Sound of the Axe-work

   I've not done a huge amount of hobby recently but I was determined to get my Saxons finished before the end of the month, so I could spend December painting up anything else that I fancied. This post is the last of my Saxon backlog;

The various Saxon Warlords, 2 Anglo-Dane and 1 I will use as Anglo-Saxon (Hereward the Wake is just too cool a model not to have as an Anglo-Saxon Generic Warlord). 

The last of my current Anglo-Danish Hearthguard, although I plan to add a single blister of the new Warlord Games one when they are released. 

 The last Anglo-Saxon stragglers

So that brings my Anglo-Saxon force up to 27 points for Lion Rampant (with a few extra Heartguard) and about 9 points for Saga, while my Anglo-Danes lag behind slightly but will be expanded in the future. I just need to get my movement trays painted up for both forces.

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Hearthguard to me!

   As the weight of numbers, dwindling enthusiasm* and work start to take their tole I am glad to be near the end of my Saxon project, the end is in sight. I am really looking forward to seeing the whole army set up as a shield wall, but that will have to wait at least another week. In the meantime, here is another couple of batches of Saxons that have left my paint table.

*Not deviating from a project

is really hard at the best of times!

 More warriors, levy and archers. They are mostly from my Gripping Beast top up but there are a few Footsore Miniatures still mixed in, along with a couple of Shieldwall Miniatures too.
I am particularly pleased with the guy on the far left with the axe on his shoulder, as I ruined his hand drilling a hole for the spear and had to improvise, creating one of my favourite models in the army in the process.

Hearthguard - including the first repainted Anglo-Danish models and another banner. These are mostly Gripping Beast but I think there is a single Footsore Miniatures model at the back.

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Call in the Fyrd

   The last week or so have been really busy with work as the pressure has started to ramp up, but I have managed to keep putting some time aside nearly every day to get some painting done and my Saxons are starting to look like an army rather than a few armed guys taking a flag for a walk. I am still painting my Dark Ages figures in same colour batches and it is really starting to pay off, both in terms of out put, helping me to keep the figures in manageable numbers and in the final look, while some batches are easier to pick out than others, they start to get lost as the numbers start to grow, with the shield designs really helping to break them up.

The warriors and spear levy, a mix of Gripping Beast and Footsore Miniatures - along with the second banner of the army (more to come!).

 Next few archers, as with my Vikings I don't need to much in the way of missile troops (all Gripping Beast).

The hearthguard are a mix of Gripping Beast and Footsore Miniatures again - it was nice to paint a figure who wasn't carrying a spear or bow.

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Form the shield-wall

   So, another weekend and another trip to a Viking ship museum, this time in Denmark, add in the weird fact that most of my normal Bolt Action opponents are buying Saga armies all of a sudden and my Dark Ages painting motivation is in full swing. I had always planned to replace my Viking and Saxon armies with new, better painted models and with the initial stages of my Viking army finished, my attention is now on getting my Saxons (can double as Anglo-Saxons or Anglo-Danes) ready for the table. Like my Vikings I am painting in batches of models from a mix of units and the aim of this first stage is an army that can double as a full 6 point Saga force and a full 24 point Lion Rampant army.

   With no further ado, here are the results of the first few batches, a mix of figures from either Gripping Beast or Footsore Miniatures.

 Warriors/levy.

 Levy archers.

Hearthguard.

Thanks for reading, and please check out my wife's blog post on our August trip to Oslo, it is worth it for the photo of me paddling furiously in a fjord.