Gruffud ap Cynan

Over the Christmas break I read several books that had been on my to-do list, but the one that I enjoyed the most was a last minute impulse-buy from a young self published author.  Caveat emptor is the general rule when it comes to self published Kindle books, but Ethan Jones' Birthright is worth your attention. From my Amazon review:

Wales in the late eleventh century was dangerous territory. A generally poor land divided into three kingdoms, it was nonetheless caught up in the machinations between Normans, Irish, Norse Gaels and its own rival rulers. Into this came the young Welsh prince Gruffud ap Cynan seeking to reclaim his kingdom of Gwynned from evil usurpers - at least, that's how he sees it.  Jones should be commended for plucking Gruffud from history and into the pages of his first novel.  As the author depicts him, Gruffud is not an invincible medieval superman (I am looking at you Uhtred).  He is a powerful warrior and bright for his age, but impetuous and diplomatically naive.

Jones can write a vivid and bloody battle.  The violence is Homeresque in its detail: limbs are severed, teeth shatter, noses are rent from faces.  The beatdown one of Gruffud's allies administers to an enemy is so brutal and sickeningly described that even our hero looks away in disgust.  The characters, while mostly all warriors, are well shaded with different motivations and attitudes. The plot does follow many of the conventions and expectations of historical fictions, but I do not necessarily blame Jones for this predictability.  Gruffud's life was one of almost constant battle and intrigue, the basic material for this genre - but do yourself a favor and do not wikipedia him until after you have read this book.  One convention of historical fiction I would have liked to have seen included was a map of Wales in this era with the novel's locations marked.

Highly satisfying, and I will be back for more when Mr. Jones brings us the next volume in Gruffud's life.


For wargamers, especially players of SAGA, there is a lot to enjoy. Battles are generally skirmishes, with Gruffud taking an active and leading role.  The differences in unit names, weapons and fighting styles of the Welsh, Norse and Normans are described in terms that button-counting wargamers will appreciate.

So the following is my interpretation of Gruffud for SAGA based in part on history and on Ethan Jones' depiction in Birthright. 

Gruffud ap Cynan, Rightful king of Gwynned

Gruffud, with the Lion of the House of Aberffraw on his shield.
Figure: Gripping Beast's Norse-Gael Warlord

Across Britain  in the eleventh century, alliances and territory shifted with an alarming frequency between Saxon, Viking and Welsh peoples. The arrival of the Normans on the Welsh Marches brought further strife to the region.

Into this world was born Gruffud, heir to the House of Aberffaw, claimant of the Welsh kingdom of Gwynned.  Through his mother, Gruffud was a grandson of Sigtrygg Silkbeard of the Hiberno-Norse rulers of Dublin.  It was there that he was raised following his family's ousting from Gwynned when he was a child. Supported by loyal Welsh, along with Irish allies, he set out in 1072 to reclaim his birthright.

His hold on the throne lost and regained more than once. Later in his life, he was held captive by the Normans for at least a decade until his escape.  Ultimately, he beat the odds and died an old man, King of Gwynedd.

Something to Prove—As a Hero of the Viking Age, Gruffud generates 3 SAGA dice per turn but only if he is the first unit on his side to engage in melee.  Otherwise, Gruffud will only generate 2 SAGA dice per turn. Note: the player will begin a game with three dice for Gruffud and keep them as long as the above conditions are met.

Mixed Ancestry —As his mother was a granddaughter of Sigtrygg Silkbeard, Gruffud can call on support from his Welsh or Norse Gael allies.  At the start of each turn, you may choose what mix of SAGA dice to roll between the Welsh and Viking Dice.  Viking dice may only be used on the Norse-Gael Battle Board and the Welsh Dice may only be used on the Welsh Battle Board.

Resourceful — unlike other Heroes of the Viking Age, Gruffud can call upon Swords for Hire units the Gall-Gaedhil or Flemish mercenaries.

Let me know if you have any suggestions on improving his stats.  I play tested it in a couple of short turn sequences.  The use of two Battleboards is interesting and based on Cnut, but he is intentionally less powerful than your average Hero.  After all, the historical Gruffud was marginally successful, but definitely not on the order of William of Normandy or Charlemagne!

Open a PDF of Gruffud's battle card
Update: I just fixed the link so that it can be opened without a request, sorry!

