2015! Some progress on new Saga factions, new painting technique

Happy New Year! I hope 2015 has started good for you and that it keeps getting better. Thanks for reading my blog and I hope to keep it up through 2015.

First, "resolutions" or what I like to call "stuff to be better at":

1) Like many of us, we could use a good work out or some exercise. I know I need to. I will be better at going to my gym 1-2 days a week. At least. By myself I can get a good workout in (weights) 30 minutes. It takes me 5 minutes to drive there and 5 to get home. When the weather gets better I may ride my bike on the weekend. Not asking much from myself here.

2) Food stock/pantry/disaster prep. I have "single guy modified for family of 3" food stores. I am dumping that and hope to have 30 days of food for a family of 3 stores. Not too hard. I have dietary considerations to make as the Wife and the Kid aren't as open to foods as I am.

3) Outdoors/camping/fishing. I barely did any of that last year. I should also get back on track to earn my Basic Bushcraft certification from Bushcraft USA. I am 50% done with that already and the rest of the stuff is stuff I know how to do I just need to film it and post it.

I really like the painting styles I've seen of of Dalauppror and Twin Cities Gamer blogs (go check them out BTW... serious, please do).

Dalauppror

Twin Cities Gamer

I even asked Twin Cities Gamer for some advice and he gave me some and I'm practicing now. I have not done a mini 100% yet but I've pulled a few I have been working on already and re-purposed them as practice pieces. Here's what I've done so far:

Man'Serkers! with axes

Man'Serkers with battered shields

The above figs are also Old Glory Rus Spearmen or Rus Command. I modded them with plastic weapons left over from my Gripping Beast DA plastics and Viking shields from an OG Viking Command pack I picked up last year.

Speaking of Rus... my way-laid Pagan Rus project has picked up steam again. I was on track with that when I first had an itch to improve my Normans with 75 billion archers. Then, I got an itch to play Scots and started reading up on that in mid-December. Over the Holiday break I took I cleaned up my work area and desk and rearranged a few things and did some re-organizing. In doing that I unearthed my Pagan Rus faction that I put aside.

My original attraction to playing Pagan Rus is, first, my affinity to the historical era. Varangians, DA Eastern Europe, Byzantium stuff. My interest began in the SCA as I played a persona from that area. Now, in Vikings North America, I am getting my basic kit together for standard "viking" but plan to go full Rus after my basic kit requirements are filled.

*Note: Recently, in my research, I have been reading the theory that a lot of the original Varangians, thus Rus, were Finns in origin. Obviously got some Swedes in there but the Rus that went down to serve in Constantinople were of Finn stock as Swedes were staying in Rus lands to hold power there. Being 1/8th Finn I think it's an interesting theory, the minutiae of which means very little really.  Finn Pride!!

Xmas gift to myself, some Finnish flag patches - Hakkaa Paalle!

So I read up on Pagan Rus in Saga. Looking at some forum posts from the time they first came out people thought they were both over-powered and not within the realms of historical rules as a lot of their abilities looked like weather magic. It didn't to me. As time went on the Pagan Rus were found to be a balanced faction that could be dealt with like many other factions. Sometimes they even looked easily beat. All in all there is a difference between "paper" and "table" theory meaning (I learned this from my time on Dungeons and Dragons forums) that things play out on theoretical paper much differently than on the table. Anyways...

My interest lost steam and then last week, sitting at my work bench and wanting to go with a Scots faction, I realized that I have not even ordered a Scots miniature yet for said faction. I've got 6 points worth of Pagan Rus waiting to get painted and tabled though. Why am I wasting energy on things I haven't even sourced yet?

Here's where I am - got my PR levy done last year as you can see in this blog.

Slav Javelins - these were the last of my Gripping Beast Plastics DA Warriors

75% done with this point of PR Warriors.

6 Old Glory Rus Spearmen, 3 modded with axes, Old Glory Rus Command figure with red cap

I also picked up Old Glory Spears that you can see on my Rus Warriors. These are 2 part, you drill out the spear heads and glue in the hafts that are steel wire. It takes some tedious work but I like them. Old Glory minis do need their hands drilled out for weapons BTW.

Here is the best way for me to put those spears together.

There is more to hold onto when you drill out the spear heads and then you can set them upright like this to glue in the hafts. This is a job for some glue accelerant BTW. Jeez, holding those wires straight for a few minutes while the Zap-A-Gap thicken is a pain!

I like the spears though. They don't bend and break like plastic spears do (Wargames Factory is famous for this, GB not as much). They don't stab you like a needle like Warlord Games spears or some homebrew of wire can. The steel wire is nice and thin so you don't get the "guy holding a tree trunk" look. On the table they are dramatic enough to look good. I like them and will stick with this option.

That's it for now, thanks for reading.

Things I will try to blog about this month:

Historical Wargames Day

Puukko knives

My work space

World of Tanks