Tuesday, November 20, 2012

Levy Bowmen for SAGA

Painted up some Wargames Factory Numidian Light Infantry as Levy Bowmen for a SAGA Viking Warband. They are pretty much as is from the box, except for the composite bows being straightened and shortened a bit. Most of the bare legs and arms were painted like they had long sleeves and trousers. I had used the other 12 figures as generic Ancient javelin men, and these can be used as generic Dark Age/Medieval bowmen. After a second, and very entertaining, SAGA game this past Saturday, I decided my Viking Warband needed bowmen that looked more the part of levies. I had used mail-clad Norman Bowmen that looked too "Warrior"-like.
Here are the 12 Levy bowmen out in front of the Warlord (w/uncounted musician), a unit of 8 Hearthguard, and two units of 8 Warriors. My buddy is giving me four Beserkers to round out a 6 point Warband. The two-handed axemen are Crusader figures that I've used for a WAB Norman army in the past.
Although I've only played two games of SAGA, I enjoy the rules and find the Battle Board system an ingenious way add a lot of variety to Warband factions. So much so, that my Norman opponent, luckily for me, forgot many of his special rules. My Vikings still got hammered, but it was a lot of fun. I'm looking forward to more SAGA games in the near future.

Here are the bowmen prior to Minwax staining and highlighting. Using the Minwax process, the initial painting is reminiscent of how I painted 1/72nd plastics in days gone by - and fun days they were!

26 comments:

  1. Well done Dean, very nice looking stuff. Hopefully be getting my first batch of Vikings done this week.

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  2. Thanks for the kind words, PC. SAGA has breathed new life into a lot of the local crews' WAB Shield Wall armies - myself included. Best, Dean

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  3. Great looking troops, a good idea using the Numidians as well, with that paint job you'd never know.

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  4. Thanks again for the kind words, Gentlemen! Yes, I hate letting figures go to waste - if I didn't used those Numidians for this, they would've ended up forgotten or given away. Best, Dean

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  5. A great looking warband for SAGA you have here and clever use of the Numidians too.

    Cheers,
    Ross

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  6. Dean, I love these particularly the colours used; wonderful work.

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  7. Very nice like the colours you've chosen they fit in nice with the rest of the force to

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  8. Great looking figures. Saga is a really fun game and I'm enjoying it a lot right now.

    I haven't tried archers with Viking before so I'm interested in seeing how they work out. viking Beserkers are a blast to play. I've found the mere presence forces your opponent to over-react and create opportunities elsewhere on the tabletop

    Beware the Welsh and all their pointy sticks!

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  9. Colorful and so nice! Very nice work!

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  10. Thanks again for the nice words, everyone.

    Miles:

    In the last game, I had a javelin and bow unit of 12 Levies each. My bow unit did cause some damage to one of my opponent's Warrior units early on. But with his cavalry charge/movement, my javelin unit was destroyed easily. I will try to use the longer ranged bowmen better tactically - like keeping them protected by my Warrior units. We'll see though.

    Happy Holidays, Dean

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  11. All this talk about the Saga game has me looking into it. I even picked up WI 301 for the Persian battle board.

    ColKG

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  12. Lovely figures there Dean! Nice colour scheme.

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  13. Nice big force. I particulary like the strong colors.

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  14. Thanks again for the kind comments, Gentlemen. Happy Holidays to you all. Dean

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  15. Excellent work and a sizable force being amassed. Lovely tones on the skirmishers.

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  16. Great looking figures Dean. Happy Thanksgiving!

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  17. Excellent work, I couldn't place the models until you mentioned they were Numidians of all models.

    SAGA is popular even down here.

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  18. Top work Dean, well done.

    Helene 30

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  19. Great stuff! Locally we're trying to avoid SAGA (and Bolt Action) so we don't get distracted from Napoleonics. I'm content to live vicariously through your blog though. :-)

    Jason

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  20. Dean, just wanted to let you know that I've nominated WAB Corner for the Liebster Blog Award, and make sure you didn't miss my kind words for you and your blog.

    http://derfeldmarschall.blogspot.com/2012/12/its-major-award-i-won-it.html

    Whether you care about such things as the Liebster Blog Award is irrelevant. What's important (to me anyway) is that I had a chance to single out some of my favorite blogs and bloggers that have been an inspirational and positive influence on me. :-)

    Thanks,
    Jason

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  21. Jason:

    I do appreciate your kind words and thoughts - warmest regards during this holiday season, Dean

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  22. Excellent painted figures Dean!

    Greetings
    Peter
    http://peterscave.blogspot.be/

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  23. Been off-line for a while. Great job on the archers!

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