Sláine: Kiss My Paintbrush!

Talos was a bronze figure who defended the island of Crete in ancient times.  In this fantasy setting in Antidiluvian Europe I am hoping to broaden the forces by introducing a Minoan faction.  I’m starting with a giant.  Talos the Man of Bronze.  He is a resin miniature by Mierce Miniatures.

He was painted in AP Speedpaint Bronze which was then mixed with some dots of green, red and brown and the bronze was dotted with the mixed paints to add some interest and variety to the colour.  He has some corrosion sculpted on so next this was tackled with some dark green and then GW Technical paint Nihilakh Oxide neat, then mixed with white, then neat again.  Finally the glowing face and eyes were started with red ink, then red speedpaints then working inwards; Vallejo Fluro Magenta and Orange, Orange, Orange and Yellow and fianlly neat Yellow and two tiny whit dots for focal points in the eyes.

In the graphic novel ‘Demon Killer’, Slaine it transported through time to help Boudica against the Caesarians led by “a friend of Nero”, Elfric the demon from the El dimension.  This is one of my favourite Slaine storylines so I was always going to add some Caesarians to support Elfric in his battles.  Models are Victrix Imperial Romans Advancing.  Painted with AP Speedpaints over the high contrast zenith undercoat I’ve detailed already.  The only change was using Polished Silver with a Nuln Oil wash, rather than the NMM approach I took before.

These are intended for use in Midgard as opponents for my Earth Tribes.  I’ve deliberately broken the rule about maximum hero value in a force here by taking 115 points of heroes and only 85 points of troops in this 200 point force.  That’s how I want it and I run the games so my players will go with what I’ve set up.

Here’s the whole force:

Elfric is Level 4, the Centurion Level 3 and the Optio Level 2.  There is a unit of El Women who are a combination of Medium Cavalry and Light Infantry Skirmishers traits.  Finally 2 units of Caesarian legionaries.

The force is quite different to the others as these hit very hard and Elfric is the only Level 4 hero in my game so far.  They should prove an interesting challenge to the Earth Tribes.

The Gaesetae are a brotherhood of mercenaries.  They draw members from across the Young Lands and bands can form with former members of many different tribes, religions and cultures.  They fight naked to show their skill, devotion and martial prowess; and to ‘put the willies up their opponents’.

The miniatures are mostly Ragnarok with a few Black Tree Designs Viking Berserkers to make up the numbers.  I need 16 to make two stands for Midgard and they come in at 50 points which is handy as they are mercenaries so will be an easy add-on to any of the existing factions.

They are painted with AP Speedpaints over a zenithed undercoat (white over grey).  This was better than the usual highly graphic white over black I’ve been using so far on this project.  This is because as I found out on earlier models the Crusader Skin Speedpaint doesn’t show up over the blacker tones, grey is as dark as it can cope with.

Tattoos are done with a dark blue/green Speedpaint and are quite thick lines, this is a compromise to help speed things up but in units like these I think it makes individual patterns easier to pick out with the models in dynamic poses and close together on the Midgard group bases.

The shields are LBMS from the big Jomsviking set.  The flag was cut out of an old Wargames Illustrated where a couple of pages were printed with Viking flags.

And now onto the Midgard 12cm frontage bases:

We got together to play our first Midgard game last week.  Nick D took on the role of Slough Feg with his Drunes supported by the Fomorians, Nick M was Slaine and the Tribes of the Earth Goddess and our host Mike C lead their Fir Bolg allies.

Setup. The Drunes and Fomorians are gathering at the Wickerman to sacrifice their prisoners to their twisted god Crom-Cruach in a debauched ceremony.  Slaine has gathered the Earth Tribes and allied with the Fir Bolg to recover their friends who are about to be sacrificed.  They hope to take prisoners to sacrifice in the Wickerman to their glorious goddess the Earth Mother.

Scenario. We played the first scenario in the book which is a straight up clash and bash scenario.  The only variation is the opportunity for a champion’s challenge at the beginning.  There was a roll off and Slough Feg won but in typically sneaky fashion decided against issuing a challenge.

Slaine’s army were deemed to be the attackers and would therefore get the first activation in each turn.

Deployment.  Slaine’s deployment looked like this.  The Fir Bolg at the bottom of the image on the left wing.  King Gann and the Falians are next with Slaine and the Fir Domain and Sessair supported by the Red Branch warriors in reserve.  At the top of the picture we see King Rudraige by the woods with the Fianna almost hidden from our view above the woods.

They started with 8 reputation tokens and their vessel is the silver quaich.

The Drune deployment has the Fomorians on their right at the bottom of the picture with the mammoth on the extreme wing and the werewolves between it and the Fomorian warriors supported by the Big Fomorians.

