Saga Warlord Stands for ATC 2024 Prizes

    The warlord stand that I painted up as a prize for the ATC 2024 Age of Ancients tournament

I recently turned over running Saga tournaments in the Columbus area to other members of our group here in Ohio. However, I am keeping alive the tradition of painting up a prize for each tourney. Since Joe and Lee are running Age of Ancients and Dark Ages tournaments at Advance the Colors 2024, I decided to match what I painted up with the theme of the competition. I am really happy with how these two stands turned out, and it will be a shame to give them away. But that's the whole idea of painting up a prize, though! Isn't it?

   The warlord stand I painted as a prize for the Dark Ages Saga tournament

The Age of Ancients warlord stand was the hardest to find figures for in my unpainted lead pile. I decided to go with a Reaper Bones figure for the big man himself. It is a classic Ancient Mediterranean looking figure with a Corinthian helmet, sweeping cloak, and leaf shaped sword. I'm sure it is supposed to be a Greek of some sort, but you could easily use it for many of the Graeco-Roman cultures. The armor is a tad bit fantasy and a bit less historical, I felt. However, I did my best to tone down the crazier parts and make it simply look like a heavily armored warrior. The shield is interesting, with its almost figure eight design. I'd picked the figure up at the Guardtower East when I was planning to paint my Thracian army as the shape is almost like it is from that culture. I ended up not using the figure, though, so had no problem donating it to be a prize.

    A good look at the ancient standard bearer, a Crusader miniatures Thracian

The standard bearer is one of my leftover 28mm Thracian figures from Crusader Miniatures. He is holding his hand up in the air, which I felt would make him look like a perfect standard bearer. He is also more Greek and less Thracian looking, which make him a good fit for a warlord stand that I am purposely painting up to be "generic Ancient Mediterranean." His Corinthian helmet matches the general's, so even though he is smaller in height, this is mitigated a bit by the uplifted army and the banner he is holding. 

    Close up of the priestess figure on the Ancients prize, and the Gamers Grass columns

I went back and forth over the third figure for the warlord's base. Typically, I choose a musician or sometimes even a pet dog. Dig as I might through my unpainted lead pile, I couldn't find anything that looked like an appropriate ancient trumpeter or other musician. So, I expanded my search through the Dark Ages figures, but likewise came up blank for a Greek-ish warlord stand. I kept going into my Pulp figures, which is where I found this priestess in a dress. I was actually looking for a Reaper Socrates figure I bought years ago (but never did find!). I thought she would be a cool addition to the stand -- the priestess of Apollo (or some other god) giving the omens of battle to the general! She was easy to paint up. I really like her braided hair with streamers attached, and the wreath around her head. 

    A nice look at the Medusa banner I created from Google Images using Photoshop

I had a wealth of choices for the Dark Age warlord. I have been regularly buying Gripping Beast general packs from Cotton Jim's clearance bin at Historicon. Looking through the giant ziploc bag with Dark Ages generals, I didn't have any mounted figures generic enough. So, I decided to go with an all-foot warlord stand for this one, too. This figure (I believe) is from their Varangian Guards pack, but I could be wrong. I love his balding head, drooping mustache, and relaxed stance with his helmet tucked under his right arm. His left hand was open and I went back and forth about what to put in there. I decided to go with an upright sword. I figured that would look more inspiring than a grounded ax or similar. I chose brown for the fur cloak over his shoulders as it would contrast better with the chainmail armor. The bright red (but not too bright) cloak and dark blue sleeves show his wealth in poorer and less fancy age.

    Zooming in on the three figures that make up the Dark Ages warlord base

His standard bearer is about as generic as you can get for the early Medieval period. His conical leather and banded steel helm, chainmail, and round shield strapped to the back made him an obvious choice, as well. I decided to go with a faded blue tunic and sleeves. In fact, both these warlord stands seemed to have its share of blues! I really like how his Raven shield design came out. I used a black micron pen to do the wings, tail, and head. It didn't stand out as much as I wanted, so I added the streaks of light blue and that really made the design pop. I decided not to put any other weapons in his hand, but considered a sword for awhile. I didn't like how it looked with the pose, so kept it simple.

    A nice look at the Viking runic stone, which I added to the base to set it off a bit

The final figure was another easy choice, a chainmail armored musician with a sweeping cloak. Since blue seemed to be the theme, I gave him a medium blue cloak. I was happy with how the colors came out on both stands. As I was finishing them up and eyeballing the 60mm round stands, it looked like both needed something else to make them come to life. I looked in my closet and picked out one of the 3-D printed Viking runic stones that I'd picked up from Scott Gray at Sword & Scabbard Games. I am going to have to get around to painting up the rest of these runic stones (I bought two packs!). They were easy to do and look great! For a Dark Ages general, it really makes the vignette pop. Scott will be at ATC 2024, so pick some of these up from him if you will be there! I also added a couple more small boulders to complete the stand! 

