Blood Eagle

I don't quite know how I managed to miss the development of Blood Eagle, from the team that bought us In Her Majesty's Name.  But I have only just found out about it, thanks to some fellow bloggers.  This is particularly odd as it seems perfect for me; being for Dark Age skirmishes with 3 to 15 figures a side.  A few years ago I bought Saga but although, admittedly, I have never played it the inclusion of elements like the battle boards put me off.  It seemed to be too 'gamey' (like the jugged hare my uncle gave me once) for someone as stupid as me, whereas I have played and enjoyed IHMN and the rules are based on the same engine, 

Better than that, I actually have a number of Dark Ages figures painted. First up are these old Gripping Beast Romano-British and Saxons.  This was before Little Big Men shield transfers!  I think I have all the Gripping Beast figures based on the Bernard Cornwell Arthurian novels and I bought a job lot long ago from the time they had a shop in Richmond upon Thames.

From the same period I have painted around 30 Musketeer Miniatures Early Saxons. I also have a number of Grand Manner Dark Ages buildings, some of which are painted too.

Moving forward in time I am working on some Carolingians and have quite a few more under way for a Lion Rampant force.

I have also painted a few Andalusian crossbowmen and have some unpainted infantry somewhere

It's Vikings I have the most of, however, and it is really these that I will be looking at for my first Blood Eagle forces.  I must have around 60 painted so I would already have enough to try out the rules.

I've also got Norman, Byzantines and Crusades figures but I think it's probably the earlier period I am going for.

I need to get hold of a copy of the rules and see what sort of forces and, therefore, figures you need. There is an official Blood Eagle blog here.

My Dark Ages "armies". Too many of course!

Some Gripping Beast Saxons: some of the first metal figures I painted, about ten years ago and not up to my current (however low that is) standard

The very first metal 28mm figures I painted were some Gripping Beast Vikings. I also painted some Saxons  and both have seen service in my early days at Guildford Wargames Club.  I recently discovered half a dozen of these early Saxons (technically, of course, late Saxons!) and they look very poor indeed.  I was hoping to touch them up a bit with static grass bases but they need much more than that and there is nothing more tedious than repainting figures!

Dark Ages figures are some of the most time consuming to paint because of their literal lack of uniformity.  There are armies which are worse, high medieaval and Celts, for example, but what with random colours and seperate spears and shields it is hard, for me anyway, to do a lot at a time. Added to this, other than Normans and Carolingians, the points value (in WAB at least) of many of the troops means you need large numbers of them.  So why do I keep buying them?

Partly the reason came out of a long interest in Vikings due, in large part, to my part Scandinavian heritage; one of my great grandparents came from Malmö. Partly, I was seduced by the splendid displays of beautifully lit Dark Ages figures I saw on the Gripping Beast stand at my first Salute.  Mostly, however, it was the appearance of the various WAB supplements: Shieldwall, Age of Arthur, EL Cid, Fall of the West and Byzantium: Beyond the Golden Gate.  All of these were full of lovely painted miniatures which I have been unable to resist. 

The number of WAB armies I am concurrently painting is a running joke with Mike Lewis (who owns Black Hat Miniatures) at the club and was my main opponent for Dark Ages games.  I've decided to list the ones I am working on just to try to sort out where I need to put in some more effort to progress, however, slowly, some more units.  Part of my problem stems from the fact that I always want to paint both armies; at least in the Dark Ages.

So, chronologically let's see where we are:

Late Romans

I bought some surprisingly nice figures from Black Tree Designs (their figures are very variable) some years ago and have painted, er, none (although I have started a few).  Part of the reason for this was that I was looking for a suitable opponent and didn't fancy Persians.  This has now been solved with Musketeer Miniatures lovely new Goths.

Goths

I bought a couple of packs of these from Musketeer when they first came out but have no idea where they are (I take all my figures out of their packs immediately and put them in boxes).

Gripping Beast Romano-British.  The first figures I based with static grass.  I had to hand paint the shields; no LBM then!

Romano British

The purchase of these was heavily influenced by my reading of the Bernard Cornwell Arthur novels and, of course, Gripping Beast's range is based on these, even including characters from the books.  I got these directly from Gripping Beast's shop when they had their brief stint in Richmond upon Thames a few years ago.  It was very exciting to be able to actually go into a shop and buy historical figures.  Even more exciting was the fact that I had an ex-girlfirend who lived just over the river in St Margarets.  Trips to Richmond were doubly fulfilling, therefore.  I have also bought some of Artizan's Romano British and am now tempted by the new Musketeer Late/Roman/Romano British/Early Byzantine figures.

Musketeer Early Saxons

Early Saxons

I also bought some of Gripping Beast's Arthurian period Saxons (not very inspiring) but then of course the Musketeer ones arrived and I bought quite a few of these.  I have actually painted a whole unit of these and, like all Musketeer figures, they are lovely to paint so it wouldn't take much persuading for me to do some more.  Whilst taking some pictures for this post I discovered I had also finished half of this unit of Musketeer Early Saxons, which I had completely forgotten about. I know I have the other half unit somewhere!

