SAGA - Jomsvikings enter the fray

Been a bit too quiet a bit too long here. I blame it on finishing a whole load of projects earlier, meaning I had nothing half-way done for a bit. But things have been chugging along, and now I have something finished. Specifically Vikings! (Technically a Jomsviking warband for SAGA: Age of Vikings).

This is the better part of a Victrix Vikings set, leaving me with just a few unarmoured bodies (and that, because I cheated a bit), and a whole lot of maille. I'm sure I'll find some use for it, somewhere.

First up, we have a unit of ordinary warriors, as is standard for SAGA. Slightly more than a single point, 10 strong in fact.

The second unit of warriors are equipped with Great Weapons (or dane axes, as they're also known during the viking era), for a bit more punch. As with the previous unit, 10 strong for slightly more than a point.

The final unit of warriors is significantly smaller, only 4 man strong, round out the warriors to an even 3 points total, and giving some fun tricks for SAGA (mostly a "safe" SAGA die). This is of course just the standard configuration, it can be changed around if necessary.

Then there is the Hearthguard. As is my standard, I'm running units of 6, for a bit more punch but not all the eggs in one basket. First unit is all normal.

Second unit has, once again, dane axes for some more punch. These are a bit more difficult to change around unit sizes of than the warriors, since they have quite distinct armaments. Thankfully, I have that load of mailled viking bodies lying around, which should take care of that problem.

Finally, the Warlord. Except there's two of 'em. Since Jomsvikings in SAGA have a choice of arming the Warlord with a Great Weapon (dane axe) or "the usual", I decided to build two. The left over one can always be used for some kind of hero, is the thinking. Certainly didn't help that the Victrix pack held some awesome bodies.

If I'm fielding both the Warlord and a Hero, it might be a good idea to be able to keep track of who's who. To help with this, I had a friend design this sabot base, that will easily fit around a hero base, with magnets to keep things in place.

And just like that, we have a clearly marked Warlord, next to an "ordinary" hero.

As said, the Victrix kit had some awesome bodies, and these two are probably my favourites in pure badass-ness. I will have to think up alternative uses for the pair that I have left un-built, because they almost scream to be used.

As said, I cheated some with my warriors. Part of that was these two, I had two bare-breasted gallic warriors (also from Victrix) lying around. Adding on weapons, heads, shield and some belt stuff from the Viking kit, and I got something that looks quite fitting (sadly, I can't claim this idea original, Victrix had a picture showing something very close to the left fellow on their presentation of the Viking kit previously... but it does looks good).

Finally, I didn't bother painting all the shields, but got shield transfers from Little Big Men Studios, to try out. I will have to say, these worked excellently, even with my at times hamfisted painting. These five are probably my favourites among the lot, but they all look good (and didn't have me tearing my hair out while trying for intricate designs on the shields).

Next step, after expanding the hearthguard contingent, will probably be to get more warriors, 4 berserkers, and some levy archers, so that they can also be used as ordinary Vikings. Of course, these can also easily be expanded to 8 points for SAGA: Age of Magic. Just add a spellcaster (I have several, although I will probably want to build a specific one, more viking-themed, for these), and a giant, 4 berserkers (these pop up again...), or some expanded units (and that hero seen above), and you're there.

And yes, the runes are more than random squiggles. It's the younger futhark, translating what all the bases say will be left as an exercise to the reader ;) 

/Fool Out, that's one more thing of the new years resolution list.