Saga: The Legion

I’ve been working on various projects, and I’ve also been working on my own stuff to avoid burnout.

The Republic Romans for Saga: Age of Hannibal and Clash of Spears are near completion.

I’ve completed 4 points of Warriors, divided into 8-man units of Roman infantry. The first pic shows 2 points of Hastati, The lighter-armored Legionnaires would serve as the front line. I painted up a unit with light armor and another without armor. The distinction doesn’t matter for Saga, but the armor difference is possible for Clash. Most of the Hastati models are from Agema, though some are Victrix. I included the Cornicen (horn blower) in the unit of Hastati.

The other pic features the Princepes, the fully-armored Legionnaires. These soldiers would comprise the second ranks, moving up as the Hastati were worn out, or filling in spaces in the classic maniple formations. The Princepes are almost all Victrix, with a few Agema mixed in.

The shields are a simple ivory white, with some having a split orange side. This is based on some art I found about the Battle of Zama. The shields can mix freely, or I can divide them into distinct units. In-game in Saga the units can merge or break into smaller parts. The Republic Romans faction rules mean smaller units gain various bonuses, reflecting the tactical nature of the maniple system.

The army will consist of Warlord, 4 points of Warriors (32 men, potentially divided into 6/6/6/6/8), 1 point of Hearthguard (4 Triarii), and 1 point of Levy (12 Velites).

Speaking of the Warlord, here is the First Centurion of the Legio. He acts as the officer for the army, since I figure the force would be a bit small to need the attention of a Consul very often. As First Centurion, he is the senior officer for the First Cohort. Here he is accompanied by the cohort’s Signifier, carrying the standard.

I wanted the Centurion to have a no-nonsense attitude, with simple bronze cuirass and feathered crest. The Signifier wears a bearskin as is custom. His boar signum is the symbol for the army, ironically also used by my Gallic force.

The last pic are the Velites. These skirmishers are the lightest-armed and wear only helmets for armor. Many of them wear wolf skins, a typical costume for the Velites, while others go without. The unit is a relatively even mix of Victrix and Agema. In-game I might divide the unit into 6-man units to cover more ground or generate Saga dice.

A note on clothing- I went with a somewhat uniform look for their tunics, with red the most common. White, yellow, brown, and green are sprinkled throughout.

The Triarii unit is being worked on, so they’ll be posted soon.

Clash of Spears and Katanas

I’ve been wrapping up skirmishing units for my Greeks for use in Clash of Spears and Saga: Age of Hannibal. The latest unit is a group of Slingers. I’ve used parts of the unit for games so far, but I needed to expand the members to 12 to use as Levy in Saga. I kept the details simple, with basic leather bags and belts, with a mix of colors for their chitons. I added a sort of command group with a ‘captain’ with a raised dagger and a musician with a salpinx. The models come from the Victrix Balaeric Slingers kit, but I used them as generic Greeks.

The other new unit is a complete departure… These Ashigaru are yari (spear) for the Uesugi Clan. This is the first 5-man group, out of a final unit of 8. The army will be used for Clash of Katanas, the new expansion for the Clash rules. 3 men brace their yari for a fight, while a fourth stands ready, and an officer directs with his katana. These are the plastic set from Warlord Miniatures.

Based on my searching, the Uesugi Ashigaru were pretty uniform, with blue kote (armored sleeves) and black lacquered dō (cuirass) and jingasa (conical helmet). I allowed for some different colors for the trousers to keep it from being too identical. They all wear sashimono with the symbol used by Uesugi Kenshin, the daimyō of his clan during parts of the Sengoku era of Japan. The mon, the kanji 毘, the first kanji of the name of the War God, Bishamonten (毘沙門天) was worn by Kenshin’s troops.

When it came time to pick a clan army list for Clash of Katanas, I decided to go with the Uesugi, since I have recently finished a 15mm army of Kenshin’s forces for the Battles of Kawanakajima.

There are a few more Greek units to wrap up, and I’ll be getting to work on my Uesugi soldiers ongoing.

