Jump to content

Koyote's Britons & other SAGA Stuff


Koyote

Recommended Posts

The giants that I ordered from ArchaniaWorkshiop (a 3D printer who sells on Etsy) have arrived.  I purchased  Hill Giant and  Frost Giant.  With shipping and tax, the two models cost me $26, a bargain indeed.  

The models are made from a hard, brittle resin.  By brittle I don't mean that the model is fragile, only that that material can't be bent or deformed because it will break.  The detail is quite good and clean-up was minimal.  

The fellow pictured below is the Frost Giant.  I removed the model's long hafted axe from its left hand, as it's kind of ridiculous and doesn't fit my theme.  In its place I put a struggling victim that comes from GW's giant kit.  I cut the bit in half and carved away the orignal hand that was grasping the victim.  I glued the two halves to the Frost Giant's hand and used greenstuff to fill in the gaps and sculpt the bottom of the victim's long tunic.

WHFp1j.jpg

  • Like 1
  • Thanks 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Really dig the Frost Giant but I adore that Hill Giant!

Please cover Hill Giant in tattoos. 100% unsure how that fits with your "historically accurate inaccuracies" but it fully fits my headcannon of an Arthurian giant to have a full body of crude tattoos. Plus, it would add interest and make him less plain without needing lots of bits and Greenstuff. Just a request;)

Stunning work as usual!

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I did a bit more work on my AoM models.  

I did some more GS work on  victim's tunic and I added a slain monk (made by Wargames Foundry) to the giant's base.  

Here's the backstory.  

On the eve of battle, Mordred's warband was joined by Cribwr Gawr, Morgan Le Fey, and the sorceress' Pictish bodyguard.  Upon spotting the newcomers, warband's priest, accompanied by his lay assistant, confronted the giant and the "witch", loudly declaring them to be a servants of the devil and imploring his Christian god to strike them down.  The giant stared at the two men for a moment, and then reached down and picked up one man in each hand.  Convinced that his faith would shield him, the struggling priest's protestations and threats grew in volume and venom.  Annoyed and bored by his shrieking captives, Cribwr Gawr crushed the life out of both men, discarded their corpses, and then calmly continued his progress into the warband's camp.  Convinced that discretion is the better part of valor, the onlooking Britons opened their ranks and let the giant stride into the camp.

The war machine is Warlord Games' Roman Scorpion. 

fQBJC3.jpg

 

  • Thanks 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I made some progress over the weekend.

I spent most of my hobby time finishing four more levy archers and getting started on the last four.  

One of the Great Kingdom builds that I'm considering for my Britons uses the Sapphire Elves rules.  This will let me use the archer levy that I'm painting for my "historical" Britons as Warriors armed with bows in my AoM Britons warband.  

Warlord -mounted
8 Hearthguard -mounted
12 Warriors -bows
10 Warriors
10 Warriors
1 Behemoth
1 Static War Machine
1 Paladin -mounted

I'm not convinced that it's worth 1 point to gain access the the domains of light and energy (my least favorite domains), so I doubt that I will be availing myself of the Sapphire Elves' Masters of the Magical Arts rules.  

I added texture to my Sacred Ground terrain piece and a few critters.  I'm certain that I'll keep the raven/crow, but I'm still up in the air on whether or not the rabbit and badger will be included in the final painted piece.

Yyxmvo.jpg

  • Thanks 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Next up on my painting table is a Static War Machine (Gripping Beast's Hatra Ballista), a Sorceress (Hasslefree Miniatures' Azura Halfblood), and a unit of Levy armed with crossbows (Footsore Miniatures' Pict Hunters).

quY5Ie.jpg


Of all the Domains of Magic, I am the least impressed with Light and Energy, so if the Sorceress, Morgan Le Fay, doesn't find a home in my Great Kingdoms warband, she will serve as the Sorceress for the Horde warband that I am creating using models from my existing Dark Age Irish warband. 

What convinced me to convert my Irish into a Horde warband was the opportunity to use Victrix's AMAZING new(ish) Celtic Chariot kit.  I'm not yet 100% sold on the Horde's War Chariots (a special unit type), but I do like the idea of a Warlord mounted on a beast, and the Horde's Warlord entry just so happens to read: "The Warlord of the Horde can be mounted on an animal or mounted on a beast, which can be represented perfectly by a war-chariot and its team."