    A look at the raven banner I created in Photoshop, and the standard bearer's shield

For the Ancient stand, I remembered that I bought two packs of Gamers Grass Ancient ruins from Michigan Toy Soldier and Figure Company at Historicon 2023. Scale-wise, they probably would work better with 15mm figures. However, they have such a great variety of broken and complete Greek or Roman columns that I was able to figure out a combo that looked nice. In addition, I added a chunk of plaster cobblestones to the blank area in the middle. All together, the vignette worked out really well. 

    A final look at the Ancient warlord, with a close up of the Reaper Miniature's shield

The banners I did in my usual method. While painting the miniatures, I had decided that I would use a medusa for the Greek standard and Raven one for the Dark Ages. I spent about a half hour looking through various Google Image searches until I found the ones I liked best. Next, I found fancy square and rectangular borders to go around the images. I imported them into my venerable version of Photoshop on my MacBook from two generations back. I manipulated the colors and sizes, then put them on a USB drive and took it up to the local office supply store. I prefer using their color laser printers for my banners. You do have to paint the edges after you cut the banner out and glue it around the brass wire pole. Otherwise, the white paper shows through noticeably. 

All in all, I think these two stands came out to be a...shall I say it...a "winning" pair??

Miniature Painting & Purchasing Tally for 2024

• Miniatures acquired in 2024: 170
• Miniatures painted in 2024: 170 (I'm back to even again!)
  

Two Warlord Prizes for Origins 2024 Saga Tournaments

    One of the two warlords I painted up as prizes for the Saga tournaments at Origins Game Fair 2024

When some of the Saga Ohio guys decided to run events at Origins, I promised to paint up some warlord stands to give away as prizes. That's becoming a signature prize in my tournaments, and from what I hear from players, the warlord stands are appreciated. Since one of the tournaments is Dark Ages and the other is Medieval, I figured it made sense to paint up one of the appropriate theme for each.

    A side view of the Gripping Beast mounted "Brian Boru" that I used for the general figure

I dug through my unpainted lead, looking for suitable miniatures. Awhile back, I'd purchased a mounted Brian Boru (famous Irish who fought back against the Vikings), and knew it'd be perfect. Typically, I have a mounted general on my warlord stands, but a foot standard bearer. That way, whoever wins the prize can deploy it as either mounted or foot -- at least that's how I look at it! The third figure on the circular base is sometimes a musician, bu this time I decided to go with a dog (or dogs, plural). For the standard bearer, I found a foot figure holding his arm out that would be work well to attach a banner against. The figure also had a tunic and cloak, like the Brian Boru figure.

    A close up of the 28mm wolf figure that I used for the general's pet

For the dog, I decided to use a 28mm wolf and paint it up as a wolf/dog hybrid. I used Google Image searches till I found one whose color I liked. It somewhat matched the general's horse color and the standard bearer's tunic, so I went with it. I used a green and blue color scheme for the mounted general, going with lighter sleeves and paints and a darker cloak. The tunic is a medium blue, and I repeated those colors in the decorations on the hems and headband. I really like how his light reddish hair and beard came out, too.

    The Medieval general used a Teutonic Knight figure, a mailed foot soldier, and two 28mm dog figs

For the crusader figures, I believe I chose a Teutonic Knight general figure as the mounted warlord. It is a big, beefy figure with a mailed horse, large cloak, and big triangular shield. There are lots of pieces of equipment fastened to the figure, so this one was more time consuming than you might think. Of course, the decorations along the hem, chest, and horse added to the work, too! I was happy with how the tiny white dots turned out inside the red cross blazoned across the general's chest. I think his auburn hair and beard look nice, as well.

    The banners for my warlord stands are all designed in Photoshop using clipart and then printed out

The standard bearer is a typical mailed infantryman that I felt I could pose his hand to be holding a banner. I gave him some extra decoration along the hem and a fancy white cross on a red shield to go with the general's white wolf design. He was probably the easiest figure (beside the dogs) to do on the two warlord stands. Most of his body is covered in mail, which I do with a base coast of Iron Wind Metals Steel and dry brush of silver.

    This warlord is accompanied into battle by his loyal Norwegian Elkhounds

I decided to give this general a pair of dogs using some of the many 28mm dog figures that I have collected over the years. With their size and look, I felt they'd fit well as Norwegian Elkhounds. I did my usual Google Image search to get the coloring as close as possible. I really like how they turned out.

