Rohan Warband

Well, now that fellow club member Sören has posted his truly wonderful version of Galadriel, the cat's out of the bag so to speak, and we can reveal our "secret project". Not that I know why it was ever a secret, but anyway ...

It's only fitting that Sören would kick things off, as he was the instigator after having watched one too many parts of The Hobbit! Me and Michael were quickly drafted into the project as it turned out we all had a fair amount of painted and unpainted Lord of the Rings miniatures in our respective lead piles.

As for my part, I have a lot of things on my plate right now and therefore choose the easy path and rebased some Rohan miniatures I painted 4 or 5 years ago, originally intended for Basic Impetus Fantasy (another abandoned project). However, after looking over the minis I found the paint jobs to be worse than I remembered. If I recall correctly they were actually speed painted using Army Painter dip. In an attempt to at least bring them up to a standard I wasn't too ashamed of to put down on the gaming table, I did some touch-ups and added a couple of highlights here and there in addition to the rebasing. The horses got some special attention, and one or two were even totally repainted.

When it came to rules, we decided to go for the upcoming fantasy version of Lion Rampant as we're very familiar with the rules engine by now and it gives a fast and fun game. Going by what Dan posted on his blog about troop types and costs, I came up with the following:
1xHeavy Riders @ 4 pts
2xHeavy Foot @ 2x4 pts

That's a mere 12 points but should be enough to get me started. I have several more models in my lead pile, mainly heroes/characters, both foot and mounted. I'm thinking about painting up a mounted Éowyn, as she is my absolute favourite character in the books and films, but thematically perhaps Éomer would be a better fit. We shall see! In any way, the character would be fielded as an Elite Rider single model unit @ 6 points.

The models took a little longer to finish than expected, and are certainly not my best paint jobs (hence not too many pictures this time), but they're certainly good enough for a game or two!

And don't worry, that's enough fantasy for a while. Next up are some proper historical stuff.

Håtunaleken – The Full Host of King Birger Magnusson

As I now have finished my host for our club project Håtunaleken, about the feuding royal brothers in early 14th century Sweden, I decided to take some pictures of the assembled units. To me, it's always very satisfying seeing a finished project like this.

This is a full 24 points retinue for Lion Rampant consisting of:
Mounted Men-at-Arms (Drilled) 7 points
Foot Men-at-Arms 6 points
Foot Serjeants 4 points
Foot Yeomen (Mixed Weapons) 5 points
Bidowers 2 points

Leading from the front, swinging his big axe and accompanied
by his personal bodyguard, is the king himself.
In the background can be seen the fearsome knights,
ready to make short work of any rebellious brothers.

The miniatures are a mix of Black Tree Design, Curtey's and Gripping Beast. There are some headswaps hidden amongst the units, with new heads from Curtey's and West Wind.

I had my first game with the complete host this past Monday – and it was a complete and utter disaster! More about this humiliating defeat in Dalauppror's upcoming AAR I'm sure ...

And to finish it all off, here is the last part of the story of the Second Feud of Brothers. When we left the three royal brothers – Birger, Erik and Valdemar – Sweden had just fought a civil war with the king Birger on one side and the younger brothers duke Erik and duke Valdemar on the other. Since Birger and Erik through marriage, had the support of the Danish and the Norwegian kings respectively, neither side was strong enough and the fighting was inconclusive. Instead, on initiative of the two other kings, in 1310 a peace treaty was signed and Sweden was now definitely split between the brothers and in practice ruled as three independent kingdoms. However, as the "legitimate" king Birger had, in his own opinion at least, drawn the shortest straw, he naturally wanted to restore his power and unite the kingdom under himself once again.

Here are the king's trusted knektar (serjeants),
and in front of them some skirmishing peasants.

In December 1317, as a sign of reconciliation, king Birger invited the dukes Erik and Valdemar to Nyköpings hus (Nyköping Castle). When they arrived they were told only they could stay at the castle, since there wasn't enough room to house all their men. Instead, the men had to make camp in the city itself.