TTsKG6.jpg

vN910W.jpg

  • Thanks 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I've finished my Static War Machine for my AoM Britons Great Kingdom warband.  It may also be used as a Manuballista for an Aetius & Arthur Roman warband.

It's a Gripping Beast's Hatra Ballista.  It is a late Roman ballista named after the ancient city in modern day Iraq where the archeological evidence for this weapon's design was uncovered.

4Oyhbj.jpg

 

 

  • Thanks 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Now that my Britons are ready to be played as an AoM Great Kingdoms warband, it's time to start work on getting my Irish ready to be played as an AoM Horde warband.

I want to equip a max-size unit of Horde Warriors with Heavy Weapons.  I already have 10 painted Irish Fianna equipped with dane axes, so I finished off the unit by adding 2 more models from Footsore's Irish with Axes set.  For my Horde Sorceress, I am using Hasslefree Miniatures' Azura Halfblood.

hvThK3.jpg

I love Footsore Miniatures, and over the years I have bought a lot of minis from them, but I have to admit that I've been sorely disappointed by the quality of my last two orders.  My order before last, 12 Picts armed with xbows, included 4 crossbows with malformed xbows.  In each instance, one of the bow-arm's ends was melted down to little more than a nub.  My last order of Irish axemen, 3 of the 4 models arrived were significantly misaligned.  For two of the models I had to use GS to rebuild the left side of their faces.  The third is essentially missing its entire nose a part of its face, so I ever use it, I'll probably just replace the entire head rather than trying to rebuild the face.  Footsore Miniatures' management needs to have a talk with whoever is in charge of quality control.  

 

  • Thanks 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

This model is Arthur from an Arthur & Mordred vignette made by Westwind Productions. It’s part of my project, along with my Briton archers and Hatra ballista, to make my Britons playable as Romans (or AoM Great Kingdoms). It’ll make a great foot-Warlord (or AoM Captain or Paladin).

2f0syM.jpg

  • Thanks 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

The introduction to the Lords of the Wild faction in SAGA: Ago of Magic reads:

"In the most inaccessible parts of the world, there live peoples who have prospered while cut off from the more developed civilizations which surround them.  For cultural, spiritual or traditional reasons, these societies have never sought to exploit their environment, instead seeking harmony with the surroundings which provide them with what they need to develop.

These peoples, who we call the Lords of the Wild, can be human, but often have traits which differentiate them from their peers.  They might be animal hybrids, ancient elves, gnomes or hobgoblins.  Their existence gives life to the legends we tell to children, and embodies a mass of superstitions.  They are often feared and misunderstood.  Entering into their homeland unleashes their fury and has been he cause of numerous wars they have wreaked upon their neighbors.

These societies generally organize themselves on tribal or clan lines, beneath the authority of a king or chief.  They are rarely geographically spread out, since the difficulty of establishing lines of communications in these hostile environs constitutes a real brake on their development."


When I first read this introduction, my mind immediately jumped to the most common Fantasy forest dweller tropes (e.g. wood elves, treefolk, beastmen, etc), but then a couple of weeks ago, while I was working on my SAGA Moors and thinking about ways to fit them into Age of Magic, I got a great idea.  The Lords of the Wild description could apply to tribes of desert nomads, like the ancient, pre-Islamic Bedouin tribes of Arabian peninsula.  These tribes lived in a desolate wilderness that they could not shape, so instead they adapted.  To the people of neighboring civilizations who dwelt in cities or in small agricultural communities, the desert nomads were likely thought of as strange, insular, people whose ability to survive in the desert made them both mysterious and more than a little threatening.

Below is a WIP shot of my initial warband.  As I play-test the warband, I expect that its composition will change over time.

Warlord -flying beast
Sorcerer
Ranger
4 Shapeshifters
8 Warriors -mounted
10 Warriors -bows
9 Warriors
9 Warriors
12 Levy -javelins

The camel cavalry and plastic spearmen are all Gripping Beast minis.  The levy are from Perry Miniatures' Sudanese Tribesmen plastic kit.  The metal archers are Artizan Design's  Berber Bowmen.