    These two warlord stands will be given away as prizes at the Origins Game Fair tournaments

Finally, the banners are all designed using clipart found on the internet and Adobe Photoshop. I like how it lets you select a color and change it to whatever. you choose. Speaking of color, I probably should have made the Dark Age warlord's green banner a little lighter. Well, it LOOKED lighter in Photoshop, but once printed out on an Office Max laser printer, it seemed darker. I'll try to remember that in the future to go lighter if there is a question. All in all, I'm happy with both warlord stands and hope the players who win them will be, too. If you're a Saga player in the area, you really should come to Origins Game Fair, June 19-23, 2024. Dan Neal, Lee Parker, Joe Dihrkop, and Rusty Parker have collected a LOT of prizes and set up some really fun events. There is a "Learn to Play"/open play on Thursday, a Medieval tourney on Friday, and a Dark Age one on Saturday. 

Miniature Painting & Purchasing Tally for 2024

• Miniatures acquired in 2024: 64
• Miniatures painted in 2024: 74

Thracian Saga Army (finally) Complete!

    The last six figures for my 28mm Thracian Saga army from Crusader Miniatures

Just in time to participate in Adrian John and Jim Beegan's Saga tournament at DayCon 2024, I finished my final batch of Thracian infantry this week. I began playing this army before it was finished because it was easy to proxy my Dark Age Picts as Ancient Thracian barbarians. Both are known for their colorful cloaks and tribal look, so I figured it was a natural. Now, I finally have enough for six points of all Thracians with their equally colorful cloaks, beards, javelins, and huge chopping weapons known as rhomphaia. 

    A rhomphaia-armed warrior and a javelin man - I am not going to miss painting Thracian cloaks!

All of the figures from this army come from Crusader Miniatures, who have an amazing selection of 28mm Ancient miniatures. From my initial purchase, I have maybe 10 or so figures left unpainted. So, I am fairly confident that I am finally done painting for this army, though. My ratio that I have fielded so far for my Thracian warriors is 1/3 rhomphaia and 2/3 javelins. One day, I may paint up more of the choppers. However, I think it is easy enough to mix in a few javelin-armed figures into a mostly rhomphaia armed unit. Now, if the rules writers one day "nerf" javelin armed troops and I decide that I want more choppers in my list, I can always pick up another pack or two. The ever-friendly and convenient Badger Games shows up at many of the big events and carry Ancient Thracians (that's where I bought mine from!). They were very generous with their prize support for last year's Advance the Colors Saga tournaments, so I will continue to patronize them -- and encourage others to do so!

    I thought this final batch turned out nicely -- I particularly like the guy on the left

This batch contained my last three rhomphaia figures that I'd purchased and three of the unpainted javelin-armed ones. I thought about painting up some of the figures from the command pack, instead. However, I like to save extras of those for Saga warlord stands that I paint up and give away as prizes. Speaking of which, one of my projects in the near-future will be to paint up two command stands for the Saga tournaments that Saga Ohio is running at Origins Game Fair this June 19-23 in Columbus, OH. Thanks to Rusty Parker, Dan Neal, Joe Dihrkop, Lee Parker, and James Tolbert for organizing and running two tournaments there (Friday and Saturday -- and a teaching and open play session on Thursday).

I have less than a dozen figures left after painting this army, I probably won't do those...yet!

As usual, I replaced the lead spears with wire spears from Lon Weiss at Brigade Games. I also chose the javelin-armed poses that allow me to epoxy the butt of the spear onto the base of the figure, in addition to the hand. I feel that separate weapons should always try for two points of contact to get a good bond. I also shave off some of the left forearm with an X-acto knife to give a flat surface to epoxy the crescent shaped wicker shield onto. Once all the gluing was done, I brushed primed them white (as usual). As with the other Thracians, I chose mostly faded colors for the tunics. On the other hand, the Thracian cloaks are mentioned in Greek sources as being brightly colored and decorated with geometric patterns. So, I used bolder and darker colors for most of those. Having painted several dozen plus Thracian cloaks by this point, I was struggling for inspiration for these final patterns. I decided to Google "Greek" designs and scrolled through the patterns that came up. I used that for inspiration and am pretty happy with how these came out. I purposely did NOT go back and look at the figures I'd already painted. I figured I was only painting six miniatures in this batch, I could dig deep for fresh inspiration.

