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SAGA: Ages of Ages

SAGA: Ages of Ages

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Project Blog by zoidpinhead Cult of Games Member

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About the Project

As each "Age of ..." book comes out I get excited, make lists and put minis together to play. My imagination and wallet go much faster than my paintbrush but here is a record of how I've been getting on keeping up with Saga.

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Getting started

Tutoring 9
Skill 9
Idea 9
2 Comments

I’m given to understand that from chaos comes order.  Let’s hope so…

On the table is my 3/4 done Warhammer Ancients Arthurians, some Late Romans and First Crusade I got from a mate, bags of Picts, Scots and Irish metals and a part planned box of plastic Irish.  Oh and in between are the Rorke’s Drift buildings I was supposed to be finishing this weeked 😀

The plan is to put 6 point warbands together for as many forces as I can for AoI and AoV.  So far the long list is: Late Romans, Britons (Arthur and Vortigern), Picts, Scotti/Irish, Alt Clut/Gododdin/Welsh, Sassanids.

Getting started

I’ve started stripping them off their square bases (as nature intended) and mounting onto the more lovely rounds (as nature intended for skirmish games).  Here we have Arthur’s warlord base and some hearthguard.

Sassanids 6pts and options

Tutoring 7
Skill 7
Idea 8
No Comments

Sassanid forces are already done following my Spring Clean Challenge this year.  The basic 6 points are:

Mounted Warlord on barded horse

3x 4 Hearthguard Cataphracts

2x 8 Mounted Warriors with composite bows

1x Elephant

Sassanid SAGA Sassanid SAGA

This basic list can be easily buffed using some of the elite options offered by the Sassanid list.

Swap out 1x Hearthguard to upgrade the Warlord to carry the Derafsh Kaviani which was the Imperial warbanner.  The existing warlord model can become a Personal Champion.

Upgrade 1x Hearthguard to Pushtigban, the Guardians of the Emperor.

This takes the list to 8 points and I’ve got options to add or swap a unit of Nomadic Horsemen using the Hun models in the Swordpoint army.

Sassanids SAGASassanids SAGA
Sassanid Derafsh KavianiSassanid Derafsh Kaviani
Sassanid Warlord or Personal ChampionSassanid Warlord or Personal Champion
Sassanid PushtigbanSassanid Pushtigban

Late Roman early progress

Tutoring 7
Skill 8
Idea 8
No Comments

Given the figures I’ve got the list is:

Warlord on foot, 4 Cataphract HG, 4 Mounted HG, 4 Foot HG, 8 Mounted Warriors Composite Bows, 18 Levy, Manuballista (converted from 6 Levy) = 6pts.  Options include Sea Raiders, Hun Nomadic Horsemen and a Bishop.

Rebasing and shield transfers for these:

Warlord with dodgy looking bodyguards.  Foundry's Vortigern, Hengist & Horsa.Warlord with dodgy looking bodyguards. Foundry's Vortigern, Hengist & Horsa.
Mounted Hearthguard, plastic Gripping BeastMounted Hearthguard, plastic Gripping Beast
Foot Hearthguard Gripping Beast metals.Foot Hearthguard Gripping Beast metals.
Levy.  Foundry Late Romans and BritonsLevy. Foundry Late Romans and Britons

I’ve got a choice of Manuballista.  Unfortunately only allowed one per warband.  Foundry Late Roman miniatures.

Bishop with attendant.  Not great painting or sculpts, early Gripping Beast metals.Bishop with attendant. Not great painting or sculpts, early Gripping Beast metals.

Sea Wolves

Tutoring 7
Skill 9
Idea 8
No Comments

The first mercenaries have arrived, the Sea Wolves.

Sea WolvesSea Wolves

Wargames Factory plastics now sold by Warlord Games. Assembled and painted by my mate. I’ve given them a slight refresh and added some LMBS Jomsviking transfers and banner.

In game they can be taken with almost every faction.  They add some much needed expendable umph to your attack plans.

Last of the Late Romans

Tutoring 8
Skill 9
Idea 9
No Comments

Final couple of units ready for the Late Romans.  Four Cataphract Hearthguard.  Great value, a single sprue of Gripping Beast plastics with a spare Sassanid horse for the fourth rider.

Late Roman CataphractsLate Roman Cataphracts

8 warrior horse archers.  Again Gripping Beast plastics.  These were originally painted lime green which I’ve replaced with a more conservative blue.  Shoulder pauldron transfers from a LBMS 15mm Arthurian Banners sheet.

