Huzzah! - The Fyrd Assembles

Jim:

I'll have one group of 20 plus 12 spare Saxons painted. I'll have to bulk up with others. I can play either game.

I'm not from Maine (but I did attend college there so maybe that can count?), but hope you guys don't mind me playing Saxons.  I've registered for both afternoon and evening sessions

I've got 32 Saxons almost complete, hoping to finish this weekend.  There was talk of more needing to be done and I can still do more if needed.  If someone can let me know one way or the other, as soon as possible, then that would be great and I'll get them done in time for the convention.

I've got the Pig Wars rules, planning on giving them a little test run between now and then against a handfull of Vikings that I have.  I'll do up a list based on what I've got and bring the rest along as well just in case anyone else needs some and we need to make up some more groups with the extras.

No worries, Gamespoet.  You are a Saxon at heart and can roll dice with us.  If we run out of troops, (read as, die in great heaps) there will always be small roving gangs of dogs, piglets and chickens to push across the table.  I think the animals should have individual victory conditions as well.  Can the leader of the pack of hounds gain points for lifting a leg on a Viking warrior and surviving the encounter?  What if the Viking were a leader figure?

Jim, can we have a ruling on this?

Glad you asked since we are currently putting the final touches on the Random Events table which will see animals, some tame and some not, moving about the table.  We have not yet structured an animal urination rule, but I will get to work on it.  My first thought is that a fully armored figure might suffer rust and this would subsequently reduce his saving throw!

If anyone else has random event ideas just throw them out and we will see if we can work them in.

What does a dog urinating on your armor do for a leader's Saga Points?  Cant be good if the dog gets away with it!

I am still a fan of an earlier idea, in which the Viking player who finds the mead and ale barrels is given a $20 and told that his troops cannot move again until he/she spends the money at the bar!  

Thanks, Jim.

Not to get too technical, but are you refering to Fyrd as a general term or are you being specific to the actual Fyrd box set from Wargames Factory?   I only ask because I am painting Fyrd and Thegns. 

I will have to take a look at the article on Viking organization and see how what I am assembling will fit into organization.

Ken

I was simply using Fyrd as a generic term and, as we all know, dogs only urinate on churls.

Dean - I am all in with giving people $20 to go to the bar, but only if the people running the game have an equal chance of being forced to down vile, acoholic swill!

I will have to take a look at the article on Viking organization and see how what I am assembling will fit into organization.  - bluemoose

When reviewing the article in Wargames Illustrated for making up a warband of Saxons or Vikings, it is my understanding that there is a misprint on the chart for morale.

It reads this way:

0=Untrained Militia
1=Trained, average
3=Trained, veteran
4=Elite

However, I believe it is suppose to read this way:

0=Untrained Militia
1=Trained, average
2=Trained, veteran
3=Elite

Gamespoet - you are correct.  The morale grades go 0-1-2-3.  There is no morale grade 4.  It was a misprint in the article.

Following up on Ken's question about the Fyrd if anyone is interested in a brief article that outlines the latest scholarship on Saxon Military Organization you can find it at the Regia Anglorum website.  The exact address is

www.regia.org/saxons2.htm

There are a number of short, interesting articles here and you will quickly learn all about earls and churls, fyrd and thegns.  There has been some real revisionist writing since the mid-90's concerning our understanding of exactly what the fyrd was.

Happy reading

OK so I also will have a Fyrd of 20 (+12 extras) as well.  150 points it is...

Tim

If people have extra figs painted outside of 150 or 300 points please bring them along.  I am certain that we can make up extra groups and that there will be a number of people who show up to play that can use them.

This past weekend got most of the painting completed on my group of Saxons.  Still got the sheilds, small details, and maybe some touch up to do.

Pictures would be nice....

Excellent idea Dean.  Let's see some pictures of the ferocious Saxons that will be defending England.  I would bet bezants it will make some Vikings rethink their plans!

Never underestimate the intimidation factor!

I've taken some pictures along the way as the painting has developed and will probably provide some soon.

Also put together a composition list for my band and I'll post that at some point as well.

I have one elite who is the leader and a handful of veterans (sheild and spear) and beserkers (axes, no sheild) all assigned as those wearing chain armor, and then the rest are trained mostly with sheilds and spears, axe, or sword.  If I recall, don't have it in front of me at the moment, it comes out to more than 20 guys to make up the 150 points because so many of them are the trained ones with only spear and sheild.

Still got them mounted on the long pieces of wood for painting and need to give them bases, but once they are complete then I'll line them up for another photo, too.

By the way ... does the guy with the standard, would it make sense to count him as having a spear or maybe a sword?

  Well, I have had a small setback in my Impetus Army.  I had purchased a number of nice Warlord plastic minis from a fellow, all assembled micely without shields, and unpainted. Just what I was looking for, to save me a little time.

  Well, they are all painted and ready to base in the large 120X 60 stands. the fellow had based these minis individually on 20mm square bases and told me he'd used a drop of CA for that.  That's fine, as they are easy to pop off. However, it's a no-go. Upon further questioning, it turns out he used epoxy and so the figures are permanently cemented to the bases.  Big sigh.  there's mo way to undo the hard plastic from the epoxy without either grinding off the bases, or cutting them off around the feet, both of which risks damaging the minis.

  The solution, of course, is to make up movement trays, but it's a step I'd wanted to avoid, and one that means I have to get more materials, which means further delays,. etc.

  In the end, it's okay, because it means the minis can be used for both Impetus and WaB (and other systems). I just wanted to get these done so I could do some solo play testing ahead of the con.  I also just needed to vent. 

  Otherwise, so far so good!

Actually, with a sharp knife you can cut the figure off the where the feet meet the plastic. I do this all the time. It'a  little extra work, but you can either spend time doing this or making movement trays.