SAGA Normans, headed for Sicily

 My Normans for SAGA were painted a long time ago (for Version 1, even), and I've been dissatisfied with them for a while. Both in what I have painted, and in how they look (I can do better now). And then Victrix started releasing their plastic Normans... well, the results speak for themselves.

At the same time, I had a golden opportunity to do something different. Most Norman warbands for SAGA are painted as Bill the not-legitimately-born's merry band of England-conquerors, but those weren't the only Normans setting out for new ground. There was in fact another. Down in Italy, Normans first served as mercenaries (for the Lombards against the Byzantines, and for the Byzantines against the Lombards, and for both against the Saracens of Sicily), only to manage to conquer a realm for themselves. So I decided to (losely, as always) base my band on those. At the same time, this means they can flawlessly be used as Crusaders for Age of Crusades, and the Spanish (also AoC) would fit them in fighting style quite well, too.

The Warlord is (as is about 50-50) a Warlady, because I found Brother Vinni's Mathilda of Tuscanny great-looking (and from almost the right area... close enough). The infantryman on the base can be changed between a bodyguard with a command pennants, and a standard bearer with an actual flag, in case a change is wanted. Also, a priest can make for a good advisor model, be it as a Priest, or a scenario hero (and I had one over, from the Victrix Anglo-Saxons).

The mailed fist of the Normans are their knights on horseback. I doubt I'll need 10 very often, or the extra 11th one with a flag, but the idea here is to paint up everything I'll possibly need. And they're gorgeous models. For some splashes of color (other than steel or horseflesh), they've got plenty of pennants from their spears.

Of course, if the mailed fist is the knights, the arm, the body, and the legs that allow for that blow are the Mounted Warriors, harassing the enemy to death and out of position. 20 of them, with Javelins (and enough waving not-javelins, so they can serve as non-javelin cavalry without making me twitch). And, of course, more pennants and a flag. Should be good enough...

And if it's not enough, there's the Breton contingent, 8 more Mounted Warriors with Javelins (either to be mixed in among the warriors, or serving as Breton Mercenaries with their own special rules).

Norman Infantry in SAGA is... let's just call it unsupported and rarely seen. But I might occasionally need some, so painted they are. The Victrix models are great, so I might even be tempted to make some more. The armoured ones could serve as either Hearthguard (Normans can field their knights on foot. I keep being surprised by this fact), Flemish Mercenaries, or just be mixed with the unarmoured ones.

(Fun fact, the armored fellow with his axe in full swing is the very first model I assembled for this project, knowing full well that he wouldn't be seing much use. He was also the last one painted. Seems fitting, somehow.)

If you do need infantry, some mercenaries are much better. Such as these fine fellows from Kyiv and thereabouts. As Vagrant Warrior mercenaries, they are 8 strong, and can have either Heavy Weapons, or shields. The idea is to field 5 with the correct option, 2 leaders (the flag bearer and the one with the extra head), and a single one with the wrong option. Thus I only needed to paint 12, instead of the full 16. Efficiency!

 If Norman infantry is sub-optimal, crossbows are almost memetically so. But they are an option, and if I want to field these as Spanish or Crusaders, then they'd be much better. Only one unit is necessary, but that can be up to 12 Levy for the later factions. Assume the fellows in armour are old, tired, and/or less motivated. Always a good excuse, that (and since Victrix sends fully half their crossbowmen with armour, I need to find a use for some of them at least)

 Now, the much better part to the crossbows: remove the cross and go full bow. If the Norman Crossbows are bad, it is at least half due to these fellows, bow-armed levy. With actual support from the battle board, and more shots for the same price to compensate for the (slightly) lesser individual power.

Now, to be fair, in hindsight, I should have made some of these fellows, and possibly some of the warriors, more arabised, to represent that part of the Sicilian forces. However, I did not realise that until these were assembled and half painted. Well, if I ever decide I need another 12 Levy...

And finally, something to fight over. Stationary supplies, for objectives, and mobile supplies, as Baggage in special scenarios. The sharp-eyed will notice the kitty sleeping on the bigger objective. I might have to do that on more of my objectives, because everything's better with a cat...

But with that, one of my biggest projects (so far) is finished. All in less than a year, and with other projects in parallell... but I'll admit to being a bit tired of painting horses, now. For full transparency, the SAGA Thorsday Warband Challenge (paint 6 points and a Warlord over 7 months) provided a lot of motivation for getting going, and getting through all that horseflesh. But this is obviously (if you know SAGA) more than 6 points, so there were a few extras intersperced (and a fair bit finished after the formal challenge ended).

 Now, to paint something not mounted...

/Fool, Out.

Frostgrave Barbarians

 First finished project of 2025 (nevermind that these have been in the queue for at least 6 months, and been worked on since november). While my urge to play Frostgrave is currently low, the urge to paint never goes away.

These are a mix of the "official" Frostgrave male and female Barbarians, with some headswaps from Shieldwolf Shieldmaidens. Anyway, on to the pictures.