These are tricky to play in the game with those bows only having a range of M so plenty of additional movement needed to get in and out of range as they aren’t up to much in combat.

Last of the Late Romans

Commanders - Belisarius and Arthur

Tutoring 7
Skill 7
Idea 6
2 Comments

King Arthur and standard bearer by Footsore Miniatures and Games.  Swapped the standard bearer’s shield for a Celtic one by Warlord Games.    Went with Zealot Yellow Speedpaint as the basis for the yellow cloak and then highlighted up to match the colour on the shield transfer from LMBS.

Belisarius by Footsore with a Byzantine standard bearer by V&V.  Icon on the banner by LMBS.  I worked quite hard on the colour blending effect on the standard bearer’s shield.  I’m not sure it shows in the photos but it looks quite good irl.

Thebans

Tutoring 6
Skill 6
Idea 6
2 Comments

The Greek Cities in Age of Alexander include options for Thebans.  The list I went for was shaped by the models I already have and so I’ve gone for:

Warlords on foot
2 units of 12 levy javelins
2 units of 8 hoplite warriors to make a single Oblique Phalanx
1 legendary unit of 12 Sacred Band of Thebes

This is a good list that provides a line of battle that counts as 5 units which is pretty good on the battle board.  I’ve played them a couple of times and they’ve come up short against Greek Successors.  Charging a large pike block is a fool’s errand, even when the Sacred Band hit with a very powerful punch having Agression 2 so 24 dice in combat before modifiers or Battle Board abilities!  I need to screen the main battle line better with the Levies if there is a good shooting unit on the opposition.  The Successor opponent had Cretan Archers which are nasty when facing a slow oponent like a hoplite line of battle.

Javelin Levy 1 Foundry miniaturesJavelin Levy 1 Foundry miniatures
Javelin Levy 2 Foundry miniaturesJavelin Levy 2 Foundry miniatures
Oblique Phalanx of Theban hoplites, Victrix Theban hoplitesOblique Phalanx of Theban hoplites, Victrix Theban hoplites

Theban Sacred Band by Warlord Games, formerly Immortal miniatures.

Warlord Epaminondas with bodyguard and flute player 2 Footsore minis with a Foundry bodyguard.Warlord Epaminondas with bodyguard and flute player 2 Footsore minis with a Foundry bodyguard.

6pts of Thebans completed and some thoughts on playing them

Tutoring 6
Skill 6
Idea 6
No Comments
6pts of Thebans completed and some thoughts on playing them

I’ve had four games with the Thebans now, three games against Successors and one versus Carthaginians.  They, like most Saga armies, take a bit of getting used to as far as getting the most from the Battle Board goes.  So far I’ve learned to keep the javelin levy in front of the two main phalanx blocks which screens them from missle fire and early speculative attacks before you get into position to charge.  The phalanx needn’t form Line of Battle too early – just keep them together and use their regular move of M to get into position.  Once Line of Battle is formed your Battle Board comes alive and they are pretty impressive in attack.  The Sacred Band have a max-ed out starting dice pool of 16 until they take 5 casualties and with Resilience (1) this can take a while.  The Oblique Phalanx isn’t a shrinking violet either and opponents struggle to manage to fight them, even closing ranks doesn’t help much and Battle Board defence is needed to hold out against them.  If an opponent can hold out they are a bit vulnerable once the battle board abilities are used so opponents need to sacrifce a cheap unit or two and then pile in with their best units or keep running away and shooting.  I’m not winning often but I am causing problems for opponents who really don’t like having to face such a scary line of battle.

Getting a game in

Tutoring 7
Skill 7
Idea 7
2 Comments

Over the Easter hols. we got together for some friendly games.  Nearest to the camera you can see Carthaginians (right) versus Theban City States (left).  At the top of the table are Successor Greeek with pike phalanx (unpainted, right) versus Successor Greek with javelin warriors and standard hoplite phalanx (left).  As you can see we weren’t using standard size terrain.  A good time was had by all.  With two games played, winners played each other in the second game.  The scores were Carthage 2:0, Successors with Pikes 1:1, Thebans 1:1 and Successors with hoplites 0:2.

