Gaelic Glee

Despite my penchant for the cruddier troop types, I still went a tad overboard on Fianna for my Irish forces. My excuse is that Dave Thomas was offering a deal and it would have been rude to leave a pack or two behind on the racks.

So, I bought both available packs of 8 figures with Danish Axes, giving me four lots of Fianna so equipped. These too are Crusader Miniatures and, I trust, will punch a fair few holes in many a foe as they swing and chop their way through life.

As usual, I indulged my passion for colour when painting these and patterned clothing was almost a given.

The Irish are done for the moment, but I will indulge in some horsemen sooner rather than later. One thought has occurred to me however. With the figures I have now bought and painted for my Dark Age Irish forces, I must have around 10pts' worth in SAGA terms.

That is verily a "Plethora of Plashers" to those of us who remember WRG 6th Edition Ancients, with the Irish able to spend points on the good, old plashed wood edge option. I imagine it saved a bit on buying and painting troops for those with Dark Age Irish armies...

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The entire 16 figures, or four units of Fianna in SAGA terms. Two attack dice each so who cares about the reduced armour they have without a shield?

A patterned-cloth close up.

"Well, you said you was high class..."

...That was just a lie."

Sorry Elvis.

This next batch of Irish are further up the social scale to those shown previously. I am not quite sure they fit into the "Fianna" category, though they could, but do consider them to be more "Bourgeois Bonnachts" than "Brick Lane Bonnachts".

As a result of this spurious thinking, I have allowed myself to wander further towards my colour fixation with some brighter work. To tie them all in as a "unit" however, I have gone for red as my base shield colour.

The figures are again Crusader Miniatures and, again, were bought from Dave Thomas' cornucopia of a stand at WMMS back in March.

And talking of shows, we Wyrley Retinue members look forward to getting out on the road again in a week's time at the BARRAGE SHOW in Stafford - Sunday, 12th July, at Blessed William Howard School, Rowley Avenue, Stafford.

Turn off the M6 motorway at junction 13, head towards Stafford and it is about 3 miles from the junction in the vicinity of Rowley Park stadium.

In light of recent events, we probably will not be showing our "Malta" game, but will have something on offer as a demo that we hope you will like. Hope to see you there.

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Eight figures, so two Fianna or one Bonnacht unit in SAGA terms. I attempted fancier shields than the Bonnachts too, to show a higher social status, but it is all very fanciful really as such things are rather debatable.

More pretty patterns, which I find quite therapeutic attempting. Just do not try it on a warm day with paint that is not quite liquid enough...

The Cattle Raid of Wyrley

Hot on the heels of Brian O'Brian come some of his lesser followers, the sort of hangers on who follow any crowd.

These Bonnachts/ Ceithern/ simple peasants might not have the flash clothing of their social betters, all in bright colours and all, but they know a good craic when they see one!

So, 24 of Ireland's finest (...), or three units of warriors in SAGA terms, all javelin-throwing menace and peat beneath the fingernails, as they seek to either ally with the Viking invaders for their own ends or throw them back in the Dubh Linn (or something like that...).

All of these figures are Crusader Miniatures bought from Dave Thomas' stand at WMMS, proof again (???) that I am slowly mining the lead mountain to the point of financial ruin and ultimate quarry closure. Maybe not.

I do know I had a great time re-reading my WAB supplements whilst completing this though. WAB is dead. Long live WAB!

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Photographed outside on  a very sunny day, these guys must think they have left Ireland and gone elsewhere. Sun? Ireland? Two words you do not tend to put together when considering the Emerald Isle. I have been there several times and have probably had one good weather day in fifty!

Simple colours say all the sources, mainly white, yellow and black for the poorest. But these are not quite the poorest so get an upgrade or two!

I have done the shields mainly black, with or without a simple design, to tie the whole 24 figures together as a homogenous whole.

As I said above, these are not quite the poorest of the lot in financial terms, so in crept my desire for some colour and a few patterns in their clothing. Don't you just love cloaks???

Brian O'Brian

The SAGA saga continues at pace, even though the Vikings are "finished", with a couple more planned warbands.

My theme is Dark Age Ireland, as natives and Norsemen vie for control of that fractured land.

So, what better way to continue than with those self-same natives, starting with their leader?

This figure is another of unknown provenance that I picked up for 50p from the secondhand tray at Stafford Games. I think he is another Ancient German figure in reality, maker unknown, just as with the Irish standard bearer I posted a month or so ago.

But again, reading references in various sources to shields decorated with metal fittings and so forth when describing Irish heroes, I thought the shield at least fitted the bill. The shaggy mop of hair, part braided, also called out "Irish" to me, his clothing was pretty non-descript, but well-appointed,  and the open hand was ripe for a sword from the spares box. The fur waistcoat he sports I imagine originated with his favourite wolfhound...

So, first of the Irish in both post and status terms, I give you Brian O'Brian.

The name is in honour of my late, much-missed father who was neither Irish, nor red-haired, nor a warlord nor even wore red that I recall. His name was "Brian" however and his sense of honour, his courage and his whole being were a fine example of what a truly wonderful man is.

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The shield...

A side view showing my slightly clumsy attempts to upgrade his tunic to the sort of decorated example a leader of the time would have worn.

The "wolfhound waistcoat".

Conflicting Standards

I decided I had to equip my miniature Dark Ages warriors with some vexillatory artwork, so found four figures from the lead mountain to hold a flag, one for each of my planned Dark Age Ireland factions.

