Dark Age Armies in Miniature

A Sub-forum for discussion, painting, modelling and gaming related to the Battle of Fulford Collaborative Project
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Primarch
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Dark Age Armies in Miniature

Post by Primarch » Sat Apr 29, 2017 2:26 pm

So, I am still waiting on the bases from 4Ground, but all of the minis have arrived.
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When my wife saw the pile of boxes, she asked "Are those all for you?" For once, I could reply, "Actually, no." and genuinely mean it. :lol:

So, let's take a look at what is in the boxes then.
The Saxon and Viking boxes come with 44 minis each. 40 regular guys on 4 frames and 4 command options on 2 frames.
Vikings:
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Saxons:
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I think the Viking sprue edges out the Saxons in terms of parts on the sprue. Of particular note are some of the axes and arms on the Viking sprue. First off, the Vikings have the option for a left handed axe, meaning that you can have some guys with axes in each hand if you wish. The Vikings also have an option for a double-handed Dane Axe. You can use these if you wish, but the Vikings have no particular rules for them in either Saga or Hail Caesar. As the name implies, they were a weapon brought over to Britain by the Danish. However, they became very popular among the Anglo-Danish settlers in Britain, so the Anglo-Danish have the option of fielding units of men with them. I'd like to ask any Viking players to think about passing along any spares they have to the Saxon players. There is a unique pair of open handed arms on the sprue to allow one of the axes to be carried across the chest of the model as well. Finally, the Viking players have 1 shield per sprue which has some javelins tucked behind it. These will come in useful for your light infantry.

Speaking of light infantry, here is a shot of the Dark Age Warrior sprue.
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8 frames of 5 guys each with not a lot going for them. The shields on this sprue have a small depression where they attach to a model's arm, making them a little easier to fit into place. I would recommend using these shields on your Viking/Saxon models in preference to the ones they come with where possible. 2 arms come with Javelins and 5 with spears. The Javelins are thinner and a little shorter.
Painted Minis in 2014: 510, in 2015: 300, in 2016 :369, in 2019: 417, in 2020: 450

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Primarch
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Re: Dark Age Armies in Miniature

Post by Primarch » Sat Apr 29, 2017 3:10 pm

Assembling your forces.

So, let's take a look at how armies are built in Saga and Hail Caesar.

HQ
In Saga, you always need a Warlord. He's the leader of your forces and provides your troops with a lot of benefits.
In Hail Caesar, you always need a leader of some kind to give orders to your troops.
Once the bases arrive, you'll get one larger base (40mm rather than 25mm) for your commander. You can put extra figures on it if you want, or just have one guy by himself, the choice is up to you.

In Saga, your men come in units of 4, 8 or 12 depending on how good/bad they are. For Hail Caesar, we're shooting for units of 16 men each with small 8 man units of skirmishers. It shouldn't take too much effort to build an effective force for both games with a little planning.

Heavy Infantry
Using only the Saxon or Viking box, it is possible to assemble some decent fighting men to build the core of your army around.
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In Saga, Hearthguard are your best troops and come in units of 4 men. They are solid fighters and reliable on the tabletop. Vikings have the option of fielding 4 (and ONLY 4) berserkers. It's up to you how you model them. Saxons (Anglo-Danes actually) have the option of fielding their Hearthguard with Dane Axes.
In Hail Caesar, both the Saxon and Viking forces have options for Heavy Infantry. Each army can also have 1 Unit of Hearthguard with similar Berserker/Dane Axe options. The rest of their Heavy Infantry form the hard fighting units in their respective forces.
It doesn't really matter how you equip them as all the melee weapons except Dane Axes are the same in both games. Personally, I think massed ranks of spearmen look better for HC, while the more individualistic nature of Saga suits axes and swords well.

Light Infantry
Using only the Dark Age Warriors box, it is possible to assemble some terrible troops that will run at the first sign of trouble, but unfortunately they carry all of the ranged weapons.
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In Saga your Levy troops come in units of 12. They are the only way (in the forces we are using) to include missile weapons in your force. The sprue comes with slings and javelins. In the Saga Viking and Saxon lists, you can use Levy with slings, bows and crossbows, but not Javelins. In game terms they are ALL the same, except Javelins which have their own special rules.
In Hail Caesar, the majority of your light infantry will instead have Javelins. Units with slings are the less common option. Bows, Crossbows, Slings and Javelins have slightly different rules.
So, I would suggest that you assemble 8 guys with Slings and 16 Guys with Javelins or vice versa (since there are only 16 Javelins in the box anyway). When playing Saga, bulk out the Slings with Javelin armed models or vice versa. I think we are all mature enough to be able to cope with that. The Dark Age sprue has 5 models, 2 with left arms held away from their body and 3 with their left arm tucked in. It is quite hard to get the shields attached to the three guys with the arms tucked in, so use those bodies for the sling/javelin troops in preference. You can give them shields, but you don't need to. The Viking players have shields with Javelins in the rear of the shield that they can use for these guys.

