Icelanders

     Viking is an overused term, but figure collectors and wargamers love it anyways.  The people of Njal's Saga were mostly landowners and farmers concerned with earning a living from their land.  Young men, such as Njal's sons Grim and Helgi, spent a few seasons as crew on a boat, presumably raiding.  However, most of the Icelanders were settlers seeking cheap land far from the increasingly centralized and autocratic rulers of Norway and Denmark in the tenth and eleventh centuries.

Njal was a prominent landowner, lawyer and judge who over the course of fifty years gets entangled in a web of vengeance and violence that proved inescapable.  His oldest son, Skarphedin, was a renowned fighter, and supposedly capable of jumping 18 feet across a river with his battleaxe.  These next two figures are Gripping Beast's character figures of Njal and Skarphedin. 

Njal's Saga is set exactly at the time in which Icelanders voted to convert to Christianity from paganism.  This was accomplished somewhat peacefully, though a few killings did occur in both directions.  Wizards, seers and berserkers make their appearances in Njal's Saga.   

One weapon often described in the Sagas, but rarely depicted on miniatures, is the rock.  During sea-borne battles, rocks are frequently mentioned, presumably obtained from the bottom of the ship where some were probably stored as ballast.  Among the Icelanders, swords and armor were expensive and less frequent so rocks were a ready made missile weapon.  These are Wargames Factory unarmored Bondi converted to rock throwers with a few bits from my backyard. 

Viking Warrior, The Strongbow Saga Volume 1

     Judson Roberts' first volume in the Strongbow saga is an appropriate follow-up to my photos of thrall archers.  The Norse, like most Medieval societies, were heavily stratified, but not entirely inflexible.  Slavery endured longer in the lands of the north, having given way to serfdom much centuries earlier in the Christian kingdoms of Western Europe.  Furthermore, the Vikings developed a thriving slave trade.  Slavery was not intensive as in Sparta or the Antebellum American South, but slaves were a tradeable commodity.  Viking raids took Irish, Saxon and Frankish slaves to work farmsteads in Iceland, Norway and Denmark and on to eastern markets in Baghdad and Constantinople.  The Viking sagas give a detailed look at the workings of Norse society, including the role of slaves.  However, with few exceptions, slaves in the sagas are depicted as dumb, cowardly and untrustworthy.  Such would be the opinion of the warrior elite whose perspective dominates the sagas. After all, with such low qualities thought the masters, the slaves then deserve their lot in life.
    Viking Warrior is the story of Halfdan, the thrall son of a slave and her Viking master.  A teenager by our standards, but a man in what was harsher times. Halfdan's rise to freedom is both plausible and tragic, and  Roberts' deserves credit for depicting numerous details of the Norse underclass' daily life. Of course, one of the requirements (cliches) of the hero's journey tale is that the hero must be of low origins until his potential greatness is recognized by someone with power to elevate the protagonist's status.  So, Halfdan does not long remain a slave, but retains the worldview of one who had been rejected by elite society.
      Roberts keeps the pace brisk writing with a modern voice rather than the faux-saga style employed by many of the modern authors of Viking fiction.  and soon introduces the villain that will bring tragedy to hisnewly fortunate life.  The villain is brutal and merciless, but ultimately colorless.  For a four book series, new and better written antagonists is a must for one to keep coming back.
     The Strongbow Saga has potential and I will pickup at least one more volume. The nuanced point of view and interesting origin of the hero overcomes the plot's reliance on heroic cliches.

A Month of Vikings

After a month without posting, March should bring in regular updates featuring a variety of Vikings and Viking related literature.  First, the often maligned Wargames Factory's Dark Ages offerings.  The Viking Bondi differ from the Anglo-Saxon unarmored set in only the head and accessory sprue.  Otherwise, both sets offer the same unarmored/lightly armored bodies in a standing or awkwardly walking pose.  To its main credit, this is the only plastic set currently available that one can use to fill out their ranks of Viking thralls/archers.  It can be difficult to get natural poses from the figures, but with a little shaving of the arms and a willingness to create some lefty archers, some good results can be achieved.

These painted fairly well, at least by my middling standards.  The Norse preference for axes and sword permeates popular history and media, but the bow was a prized weapon by even the best warriors.  In The Icelandic Njal's Saga, the ever feuding Gunnar, armed with a bow and spear, fights off thirteen enemies, slaying many before they even approach him.

My biggest gripe with this line of figures are the heads.  It can take a lot of work to get them to sit naturally.   Here's a group shot of a point's worth of Saga thralls.  A few wear chain, but maybe they were lucky scavengers.  

Njal's Saga may be my favorite Icelandic saga.  Set at the turn of the eleventh century, it is a violent and darkly humorous account of the blood feuds among the self-governing Icelandic settlers.  There are no epic battles or king-making moments of glory in this account.  It does have more premeditated murder and domestic violence than a hard-boiled mystery novel.

