The Road to APRILlage Part 2: February

When last I wrote I had started the road to Dark Age Domination. Having set myself a humble challenge to make a Saxon warband and learn to play Victrix Games’ Pillage, I had completed my first 250pts and booked a learning game with my friend Lee.

The Game

Lee had chosen an Irish warband, and had gone somewhat horde mode. Only his Warlord and one bodyguard had maille, while everyone else was just wearing t-shirts (if that) and slinging rocks.

A Saxon Warband Attacks an Irish Settlement

A Saxon Warband Attacks an Irish Settlement

Without a 3ftx3ft board, we made do with what I had available. (Credit: Zac)

We decided that his Warlord had made some insulting remark to mine over a horn of mead, and that the Saxons had slunk off into the night to armour-up and come teach the Irish a lesson in manners.

The game started with my force cautiously moving forward. By sheer coincidence I had 5 people with shields, which allowed me to form a shield wall, with my two huscarls behind. This slow-moving defensive formation made Lee's slingers ridiculously harmless, with everything bouncing off.

A Saxon Warlord approaches the enemy forces

A Saxon Warlord approaches the enemy forces

Although the pose is very heroic, this isn't the best way to use a shield (credit: Zac)

Unfortunately though, I hadn't thought far enough ahead and brought any missile troops of my own, meaning that he could easily just stay at a distance and win by default. This was exactly the type of dishonourable tactic that Lee would use, so I charged my soldiers out of the shield wall and started heroically hacking at his warband.

Saxon Warriors fighting Irish levy

The melee is joined. It turns out that if you can't roll above a 4, there's no advantage to carrying a shield.

The heroism was short lived, however, as I only managed to kill a couple of dogs (almost the least heroic thing to kill, just above baby pandas, but there aren't rules for them in Pillage yet) before my own soldiers began being outnumbered and pulled down one by one. Eventually, my Warlord stood alone, and sensing that discretion would be the better part of valour, he slunk off to lick his wounds.

Reflection

The game was great fun. This was just a simple straight-up fight, without any of the interesting thievery and fire-starting mechanics, but I could still see that it was a deep ruleset where order of activations and perfect timing could turn defeat into victory.

Lee and I agreed we would continue our journey with an extra 100gp, and then my Warlord would return at night to try and burn down some Irish houses. This guy can keep a grudge!

The Next 100gp

Knowing yourself is an important part of life, and I know that I will try and make an army with the least amount of models to paint possible. First I tried to make a list that included a banner, giving me an opportunity to reroll attacks. I had some terrible rolls in the first game, so this felt like a good idea, but this list would only add 2 models to my already outnumbered warband.

Back to the drawing board I went, and sketched out a different approach. 4 new models would bring me level with Lee's starting warband (which was also about to get bigger), and one of each ranged weapon would mean that I could snipe his unarmoured barbarians from behind my civilised shield wall. Having a couple of cheap, fast models will also allow me to dash about, setting fire to buildings when Lee least expects it!

Painting

The first colour scheme was already made for me. There is one saxon archer on the bayeux tapestry, and he is wearing a yellow tunic, red hose and brown shoes. This little easter-egg was great fun to paint, and I'll definitely be doing more 1:1 paint jobs like this.

A saxon archer compared to his inspiration

A saxon archer compared to his inspiration

My guy definitely has a brighter tunic, but to be fair, the Tapestry is about 1000years older. (credit: Zac)

The other two ranged guys were pretty simple, but I was keen they shouldn't look too uniform. Brothers, not twins. My usual way of doing this is to make sure that all models share the same colour somewhere on them, but not in the same places.

For the guy using javelins I actually made use of a mixture of the dark-ages archers with the javelins from the Norman Cavalry sprues. Its worth pointing out that you get both of those sprues in the Anglo-Saxon Warband set.

Finally, I couldn't help myself and had to make another fully armoured warrior. A comment on the last article made the point that fyrdsmen were semi-pro and well armoured, which is undeniable, so I needed to start adding some more of these middle-weight bruisers. This guy is actually a Norman body, but as before I gave him a head with a mustache, and added a round shield to make him more Saxon.

In this instance I chose to use a more advanced domed shield from the Norman cavalry sprue, as looking at the bayeux tapestry, it seems that the “round" shields depicted look quite domed. I decided to copy one of the patterns from here too, and my extra 100gp was finished.

4 Saxon Warriors

These guys will definitely give my warband more presence on the table. (Credit: Zac)

The Plan

Next month I need to continue the offensive and burn down some off Lee's houses, so making some fire markers will be essential. After what will certainly be my crushing victory I can then think about what else I need to add to my warband before APRILlage is finally here.

Thanks for joining me on this journey. Do leave a comment down below if you're following along at home, and we can Pillage together!

11 Saxon Warriors

The band so far. (Credit: Zac)

Have any questions or feedback? Drop us a note in the comments below or email us at contact@goonhammer.com. Want articles like this linked in your inbox every Monday morning? Sign up for our newsletter. And don't forget that you can support us on Patreon for backer rewards like early video content, Administratum access, an ad-free experience on our website and more.