On the night between December 10th and 11th, the dukes were arrested by a company of crossbow men. According to the legends, the king himself was present at the arrests and is told to have said:

Minnes idher nakot aff Haatwna leek?
Fulgörla minnes han mik!
Thenne er ey bätre än hin!

(Do you remember the Håtuna Games?
All too well I remember them!
This one will not be any better!)

The dukes were then imprisoned in the dungeons, while in the morning all their men were also arrested. These particular events have became known as "Nyköpings gästbud" (Nyköping Banquet).

However, Birger had misjudged the political situation: rather than acknowledge him as king, the dukes' supporters rose up against Birger and Sweden was once again thrown into a civil war.

Finally the allmoge, peasants armed with a mix of spears,
polearms and crossbows. (Sorry about the blurry picture!)

When Nyköping castle was besieged in the summer of 1318, Birger and his queen were forced to flee to the island Gotland and then further on to Denmark. In the meantime, their son, Magnus, was left in charge of the defenders of the castle. However, they could not hold out against the attacking forces and Magnus was also forced to flee towards Gotland. During the flight he was captured and later executed in Stockholm in 1320. When the dukes' supporters broke into the castle they found both Erik and Valdemar dead in the dungeons. How they died remains unclear to this day – were they murdered or did they die of starvation?

Birger ended his days in exile in Denmark 1321, while duke Erik's only son Magnus Eriksson was chosen as king of Sweden in 1319 at the age of three. Prior to this, he had been declared king of Norway after his grandfather king Håkon Magnusson had died, and thus he was destined to become a very powerful man indeed. King Magnus was a very interesting person, for many reasons, but this is another story best left for another time!

Have a great weekend everyone and thank you very much for reading!

Håtunaleken – Bidowers for King Birger

Hello everyone, long time no see etc etc. It's summer/vacation time, which strangely enough means I'm more busy than ever. The unexpected bonus of having small kids I guess. Anyway, time to update the long neglected old blog with some painted miniatures – my final unit for the Håtunaleken club project no less.

This is a unit of skirmishers, or bidowers as they are called in Lion Rampant. Very nice for screening your advancing troops and harassing the enemy.

The models are all from Black Tree Design and started out as Anglo-Saxons. A couple of them got new heads from West Wind Miniatures for a bit of variety. These are the hooded ones and the blond fella.

As they are meant to represent poor peasants, hunters and other wood folks I went for a really muted palette. To add some interest I picked out some details in contrasting colours.

I'm in the process of sorting out some picture of the full host and will post these in the coming week.

Thank you very much for reading!

Håtunaleken – All the King's Men

Not much action here lately I'm afraid, but I've actually not been idle. Hopefully I can sort out some picture of the latest stuff some time soon. Here's a start anyway!

Even more men are rallying to the king Birger Magnusson's banner in the fight against his rebellious brothers. This time I have painted up some dismounted knights (foot men-at-arms) and some more serjeants.

After the first couple of games – read all about it here and here – I not only found I lacked in missile troops, but also that I wanted the king to lead from the front instead of sulking way back with the defensive serjeants. As befits his status, I have now put him and his closest man in a hard-hitting unit of foot men-at-arms!

This slight rejigging of the force was done by adding the two foot knights I had already painted to the new unit, meaning I had to paint up a total of four foot knights and two serjeants (to replace the king and his man). Here are the new recruits.

The miniatures are all from Gripping Beast with two head swaps for the serjeants (the two miniatures to the left) as I didn't want any duplicates in the force. The new heads are from Curtey's and fit perfectly.

As before, the lions on the shields are over painted transfers.

This force is now almost finished, just a small unit of bidowers to paint up and the full 24 points of Birger's host is finally ready to defend his crown. If I can get the time for some games that is!

As always, thank you very much for reading!

Håtunaleken – Allmoge for The King's Host

The king Birger Magnusson has rallied some more troops to his banner. This time he's reinforced by a unit of allmoge – yeomen armed with a mix of spears, pole arms and crossbows.

