Koyote

I watched the Saga Thorsday Patreon sneak peak of Age of Alexander. The Greeks are divided into 4 sub-factions, each with their own troop selection table and special rules. The Greek sub-factions are Athenians, Spartans, Thebans, and Thessalians. There are two sub factions of Persians. As expected they can take Elephants. They get new chariot types and Greek mercenary hoplites. They also get a special combined arms units (armed with bows but suffer no armor penalty AND can close ranks). Macedonians have one flavor, but lots of choices and a strong combined-arms board. Successors come in 3 varieties which determine troop types -Greek, Asian, and Egyptians. You also pick you warlord’s ambition/motivation (3 choices) which gives your battleboard different buffs. Also, armored elephants (armor 5). Thracians have access to heavy weapons (rhomphaias) and a mechanic similar to the Gauls’ fervor. Indians have tons of options and unusual basic Saga abilities. You can put your warlord in a heavy chariot (12 attack dice in charge) or on an armored elephant (with armor 5/4 and Resilience 3). Battleboard has elephant buffs.

The book cover (in French) has been released on Facebook along with a few pages (all in French). New warbands: Greek Cities, Persians, Thracians, Macedonians, Indians, and Successors.

The original theme was is a cursed forest that has fallen under the spell of a malign, enigmatic fae creature who takes the form of a gaunt, impossibly tall manlike creature reminiscent of member of the Wild Hunt from Northern European folklore. The warband is comprised of the reanimated men, elves, and even a treant, of forest kingdoms decimated by the fae creature's dark magics. I've refined this theme by adding Baba Yaga and some of her pets to the mix. I've additional flavor to the warband by sprinkling some fun character models throughout. Finally, added some resin bits to the bases and the hearthguard's helmets to reinforce the dark forest theme. I magnetized the warlord (or Necromancer) so I can switch him between bases. This lets me play him on foot or mounted on a Beast (although in this case, he and his "beast" walk side-by-side). The two character models beside the warlord are to be used as Challengers in the Old Feud scenario -one a fighty character (Brute or Soldier) and one a non-fighty character (Mystic or Counsellor). Here's Baba Yaga herself. Mounted on her flying mortar and pestle, she can represent either a mounted Sorcerer or mounted Necromancer. Beside her is her trusty lieutenant, the Black Knight. The FAQ made the Black Knight a bit less useful, but still, its ability to take Fatigue off of a nearby hero could mean the the difference between life and death when a Necromancer or Sorcerer has to roll on the Abuse of Power Table. I've replaced the scary Treant model with an even scarier Leshy (Wendio) model. I made the switch because I think this model will paint up much nicer than the original "undead" Treant. Of course, you can't have Baba Yaga without her magical, chicken legged hut. This hut is a bit smaller than I had originally envisioned, so I've ordered a second hut printed at 150% of this hut's size. My plan is to use the hut as the warband's Sacred Terrain. Below are three themed objective markers I whipped up for the warband. Below are my mounted hearthguard. The antlers were snipped off a pack of resin antlered helms I ordered from a printer on Etsy. I drilled holes into the sides of their helmets to slide each antler into place. Below are four units of 10 Warriors -two with "no equipment" and two with bow. Each unit is led by a champion that has no in-game effect, but adds flavor to their respective unit.

I've added not-rocks and bones to the warband's bases. Last Friday my Gripping Beast rectangular Rus Shields arrived, so I sorted out who will have what shield. The round resin shields are sold by Brother Vinni in packs. Now it's time to texture the bases and get to painting.

I haven't spent much time on the hobby during the last week, but I have started adding not-rocks and other bits to bases. The resin branches/bushes are from a company called Epic Basing (www.epicbasing.com). Even though the branches are made of resin and quite thin, they are remarkably resilient to breaking.

Why use free and abundant rock fragments when you can sculpt your own? PETR Disclaimer: No rocks were harmed in the making of this Pagan Rus warband.

I didn’t get a good group photo of my Irish warband at Adepticon, so this morning I unpacked my display board and took some shots with my phone.

