Disappointment and set backs

-
Abandoned Gripping Beast Hearthguard


 The weekend started off well. I was happily painted some Gripping Beast Anglo-Dane Hearthguard. They went okay, took me surprisingly little time to paint. I painted them production line style, the way I used to paint Warhammer Skaven. This really sped the process up, they felt like they took no time at all. I tried my hardest to make each one an individual and not too uniform. The end result was okay, I was not excessively pleased by them nor was I disappointed with them.

The construction process of them had been problematic to say the least. The Dane axes were spindly and the metal bent easily, the hand and arms lined up poorly and once assembled they did not look quite right. I was willing to over look this if it was just those models.

I was wrong, I began preparing some warriors to be assembled, it soon became clear that the hands were not going to be able to hold their tree trunk spears, no amount of bending of the hand or drilling was going to make them any easier to assemble, in fact some of of the hands that needed drilling were down right dangerous to attempt (please note I have built tonnes of Gripping Beast metals and plastics and had no problems with them, just these)

The warriors from Gripping Beast


I grumbled to myself a lot, complained to the world in general (only the cat was there to hear my complaints). I needed to solve my Saga problem, I browsed the internet, pondered various companies models, I had decided to start from scratch. I came to a number of conclusions as to what I could do to correct my problem.

  • Muddle on and try and get the modelss to work
  • Buy a completely new set of models from a different company or some Gripping Beast plastics
  • See what I had on my shelf and make something out of them
In the end I decided I would use my Victrix Anglo-Dane models for my Saga warband. I cannot speak more highly of the detail on these models. I had planned to use them in my Hail Caesar saxon Army. The models however are too nice and detailed to be ranked up among other models. These are perfect for Saga. I had already built some housecarls previously, they were a good place to start. I am hoping that I will be more successful with these. 
Victrix plastic sprues



I managed, over the Sunday, to get a warlord painted and a monk. I am happy with the end result and will soon start on some hearthguard I already have assembled. I am still trying to decide how to bulk out the rest of my warband. I have a plan of what I am aiming for,

  • Warlord
  • 4 hearthguard
  • 4 hearthguard
  • 4 hearthguard
  • 8 warriors
  • 8 warriors
  • 8 warriors
  • 12 levy (archers)
  • 12 levy (archers)
The warband will be divided up as follows:

  • warlord
  • 12 hearthguard
  • 12 warriors
  • 12 warriors
  • 12 levy
  • 12 levy
This was the lay out I had planned for the Gripping Beast models, I've geared my warband up for dealing with regular opponents Jomsvikings. I'm hoping this warband will fare better than my previous foray into Saga.
Victrix Anglo-Dane Warlord

Victrix Priest


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

SAS independent reinforced platoon

-
Image
  David Stirling's L Detachment SAS were formed in 1941 after Layforce a commando unit, of which Stirling was a member, was disbanded. Stirling believed a small covert unit of men could parachute behind enemy lines and sow chaos and mayhem amongst the German and Italian supply lines and airbases and along with Jock Lewes, who invented the Lewes bomb that the SAS would go on to use to great effect and Paddy Mayne who had a reputation for being a mad man and a violent temper after a few drinks, the SAS was formed. During November 1941 the SAS parachuted behind German and Italian lines, this turned out disastrous for L Detachment as both the weather and the enemy being on high alert conspired against them, of the 66 men that made up the SAS half of them lost their lives or were captured. The SAS changed tactics and began using the LRDG to transport them around instead, eventually Stirling secured armed Jeeps for the SAS, reducing reliance on LRDG vehicles. The SAS used the jeeps to de
Read more

Unboxing #2: Paddy Mayne and gaming aids

-
Image
  An unboxing of yet another order this time from October 2023.  The parcel was, as always, well packed and with a free sprue, this time winter Germans. The first thing out of the box was Warlord's soldier of fortune for October, SAS hero Paddy Mayne, completing the set of the three founders of the SAS. Paddy Mayne would go onto be the commanding officer of the SAS after Major David Stirling was captured by the Afrika Korps at Gabes Gap, where he was attempting to link up with US forces. This blister contains: 1x SAS hero Paddy Mayne (metal) Pin markers are the next thing, designed to look like explosions and in a stand out red colou. The only downside to them is that it is hard to see what number the pin marker points at, I am going to have to find a way to make them stand out. Overall though they are a nice way to demonstrate pins. This set contains: 12x pin markers (plastic) Finally we have templates and effect tokens representing a number of in game effects, these are: artiller
Read more

Unboxing #3: 8th Army vehicles

-
Image
 Today's unboxing is a number of vehicles I got at the end of 2023, they are all part of one of two 8th Army projects I am working on, these are for the 1942 British armoured brigade from Campaign: the Western Desert book, a copy of Tank Wars is also needed. I am unboxing the following: Crusader Mk I/II tank Flying Standard Tilly Chevrolet CMP 15CWT truck Bedford OY 3-ton lorry  Crusader Mk I/II tank The Crusader tank primarily saw action with British and Commonwealth forces in the Western Desert. They were particularly suited for the kind of mobile warfare that became prevalent in the desert, thanks to their speed and agility. It had a 2-pdr gun in the turret and co-axial machine gun in the hull. The 2-pdr was eventually replaced by a 6-pdr gun. The kit is a metal/resin hybrid kit and includes damage markers, an order dice and stat cards The kit looks nice and, assuming none of the resin parts are warped at all, relatively easy to assemble. Flying standard Tilly The Flying Standar
Read more