The Beginning of a SAGA Part 1

Kiwi and his Vikings!

Hello fellow gamers,

Being my first post on this awesome blog I should introduce myself. I am a wargamer from Darwin, surprise there guys, and my first contact with a miniature was back in 2002....I think.....when I was 8 or 9. My father was a huge Ancients gamer, Micro Armour and board gamer back in his day. So my first contact was with all these 15mm Ancient Greeks, (Republican) Romans, Alexanderian plus Successors and so on. BUT the minis that caught my eye was the Japanese Samurai, some mounted, some with epic blades, some with bows, it blew my mind. That is when my father set-up my first game of DBA (could of been DBM actually). That is what got me going and in about a week after that I saw Lord of the Rings figures at the Newsagency and just had to get them! At the time I did not know who or what Gamesworkshop were even though I was buying their product. But anyway eventually that got me into Warhammer 40k in 2004 in joint with my father. 


That is when I started going to a games club and there could be no better a club then the Darwin Tabletop Gamers. My mind was blown, with all different games being played, fantasy, 40k, board games, my god! After a few years playing 40k I got interest in Warhammer Fantasy. The best memory was, at that time I knew a club tournament was on the way and I wanted to join in and have a go. So I looked around at the different armies and wanted one with a low model count and uber smashing power. Orcs it was! It was an old campaign book styled book which  only used Orcs and Black Orcs, so thats what wanted to take. Now with my list done and army almost finished painted I went to the club hosted fantasy tourny and my first game happened to be against The Kiwi! He was very helpful as he knew I was new etc etc but didn't mean he wouldn't hold back the hurt (LOL). I learnt many lessons from that tournament but really enjoyed myself. 

Now fast forward to the NOW where I have forgotten what 40k is, want to play Fantasy but players have moved onto other games, play and LOVE Flames of War, will play any anicents game (DBA) but want to use my 28mm minis, and just recently SAGA! Yes SAGA! I am a SAGAmite! So to get my first post started, here is the evolution of my new Viking Warband and I will include some reviews, thoughts and maybe some metagame. Hope you enjoy :

Some of you might of heard of the recent wargamers bug, SAGA. I was at Winercon 2012 in Canberra playing in a Flames of War Campaign Tournament (yes they exist and work well) with a bunch of gamers next to us playing a SAGA tournament. I approached the gamers and it was great because they would actually talk to the viewers, show them the rules, the look and feel of the game and were very helpful. It all went downhill when they pointed over to the vendors selling the SAGA rules and minis. So suddenly a SAGA rulebook and a Viking Starter Set appeared in my arms.

Getting back in Darwin and attending the games club with Kiwi smashing some awesome games of FoW and SAGA (my unpainted minis of shame), talking endlessly of SAGA :P . So I pledged to have a solid week of modelling and painting before I had to fly back to Armidale for Uni.

Now, the miniatures in the starter set are metal with few parts to glue on.

This is what I like about metal figures, fewer parts to glue together. You have the model, spear or sword and sometimes a shield (some shields are molded with the mini). I like this approach with metal miniatures compared to Warmachine where you have a kit much like a plastic kit but it is all metal (ergh! Hard to get together correct). 

For anyone who moves from say a GW game to any other game they will first notice  the difference between GW (GamesWorkshop) and every other company is the "plates" you see molded on the bottom of the figures feet. Battlefront have the famous "Plug", Wargames Factory try to limit it by having thinner "plates", Warlord Games have huge thick circle "plates" or go far to call them bases. It is a fact that you will find these with any other miniatures you see around the market. How do I hide these plates? Well I use a product from Bunnings (warehouse store) callled Polyfilla.

 As you can see to the right my Warlord is glued on his epic base, but his "plate" is showing :O

Applying the polyfilla is like using a putty, if anyone has used greenstuff before, very easy. I use a little blunt scapel to apply and fix it around evenly on the base. Having your water pot nearby is a must as this stuff can dry and stick very easily so dipping the scapel in the water keeps the polyfilla from sticking.

The idea is that this is the ground or mud, later after it is all painted static grass will be stuck onto the base to represent ground foliage and rocks. 

Here is Pollyfilla applied to the Warband:

While the bases were drying (best to let it dry over a 24 hour period), you may have noticed some guys don't have shields. That is because I decided the shields that aren't molded on the miniature that I'd paint it seperately from the miniature.

Using the packaging from the spoils of the night before, I stuck the shields onto a piece of cardboard and sprayed!

And when the paint was moderately dry I turned the shields over and sprayed again!

*HINT* Recycling is reccomended!

The next day invovled spray painting. I use the spray you can get from Bunnings warehouse. I don't use spray paint from a hobby company I am happy with the results from what I use, so I won't be moving onto the more expensive GW or Army Painter sprays. I may be missing out on better results from those sprays but I am yet to see it.

Okay wrapping this up, Part 1, with Part 2 I will start painting my hearthguard (the Warlords bodyguards) and the Warlord himself, I will include my thoughts on the new GW paint range compared with the paints I usually use.

So Keep Calm and Carry On :)

Lochy