Carolingian Franks

The two versions of my Carolingian Warlord

It's taken me far too long to get my Franks painted but now they are finally done I can put them on show here in pictures. Some of the figures have been done for the best part of a year already and I have played quite a lot of games with them. 

The Franks have changed fairly substantially with Saga 2. Whereas previously they were an army that mostly operated in the opponent's turn with tricky (and often considered underhand) tactics, the (renamed as) Carolingians are now a lot more straightforward to use and have some more practical and effective combat oriented abilities on their battle board. They are I believe the only faction to effectively be able to make repeat use of some of the Saga abilities that would normally only apply once per turn - by virtue of Domine - though because of the need to set dice aside on the Proelium they can be slow to get going and will often find themselves a little short of dice generally. And you can occasionally get in the rather bizarre position of having too many rare symbols at hand to use. This battle board is all about Saga dice management. Once you get the hang of it I believe the Carolingians are an excellent faction to use, and they are currently my favourite.

Mounted Warlord

Warlord on foot

The faction allows your Warlord to be either mounted or on foot, and very helpfully Gripping Beast make two versions of the same Frankish Warlord to suit. Both are in identical garb and the same pose, so mine are painted identically as seems appropriate.

Mounted Hearthguard #1

Mounted Hearthguard #2

Two points worth of mounted Hearthguard. These are Gripping Beast figures, with spears made from 1mm brass rod (as for all the figures with spears in the Warband).

Hearthguard on foot #1

Hearthguard on foot #2

Hearthguard on foot #3

Some rather static poses for Gripping Beast's foot Hearthguard, but these are crisp castings and easy to paint. 

Warrior bowmen #1

Warrior bowmen #2

Warrior bowmen #3

I decided that my Frankish warriors would be bowmen, and they have served me very well in games to date. These lovely figures are medieval archers in aketon-gambeson from 1st Corps (Curtey's Miniatures), and they mix well with those from Gripping Beast. The standard is printed from paper stuck to a length of 1mm brass rod, and the design overpainted when attached to the figure.

Levy spearmen #1

Levy spearmen #2

I appreciate that I don't have enough of these for two points of Levy but these are the Frankish Warrior figures that came with the original starter Warband from Gripping Beast that I got for the faction. If I am ever inclined to field two units of Levy I will need to buy another eight figures, but that can wait for the time being. I could of course always field them as Warriors instead.

Half of these figures have had their hands replaced with ones from a set of plastic figures and all have had their weapons replaced with spears made from 1mm brass rod. I didn't want to have eight figures with hand weapons.

All figures are based on Renedra plastic bases and shields are hand painted designs.