SAGA Challenge

So it begins with the two armies.  I purchased two Victrix backs of 60 soldiers from their Vikings and Anglo-Saxons range, as these seemed to us to be the most typical for the scope and feel of the games we want to play.

The building of the armies will use most of the figures available in the Victrix packs.

My idea is to allow some flexibility and so I will make 1 x Leader and 2 groups each of Hearthguard, Warriors and general Levies.  This should allow me to create 6 points of an army which I think gives the ability to field different types of forces as I expect we will usually play 4 point games.

This left a few “extra” men which included priests and standard bearers.  I might “flex” the rules to attach one of these to my Leader, although the recommended base size seems a tight fit.  More on that later, I think once building starts.

My son went a slightly different route and is thinking of his Leader, then to make 3 x Hearthguard, 2 x Warriors and 1 x Levies.  Now, this might change during the building, so we’ll see.

Lots of glue and mild frustration to come as we work our way through the mildly confusing Victrix building steps!

I will try to add an update each week, but as my son is at school Monday – Friday (and after school activities/homework etc.) we’ll only really get to grips with this challenge at the weekends.

So the yesterday we started to put together the figures.  As I briefly mentioned last time, the Victrix sets are great value, but unlike, say the Perry miniatures, there is limited flexibility in how the figures can be put together.

There are two different types of sprue; a standard (warrior) set, and the “Command” set, which includes the possibility to make “heroes” standard bearers, and other figures.

The combinations available are describes on the reverse of the Victrix packs header.

In putting the figures together we chose different options.  I chose to make all of one type of figures at a time by clipping off, say Figure B1, and mixing all the options for head, shield arms, and equipment based on my objective to produce 2 of each class of troops in the SAGA game.  Hearthguard, Warriors, and Levies.

My son (Anton) went a different route having decided to make 3 x Hearthguard, 1 x Warriors, and 2 x Levies.  How that will work in our battles we will see.  But as I said before, I expect we’ll primarily play 4 point games, so this does allow for some flexibility.

If we both enjoy the game as I hope we will, of course additional forces ca be purchased to fill out our armies.

We both chose to build a Leader figure from the command set.

So construction is underway.

My idea is to make the paining as simple as possible, and with that in mind I will try Zenithal highlighting and painting with Contrast paints.  I hope this will be a simpler introduction to painting these miniatures than a more time-consuming and complex approach such as the 3 step painting or using washes etc.

There will be some “spare” figures, which I can always use in other games, or variations of SAGA.  I think their “fantasy” adaptation allows magic so these figures could be adapted accordingly.

Next update I hope we’ll have at least completed assembly and based the figures, and ideally at least have them base painted.

Happy gaming!

Well, we’re slightly behind where we thought we’d be, but good progress is being made.  The Anglo Saxons are all built and most of the Vikings. Only 18 Levies to complete and both armies will have been made up.

Anton has taken a more “adventurous” route that I expected and is making his models the way he wants them, and isn’t too fussy about having each group of warriors exactly armed throughout. Personally, I’m good with that, the important thing is for him to enjoy the process. We’ll not be entering competitions, so exactly what they look like isn’t really too critical.

Next up is putting the plastic figures not bases. Personally I have always liked the “heft” of metal figures; as these will all be individuals rather than based collectively, I wanted to give them some weight.  I could have gone with washers, but as I had a handful of local currency, I went with these instead.

Size-wise they’re almost exactly 25mm, so for the purpose of the figures this is ideal. To base them all (60 figures) the actual cost is less than €1, so that works for me.

The figures are glued down suing a local glue which is very similar to UHU.

When the glue had set, I made up a kind of paste made of PvA glue and two types of sand.  One was extremely fine and the second more course.

There are two main reasons for going this way.  Firstly the paste adds a bit more strength to the model/coin joint. Although I have never had any issues with the glue alone, I think the additional paste mix helps to make the figures “handle-proof”. (I often drop my figures!)

The second point is that once dry, the paste adds some additional texture which should make the painting more straightforward.  At least that’s the idea.  I haven’t use this method for years – in fact probably the last time was 30+ years ago!

So next week is finishing the Vikings and basing so they can be base coated and I’ll be attempting Zenithal highlighting on these to hopefully make the actual paining easier!

Happy gaming

Slow progress this week, but we did at least get to the point where the figures were built and ready for base coating.  I have for some time now been using wooden slats and double-sided sellotape – other brands are available 😉 – to hold my figures for this process.

As I previously mentioned, I mount the plastic figures onto coins of the right appropriate size to add some weight and secure them with a UHU type of glue. So far this has worked without any adverse issues, so this was the option I chose for this game as well.

The preparation of the paint job is straight forward, although I will be trying my hand at Zenithal (spelling?) highlights this time in order to seed up and simplify the painting process for my son. I am no great shakes at figure paining and these are not intended for competition, so as simple and quick a paint job as necessary is the name of the game.