Clash of Spears: Romans

Among other projects, I’ve been slowly building a Roman force for use for Clash pf Spears and Saga: Age of Hannibal. These are Roman soldiers of the Middle Republic, during the Punic Wars against Carthage.

The Roman army of the Republic was still based around cohorts and centuries, made up of the 4 types of infantry, deployed in a checkerboard of waves of troops. The first was the Velites, the skirmishers, followed by the Hastati, lighter-armored line Legions, then the better-armored and trained Principes, with the veteran Triarii in the rear.

I’ll get to the Velites and Triarii eventually. For now I’m building up the Hastates and Principes infantry.

The first pic is the tough armored Principes. Wealthier and able to afford good armor and weapons, they could take on any enemy on the field. The models will typically be fielded in units of 6-8 men (depending on if played in Clash or Saga). The models are from Victrix, with a few Agema models mixed in. The Agema sculpts are thinner, so they sort of stand out, but not too bad. Weirdly enough, the Victrix sculpts are all carrying pila, so only the Agema guys have their gladius out to fight.

Next are the Hastati, wearing only light armor (or in some cases no armor, save helmet and greave on the left leg). They would fight first, then retire to let the Principes fight the weakened enemy. The unit is all Agema models, as the Victrix are all wearing mail. Them being the thinner sculpts also helps represent them as the younger men.

The Legionaries carry cream-white shields as their colors. I wanted a good contrast to all the red cloth and bronze armor. They aren’t uniform, however, with some having rusty red on half their shields.

Last is a doughty Centurion of the Legion. Being set during the Republic, the Centurions had more leeway on their personal decoration. This one evidently still rocks the bronze cuirass and flanges of the Greek style, but wears the transverse crest of a proper Roman leader. This character will represent a secondary Centurion, one from a subordinate cohort or serving as the second for a veteran Centurion or higher officer. He carries the scutum in the colors of his Legion, but his shield (beaten up from several battles) bears a boar to mark him out. The boar is also the icon for this Legion. The model itself is from the Victrix Greek Hoplites set, with arms from Agema, and head and shield from Victrix Romans.

More Romans on the way!

Clash of Spears: Force Projection

This week we ran a game of Clash of Spears. My Gauls tangled with my friend’s Greeks in a Force Projection scenario. To wit, both forces are trying to take the center of the table, and also try to push into their opponent’s deployment zone to effectively jockey for territory, either as prelude to a further battle or just to expand their army’s footprint.

The Gauls swept to the center with their foot, while the javelin skirmishers captured the vineyard on the left flank and the mounted Nobles skirted around the right flank, testing for weakness.

The Greeks faced off across the meadow. Citizen Hoplites formed a solid core to contest the center, the Thureophoroi raced through the woods, while the Peltasts and Slingers favored their right flank overlooking the vineyard. The Veteran Hoplites hung back protecting their deployment zone on their left flank, since he knew I had cavalry.

As per usual, we took plenty of pictures early on but as the game kept going we forgot.

Highlights of the battle:

-The battle began with the Gallic skirmishers taking the vineyard, hoping to use it as cover to work around the left flank. Instead, a unit of Peltasti got aggressive and attacked, killing half the unit and pushing them back.

-In response, a unit of Gallic Warriors, which had also hoped to use the vineyard for cover, poured through the rows and pounced the Peltasti, wiping them out.

-The Greek Slingers rained death down on the foot Nobles. Despite range they got several hits, who also despite the odds failed their saves. After a few rounds of sling fire half the unit was killed. Those Nobles needed to speak with their armorers…

-Thureoporoi snuck through the trees in the center, breaking cover to try to work around the shieldwall of a unit of close order Warriors. Unfortunately they got too close and the Warriors broke formation to charge them. In the subsequent melee the Greeks were wiped out. This did leave the Warriors vulnerable to counterattack…

-The Citizen Hoplites advanced on the center, holding the objective most of the game. They crushed the unit of Warriors and finished off the decimated Nobles.