    This army certainly let me exercise my creativity with their colorful cloaks and shield patterns

The Thracian caps were done in a variety of browns and red-browns. Some sources say they were made from fox skin or fur. The boots were done in a range of leather colors, too, from light to dark. These six figures actually painted up very quickly. I knew I was on a time crunch to get them done by this weekend's tournament, so couldn't dally. One thing I did do differently was switch my black and brown wash I have been using for several years. Instead of using Vallejo clear matte paint with drops of brown or black, I am trying something new. I really like the Vallejo vehicle washes, and have been using the black a lot for my Sci-Fi troops. I decided to premix a bottle of each roughly 50/50 strength with water. Do I like it better? Not sure. The previous matte with color was getting decidedly "snotty" in texture and leaving a gray-like glaze. This new concoction seems to cover more unevenly, though, and give an almost cracked look under a magnifying mirror.

I'd be happy to hear from others if they see anything negative in the brown or black wash on these figures. Otherwise, expect another update soon with how things went in this weekend's tournament. I am taking the Thracians, of course. Many highly-experienced players have signed up, though, so I was not expecting a top tier finish. My guess was I'll end up 1-2 in three games. I am a little rusty on Saga at the moment, despite Jenny and my warm up game last weekend. Note: Just came home from DayCon. I ended up 2-1, losing to Bob Boggs' Successor army and defeated Lee Parker's Milites Christi and Jenny's Eastern Princes. So, a relatively successful outing for those six brand new figures and their compatriots...!

Miniature Painting & Purchasing Tally for 2024

• Miniatures acquired in 2024: 64
• Miniatures painted in 2024: 47

 

Severed Heads on Posts (fatigue markers for my Thracian army)

    Some fatigue markers for my head-hunting Thracian army for Saga

One of Saga's game mechanics is fatigue on a unit. I'm a big fan of making any markers required on the tabletop "scenic." When I started playing the Dark Ages skirmish game a few years back, my first fatigue markers were extra shields I painted and glued to a flocked, circular base. As I kept playing, I have tried to get more creative or make the markers match the army in some way. For my latest army, the "barbarian" Thracians from the Hellenistic era, I decided to play off of the fact they were known in some sources as headhunters. So, why not severed heads on poles?

    Steps 1, 2, & 3: magnets on bottom of bases, glue carpet tack upright, and then first layer of flocking

Luckily, with the proliferation of plastic kit boxes for miniatures these days, the ancient wargaming world seems to rolling in extra heads. My friend Joe sent me about a dozen and they sat unused on my desk for about six months. This month, I finally decided to finish off the Thracian army and made the fatigue markers priority #1. After that, I would do the final half-dozen figures so that I don't need to proxy Pictish figures. Thanks to Joe, I had my heads, but now what do to with them?

   Step 4: Paint ballast with 50/50 white glue and water and then dip in Woodland Scenics blended turf

At Historicon last year, I bought a bunch of small circular bases to use as fatigue markers. Since I didn't have any magnets specially sized for them, I had to cut some from an adhesive magnetic sheet I'd purchased at Hobby Lobby. Once those were popped onto the bottoms, I then glued carpet tacks to the center of each. These small black nails have a rough, fluted surface that would dry brush well as wood. I used tacky glue to affix them, knowing that I'd have a couple layers of flocking on top of them to help keep them in place.

    After drilling out the bottom of the heads with a pin vice, they were glued onto the carpet tack

Next, I painted white glue onto the top of the base around the nail. I swished it around a tub of brown fine ballast from Woodland Scenics. After it was dry, I brushed on a 50/50 water and white glue mixture and sprinkled Blended Turf from the same company. Next, the markers received their first spray sealant coat. Now, it was time to affix the heads to the nails. I used a pin vice to drill out the bottom (neck area) of each head, starting with a smaller pin and then widening the hole with a bigger one. Once all heads were prepared, and one -- sadly -- was lost to the wilderness of my 1970s shag carpet in my painting area downstairs, I was ready to go.

I used model cement to attach each head to its post, not worrying about any excess dripping down the nail. That could be well, gore...right? Anyway, this went easier than I thought it would. I was worried about losing another head to the shag carpet demons! Once the heads were atop their posts, I brushed primed them white. From there, it was a simple matter to paint each head and then paint the post itself, too. I did leave out the pupil in my normal method of painting eyes, theorizing the eyes would have rolled back into the head. At least that's the way art seems to always depict severed heads.

    Finished and ready for the tabletop -- severed heads on posts as fatigue markers for Saga!

I really like the way these turned out. To anyone thinking of replicating the process, I would suggest finding heads that have their mouths open, appear to be shouting, or whatever. Mine look entirely too contemplative and philosophical about their fate as a fatigue marker. So, there you go! Progress on my Saga Thracian army AND a little tutorial on creating colorful, scratch-built fatigue markers. Feel free to take my idea and run with it...just watch out for runaway heads trying to escape to the shag carpet when prepping them!