The pictures are simply the steps from mounting through Black > Grey > White undercoating.  I think I might do a little dry brushing in white especial around the faces before we start to paint.

One thing we notice after last week where I mentioned making a kind of ground paste for the figures was that this might be missing a trick, in that the paste was a natural ground cover in its own right.

So I stopped applying the paste and instead took the dried figures (post base coating) and mixed some PvA glue and Raw Sienna acrylic paint with some fine and rough sand (with a little water) to make a paste which had a light brown tint.

I will experiment with different acrylics, but the idea is that once dry this ground cover will only need some limited application of grass and tufts and then done.

We’ll see hw that gets, but initial pictures seem to be interesting.

So, that’s it for now.  Next weekend we hope to start painting, but the weekend after we are off for a break, so probably no update then.

In the meantime: Happy Gaming

It’s the Orthodox Easter weekend here so not much done.  BUT, we did manage to finalize the basing of the figures with the addition of the ground cover I mentioned last week.

If you recall, I made a textured paste comprising PvA glue (basically a white wood glue) a little water and some Raw Sienna acrylic paint. I just eyeballed the mixture, but I’d say PvA/Water/Painting in roughly 5/3/1 proportions.

To this was added three types of sand/stones.  A very fine sand which seems to have the effect of making the basic paste itself and then a coarser sand for the main effect and a smaller amount of tiny grit for more  variety.  Again eyeballing this as a mix of fine/course/grit I’d say 3/2/1 approximately.

The ground cover was applied with a metal wax crafting tool but obviously anything else could be used. The main purpose is to level the ground to cover the lip of the existing plastic base of the figures so there is as little evidence of the figures’ original bases as possible.

To be honest this isn’t absolutely necessary, but I prefer the look (I’m old but not completely “old school”!) and like to see the figures apparently walking on the ground, not standing on a bit of plastic.

The images below give some idea of the effect I’m aiming for.

The picture of the two Hero/Leader models perhaps shows up some things better.

The one of the Left is my Anglo-Saxon Chief. Nothing fancy on the base, just the figure mounted on a larger base – actually a plastic gaming chip from a “poker” set which came with these “gambling” chips in different colors. They are a bit thicker than the standard bases (or the coins I am using) but I think this is OK for the Chief figures.

The Righthand one is Anton’s Viking warlord and is a bit more fancy.  He is raised even higher with the addition of a couple of layers of thin cork sheets (I forgot to take a picture!) and the “rocks” are a few bits of “Cat litter”. This is actually an interesting resource as the type I have here comes in a wide variety of sizes in the same package and makes for decent looking rocks.

The final two pictures show the “Before and After” figures on their bases.  You’ll notice a few figures with the bases painted in the base paint, these were already done before we rethought basing them AFTER the base paint. So these will require some additional painting now.

The final step with the ground cover will include some highlighting – probably “Iraqi Sand” (Vallejo) or similar and some grass/tufts to add a bit of greenery.

So, hopefully we will start painting next weekend. (Those with sharp eyes may have noticed that I have started on the Anglo-Saxon Lord already).

Happy Gaming

We are away on holiday for a week, so this isn’t really an update, but a broader explanation of the painting approach I plan to take with my son.

In order to make it as soft an production to painting miniatures, I think that using contrast paints “should” be easier than more traditional methods. That said, in any case I’m going for a fast table top finish depending on the 3′ view being paramount.

In the following images I show the figure with the appropriate paint.  Everything is simple, just apply the paint and hope the Zenithal highlighting together with the contrast paint does the business for me.

The last image with the two paints – yellow and brown – resulted in a poor finish. I had hoped that applying the yellow first (as an additional undercoat) than the brown would result in a muted brown. But it didn’t really work that way. later on I added another coat of yellow, but I don’t like the result, and will probably use an ordinary paint to simulate cloth.

I don’t have any metallic contrast paints (actually I don’t even know if they exist!)  so I used “Gunmetal” from Vallejo.  This I applied straight onto the metal parts, but for the chainmail, I diluted it to more of a wash and will probably dry brush this later with silver to bring out the high points.

I used white on the shield to make a cross (a bit “wobbly!) and may have to touch this up later. Brass for the buckles and crucifix, and Iraqi Sand for the strap holding the crucifix and as a dry brush on the ground cover.  The final touch of blue on the chain mail is probably unnecessary so I may leave that out for Anton’s paint scheme.

The final pictures are the finish quick paint job.  It’s a bit like a paint-by-numbers approach. But en masse I think they will do.  The non-chain mail figures will just have a block of one color or another using the contrast paint to form he necessary highlights and shadows.

So, in ten days or so, I hope we’ll have some painted troops to share.

In the meantime, Happy Gaming

So, short holiday over and time to try to catch up with the challenge. Son has school work to do (that’s the priority) but he wanted to “paint something” so he started on his Levies.  Only just got first contrast paint on the tunics, but it’s a start.