I've made some progress on my Biting Cold, The Long Winter, and Blizzard tokens. I've selected and converted the subject matter each vignette. I still need to decide on basing design and whether that will affect the final position of each model. Since each ability is presumably caused by freezing temperatures, snow, and wind, each base will be covered in snow flock. The Biting Cold ability targets a single enemy unit and prevents it from activating again during the turn. To illustrate this I selected a model that is sitting down and a bit sprawled out. It's a Gripping Beast, Late Roman Casualty model. I replaced the model's flat top, brimless hat with a more generic conical helm with a nasal guard. The wooden statue is a Scibor Slavic God objective marker. The Long Winter ability has a table wide effect that limits all charges and shooting attacks to 6"distance. Here, the design concept is meant to be more symbolic than literal. Morozko is a supernatural being from Slavic myth. Some sources describe him a winter demon, others a god of frost and ice, still others a winter wizard. He was wise, but with a wicked temperament and was capable of freezing entire armies with the snap of his fingers. Over time he became Ded Moroz, also known as Grandfather Frost, a character from folklore who would aid the humble and hard working and freeze the selfish and lazy. Finally, Ded Moroz morphed into Slavic Father Christmas/Santa Claus like character. Since his days as Ded Moroz he has been generally depicted as a white bearded man, wearing a long, fur lined coat and wearing a fur lined cap. The Norse have their own winter deity of sorts, Ullr, who is the god or demi-god, associated with winter, snow, hunting, archery, skiing, and duels. Like Morozko he's a big bearded guy who dresses in fur. Unlike Slavic Santa who carries around a magic staff, Ullr is often depicted as being armed with a bow. I don’t believe that Ullr controlled the winter weather like Morozko, but instead Ullr's sphere of influence was winter travel and survival. The model I chose for the The Long Winter token is Gripping Beast Pagan Rus Warbanner Bearer model. His long coat and Santa hat reminds me of Morozko/Ded Moroz and by adding a greenstuff beard, I strengthened the semblance. And then, by replacing his banner pole with bow, I transformed him into a Morozko(Slavic)/Ullr (Norse) mashup who is blowing a magical hunting horn to summon or announce the coming of the snow and icy winds of winter. The Blizzard ability slows all units within 2" of the targeted friendly unit. To illustrate this I used models who appear to be struggling to move forward. Here I used Gripping Beast Viking Casualty models. One is head down, using his spear to help him trod forward, into the wind. The other has tripped or simply fallen to his hands and knees. Both are wishing they had dressed warmer for this battle. Left to right: Biting Cold, The Long Winter, and Blizzard token.

In Saga, the Hearthguard represent the warband's elite warriors. Depending upon the warband and time period, the unit may be composed of veterans, household guard, nobles, the Warlord's kinsmen, etc. When thematically modeling a unit of Hearthguard, the faction's background can serve as guide whether the Hearthguard should be uniform in appearance, non-uniform, or something in between. Like the Dark Age Vikings, the Dark Age Pagan Rus warband does not represent an army of uniformed, professional soldiers. Moreover, the Hearthguard isn't simply a unit of veterans, but rather it's a cohort of the Warlord's family members and hand-selected trusted retainers. When I first assembled the models for my Hearthguard I built a unit of armored vikings and threw in a priest (Hothgothi?) for added flavor. Then as I thought about it more, I started swapping out models for more interesting characters, to better represent a motley band representing the Warlord's kinfolk, champions, and retainers. The line-up hasn't been finalized yet, but this is where the unit stands today.

Below is another WIP photo of the levy. I still need to add melee weapons to their belts (small axes or knives). Here's a WIP shot of my Slavic warriors. Aside from fella in armor, the rest don't look particularly Slavic, so the plan is to distinguish them from my Swedish warriors by equipping them with rectangular or teardrop shaped shields. Like my Slavic levy, most of them will wear white tunics, but they will have fancier trim and pants.

The Pagan Rus have three advanced abilities (The Long Winter, Biting Cold, and Blizzard) that remain in effect during one or more player's turn, and two of these abilities target specific units. These abilities, particularly the ones that target specific units, warrant a token to remind the players of the targeted unit and the Saga abilities' effect. A few years ago I purchased blue acrylic markers, custom ordered from LITKO, for the Blizzard and Biting Cold abilities. I want to upgrade these markers by building mini-diorama markers. However, while each ability produces a different effect, thematically, all three abilities are seemingly caused by same thing, freezing temperatures and snow storms. When designing dioramas to portray the different effects this causes a problem. How does one clearly visually distinguish between abilities that cause similar impediments due to inclement weather? The simplest solution is print the Saga ability's name on each token. Below are custom 40mm rounds I ordered from a 3D printer who sells on Etsy, as well as the 25mm LITKO markers mentioned above. On each 40mm I will build a mini-diorama using snow basing and either a fallen or hindered enemy warrior.

