Wednesday, March 26, 2014

Two Dark Age Armys

I am very excited about this. I am geeking out! After a long time of collecting Vikings and Anglo-Saxons initially for Saga but with a view to expand them into wargame armys I have now created two equal pointed rosters for smashing each other in the face with insults, axes, swords and spears (also rocks and arrows). Now the Painting Challenge is finished my head started turning towards gaming and with new additions completed in recent times some long awaited gaps have been filled.

To make these Armys I used 'Kings of War' rules. In this rules system units have dimensions that do not change in the game (no individual figure removal). Warbases in the UK created for me some sabot bases I designed (so I can use my figs for Skirmish as well).
Sure, Kings of War is a fantasy game of epic battles but I just really like the rules and I think it is flexible enough to accommodate what I wanted to achieve. The great blog site An hour of Wolves and Shattered Shields uses KoW to come up with historical lists but I tried something straight from the KoW rule book using options for Humans.
Unit sizes for infantry figs are Troop, Regiment or Horde. Horde is the largest and represents the footprint of 40 soldiers. Regiment is 20 and Troop is 10 infantry. My sabot bases of course get nowhere near that many figures but the unit base size is the same. Armies can also have heroic individuals who never join units but roam the battlefield in a suitably heroic fashion. Each Regiment or Horde allows the addition of 1 Hero each.
Anglo-Saxon army


Using the Human options to roughly match the figure types I came up with....

Anglo-Saxon 1305 points

1 x Foot Guard - Horde with Musician and Banner (Elite Hearth Guard types).
1 x Spear Phalanx - Horde with Musician and Banner (Spear units get a lot more attack dice)
1 x Shield Wall - Horde with Musician and Banner (Regular mixed infantry unit)
1 x Militia Mob - Horde with Musician (conscripted farmers, potters, teenagers, old men etc)
1 x Penitents - Mob Regiment (Monks who must kill heathens in the name of God.)
1x Missile Troops - Regiment Size (Slings)
1 x Missile Troops - Troop size (Slings)

Heroes:
2 x Priests (Mad Monks)
1 x Army Standard (Mounted)
1 x General (Mounted)

Viking invaders








Vikings 1305 points

1 x Foot Guard - Horde with Musician and Banner (Elite Hearth Guard types)
1 x Spear Phalanx, Horde with Musician and Banner (Mostly Spear armed)
1 x Shield Wall, Horde with Musician and Banner (Regular mixed infantry unit)
2 x Penitents Mob, Troop (Dane Axe and Berserkers)
1x Missile Troops - Regiment Size (Bows)
1 x Missile Troops - Troop Size (Bows)

Heroes:
1 x Priest (Black Floki)
1 x Army Standard
1 x General Mounted
1 x General (Mounted with Blade of Slashing)

I actually needed 5 more points in the Viking force to equally match the Anglo-Saxon total. That's why the Magical weapon Blade Of Slashing. Magical upgrades I think can really be used for bonus tweaks and can be used as 'Count as' just like my figures really.
There really are a lot of options for me to consider using for even more variation. I could use the cost and rules for a unit of Ogres to vary the footprint perhaps.
Using the 'Allies' rule opens up a lot of 'counts as' infantry variants. Elves have a Scouts unit. They are faster (1inch extra move), have Bows and Nimble & Vanguard special rules. Might make for good missile weapon skirmishers (throwing spears, slings and bow men).

Lots of possibilities and perhaps it is best that I get some dice rolling and make a battle report when I get these two to face off.

Cheers from Brendon

10 comments:

  1. Looking forward to the battle reports, they look good

    Ian

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  2. They look great, all based up like that!

    I have a plan to take my SAGA figures and do the same as you for Impetus. I don't have a partner for it so I'm stuck in the planning phase. You've actually taken it across the finish line. Great work Brendon!

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  3. Thanks for the feedback.
    @Monty...hmmmm. Impetus. I see they have Basic Impetus free wargame rules. I see the basing system and see the options on Warbases. Cool.
    cheers

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  4. Warbases is a blessing for us gamers. Some of the fellows who are late to join in SAGA have told me they're worried that the game will fade and then what? Well, Warbases lets us leverage our skirmish armies over multiple rules. So I tell them not to worry.

    It is great to see your skirmish forces all formed up like this and now I want to do it too!

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  5. Agreed Warbases = excellent!
    Cheers Monty

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  6. I like this Brendon and apologies but I forgot to put you on my blogroll but now rectified.

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  7. No worries mate.
    thanks and cheers

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  8. Terrific basing, can't wait for the battle report.

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  9. Splendid collection. It's always gratifying when you can finally put them on the table and get them bloody. Congratulations.

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  10. Thanks. Game action thoughts coming soon.
    cheers

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