The Viking Army

 

Here we have a heathen Viking army; coming at us in the dead of winter. 

I feel like Alfred the Great.

That's a history joke.  It's High Brow humor today.

Dark Ages Viking Army

As was the goal before the year was over, I got all the movement trays done for the Vikings.  Now it's time to line them all out and see what they look like.  It's a PARADE.  Everybody loves a parade. even the dead love a parade.

As I did with the Saxon Army I'll lay these guys out like I am gonna play a game of Hail Caesar. 

Viking Army Leader with his bezerker buddies

View from the boom camera

Whole army

Graphic of the units in the army for clarity.

Isn't that cool?  

what's that?  You want a few more pics?  No problem!  I did take close to a hundred.

Helicopter shot

Army left flank

Army Right flank.
Each flank leader has 2 Bezerker buddies each. 

Last Whole army shot.

Army totals: 18 bases each with 10 miniatures.

1 archer unit

9 Hirdmen units (men in armor)

8 Bondi units (men without armor)

Bezerker Flexibility

"You make me go Bezerk."

Yes, I'm sure bezerkers are quite flexible.  But get your mind out of the gutter--this is a HIGH Brow post.  Though I did put that costume in my online cart for a future purchase.  Yet it would take a LOT of hubby points to get the wife to wear it

In Hail Caesar; the original plan is use the individual bezerker models as indicators for extra attacks.  The miniature is assigned to a unit and when the attacks are used, just remove the miniature.  That's why in the above pics the Bezerkers are just hanging out next to the commanders; probably talking too loudly.  But who's gonna tell a Bezerker to shush? 

However, it's just as easy to have units of Bezerkers that would have a high Clash value with aggressive traits and probably a poor armor save.  Other rule sets would like them to have their own base and be a unit unto their on as well.  So as a bonus I made two bases for the Bezerkers, because who doesn't like to have it both ways?

Bezerker Bases

I put some blanks in the trays to make the bezerkers appear more like an open order unit.  This is to make them visually distinct from the other bases and also because I imagine Bezerkers fighting that way; not in a tight formation but each one dramatically swinging weapons, spinning around, and doing back flips over the enemy.  Though looking at it now, perhaps a little too open order.  I only have 10 bezerkerish miniatures so I just went with 5 on each bases but would probably look better with 7.  

If done this way the Viking army is 20 bases strong.  2 more than the Saxons; they're really upset over it. 

"I borrowed this axe from my sister."

Where Was I Again?  I Was Distracted...

Oh, As I was saying there are 18 bases in the Saxon army and 18 or 20 bases (depending on how I like the Bezerkers) in the Viking army.  That exhausts my supply of previously painted Saxons and Vikings except for a few dregs left over (not enough to make a unit).

18 units a side (36 total) is pretty good for a 1vs1 mass battle game, but it's not quite the level needed for a mutilplayer mass battle game; 2vs2 or 3v3.  I really like  2v2 games, I feel it's the goldilocks of game sizes.  Especially when you have to teach rules which is ALWAYS the case because nobody plays the same rule sets anymore.  2vs2 usually means I can teach and play, while 3vs3 usually means just playing host; which is alright but more than 6 people is above my competency level for running a game.  I'm reading these Historicon recaps on TMP and Blogs these days and some people are reporting running games of 9 or 14 people by themselves!  That sounds like madness to me.   

For a nice 2vs2 dark ages battle (and the battle of Ashdown would be a perfect scenario) I think each side should have around 10-12 units a player (so 40/48 bases total).  I feel like that's the next natural milestone for the dark ages collection; a comfortable amount of bases for 2vs2 mass battle gaming. 

Time to Paint some miniatures; finally.

Curiously, I've gone all year without painting a miniature.  I've done other stuff of course; lot of terrain and some Longships come to mind, but NO miniatures.  But that's gonna have to change to reach the next milestone.   Each 'big battle base' / movement tray has 10 miniatures on it, and I'm thinking that the Saxon and Viking armies each could use about 4 more bases each, so that's 80 miniatures.  The lead pile can supply that number pretty easily; but something of a daunting number to paint for me.   I'll probably break it up in batches of 20 for sanity sake.  

I did happen to make tow extra movement trays.
They look a little sad without miniatures on them.

Who knows?  Maybe after a year hiatus the painting miniatures will actually be fun?  I guess all things are possible.

Fail

A few posts ago, I wrote about how I spent some time baby proofing the house for son #3, turning a year old this month.  Apparently I missed one cabinet.

He thinks "What's going on up here?"
"This isn't at all precarious."

Till next time.  Thanks for reading.  Double thanks for writing a comment.