Gripping Beast Saxons, painted  a long time ago.

Mid Saxons

I read the first couple of Bernard Cornwall's novels set in the period of Alfred so I started picking up a variety of Saxons from a number of manufacturers but none of them were really satisfactory.  Surprisingly, the recent Foundry figures are very nice but it's an expensive way to buy a mass army.

A mixture of Gripping Best, Foundry and Artizan Vikings

Vikings

I bought Gripping Beast of course but many of their figures are not really compatible with each other as regards size.  I bought some of the Foundry ones, despite them being a bit "fantasy" and also quite a few Artizan ones which go well with the Foundry ones and aren't quite so fantasy-looking.  Despite all this I can only field two units of them.  Vikings are a useful Dark Ages army, though, because of their multiple opponents (including each other).  I have about 75 painted. Incidentally, the medieaval history tutor of one of my ex-girlfriends at Oxford insisted it should be pronounced "Vikkings" with a short "i"!

Carolingians

When these Artizan figure came out I bought quite a few thinking they would make a good opponent for the Vikings.  I have only painted a dozen though, although I do like them as figures.  The cavalry are lovely but the spearmen just won't rank up as they are waving their spears around at funny angles.  I will need to re-base them and maybe try to bend their arms a bit.

Andalusians

I bought and painted eight crossbowmen in a week for a game we were having at the club but then I was ill on the day and they never got used.  I'd like to do some more and recently watched El Cid on DVD which led me to buying a pack of four spearman at Colours last month.  I actually based them this week so may get them done soon.  Very nice figures indeed!

Late Saxons

Fortunately you can use the Middle Saxons for these with the addition of some axe wielding Huscarls and the odd kite shield.  The big problem remains the unexciting Saxon ranges around. Still, I have around fifty painted figures.

Irish
I have a few of these Crusader figures somewhere but in WAB you neeed buckets of them as their points value is so low.

Normans

I was never that keen on Normans, as I thought they were a bit stolid and colourless, until my poor Saxons took a pasting at Guildford from someone's Norman milites.  I think I bought the first pack of Crusader figures at a big discount at one of the shows prompted by my son doing the Battle of Hastings at school.  I finished my first unit this week, have done some archers and some mounted milites.  The new Conquest Games plastic mounted figures are very nice and, apparently, foot figures are on the way. These are gradually building into what could be a functional army and they can be used, of course, to bolster El Cid Spanish (except I haven't got any yet).

Turcomen

Guildford were participating in the Society of Ancients games day when they did Dorylaeum.  I painted 30 Perry Miniatures Turcomen horse archers as my contribution but never made the game (although my figures did) as I had to fly to Los Angeles on the day. This is my biggest cavalry unit from any period and I am often tempted to use it as the basis of a full army.

Perry peasants

Crusaders

Of course I would then need some Crusaders and I painted a few peasants for the SoA game. I would love to buy some more of the Perry figures but that would mean, essentially, collecting two Norman armies at the smae time.  I wouldn't mix the manufacturers as their proportions are so different and I paint the bases different colours.  Can't have European muddy bases in the Holy Land! 

Crusader Byzantine archers

Byzantines

This was going to be a great project and I even set up a seperate blog for them but I got frustrated with the quality of the figures available; particularly unsatisfactory cataphracts (nothing worse, of course).  I painted a few and keep wondering about going back to these.  The new Musketeer figures are from a much earlier period but at present they have only done infantry and what are really needed are bow-armed cavalry with lances.  Unless these come out I'm not setting off down that route.

Early Gripping Beast Early Saxon (as opposed to the more recent range)

So that's 14 armies (13 if we amalgamate the mid and late Saxons).  None of them can yet be fielded as a stand alone wargames army although I have enough Vikings and Saxons to contribute a small force to a bigger game.  Of course if I had just stuck to one or even two armies I could have fielded a proper army by now but that would be boring! I'd like to do another unit of Dark Ages figures, having finished the Norman unit recently, but am not sure whether to do more Normans, some Vikings or some Early Saxons.  I have quite a lot of based Normans on my workbench at present but think I will put the Norman spearmen away and perhaps do a unit of eight crossbowmen who should be quicker to do as they have no spears and shields.  There, I have talked myself into it which is what these blogs are for really, to help me think about what to paint next!

Gripping Beast Plastic Vikings

The words "Gripping Beast plastic Vikings" were, for me, the wargaming equivalent of the words "Scarlett Johansson and Penelope Cruz in lesbian love scene" for the cinema. Gripping Beast Vikings were the first 28mm metal figures I ever bought. They were also the first metal 28mm figures I actually had a game with. So they were, therfore, the one "must buy" from Salute. Sadly, like the aformentioned Johansson/Cruz scene, they have proved to be something of a disappointment. I have built several and painted one and have the following thoughts.