Slough Feg holds post in the centre with his Drune warriors  and Giant supporting the Half Dead.  At the top on the left wing are Madb and the Badb and the crossbow skirmishers.

They also strated with 8 reputation tokens and their vessel is the shining golden goblet.

Turn 1 and 2 saw the forces advance toward each other.  King Rudraige expended many mighty deeds as he heroically battled the nettles and brambles in the woods but failed to make much progress (he kept failing his second move activation rolls).

Turn 2 saw the first shots fired as the crossbow skirmishers had a pot shot at the advancing Sessair but no damage done.  It turns out that needing 6s at long range on 6 dice isn’t likely to hurt an Armour 3 unit.

Turn 3 saw the start of the action as both sides threw their expendable unit into the fray.  Neither side had a leader in the first unit to clash so missed out on the reputation bonus available.

The Half Dead met the Reborn and a drawn combat resulted in the attacker’s phase with the Half Dead edging a victory in the defender’s phase but Relentless ensured neither unit would be able to back down.

Turns 4 and 5 were pretty brutal affairs as the lines met.  The picture shows the state of play at the end of Turn 4.  The Fir Bolg faced off against the Fomorians and a unit of warriors got flattened by the mammoth but did at least damage it.  2 reputation out of Slaine’s quaich.  The Fomorian hordes got stuck in. One did okay against the second Fir bolg warriors but the other one in the centre of the table but found it tough going against the Earth Tribe warriors.

The Reborn finally saw off the Half Dead (-1 rep to Slough Feg).  Ineffective plinking from the crossbows as King Rudraige finally extracted himself from the woods and the Fianna started to threaten the Drune left wing.

Score. Slaine 6 Rep : Slough Feg 7 Rep.

Turn 5. Action in the centre saw the Reborn removed but the Badb were lost and Megrim only joined their combat after they charged so lost out on a reputation token.  Slaine -1 Rep, Slough Feg -2  The Fomorians battling the Fir Domain were killed (Slough Feg -1)

The key action was at the bottom of the board with the Fomorians just edging out the Fir Bolg warriors with support from Balor and the Werewolves (Slaine -2 rep).  Cruically though the Fir Bolg Ogre charged and killed the Fomorian Mammoth which inflicted a loss of 4 reputation tokens on Slough Feg.

Slough Feg decided to join the Big Fomorians and tried to charge the Falians but failed the second movement activation and had run out of Mighty Deeds to be able to reroll to get the charge home.  That meant he missed out on getting a reputation token and at the end of the turn his shining golden goblet was empty!

Score. Slaine 3 Rep : Slough Feg 0 Rep.

Conclusion.  Slough Feg and his allies slither away into the darkness.  Long into the night the Earth Tribes feast before the glowing pyre of the Wickerman.

Some thoughts on the game

We all thoroughly enjoyed the game.  The way the battle unfolded suited the Earth Tribes whose largely heavy infantry based force had the advantage in a clash and bash style engagement, think Romans versus Barbarians for the way the two forces were put together.

Unsurprisingly the Earth Tribes players were happy with their actions although they might have preferred King Rudraige to get into the action a bit sooner.  They were a bit surprised by the high level of attrition once combat started and the agressive Fir Bolg suffered a lot of casualties despite managing to force the win by beating the mammoth.

For their part the Drunes felt they needed to handle their force a bit differently and make use of the better maneuverability of their force.  The werewolves for instance might have been better on the open left wing rather than in a supporting role and skirmishers could have been used to draw units out of the battle line using Evade.  They needed to get their heroes into units and charging to help their weaker forces against the stronger units of the opposition and pick up the reputation bonus tokens.  Shooting didn’t do much good and clearly needs combining with other unit actions against a specific enemy.  Likewise the mammoth probably needed closer support units.  That said they might well have pulled off a draw if they had got Slough Feg and his Brutal unit to charge home.

Really pleased this project has a second Golden Button.  Thanks to all concerned.  This is the first one of my projects to get two.  As requested I have added eyes to the Falians.  Gerry is right about most things hobby, and rather like Justin, ‘When he’s right, he’s right!’

Once again I’m using the force creation spreadsheet provided here: https://mogsymakes.net/resources-for-midgard-heroic-battles/

This time we have the enemy of the Earth Tribes, the minions of the Lord of Worms, the Drune tribe and their Fomorian allies.

