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Koyote's Pagan Rus


Koyote

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Another year, another SAGA warband.  This time it's going to be Pagan Rus.  

Whether Viking women fought alongside their male counterparts is still being debated, but one of the few historical accounts of Viking women warriors comes to us from the Greek historian John Skylitzes. According Skylitzes, after the Siege of Dorostolon in 971 AD, the victorious Byzantines found among the Rus casualties, armed women. This one account isn't definitive proof, but its justification enough for me to add Brother Vinni's viking women warriors to my warband.  I LOVE his new Axe Maidens.

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Last week, my Warhansa models arrived.  Overall, I'm please with the quality.  The minis are as-pictured on the website and the detail is good.  There are a few air bubbles here an there, but very little flash and fewer mold lines than expected.

My only complaint is their overall height.  They look like Rus dwarfs.  Their heads, arms, hands, and feet are slightly on the heroic-scale side of 28mm, but the length of their torsos and legs are a bit too short.

Fortunately, short legs are an easy fix.  Using a hobby knife I cut off their lower legs where their leg wraps meet their ketill pants (aka puffy Russian pants).  Using leftover rod from the metal javelins I armed them with, I pinned a short length of GS doweling between the two sections of leg.  Eventually, I will use GS to extend the length of their ketill pants to cover the GS doweling.

I converted 8 out of 12 models in this way.  The other 4 models didn't need it.  Strange.

I'm going to use these as my Pagan Rus levy.  To distinguish these models from my warriors and to better represent a levy's 3/3 armor, I replaced their large round shields with small round shields (made by Footsore Miniatures).  

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Below is a size comparison photo.  My converted Warhansa Rus is now fairly close in height to 28mm viking miniatures from other manufacturers.

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  • 2 weeks later...

When planning a warband or army for any other tabletop wargame, I find it useful to start with a theme or backstory.  This approach may not be for everyone, but for me it fuels my creativity and helps me build a more cohesive and interesting warband.  

I came to historical wargaming from a fantasy and sci-fi gaming background, so when researching a historical peoples' history,  I inevitably find myself focusing on their mythical heroes and villains.

In Rus and Slavic myth, the Bogatyr are analogous to Western Europe's knight-errants.  The earliest tales of the Bogatyr have their roots in the pre-Christian era.  In these stories the Bogatyr exhibit superhuman abilities and their foes are often creatures from myth, like dragons and giants, but in later chronicles, the Bogatyr stories are based upon the  historical and semi-historical figures.  Perfect!

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Bogatyrs (1898)

A sizeable portion of my Pagan Rus warband will be comprised Gripping Beast's Jomsviking models.  Their ketill pants and the shape of their helmets give these models a Rus look.   GB's Jomsviking hearthguard are the most impressive models from the Jomsviking line, so they will form a unit of elite fighters.  

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My first instinct was to make the Hearthguard, but then after reading the Swords for Hire section of the Age of Vikings rulebook  I changed my mind.  The Gall-Gaedhil rules look like a lot of fun, but since these ferocious raiders operated in and around Ireland, fielding them alongside my Rus would be odd.   However, thanks to magic of 'counts-as', a principle borrowed from fantasy and sci-fi gaming,  I have no problem using the Gall-Gaedhil rules if I field them as a unit of 'counts-as' Bogatyr. Problem solved. 🙂

 

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I've finished sculpting my Levy's ketill pants.  Operation 'Leg Extension' was a success.  🙂

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Below are my Brother Vinni shield and axe maidens.  The models arrived with very little flash and no deformities or air bubbles.  When it's time to paint them, my only concern will be their mail.  The indentations that define the rings of the chainmail shirts are so fine and shallow, that I'll have to great care when painting them.  If I don't use very thin paint or if I apply too many coats, the indentations will be obscured by the thickness of the paint.  

Overall, these are gorgeous models and they scale well against Gripping Beast and modified Warhansa minis (see below).   However,  unless you are a very patient person (it took 3 months and a PayPal claim for them to arrive) or you buy them from a reputable supplier who has them in stock, you may want to think twice before purchasing them.