 What's up next? Expect some Sci-Fi scatter terrain as I get prepared for my first game of Xenos Rampant (soon, I hope!)...

Miniature Painting & Purchasing Tally for 2024

• Miniatures acquired in 2024: 64
• Miniatures painted in 2024: 41 (note - severed heads not included in this total...ha, ha!)
  

Killer Rabbits of Caerbannog

 

   A bloodthirsty nest of rabbits with parts of victims, lurking by the cave of Caerbannog

My last post of 2023 is a somewhat whimsical one. For her latest Saga army, Jenny had purchased a pack of bunnies from Bad Squiddo Games. In Saga, units accumulate fatigue as a result of combat, excess movement, etc. I have always liked to use scenic items that blend in with the tabletop -- shields, dropped weapons, spears, etc. Jenny decided she wanted to use the pack of 8 bunnies as her fatigue markers. And if they're going to be rabbits, why not model them after the Killer Rabbit of Caerbannog?

The inspiration for the fatigue markers...

Yes, Monty Python fans, I'm referring to the scene where the "harmless little bunny" cuts down a number of King Arthur's knights. I figured it would make a nice Christmas present to paint them up for her. Rather than make all eight identical, I Googled various rabbit colors and did them up for some variety. Once they were done, I asked her, "Are you SURE you want me to make these into killer bunnies?" She was. 

    They may look like harmless little bunnies, but...

Step two was finding a couple old plastic figures and chopping off hands or feet. These were placed on the bases after the flocking was done. I then painted them up with suitably gory amounts of blood. I also painted the rabbits' mouths and a few paws as bloodstained. I used Iron Wind Metals "Blood Red" for the main area with highlights of bright red to give it more depth.

    The two colors of red and dismembered hands and feet made the little vignettes suitably gory

Jenny was happy with pack of her killer bunnies, so it was a success as a Christmas present. If you end up playing a game of Saga against her Iberian army, you may get a chuckled out of her whimsical humor. If you're interested in doing something similar, Bad Squiddo Games makes quite the variety of animal packs. I have purchased their Ravens to use as fatigue markers as well. Check them out at Badger Games!

    Just one rabbit accounted for 5 (or was it 3?) of King Arthur's knights, imagine what two would do...

    Yes, that's a carrot one of the bunnies has...maybe a palate cleanser (or desert) after their meal?

Year in Review: Three Threads for 2023

    One theme that remained constant in 2023 was work on my post-apocalyptic terrain

Three main projects dominated my painting and terrain building for this past year, 2023. One thread remained constant, though at times it faded almost completely into the background. The other two surged for awhile into the spotlight, in essence battling for my attention. The one that remained constant was my post-apocalyptic campaign. The other two that saw periods of intense focus were Ancient/DarkAge/Medieval Saga and Science-Fiction gaming.

Post-apocalyptic

The constant thread was my post-apocalyptic campaign. I entered the year with nearly all of my survivor gangs painted up, adding only one to the ranks in 2023. This occurred only as it became obvious that I might need to play occasionally to balance out the numbers in games. So, I reached into my Battle Valor Games purchases and created one more gang -- the Green Dragons. They first hit the table in February. They were an Asian-American gang, and saw action in the second scenario we played in the campaign, "I Smell a Rat." 

    

    I made some modifications to Monster Fight Club's chain fences (like the thin strand of barbed wire)

Most of my efforts on this project were in terrain building. From barbed wire compounds to burnt-out vehicles, I cranked out the tabletop scenery. Those were probably my two favorite additions to the scenery. The barbed wire compound was a store-bought purchase from Monster Fight Club scenery, using two of their "Chain Link Fences" boxes. Of course, being me, I couldn't just use them straight out of the box. I modified them fairly heavily and these are one of the best additions to my terrain collection this year, in my opinion. We have used it in two scenarios so far, "Searching an Abandoned Army Base" and the most recently, "Where the Dark Things Gather."

    I was really pleased with these die cast vehicles that had been set aflame turned out

I was also very happy with my addition of damaged and burnt out vehicles for the desolate urban areas in my post-apocalyptic world. I had done some research on how to get the effect of a burnt out vehicle and was shocked that the consensus was to actually set on fire die cast models. First, I used pliers and wire cutters to remove the wheels and much or all of the plastic. Then, on a warm April evening, I swabbed them down with rubbing alcohol and lit them on fire. Thankfully, no neighbors were outside to see what the amateur pyromaniac was doing. I was fairly happy with how they turned out. The ash-like char seemed to never be sealed in by numerous clear coats, though. So, I still have to handle them carefully. I would end up doing two more batches of damaged/burnt vehicles, but who knows? Maybe one day I'll make some more!

