 |
| Egil's band (yes I know I am one Viking short) |
I am someone who
gave up history at school at the first opportunity (I put this down to the
disinterest of my teacher at the time, and the way the National Curriculum
handles the Tudors and Stuarts). No regrets :-)
It is therefore a positive joy to be able to
enjoy history (albeit very selectively) through the wonderful hobby of
wargaming. And over the last few years the game of Saga has inspired me to read
actual Viking sagas. So after reading Egil's Saga how could I not add him to my
growing Saga collection?
The description of
Egil Skallagrimsson on his Saga rules card as "everyone's favourite
psychotic poet" is a really good summary of his character. Egil is a man
who repeatedly makes unexpected and often incomprehensible and violent
decisions that often lead to the deaths of others, and then apparently puts the
situation right afterwards by reciting lines of verse. You feel you must be
missing something when you read about his exploits, especially given the
quality of his poetry. He is, nevertheless, psychopathically endearing.
In Saga, Egil leads
a band of Vikings that can be fielded as a mercenary unit in any Dark Age Saga
faction other than Vikings (though in Egil's Saga, he wasn't quite so fussy
about who he fought for). You can download his special rules from the Studio Tomahawk pages. His focus is almost always on plunder for personal gain.
I therefore made up his band from a mixture of odd Viking figures, some of
which I modified, all of which are very much heroic 28mm - i.e. on the large
side - which seems to fit my impression of Egil's band being made up of men
picked for their strength and fighting prowess.
I've detailed the
men in Egil's band below (and at the same time given them some names that I
think match the figures concerned. All names randomly generated using my Random
Viking Warband Generator, which I promise to include in a short future blog
post!)
Egil Skallagrimsson
This is Gripping
Beast's Egil figure. Never mind that in Egil's Saga Egil almost exclusively
fights with a sword and a spear, this is a superb figure with some great detail
and a mighty axe*. The detail on the casting is lovely with some very nice
touches such as the horn and bear claws on his fur cloak. Lovely.
*If you wanted to be
more accurate, you could use this figure to represent the Viking hero Grettir
Asmundarson "The Strong" (unsurprisingly, the hero of Grettir's saga
- more recommended reading) who really did regularly fight with an axe. Grettir
was also a big bloke and a psychopath, but his poetry doesn't seem to have been
quite so well received as Egil's.
Viking #1 (sword and shield) THORVALD
This is I believe a
Wargames Foundry Viking, but I could very well be wrong so please email me to
correct me if you know better. That applies to all these figures, which have
been out of their boxes so long I've forgotten where they came from. Many apologies
to any of the manufacturers concerned for any errors. Anyway, it's a sharp
casting with very little flash, a sword held like he means it and a shield as
thick as a barn door. He has a relatively straightforward painting scheme that
makes the most of the look of his chainmail. As with all the Vikings in Egil's
band other than the big man himself, I've tended to use more gunmetal than
brass paint on the metallics, so as not to give the impression that they aren't
in need of the loot they are plundering. I gave him a simple cross and circle
shield design.
Viking #2 (axe and shield) HJALDI of BJARFJORD
I think this is
another Foundry Viking, this time with a separately cast shield, even thicker
than Viking #2's. He's wielding a pretty hefty hand axe. Again he was given
quite a simple painting scheme with the emphasis on the armour, and a
straightforward shield design in black and red. I added lines to his cloak to
give an impression of woven cloth.
Viking #3 (Dane axe) BJORVAR
Foundry again, I
believe. An armoured Viking with a heavy Dane axe held in both hands.
Viking #4 (standing with sword) ULF
Now I think this is
a Viking from Artizan Design, but as above I could easily be wrong. Because
this chap is wearing a coat over his armour it was a lot more difficult to
decide how he should be painted and as a result he ended up with rather a more
complicated paint job than I had originally envisaged. He wears a chequered
tunic below a woven cloak, and presumably is keeping himself warm while he
waits for an opportunity to fight.
Viking #5 (pillaging, with sack and barrel) GRUNNIM
I think this was
another Artizan Design Viking , who I converted to become a pillaging Viking by
bending one of his arms around a small Renedra plastic barrel and adding a
Milliput sack across the opposite shoulder. His priorities are clearly directed
towards his stomach.
Viking #6 (pillaging, with captive) SKUNDAL the
DEVIOUS
A lovely figure that
I again think is from Artizan Design, in the act of pillaging, captive
(presumably fainted) woman slung over his shoulder. He seems to me to have a
slightly manic grin on his face, though perhaps that's just my imagination. I'm
very pleased with the result, but I found this figure particularly difficult to
paint. Making a clear differentiation between the Viking and his captive was
surprisingly difficult but by giving her very simple clothing and a contrasting
hair tone seemed to do the trick.
Viking #7 (?)
Yes, I appreciate that Egil's band is made up of either Egil +3 Hearthguard or Egil +7, so for the time being the last space in Egil's band will have to be taken up by someone unexpected. Like in the Magnificent Seven, the Thirteenth Warrior, possibly even The Lord of the Rings. I'll find the right figure eventually and then update this post!