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Baba Yaga is another aspect of Slavic and Rusian folklore that I wish to bring to the SAGA table.  In the earliest Slavic legends, she's a pagan goddess who personifies storms, winter, nature, fate, and death.  In later tales Baba Yaga takes on the role of terrifying old witch who can be both cruel and kind (sometimes both in the same story). This contradiction make her unusual among European folk figures who tend to behave as either an antagonist or an ally/mentor to a story's protagonist.   

So how do I fit this mercurial supernatural creature into my SAGA warband? Well, part of the genius of SAGA is that the abilities on the Battle Board are not constrained by fidelity to historical fact or high degree of realism.  Instead, many of the abilities are best thought of as principles that relate somehow to the faction's martial practices and/or culture.  For instance, in SAGA 1.0, the Vikings' LOKI ability allows a Viking player to remove units of enemy Levy or Warriors that number 3 models or fewer.  This ability can be interpreted as some form of divine intervention from the Norse trickster god, but it can also interpreted as the Vikings or their off-board allies creating a clever ruse or diversion that either scares off or lure away the enemy models.

Similar to the LOKI ability, many of the SAGA 1.0 (and 2.0) Pagan Rus abilities seem like they could have a supernatural origin or may simply be the result of how the Rus and their off-board allies use their surroundings and weather to their advantage.  If it's the former, then Baba Yaga could be the source of the ability's supernatural effects.  

I've ordered blue acrylic tokens to indicate the targets of Blizzard and Biting Cold, but I don't yet have a marker for The Long Winter, which is a table wide effect.  This is where Baba Yaga comes in. For my Irish warband, I created a small vignette depicting children throwing rocks. I used it to taunt my opponents and indicate my use of the Sons of Dana ability.  For the Pagan Rus, the plan is to do something similar.  I am going to create a Baba Yaga vignette that I place on the board when I activate the The Long Winter ability.  

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Now that I have plan, the next step is to find the right figure.  Carnevale and Eastern Front Studios both make nice Baba Yaga minis, but Carnevale mini is unavailable and the only way to get the Eastern Front mini is to buy a $200 set that includes Baba, her house, a few other items.  The Eastern Front set is frigging fantastic, but I don't know if it's $200 fantastic.  

Pathfinder and Reaper makes a Baba minis, but both models are meh.  

The Bones 4 Kickstarter includes a Baba mini and the render looks awesome, but the quality human sized Bones models are typically fairly poor.  

I'm getting a Baba mini with my Hellboy kickstarter, but that's 12+ months away and I suspect that the model will be closer to 32mm than 28mm historical.

The best Baba-like mini that I have access to right now is the OOP Wyrd Miniatures Zoraida Alternate model. The model is on the small side of 28mm, so it works with 28mm historicals.  Also, its posed squatting down, so if I can find or make a suitable mortar for her to ride in...   e5017366.gif

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I decided that I need a twelfth Brother Vinni axe/shield maiden so I can field these beautiful minis at max unit size.  I have no interest in waiting 3 months for another direct order, so I searched for Brother Vinni minis on eBay.  I couldn't find another pack of axe or shield maidens for sale, but I did find a pack of Brother Vinni arrow wives.  

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Using metal rod, some plastic bits from other kits, and some greenstuff, I transformed an arrow wife into a shield maiden.    

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I reached out to Deraj Studios and ordered its Baba Yaga mini.  I'm concerned that it won't scale well against my historicals.  As a back up, I have the Zoraida miniature and the miniature mortar, but as you can see the mortar to Baba Yaga ratio isn't quite right.  If the Deraj Studio mini doesn't work, I may have to sculpt my own mortar.  It shouldn't be too difficult, but it's a task I had hoped to avoid.

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I've selected the Gripping Beast Pagan Rus warbanner bearer to serve as my Warlord.  With no visible armor, a mustache instead of a beard, and posed blowing a horn, its not a very menacing figure; however, when sized up against against other 25mm Viking and Rus models, he is quite massive, in both height and girth.  

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The brutish Viking Jarl, popularized in myth and popular culture, has come to be expected, but my favorite Viking and Viking-like characters from modern fiction tend to be fairly good natured and sometimes even jovial warriors who go against type.  Plus, since my warband's theme includes a bit of Slavic folklore, I think I can get away with less ferocious looking Warlord.

