Saga: Anglo-Saxons (Part 12 - Warriors Unit 1 - Finished!)

For my last update before Christmas I've completed work on my first unit of Anglo-Saxon Warriors.

I'm going to have a short break before staring work on my next unit (some Levies) so until my next post I'd like to wish all of you that celebrate at this time of year happiness and peace (apart from on the table-top, which should be running with the imaginary blood of your enemies!!).

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Saga: Anglo-Saxons (Part 11 - Warriors Unit 1, Day 2)

I've done a bit more work on the Warriors unit - I've highlighted the leatherwork put a base colour on the flesh parts and started adding some colour so some of the fabric:

I'll finish off the fabric before I tackle the flesh-proper, I think.

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Saga: Anglo-Saxons (Part 10 - Warriors Unit 1, Day 1)

Back to the foot troops!


So I'm tackling my biggest Saga unit to date - 8 models!


This is one of the things I like about this game - units are generally very small. Your entire force for a 6-point army (which is considered "large") can be as small as just 25 models. Brilliant.


Anyway - some Anglo-Saxon Warriors are being worked on at the moment. For these fellows I've used the same models as I used for my first Hearthguard infantry unit, but I've used un-helmeted heads from the sprues I've built my Levies from (which I will be working on next).


At this stage, they're just sprayed black, drybrushed in a metallic colour and have had a first layer of dark brown added to the wood and leather parts (and a couple of heads).

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Saga: Anglo-Saxons (Part 9 - Hearthguard Unit 2, Finished!)

The dislike has abated. Somewhat.

I've finished these guys now to a standard I'm happy enough with. As often happens when I bumble my way to the end of a paintjob I find myself liking the end result more than I thought I would. But only a bit :-)

I'll cheer myself up with a unit of Warriors next.

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Saga: Anglo-Saxons (Part 8 - Hearthguard Unit 2, Day 2)

I decided I was unhappy with the paintjob on the horses so I've updated them a bit here and there. The drybrushing was a bit clumsier than even my normal standard so I've tidied it up a bit.

Aside from the basing, I'm considering the horses to be pretty much complete.

I've still got a lot of work to do on the riders. I'm very tempted to overpaint the green bits - I really don't like them at all. And obviously all the skin and hair needs doing, as will as some pick-me-up drybrushing on the wooden bits.

Still really disliking these models.

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Saga: Anglo-Saxons (Part 7 - Hearthguard Unit 2, Day 1)

Work is underway on my second unit of Hearthguard for the Anglo-Saxons.

These models (the whole army, in fact) was given to me by my good friend Mike. I got boxes of stuff from him not all of which was Anglo-Saxon, but on the theory that "one dark age warrior is much like another" I've decided to use these "Wargames Factory Germans" with Saxon Warrior heads and Shields to represent my Anglo-Saxon mounted Hearthguard.

It's purely down to availability of models - I'm actually not particularly fond of these models at all - the horses are really small and the riders are oddly misshapen. But they're here and they're free.

More news as it comes in.

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Saga: Anglo-Saxons (Part 6 - Hearthguard Unit 1, Finished)

My first full unit is completed! It's only four models, but I'm still counting it as a milestone.

This took about another hour on from my previous post so all told I spent in the region of 2.5 hours on these guys.

I'm currently working on two more units - a unit of Warriors and a unit of Mounted Hearthguard.

Stay tuned!

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Saga: Anglo-Saxons (Part 5 - Hearthguard Unit 1, Day 2)

Another pleasant evening's painting allowed me to get some detail on these models.

Now I found myself looking at these models after I'd finished work last night thinking "now why did I do that?"

"What?" you ask yourself?

Well, I have a more-or-less golden rule when painting. I do sometimes stray from it a little, but never this much. The rule is: start at the deepest recesses of the model first. Normally, that's flesh and skintight cloth. The idea is it's easy to ruin protruding details when poking your brush into recesses so avoid it by painting the recesses first.

So, howcome (I wonder) did I leave the skin until last this time?