Here's my first six Pagan Rus Levy with javelins. Victrix Dacian bodies, heads, and arms, Footsore shields, and Gripping Beast wire spears.

According to Osprey's Armies of Medieval Russia, many of the Scandinavian's who "migrated" east and later become the Pagan Rus were Swedes (the "Vikings" we know the least about), so that's what I am going to go with. Also, I'm going to break from tradition and put my Pagan Rus on Autumn themed bases, not snow bases. I will reserve the snow flocking for the mini-diorama counters that I'm designing for the Biting Cold, Blizzard, and Long Winter Saga abilities. Below is what I've assembled for my "Swede" Hearthguard. To add more flavor to the unit, I will likely swap out another model or two with additional character models. I will add shields when I paint the models. Here's what I've assembled for my unit of Swede Warriors. The lack of chainmail will identify this unit as Warriors The big guy with the two axes is from V&V's Vikings 4 kit. Once again, I'll add shields when I paint the models. Here's my second unit of Swede Warriors. It's composed of Brother Vinni's amazing shieldmaiden models. Ahistorical? Probably. Do I care? Nope. The models are too cool not to use. 🙂 Below, the model on the right will be my Warlord. It's a Brother Vinni Viking Warlord. The model is almost a head taller than the V&V Vikings, but since he's my Warlord, it seems fitting. I was going to use the model on the left (another V&V Viking) as a Brute for the Book of Battles Old Feud scenario, but likely use another Brother Vinni warlord. The new FAQ nerfed the Soldier, so the Mystic my new fall back selection for the Old Feud scenario. The model in the middle (a V&V Scald) will by my Mystic. Here's another size comparison photo. I had thought to use V&V's Pagan Rus minis as my Hearthguard, but changed my mind when I saw how puny they look compared to the Victrix and Brother Vinni models. From left to right: V&V Viking, Brother Vinni Axemaiden, V&V Pagan Rus, Victrix Viking, Brother Vinni Viking Warlord Below is my first attempt to Pagan-Rusify a Victrix Viking. I added a pointy bit to the top of the helmet and fur trim. I’m not 100% satisfied with the trim. It should be a bit thinner and shouldn’t stick out quite so far. I'll do better on the next model.

With Adepticon 2022 in the rear view mirror, it's time to raise this thread from the dead and get to work on my next SAGA Age of Viking warband, Pagan Rus. RISE! RISE! RISE PAGAN RUS THREAD! . . . Back in 2018, my original plan was to build the warband from Gripping Beast (HG & Warriors), Brother Vinni (Warriors), and converted Warhansa (Levy) models. With the release of the Victrix plastic Viking kit in 2019, I swapped out all of my Gripping Beast Viking Warriors for shiny new Victrix plastics. Now, in 2022, urge to convert is upon me once again... The Gripping Beast Joms models that I was planning for my Hearthguard are some of Gripping Beasts' best legacy metal models, but you find them if [b]SO[/b] many Viking and Pagan Rus armies. Also, while I had fun converting the Warhansa models, they still look like little, stooped over Santa's absent the fat bellies. My new plan is to ditch the GB Joms, and replace them with converted/kit-bashed Victrix Vikings in chainmail and perhaps a couple of resin Viking minis. I'm keeping the Brother Vinni shield maiden models as a unit of Warriors, and perhaps some of the unarmored Victrix Vikings as Warriors, but the Warhansa Levy are being shelved in favor of a unit or two of javelin Levy converted from Victrix's Dacian Infantry kit. If you look at the Victrix marketing photo below, you will see that the Dacian kit includes quite a few unarmored models wearing long tunics, pants, and footwear. They don't have the long hair of the Dark Age Slavic people, but they are pretty hairy. Best of all, some of the heads have caps that I can easily turn into Slavic style caps by adding a band of greenstuff fur around the bottom of the cap. The caps with the triangular floppy part on the top can be further extended to make the fur trimmed Santa style hat you see on my Warhansa slavs. I'll be arming all the models with wire javelins, so between the Dacian sprues' spear-arms and sword-arms, I should have enough non-bow and non-falx arms to snip and drill for javelins. I have plenty of extra shields in my bitz box, so If I elect to give them small round shields, I already have that covered. Once my Dacian kit arrives, I'll post pics of my test conversions.