I managed to make a bit more progress with the warriors based on the “step-by-step” or “painting by numbers” approach I talked about last time.  Basically, using the contrast paints as the one-step base coat.

I think I will probably add some highlights and more differentiation later, but I’m an average painter at best, and the idea s not really about painting superb models, but in getting Anton interested n the wargaming hobby.

I hope in the next 6 weeks or so, we will have enough decently painted models to play a few games.  But before that, I also want him to try his hand at building an Anglo-Saxon dwelling or some other terrain features (walls, fences etc.).

A short update this week, a few pictures of the so-far panted warriors. Finishing off, highlighting and basing still to do.

Until next week, Happy Gaming.

Mainly working on the Anglo-Saxons this week and some good progress made (pictures to follow). I have mainly use Contrast paints, but for some of the smaller details and where I don’t have an appropriate paint, I used Vallejo and other paints as necessary (some older “Foundry 3-set” paints for example).

This week I wanted to get the Warriors and Hearthguard done, the general levies will follow shortly. My son is still slowly working through his levies and warriors; hopefully they’ll all be done by next week.  (I suspect he’d rather someone else did the painting so he could get straight to the tabletop and gaming, but painting is also a necessity unless you’re exceptionally wealthy and can get someone else to do it for you!)

Some small points to mention on the pictures; I will probably do some additional highlighting on the figures at some point once all of them have their initial painting completed.  For example, the sword or spearhead edges could be highlighted with silver or similar to emphasize these, but there is plenty of time to consider this once we can at least get the whole army on the table and play through a few games.

The metallic elements were painted with Vallejo paints, while the other areas of cloth etc. were all done with the Contrast paints. Overall I like the way the Contrast paints work, but I’ll probably be more selective in their use going forwards as there seems to be a wide variable in how they look afterwards.

I also want to experiment a bit with painting the Levies who will be randomly painted to reflect their simple, inexpensive backgrounds, so with that in mind I’ll try preparing them with different coloured undercoats on different cloths. If I’m right, this “should” result in a different finish to the same Contrast paint over these different base coats. I guess we’ll see by next week.

The bases are completed to tabletop standard, and here again I might go back and add some “grass tufts” or similar to make the bases more interesting.  I like to paint the base edges in green to fit in better with the table, but other options are well known (e.g. Black edging) but to me I just prefer the look of the green edges.

These Warriors were painted with these Contrast paints: Darkoath Flesh (actually I’ll use this for all the flesh tones on the Anglo-Saxons); Flesh Tearers Red for the tunics (Why does GW have such idiotic names for their colors?); and the blue trim was Leviadon Blue.

I later added small highlights to the flesh parts with Foundry Flesh 5B.

All the metal parts – swords, shield trim were pure Vallejo Gunmetal (72.054), which I diluted slightly as a wash for the chainmail shirts.

All the leather belts, bags boots etc. were the same color Contrast Cygor Brown. It’s a bit dark and I decided to use other leather paints for the Hearthguard (see below).

The highlight on the scabbards was either white or Brass depending on the engraving and the cross strap was Iraqi Sand, Vallejo 70.819

The green on the sword and dagger sheaths was Contrast Ork Flesh (I’ll use a different paint next time) and the brass trims for the Cross and shield boss was Vallejo Brass 70.801. The shield was painted with Vallejo Camo Bright Green 70.833 and the cross in Coat d’arms Blood Red.

Finally the base rim (as with all the others) was Vallejo Bright Green

There are two groups of Hearthguard which have both been painted the same way.  I followed a similar path as I had with the Warriors, but used more variety of leather and odd additional colors here and there.

Tunics used the blue Contrast paint as above, but for the red leggings I used Contrast Magmadroth Flame.  I am disappointed in how that went on as it shows little contrast at all, but that might be me not quite getting used to how the paint works best.  I might give it some additional highlights later.

Metal parts as I did for the Warriors. The large axe handles were painted with another Foundry paint Spearshaft 13C.  Brass for the little metal piece, eg. belt buckles etc.

The cloaks were all painted with Contrast Ork Flesh and again I’m not super happy about the finish, but revisiting that will be for another time.

I used a variety of leather paints from the Foundry range to add variations in the look of the models. So Tan 14B and 14C and Buff Leather 7C for the belt bags. I over painted these with a wash of the Contrast Cygor Brown, but any dark wash would do – maybe Agrax Earthshade?

I painted three shields using a variety of paints. The simple shield (Blue/White) was first. The white was a base of Italeri Flat White 4769AP (a local shop has started to sell Italeri paints, which is great) and Foundry Deep Blue 20A.

The red/white shield was actually a base of several layers of Contrast Flesh Tearers Red (next time I’ll just use an ordinary paint) and many layers of white. In retrospect I should have done this the other way round!

The final green/red shield was a base of Vallejo 70.833 Camo Bright Green and overpainted in Coat d’arms Blood Red.