Getting a game in

Speedpainting Spartans part 1

Tutoring 4
Skill 5
Idea 5
2 Comments

I recorded the stages used to paint a Spartan unarmoured warrior from Wargames Foundry.  I suppose this is a bit of an homage to Kevin Dallimore’s painting guides, he did a nice armoured Spartan step by step which is still on the Foundry website.  Clearly I’m going a bit quicker than the three shade process here.  We start off by cleaning off the minimal flash and then arm our Spartan with a cast spear.  The best looking dory is made by Aventine Miniatures (Cast weapons AW03) and as they cast in pewter it isn’t bendy like a white metal one would be.  They are a little thick but are absolutely perfect in the somewhat exagerated hands of the Foundry sculpts.  Zenithal highlight applied with an airbrush.  I use Badger’s Stynylrez range as they cover brilliantly with a single thin coat and seem to shrink into all of the detail when they dry.  White zenith from 70 degrees over an all over grey undercoat.

Now onto the speedpainting.  Much as I dislike Contrasts for this technique I prefer the slightly more tanned look of Guilliman Flesh compared to the brighter AP Crusader Flesh.

Red next.  This is where speedpaints really come into their own.  I’d have to spend ages trying to get this sort of finish with regular layers of acrylics.

Hair next, black of course.

Now on to the spear.  Leather wrap first.

And then the shaft.  Despite the picture this colour was Sand Golem.  It provides a lovely light wood tone that is a good match to Vallejo Model Air Wood if there is any patching needed.

Speedpainting Spartans part 2

Tutoring 5
Skill 5
Idea 5
2 Comments

Now on to metalics.  There will be good speedpaint options soon but I’m stuck with a two part standard acrylic approach for now.  Spear head and butt spike first in Vallejo Gunmetal (not pictured).  Thn the skull cap which a few painters render in either leather or linen colours but I want in bronze.  For a nice bright bronze I go with a mid tone gold with a more coppery highlight. Glorious gold to start then – doesn’t matter if this is a bit patchy – any patches with the white showing through will provide a bit more interest and light variance in the final effect.

Did the basic earth colour on the base next.

Leatherwork next and rather than a basic leather shade I’m preferring this redder colour that I think looks good with ancients, Vallejo Burnt Red.

Bonewhite drybrush highlight on the base.

Back to the metal ics again for smaller details on the figure and the basic colours on the shield, gold front (over a white base coat) and red leather interior (over bare metal).  Once painted we attach the shield.  Scrape off paint on the forearm to ensure there is a metal to metal join which is a better quality of hold for the superglue.

Now the bronze highlight on all the gold bits to give us a nice bright bronze colour.  Sycorax Bronze from Citadel is not great for coverage either but the two rather thin colours overlayed give a final metal effect with depth and complexity.

Speedpainting Spartans part 3

Tutoring 5
Skill 5
Idea 5
2 Comments

On to basing.  Eagle-eyed viewers will have spotted that I started this before the final paint step.  Mixed Woodland Scenics fine turf scatter to form a patch of grass on between a third and half of the base.  My Mediterranean basing scheme wants the base to look quite dry and therefore I leave a ptach of sand/stones with just the earth colours on in the final finish.

Then some static grass tufts.  Mixed lengths and colours.  This scheme is based around Gamers Grass Dry Steppe set.  I do put mixed sets together myself but it is easier to use one of these commercial mixtures.  A couple of tufts on each base genrally, two different colours.  Sometimes only 1 especially if it is large or quite long, sometimes 3 if they are quite small.

A coat of matt varnish.  I have an airbrush but prefer rattle cans for speed and consistency and because varnish gums up my airbrush every time (I do use fine needles).  As Testors isn’t around anymore this is the current favourite Mr Hobby Flat Matt TopCoat.  Pretty good even over high gloss when I’ve dipped them – no dip for these though as I didn’t want to dull the colours which are spot on to what I wanted.

Final finishing touch is some shine back onto the pointy bit.  These Vallejo Metal Colors are intended for the airbrush but work beautifully as bright highlights applied with a brush.  Just the blade gets picked out.

So there we go all done.  He can join his mates in an 8 Warrior 1 point unit.

Speedpainting Spartans part 3

Spartans finished and for sale

Tutoring 5
Skill 5
Idea 5
1 Comment

Finished so here they are.  Stuck them on eBay so you have a chance to own them if you are quick (finish this weekend).

Spartans finished and for sale
Spartans finished and for sale
Spartans finished and for sale
Spartans finished and for sale
Spartans finished and for sale
Spartans finished and for sale
Spartans finished and for sale
Spartans finished and for sale

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