 

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Below are two mock-ups of vignettes/baggage markers for my Pagan Rus warband.

The first depicts an Odin-like figure wandering in the deep woods and  happening upon a mound of skulls and bones. His two pet ravens, Huginn and Muninn, are perched on his shoulders.  In the trees, other ravens look down.  

In Norse and ancient Germanic mythology, Odin has many aspects, including wisdom, magic, the gallows, battle, and death.  So whether the bones are the remains of warriors slain in battle, executed criminals, or victims of human sacrifice, the manner of their death is a concern of the Allfather.

The second vignette depicts another traveler of the deep woods.  This time its a young woman.  As she passes a peculiar looking tree, small animals furtively peer out from beneath the undergrowth.

In Slavic and Russian folklore, the Leshii are forest deities or spirits who serve as guardians of forest and its animals.  Depending upon the telling,  a Leshii's appearance can be human-like or tree-like.  They have a wicked sense of humor and they enjoy leading travelers and foragers astray.

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I've made some progress on the vignettes.  The trees have been pinned to the bases, the tree bases and roots have sculpted, and I've selected the critters for each vignette.  

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Like Western European folklore, Slavic folktales includes stories of wicked step-mothers sending their step-children into the forest where they inevitably encounter a hungry witch.  In one version of this tale the witch is Baba Yaga.

In my telling of the role of the witch is played by Reaper Miniatures' Estra the Spiritualist and some children from Reaper's Townfolk Children set.  

The Estra model has its right hand raised and its fingers opened like she's trying to grasp something or cast a nasty spell.  Estra isn't a very fast runner so she knows that she must hold off on the creepy witch stuff until after she has the children secure in her lair.  So, what I've done is saw off her hand, rotate it 180 degrees, and pin it back in place.  Now, instead of grasping at a couple of lost children she just met, she's offering them an delicious apple.  Mmm... Tastes like green stuff. 🙂

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On 6/23/2018 at 11:33 PM, Romans832 said:

Genius

 

Thanks. 😀

Deraj Studios' Baba Yaga figure is a beautiful miniature, but its a bit.... larger than expected.  Oh well, this is what I get for not doing my homework.  

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Oh well, on to Plan C.  

The Miniature Asian Chef mortar is too large, so I replaced it with large resin urn that was floating about in my bitz box.  Without a dremel, I had to carve out the top of the urn using  the largest bit that would fit in my pin vice (1/8" DIA) and a Xacto blade.  It took an hour and its a miracle that I didn't slice off a finger, but I managed it.  

The mortar's surface is too smooth.  I may add cracks and chips similar to those see on the Deraj Studios min.  

The bottom of the pestle is a resin RPG bit made by Anvil Industry.  I rounded the pointy part and pinned the other end to the bottom of the witch's hands.  I'm not sure that I like the finished pestle.  I may have to do a bit more work on it.

I used a small length of wire to make the mortar "hover" above the base.  I think she needs to hover bit higher.

The angle of the mortar isn't quite right and since the pestle's hand covers the right side of her head, I think she needs to face the other direction.

Clearly, my Long Winter marker still needs a lot of work before it's ready for paint.

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More later...

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I have a painted Aeitus Arthur warband and a painted Age of Vikings warband, but no Age of Crusades warband.  I'm going to keep moving forward on my Pagan Rus, but in the event that the Adepticon SAGA tournament organizers decide to move to a one-source-book format or if I happen upon a Age of Crusades player, I want to have AoC warband ready to paint or play.  

I've decided upon Eastern Princes, more specifically, the Grand Duchy of Lithuania version of the Eastern Princes.  Since the Eastern Princes warband is a cousin to the Pagan Rus, I'm going to merge the two into this one thread.    

The majority of my warband will be comprised of models built from Fireforge Games' Russian Infantry box set.  While the Fireforge "resin" models that I've purchased are absolute garbage, I'm a huge fan of their plastics.  

I shopped around for mounted hearthguard but didn't have much luck.  The Gripping Best Druzhina Cavalry are meh.  Fireforge's resin Druzhina are absolutely out of the running.  Drabant has some nice Druzhina Cav, but both the selection and scale are too small.  Old Glory sells actual Lithuanians, but they aren't much better than Gripping Beast's Druzhina and they're 25mm.  I purchased Curteys Miniatures Medieval Eastern Mounted Knights, which are probably the best of those I've seen, but their poses are stiff, the casts aren't especially sharp, and their panoply is a bit heavier than I want.