-The Greek commander survived a volley of javelins, then rushed to hit the weakened Warriors unit in the center, finishing them off and almost panicking the mounted Nobles off the table.

-Mounted Nobles were kept from the Greek rear lines by the reserve Veteran Hoplites. They tried to launch some attacks in response to Greek movements but the reaction tests were not happening. In the end they Nobles got pinned by the Veterans, the fight killing half of both units. The Nobles hung on however, while the Veterans were broken. They also survived an important Break test from the nearby Warriors getting wiped out.

-Weathering a round of shooting from the Slingers, the Warriors broke cover from the vineyard to charge the Greek skirmishers. After seeing them off, the Gauls took the next turn to race over the hill to claim the Greek rear deployment objective.

-The game ended with a roll-off of Break tests. The Gauls had to roll first, passing the first test, then the second. The Greeks then rolled in another round, failing, which made them quit the field. Both sides had been properly slaughtered (5 Break points for the Greeks, 4 for the Gauls). Hope the field was worth it!

Saga: Syracusan Hippeis

I posted the complete Syracusan army of the Graeculi for Saga: Age of Hannibal and Clash of Spears a while back. At that point, the army was finished. But of course, while armies may be done, they are never done done.

The first addition was a mounted Warlord for my Greeks, to give me the option for some speed and allow the Tyrant’s influence to cover more of the table in games. The foot version was posted here.

The Warlord was made from the Victrix Cavalry set, but I heavily converted him to make him a proper Greek officer. I swapped an armored upper body from the Hoplite kit that the rest if the army was built from and plonked it onto the legs of one of the Cavalrymen, with the addition of a cape from the Gallic set. His sleeved arms came from the Gallic set as well, with the change of a hand waving a Greek khopis. His head and shield came from the Cavalry kit. The last bits were extensions of his pteruges that cover his upper legs (and also hide the join), which were cut from paper hardened with glue.

He is richly dressed, befitting a Greek noble leader, with a gold and violet cape, shiny white linen and scale armor, and a warhorse with a lion skin draped across it. His shield bears a hydra symbol, as well as a lambda, perhaps pointing to ancestry from Laconia itself, or at least kin to the Spartans that aided Syracuse during their wars against Athens.

Like most of my Warlords, he has enough room on his base for some battlefield litter, usually a shield from a vanquished enemy. In this case it’s a Carthaginian shield, discarded during one of the Sicilian Wars.

The other pic is the first part of a unit of Light Cavalry, useful for harassing, scouting, and hitting vulnerable targets with rains of javelins. They lack armor, preferring to skirmish rather than fight it out. I plan on painting up 4 more to complete a point of Warriors for Saga. For now these four will be an option to give my otherwise plodding Hoplite phalanxes some speed. These were from the Victrix Greek Cavalry like the Warlord, though without any conversions.

These could be mercenaries from Greece or Italy, brought in to aid the Syracusans. I also plan on using them for Cavalry Warriors in a potential Republic Roman force, representing some Roman subject Greek states in Italy.

Saga: The Phalanx of Syracuse

My Greek army of the city of Syracuse is complete. This force will serve in both Saga: Age of Hannibal and Clash of Spears. I plan on adding more units later, but for now it is done.

Here is the complete army. In Saga terms it has 3 points of Warriors (24 in total), 2 points of Hearthguard (8 men), and 1 point of Levy (12 javelin men). On the table the Warriors will form 2 12-man units, flanking the 8-man Hearthguard unit. Depending on the scenario or opponent, the Levy will either form up into a 12-man swarm or 2 6-man units to skirmish.

The second pic is the force formed up into a more historical phalanx formation.

The Warlord, the Tyrant of Syracuse, was posed pretty aggressively, advancing with his standard bearer to battle. The model was taken from Mortal Gods, and the banner man is from Victrix like the rest of the army. I wanted the Warlord to bear a unique shield, so a red-eyed cyclops glowers at his foes. The standard bears the golden laurels of victory.

