Category Archives: Ancients

Gripping Beast Anglo-Dane Hearthguard

I’m almost done with my 6 point SAGA warband.  Here’s some dane axes from Gripping Beast, which I got from their US reseller, Architects Of War:

Gripping_beast_anlgo_dane_hearthguard_bare Gripping_beast_anlgo_dane_hearthguard_paintedI primed them with The Army Painter’s Leather Brown spray primer.  I’ve become a huge fan of their color spray primers and the matching brush paint.  It saves so much time to not have to paint the various straps, pouches – AKA the fiddly bits.

I’ve found a local group that plays SAGA once a month.  I’ve played one session with them, and they are a good group of guys.  I’m looking forward to next month.

All I have left in my warband is to base my levy.  They are all painted, only basing is left.

Rules and more Rules

So many rules, so little time.booksFrom top to bottom:

  • SAGA – The base rules plus all the expansions in the folder that came with expansion #4. I play this a lot recently.  I have a six point Anglo-Dane warband.
  • Dreadball Season 2
  • Dreadball  – Base rules.  I love Dreadball.  I play the base game only so far.  I have a season 2 team, unpainted.  It will get painted soon.  Dreadball is a ton of fun.
  • Monster Hunter International – The RPG based on the novels.  I GM a campaign.  Lots of fun.  Humans with guns fight monsters – werewolves, zombies, etc…
  • Star Wars Edge Of Empire –  RPG. I do not currently play.  It seems like a fun game.  Unique dice mechanic.
  • Eclipse Phase –  RPG. I am a player in a campaign.  Great game, and the most high quality rulebook here.  Very unique sci-fi setting. The printed book is well worth it’s price, however, the rules are also available for free.  Creative Commons rules!
  • Chain Of Command – Just released (Fall 2013) WWII platoon level rules from Too Fat Lardies.  I’ve not played them yet, but they seem really nice.
  • Gruntz – 15mm Sci-Fi rules.  A great introductory set of rules, and you can add complexity later.  I’ve played them a few times.  Fun.
  • Tomorrows War – Another 15mm Sci-Fi ruleset.  Well reviewed, but overly complex and, frankly, the book is hard to read.  Black text on a busy background.
  • Traveller – I have so many great memories of playing Traveller as a kid in the ’80s.  Sci-Fi RPG.
  • Traveller 5  – Not the “final” Traveller I’d hoped for.  Overly complex.

So, that’s my physical rules collection.  In digital, I’ve got a bunch more, but the only digital rules that are not also here in physical form that I play / want to play are:

  • Quadrant 13 – Company level 15mm Sci-Fi rules.  Seems like a great game.  I’d love to play some day.
  • Full Thrust: Cross Dimensions – Super fun space fleet combat game.  I’ve got two full fleets of minis painted up for this game.  Quick, deadly, tactical space combat.  Free rules, too.

Painting a 28mm Archer

In this post, I paint a Warhammer bowman.  I’m using these guys to play SAGA, though they may be, historically, a little later.  They look good, though, so I’m not really concerned.

I painted 12 of them.  I primed them “Leather Brown” with spray primer from The Army Painter.  This way I could skip the fiddly leather strap, etc.

I consider myself an average painter.  I’m not going to win any awards.  However, I think my troops look good on the table, and that’s the point, isn’t it?

These first 3 pics are after a base coat only.  The face, however, has a base coat and a highlight coat.  He’s blue tacked to a craft stick (with 2 of his brothers) because I do basing after they are painted.

basecoat_front basecoat_back basecoat_face

 

These next 3 are after I painted the highlights:highlight_front highlight_back highlight_face

 

And these final 3 pics are after a wash with The Army Painter Srong Tone:wash_front wash_back wash_face

SAGA: Anglo-Danes vs Jomsvikings

Had two fun games of SAGA today against my buddy Yu over at At Ease Games.  He played the Jomsvikings and I played the Anglo-Danes.  We played 4 points each, as that’s all we each had painted.  The Jomsviking force was all hearthguard (two points with Dane axes), while the Anglo-Danes were two points of hearthguard (1 point with Dane axes) and two points of warriors.

First we played the Clash Of Warlords scenario:

face_offAnglo-Danes with their backs to the camera.  The Anglo-Dane warlord advanced with a unit of hearthguard at his side.  The Jomsvikings attacked, killed all the hearthguard, then attacked again, and killed the warlord.

Next we played the Battle at the Ford scenario:

crossing_the_bridgeThe Jomsvikings came pouring over the bridge, to be met by Anglo-Dane hearthguard and warriors.  The Jomsvikings put up a good fight, be eventually their warlord was caught exposed and died.

SAGA is a fun game and I can’t wait to get my levy painted so I can try out missile attacks.

 

Games Workshop vs Wargames Factory

Earlier today I made a post about my SAGA warband. I stated that I thought the Wargames Factory saxons were disappointing as archers (also that the basic pose was the same as my hearthguard and warriors, and I wanted some variety)

EDIT: I did try to get the Gripping Beast saxon bowmen, but they seem to be sold out in the USA.

I bought some Warhammer Bretonnia Peasant Bowmen to use instead. The Wargames Factory plastics are $15.99 for 32 soldiers. That’s 50 cents each. However, they take about an hour to assemble 4 minis. Body, both arms, head and weapon are all separate. The Warhammer kit was $35 (cheaper on Amazon) for 16 minis, plus a bunch of extras – wood stake and chain defensive emplacement, bases, dog, a really nice flag, a beer keg, various decals, etc.

That still comes out to $2+ per mini. However, most of them are body + head, so WAY less assembly. Also, the quality is just so much better.

Here’s a comparison pic. The glue is still wet on the Warhammer minis. Wargames Factory in the middle.

GamesWorkshop_vs_Wargames_Factory