To get a feel for Lithuanian armor from the period covered in Age of Crusades sourcebook, I've done some online research and purchased Osprey's Tannenberg and Armies of Medieval Russian 750-1250. Based upon what I've seen, there was a mix of  lamellar and chainmail shirts,acorn helms with chainmail neck guards,and a variety of shield types, including kite shields.  Overall, their armor was lighter than their Teutonic counterparts.  I envision them as somewhere between light and heavy cavalry.   

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With a specific 'look' in mind, I started looking for plastics that I could kitbash or convert into suitable Lithuanian cavalry armed with javelins (which is how Lithuanian hearthguard are armed in AoC).  I began my conversion with Gripping Beasts Heavy Arab Cavalry.  This gives me lamellar torsos and 'eastern looking' leggings and horses.  Next, I added heads left over from the Fireforge Russian Infantry kit.  I used a bit from Conquest Games Norman Infantry kit for their kite shields and left lower arms.  The shape of the shield is a bit too elongated, but that's something I can fix later or simply learn to live with.  Lastly, I added the metal wire javelins.  The Conquest shield bit is perfect for putting a javelin in the model's shield hand.  The shield, hand, and arm are all one piece, so one can drill through the shield hand without worrying about the shield falling off. I will likely use some GS to fill in gaps and extend the chainmail coifs and neck guards.

Below are my first two kit-bashed Lithuanian hearthguard.

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I've completed the initial assembly of my 8 Eastern Princes (Lithuanian) hearthguard cavalry.  Each model is armed with at least one javelin.  To mix things up a bit, I equipped a few with different hand weapons.  You can't see it from these photos, but I added a scabbarded sword and sheathed knife to each model.  Of course, the model with its sword drawn has an empty scabbard on its hip.  

The kite shields didn't look quite right so I shaved them down to the dimensions of teardrop shields. Getting a consistent size and shape was easier than I had expected.

They still require some GS work and basing, but they look good enough to play some test games.

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On 6/12/2018 at 3:02 PM, Koyote said:

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The Bogatyr have arrived!  

Over the years, I've ordered hundreds of miniatures from scores of manufacturers and resellers, but I have never received my minis packaged in cigarette boxes, until now.  Clever.  The models were well wrapped in bubble wrap so they arrived in perfect, albeit a bit smelly, condition.  LOL.  

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Based on the product photo I was concerned that the Bogatyr models would be a bit too large, but as it turns out the opposite is true.  Like Drabant miniatures, these minis are closer in scale to 25mm than 28mm.  The detail is good and the presence of mold lines is about average. Overall, the quality is quite good.  

As in the painting that served as the inspiration for these minis, the horses' poses are fairly static.  Nevertheless, the sculpts are quite nice. In fact, they rank among the best I've seen from manufacturers that produce metal historicals.  Kudos to the sculptor.

I had hoped to make the Bogatyr armed with a spear my Eastern Princes warlord, but the model's size may preclude that.  I won't know for certain until I get a chance to compare the Bogatyr to my Gripping Beast/Fireforge Games kitbashed hearthguard.

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Here's what I've put together for my Eastern Princes warlord.  The rider and rearing horse are made by Curteys Miniatures.  The head is from the Fireforge Russian Infantry kit and the shield is carved down Norman kite shield from Conquest Games.

The model can be improved with some GS work, but even so, I feel kind of 'meh' about it.  Even with a rearing horse, the rigidly posed riders makes the model feel stiff and unnatural. I gave its throwing arm a bit of a bend and the head a slight turn to the right, but it didn't do much good.

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Yesterday, while doing my daily rounds through the webpages of various miniatures manufacturers I spotted Fireforge Games' new Richard the Lionheart minis.  The model got me thinking.  By using GS to make the top of his helm a bit pointier, swapping out the shield, and carving the lions off of the mounted model's surcoat, this model could make a damn fine Eastern Princes monarch.  The model's armor is heavier than those of my mounted hearthguard, but since Lithuanian warlord's are not equipped with javelins, the heavier armor makes sense.

