New buildings painted ...

I really enjoyed painting up my new resin cast buildings and fencing - makes a noce little ensemble. Have also but some extra civilians and a couple more warriors - into the painting queue they go.

New buildings ...

Some new scenic bits and bobs, some wattle fence and a large hall from Total Battle Miniatures plus a pigsty, large workshop and grain store form Grand Manner.

More warriors to swell the fyrd ...

Finished painting the Irregular Miniatures vikings figs. They are done in the same style as my Saxons; I replace the cast metals spears with wire ones.

The Fyrd Assembles at Wudeceastre

Riders leave Wuduceastre to join the the assembly of the fyrd .....

The fyrd and the house carls have assembled , Beornwulf has arrayed them for battle ...

Beornwulf and his wife inspect the shield wall....

Heroes of the Dark Ages - figs painted

Finished painting the figures shown two posts previously, they are tad larger than my usual 25mm Gripping Beast figs so I had to do some surgery on their bases to reduce the height so they don't look too out of place.

and there's more ...

A new band of warriors has arrived to swell the ranks of the fyrd - this time some vikings from Irregular Minatures

More warriors arrive ..

Some new arrivals, some figs from the ranges manufactured by Heroes of the Dark Age. I sampled a few figures to use to add some variety to my Saxons, they are a tad larger than the figs I usually buy from Gripping Beast. I made some minor conversion changing cast spears to wire ones. There at two female warriors - on the right; these have been modifed one to add a shield, the other to add shield/spear.

Sigismund Voralsen's Raid ...

A quick solo game to playtest the rule additions for mounted warriors ...

The viking raiding party of Sigismund Voralsen land and move inland, leaving a small ship guard.

The vikings had been spotted by three of the saxon thegn Rodor's men who had been out hunting, one had ridden to raise the local fyrd from the nearby villages, one warned the villagers and the other rode hard to take word to thegn Rodor.

Thegn Rodor and his retinue mount their horses....

Meanwhile the vikings have reached the village and started plundering, a group has started towards the abbey church ..

Thegn Rodor rides out, with some men following as fast as they can on foot ...

The vikings attack the church which is defended by men of the village and the abbot and lay brothers of the monastery. The vikings in the village are taking their plunder back to the boat ...

Thegn Rodor has ridden round the village and is heading for the vikings ship. In the distance the local fyrd is arriving ...

Thegn Rodor attacks the ship guard ....

The battle at the church is intensifying, some of Thegn Rodor's men are on their way to help ...

The fighting at the ship continues, the local fyrd have blundered into the vikings on the way back to their ship. At the abbey church the vikings there are fighting hard but are starting to lose ground ...

After Thegn Rodor and his men dealt with the ship guard they went to help the local fyrd. The vikings are now being cut down mercilessly, a few try to get away from the fight at the abbey church ...

A few vikings are captured, among them is their leader Sigismund Voralsen. Thegn Rodor shows no mercy - they are all beheaded.

Beornwulf rides out to hunt ...

Another post ! this time some mounted saxons warriors.

Beornwulf and his retinue go out for a bit of boar hunting ....

(figs: Gripping Beast)

Wuduceastre Fyrd muster ...

Just finished painting some more saxons.

The local fyrd of Wuduceastre, muster and check their shield wall formation skills ....

(figs: Gripping Beast early and late saxons).

The new ship on trials ...

A few of the Fyrdsmen tryout the new ship ....

A ship for Beornwulf's navy ...

The shipwright have been busy converting a trading ship into a warship to fight the Vikings. This adds to the longboat Beornwulf already has.

(Gripping beast resin ship with revel plastic shields).

After the thaw ...

After a hard winter the locals are going to the market at Wudeceastre, a couple of monks are on their way back to the monastery.

Meanwhile the local fyrd is out, getting in some practice, mostly light armed troops ...

figs from HAT 28002 El Cid Spanish Light Infantry

figs from Gripping Beast