Birthright on the US Kindle Store

Review: Happy Seppuku Basing Stamps

The impact of Kickstarter on the gaming hobby exploded in 2013 - judging by the amount I funded this year (6) compared to 2012 (2). Most of my experiences were good, but the Happy Seppuku basing stamps were the rarity that delivered on time and as promised. They delivered shortly before Thanksgiving, and after a month of use, I have some reasonably presentable results.

The stamps are in the form of a stiff rubber-like mold, about 3x5 inches.  A bit of two-part putty can be placed on a base and pressed into the stamp to give it a certain texture.  Also, some of the accent stamps can be used to produce small bits for your terrain or scenery.  

Across the top: swamp accent, brick, treasure horde and tavern accent.   On the bottom row: snow/mud, sand and the sampler stamp.  

Below are some bits assembled from the tavern accent stamp:

Above, a primed mini pressed into the wood grain texture.  Below, the finished result.  

The swamp accent stamp used to add a stump detail to a terrain piece.

Final recommendation: For the historical wargamers, these stamps are probably of marginal use.  Basing a large army of figures to this detail is not an effective use of your time. The swamp accent piece might be the best choice for adding details such as vines, limbs and stumps to bases. However, if you are also an RPG GM or have an interest in fantasy/sci-fi skirmish games, these bases become a lot more of a value.  

Speaking of value, two part putty isn't cheap and that is perhaps the main drawback of basing most or all of your figures this way. On the other hand, an $8 pack of Miliput could easily create 50 or so bases and bits so the cost might not be too much of a negative incentive.    

I am still exploring the potential of these stamps, such as combining or overlaying textures and pining figures flush to the bases.

www.happyseppuku.com  

Bring Out Your Dead...Or Wounded...Or Maybe Just Drunk

This past week's painting project was to create some casualty markers out of wounded or dead figures I have acquired and not yet used.  The four following pieces were inspired in toto by a Rick Priestly article for Hail Caesar.  A dice sized square was cut from a 60mm plastic base, glued on top of a piece of heavy cardstock and then prepared accordingly.  The die face can be used to indicate fatigue in SAGA or casualties in Hail Caesar.

Below, a couple of vikings dead in the snow.

Above: I suppose he could be wounded, but I picture him as a drunk Varangian for a Byzantine urban skirmish I'll be running soon using Ganesha Games' Song of Shadows and Dust.

Above: a Viking casualty for a ship combat scenario. The basing was created out of putty pressed into a mold from Happy Seppuku. I'll do a full product review on their basing molds later this week.

One other note and a word of warning.  Most of the vikings that I have posted recently were purchased on ebay in a lot from a single seller.  They look to be Gripping Beast, Crusader and Wargames Foundry; not in blisters but shiny new.  The models also had a bit more flash than what I have usually experienced from those manufacturers.  With that, and the amount of figures the seller continues to offer, leads me to suspect recasting.  Not knowing more about manufacturing and casting prevents me from naming the seller and carrying it further, but it is something I will look closer at in the future.

Indian Warband Completed

Some projects and purchases take longer than we expect to finish. Case in point: I purchased this Skraeling warband for SAGA in the Summer of 2012.  It was definitely a one-off oddity for the game. Few people seem to use them, and there has been no strong call on the forums to include them in an official release, as was the case for the Byzantines and Steppe Nomads. But, I had to have them because the Vinland Saga is one of my favorite sagas and my interest in the Mississippi mound builders

It is probably not with the most politically correct intentions that I was in part inspired to finish by the Thanksgiving Holidays.  Before Thanksgiving, elementary schools in America put a happy face on relations between the early colonists and the Indians.  My two grade school age children both learned a bit about pilgrims and Indians leading up to the holiday, and I did my best to give them a slightly fuller view of the early encounters between Europeans and Indians, without getting too Howard Zinn on them.  

Of course, six centuries before the arrival of the English, an encounter between Europeans and the native peoples was less a cause for  Thanksgiving.  The European advantage due to metal working was there, but not enough to overcome the natives' numerical advantage.  Calling the people they encountered "Skraelings," we know very little about how they looked or fought.

Gripping Beast's Skraelings are a very well produced set of miniatures.  It contains six variations of 24 warriors and three poses for the 12 archers.  Flash lines are minimal Historically, they probably miss the mark. While there is much that is unknown about the "Skraelings" encountered by the Norse settlers, they were probably of the Thule culture. The Thule were precursors of the Inuit and had similar lifestyle, based on the hunting of sea mammals for food and clothing. With their light clothing and deerskin clothes, these models might be more appropriate for Mississippi period mound builders.

