Viking Mercenaries/Gall-Gaedhill from the "1066 and All That" WAB Campaign Weekend

Thank you Google! Yeah, another "I never thought I be muttering such appreciative words about Google" post! 

I've been (painfully) cleaning out files from Google Drive and Gmail as in in order to avoid paying for more email storage space. A few days ago Google, in a vain effort to relieve me of funds, kindly informed me Gmail was about to run out of space. Most of the files were rubbish, stuff sent out to various individuals over the years, but I did find a couple of gems; some nice pictures taken at Warhammer World during the 1066 and All That WAB Campaign Weekend. I even remember the game! I was playing Big Jim Sweeney! (For the record, he won!). 

The pictures were taken with my first digital camera so the files aren't great but it was great to see the, now long gone, unit again!

You can tell they're old as they have obviously been varnished with Testors Dullcote. I would recognise that particular slight sheen on the figures anytime!

Th was hand painted and partially taken from the some of the artwork in the Shieldwall WAB supplement.

The unit was put together using mostly Gripping Beast miniatures from their Hiberno-Norse / Norse Gael (sadly some are no longer available) and Viking ranges as I was putting together a unit of Gall-Gaedhill from the Warhammer Ancient Battles Shieldwall supplement! They could also serve as a unit of Viking mercenaries for my Norman army. There are a few minor conversions, the guy with the big chopper having his foot placed on the casualty and some arm rearrangements so's to add a Dane axe or two (the casualty is from Perry Miniatures Crusades pack CU29 Dead and Wounded). 

The dark brown basing came about after a phone conversation with Darren Harding discussing different soil colours he had noticed while shooting around the country in the Beast's van. From memory, I know the base coat was W&N Galleria Burnt Umber, then a Citadel medium brown (the name completely escapes me but from the early 2000's) and lastly a Citadel orange brown (again, apologies but the name escapes me again).

For those who want to take a closer look, all the images are "clickable".

Here's the unit again after rebasing and going for a grey tone in an attempt to get the ground to contrast with the snow effect. Looking back I would say that this particular attempt at contrasting snow with grey earth failed. I would have been better off sticking with the original basing.... :>)

Anglo Danish Shieldwall Markers

Following on from the converted Early Byzantine Command Stands/Bases and the unit of Anglo Danes I decided to put hope back over to the 11th Century and put together some Shieldwall Markers for the Year of Three Battles epic that was 1066. 

The markers are, unsurprisingly, designed to sit in front of the units to indicate whether the unit is advancing at speed or more slowly, maintaining the protection of their Boardweal. I wanted to see how a few of the markers would look standing to the fore of a few units, to get a feel for what they are going to look like on the tabletop- and, if I'm honest,to see if I had wasted my time with the brush or not!

The miniatures are all very old Gripping Beast models which were a bit difficult to paint in places due to bits of the moulds coming away in places which results in blobs of metal that are extremely hard to remove without risking ones digits! I've bought recent Gripping Beast castings that have been vastly  higher quality so I'm putting it down to the casti gs being over 20 years old and bad luck/timing on my part.

                                                                Shieldwall Marker 2:

Shieldwall Marker 3:

Shieldwall Markers as they will Function on the Tabletop:

Here we have the markers sitting in front of three units. The effect of having one marker sitting on one unit is minimal; it does the job bit doesn't look too impressive. I thin,k when the markers really come into their own and become more visually impressive is when they are placed in front of two or three units. 

All the images are large files and worth clicking if you want to get view of what, part of the army, would look like when deployed onto the tabletop.

A Return to WAB and Shieldwall

Until last evening it had been many years since I played a game of WAB. I was feeling quite excited having been invited to play in a 'Dark Ages' game using the Shieldwall supplement.  After having played Shieldwall WAB almost continuously for a few years at my old club in Edinburgh at SESWC I had reasoned that it would be like learning to ride a bicycle again and it would all come flooding back. Wrong! At the end of the day I was very rusty indeed.  Luckily Matt Boyd et al were at hand to walk me through the rules again. I was playing the 'mercenary' element on Jim's Norman army. Facing us was a very well equipped and seemingly large Anglo Danish force! The game was really a kind of run through for a display game that Matt, Jim Giles and Martin's Holy Island game that is hopefully due to make it's debut at Partizan in May this year. Fingers crossed for that. In case you had not guessed their display game will not feature Normans but Norse (Vikings). If the terrain they have made is anything to go on this will be one cracking display game.

As I was saying, for many a year, almost weekly, a group of about six or seven of us met at SESWC and battles it out with 2000pts worth of Shieldwall armies. There were Normans, Scots, Carolingians, Thematic Byzantines and Late Saxons. I have happy memories of some absolutely brilliant games, some nail biting some hilarious to the point of virtually rolling around on the floor. The WAB Shieldwall supplement is up there as one of my favourites but I have to say that my preference is for El Cid and Age of Arthur. For me the army lists are the most balanced of all the WAB supplements  without losany of the the flavour that WAB adds to Ancient and Medieval games. Still, Shieldwall is a great supplement and a lot of fun.

Without further ado.....

The Saxons started securely on a slight gradient overlooking the Normans. The skirmishers take time out practice on the of Celtic cross in place of the "hoary apple tree" that once stood in its place.

"Ut! Ut! Ut! Ut!"

"Twang" the Mercenary Serjeants start taking out the Saxon Skirmishers en masse.

A view from the left side of the Saxon flank as the Norman Milites advance at a trot.

Closer.....

The Saxon Huscarls (Toughness 4!! and in Sheildwall!!) prepare their lines of scrimmage as the Normans close with nought but belligerence in mind.

By now nearly all the Saxon skirmishers had been shot to pieces and legged it. A small but necessary measure on the part of the Norman Mercenary Crossbowmen.

With the last of them to be finished off with grim efficiency.

Duke Ivorclub (sorry, best I could do) has his man sound the horn for the charge!

Cruuuunch! The Norman knights clash with the Saxon Huscarls! (Did I mention they were Toughness 4 and in Shieldwall?!?)

The cream of Eangla londe reel from the Norman onslaught but recover and strike back with renewed vigour and malice!

A unit of Huscarls swings around and hit the Norman Milites in the flank; suddenly things start to look ugly for the Gallic speaking Norsmen on their rough cuddies!

Nothing in that rule book can save us now Jim!

All the while, my unit of Devroet had sat on the Saxon flank wondering if they had it in them to do any real damage. 

The Normans beaten to ghastly pulp by the Anglo Danish Huscarls wielding, wait for it..... their large choppers!

Great to see everyone in the other room still making a fist of it. 

Fist Rampant Action again: