A Loss of Reputation?

On Monday for the last game of November here in GHQ Phil and I were fixed on a first attempt with James Morris's new Midgard {aka Mudgard here in GHQ}rules using Phil's Arthurians and Early Saxons, two beautiful armies worthy of the privilege. It's fitting too that a new rule set should get a run out to mark the Blogs 13th Blogiversary!

You may already have seen Phil's report of our experience in this first encounter with the rules, so I'm not going to repeat things for no reason. The two armies in question are a thing of beauty though and deserve as wide an audience as possible, so here are a few pictures I took during lulls in the action ~

The early Saxons lead gallantly, if not heroically, by Aelle.

The glorious Arthurians lead by the almost mythical Artos, Dux Brittania, Count of the Saxon Shore, and so on...

Artos himself flush with Heroic ardour leading his Comitatensis into action.

Aelle keeping a watchful eye on his diminishing stock of Heroic Deeds!

Mutual destruction brought about by the accumulated loss is Stamina.

Aelle desperately expending his Heroic Deeds to stave off the rampant Arthurian hordes and preserve what was left of his Reputation.

Which as you can readily see here was at a pretty low ebb by then!

All to no avail in the end sadly as his Reputation took a nose dive and the battle was lost. 

We played five Turns in just a little less than 2 hours including setting up. The rules worked well and we soon had a grasp of the fundamental principles and order. More importantly they were fun, and for we veteran wargamers that's what counts more with the passing of the years. So, the  Midgard/Mudgard rule set are 'Highly Recommended' by we GHQ Irregulars!

A Mixed Bag!

There's no unified theme for this blog post I confess, unless you count the fact that they are all painted! First up then I've added a base of Late Roman Cataphractarii to the collection ~

Of course you will instantly recognise these as from the venerable Wargames Foundry range, as is the bulk of the collection here in GHQ. Squeezing five figures onto the 80mm x 60mm base was a challenge and has perhaps resulted in a bit of an odd look, but, I had the figures...and you know what we are like in our hobby! As an aside, I've started on some Saxon/Goth Skirmishing Light Infantry bases, more of them though anon.

Phil and Di came over for the day last Friday. While the ladies put the world to rights Phil and I retired to GHQ for a small Hail Caesar 1066 & All That game. No AAR, just a few nice pictures of the collection in action on the tabletop battlefield and a chance for me to report a rare home win! And, as a bonus, William the Barsteward was slain and Bishop Odo carried from the field so badly wounded he may not live!! "Engleland is Saved!!!"

Later on after lunch Phil and I set too sorting my Footsore Miniatures Vikings into units to add to the collection as was always my intention. They should give me three more units for the game, capable of being allocated to either side as Anglo-Danes or Viking mercenaries. We also put together a joint order to Footsore: Phil for some additions to his Arthurian & Saxon collection in the form of extra cavalry packs and yours truly some of the Dark Age Welsh Matt sculpted for them. In my case funded by a win on the Lottery the week before, so no depletion of the Warchest incurred!!

Finally, as I promised, the figures completed for the side project, The Saga of Bicca Biccasson, now with added snow. One Gripping Beast Dwarf and ten of Matt's Footsore Miniatures Vikings. Then there are the beginnings of the encounter figures of course ~

The Ice Giant Grïhm and the Ice Dragon Snàrg, now with added snow. It's much whiter to the eye by the by than it looks in the pictures. I've completed the figures for the next group of 'bad things' bar the basing so they'll be along as and when so you'll need to keep your wits about you...

The Fellowship of Bicca Biccasson is completed!

 As it says on the tin, the final three figures portraying the Hirdmen serving Bicca Biccasson in his Saga are finished. The figures are from Matt's Footsore Vikings, the bases from Warbases, and the shields transfers from LBMS ~

As with all the figures I've shown so far I've added some snow effect to the bases since taking the photos. Now, brace yourselves for a closer look ~

And with Grïhm, the Frost Giant ~

For those who fear I may be teetering on the brink of the Dark Side there's no need to despair. I've also finished a base of five Late Roman Cataphractarii and started work on some Saxon/Goth Skirmishing Light Infantry for the Late Roman collection. More on these anon...

It's Grïhm 'oop North...

...and braw as weeell. So it's ideally suited to the next addition to the characters for The Saga of Bicca Biccasson in the form of one Grïhm, a Frost/Ice Giant ~

The figure is from North Star's Frostgrave range, cast in white metal and very reasonably priced. Now, he's not the most dynamically posed sculpt is he? But he was pretty straightforward to paint I have to say, about an hour's work in total I'd think spread over a day or two amongst the other inhabitants of the painting desk here in GHQ.

So that's a Dragon and a Giant added to the encounters anticipated, joining a large cave bear, giant spider, sabre toothed tiger, and even some various small dinosaurs. All these left over from various old Pulp projects down the years... Snow has been added to the bases now, so look out for a group shot next week to see what you think.

Snàrg

I was really keen to have a dragon featuring in The Saga of Bicca Biccasson games but have you seen the sizes, and the prices? Even a pre-painted plastic dragon from Smyths would be nearly £20, and it would take up a box in its own right! So, cue Internet searches for a possible cheaper alternative...

