SAGA Viking 8 Point Army

The completed 8 point army.

When I got back into SAGA late last year (or rather go into it in the first place) I, obviously, needed some miniatures.  Initially, I just used what I had available, which was quite a bit actually.  The core of my Viking army was some Danes I had painted for a WAB Rus project several years ago.  These are really great figures that had otherwise never been used.  Late last year I also painted some new figures for SAGA - Thralls and Berzerkers.  My latest effort, which brings me to completion for this project, is the rebasing of my Danes, the creation of a cool Warlord and painting up a couple of units of Bondi.  This gives me 8 points so I should be able to create just about any Viking army I would like for SAGA.

The Warlord with his horn-blower and trusty standard barer.

These are Gripping Beast metal figures that I based on a 50mm round wood base.  The banner is reworked from one I downloaded from An Hour of Wolves & Shattered Shields site.

One point of Gripping Beast Hirdmen.  These have been rebased onto rounds.

The second point of Gripping Beast Hirdmen.  Several of these were equipped with spears and I change that to hand weapons.  It just looks more heroic.

The third point of Hirdmen.  Also Gripping Beast metals as are the others.

The fourth and final point of Gripping Beast Hirdmen.  Sixteen of these should be plenty for just about any army build.

A single point  of Gripping Beast metal Berzerkers.  One point is all you are allowed and these will likely be in most all armies I play.  They are just too much fun!

One point of Gripping Beast plastic Bondi.  These are from the Dark Age warriors box and I must say I am a little disappointed.  They are fine figures and a great deal I was just hoping for something more.

The second point of Bondi.  These are the Viking Bondi figures from Wargames Factory.  I really like these a lot.  They are a very dynamic and characterful bunch of figures.

Twelve thralls with bows.  In reality these would have probably just be Bondi with bows but you don't get that option in SAGA.  These are Wargames Factory figures and are a mix of parts from the Viking Bondi and Saxon Fyrd sets.

Great War Germans for Flames of War, Part 2

Here is the next installment of my German WWI army for Flames of War.  This is the first of two infantry platoons.

The complete platoon

The command team build as an SMG team.

Two MG teams.

The optional rifle grenade team.

With this it is time for a little pause in this project.  I have a couple things to do and then I will get back to this.

Great War Germans for Flames of War, Part 1

One of the gaming goals for this year is to get Flames of War Great War on the table.  Last year I picked up the Blitz's Battlegroup box set.  This is a really great deal and is a very solid core of an army for about $100 (cheaper online in places).

To start off the project I have painted the HQ and all the options.  From a points perspective this represents about 510 points!  Needless to say I doubt this stuff will all make it on to the table at the same time.

All the teams for all the HQ options.  There are 33 figures just for the HQ.

Three anti-tank rifle teams.  I can see these being in lists with defense as the focus.

The CO and the 2CI.  These are built as SMG teams but I will use them as pistol teams as needed.

Three flame-thrower teams for clearing out enemy trenches.  Very handy for attacks.

Two grenatenwerfer teams.  These should be useful for either attacking or defending.  These will likely be a must have for any list.

One sniper team.  Snipers in FoW are always tricky.  I think in the Great War these will be much more useful as the armies are infantry.  They will take some trial and error...

I painted these a little different than most painting guides would have you do it.  I used Field Grey for the trousers and the puttees.  For the tunics I mixed Field Grey and German Uniform (Vallejo 920) for a more green color.  I think they look good but I will probably mix this up more for the rest of the army.  i will do some all in Field Grey and others all in the mixed color as well as this style.  German uniforms in the Great War had just as much color variation as they did in WW2.

First Units for Hail Caesar

After nearly 2 years I have finally completed my Wargames Factory Saxon Thegns.  Back in 2013 I posted about these figures and now they are done. 

These are pretty OK figures and great for bulking out big armies.  I should have more to say about this but I have had a bit too much to drink tonight...