As befits such a motley crew, the miniatures are a mix of Curtey's and Black Tree Design. One of the BTD minis had a cone helmet with a nose guard, typical 11th century stuff and not really suitable for the 14th century – even the rural Swedes weren't that much behind the fashion of the times by then. To bring him forward a couple of centuries I chopped his head off (a-ha!) and gave him a new one from one of the West Wind head sprues I have around. He's the one with the red and white shield on his back. The head fitted reasonably well, but for some reason it looks a bit weird from a certain angle. Oh well.

As they are in essence a bunch of peasants, I painted them mainly in muted colours but with some details in the colours of the House of Bjälbo to show their allegiance to the king.

This was my first experience with Curtey's miniatures and they were jolly nice, although perhaps they look a bit "squat". Might just be my preference though ...

During the games in our club campaign Håtunaleken, I have felt a distinct lack of missile troops for my host, so this unit is a welcome addition indeed.

Thank you all for reading!

Håtunaleken – The Host of Birger Magnusson

This is my starter "half host" (i.e. 12 points) for our latest club project Håtunaleken ("The Håtuna Games"). Some of you may have spotted these in my mate Dalauppror's AAR posted a while back, but here are some more detailed pictures together with some background for this fascinating period of Swedish history.

Corbel of Birger Jarl in Varnhem Abbey Church.

During the later parts of the 13th century Sweden had become a catholic monarchy in the vein of the larger kingdoms of Western Europe, thanks to the stability enforced by the mighty Birger Jarl of the House of Bjälbo – the last person to hold the old title of Jarl. In his role as adviser to the king, he had become so powerful that he could be seen as the de-facto ruler instead of the weaker monarch. Birger's crowning achievement was when he eventually managed to place his son, Valdemar, on the throne. The country was at this time an election-kingdom and thus the titel of king was not hereditary.

King Birger Magnusson of Sweden.
Painting from St. Bendt's Church in Ringsted, Denmark, where he is buried.

Valdemar was later usurped by his envious younger brothers Magnus and Erik, who defeated him in the battle of Hova and then forced him to resign. Instead Magnus, who later earned the epithet Ladulås ("Barnlock"), was now declared king and, like his father, appointed his son – Birger Magnusson – to succeed him. However, as Birger was very young when his father died, a Lord High Constable, Torgils Knutsson, ruled in his stead until the king was old enough to be crowned and take over the reign.

Torgils became very powerful indeed, at times he was probably the most powerful man in the kingdom, and spent some of his time conquering lands to the east, enlarging Sweden across the Baltic Sea.

Sibling rivalry obviously ran in the family, for when the time came for Birger's crowning in 1302, it was now time for his younger brothers Erik and Valdemar to rebel. After much skirmishing and raiding between both sides, in 1304 the brothers had to bow before Birger and Torgils Knutsson and recognize their superiority. However, the bitterness of the defeat soon saw the two brothers once again plotting to overthrow the king.

They began undermining his authority, and one of their key targets was Torgils Knutsson, who had remained a close ally and trusted advisor to Birger. The brothers managed to convince the king that the Lord High Constable had become too powerful and now posed a threat to not only Erik and Valdemar but also to Birger himself. In 1305 the three brothers had Torgils Knutsson arrested and executed in Stockholm. He was later buried in unsacred earth like a common criminal.

But Erik and Valdemar was of course not content with this. In 1306 the brothers arrived at the king's estate Håtuna by the lake Mälaren. As the three of them now seemed to be on good footing, Birger suspected no foul game and received Erik and Valdemar as friends and threw a feast in their honor. However, the brothers had other plans – during the night their men captured the king and the queen and took them to Nyköpings hus (Nyköping Castle) were they where held prisoners.

After this coup – which later became know as Håtunaleken, although the whole feud/power struggle is called andra brödrafejden ("the second feud of brothers", the first being the feud between their father Magnus Ladulås and his brothers) – Erik ruled as king, but was almost immediately thrown into a war with Denmark who was firmly on the side of Birger due to close family-ties with the Danish royal family.

