Anglo-Saxon Army Update

 Felt like setting out the entire Anglo-Saxon army for a progress update. This time though I set it up on my Killing Fields Battle Mat and got some Normans out for some more interesting shots.

Here is the entire army as I have built it. 3 Divisions consisting of 4 infantry units, 1 command base, and 1 or 2 skirmish units. As they are set up here the 2 flanking divisions are identical. They have 2 units of armored Thagens with long spears, 2 units of unarmored Carols with long spears, 1 unit of bow skirmishers and 1 of javelins. The middle division has 2 units of armored Hauscarls with Dane Axes, 2 units of unarmored Carols with long spears, 1 unit of javelin skirmishers. 

Left to paint are 5 units of infantry, the 2 bow armed skirmish units, and 2 command bases. 

While the 1066 Battle of Hastings will certainly be the main big battle I'll fight with my two armies, I also plan to cover much more. It took 3-5 years for the Normans to bring all the Anglo-Saxons in line and quail several rebellions. This should offer me plenty of fodder for campaigns with engagements of skirmishes up to pitched battles. 

Since I had my Saxons out I grabbed what if had done of my Norman cavalry. I set up could be a small rebel Saxon force about to receive a charge of Norman knights. I think the photos came out quite good and really got me motivated. 

More Hascarls

More progress on my Anglo-Saxons. These were my original Huscarls for SAGA that I just finished re-basing to fit in unit trays for larger games. I had to finish painting 3 of them and add 4 more to bring them up to strength, but really happy with end result. All that's missing is their flags. Now I know the keen eyed historians among you will notice they don't look quite like Anglo-Saxons. That is because they are sold as late Romano-British and I repurposed them. 

Coleman Gets Started

 My 4 year old son Coleman has shown increased interest in painting miniatures, especially after the high praise his 7 year old broth Thomas got. While visiting a local game store I let him pick out a miniature to paint and he picked a D&D brand Giant Squid. He was very focused and determined to paint it all in one sitting and so I let him. All I did was get his paints ready and offer advice and tips to help him accomplish his vision. He was so excited to finish it that he wanted to start on another right away. I rummaged around in my box of unpainted monsters and got him a Reaper Bones monster. He also painted the entire thing in 1 day, again all on his own with only minimum assistance. 

He is very quick to correct you if you call it anything other then a squid. He chose to paint it based off the colors of the example on the packaging. 

This one he calls the Angler Death Monster. He chose all the colors and did all the application himself.

Javelins

 Well the Garage has been finished and the entirety of my 20 years of wargaming collection has moved into it. We set up a projector and let the boys watch a movie last night while I painted. While the following were painted in 2021 I finished the basing last night so they will be the first finished minis of 2022.

Working again on my Anglo-Saxon army here are 2 units of skirmishers. They are armed with Javelins. Bows were in small numbers on the Saxon side so most skirmishers would have been armed with slings or javelins. Based off what I had available I'll be doing 3 units of javelins and 2 of bows. The movement tray is from Litko and the models are from Wargames Factory. They are the worst plastic models on the planet but I did my best to get the most out of them. As such I couldn't be bothered to give them more then a basic paint job and wash. Fortunately the Little Big Men transfers just fit and help them look a bit better. 

While primarily for Hail Creaser, I chose to go with 6 models per unit. This number will work well for other games like SAGA where Levey are in groups of 12.