No idea at all :-)

So, fabric all done, some snow on the bases, drybrushng complete on the woodwork, leather highlighted.

This took another 45 minutes so I'm 90 minutes in on these guys so far. Still having fun!

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Saga: Anglo-Saxons (Part 4 - Hearthguard Unit 1, Day 1)

Well I managed to get a short session in on my first Hearthguard unit last night. That enabled me to basically get a load of drybrushing done.

So the weapons, armour and bases are drybrushed and the wood and leather bits have been painted a dark brown.

I'm liking what I'm seeing so far - this represents about 45 minutes work all told. Feels like reasonable progress to me. Looking forward to getting more done.

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Saga: Anglo-Saxons (Part 3 - Warlord finished)

The first model for my Anglo-Saxon Warband is complete.

I like him. Even if I did build him brandishing a sword which is still in its scabbard (muppet, muppet, muppet, muppet...)

He has a nice, dark, drab colour pallette which I like.

Next up will be a unit of Hearthguard.

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Saga: Anglo-Saxons (Part 2 - Warlord painting underway)

I'm finding this project dead exciting and frustrating at the same time!

Exciting because it's entirely new to me - new rules, new models, new game entirely!

Frustrating because I'm not able to put more time into it - life is hectic right now.

Anyway, I've made a pretty solid start on my Warlord model. There's loads more detailing to do but at least work is underway:

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Saga: Anglo Saxons (Part 1 - building and basecoating)

Time to try something new.

I've been a player/collector of GW's models for so long it's easy to forget that there are other and often better games out there. Games with much cleaner, leaner rules.

I was recently fortunate enough for my friend Mike to give me some cast-off models and rules that he'd collected for the game Saga. He's not given up playing but just had more than he needed.

So, I am setting about turning his overflow into maybe two or three playable warbands.

I've started with some Anglo-Saxons.

So far they have simply been built, had bases textured and been sprayed black. They should hopefully start to look more interesting in short order.

All models are Gripping Beast minis with the exception of the mounted Hearthguard which are Wargames Factory.

As I'm working with donated models (and am too cheap to buy any more) I've not had free choice in what I'm working with. My Hearthguard (foot) and Warriors are all simply GB's "Saxon Thegns", but:

• I've used heads from the Thegns (which are helmeted) for the Hearthguard and...
• Heads from the sprues I used for my Levies (GB Dark Age Warriors) for my Warriors - they're un-helmeted so it will help distinguish between them on the tabletop.

Sorry about the gloomy photos - lighting was awful when taken.

My Warlord

My first Hearthguard unit

My second Hearthguard unit - mounted. These are Wargames Factory models with some Gripping-Beast heads. Not too keen on these fellas - the horses are miniscule and the riders' feet are bare. They also seem very "hollow-chested".

My third Hearthguard unit

Some Warriors

More Warriors

And finally some Levies

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Tau: Tanks (part 15 - Devilfish 5 Finished!)

And the last Devilfish is complete!

Phew.

I'm taking a short W40K break to work on some models for other games (yes - there really are other games!) and will be back in a bit. You'll see these tanks again in the not too distant future when I've finished their interchangeable Hammerhead/Skyray parts.

But for now, Anglo-Saxons beckon for Saga!

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Tau: Tanks (part 14 - Devilfish 4 Finished!)

And another Devilfish comes gliding silently out of the night into the battlefield...

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Tau: Tanks (part 13 - Devilfish 3 Finished!)

And another Devilfish rolls off the Tau production line.

Three down, two (and a boatload of drones which might wait until next year) to go.

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Tau: Tanks (part 12 - Devilfish 2 Finished!)

Trying to keep things rolling on - here's another finished Devilfish.

Sorry that the next few posts are going to look a bit similar - one DF is very much like another at the end of the day, and I have five of them!

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Tau: Tanks (part 11 - Devilfish 1 Finished!)

Finally!

I've got one to a standard where I'm happy to call it done!

Now I'll be the first to admit there's a lot more that could be done to this tank. Nevertheless I only ever aim for what I consider a good tabletop standard and I think I've got to that point.

To be brutally honest, whilst I'm still gung-ho for this hobby I'm finding it very difficult to get to actually *do it* in a way that's enjoyable at the moment. It's all a little "snatch & grab" a few minutes here and there which is a bit mojo-depressing.

As such it's a bit of a morale boost to be able to claim something is actually complete (eve if I could have taken it further).

Anyway - here it is:

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Tau: Tanks (part 10 - Devilfish 5/Hammerhead 2 Airbrushing complete)

That's it - the airbrush is now packed away and possibly won't be seen again this side of Christmas.

All that is left now is brush-work and decals.

Devilfish chassis 5 kitted out as a railgun totin' hammerhead

Angle 2

Angle 3

Hammerhead bits removed and Skyray turret added

Different Angle

Angle 3

The colours in these photo's don't do the models full justice - the "black" bits haven't come out quite as dark as they really are. I'll try and do better when I take my final pics when the tanks are fully finished.

So what is in the pipeline to keep me busy with the airbrushed packed away?

Not much (in no particular order):

• Saga Saxons,
• Baneblade to Gorgon conversion,
• A small gaming surface for playing Saga/Frostgrave,
• Saga Normans,
• Frostgrave Pirate Warband,
• Another unit of Fire Warriors,
• Frostgrave Arab Warband,

And when that's all done and the airbrush can come back out, it's either going to be some Heresy-era Word Bearers, or some Vampire Counts. Or both!

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Tau: Tanks (part 9 - Devilfish 4/Hammerhead 1 Airbrushing complete)

Still plugging away at my Tau tanks. I'm on now to the tanks that have extra widgety bits on top. I've built these so that I can remove the turrets and drop in a Devilfish hatch and also swap out the sensor array on the under-turret for a cannon.

I've shown this tank here as an Ion-equipped Hammerhead, but as I can swap the Ion-cannon for a Railgun, swap the whole thing for a Skyray launcher or field it as a Devilfish.

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Tau: Tanks (part 8 - Devilfish 3 Airbrushing complete)

I'm still managing to make progress on these tanks; not as fast as I'd like but I'll be damned if real life is going to kill my hobby-time!

So, I've managed to complete the airbrushing on my third tank. The three I've done so far are all dedicated Devilfish. The two that still need airbrush work (and all five of them need details added by brush) are built so as I can swap bits out so they can be fielded as Devilfish, Hammerheads or Skyrays.

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Tau: Tanks (part 7 - Devilfish 2 Airbrushing complete)

I'm making frustratingly slow progress on this part of my Tau project as "real life" keeps throwing me curveballs. Still at least progress is being made.

Another set of airbrushing finished. Well, almost. As I look at the photos here I've just noticed I've completely omitted painting the top hatch on this model! What (as Bugs Bunny might say) a maroon!

Three (and a hatch) to go...

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Tau: Tanks (part 6 - Devilfish 1 Airbrushing complete)

I've made some more progress this week and have managed to complete all the airbrushing work on my first Devilfish.

I've still got work to do - I need to get my brushes out next and paint in details like the Tank Commander, lamps, viewports and some edge-highlighting on the dark-grey bits. Then it's decals. varnish, finished!

Apart from the other four tanks...

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Tau: Tanks (part 5 - some progress at last!)

Life has suddenly become very busy and tiring for me. Real life, that is - not hobby life.

I did however, manage to squeeze in a couple of hours work this week on my Tau tanks and have made a pleasing amount of progress.

They now look like this:

Two Devilfish - overexposed :(

Same two tanks from the top

My other three tanks - a Devilfish (front and center) and two multi-puropse chassis - see below

Same three tanks

One of my multi-purpose (or given that this is a Tau army should that be Porpoise?!?) chassis fitted out as a Skyray

Same chassis, same configuration

Same chassis as an Ion-Cannon fitted Hammerhead

Same chassis, same configuration

Same chassis fitted with rail-gun

Same chassis, same configuration

Ahh - magnets!

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