The next pic is the other half of the Levy unit (I posted the Peltasti previously). These men are Thureophoroi, an evolved Greek soldier, a derivation of the hoplite. They were mostly unarmored, with lighter thureos shields based on Celtic designs. They filled a role between phalanx and skirmish, capable of fighting with spear and javelin. I built them out of unarmored Hoplite Victrix models, with a mix of javelins and spear. They got capes from the Gallic plastic set, with topknots from the same set. They stand out from the Peltasti so I can field them as a separate unit.

I plan on adding a unit of Greek cavalry, a mounted Warlord, and some Archers at some point, but it’s nice to reach an endpoint.

Saga: Hammer and Anvil

The army of Syracuse for Saga: Age of Hannibal grows. I’ve finished a unit of the Tyrant’s Bodyguard (2 points of Hearthguard) who form the core of the Greek phalanx. In most games I’ve played with the army in Saga, the Bodyguard have been the unit bringing destruction to enemy lines. With Warrior units on each flank, they can crush most enemies.

The Hearthguard are almost all Victrix, like the rest of the army, with the addition of a miniature from Mortal Gods. The leader of the Bodyguard eschews armor in favor of pure machismo apparently, but I liked his unique look. The rest of the unit is armored up, many carrying aprons on their shields. The shield devices were all hand-painted this time.

The other unit is half a point of Levy, in the form of Peltasti with javelins. These light troops are the army’s skirmishers, able to run around and harry enemies with potshots, or in a pinch swarm weakened targets. In one game they put fatigues on a Carthaginian elephant unit with a javelin toss, before charging, exhausting them. This allowed a Hoplite unit to finish them off. I love when units play to their historical roles.

The other 6 Levy will be painted up as Thureophoroi, heavy skirmisher/spearmen with larger shields and thrusting spears along with javelins. In games the two different groups can be fielded together or as 2 units of 6, and the visual divide will help matters.

More to come. I have a bunch more Hoplites to do, as well as the two version of the Tyrant (foot and mounted). I plan on doing a point of Greek cavalry to give me choices too.

Saga: Magna Graecia

It’s been a while since I’ve updated. A mixture of teaching, moving, and working through some painting fatigue slowed my production down. I have been working on my own models to help overcome that inertia.

My Greeks for Saga: Age of Hannibal have been underway for a few weeks now. I’ve finished enough to post here. I plan on using the Syracuse faction rules for the army, but might use the Italiotes rules sometimes. The Syracusans’ rules are the closest to a classical ‘Hoplite’ formation, rather than the Macedonian-style of Epirus or the light Thureophoroi/Peltasti of the Italiotes.

Pictured here are some of the Warriors Hoplites, armed with the traditional spear, linothorax, and hoplan. By the time of the Punic Wars, this style is pretty archaic, supplanted by pikemen or thureophoroi. Their armor and helmets are all over the place historically, with some helmet designs separated by centuries, but I liked the mix of styles.

The Victrix plastic kit is pretty nice, but has the problem that the armored torsos only have 4 poses (8 on a sprue, doubled up). I wanted some more variety, plus I liked the idea that some of the phalanx wouldn’t be as well equipped as others. I mixed in a bunch of unarmored torsos from the Peltasts kit. In battle, the armored spearmen would fight up front, with the unarmored bringing up the rear.

The second pic features the Hoplites formed into bigger phalanxes. I also wanted to show off the armor, since the shields tend to cover the whole body (their point of course). The shield devices were almost all hand painted, with a few transfers added in.

I’ll be adding more Hoplites, picking out a few individuals as Hearthguard (mostly the ones with shield aprons). I’ll also be working on some Peltasts for the Levy javelinmen. I’m looking forward to painting up the army’s Warlord, the Tyrant of Syracuse.

Saga: Age of Hannibal- The Gauls

With the arrival of the Age of Hannibal expansion for Saga, my Gauls now have another route to take the field. The army was originally built for Clash of Spears, which I managed to play a few weeks ago. Still a great game! But I really was looking forward to Saga’s take on my favorite mustachioed madmen.