    My favorite Jarls Workshop building was the six-story corner ruin (with some of my own bits added)

I also constructed a number of new buildings for the an urban, post-apocalyptic battlefield. My favorites were the ones I bought from Jarls Workshop (Rusty Parker) at the previous year's Advance the Colors 2022. They turned out great, and I would end up buying more from him in October at the 2023 convention. My favorite was the six-story corner remnant that I jazzed up with wooden beams and bricks. I bought more of these this year, but have yet to assemble them and get them ready for the tabletop. They will probably be the first terrain that I create in 2024, though! Rusty's 3-D printed buildings paint up very quickly and I highly recommend them. 

    We got in four games over the course of 2023 of my post-apocalytpic campaign

Finally, we got in four post-apocalyptic games over the course of the year. That was way under what I was hoping, but it did remain constant throughout the year. I am happy with how the Wiley Games Core Rules are working out for these skirmishes. Each player selects four characters for that scenario from the 7-8 that I had created for their survivor gang. Sometimes, characters who are wounded have to miss the following scenario or die of their wounds (only one character so far...sigh, mine!). The players have gotten the hang of using Renown Points to purchase new Traits and upgrade their force. I am having fun with running the scenarios, and will probably step back from playing in them with the Green Dragons unless we have a very small turnout. Look for more games in the coming months -- especially during January and February when our usual Sunday evening host will be out of town.

Science-Fiction Gaming

As the year closes, Sci-Fi gaming is the one I am focused on, now. It was also how I began 2023. I'd picked up Space Station Zero from Snarling Badger Studios, intrigued by the possibility of co-op skirmish as crews explore a derelict space station on the edge of the galaxy. I went all in for a few months, creating a playing surface of metallic looking tiles. I also made various bits of Sci-Fi scatter terrain that would work great for either the interior of a space station or on a planet's surface. Some were store-bought from Mantic Games, Acheson Creations, while still others were scratch-built from wooden pieces at craft stores. Jazzed up with metallic paints and various metal scatter consoles from RRB Minis & More, they set the stage for a new period of gaming in a new year.

    Our one and only game of Space Station Zero (so far, to be fair) using my game mat tiles & terrain

Except it never really went very far. Jenny and I played one scenario of Space Station Zero. We had fun, but after playing, I felt that its scope and scale wouldn't fit in as well for our Sunday evening gaming sessions. Even switching from co-op to competitive play mode in the rules, I felt that we'd struggle with so many players to have a game session for what was originally designed as a solo miniatures gaming adventure. Jenny and I swore we'd play the next scenario some winter evening when we had nothing else to do, but never got around to it. I'd painted my crew -- Dave and the rest from the spaceship Jupiter in 2001: A Space Odyssey -- but it looked like the Jupiter was grounded back here on Earth.

    JS Wargamer Printing 'Machine Wars - Exterminators' very cool 3D printed Terminators

In August, Sci-Fi gaming showed another flicker of life. Keith ran a Star Wars scenario using Wiley Games Galactic Heroes rules. He had a lot of the Wizards of the Coast pre-painted Star Wars figures. I was intrigued. We knew the rules. Both Keith and Mike S had tons of figs, but school had just started up again and I was hitting my busy point in the year. Sci-Fi gaming seemed to be an empty void once again until just last month. I decided to paint up one of my purchases from CincyCon 2023, JS Wargamer Printing's 3-D printed Terminators. This, and the purchase of rules books from the "Rampant" series at Advance the Colors 2023, convinced me to give Xenos Rampant a try.

    I was really pleased at how these various robots and droids came out with their metallic paints

This is a bigger size game than either Space Station Zero or Galactic Heroes. Each player will likely control 4-6 squads of figures, making it just a bit under Saga sized force, in my planned scale. Since then, I have been busy cranking out sets of Sci-Fi miniatures. After the Terminators (for a Machines force, of course), came a couple batches of droids or robots. I continued on with some 3-D printed space marines bought from Wiley Games. I called them the Bronze Legion, and bought and painted up a second squad's worth of the figures. And, for those who follow my blog regularly, you know that has continued apace with some Blue-skinned aliens and a squad of Star Wars B1 Battle Droids.

Aliens from the Strargrave Mercenaries box and actually painted to match one of my survivor gangs.

I'm anticipating my first game of Xenos Rampant in January. If not, at least by February. It's kind of cool that I started and began 2023 with Sci-Fi. I'm a big fan of the various Star Wars streaming series, so it is almost unusual that it hadn't found its way to the tabletop for me.

    It seems I never choose a simple army to paint, and that was definitely the case for 2023's Thracians!