So, some progress. One set of Warriors and the Levies to finish. My son tells me he’ll be on to the painting asap, so we’ll see how that goes.

So that’s where we are.

Happy Gaming.

So, this week I managed to complete the Anglo-Saxon army to a quality I can live with. Table top, basic paint job which passes at 3′ viewing! Pictures follow below.

In addition though, I did some experimenting with the Contrast paints to see the effect of different colored base coats. GM say they work best with a white undercoat, which given the nature of the product seems a reasonable proposal, but what if some other colors are used?

I didn’t stray too far from the “white” undercoat, and instead used some light pastel colors to see what difference (if any) was noticeable.  And there are some  minor changes to be seen – at least when using a Red Contrast paint.

The first picture shows the figures with the four different undercoats. I used Vallejo paints for this: Pale Flesh 72.003; Natural Flesh 74.006; Highlight Skin 74.008 and Iraqi Sand 70.819. The Contrast paint Blood Angels Red was painted over these once they had fully dried. The images should be in this order.

I’m note sure how well the slight colouration shows in the pictures, and it IS only a modest change in color, but it is there. More experimentation necessary.

The other “experiment” came with the shield designs.  I had in mind a simple geometric scheme which would be “easy” (ho ho ho!) if I used masking tape (I had some Tamiya tape handy) to block off a base color and then painted over the top, removing the tape to reveal a perfect paint job. Well that was the theory.  To come extent it worked, but there was touching up to do and in the end most of the shields were hand painted.

I also tried to paint some animals/birds. My eagle looked more like a distressed pigeon, and the dragon looked like a badger (according to “mini Apple”). So, back to art school for me.

I used primary colors from Vallejo as I wanted the shield designs to be simple and bright. Not sure if this is historically correct, but en mass I think they pass muster.

Some pictures of the process follow.

Sticking to the use of base cats and Contrast paints, the final playing around was a common base coat (Vallejo Lemon Yellow) under three Contrast paints, Blood Angels Red, Ork Flesh, and Leviadon Blue.

As you’d imagine the color combinations produces their expected new color based on simple color relationships.

In closing, I think there is a lot to discover about using Contrast paints, and I’m reasonably happy with what they can do, but the different colors do behave differently! I found little “contrast” with the Leviadon Blue as it simply went on in a solid block of color – but that could be me.  A similar issue with the Magmadroth Flame.

Anyway, final pictures of the completed Anglo-Saxon force. Leader/Hero, 2 x Hearthguard, 2 x Warriors, and 2 x Levies.

Happy gaming

So, while the Vikings are doing their homework I felt that the table top would need some additional small terrain to make their imminent invasion just a little bit more challenging. (My son has my number – and also some extremely fortunate dice throws – and so anything to slow down my impending defeat is to be welcome).

So, what do we need?  More trees for sure; some haystacks for the “look” of the thing; some wattle fences and some walls? Probably all of these. And of course somewhere to live! (The houses will come later).

So to start I made some simple hay stacks based around old wine corks, DAS putty and some Mantic round bases.

The size of the corks was too large, so after cutting them down to a more reasonable size, they were glued to the bases and once set, DAS was applied in small amounts at a time. I probably got the actual shape of these things wrong, but hopefully they will have the right “look” once they’re finished.

While the DAS was still slightly malleable, I used an old toothbrush to etch some groves into the DAS to represent the straw-like nature of the stack.

Once fully dry (I waited overnight) I gave them a grey undercoat, then successive layers of acrylic paint (the cheap £-store variety). Base on Yellow Ochre and building up with yellows and browns with final highlights of pure yellow.

These aren’t perfect, but once on a suitable hayfield I think they’ll pass.

On to Trees.  The core structure is twisted wire. This is a well known technique, so I won’t go into detail.  The only wire I could get was a bit thicker than ideal (I’ll try to get some florist’s wire as I think that’s a far better option) but you have to play the hand you’re dealt.

I made five tree shops to start with and made some typical tree shapes, which were then glued to 60mm bases with a hot glue gun. (I have some multi-tree bases that have 60mm holes, so I can group 2/3 trees together). I then applied a thick layer of PvA glue to the wire format and dusted in some fine sand.  This creates a texture on which to paint later. The bases were also treated with a sand mix of different sizes.

This was followed by spray painting them black and subsequent dry brushing of brown and grey/white.

The base of the trees were given a coating of random forest scatter comprising tried tea leaves and herbal tea colored shades of green.

Foliage is a different matter altogether. I don’t have access to model shops, so instead I glued random pieces of wire wool to the branches.  These were then painted with a black spray can, carefully avoiding recoloring the truck or branches.

Once dried, the shapes were painted with artist acrylics in greens and yellows (other leaf colours are available).

I will later varnish them with a Matt varnish as I think they’re just a bit too bright.

I’ll update on the walls and fences asap.