New Rivers

Several years ago Battlefront released a set of river section with two bridges.  At the time I really wanted these rivers but I figured I have time to pick them up.  That was before I realized that BF terrain sets are all limited editions.  Soon after that set was gone, however, GF9 (part of Battlefront) released expansion sets for the rivers.  Well, I put off getting any of those as I have already invested in the Pegasus Hobbies river sets and had no need for any more.

After several years of use I have decided to commandeer the Pegasus Hobbies rivers for a winter terrain project I am planning.  This means I needed some new rivers for non-winter tables.  This was the perfect excuse to add some these GF9 rivers to the terrain collection.

I bought two sets.  The fork expansion and the island expansion.  Each set includes three sections that are just under 12" long.

Each piece has its own formed foam tray fro protection.  This is a great feature.  The river sections are made of a heavy rubber/vinyl material.  The texture of the river back is molded into the piece so there is no flaking.

The rivers are pre-painted and could be used straight from the box.  In fact, that seems to be how most people use them.  Each set comes with a small packet of static grass but not enough to make them look like the pictures on the box.  Fortunately, I have lots of flock material so sprucing these up was not an issue.

Below are a few pictures of some of the finished river sections.  I repainted the rock outcroppings to a grey rather than tan color.  It is hard to see in these pictures.I added some static grass and flock to each piece to help soften the look.  I really like how these turned out.

I plan to add a the rest of the available sets to the collection soon.  Now that Battlefront has re-released the original bridges i will be getting those as well.  These will soon be the main river sets for Flames of War as well as just about any other game I play that calls for rivers.  These are some very nice sets and I am sorry I waited so long to get them.

Panther Comparison

I recently assembled a few Battlefront Panther A models and I thought you might find a little comparison post interesting.  Below are some pictures of the BF Panther compared to the Plastic Soldier Company (PSC) Panther.  The PSC model is built as the ausf D for my Kursk army.

As you can see they are very similarly proportioned with the BF model being ever so slightly larger.  I would thing that the to brands would work well on the same table in the same army.

I plan to use the BF ausf A for a 1944 Panther force.  To me the rougher look of the BF model with the zimmerit is perfect for Normandy armies or 1944 Eastern front armies. On the other hand, the crisp clean lines and the fine detail of the PSC Panther makes it perfect for the Kursk era Panthers as these were straight off the assembly line tanks and should really look new.

I really do prefer the PCS tanks.  It is really tough to justify the more than double the price for BF.  If I ever do a late Panther G force I will not hesitate to use the PSC kit.

Fate of a Nation Plans - Israel

With the release of the new, full size, Fate of a Nation book it is time to get serious about my plans for this period.  I really think the 1967 War is a great setting for Flames of War and makes much more sense than Vietnam.  When the Wargames Illustrated min-book came out last year I was excited but I wanted to wait and see what Battlefront's level of support was going to be before I jumped in.  With the new book it look like this might have some legs so it is time to make a plan.

My favorite tanks for this conflict are all the cool Sherman variants so it is only natural that I start with an Israeli force.  I like to plan a new FoW project around 1500 points.  This is the most common game size I play and it allows me to build a solid core army that is easy to expand later.

P'lugah Tan'kim

HQ
2 M51 Isherman      240pts

Combat Platoons
2 M51 Isherman      240pts

4 M50 'French' Sherman    390ps

2 Centurion        350pts

Support Platoons
4 Patrol Jeep       80pts

2 Anti-tank Jeeps      100pts

2 M3 TCM-20           100pts

Total points - 1500

I really like this as starting force.  There are lots of cool franken-shermans and a couple of heavy hitter tanks.  It has recce as well as light AT to support it.  It also has AA.  I think this will be a really fun army to play.  I was a little surprised that this army will only cost about $210 at full retail so I should be able to put is together for less than $200 with some bargain shopping.  Now I just need to collect the models before BF lets them go out of production....