 

Saga Ancients/Dark Ages/Medieval Skirmish

The third thread of my year of gaming was playing Saga, the skirmish miniatures game from Studio Tomahawk. In fact, it took over the majority of my painting and gaming from about late summer through Advance the Colors 2023. Two main reasons for this was that I had undertaken painting a new army, the Thracians. Also, I was painting up prizes and prepping for my two tournaments I was going to run at ATC 2023. I had queried local and regional Saga groups and they gave a thumbs up to adding a Friday Age of Ancients tournament to my 3rd annual Saturday Age of Melee one. Ancients includes the six armies each from Age of Hannibal and Age of Alexander. 

    At least the Thracians had only one unit of mounted -- unlike an entire army with the Mongols!

In fact, the Thracians I was painting up were from the Alexander book, and had caught my eye for their interesting "Loot" mechanic. They were also an army almost no one was talking about, and I enjoy painting the fringe armies. Greeks and Macedonians were sure to be popular choices from that book, but I wanted to do something a bit different. Naturally, if they're an army that I am picking they MUST have complex patterns or something to make them a challenge to paint, right? Of course! Greek pottery gives us a wealth of primary source material on the geometric (and assumed) colorful cloaks that the Thracian warriors wore. I borrowed my friend Mike's Osprey book on the army and sketched out about a dozen simplified versions of the patterns to use on my own miniature Thracians. With 28mm minis, we want to give the effect of something -- not necessarily a 1:1 recreation of it. Too much often ends up being, not surprisingly, too much.

    One of my three victories with the Picts at CincyCon 2023 - this one against a Norman foe

As December comes to its end, I am not strictly done with the Thracians. I have about one batch of javelin-armed warriors to paint up. I also have yet to do the custom fatigue markers I will create for this army. I borrowed some spare heads from friends who have plastic kits (where they provide options for players to use). I will mount these heads on the markers because the Thracians were known as a head-hunting tribe. Luckily, I already had suitable markers created for the loot tokens from a past gaming project.

View of the action at ATC 2023 weekend, which saw more than 30 participants from near & far

Our monthly Saga Sundays at the Guardtower East continued, but attendance seemed to die down a bit, this year. We were down from 12-16 attendees to the 6-10 range, most months. Unfortunately, the trips to Beavercreek and the Dragons Guildhall also decreased, on my part. I probably made it only about 4-5 times this year instead of being a regular. Honestly, the reason for this was likely the increase in the number of tournaments we had in the area. The year started off with a Saga tournament run in Ft. Wayne, IN, in February. The tournies continued in March with Cincycon 2023 -- where my Picts were victorious overall. I did not make it to Adrian John's next tournament at DayCon, but did actually participate in a small one at Historicon in July. In September, I also drove north to Port Clinton, OH, for Rusty and Jim's Hold the Line convention. That was followed by the success at Advance the Colors, with 14 players in my Ancients Saga tournament and 24 on Saturday. So, lots of tournaments probably meant fewer people at our monthly game days, I imagine.

    One of the six warlord stands I painted up and gave away as Saga prizes in 2023

One thing that my friend Mike has cautioned about is getting to the "burn out" stage with these rules, like we eventually did with DBA (De Bellis Antiquitatis). This is my fifth year of playing Saga. We played DBA for a couple decades, so it is nowhere near the same longevity. However, I do see a similar vibe with a tournament at every convention beginning to happen with me and Saga. I have also noticed my enthusiasm for hosting new episodes of my Saga Ohio Podcast waned over the course of the year, too. Mostly, this is because school is always so busy -- "180 days of triage", I call the school year. Possible burn out IS something to keep an eye out for when scheduling my gaming and painting, though.

Obviously, this isn't every bit of gaming that I did in 2023. It is a good sampling to reflect upon, though, and I hope readers enjoyed it. As we head towards 2024, my production seems to be picking up speed. What will 2024 bring? Hopefully, more faithful readers of my Lead Legionaries blog like yourselves! Happy New Year!! 😃

Three Warlords of Saga

 

    My first warlord prize stand for the Saga Age of Melee tournament, a "Welsh-style" general

Last year, I painted up a handful of warlord stands as prizes for the Advance the Colors 2022 Saga Tournament. I wanted to do the same thing again, but figured that doing them in several batches, rather than all at once, would be easier. I am running two tournaments this year, so picked out one batch of figures for the Ancients tournament and one for the Age of Melee (all historical periods). I would be painting at third warlord stand for myself at the same time. With three figures per stand, nine figures wouldn't be so bad, right?