LrQtik.jpg

My Warlord is a converted Wind Rider from Game Zone Miniatures' Sylvan Elf line.  The original model's rider is assembled from two pieces.  I kept the lower piece, the legs and saddle, and replaced the upper piece with some bits from Gripping Beast's plastic Arab Spearmen kit.  The legs were armored, so I covered them up with GS Arab leggings and belt sash.  I used GS to add a saddle horn and a harness to hold the saddle in place.

YSkFr2.jpg

R5pwl2.jpg

IDieDj.jpg

For my Sorcerer, I am using the Salah ad-Din model from Cipher Studios (now OOP) Hell Dorado Saracen model line.  I've cut down the size of the wave of sand he's perched on to fit the 25mm base.

For my Ranger, I am using the Mutatawwi’a Warlord from Stronghold Terrain's SAGA Collectibles model line.

wzFUNR.jpg

The concept that I am most pleased with is how I am going to represent the warband's Shapeshifters.  

In a Lords of the Wild warband, 1 point will buy you 4 Shapeshifters. These models are "hidden" in units of Warrior foot units -up to 2 models per unit.  When that unit fights in its first melee, the Shapeshifters are revealed by replacing  normal models in the unit with Shapeshifter models.  Each Shapeshifter has an aggression of 5.

The basic idea behind this rule mechanic goes WAY back to 3rd Edition's Warhammer Armies Book, which was published in 1988.  

vnH5ji.png

I'm not familiar enough with pre-Islamic Arab myths to know if it included lycanthropy or human shapeshifters, but I do know that the word 'assassin' comes to the English language from an 11th century Muslim sect who trained and directed operatives to infiltrate enemy strongholds and courts to kill clerics, rulers, and officials.   The most commonly-repeated theory holds that the word" Hashshashin" or "Assassin" comes from the Arabic hashishi, meaning "hashish users."  Chroniclers including Marco Polo claimed that the followers of this sect committed their political murders while under the influence of drugs, hence the derogatory nickname.  The Koran includes a strict injunction against intoxicants, so claims of hashish use by this sect may have been propaganda created by the European Crusaders or the Seljuk Turks -the latter group were the sect's most frequent target.

Regardless of how the sect's killers got their nickname, the connection to the Arab history is enough for me to incorporate it into my theme.  So, instead of men turning into beasts, my warband's "Shapeshifters" will be represented by deadly assassins, who when battle is joined, toss aside their disguises to reveal infamous killers of legend.  And by "legend" I mean my own fantasy version of the sect, not the historical version.

These models are Artizan Designs' Black Guard from their Moors model line.  I want my assassins to be more fantastic and flamboyant than their namesakes, so I replaced their right hands and original weapons with fancy curved swords from Frostgrave's Cultist plastic kit.  To make them clearly stand out from my rank-and-file models, I'll paint them all in black..

dFc4Si.jpg


Lastly, since my Lords of the Wild warband are nomads, using a static object for my Sacred Ground terrain simply won't due.  Instead, I am going to use this tent that I bought from a 3D printer on Etsy,  to serve as my warband's Sacred Ground.  Presumably, the tent will contain the nomad's most sacred relics.  

The plan is to mount it on a styrene base, and fancy it up some by adding a couple of resting camels and other interesting thematic bits.

xOcYVV.jpg

  • Thanks 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

This model is Gripping Beast's Mounted Welsh Warlord (previously sold as GB's Strathclyde Warlord).  It was originally purchased and converted to serve as the mounted version of my Irish Warlord. I added the beard, axe, and chainmail sleeve to match the model that I use for my foot Irish Warlord.  

Like many of my side projects I got distracted by another project, and never got around to finishing it.  AoM has given me the excuse to finally put some paint on this model.  My plan is to use it as a mounted Lieutenant for my Celt Horde warband.

dPtFs3.jpg

8N9Y7D.jpg

OmKvso.jpg

 

  • Thanks 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

The next model on my paint bench is the Victrix Celtic chariot.  To make painting the various components a bit easier I have divided the model into 5 sub-assemblies and a base.  

cbal9Z.jpg

The plan is to include two of these models in my Horde warband. One will represent my Warlord mounted on a Beast and the other will be an actual Horde War Chariot.  My plan for distinguishing the two is for the Warlord to be equipped with mail, shield, and cloak (as pictured above), while the warrior in the War Chariot will be more lightly armored and a bit less impressive.  Since the War Chariot is equipped with javelins, I'll equip the model with two javelin quivers and the warrior with a javelin in each hand.