Four sprues of ten figures each

The standard sprue

Firstly, what do you get in the box? Four identical sprues with each. Each sprue also contains:

10 bodies all in chainmail (five different types; 2 of which have left arms attached)

10 shields (plus one with attached spears)

6 swords in scabbards

2 double handed axes

2 single handed axes

6 scram knives

4 pouches with attached scrams

14 helmeted heads (10 different)

4 right arms holding a sword

2 right arms holding single handed axes

5 right arms with spears

4 hands holding swords

4 hands holding single handed axes

2 arms designed to hold a double handed axe

5 left arms

Detail of the main sprue

This sound like a good varied selection but I have a few issues:

I would have liked a few more left arms: as four have them attached to the figures and you get only five more then it means that one of your figures per sprue has to be a double handed axeman.

Only five spears per ten figures and no separate spears. Vikings fought primarily with spears in a shieldwall; I find that two many swords and axes make it more a sort of Warhammer look.

There are no swords which either aren't in scabbards or have hands attached. The idea is that you cut a hand off an arm holding an axe and replace it with ahand holding a sword (and vice versa). I have done this and it works OK but you have to make sure you cut at exactly 90 degrees
.

Command sprue (x2)

Next there are two identical command sprues these contain:

2 bodies in chainmail (the same as two of the figures on the main sprue)

2 heads. these are different from the main sprue: one in ahelmet, one bareheaded.

2 shields.

1 right arm holding a horn.

1 left arm holding a sword.

1 right arm holding a sword.

2 swords in scabbards.

One cloak with an animal skin on it.

My issues with this are:

It's a shame that they couldn't have done some new bodies.

There are only two left arms and one is holding a sword so you can't have your hornist holding a shield as there aren't enough left arms.

Overall I would have liked to see: more variation in bodies, more bare-head options, more spears and more left arms. So, the set is not as flexible as it could have been.

Also included is a brief set of instructions (mainly concerned with the assembling of the two handed axemen and some (rather small) paper flags.

First painted plastic. Its is quite tricky to dry brush the rather shallow plastic chainmail detail

The figures go together quite well, although gaps between the arms and torsos can't be filled because of the pattern of the chainmail. I did find on some arms that I had to trim off some of the arm to get it to fit properly. There is only one real assembly problem and that is to do with the scabbards. Most of the sleeves come down so low that there is no room to fit a scabbard (especially if it includes the sword's grip). A number of the figures are depicted with over the chest belts from which swords would have hung but getting them in place is a real problem; you have to make them stick out at odd angles.

One of the few arm/body combinations that permit the scabbard to hang correctly

If the sword hilt is attached you have to angle the scabbard like this

Couldn't get a scabbard in at all on this one as the sleeve comes down too low


L to R: old Gripping Beast metal, New Gripping Beast plastic, Artizan Designs and Foundry

Size wise, they are smaller than many of my old Gripping Beast figures but are similar to the Artizan and Foundry ones which make up the bulk of my army. Certainly you could mix them in with no problem. Two things I don't like: the spears are very fat (compared with, for example, the Immortal Miniatures plastic Greeks spears) and are fatter than the Gripping Beast cast spears I have used on my other Vikings. Secondly, they definitely have a slight case of big head syndrome (some more than others) which is a shame as most plastics are edging towards more normal proportions (Perry, Immortal). In short they are rather more cartoon -ike than I would have expected from the Gripping Beast of old. To be fair I need to get some more painted up and see what they look like en masse but I would give the whole box a slightly disappointing 6/10.

Dark Ages Size Comparison 2

Left to right: Early GB Viking, 2nd incarnation GB Viking, 3rd incarnation GB Viking, Artizan Viking, Crusader Norman, Foundry Viking, 4th Incarnation GB Viking.

The one on the right is a character (Harald Hardrada) who was a strapping chap so you would expect a bigger figure but he is 32mm foot to eye.

Battle of Stamford Bridge

My Gripping Beast Vikings

My little boy had to write an essay about the Battle of Stamford Bridge this weekend and mentioned that it would make a great wargame. Quite right too! I am sure that some of the magazines have had scenarios before and maybe it was covered in one of the WAB supplements (Shieldwall?). Can't check as I am in Dubai at the moment. At least there is no temptation here to start up another army just becuse I am visiting somewhere!

So maybe I will have to put my Early Saxons on hold and paint some late Saxons! For wargaming purposes I split the Saxons into three periods: Early Saxons from the Romano-British period (Musketeer make the best ones by a mile), early Anglo-Saxons to take on the Vikings (Kind Alfred period) and late Anglo-Saxons (1066 period). Unfortunately they all look different and finding figures I like for the later period isn't easy. Gripping Beast do some but the range isn't very large. Crusader have a nice range but they are from one of his shorter figure ranges. I have some Black Tree Design ones but they are very variable. I quite like the new Foundry figures but they don't have any kite shaped shields (although GB do them). Maybe I will get some of the Foundry Saxons and give some kite shields (I have a few anyway) as the look stylistically similar to my Foundry and Artizan Vikings.

The Vikings are easier as I have Foundry and Artizan which go well together but also Gripping Beast which are more historically accurate (especially as regards the shields and in-scale weapons) but the range isn't that big.