    Using Gripping Beast's "Aetius" figure, I created a warlord stand for Roman-style armies

Wow...these three stands seemed to take FOR EVER...FOR EVER (channeling the movie "Sandlot")! Granted, the warlords themselves were mounted while their standard bearer and bodyguard were on foot. Still, that shouldn't take that much longer than a normal batch of 8 miniatures, should it? Apparently so. Being general or heroic figures, they did have a lot of detail. And being prizes, I wanted to make sure I did a bang-up job on them. How embarrassing would it be if the painted warlord stands were the last prizes chosen? Last year, they were some of the very first chosen, which I found gratifying. I received a lot of kind words and praises for them, so I had to make sure these were up to the same standard.

    I would have to say this stand is up there in my all-time favorite warlord stands I've painted for Saga

The Age of Melee stand would use as its base a mounted general from Gripping Beast (I believe), called "Mounted Welsh Warlord." It is an incredibly cool figure with scale armor and a dashing half-cloak over his shoulder. The horse is rearing majestically and it is simply a great pose. I decided to alternate silver and bronze scales, and was happy with how those turned out. I crossed my fingers and did a tartan for the cloak, which came out great, I felt. The yellow squares at the intersection of the blue and green "grid" really set it off. The shades of green and blue colors gives a nod to current Scottish tartans, so I felt they looked believable.

I added a bard figure to the stand that has been sitting in my unpainted lead drawer for more than a decade. I am no longer sure where this figure comes from, but it is a beautiful casting. I love his sweeping gesture as he points out the subject of his praise. I gave him lots of decoration so that he is dressed to befit his lord's status! The standard bearer was simply a well-armored dark age warrior who I thought fit the look of a Dark Age British style warlord. I want these stands to be relatively generic and useful for at least several or a handful of warbands. In that vein, I made the banner a Celtic-style boar which I found with a Google Image search. I put it in Photoshop and switched out some colors and added a nice border. I made it match the color scheme of the warlord and feel it really stands out.

    I really like how the bodyguard's and standard bearer's shields came out on this stand

Next up was the warlord for the Age of Ancients tournament. I chose Gripping Beast's Aetius, Magister Militum figure for the general. Not only are there Roman armies in pretty much every Saga "Age of..." book, there are other warbands that might have Roman-style equipment in Age of Invasions that it could work for, I feel. Of course, since he is Roman style, I had to go with deep reds for the color scheme, with a dash of purple here and there. I went with a yellow cloak for contrast and think it works well overall with the banner and accents on the clothes. I Googled "Roman Legionary Banners" and sorted through the dozens of images before deciding on the rampaging bull. I added a border of tiny SPQR eagles around it, hoping that it wouldn't date the warlord to one particular period (such as Christian imagery might). You have to remember, Age of Caesars will be out before too long (hopefully), so I want him to be usable for that book's Romans, as well.

    Aethelflaed Alfreds-daughter, Lady of Mercia, is believed to have actually led armies

Finally, the third stand that was for myself -- Aethelflaed, Alfreds-daughter, Lady of Mercia! Ever since watching The Last Kingdom series on Netflix, I thought it would be amazing to have an Anglo-Saxon army with the redoubtable Aethelflaed as a warlord. This daughter of Alfred the Great was raised at court and is lauded by historians both modern and medieval. It is certainly within the realm of Saga to have her as warlord (perhaps even subbing in as a "Legendary Warlord" for her dad?). The miniature (I believe) is from Reaper Miniatures Bones line, but I had long since thrown away the box and had the figure sitting on my desk for years.

    I like this little diorama for Aethelflaed, and I think the plastic Reaper figure turned out well

Another touch I really liked was the Saxon warrior holding his shield over his head, blocking arrows from hitting his Lady. The Saxon comes from the Gripping Beast's Ceorl Shieldwall pack. When I saw the figure, I got the idea to use him as a bodyguard catching arrows intended for his lord (or lady). So, I saved the figure until I was ready to paint up Aethelflaed. Actually, I thought I had two, but could find only one. I originally wanted an arrow catcher on either side of the horse. I drilled out the Saxon's shield and pushed brass wire through. I added "green stuff" to the end of the wire as the arrows' feathers. It came out okay. I am sure others could do better, but I am still learning with green stuff. I wanted a royal deep red and dark blue color scheme for the Lady, and echoed it on her attendants. The casualty figure at her feet was actually a last-minute addition. I had painted it up for something else, but just loved how it looked, so placed it on the base during the flocking stage. As a final touch, I used Aethelflaed's supposed banner from the Bernard Cornwell novels of the goose holding a cross in its mouth.

All in all, I am VERY happy with how these turned out -- even though they took me about three weeks worth of work! Stay tuned for another batch of warlords over the next month...!