So my SAGA Viking starter box arrived and I've begun to get it all assembled. Also being my own fluff writing self, there is a bit of foundation being written for the warband as well. I'm liking the clear basic style rules that SAGA is written with that has really balanced armies that force you to think about which abilities you want to use on your board and which tactics to use on the table. It's more of a tactics driven skirmish game rather than one you can win from list building. Or at least that how it seems from reading the rules and from the battle reports I've been watching.
My warlord is Jarl Hrothgar Einarrson, known as the Black Crow. His father was on the losing side of a feud near present day Oslo which lead to his relocation with his remaining followers northward of Bergen to found the village of Ravensmyrr. This village is strategically located at the mouth of a modest sized river and hidden around a sharp turn at the end of a long bay. Jarl Hrothgar took over leadership of the village when his father was killed in raid against the Saxons. Hrothgar is a cruel and cunning viking who lives to spread the fear and name of the Norse gods throughout the lands.
I've based him with a banner bearer who also acts as his personal guard. Hrodgeir Thengilson is Hrothgar's childhood friend and close companion. They were both blooded on the same raid against the Danes. When Hrothgar became Jarl, no one other than Hrodgeir would suffice as his personal banner bearer.
Next up is a unit of Hirthguard. These fellows are Eirleif Vornirson, Bersi Magnusson, Hakon Fasoltson, and Saebiorn Sigvaldson. All skilled warriors and veterans of many raids, each is capable of being a leader of men. When at sea, they captain Hrothgar's longships and when on land they form his iron fist that drives the warriors and bondi forward.
Then we have a unit of bondi archers being put together. The starter box came with the full 12, but I'm only using 9 of them and need to find 3 replacement models. The ones with fur lined caps are a bit too Rus or Slavic looking for my tastes and I want to find a few Viking archers with helmets to use instead.
The last unit being worked on currently is a unit of 8 warriors. Once the shields are good and set on the models, I'll be adding swords, axes, and spears to them. Once this unit is done, I want to look at doing one more unit of 8 warriors to round out my 4 point starting warband. I think two blocks of 8 warriors give a good number of troops and some decent hitting power when looking at the Viking ability board.
Other things I'd like to do once these troops are all assembled is a unit of 4 berserkers (counts as a type of Hirthguard unit for Vikings). The start box I got came with 4 models to use for this, but I'm not really digging the wolf pelt look for them. I'm still browsing for different options to use. What I'd like to find are a quartet of bare chested vikings armed with a mix of large two handed axes and pairs of single hand axes.
For color scheme on this force, I want to use primarily black and dark metals with pale dark blues for a bit of color and maybe a little red for blood on weapons and such. Plus various wood colors for the bows, spear shafts, shield backs, etc.
As to other projects, I've been working on an idea for a repaint for my X-Wing Imperials but it isn't working out and is back on the drawing board. Also have a couple BattleMech projects in the works and need to show off the new Americans I got for Bolt Action. That's all for now and I'll hopefully be back with another blog next week.