Sadly, it's cast in Fireforge's "fine resin" material. Nevertheless, against my better judgment and bitter experience with Fireforge's so called "fine resin" miniatures, I placed an order.  I know, it's a gamble.  But it's my hope is that since these are a brand new models, Fireforge will exercise at least some degree of quality control on these products before shipping them to customers.  Fingers crossed.

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Awesome conversions, I love the attention to detail on things like baggage counters!

A couple questions for you:

How do you feel about the wire spears? Far better than a plastic alternative?

I was considering an army from fireforge in the future, is the fine cast bad enough that I should just avoid it altogether?

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9 hours ago, TheBeninator said:

Awesome conversions, I love the attention to detail on things like baggage counters!

A couple questions for you:

How do you feel about the wire spears? Far better than a plastic alternative?

I was considering an army from fireforge in the future, is the fine cast bad enough that I should just avoid it altogether?

Thanks.

Wire spears are the only way to go. White metal spears are too thick and bendy. Plastic spears are better, but if the model is dropped or gets snagged, plastic can break. With wire spears the only danger is to yourself when you go to grab one and stab yourself, which is why I use a file to blunt the points. 🙂

The five or six blisters of Fireforge’s “fine resin” minis that I’ve purchased, included both cav and infanty.  All were awful.  However, it’s been over a year now, so you never know, they could be better now. Then again GW’s Finecast GW minis were crap and so were the “fine resin” North Star Minuature’s cultist weapon pack that bought, so it’s likely a problem with the material. 

With that said, Fireforge sells some very good plastic kits. Not GW good, but good for historicals.

What faction are you interested in? 

 

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I play T9A so I was going to mash up a kingdom of equitane army (bretonians in Whfb), from tutonic knights and the like. That’s a down the road project though, still have plenty of dwarves that need some color.

the prices of fireforge seem so darn good. I bought their spears for conversions, hence my question about the wire. Does wire hold primer + paint well enough? Better or worse than pewter?

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My V&V vikings arrived and they sure are purty.  The detail is quite nice and the flash and mold lines are minimal. I want all my warriors to have hand weapons (no spears) and I don't care for the shields that came in the kit, so reequipped many of them.

When lined up against viking models from V&V's earlier viking kits and viking models from other manufacturers there is a noticeable difference in height and proportions.  Look at the V&V vikings 4th (old) and 5th (new) from the right.  Compare the size of the model's head and the thickness of the limbs.  The new V&V viking make the the old one looks kind of puny.

The new V&V models scale fairly well against GW human models (Empire & Bretonnians), which got me thinking.  I now have 12 oversized vikings that I probably won't integrate into my Pagan Rus warband, but they would make a mighty-fine Norse Explorers warband for Mordheim.  Twelve models gives me enough for a starting 500 gc warband plus room to grow.  All that I need to do is find a suitable Ulfwerenar model (werewolf) and I'm ready to explore the City of the Damned.  Hmm.. e5017366.gif

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On 7/7/2018 at 6:42 PM, TheBeninator said:

the prices of fireforge seem so darn good. I bought their spears for conversions, hence my question about the wire. Does wire hold primer + paint well enough? Better or worse than pewter?

I have a number of Fireforge's plastic spears.  For plastics they are sturdy and not too thick.  If I had to recommend plastic spears, I'd recommend Fireforge's.

I've had no problem with with my wire spears holding paint. 

As a rule, I don't varnish my models as it tends mute the color.  I do, however, apply matte varnish to the sides of bases and anything pointy that sticks out from the model. This cuts down on paint chipping.  I use Valejo's matte varnish in the plastic squeeze bottle.

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  • 2 weeks later...

I've been disappointed time and again by Fireforge's "fine resin" products, so I was pleasantly surprised when opened my Richard the Lionheart blister today.  The detail is fantastic.  None of the pieces are malformed.  Not one air bubble.  Almost no mold lines or flash.  Overall, a superb product.

I suspect that they've changed their "fine resin" material.  The new material feels denser and slightly heavier.  It's much less brittle.  The surfaces seem smoother.  The material looks and feels like a soft-to-medium plastic.  It's a big improvement.

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