Erik had in his turn close family-ties with the Norwegian royal family and had expected support from them in the ensuing fighting. However, the Norwegian king was growing worried about Erik's increasing power, especially as he had a very strong power-base in what is now the western parts of Sweden, close to Norway. Lacking the necessary support, Erik had to seek a truce. Birger and his queen were released, and Sweden was now split between the three brothers and in practice ruled as three independent kingdoms.

Birger wanted revenge after the humiliation suffered at the hands of his brothers, and revenge he would get ... But that is another story for another time!

The models are all from Gripping Beast. The sculpting is quite nice although some of the castings were a bit rough, perhaps showing the age of the moulds.

The look I wanted was a "varied uniformity", fitting for a medieval army. The main colours are from the arms of the House of Bjälbo, white and blue, but as I didn't want the models to look too uniform I tried to vary where the colours were applied.

This is the model I chose to represent Birger Magnusson, the king, together with his closest men. He is wielding an old family weapon – a might dane axe who is said to have belonged to the mythical progenitor of the House of Bjälbo, Folke Filbyter. (This is all made up by me, in reality, if Birger himself ever fought I guess he would have been equipped with a sword or maybe a mace, like every other knight of the time.) One fun detail: When rolling for his Talent, I got Rash, which seems to fit this model perfectly!

The lions on the shields are overpainted transfers. I choose only to apply them to a couple of the models to get a more varied look.

For the banners, I made a basic black and white design in Adobe Illustrator and InDesign before printing it out in two different sizes on paper and then painting over the outlines, doing shading and highlights as usual. This was my first attempt at this technique and I'm pretty happy with the results.

I'm in the process of painting up another 12 points for this force by adding some more mounted knights together with some allmoge – Swedish yeomens who often fought in mixed formations, armed with spears/polearms and crossbows.

Have a great week everyone and thanks for reading!

WSS #75

On Friday I received the new issue of Wargames, Soldiers & Strategy. An issue which is of special interest to me, not only because this time the theme is the Thirty Years Wars – an era I have long wanted to take a closer look at, but the timing has never been right (too much other stuff going on) – but also because it features an article by my good mate Dalauppror on the Danish invasion of the island Gotland in 1361. The fact that it even made the cover is fantastic!

This really is an excellent feature, with a comprehensive historical background, lots of nice pictures of lovely painted Danes and four scenarios for Lion Rampant that could be easily adapted to your rules of choice. It's well worth checking out by anyone with the slightest interest in Scandinavian medieval history.

I have contributed by some proof-reading and help in play testing the scenarios, as well as lending parts of my Dark Ages collection to be used as Gutes. If I had known the miniatures would end up on the front cover of WSS 2,5 years later I would have spent some more time on them ...

Anyway, this is not my show but all Dalauppror's – nice work mate and congratulations!

Lion Rampant – It's Here!

I'm lucky to have been a play tester for the medieval large scale skirmish game Lion Rampant by Dan Mersey, of Dux Bellorum fame. I have now received my complimentary copy and had quick skim through the book. This is the first time I have my name in print in a wargames book, which of course is very flattering indeed. I had to show it to my fiancée who was suitably impressed (or at least pretended to be).

Lion Rampant has the usual high production values of Osprey's Wargames series – the layout is the same used in the other books in the series and it's filled with a smattering of gorgeous illustrations taken from their regular reference volumes, together with some really nice pictures of painted models and terrain used both as illustrative examples and as pure eye candy.

We've played a fair number of games of Lion Rampant by now, in various iterations, and the rules give a fast and fun experience – highly recommended for a club night or similar. You can find a bunch of AARs from our games on the excellent blog of Dalauppror. He has been even more involved in the development of the game than me and have a couple of picture of his stunning minis in the book – very well-deserved if you ask me.

