Anglo-Saxons

The death of Harold Godwinson

Granted, the Vikings are more popular, and the Normans were the final victors, but the English army of 1066 had heart.   Harold and his men raced north to repel a massive Viking invasion, catching the enemy by surprise and massacring them.  Then they raced south to Hastings, shedding most of their (horseless) light troops and levies along the way.  There Normans won the day, but only after taking shocking casualties from the Huscarl’s axes.   The dismounted huscarls of Harold’s army turned back repeated charges by the Norman knights, which is pretty incredible really.

So, the third army in the 1066 series is the Anglo-Saxons.  I actually made enough elements to cover several related armies (Anglo-Danish, Anglo-Saxon, and late Saxon) since there is a great deal of overlap.

The whole army is below (although a cavalry base from the Norman army sometimes is needed for some lists).

The backbone of the Saxon army is the Fyrd, spearmen.  These guys were all cast from a Prince August mold, but for most part I added longer spears made of florist’s wire.  The elements in front are painted brightly and uniform, and the ones in the back are more irregular and grungy looking.  I tried the so-called Miracle Dip, a Rustoleum stain/sealer combination that effectively gives some shading like a dark wash and also seals the figure, so you can paint block colors and just “dip” them to be done.  I’m not thrilled with how it turned out but it is no worse than many of my older paint jobs when I was relying on black washes for shading.

And now the support troops.  In front, some huscarls (Blades in DBA).  The rightmost element is Prince August vikings, converted with kite shileds.  The others are converted from the same figures as the Norman spearmen.  There is a Horde of peasants from the Lionheart game, and the archers in back are also Lionheart figures.  The skirmishers are mostly Prince August Gauls, given javelins and slings in place of swords, and the two archers are a Grenadier and a TSR model.

The general’s element could be one of the Huscarls (Anglo-Danish), or a spear, in which case I’d used the front/center element below.  The guy with the white beard and sword would be the general and the bald-headed guy next to him must be a trusted henchman.

Here is a shot of the army fortified by some more spearmen from the Lionheart game.

They would hail from a bit later than 1066, but their helms are suggestive of Roman styles, so I can see them as later Franks or possibly Byzantines.  Painting their armor bronze also makes them look a little “eariler.”