Perry Miniatures Arab Cavalry for Saga Cross & Crescent

With the Cross & Crescent book now out (and looking lovely) I've picked up some Perry Miniatures Arab cavalry from Dave Thomas at Britcon, intending to use them to bolster out the Gripping Beast (plastic) infantry who've been seen here before. The basing is also like the post that appeared here before too.

Usual painting style, this time with a white undercoat and a final coat of Army Painter Strong (ie the mid) tone. The photos are larger than this - you can click them to see a bigger version.

Here they are, based up but not yet inked/Army painter'ed

Unusually I elected to hand-paint the shields here.

I mixed up the horses and riders a little, so they don't quite map onto the photos on the Perry site

 They are a mix of Syrian / Seljuk / Turkish types, although some look to be a bit more Turkoman

The guy on the left is actually a Conquest Games Norman knight, with a spare head from the Gripping Beast infantry. The Conquest Games Normans seem to fit very well alongside these Perry troops - the horses are a little chubbier, but they are still decent.

Geometric and floral patterns on the rather simple shield designs.

I did some of the turbans in stripes, which I have seen as an Omani thing in today's Arab world - it looks more interesting than a plan turban thingy so worth a try every now and then.

They will get an outing soon along with the accompanying infantry from Gripping Beast. There are probably some of the Gripping Beast Arab infantry on eBay UK if you click that link too..

Basing Saga Arabs for Cross & Crescent

I've posted a video showing how I used wood stain and builders sand to create a pretty decent looking basing system for my Saga figures - its online now and can be seen on Youtube or also on the blogger part of my site.

The video also has some photos of the new Saga Gripping Beast plastic Arabs, along with some North Star Berbers mixed in, which you can see here too.

Saga in London!

After far too long a gap, finally some new updated material for this website - Saga Vikings in 3 separate match reports against Jomsvikings, normal Vikings and Franks.

I've endeavoured to take photos of the Battle Boards and explain what choices I made and why throughout the reports - hopefully it makes sense as a concept, although as you will find out the actual choices themselves appear to leave a little to be desired....

Arabs! For Saga!

I'm currently painting up some Griping Beast Arabs to make up an as-yet indeterminate Saga force. After undercoating the whole lot in white spray paint, a couple have been rushed to "finished" status to spur me on.

You may also spot a few North Star Berbers in there too for added variety. The Gripping Beast ones go together pretty easily, but need careful application of filler to hide the joins at the shoulders I've found so far. More pics to come as they progress further... 

Random Saga photos

A game of saga at the club on Monday night which may well have convinced me that having Harald Hardrada and the Varangians is the way to go with the Vikings!

Here are some of the lads storming across the ford (or should that be fjord?)

Wading into the Anglo-Saxons, watched by Harald (and his dog)

Thinking about taking on the enemy Warlord...

The rather battered Huscarls at least have captured a wench to take back to their ship...

Some proper battle reports to follow after the actual event itself..

Get That Zimmer Frame Off of My Longship!

It's a first for Madaxeman.com as the game of SAGA takes full advantage of it's free bus pass to arrive bang on time for a 4-game, one day first outing to the seaside in 4 consecutive Viking-laden Battle Reports!

Marvel as the tactical inadequacies seen previously in eras as diverse as Ancient Egypt to the Pacific theatre of WW2 are replicated in painful detail in the Viking Age, and then relax by smearing yourself in Viking Hannibals Goose-fat of Criticism !

Go on - you know you want it.... 

Online Reviews of these Match Reports

• "Does go to show how seldom you see the phrase 'engorged testicles' in a battle report critique." (TMP)
• "..these are genius" (Gripping Beast's Mike Hobbs on Twitter)
• "Great stuff. I got my laughs for the day!" (WWPD)
• "I wanted it, and I got it....." (Saga Forum)
• "Nice figures....f**king awful table.....green felt....this isnt the 1970's......spend some time on your table rather than your game report (Frothers)

Saga Vikings

Well, I've finally cracked and got myself a SAGA army, of course of Vikings. They ended up being painted quite quickly, and for those of you who have not been following my Facebook Page, here's the progress

The Saga Viking warband...early stage preparation as I finally get back to painting and playing...black undercoat sprayed on, using 2p coins and some Renedra bases I got in an army pack from Gripping Beast. This was taken August 20th. And why do Renedra bases cost more than 2p each ... ?

24th August - All the metal bits, and a first "colour" - in this case Coat d'arms Linen. This might be quicker than I expect... The figures are a mix of Gripping Beast and Wargames Foundry

25th August - Always interesting how much figures can change from this block painting stage to when they get inked later on.

25th August - Gloss poly varnish on the shields, in preparation for some Little Big Men transfers tomorrow - bit of bronze and gold on the jewellery, brown for the backs of shields and wooden spears and they'll be ready for Army Painter..

25th August - Ready for the shield transfers in the morning... Then the Army Painter magic by lunchtime...!

26th August - All glossed up with Army Painter (not the shields with stickers on them - they get clear poly varnish as a topcoat), and then outside to dry .. it's a nice warm day so maybe spraying matt varnish later ? The shield designs are from the LBMS "GB (Large)" and "Foundry, Artizan & BTD" ranges and really make a huge difference to the quality of the figures

26th August, almost all done.... A good weekends work.. all based with builders sand, awaiting some grass and the like on the bases.

I may add some more photos once they are totally done and on the table

Its a right Saga!

I've been painting up some 28mm Foundry Vikings to be used as in-game prizes for the Saga Tournament at Britcon 2013, the idea being these couple of units will be fed into the scenarios across the event, and someone (not necessarily the actual tourney winner) will have the chance to go home with them.

See what you think:

They are all undercoated in black, drybrushed in white (to help being out some highlights in the proper painting) then painted normally - finally a coat of Army Painter Strong Tone has been added, finished with Testors Dullcote

I just love the slightly cartoonish aspect of many of these Foundry figures !

I've semi-deliberately not finished the bases, so whoever ends up with them can make them match their existing figures.

The Beserkers are very obviously totally beserk..