  • Like 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

My chariot's base measures roughly 4" x 2", which works fine for the Horde War Chariot because its rules use the base size for Monsters.  However, as someone on another forum pointed out, the maximum size for a Beast's base is 80mm x 50mm, which translates to 3.15" x 1.97".  In order to use the chariot model to represent my Warlord mounted on a Beast, I'll need to put the model on a smaller base. Doh!  1534797218.2935-smiley.gif

SAGA players know that you (almost) always ' round up' so I've taken the liberty to "round up" (nod-nod wink-wink) the dimensions to 3.25" x 2".  Fortunately for me, the dimensions appear to work for Victrix Celtic Chariot, which compared to many other 28mm chariots, is a bit on the small side.  A fact I attribute to Victrix's decision to remain true to the historical evidence of chariot dimensions and the ponies and small horses employed by the ancient Celts of the British Isles.

Disaster averted. 1534797201.7229-smiley.gif

vfRDzA.jpg

 

  • Thanks 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I want my Moors to represent the Berber/Tuareg elements that invaded and occupied Iberia.  As such, they will wear the distinctive Tuareg blue/indigo garments.  And while I do dearly love the Little Big Men Studio's shield transfers, I'm going to pass on them this time around in favor simple leather shields of the desert nomads.  With this same principle in mind, I'm going to pass on the decorative and sometimes very ornate aljubas (robes) and stick to solid colors, at least for my rank and file.  I've also decided to take some liberties with my Berber's skin color, and paint it a bit darker to represent Tuareg's with more Sub-Saharan blood.

I am really struggling to find just the right recipe for blue.  The dark blue paints that I've used thus far all seem to dry with a semi-gloss finish.  If I can't find the right paint or combinations of paint and wash, I may end up hand painting blue parts with a matte varnish.

Here's my first test model.  The photo quality is quite poor, but it gives you the basic idea of what my rank and file troops will look like.  I repainted the blue on this model 3 times, and I still don't care for it, so this model (sans the shield) is currently sitting in a jar of Simple Green.  Back to the drawing board.

dkqfB4.jpg

 

  • Thanks 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I've started work 'gussying up' my Moors' bases.  I've added rocks, skulls, bones, and some scorpions from Black Cat Bases' Small Animal model line. Of course, I still need to add sand.

I've read that the Moors used drums for their psychological effect, so along with a standard and a unit leader, I've included a drummer in each of my units of spearmen.

6ecvy9.jpg

Black Cat Bases' scorpion sprue.

t9yLlL.png

I'm having second thoughts on my choice of shields.  The Artizan Design hide shields are quite nice, but they are rather large and kind of bland.  I ordered Footsore Miniatures' Arab Truncated Teardrop Shield pack, along with the accompanying Little Big Men Studio's decals.  I like proportions of the Footsore shields better and the decals that I selected aren't too flashy, so they fit my Tuareg/Berber theme well enough.

4JyQXv.png

7M9a76.png

GB's Arab Spearmen kit doesn't include enough heads wrapped in a tagelmust (the long scarf used as a turban and veil) for both units of spearmen, so for the unit of spearmen pictured on the left, I'm going to use greenstuff to sculpt a length of scarf that hangs from the sides of their helmets, similar to model pictured below.  I'll likely do the same with my cavalry models that aren't wearing a tagelmust.

jr2Pxl.png

 

  • Thanks 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I finally got around to adding a tattoo to my Celtic giant, Cribwr Gawr.

CSjnuE.jpg


This model is Shield Maiden Astrid, made by Brother Vinni Miniatures.  She, along with the 3 tattooed Curaidh models that I previously painted for my Dark Age Irish warband, will form a unit of 4 Beserkers for my Age of Magic Celtic Horde warband.  

4svQH2.jpg

DDkLdr.jpg

  • Like 1
  • Thanks 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

Loading...
×
×
  • Create New...