Happy gaming

Update on the remaining terrain pieces.

I haven’t done anything remarkably different to others, but here are pictures of the process for the different terrain features.

Walls were made by using balsa wood, 5mm thick and 20mm high stuck down on “tongue depressors” or art sticks, depending on where you are.  These are about 6″ in length. I cut some in half and rounds the edges with sand paper (I did the same for the fences).

The balsa was “textured” by rolling a rock on the wood. As it’s so soft, it leaves an impression. On reflection, I think the result is more like concrete than stones, but it will have to do (although It is an interesting possibility fr other games such as Bolt Action or Necromunda, where concrete might predominate?)

I added a mix of PvA and sand to the bases for both texture and strength. As an aside, I have some small sand which I previously colored with green paint, and this the added to the base provides an “instant” grass look, which I later highlighted with another green acrylic paint.  I think it looks OK, but comments welcome.

Painting the walls was straight forward: based in black then a series of grey/white  dry brushing. I also tried placing some brick shapes in paint with a flat brush. Again, bot 100% happy, but it is what it is, at least for now.

The wattle fences were made using the same 6″ art sticks.  I drilled small holes every 1′ but on reflection I think the look would be better if the were every 20mm (about 3/4″).

Tooth picks were glued into these holes and once dry, cut off about half way.  The wattle is actually cotton yarn.  Note that this isn’t the normal thread, but is thinker and I think used for crochet work or maybe tapestry work. This can usually be found at any haberdashery.  I chose a grey as this is a good neutral base color.

Important note: the uprights need to be an ODD number otherwise the weaving doesn’t work. Periodically I would ‘fix’ the weave with superglue (I also dropped superglue on the knot when starting the process with the yarn. I find starting in the middle hides the knot better than starting at one end.  Loose thread can be snipped off later.

Once complete and dry, a grey paint is applied and can be highlighted with a lighter grey for emphasis.

The ground work is the same as with the walls.

The fatigue markers was made with Mantic small square bases, a dollop of glue/sand and a radon shield with sometimes a weapon stuck down.

A black primer followed by a white dry brush finishes the job and the base painted a green.   decided that these represent fallen warriors and I wasn’t about to start painting all the shield fronts!

So, I think that’ll do for now with the smaller terrain pieces, next on the agenda is a couple of Dark Age buildings.

This week I’ve been putting together a couple of squat Dark Age buildings for the Anglo-Saxons based on these images off Google.

The steps will be familiar to most people, I think, but I will present my approach which is quite picture heavy.

Materials are 5mm foam core; Pan scrubbers; coffee stirrers; some balsa wood; and glue. (Usually I use PvA for buildings, but I had none so used a UHU type glue instead. I don’t think it makes a particular difference.

The first set of images are the materials and basic construction.  The pan scrubbers are 10x15cm and about 5mm think. I trimmed off 5mm from one of the scrubbers so that they would form a need angle of equal sides when glued down.

The two triangle end pieces were measured from the “inside” of the triangle formed by the two pan scrubs, and were 9.5 cm on two sides as shown.

As it turned out, I ran out f foam core, so instead of one solid piece for the roof supports, I used a couple of smaller pieces.  It was still secure, so no harm done.  I did not put an additional piece in the middle of the house, although that could be done to add additional support.  I’m not sure it’s necessary

The end pieces and roof pieces were glues into place and pinned to hold the shape while the glue dried.  One this was done the roof pan scrubs were also glued down individually and I left each side to fully dry with small weights on them to ensure a good bond.

Of course I realized afterwards that I should have completed the finishing of the two end walls before doing this!  It just made the construction of the end walls more difficult. I’ll explain further below.

The wooden end walls were done with coffee stirrers. As I alluded to by gluing the roof on too early I had to think of a way to get the coffee sticks onto the wall supports. I think I over-thought the solution!  But here’s what I did.

I measured onto a board the shape of the end walls and put a small piece of double sides tape in the middle. I used this as a template for the construction of the walls and once they were all in place, I used further double sided tape to secure the sticks together. I originally thought to simply stick these in place with the tape, but later changed my mind – so any ordinary tape would do here.

I eased off the taped wall pieces and glued these into place on the foam core, and used some small clamps to hold them in place while these dried.  The “door” was a piece of thin balsa wood.

Once everything was completely dry, I removed the tape.

Painting was done with diluting a Contrast Brown paint into a weak wash and simply painting this wash on the wooden sticks to allow them to form their own finish.  I used different paints on the door and door frame.

The roofs were already green from the scrubs, but I added a mix of dried herbs (from tea bags) and thin wood shavings at the bases, and different mixes of colored sand on the roofs themselves. Not sure about how accurate this is historically, but I didn’t want to paint these pan scrubs and the glue/sand seemed a decent solution.

Next up I’m thinking of making a ruined tower.  I don’t know how this would fit into the period, but as there were certainly castles of some sort in the 10th century, I’m sure a half-built or ruined tower could have been a feature.