🙂

I also finished my Irish objective markers.

I finished painting the Sacred Ground. It's time to start work on the desert display board. My plan is to make it a fairly simple board. It will incorporate an insert for the Sacred Ground, tufts, and some of the exposed rock seen on the Sacred Ground. I've included the WIP photo below so you can see how I made the insert. I'll use filler to conceal the outside edge of the styrene sheet.

One more task checked off my Adepticon prep to-do list. This big fellow will serve as a Scourge (flying monster) for my Deep Desert Nomad (Lords of the Wild) warband. It’s a Djinn 3D print that I bought from a seller on Etsy.com. I scaled it up to 120mm so it would be “monster” sized rather than “creature” sized.

Studio Tomahawk has released it’s first teaser shots of an Age of Alexander play test game. Macedonians vs …? Indians?

I finished my AoM Warlord on a flying beast. I can see plenty of areas where the model can be improved, but overall, I'm pleased with how it turned out. The eagle's feathers look much better (better definition between feathers) in-person than they do in the photo. Also, the talons don't look quite so orange in person. I think both are cased by my lighting, but I'm too lazy to go back and shoot the model again. I used a plain LBM decal for the shield and painted the white script and circles by hand. Simple but effective.

Even with the embossed designs as a guide, painting the carpet was a pain in the @ss. It still needs another layer or two of highlights, but I've done enough work on it for now. It's time I try my hand at painting a sphinx.

GamerGrass sells some great products, but I cannot say whether or not they are best 'bang' for one's buck. If you order from them directly you will pay for international shipping (I believe they are located in Portugul), but I don't recall rates as being unreasonable. You may be able to reduce those costs by buying your GamerGrass products from a US retailer. Most of the tufts that I use are Army Painter tufts that I buy off the rack at Dark Tower. I buy from companies, like GamerGrass, when I want specialty tufts, such as flower tufts and GamerGrass' "Tiny" tufts.

My SAGA Desert Nomad (Lords of the Wild) javelin levy are done. That's one fewer task on my Adepticon prep to-do list. In addition to finishing off the last of my levy, I spent time this week experimenting with colors for my new magic carpet, painting the base for the new carpet, and prepping my Sphinx for paint. I also took some time to update the bases of my 60+ Moor and Desert Nomad models to match the bases of my javelin levy. This entailed repainting the black decorative rocks a dark brown (highlighted with a lighter brown) and added tufts of Tiny Beige Gamer Grass (2mm). The mixture of dark and light tufts look much better than just the dark tufts alone.

The Age of Magic warband that I'm going to bring to Adepticon includes a mounted Sorcerer, however, the model that I want to use for this is mounted on a base that is a bit too small. SAGA requires mounted models to be on bases no smaller than 20mm x 40mm and no larger than 50mm x 50mm. The sorcerer's current base is a 32mm round. To avoid any confusion or hassle at the tournament, I started work on a 40mm round. However, once I put the sorcerer on the larger base, I noticed how small the carpet looks in proportion to the sorcerer. This Brother Vinni sculpt is one of my favorites, but it looks like the sorcerer is flying about on a magic doormat or a magic bath towel, not a magic carpet. One of my favorite online pastimes is seeking out new miniature manufactures and buying fun or useful minis to stock my bitz boxes. Last year I stumbled upon Effincool Miniatures, which sells an odd assortment of fantasy and sci-fi minis. Effincool also has a pervy miniature line called Court of the Sultan. In addition to all the gratuitous boobs and schlongs, this line includes furniture and scenery bits, including an ornate rug. The ornate rug is a wonderful mini, not only because it’s cast in white metal, allowing one to bend it to mimic the motion of a magic carpet, but it has the decorative pattern carved into it surface, so you don't have to hand paint your own design. To my eye, the ornate rug looks a bit too large, but when compared to the flying doormat, it's a big improvement.