All in all, it makes for a nice tribe.

First up, the ordinary tribesmembers (Thugs and Thieves in Frostgrave parlance) that doesn't require much to get going.

Then there's the support, infantrymen and -women wielding spears, as well as those armed with ranged weapons.

And then the core veteran fighters. Either wielding shields (and being either Knights, or Men-at-Arms, depending on what's needed. One can always claim the extra armor is experience, and the lower speed the scars from gaining said experience) or having anger management issues (what Frostgrave terms Barbarians).

Finally, the leaders of the tribe. A Witch, an Apprentice, and an Chief on Fuzzy Unicorn (Kornovik, Barbarian Outcast, on a whooly rhino).

(And finally-finally, a pair of mercenaries that can be hired by anyone who's got silver. They were strictly speaking not part of the barbarians, but got painted in parallell and based at the same time).

And with that, until next time.

/Fool Out

Happy New Year 2024/2025

 Happy New Year, where did 2024 go? It's been a busy year, both hobby and otherwise.

First up, last year in numbers. I managed to paint

• 181 infantry
• 63 cavalry
• 3 Bigger beasties
• 2 tiny ones
• 17 objectives and general scatter terrain
• 1 bigger piece of terrain
• 4 markers

Thus beating my stated goal of 240 models, with some margin (and a decent portion of those models were cavalry, which really should count for 2...). So how did the projects I had intended go? Well...

The French ran into a bit of a blockage, and I will have to pick them up once SAGA Age of Chivalry has finally arrived (tentative release: 12th of January), when I can take a look and figure out what they want for figures. (Still, I have painted almost all the figures I had assembled, so I count that as a win).

The Undead got down-prioritized, but still managed to acquire a decent start with 4 SAGA points worth of resurrected bodies (3 points of Warriors and 1 point of Mindless, the Undead special Levies). Not too bad, should get a decent speed going once things clear up.

The English got a severe case of feature creep, and are nominally not finished. But the only things missing are 12 infantrymen (Warriors, styled as Burgundian allies... that I need to figure out some good heraldry for) and 6 Mounted Knights. They already have 48 Archers (so I can run them as pure archers for SAGA) and 15 Men-at-Arms, as well as the Warlord, so are more than ready for play.

 The Italo-Normans are... not quite finished, but I've got 7 points and a Warlord ready, so once again, ready for play. The only thing missing is more ranged units (both Bows and Crossbows, for when they substitute in as Crusaders of Spanish), and a few armored infantry (just in case). Still, that's 33 figures in total. Thankfully, I found a good way to paint them that's fairly quick...

Also, they were finished as the Warband Challenge for SAGA Thorsday (excellent youtube-channel and SAGA community), so got painted as 1 point per month. With that done (and nailed), the last ones can hopefully be done in rapid succession.

 As for everything else... there were some big things (a Mammoth mech for Archon Studios, and a Slann from Games Workshop).

Some individual things (Ching Shih and Julie d'Aubigny, community miniatures from Bad Squiddo Games)

And even some uniformed things (after I had listened too much to Sabatons Field of Verdun) (Wargames Atlantic French Infantry)

 All in all, not bad, and I managed to avoid stalling out by switching around what I was painting.

 Now then, that was 2024. What forf 2025?

First up, no definite limit on how many minis I'm going to paint. Instead, I have plans to paint things that do not divy up into individual minis like that, in smaller scales (13.5mm Epic Hail Caesar, with 10-20 figures to a stand, for example, or Warmaster in 10mm, with 8-10). I also have many more larger models that I want to get to, and they obviously take longer than a single 28mm human (that Slann took forever...).

But of course, there are a few projects I intend to get to.

First up, the 4 from last year, since they're not quite finished: English and French for the 100 Years War, Undead, and Italo-Normans. Two of those should be fairly rapid, at least. The Undead have a dragon that I'm not sure quite how to paint...

Then, expand my actual SAGA collection into new ages with Saxons (for Age of Invasions) and the Teutonic Order (for Crusades), since they recently got a nice buff in the new FAQ... the Saxons should be easy and fast, but the Teutons... not so much (with all options, I'm going to need more than 100 models... I'll try to deal with them one unit at a time, and get them game-ready ASAP). Possibly, I'll also sneak in some Irish, once again on the theory that they "should be quick to paint".

 Outside of SAGA, there's some opponents for those Frenchmen (I've also been listening to Sabatons Stormtroopers...). Dead Mans Hand is a recurring game at the club during the summers, so at least one gang of cowboys (or close enough) seems appropriate. And the Pirate gene is itching again, so I might get to expanding my Blood & Plunder collection some more (just need to pressgang some people to play with). And somehow, I accidentally acquired some models for Flames of War, and the flame for it almost rekindled. We'll see what happens if those manage to get some paint.

And of course, there's going to be plenty of random and semi-random minis sprinkled throughout. I have some ideas for following more artsy theme-months (such as Smaugust, painting a dragon for August). We'll see how that works out.

Once again, Happy New Year.

/Fool, Out