Gripping Beast has been showing off a couple of additional releases that would have been dropping at Salute. We start with a Varangian Prince and the Lord Of Novgorod, Rurik.

This fellow is one of the Legendary Warlords for the Pagan Rus within games of SAGA. Rules for him can be found as part of the Age Of Vikings book and he should provide you with quite the steadfast warrior to lead the charge against invaders. He might be doing quite a lot of invading himself too!

There is some fun folklore around the character of Rurik within Eastern Europe...

"In Estonian folklore there is a tale of three brothers, who were born as sons of a peasant, but, through great bravery and courageousness, all later became rulers in foreign countries. The brothers were called Rahurikkuja (Troublemaker), Siniuss (Blue snake) and Truuvaar (Loyal man) (Estonianised names for Rurik and his brothers Sineus and Truvor), names given to them by their childhood friend, a blue snake"

He is quite the talismanic figure within the history of the Pagan Rus and he is certainly one of those characters who has been crafted from a mix of legend and reality which is perfect for someone diving into SAGA.

Invading Avars

As well as Rurik, the team at Gripping Beast also took a look at a band of mounted warriors for the Avar peoples.

Long time enemies of the Byzantines, the Avars were a nomadic people who could bring around 20,000 riders to bear at any time! They fought alongside the Sassanids and were quite the menace during the period. Their dominance across the continent was only stopped by Charlemagne years later.

Their new range of figures includes a lot of different mounted elements with command, spear and bow-armed troops all accounted for amongst their number. If you're looking to build this highly mobile force then you'll have plenty of options to do so and then you can take them over into the likes of Swordpoint and SAGA to range across the battlefield.

There is more for you to go and check out from this collection over on their webstore HERE. It's always nice to be introduced to a range which isn't immediately recognisable as it allows you to go hunting through their history so you learn more about them. Maybe this release will have you going off to find out more about the Avars?

Are you tempted by more of these Not-Salute releases?