Njal's Saga at Amazon.

Shield Maidens

       Shield Maidens, or female Vikings, are most definitely a non-historical creation, borne out of a combination of fantasy literature, mythological archetypes and modern feminism.   Nonetheless, these Foundry Shield Maidens can make a neat addition to a dark ages skirmish.

One of the Vinland sagas relates a story in which attacking Skraelings (Native Americans) were scared away by a screaming and topless Norse woman.  I haven't found a model to represent that yet...

  

While any scenario involving female warriors on a Viking raid may be considered fantastic, it is not out of the realm of possibility to include women as defensive fighters at a homestead.  Stories from the Viking age testify to the bloody feuds that drew whole families into combat.  

Further Reading:  My second favorite story arc from Brian Woods' often brilliant series Northlanders is titled, appropriately, "Shield Maidens." It creates a plausible scenario that pits three Norse women against a party of vengeance minded Saxons.  It is included in the collected graphic novel, Northlanders Vol.3: Blood in the Snow.

Saga Custom Dice

My homemade saga dice started as blank white dice, 24 for less than $10.  Printed the custom dice overlays from the Saga message board.  After cutting out a strip of the 6 symbols for an individual die, I sprayed the back of each strip with Elmer's spray adhesive.  

I found it easier to spray the adhesive on a strip of six, rather than spraying six individual symbols.  The longer strip tended to stay put, and the adhesive was more easily distributed.  After affixing all six sides and drying, I sprayed a few coats of a satin varnish.  I haven't quite achieved a glossy, slick finish but the dice roll and tumble just fine and look pretty cool. 

Recommended Welsh Reading - The King Raven Trilogy

     Duke William's rapid conquest of England ended quickly at the traditional borders of the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms.  The Saxon earls, still not fully united behind Harold Godwinson, were not organized and enough to resist the Normans and their innovative use of horse and missile weapons. 
      Shortly after conquering England, the Nornans pushed into the land of the Welsh, or Cymry, as they called themselves.  On the face of it, the Welsh should have been more easily conquered than the Saxons. Political cohesion under a high king was non-existant since the death of Gruffyd ap Llwelyn. Lacking little sense of ethnic or national unity, the eleventh century Welsh also lacked the production and trade centers necessary to acquire heavy armor and weapons.  The Welsh were skirmishers, lightly armored and with bows and javelins.  Duke William and his successor William Rufus left the Welsh problem to the marcher lords, barons intent on acquiring the and developing the pastoral lands of the west. Nonetheless, the Welsh effectively resisted an outright Norman conquest and some Welsh kings were able to deal and submit to the Normans on favorable terms.

     This is the setting of Stephen Lawhead's King Raven Trilogy.  Lawhead places the Robin Hood legends among the Welsh resistance to Norman encroachment in the first volume Hood.  After Norman machinations lead to the death of his father, and more importantly to him, his land, feckless Welsh prince Bran of Elfael finds himself alone and near death in the ancient forests of Wales.  Under tutelage by old crone, Bran heals and begins collecting an assortment of followers including, as later titles indicate, Scarlet and Tuck.  The hero's journey by Bran is not surprising.  The reader knows that he will become the legendary outlaw hero, but Lawhead's gift is in not rushing it.  Throughout the early chapters, Bran grows as a leader and as a brilliant insurgent tactician, yet he remains frustratingly impulsive and short-sighted. The conclusion of the series is unique and it brings together some of the Christian ethos that were a subtle undercurrent throughout the series.
     The Robin Hood/Richard I connection has been played out so much that we take it for fact now, but a Robin Hood enthusiast looking for something fresh, and gracefully written, should buy all three volumes. All three are sold for the single price of $8.99 on the Kindle currently.

King Raven 3-in-1 ebook

Welsh Light Cavalry

Before starting SAGA, I had enough models to skirmish with Normans, Vikings and Saxons.  The Welsh faction was a notable hole in my collection.  I did stumble upon the idea of using Wargames Factory ancient German cavalry as a base for conversion.  

The bearded fellow in front is just a German painted in a late dark ages scheme.  Welsh at this time period were predominantly beardless, but that doesn't preclude a warrior with a shaggier personal preference: 

This is a conversion involved using a Gripping Beast Saxon head with a cape made from Green stuff:

A group shot of some Welsh priodaur:

Finally, a conversion that's a WIP for a Welsh warlord combines a Conquest Games Norman body with a WF Saxon head.  I love Conquest's Normans.  The extra bodies in each box have a great deal of conversion potential.

 

Although in hindsight, this one looks more like Charlton Heston in El Cid than a Welsh nobleman.  Hmm...next project:  Conquest Normans into El Cid Spaniards...