A standard 24 points retinue, as the armies are called, numbers around something like 40–50 models, depending on how you choose to organize it. This means it's pretty easy to get into the game, as you don't have to paint up droves and droves of models. My own retinue – the medieval host of the Novgorod prince Alexander Nevskij – is 42 models strong, with a mix of mounted and foot troops.

The book is out now, and well worth checking out.

Novgorodians 9

I've completed the final 6 models for the Novgorod force for the Baltic Crusades project. Oh yes, it's always a nice feeling when a project is finished.

Here they are in all their splendour:

Another angle:

The models are all from Gripping Beast.

And finally, here is a shot of the two city militia forces as I will field them, armed with a mix of spears and missile weapons:

We had our first game featuring the Novgorodians last night – an ambush on a Swedish baggage train of sledges – and they performed surprisingly well. This was also an opportunity to take some pictures of the whole force with some nice looking terrain in the background. An AAR should eventually appear on Dalauppror's blog. Meanwhile, here is a teaser pic of the table from the Novgorodian starting table edge:

In the upper right corner, you can see the Swedish force, just visible behind the woods.

Hopefully some of the pictures will make into the finished game when it's published by Osprey sometime next year.

As a result of this project being completed, there is now a serious dent in the lead mountain. But fear not! I've already ordered more models to restore the mountain to its former glory – and then some – for future projects.

Have a great weekend everyone!

Novgorodians 8

These past weeks have been quite hectic at work and the Midsummer celebration this week didn't help much either. I've managed to get some good hobby time in-between, but I'm a bit behind taking pictures and updating the blog.

Anyway, here are the first 6 finished models for the final unit of city milita for the Novgorod force.

The miniatures are once again from Gripping Beast.

Another picture of the shooty gang:

Now it's on to the bases of the final 6 models and then they are finished. Should be fairly easy as my fiancee and son are gone for the whole week, leaving plenty of time for hobby stuff in the evenings.

Have a great week everyone!

Novgorodians 7 – WIP

I've been making some progress on the final city militia unit for the Novgorod force, but not as much as I had hoped. Thus, this week it's another WIP-update, this time of some archers:

The miniatures are all from Gripping Beast. As you may have noticed, I'm using some duplicate models also used in the skirmish unit. Normally I'm not very fond of this (especially not in skirmish games) but the range is fairly limited when it comes to missile troops. However, I'm painting the city militia models in brighter colours, and adding some patterns to the clothes, to make these models stand out from their "copies".

We have a game of Lion Rampant planned for the 24th, were the Novgorodians will make their debut on the battlefield. I'm very much looking forward to this, and to finish this project. As usual, I'm finding it a bit hard to focus in the end of a project  – I'm itching to get started on the next one! – but I'm confident the whole force will be done in time for our game.

Finally, a warm welcome to the new follower cash1204. I hope you will like the blog and find some inspirational stuff here.

'Til next time everyone!

Novgorodians 6

As I had hoped, I managed to finish the rest of the first city militia unit for my Novgorod force for the Baltic Crusades project during the week. So that's six more models for a total of 12 in the unit.

Here is another picture of the second batch – hopefully a view the enemy never gets to see!

The miniatures are from Gripping Beast and the shield transfers are from Little Big Men Studios.

I mentioned in an earlier post that this range, Early Russians, are a bit hit-and-miss. Well, most of the "misses" are on these models. Overall I like them, but some parts/details are not that great to be honest – maybe they are beginning to show their age? Anyway that's enough of my whining for now.

Taking pictures was a bit tricky today because the sun made some parts too bright and others too dark, but I think they came out all right after bit of work in Photoshop. So here are some pictures of the whole unit:

That just leaves one more unit before I'm done with the starter force for this project: another unit of 12 city militia, this time mostly shooters. In games I'll combine these to get two mixed units with both close combat and shooting abilities. Hopefully a recipe for success ...

Finally, a warm welcome to my new follower Rosbif. Thanks for joining up, I hope you will like the blog and find much of interest here.