Raudrholl

I've spent the last week building a large Viking Mead Hall for Blood Eagle. The Raudrholl (Red Hall)

As you can see it's pretty big (300mm long by 240 wide).The main body of the hall is made from card (I use the covers of ring binders - it's generally good quality and I have an unlimited supply). The walls are then covered in strips of thin index card to simulate planking. The thatch is an old cushion cover.

I hand carved the Dragon heads and may add some more

The hall has a stone floor and a podium at the far end. I decorated it with shields and banners

The walls have 2 balconies that are accessed from behind the throne (a good place to put archers). The cardboard walls are attached to a frame of 18mm wooden batons that act as the pillars and the support for the balconies.

Although my crafting skills are not the highest  but overall I'm pretty pleased with it. It will make a good place to fight Grendel.

Off to Partizan on 22nd - my first major show. Let me know if you are going and want to meet. PanzerKaput has suggested a 12.00 meet 

Skraelings and Books

I've finished my Skraelings, who will now wait patiently for a Viking invasion

Glorious day here in the North East and in between gardening i went down to Tynemouth market, a flea market in the train station. Usually a good place to by random stuff and cake. Bought a pretzel and chocolate cake, nice. I also bought a good selection a books

£2.50 each

Another couple of quid

Useful for my Africa campaign

I have thinking about a campaign for a while now but as a predominantly solo gamer it's hard to have 2 active sides. However recently I've been enthused by a the potential for a Colonial African campaign. The plan is to have 3 colonial powers fighting for control of late 19thC Africa. The 3 powers are Britain, France and Germany with the Germans being mainly female figures, I have the cool Hinterland figs. This will enable me to have mainly passive natives. Along side the main campaigns there will be smaller adventures and stories.

As is the way with my campaigns they will only be intermittently played so hopefully won't become the main focus of my blog. Also it means I have a lot of figs to paint, managed to pick the era with the most amount of painting to do - typical. It is also a return to my gaming roots, my first metal soldiers were 15mm Peter Laing Zulus.

Post Challenge Reinforcements

Not really done any painting since the challenge, think I've earned the rest. I did win 2 prizes during the challenge awards, a 30 euro voucher from Barrage Miniatures which I've used to buy a couple of  Bussing A5P heavy armoured cars for the VBCW collection.

I also won a £75 voucher from Westfalia Miniatures for painting the 2nd most number of figs. Will buy some Afghans I think with this.

Please visit their sites, they have some cool stuff and were generous enough to support the challenge. I won  a prize from Barrage last year and the boats and armoured car I got are great.

I've also been shopping. I got a £5 voucher from Warlord Games and bought these Russian Partizans for VBCW. Started to paint them but mojo off at moment. I've found Warlord figs a little hit and miss but these are really nice.

Since I played Blood Eagle I've been looking for more opponents for the Vikings and bought these Skraelings and Trolls from CP Models. They are great figs and will fight well against the Vikings The Skraelings have stone weapons so I will give them a -1 when the spears and arrows are being used against armour.

The trolls are really big and look really impressive.

Finally I've also ordered the Dahomey collection from Dixon Miniatures to give me some other powers for a Colonial Campaign I have in mind. Will post them when they arrive. That will probably all until Partizan in May. Not been there before and fancy a big show.

Blood Eagle Bloodbath

I tested out my new copy of Blood Eagle today. It's very similar to IHMN with the right amount of Dark Ages spin. The book is beautifully designed by Millsy, the text is nicely spaced out and easy to read. I do have 1 grumble, it needs a QRS and the rules are short enough to do this easily. Instead I had to bounce between pages as I was assembling my warbands.
I chose 2 very simple warbands, Viking and Saxon with very few special traits. Although I have a copy of IHMN I've never actually played in anger.
The Vikings lead by Auden the Proud. They feature a berserker, a couple of heavily armed warriors, a swift warrior with 2 weapon skill and a bowmen

The were up against a more poorly armed but numerous Saxon band under Godwin

Godwin has 2 Hearthguards, 2 archers, 3 spear armed warriors and a fast fighter, all with higher armour values than the Saxons except Godwin.

The fight was to over a narrow pass in a wooded road, 1st test so keep it simple.

Both sides advanced with the Saxon Archers looping through the woods at the bottom and Egbert and Eric advancing through the woods to face each other at the top. The rest of the troops headed for the pass to slaughter each other.

The first melee was between the Saxon spearmen and Ragnar and Loki. The fighting was brief and bloody. Ragnar easily dodges Swain's attack and dispatches him. Loki kills Sbert but Sowain  runs him though. Brutal and bloody

Some very dodgy photography intervened but anecdotal reports from the survivors said that Eric took out Egbert after a significant duel. The Saxon archers released several hopeless volleys with Sven returning fire and killing Athelstan. Eric crossed over and easily killed the other archer.

In the centre Godwin and his hearthguard advanced to the gap to face Helga and Ragnar. Godwin killed Ragnar. Auden advanced and finished off Godwin ending the battle.

My impressions of the rules are good. Although the battle was simple and I only used basic traits I found the effect "realistic". Armour is very important and don't split the stats +2 is much better that 2x+1.

Will try more complicated rules next time but as I've got the week off tomorrow will be VBCW (or gardening).