tone that is a good match to Vallejo Model Air Wood if there is any patching needed.

Over the Easter hols. we got together for some friendly games.  Nearest to the camera you can see Carthaginians (right) versus Theban City States (left).  At the top of the table are Successor Greeek with pike phalanx (unpainted, right) versus Successor Greek with javelin warriors and standard hoplite phalanx (left).  As you can see we weren’t using standard size terrain.  A good time was had by all.  With two games played, winners played each other in the second game.  The scores were Carthage 2:0, Successors with Pikes 1:1, Thebans 1:1 and Successors with hoplites 0:2.

I’ve had four games with the Thebans now, three games against Successors and one versus Carthaginians.  They, like most Saga armies, take a bit of getting used to as far as getting the most from the Battle Board goes.  So far I’ve learned to keep the javelin levy in front of the two main phalanx blocks which screens them from missle fire and early speculative attacks before you get into position to charge.  The phalanx needn’t form Line of Battle too early – just keep them together and use their regular move of M to get into position.  Once Line of Battle is formed your Battle Board comes alive and they are pretty impressive in attack.  The Sacred Band have a max-ed out starting dice pool of 16 until they take 5 casualties and with Resilience (1) this can take a while.  The Oblique Phalanx isn’t a shrinking violet either and opponents struggle to manage to fight them, even closing ranks doesn’t help much and Battle Board defence is needed to hold out against them.  If an opponent can hold out they are a bit vulnerable once the battle board abilities are used so opponents need to sacrifce a cheap unit or two and then pile in with their best units or keep running away and shooting.  I’m not winning often but I am causing problems for opponents who really don’t like having to face such a scary line of battle.

The Greek Cities in Age of Alexander include options for Thebans.  The list I went for was shaped by the models I already have and so I’ve gone for:

Warlords on foot
2 units of 12 levy javelins
2 units of 8 hoplite warriors to make a single Oblique Phalanx
1 legendary unit of 12 Sacred Band of Thebes

This is a good list that provides a line of battle that counts as 5 units which is pretty good on the battle board.  I’ve played them a couple of times and they’ve come up short against Greek Successors.  Charging a large pike block is a fool’s errand, even when the Sacred Band hit with a very powerful punch having Agression 2 so 24 dice in combat before modifiers or Battle Board abilities!  I need to screen the main battle line better with the Levies if there is a good shooting unit on the opposition.  The Successor opponent had Cretan Archers which are nasty when facing a slow oponent like a hoplite line of battle.

Theban Sacred Band by Warlord Games, formerly Immortal miniatures.

King Arthur and standard bearer by Footsore Miniatures and Games.  Swapped the standard bearer’s shield for a Celtic one by Warlord Games.    Went with Zealot Yellow Speedpaint as the basis for the yellow cloak and then highlighted up to match the colour on the shield transfer from LMBS.

Belisarius by Footsore with a Byzantine standard bearer by V&V.  Icon on the banner by LMBS.  I worked quite hard on the colour blending effect on the standard bearer’s shield.  I’m not sure it shows in the photos but it looks quite good irl.

Final couple of units ready for the Late Romans.  Four Cataphract Hearthguard.  Great value, a single sprue of Gripping Beast plastics with a spare Sassanid horse for the fourth rider.

8 warrior horse archers.  Again Gripping Beast plastics.  These were originally painted lime green which I’ve replaced with a more conservative blue.  Shoulder pauldron transfers from a LBMS 15mm Arthurian Banners sheet.

These are tricky to play in the game with those bows only having a range of M so plenty of additional movement needed to get in and out of range as they aren’t up to much in combat.

The first mercenaries have arrived, the Sea Wolves.

Wargames Factory plastics now sold by Warlord Games. Assembled and painted by my mate. I’ve given them a slight refresh and added some LMBS Jomsviking transfers and banner.

In game they can be taken with almost every faction.  They add some much needed expendable umph to your attack plans.

Given the figures I’ve got the list is:

Warlord on foot, 4 Cataphract HG, 4 Mounted HG, 4 Foot HG, 8 Mounted Warriors Composite Bows, 18 Levy, Manuballista (converted from 6 Levy) = 6pts.  Options include Sea Raiders, Hun Nomadic Horsemen and a Bishop.

Rebasing and shield transfers for these:

I’ve got a choice of Manuballista.  Unfortunately only allowed one per warband.  Foundry Late Roman miniatures.

Sassanid forces are already done following my Spring Clean Challenge this year.  The basic 6 points are:

Mounted Warlord on barded horse

3x 4 Hearthguard Cataphracts

2x 8 Mounted Warriors with composite bows

1x Elephant

This basic list can be easily buffed using some of the elite options offered by the Sassanid list.

Swap out 1x Hearthguard to upgrade the Warlord to carry the Derafsh Kaviani which was the Imperial warbanner.  The existing warlord model can become a Personal Champion.

Upgrade 1x Hearthguard to Pushtigban, the Guardians of the Emperor.

This takes the list to 8 points and I’ve got options to add or swap a unit of Nomadic Horsemen using the Hun models in the Swordpoint army.

I’m given to understand that from chaos comes order.  Let’s hope so…

On the table is my 3/4 done Warhammer Ancients Arthurians, some Late Romans and First Crusade I got from a mate, bags of Picts, Scots and Irish metals and a part planned box of plastic Irish.  Oh and in between are the Rorke’s Drift buildings I was supposed to be finishing this weeked 😀

The plan is to put 6 point warbands together for as many forces as I can for AoI and AoV.  So far the long list is: Late Romans, Britons (Arthur and Vortigern), Picts, Scotti/Irish, Alt Clut/Gododdin/Welsh, Sassanids.

I’ve started stripping them off their square bases (as nature intended) and mounting onto the more lovely rounds (as nature intended for skirmish games).  Here we have Arthur’s warlord base and some hearthguard.