Saxons!, On to Brunanburh!

I've finally managed to get the Anglo Saxon army finished (although i still may add a couple more units!) for our Impetus and Piquet game's coming up this Easter.  The figures are mainly Crusader with a few other manufacturers in there as well. I will probably throw together a camp and a command stand (or two) with the left over figures that I have. The Army (which has been scaled down) represents the forces of King Athelstan and his brother Edmund who fought a combined Norse-Celtic army led by Olaf Guthfrithson at the Battle of Brunanburh in 937.

I do have to say cheers to Matt from Storm and Conquest, I picked up the start of this army from him and he also helped get a few more units together. Go check out his Blog for more historical goodness!

Saxon WIP for Impetus

Today I got a bit more work done on my Saxon army for Impetus.
33 more figures have been mounted onto their 120x60mm bases and have had Pumice applied for texture. Over the weekend I'll add  a few coats of paint,flock and tufts to these guys, which will bring my army nearer to completion. I think once these 3 are complete I'll only have about 4 or 5 units to go!

These 3 units will all be part of the Mercian force led by Athelstan's brother, Edmund.

Photos from the Blackberry.

 Close up of a couple of Saxon Ceorls

 

 

Mixed Thegn and Ceorl Unit.

 

 

 

 

Most of the Figures from this batch are from Crusader Miniatures which are all great sculpts, and a treat to paint.

 Sorry about the photo quality, my phone does its best though in the absence of my Wife's camera.

Saxon Update!

Sorry for no updates in the last few months, I've been hooked on Magic: The Gathering and have been spending most of my spare time down at the local card shop. I've enjoyed my break from all the hobby stuff but am refreshed and keen to keep at it and finish this years goals.

Here's another unit of Saxon Thegn's and two units of skirmishers, all three are based for Impetus. Most of the painting is now complete on the Saxon project and I've just got to get through the basing.
Sorry for the poor quality pics, my camera is flat so I used the mobile phone. I just wanted to give some kind of update as it has been a while!

The Two Skirmisher units here were painted by Matt from over at the Storm and Conquest blog.

 

I'm also currently basing up my 15mm 3rd Crusade project as both sides are fully painted aswell.

My son Phoenix and I will be playing a small trial game of Kings of War this afternoon on the kitchen table, so I'll try and grab a few shots of the battle and give a few thoughts on the rules too.

 



28mm Saxons

The newest recruits to the Saxon army I am building for the Battle of Brunanburh project. It will be our big end of year game.

I painted these guys last night using mainly drybrushing and simple layering (2 layers) with the occasional highlight. I have a large amount of these to paint this year so the aim is to use quick and simple techniques that look good en masse and only going back to correct major botches.. I can live with the small ones and the occasional crazy eyes!

The figures are from Crusader.

Thegn Unit, painted and ready for basing;

These will be based on either 120 x 60mm bases or two 60 x 60mm  bases for Impetus/Basic Impetus. This basing will also let me use them for Piquet.

Battle of Brunanburh Map

Here's the deployment map I've decided on for my Battle of Brunanburh project this year. After reading a few different texts on the subject I've decided to lean heavily on Ian Heath's description in WRG Armis of the Dark ages, while also adding a splash of other opinions in regards to terrain/location and size etc.

Both armies form up as follows; The Mercians and a small contingent of Norse mercenaries on the left facing the Scots & Welsh, and on the right is King Athelstan's forces facing the Norse Irish/Vikings under the command of Olaf Guthfrithsson.

Some source's say the forces where facing the opposite opponents than listed above (Mercians v Norse Irish, West vs Scots &welsh etc), but I'm happy with what we've decided on and cant wait until we can fight this out on the table! After all not a great deal is known about this particularly bloody battle.

I've got to finalise the Army lists with Gavin for both Impetus and Piquet (and for a lighter game perhaps Kings of War) and will post them upon completion.

At the moment I have pretty much purchased all the mini's for my Saxons which are a mix of Black Tree, Crusader, Foundry and Musketeer, all of which mix very well together.

More progress to come over the next few weeks.

Cheers,
Nate

Plans for 2012

This year i didn't make a great deal of progress due to moving and buying a new house, but now that all is settled I've managed to lock in my projects for next year. Here are the 3 majors for 2012, followed by my additions to existing armies and 'finish offs' for current projects.

• 28mm Peninsular War, large scale skirmish - Perry, Victrix and Front Rank are the likely figures to be used. Sharp Practice by TFL looks to be the early contender for rules at this stage but I'm open to any suggestions? I'm wanting about 30 - 100 figures per side.

• 28mm Battle of Brunanburh - Using Impetus and Piquet as the rules of choice. 17-18 Units per alliance, I'll be mustering the Saxons for battle while my Uncle and gaming buddy Gavin Shanks will be collecting the Northern Kingdoms. Army sizes will be roughly 17 - 18 units per side and at this stage about 12 figures per basic unit. I've already got a great start to my army after picking up some lovely figures from Matt over at Storm and Conquest (thanks mate!)

• 15mm 3rd Crusade - Using the free Basic Impetus rules found here and thanks to Giuseppe from  Legio Heroica, I now have enough of his buetiful "Holyland" range to build each Basic Impetus list for the Ayyubids and Crusaders  respectively. The army lists can be found here. For anyone down here in Australia thinking about ordering from Legio Heroica I can highly recommend them, Giuseppe has to be one of the best traders I've ever dealt with in the industry and postage is very reasonable.

• 15mm WW2 for Flames of War - Finish off the British Rifle Company and touch up and re-base a German Grenadier Company.
• 28mm Fantasy - Continue on with the High Elves, Skaven, Dwarves and Ogres.
• Warhammer 40k - Continue on with the Iron Warriors Chaos Space Marines and the Tau armies.
• 28mm Pirates - finish painting my crews from Black Scorpion for Legends of the High Seas.

Overall I think it's pretty manageable, of course there will be the inevitable side-project that rears its ugly head but I'm still pretty confident that I'll be able to complete these projects before the end of 2012... or the world according to some...

Happy New Year!