Anyway, in the meantime, Happy Gaming

So, only two weeks to go.  The Vikings are making slow progress and we still hope to end the challenge with a BatRep (fingers crossed).

This week I discovered that not thinking has consequences.  I mentioned last time that I would think of making a ruined tower. Well I started by cutting up some pink insulation foam into “brick sized” pieces, glued them with a hot glue gun, and then undercoated them without thinking and it melted!

So, this will now become a feature of a Kings of War battle as a ruined mage’s tower after a particularly effective fire missile attack!

I revisited this by using balsa wood instead. I cut lengths of thin balsa wood and smoothed the edges with sandpaper.

Pictures follow.

These were then glues with a hot glue gun to an old CD disc and built up to a small level to represent either an unfinished tower, or one that collapsed.

Once it had reached a height that I was happy with – to be completely honest, I got fed up with the entire process.  A lesson here I think, be in a good frame of mind before venturing onto something that you know will be rather tiresome!  (OR find a good movie to keep you going).

Anyway, after several levels were completed I painted it with a black undercoat and then applied grey and then white highlights and I hated it!

It just looked poor. So I washed I  with an ochre wash and it still didn’t look right.

So, I’ll keep working on this during the week but am unsure where this is going.

A bit frustrated, but, that’s life sometimes.

Happy Gaming

While my son finishes off his wee army (It’s coming along nicely now), it incurred to me that they can’t walk to “Merry Olde England”. So putting aside my frustration with the tower, I thought they need a boat!  Or to be more exact, a Viking Longboat.

So, here goes!

I started with a piece of Balsa wood and drew a rough ship for a “representation” of a Viking longboat, and after cutting out the basic shape, went to work with a craft knife and sandpaper to make a kind of boat shape.

Initially I drew some “planks” on the balsa, but later changed my mind and stuck down planks running stem to stern as this seemed to be the way it was done looking at pictures.

I stuck a block of balsa in the middle to support the mast, which will be a rod of dowel with a crosspiece made of the same material.  This was also shaped to reduce the size and to be more in keeping with the reality.

The mast cross piece I sanded down at the ends to give a more rounded shape, and cut two “guide notches” in both pieces before gluing them.  I wrapped some yarn around the joint, both for some additional strength, but also to simulate rope.

The picture above shows the mast temporally in place and the “wooden planking” made with strips of thin card.  I stuck them glossy side up as I read that this side takes paint better. I guess we will see, I normally stick them “paper” side up.

I cut some stern and aft shapes out of balsa to represent the traditional look of the boats.  Not sure how well they’ll stand up to play though as balsa is rather flimsy.  I’ll think of a way to reinforce them, maybe just PvA and paint will be enough?

Next up was the sail.  I didn’t want it fully open, as this longboat represents them just after landing, so I wanted it partly furled.  I found an old piece of material which has a fine weave, and cut a roughly right sized piece.  This I soaked with a PvA/Water solution (I guess about 50/50) and then roughly stuck it down on the mast.

I used some of the yarn to “scrunch” up one side of the sail and also to begin to indicate ropes etc.  (I will NOT be trying to make a full set of tethers for this boat!). The image below of the boat/sail is not yet find. I will glue down the sail only after finishing the planking on the sides of the boat, which I’m not yet fully clear on.

So, time to become a shipwright.

Happy Gaming

So, the work on the longboat continued.  I painted the entire boat (excluding the sail/masts) with grey spray paint.  The painting process for the boat and mast used Vallejo paints from the “Leather & Wood” set.  The sail was painted using acrylics.

The process for the sail followed from the PvA which was used to form a rigid structure.  A mix of white and Ochre was the basic color for the sail, and then strong blue stripes were added.

It was finished off with gluing some small yarn loops to simulate rigging on the sail itself.  The yarn was looped around a skewer and double knots tied. This was glued on the bottom of the sail.

The boat itself was painted in a series of colors randomly used to represent different wood.  Small balsa blocks were glued to the ‘deck’ as seating, and a central ‘plank’ was also added.

Some spare shields were glued to the side of the boat and painted white.  I am thinking of buying some shield transfers so I might leave these white for now.

The painting scheme followed this pattern:

Random ‘stripes’ of “Japanese Uniform” 70.923 and Flat Earth 70.983

Wash of diluted Flat Earth over the Japanese Uniform color (#1 ref)

Wash of “Smoke” 70.939 on some of the Flat Earth ‘planks’ (#2 ref)

Wash of “Woodgrain” 70.828 on others (#3 ref)

2nd Wash on “Japanese Uniform” Chocolate Brown” 70.872 (#1 ref)

2nd Wash on “Smoke” with 50/50 Smoke & Black (#2 ref)

2nd wash on “Woodgrain” with 50/50 Smoke & Woodgrain (#3 ref)

After this is fully dry I’ll add some wood grains using a mix 90/10 of Dark Sand (70.847) and Japanese Uniform  to (#1 ref)

90/10 Dark Sand & Flat Earth (#2 ref)

90/10 Dark Sand & Woodgrain (#3 ref)

The whole boat will then get a wash of Smoke to tie things together

Final Two pictures, with wood grain effect added and final wash with “Smoke”

So, Anton finalized his Viking war band as far as necessary to get them on the table for a game.  Pictures of the game to follow in a couple of days.