I have absolutely no idea what make three of these basic figures are, or even from what basic range, nor how old they are, though I suspect the Irish flagman is actually an Ancient German! The one I am sure of is the Artizan Designs figure holding the raven standard.

Much use was made of the old WAB "Shieldwall" and "Age of Arthur" supplements in trying to create the images depicted on the flags, as well as whatever other art I could find on the shelves, such as the WRG "Armies of the Dark Ages" book. I could have looked long and hard for more stuff, but would rather paint than pore over pictures...

I also made a conscious decision NOT to highlight the flag itself, only the image depicted on it. My reasoning is that potentially complex designs can, in my opinion at least, lose impact the more involved their background is. Thus, using the "faces and bases" adage (you know the one, where you do your level best with the face and base of a figure as a way of hiding/ ignoring the other bits that get just a basic treatment), I give you four more humble offerings from the painting table for your perusal.

The poles are all metal spears/ pikes from the bits box, cut to size. Actually, at least one is cut too big as it does not fit in the tin with the Vikings I painted it for!!!

(Take it from me that each flag is identical front and back!)

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The Artizan Designs guy, bought from Dave Thomas' stand at the WMMS show back in March. It was only when I finished painting him that I realised he is unarmed! The world's only pacifist Viking?

No idea where this figure is from, but for 50p in the Stafford Games second hand box he was a must have! The sword is a spare one I had lying around. He will be either another Viking or a Norse-Gael.

Another 50p bargain buy of indistinct manufacture, with a plastic axe from the Gripping Best Viking Hirdmen box. Again, either a Viking or a Norse-Gael...

The Ancient German Irishman, another 50p bargain buy. I am not sure I like this one. It looks like a horse on the ragged standard, which it is meant to, but it does not look like the sort of horse a 10th Century (-ish) Irishman would paint. Not swirly enough? Thus, I might get busy with some curly lining around shoulders, hips, face and eyes to try and make it look a bit more Celtic...

A Bucket-load of Bondi

Finally, in celebration of all things average and ordinary, I present the good, old Bondi, 4 points worth in SAGA terms, who form the core (if not the "hard" core...) of my Vikings.

I have heard a fair bit of negative criticism of plastic figures at various shows, and on more than a few blog and other posts. These are usually of the"they're not metal" kind, sometimes of the "I can't be bothered to glue them together" sort but other claims too.

I unashamedly LIKE plastic figures, though the quality of different sets can vary. I am not really a kit builder, especially in white metal (the GW Tomb Scorpion still brings back nightmares when I think of the issues I had building that all those years ago...), but I do enjoy both the construction of plastic figures but also their possibilities. Even just mixing similar sets, such as the Gripping Beast "Hirdmen" and "Dark Age Warriors" sets as I have used here and for most of my SAGA Viking force, gives a plethora of usable results and options that allow for a nice, varied force. But when you add in the opportunities afforded by conversions, then WOW!!!

Go plastic!

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The "terrible" thirty-two in all their one attack dice each glory...

The pointy-stick lads

The hackers and slashers

The exceptions...these are two metal figures, from 1st Corps/ Curtey's, that I had left over from a command pack I originally bought for my English/ Scots collection, but who are clearly "Dark Age". "If you've got it, use it," I say! The sword being brandished by the figure on the left of the photo is a plastic one however, the hand and sword cut neatly from a GB set and used in place of the 1st Corps/ Curtey's option which I did not like.

Just to illustrate some of the options, armoured heads and bodies are from the GB Hirdmen, everything else from the Dark Age Warriors. Lots of choices (heads, weapons, poses, etc) from a couple of well-priced and readily available boxes of figures for those inclined to either "go Dark Ages" or just add to what they have.

A quick game of SAGA

Over the Easter weekend, I did indeed get the couple of planned SAGA games in by way of a taster for our forthcoming (in July...) campaign.

The first game came down to the mutual extinction of our respective warlords in single combat, so draw it was. That was against Nephew Nick, who then promptly got all confused in his second game, against Nephew Paul, and threw away the victory with indecision and poor play. That left me to take on Nephew Paul for my second game, which was a rather different affair, though killing the enemy warlord was still the objective.

Terrain was selected by our usual throw it at the table and see where it lands method, with a dice roll off to see if it stays or not. I very handily won a hill on my baseline, though too far back to be fully effective.

Set up. My plan was to suck him in and spit him out, which worked very well indeed (sort of...)

When I deliberately split my front line apart to reveal my levies as bait, Paul duly charged in and pasted them - all going to plan so far, as I was then able to smash a big hole in his line as planned and isolate his warlord by swamping his victorious but in dire trouble hearthguard with their standard bearer (centre of shot)

One massacred enemy hearthguard later and he was rapidly trying to bring up troops and retreat his warlord, having seen the trap at last. It did cost me dear however - I should never have lost four of my own Hearthguard, but Paul's dice are usually good.

This is the last shot I took, as Paul, with usual cunning, tried something desperate and jammily pulled it off. He kept moving and attacking with his remaining Hearthguard unit (centre rear of shot, with axes aloft), moving sideways first and then beating my Bondi (just in front of my warlord at left of shot). My warlord beat them, however, but he had a dice left to send them back in one last time and they were just able to finish me off....One more turn and his warlord was toast, but it was not to be. With such a profligate use of his best troops, I wonder how well he will do in the campaign!!! Well done for his win though. He took the chance of building up all that fatigue and pulled off a close run thing.