But that leaves 16 bodies unaccounted for....

Medium Infantry
After assembling all your heavy infantry, if you look at your Saxon/Viking sprue you will see you have 16 spare heads. Coincidence? Or providence? By giving the spare heads to the spare Light Infantry bodies, along with a melee weapon, a shield and some of the spare bits from the Heavy sprues such as scabbards and knives, you can make some pretty decent Medium Infantry.
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In Saga, Warriors are your standard troops and come in units of 8. Now, there is nothing wrong with you using Heavy Infantry models for this role if you want, so long as you have some way to differentiate them from your Hearthguard.
In Hail Caesar, both armies come with an option to take units of Medium Infantry, men who weren't full time soldiers, but knew how to use the business end of a sword when needed. They aren't as tough as Heavy Infantry and lack the ranged attacks of Light Infantry, so why take them? Because according to the HC army lists, you have to! :roll:
But don't fret, you can mix them in with your units of Heavy Infantry, hiding the weaker troops behind their better equipped allies. Take your 16 guys and split them into two, putting 8 each in the back rank of the movement trays and 8 Heavy infantry in the front. Simple.

So there you have it, a multi-game task force of hairy unwashed Pagans/hairy unwashed Christians. All you need to do now is assemble and paint 84 little dudes. :D

Prim's recommended Hail Caesar force.
1 Warlord
1 Unit of 16 Heavy Infantry
1 Small Unit of 8 Heavy Infantry
2 Mixed Units of 8 Heavy and 8 Medium Infantry
1 Unit of 16 Light Infantry with Javelins
1 Small Unit of 8 Light Infantry with Slings


Please note, this is all just my recommendation, not a definitive ruling on how to put your army together. If you want to do it differently, go ahead, though you will need some of each type of infantry.
For those interested in conversions, Warlord Games' Celts are a good match for Gripping Beast's heads. It's possible to switch out some of the hands on the Celts, stick a new head on top and give them a suitable shield and end up with some variety in the poses you have available. Celt heads also fit onto Dark Age bodies, so if anyone would like to mix up the range of heads available, let me know. I have a load of spare Celt heads and I can probably pass along a couple of bodies if people want them.
Painted Minis in 2014: 510, in 2015: 300, in 2016 :369, in 2019: 417, in 2020: 450

komura
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Re: Dark Age Armies in Miniature

Post by komura » Mon May 01, 2017 12:40 am

@Primarch

Thank you for posting above article. That's useful one.
For my Saxon army, I'm going to substitute dark age archer for dark age warrior.
Is that change suitable for Fulford battle? Let me know.

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Primarch
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Re: Dark Age Armies in Miniature

Post by Primarch » Mon May 01, 2017 4:21 am

komura wrote:@Primarch

Thank you for posting above article. That's useful one.
For my Saxon army, I'm going to substitute dark age archer for dark age warrior.
Is that change suitable for Fulford battle? Let me know.
Sure, that's fine.
Painted Minis in 2014: 510, in 2015: 300, in 2016 :369, in 2019: 417, in 2020: 450

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jehan-reznor
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Re: Dark Age Armies in Miniature

Post by jehan-reznor » Wed May 03, 2017 12:22 am

I thought it was this http://dark-age.com/
Not a historical player, but i have a weakness for Celts because of Slaine

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Krobrawlg
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Re: Dark Age Armies in Miniature

Post by Krobrawlg » Wed May 17, 2017 7:56 am

Are any viking players willing to part with some of their Danish axes?

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Mike the Pike
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Re: Dark Age Armies in Miniature

Post by Mike the Pike » Wed May 17, 2017 8:08 am

@Krongycbjugbjk: Sure. How many do you need?
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YellowStreak
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Re: Dark Age Armies in Miniature

Post by YellowStreak » Wed May 17, 2017 8:19 am

Krobrawlg wrote:Are any viking players willing to part with some of their Danish axes?
I'll be passing mine to Stu for redistribution as needed (and in trade for some half-nekkid guys to use as berserkers...)
So many games, so little time....
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Re: Dark Age Armies in Miniature

Post by Krobrawlg » Thu May 18, 2017 2:17 am

@Mike:
Mike the Pike wrote:@Krongycbjugbjk: Sure. How many do you need?
You have forgotten the spelling of Krobrawlg's mighty name?!

How many can you spare? I was thinking it would be cool to have a small unit of 8 axemen, but that might be a bit much.

I don't really have nekkid dudes or anything to trade in return. I got a metal Roman commander with the Hail Cesar book, and a bunch of Phalangites. Not really applicable to this situation, but...

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Re: Dark Age Armies in Miniature

Post by Primarch » Thu May 18, 2017 3:08 am

Don't worry, I was planning to redistribute them anyway. I don't need them.
Painted Minis in 2014: 510, in 2015: 300, in 2016 :369, in 2019: 417, in 2020: 450

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