His approach was to make 6 units: 3 x Hearthguard, 1 x Warriors, 2 x Levies.

Although slightly contrary to the game “requirements” of all armed the same, he decided that the Hearthguard were the best fighters and naturally would come to war armed with the weapons they were best at! A reasonable proposal, and as we are only ever going to play casual games, I’m happy enough with that.

His paint scheme was random rather than anything like a “uniform” which again seems fitting for the period and the Vikings.

Lots of pictures to follow below.

The shields have bee left white as I will try to get hold of the Shield decals rather than paint them all up myself (or himself).  If I can’t, then at some point soon I’ll tackle them. But the complexity of some of the designs is beyond my painting talents!

For anyone interested, the flags were made from the same material I made the longboat sail from a small weave cloth I found soaked in a 60/40 PvA/water solution and then painted with Vallejo paints.

Our game will be played on a board I made a couple of years ago – also for a Spring clean challenge.  We’ll play a 4 point game to start with.

The playing area before adding Terran features.

Battle Report to come next.

Happy gaming!

So we finally made it to the table. This is the first time I’ve done a battle report and I’m not sure how this will go, but I took a lot of pictures and so hopefully it will all make sense!

The scenario is a raid by a small Viking war band on an Anglo-Saxon village. The Vikings will approach from the sea and the villagers had time to get the local Lord to come with an attachment of his warriors to help repulse the heathens!  It was a four-point game as recommended as a starter for new players.

The set up was per the SAGA rules, we chose different terrain pieces alternatively, but decided to to overcrowd the space too much.  So a couple of woods, some fields and the houses.

The Anglo-Saxons gathered around the village, and the Vikings at the top of the hills from the beach.

The Forces:

Anglo-Saxons – I selected 2 Levies, 1 Warrior and 1 Hearthguard units. The Levies I split into 3 x 8 figures to get an extra SAGA die, but this obviously made them weaker and was maybe a mistake.

Vikings – 1 Levies, 1 warrior, and 2 Hearthguard. They were left at their recruitment strength.

For people unfamiliar with SAGA one SAGA point cab recruit a unit of 12 Levies, 8 Warriors, or 4 Hearthguard. These total numbers can be split up r combined, but any unit must comprise between 4 -12 models. The game works with the additional skills/abilities determined by SAGA dice which have three different images. 3 x common, 2 x rare, and 1 x exceptional.

How these are assigned on a “Battle Board” (specific to each army) determined what extra abilities are available each turn.  Units can provide dice, but ONLY if they are at a minimum strength. In the case of Warriors, this is 4 figures, and for Levies a minimum of 6 figures. So, reducing the units to 8 models might not be that clever. We shall see.

In the first turn the player going first can only use 2 SAGA dice. After that the dice are determined by the remaining units as described above.

In both our first urns, we just moved units into new positions.

The Vikings went first and moved the Hearthguards and Levies onto the board. Moving through the woods reduced the Levies’ movement and it would take them two rounds to clear this.

The Anglo-Saxons brought some levies and the Warriors into the game in a reckless movement up the left side of the village and straight towards a group of Viking warriors.  This double move resulted in the getting “fatigued” which is an aspect of the game that allows your opponent to use this fatigue to weaken your unit further or to boost their own. It affects the likelihood of the unit receiving damage.

The second turn began with the Viking warriors gleefully attacking my rather too adventurous Levies on my left and a short, but bloody melee followed with both sides receiving casualties.

Attack dice are determined by the relative strength of the units and the figures remaining.  In this case the Viking Warriors had 8 dice, one per model in the unit and the Levies 4 dice (1/2 per model).

As the Levies were fatigued the Warriors chose to use the fatigue to lower the Levies’ armor level from 4 to 3+, thus making them easier to hit.  The fatigue marker is removed if it is used in this way.

But as luck would have it, it seems Loki was about to play tricks, and the dice rolls of the Anglo-Saxons managed to inflict a high number of hits of the Vikings, and they were not able to remove them. (However, the Vikings DID crush the Levies anyway reducing them to three models, and for the rest of the game, they lost their SAGA die – had I kept them at full strength, this would not have been the case).

Elsewhere on the battlefield the Vikings moved up their Warlord and other units to put them into position to attack next turn.

So with a unit already effectively destroyed, the Anglo-Saxons had a lot to do to repulse the Vikings from their shores.

In SAGA the dice determine what a player can do each turn, but it also demands that you think ahead to anticipate future actions (The Gods being willing, of course!)