Here's the whole warband, minus a couple of figures undergoing conversions into Shaman types: 

The other reason I was motivated to finish the warband was attending a field trip with my Daughter's third grade class to the Etowah Indian mounds. Are any museum diorama builders also wargamers?  If so, they must surely be tempted to give their layouts a test. Pardon the glare, but here is a model of how the Etowah might have appeared at its peak in the eleventh century. 

A recreation of a ceremonial deer mask, based on fragments approximately 900 years old.  It should make for an interesting priest character. 

Stone axe heads from the Mississippi period: 

Odds and Ends, Vikings and Pilgrims

This past week I have been attacking the pile of unpainted figures.  The pilgrims were an impulse buy, and I cannot explain why I keep purchasing Vikings...maybe some secret desire to do the Great Pagan Army in 1:1.

First, here are some Perry Brothers pilgrims from their First Crusade line.  While not planning on any Crusade era battles, I always need more civilians. These pilgrims could easily fit in an eleventh century Spanish or Byzantine scenario.

The Perry Sculpts are excellent, as their reputation suggests. While slightly thinner and more truly proportionate, they are not out of place with my Gripping Beast and Crusader Miniatures.

Speaking of Gripping Beast, here are some random Vikings from GB and Wargames Foundry, I think.

Finally, in trying to come up with some more uses for my sprues of Wargames Factory Numidians is this Dark Age Irish Warrior.  It is a Numidian Body and a Gripping Beast plastic head.  It was thrown together fairly quickly as a test to see if it was feasible to put together an Irish warband for SAGA.

Saxon Church

The  church was central to village life in the Dark Ages and so it is an almost mandatory element of a town game board.  I have already built a small stone chapel, and I was interested in a larger piece that could hold about two dozen figures, possibly large enough to have a portion of the combat inside the church.

Small early medieval churches that are still extant are rare, and rarer still are those that have been unaltered in subsequent centuries.  Nonetheless, a general purpose church for western Europe is not hard to put together. The basic elements are a rough stone walls, and a small tower of stone or timber frame.

For this church, the stones are cast from Hirst Arts, mostly molds #70 and 71.  The tower is made of foam core and craft wood, and the removeable shingled roof is from premade plastic sheets used by model railroaders.  

The good Brother points out a roof in need of repair to the local noblewoman, hint, hint...

For the interior, I am looking at purchasing an altar/pulpit and benches from some fantasy makers. Temporarily, I might go with some papercraft furniture.  

I am make no claims of full authenticity, but it fits in with the period.  Some research I did (post construction) showed that most of the pre-Norman invasion Anglo-Saxon period churches used double windows on the belfry tower and more rounded windows. A link to the article (with illustrations) is below: 

http://www.medievalists.net/files/08100408.pdf 

Game Day at Giga Bites

I took SAGA to the big city yesterday (11/2), the big city being Marietta.  Giga-Bytes is a combination game store/cafe that I read about on The Miniatures Page recently.  There was some coordination with Two Fat Lardies, with a Chain of Command official demo on a beautiful North African desert board. A diverse gaming crowd showed up with a  mix of games - mostly science fiction & fantasy but also some WWII and even an 18th Century naval combat game.  Devlen and I showed up with six points of Vikings and Normans to play the Homeland scenario, Vikings attacking of course.

Above, the Vikings deploy, as blisters of Dark Age and Malifaux look on.  Below, the Normans rush out to protect their village.

Above, two groups of Knights slam into some Bondi and Beserkers.  Below the knights are eliminated, but with a high loss of Norsemen.  

Here, the Normans make a strategic movement to the rear.  The Dropzone Commander game that emerged on the adjacent table makes an interesting backdrop to the medieval village.  Great bunch of guys who gave me a quick primer on the game.     

Two unit of Sergeants (crossbowmen and spearmen) remain to protect the village.  Below, a group of Viking archers sprint to the closest building in the last turn, barely fulfilling win conditions.  

Most of the people who stopped by the table had heard of SAGA, but none had ever played it. Hopefully, we drummed up some interest for the game, and we exchanged some emails to arrange future matches. 

Giga Bites is a must visit gaming venue if you find yourself in the north Metro Atlanta area.  A gaming store that brings great sandwiches to your table sounds like a double win to me even if it is almost an hour's drive for me.