Saxon Warband painted

It became a chore towards to the end, but the Saxon warband is finally painted and ready for gaming action. In fact, they were in action last night against Viking invaders in the first game of a mini campaign. Needless to say, the freshly painted boys lost their first game, partly due to an incredibly lucky dice roll by the Viking warlord, who saved 4 hits (rolling 5's and 6's) at a crucial stage of the game. In that moment, victory was cruelly denied the noble Saxons and they were pushed back, defeat just a few turns away.

The warlord and his retainer are made from Gripping Beast plastics, as are the armoured warriors in the main picture. These are fine plastics, with a reasonable amount of detail, and very easy to assemble and paint. When ranked up, sheilds held high, they make a very imposing sheildwall unit. I will happily make and paint more of these when the army is expanded.

The unarmoured warriors I am less happy with. These are Wargames Factory figures. The plastic is fine and no different to any of the bigger companies, it's the quality of the sculpting and odd poses that make them poorer quality. As wargames figures they are reasonable, but as painting/modelling projects they are less than inspiring. I have quite a few left, a dozen of which will be drafted in as missile troops. I have heard rumours that Gripping Beast will, at some stage, release unarmoured troops. Given the success of Saga and the lack of decent alternatives, I wonder why they are taking so long.

While we wait for better things to come, the (slightly wooden) Wargames Factory figures will continue to sell by the boat load.