Saxons, Vikings & Normans

I've been fairly well focussed on Romans and Celts for ages now, so I think it's time for something a little different.

Vikings
Gripping Beast's new plastic and metal range have really ticked all the boxes for me. Top notch figures with the maintsay of the army available in plastic at a very reasonable £18 for 44 figures. A decent sized force for WAB should cost less than £100. The figures look like they'll be so much fun to paint.

Saxons
In addition to their Vikings, GB have plans to make a boxed set of plastic Thegns available later this year! But my aims for an army are a little more ambitious than just 11th century Saxons... Regular readers (thank you!) may recall that I keep blathering on about Age of Arthur. It's probably my favourite supplement, even though I don't actually play it yet. Well, I see this as my opportunity to get in to Dark Ages gaming properly. I could collect a 6th - 7th century Saxon army based around the Heptarchy or Anglian lists using mainly GB's excellent Early Saxon range, plus a few of the superb Musketeer Saxons. This could then easily become a later, ie 8th - 11th century, Saxon force with the addition of a few Dane-axe wielding thegns and some chaps in Norman-esque style helmets. Basically two armies for the price of one plus a few extra figures. The Early Saxon Duguth, Geoguth and Ceorls will do good service as Ceorls and Fyrd in the later Saxon battle line.

Normans
I've always been fascinated by the Normans. Aged 7 I visited Hastings only to be disappointed to find that the field was not covered in Saxon / Norman dead!? I've seen the Bayuex tapestry twice. I've been all over Normandy on several holidays - wonderful place - can't wait to visit again. But if you get the chance to visit Duke William's castle at Falaise... then don't as it's awful. Anyway ... it now looks like a new company Conquest Games will be releasing a range of plastic Norman cavalry. Check out some pics here. Then there's always the excellent ranges from Perry's and Gripping Beast too.

It will of course be Warhammer Ancient Battles, so I'd better order a copy of Shieldwall soon!

Happy gaming!

Comments

  1. Indeed,it looks like the dark ages will be well supported!

    Cheers
    Christopher

    ReplyDelete
  2. Looking forward to seeing more on the Dark Ages projects.

    ReplyDelete

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