As a consequence, the Anglo-Saxons used this turn to maneuver their units and Warlord into a more attacking position for, hopefully, an advantageous dice roll next turn.

The SAGA Battle Board has two portions. The top row is for common Activities and where you can place dice to enable you to activate (ie. move) your units.  The lower portion allows you to make special actions, specific to each of the armies involved.

The next turn involved more Viking attacks on the poor Levies, but the Anglo-Saxon Warriors finally getting into the game.  The use of the fatigue markers is interesting and I’m not sure we got this 100% correct, but essentially the first move is ‘free’, but any subsequent action gets a marker.  Also BOTH sides in a melee receive markers at the end of the melee, irrespective of who charged into battle.

If a unit ever gets three fatigue markers, they become exhausted and MUST stop for a turn to remove a fatigue before continuing. Some SAGA skills allow you to also remove markers

One Viking unit of Hearthguard rushed across a field and into a unit of Anglo-Saxon warriors. One again the Gods were being capricious, much to Anton’s annoyance (he’s usually extremely lucky with the dice and found this turn of fortune particularly annoying).

Hearthguard get 2 attack dice per man, and Warriors 1 per man. So we both had 8 dice. Each unit had a fatigue marker and they effectively cancelled each other out the Hearthguard decreased my warriors armor, and I increased it again.

Amazingly I managed to inflict three casualties, almost wiping out the Hearthguard, but in return I also suffered hugely taking SIX casualties.  A return to the Gods’ favour for the Vikings. So the warriors retreated and in the process I lost another SAGA dice as the unit was under half strength.

With his remaining move Anton finally bought his Levies out of the woods.

So onto the Anglo-Saxons turn.

In a rush of blood my Walrord decided to take matters into his own hands and rushed like a maniac at the sole remaining Hearthguard. What could possibly go wrong?

Warlords are single figure units and in melee attacks wield eight dice. Against a single Hearthguard (with only 2 dice) I was onto a winner!

I incurred a fatigue with the double move, but I could take that risk.

After defeating the sole remaining Hearthguard, I move my depleted warriors and Levies up as a bit of a protective “barrier for my Warlord. It was too early on to risk him further.

So the turn comes to an end with casualties on both sides. (SAGA is a bloody game!)

Turn four – Half way through. (Saga lasts 6 turns after which Victory points are assessed).

This was a limited turn by the Vikings who attacked one of the central Anglo-Saxon Levies with their own full strength levies. I think in retrospect I will keep units, particularly Levies, at full strength to ensure they can contribute a SAGA dice as long as possible.

The melee went well enough for the Vikings but fortunately I only suffered two casualties (due to rolling three 6s on my defense throw) and so the unit held on to a SAGA dice by the skin of its teeth!

Thinking that the Gods were with me I launched my depleted Levies on the left into the Viking warriors. As it turned out not the smartest thing in the world, but the casualties were not too bad for me.  In the centre my Hearthguard decided they’d had enough standing around and charged into the Levies who had been hanging around for far too long.

Frustratingly they only caused one casualty.

So two melees without a really decisive result. It Was Time! My Warlord had whispered a prayer to his God and charged!

The loss of the Warlord was a shock (I think we misinterpreted the rules here, so maybe he could have survived – I’ll check that later) and Anton was as delighted as I was stunned! This wasn’t supposed to go like this!

So with some demoralization we started turn 5.

We were getting fewer dice to play with at this point, but one of the “Activity” options on the top of the SAGA Battle Board allows you to replace a die with TWO others (if you’re lucky enough to roll one) and Anton was lucky, so managed to gain an extra couple of die for the penultimate turn.

He took the opportunity (perhaps as a result of overconfidence?) and attacked with his Warlord into my Hearthguard. The dice Gods were not kind, and his Warlord also fell despite inflicting a casualty on the Hearthguard. Valhalla awaits this Viking hero.

In a demonstration of fealty, the levies charged into the Hearthguard who had cruelly cut down their leader, but to little effect and after taking casualties had to withdraw.

The Anglo-Saxons-Saxons saw the tide turning but with little to achieve with their dice, settled into a defensive position for the final turn.

Turn 6 was a final flurry of little effective action with the Anglo-Saxon Hearthguard in a final indecisive attack on the Levies.

So time to assess the victors.  In SAGA points are awarded for casualties caused depending on unit type (Warlords are worth 4 points, but Levies only 1 point for every three casualties) so as we assessed the points the tension was high.

Result:

Vikings 12 points

Anglo-Saxons 12 points

A worthy draw.

We both enjoyed the game and although I think we might have got a couple of rules wrong, the game itself flows quickly once you become familiar with the basic rules and the way the game plays is quite intuitive. the battle Boards are the key to success I think and further game play and practice with them should prove to be the key to the full enjoyment of this great game.

So, my last post for the Challenge, thanks to those following along and Happy Gaming