The Heroes are:

Lord Slough Feg [pictured above], Level 3; Army Commander, I fortell Mighty Deeds – 28pts
Balor of the Evil Eye, Level 3; Mounted, Amphibious, Fearsome – 32pts
Megrim & Robym the Dwarf, Level 2; Hold Fast – 19 pts
Slough Throt , Level 1; Beastmaster – 15 pts

Total for the Heroes – 94pts. Again we are compliant with the maximum of 1/3 of the points from heroes. Total Reputation is 12.

Monstrosities:

A Giant; He’s Armour 4 as although he is much bigger than the Fir Bolg Ogre he is naked.  He comes with the mandatory Traits; Aloof, Brutal, Fearsome, Impetuous, Steadfast & Towering. 44 pts, Reputation 4. His Aloof trait is the reason Slough Throt has Beastmaster which helps to provide a bit of control over Aloof creatures. [picture of Slough Throt with the Giant]

A Mammoth; Aloof, Big, Brutal, Counter Charge, Fearsome, Impetuous, Stampede & Steadfast. 36 pts, Reputation 4

The whole force is therefore 300 points with a total Reputation of 31.  This is the same as the Earth Tribes 🙂

Midgard is going to work really well with this project.  It was interesting to hear in the interview with the author James Morris that he first started playing Midgard with his own Irish myth armies.  I hope my armies will do the setting and the rules justice.

The Midgard rules are well supported with some excellent resources on the author’s website.  There is even a force creation app.  My preference is for spreadsheets so I’m using the force creation spreadsheet provided here: https://mogsymakes.net/resources-for-midgard-heroic-battles/

Sláine here is the army general and will be joined on his base by Nest and Ukko.  He is a Level 3 hero and I’m representing my heroes’ levels by putting the same number of models on the command base.  Warbases sell sabot bases that are 60mm round with 3 25mm recesses.  They are for Test of Honour if you are looking for them.  These sabot bases will be used for the Level 2 and 3 heroes.  Level 1 heroes will be on 40mm round bases, again Warbases sell a suitable sabot for putting a single 25mm round based model on.

The basis of the armies is the Tribes of the Earth Goddess have been joined by the Fir Bolg to battle an alliance of Fomorians and Drunes.  We are just starting to learn the game so will start with forces at 300 pts which is the suggested minimum.  We start with the Tribes of the Earth Goddess and their allies.

The Heroes are:

Sláine, Level 3; Army Commander, Battle Smiter, Favour of the Gods, Fearsome – 39pts
King Gann of the Falians, Level 2; Legendary Missile (Flaming Spear of the Sun) – 20pts
King Rudraige of the Fir Domain, Level 2; Legendary Weapon (Silver Sword of the Moon) – 23 pts
Streng – Fir Bolg Champion, Level 1; Beastmaster – 15 pts

Total for the Heroes – 97pts.  There is a maximum of 1/3 of the points from heroes so we are just under.  Total Reputation is 11.

Earth Tribes units:

1 Unit of Sessair Heavy Infantry (HI); Spears as Tribute, Impetuous – 24pts
1 Unit of Sessair Red Branch (HI w. missiles); Javelins, Spears as Tribute, Impetuous, Fearsome – 27 pts [Pictured]
Cathbad, Cauldron & Reborn (Warrior Horde); Relentless – 14 pts
1 Unit Fir Domain (HI); Impetuous – 21 pts
1 Unit Fianna (HI); Impetuous – 21 pts
1 Unit Falian Shadow Warriors (HI); Impetuous, Armour 2 as they are fighting in a set battle in the daytime which isn’t their preference – 16 pts
2 Units of Fir Bolg HI with slings – 36 pts

Total points 159, Reputation is a total of 16

The Fir Bolg are accompanied by an ogre who will be a Monstrosity using the Giant profile.  He’s Armour 4 as he is smaller than the biggest giants and comes with the mandatory Traits; Aloof, Brutal, Fearsome, Impetuous, Steadfast & Towering.  44 pts, Reputation of 4.  His Aloof trait is the reason the Fir Bolg champion has Beastmaster which helps to provide a bit of control over Aloof creatures.

The whole force is therefore 300 points with a total Reputation of 31

I’m slowly working through the sabot bases and will post some pictures once I’m finished.

The Tribe of the Shadows are represented as black painted warriors and were experts at night raids, subterfuge and ambush.

My version was a fairly straightforward conversion from 2 sprues of Victrix Gallic Fanatics.  Black Speedpaint over the zenithed undercoat with some top highlights created by wiping the very tips to remove the Speedpaint.  A light edge highlight was added to the top half of the shields to help show the details.  Weapons in Gravelord Grey Speedpaint.  This was a very gentle reintroduction to painting as I’ve been “off games” for a while.

Sabot base is 12x6cm which is the beginning of my effort to convert this collection into armies to use with the Midgard rules.  More on that soon.