The Gall-Gaedhill

The final piece of my Irish force for Saga are the Gall-Gaedhill, also known as the Sons of Death) a mercenary option of mixed Norse and Gael blood.

The miniatures are from Gripping Beast and are a nice option to have against those fearsome Shieldmaidens!!

I took the colours from the Irish warband and added some of the red I used sparingly in the Shieldmaidens - seeing as they can be fielded by either side I thought it would be nice to tie them in a little to both forces.

The Gall-Gaedhill

After sorting out the Shieldmaidens I decided their Irish counterparts needed a little boost!  I was placing an order with Gripping Beast for rules and dice and while having a browse I came across the Gall-Gaedhill - well, I thought there's not much more cool than a band of bad-ass marauding Norse-Gael warriors known as the Sons of Death!

Shields, axes and swords were separate - I found drilling the wrist a little extra helped a lot with the weapon hands.

I replaced the metal spears that came in the pack with a couple of spare wire ones I had from assembling the Shieldmaidens - which are the same type I used for the Irish so it'll look consistent across the collection.

I think these will work well alongside my Footsore Irish collection - they'll stand out as a threat as they are well armoured and armed.

Mercenaries of Outremer

There are a couple of mercenaries listed as options in the Outremer book.  Well, as you might have seen from my Mordheim and Necromunda hireling posts, I do like mercenaries (and the variety they offer for modelling, painting and gaming) so I went about assembling them.

First is the Varangian Guard.  I used a Fireforge Russian Infantry sprue to make the rather menacing looking Ivar Bæglir:

I wanted a really heavily armoured look for this Varangian - and of course he has the iconic axe!

The other option in the Outremer book is the Hashashin.  I found a model in the Perry Miniatures Muslim Armies range - in the Civilians pack.  Here's Ubaid of Jabala:

I deliberately wanted a quite unthreatening looking mini for this lethal assassin and think this fits the bill!

Finally, in Miniature Wargames magazine an additional mercenary was published - the Mutatawwi’a. Of course, I had to cobble something together to represent this fanatical warrior and thanks to some left over Gripping Beast Arab spearmen sprues I made Hawari Abdul-Azeem:

Now poor Hawari here ran the risk of looking a little too much like his comrades in my Saracen warband.  To counter this I did two things: had no other spears in that warband, and gave him a different style of shield (from the Fireforge Russian sprue).  I'll also make sure I use a different colour scheme for him to make him stand out.

I'll be trying to keep on top of other mercenaries as and when the rules are released, but for now this is a good start I think!

The Saracens - Getting Started

To balance the Crusader warband I've previously posted about, I thought it important to get a Saracen warband too!  So, in my now traditional manner, sprues and some metals was the starting point:

As always I needed a leader (left) who I named Jibril ibn Qatadah al-Tayyib.  He is joined by the learned Imam (centre) named Sulaiman al-Nabil and his second in command (right) Ishaq ibn Bakr:

These all came from the excellent Perry Miniatures Muslim Armies range.

I added a couple of second tier warriors - professional melee fighters - who I named Hamzah ibn Sabur (left) and Muqatil ibn Talhah (right):

They are both from the Perry Miniatures range again.  Hamzah got a spare shield from a Gripping Beast sprue.

Next we have some low tier warrior options (l-r) Mahmud, Malik and Tahir:

These were made from a Gripping Beast Arab spearman/archer sprue - although Tahir got an axe made from a spear arm and an axe-head from a Fireforge sprue to mix it up a little.

Finally I added some bow-armed peasants to help show the ranged prowess of the Saracens.  Here we have (l-r) Da'ud, Ghalib, Rashid and Hassan:

Just like Crusader peasants these guys can specialise as tradesman as a campaign goes on so they can end up bringing some useful skills to the warband.

I think the miniatures, while from different manufacturers, work well together and I'm looking forward to choosing a colour scheme for Jibril's warband.

The Crusaders - Getting Started

Just like with my Broken Legions stuff, Outremer: Faith and Blood (again from Osprey's blue series) offers me a chance to enjoy a different game, exploring a different era, with different styles of model in a very affordable way. Of course, in a game ultimately about the Crusades, it would be a bit weird if I didn't have a Crusader warband!  So, picking up a few sprues and some metal minis I put together a warband of Frankish zealots.

Of course, every warband needs a leader and in this case it is a Knight who I have named Adelbert de Stavelot (centre).  He is joined by his loyal, but possibly psychotic squire Bernard de Stavelot (left) and the ranting preacher Farther Norbert (right):

Adelbert and Bernard are from Crusader Miniatures (their Later Crusades range) and the priest model is from the always-superb Perry Miniatures (Crusaders range).

The next tier of fighters are the men-at-arms type; I've gone for one ranged specialist and one melee focussed chap.  Here's Médard (left) and Letard (right):

Médard is another Crusader Miniatures model with an added shield from a Fireforge sprue for some added survivability.  Letard is made from a Fireforge Foot Sergeants sprue and carries a rather wicked mace.

Further down the chain we have a couple of hairy pilgrim types.  These are Poppo (left) and Ebbo (right):

These guys were made from a Gripping Beast Dark Ages Warrior sprue.  Nothing fancy, but give me some low-cost melee support options.

Of course, it'd be a bit silly not to have some ranged options, so some bow armed pilgrim types were in order.  L-R we have Dudon, Fulk and Brice (not of Nice):

Again these are Gripping Beast minis, this time from a Dark Ages Archer sprue.

Finally I thought it made sense to have some low-tier fodder - over the course of a campaign these guys (if they survive) can specialise into tradespeople giving all sorts of useful skills.  L-R we have Abbo, Odger, Pepin:

Handsome chaps aren't they?! Handily, these nicely used up the remainder of the Gripping Beast Dark Ages Warrior sprue.

I'm aiming to give these guys a colour scheme tied to one of the coats of arms associated with my family name - no way I could recreate the real coat of arms though!