The army converted to Saga was almost unchanged, with a few additions. I had to create a mounted version of the Warlord (Saga Gallic Warlord is always mounted, whereas the Clash version has a choice of foot or mounted). I also had to add a pair of extra Gallic Nobles to field 2 points of Hearthguard. I already had a full 2 points of foot Hearthguard. They can also be mixed into the Warriors units to pad out their numbers.

Next up are a couple units of Warriors. These didn’t require any changes, though I added a few more random Warriors models just in case.

Alongside the Warriors are a couple units of Levies, the Juves. One unit is armed with javelins, the others have slings. Since I would only field 1 of these units at a time, their standard bearer can join either one.

Here is the army massed for their first game of Saga. I played a friend’s Republican Romans in a standard Clash of Warlords fight. He was subbing in his Late Romans for Early Romans, which explains all the pants and pepperpot hats.

The first game went very well, with the Gauls able to unleash lots of dice in combat and move bunches of units all at once.

My usual army will be a mounted Warlord, 2 points of mounted Hearthguard (8 Nobles in one unit), 3 points of Warriors (24 Gallic Warriors in 3 units of 8), and 1 point of Levy (12 Juves with javelins or slings; ruleswise Gauls can’t take slings, but I had painted up the unit for Clash, and since bows and slings have the same range, I just use my slings instead).

Last up is a preview of the next force for Saga and Clash- Greeks!

Saga: Warlords

I’ve finished a trio of mounted Warlords for my Saga forces. While I have specific models for my factions, there are a few groups of miniatures that can be used for multiple. The Welsh models also can stand in as Britons or Irish, Anglo-Saxons can also be Anglo-Danes or Vikings, Polish can also be Northern Crusaders or Russians, etc. A good way to differentiate the factions is their Warlords.

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First is the Baltic Pagan Warlord, leading the Pagan Peoples faction. He represents an Lithuanian or Curonian chieftain, riding his armored charger into battle. I built him from a mix of models, the horse and rider coming from Fireforge Russian Druzhina, with arms from the Fireforge mounted sergeants. I wanted to show that despite wearing heavier armor, his arms are still relatively bare. A further nod to his ‘wilder’ culture is the wolf-skin cloak, swiped from Warhammer.

To show the influence of the Russian and Central Asia, his clothes and armor are colorful, with bright patterns and contrasting hues. The mount’s padded armor is a deep red with golden yellow trim, a variation of that combination also appearing in his shield design and the pagan rune.

Second is a Welsh Warlord. While no one else in the warband is mounted at this point, I like the option of giving him even more speed and maneuverability for the faction. This model is unchanged from the Gripping Beast metal, with the addition of a shield hung off the saddle. The shield shows off a dragon design.

His clothes are pretty simple, with a rich red cloak and off-white tunic. The Horse was painted up to be a Welsh Cob, with a dappled grey coat and white legs.

Last is a Gallic Warlord, a chieftain of the Vertamocorii of Transalpine Gaul in Italy. He wears a colorful mix of plaid tunic and striped pants, with a deep green cloak. He carries a blue and red/yellow checkered shield as he leads his tribe in battle. His bronze helm is topped by a plume of feathers, and a trophy head hangs from his saddle.

The miniature comes from Victrix, using the same kit as the rest of the Gallic cavalry from the army. I wanted to add a mounted option to my Gauls’ leaders for Clash of Spears, but the new Age of Hannibal expansion for Saga gave me the push to finish him. My Gauls will serve for both games, with little actual change of the unit compositions (I planned out groups of 8 for units, which works for Nobles/Hearthguard and Warriors in either system).

Something to note for my Warlord models. I usually add some sort of battlefield debris to the bases for decoration. It’s almost always a cast off shield of an enemy warrior, so the Pagan gets a Teutonic knight’s tower shield with German cross, the Welsh rears over a Norman kite shield, and the Gaul has a Roman Velite’s small parma shield. The Velite shield has a bit of arterial spray, suggesting the previous owner’s fate.

I’m working on some more models to expand the Gauls for both Clash and Saga. More to come.