I found several options after numerous sessions, eventually finding Kingdom Games, an on line business specialists in 3D printing. As it happened they had a weekend sale on and offered free postage so I took the plunge and selected a style and pose that I liked to become Snàrg, the Frost/Ice Dragon. He duly arrived a couple of days later in a large box! Unpacking though lead to some initial disappointment I confess. I knew the choice I'd made of a young dragon meant he'd be smaller than the full sized ones, but not that much smaller! Still, he'd only been £6.95 so I set about enhancing his bulk by posing him on a rocky outcrop constructed from my Woodlands Scenics large rocks. Happy with the outcome he was duly washed, dried and undercoated ready for painting. Just five colours in all: the Foundry British Blue-Grey triad, Bright Red Light and Boneyard Mid Shade. I fixed the completed figure to the rocky outcrop with UHU Power adhesive and washed the surrounding texture with my go-to Country Maple, finally adding a few darker grass tuft and weeds. And here he is ~

It's right of course to remind ourselves that, "Though he be small, but yet he is fiercesome in combat!" As you can see for yourselves... and, he can fly ~

As with all of the figures some patches of 'snow' will be added in due course thanks to Phil having a job lot going spare. Mind, I've had enough of the real stuff these past few days!

Three More Viking Hirdmen...

...have been recruited to the 'Fellowship of Bicca Biccasson'. As you'd obviously expect they are more of Matt's Footsore Vikings. The shield transfers are from LBMS via Phil, as I wanted to be sure of the fit before I bought any myself. I spoke to Footsore about this and was told some blending might be required. In fact some fitted snuggly, while others were a tad overlarge or under sized. Make of that what you will. The bases are of course from Warbases, again via Phil as I'd forgotten to preorder some for The Other Partizan collection!👴🏻 Doh!!

Next up in this side project should be the first of the adversaries the 'Fellowship' might encounter at some stage in the Saga.

People in Glass Houses...

I think we all know how that pans out, don't we? Anyway, here are the latest additions to the Late Roman collection: archers from Wargames Foundry and Slingers from Aventine Miniatures' Early Byzantine range.

The Archers are painted to match the recently completed Legion as a third tank in a mixed unit, but are based up so they could form either two Small units or one Standard unit as the game scenario demands ~

The Slingers are simply two bases of two figures to form a unit of Skirmishing Light Infantry, which is always a Small unit in Hail Caesar terms ~

Like their Foundry fellows the Aventine figures lack the more dynamic animated poses of more recent ranges, being what many of my generation would probably recognise as 'proper' wargames figures, designed to fit together without much fuss on a unit base, none of this sabot base stuff!

Next under the brush for this project should be a base of four Cataphractarii. The figures are lacking a shield or standard so will be able to turn out for both Minimaximus and Baldinus, making both armies more flexible, as will the Slingers of course. 

Harald Biccasson, Saxon Hero?

Things have improved sufficiently for both Paul and yours truly so that we could once again meet up in GHQ for a game. Paul fancied an Hail Caesar game, so I rooted out my 1066 & All That collection for an encounter battle between the Saxons and the Normans. As is my wont, an annotated photomontage follows which I hope will give a sense of the battle as it unfolded ~

Norman infantry occupy the centre of William the Barsteward's army, while the right is held by his Breton allies and an element of mercenary Viking warriors led by Harald the Clueless.

William himself leads the massed Norman heavy cavalry on the left of his army of conquest.

Harald Biccasson raises his personal banner on a low hill on the left of his army. Harald is amongst his Hirdman, of whom one element is mounted. These are the men he trusts to hurl back the invader and restore harmony to the kingdom.

In the centre of his line Harald has placed his Ceorls, stiffened by a unit of Thegns. Out to their front a few slingers are sent to harass the advancing Normans.

Harald has deployed his poorest troops away on his right where a large area of woodland offers cover for his troops and disruption to the Normandy if they try to penetrate it.

Rather rashly these troops leave their position on the low rise facing the woodland and advance forward. (A Blunder of course!)

The first exchanges between skirmishing Small Units open the proceedings with neither having a decisive advantage!

The Heavy Norman infantry makes little headway in the early stages! Paul had been complaining about recent poor dice luck...a bad decision given the fickle 'dice gods' about in GHQ!

The Norman army has the advantage in both numbers and quality of troops, but the terrain favours Harald's men!

Olaf the Clueless has rather pointlessly occupied a hill on the extreme right of William's line. As his chaos have no ranged weapons Harald chooses to ignore them. He has other things on his mind as the Norman Heavy Infantry finally get into gear.

The poor class troops on Harald's right are looking rather anxiously at the Heavy infantry advancing steadily on them. The two sides skirmishing units are beginning to suffer mounting losses.

Masses of Norman Archers are deploying in support of the Heavy Infantry's attack. Clouds of arrows soon begin to fall on the nervous Coerls.

Mounting losses from the Breton archers forces one element of Hirdman to fall back in Disorder. Harald plugs the gap with his Herthguard armed with Dane Axes!

Norman Heavy Infantry crash into the Ceorls on Harald's right while Heavy Cavalry appear through the woodland. The right is in imminent danger now!

The Norman Heavy Cavalry smashed into the extreme right of the Ceorls' shieldwall. Disorder is already widespread due to galling now fire and they waver. 

Harald has lost his centre and his right is wavering. Surrounded by his loyal Hirdmen Harald prepares for William's final assault. The battle is lost, but he will go down fighting!

But before that can come to pass Harald sees his right division collapse. In the chaos a second Saxon commander is slain. Even the loyal Hirdmen have had all they can stand and Harald is swept to safety amidst his fleeing army remnants. He lives to fight another day!

Once again Hail Caesar produced a game in which fortunes ebbed and flowed before the sudden climax of events swept the Saxons from the field! All you can ask for from any set of rules in my opinion. Most of the figures in the collection are from Foundry and we're sculpted by Matt back in the day. The exceptions are the Vikings, still from Foundry, and the Bretons who are mostly Crusader and Black Tree figures sourced from Colonel Bill's . Finally as a bonus, a few better pictures Paul provided ~