Having heard a rumor about a set of Dark Age Skirmish rules from the Land of Lard, I reached back into my cabinet and reexamined my 10mm Dark Age figures. I have a Norman and Anglo-Danish army that I have started to paint and base for "This One's Split." I was wondering if they could server double duty but quickly dismissed the idea. Sticking with my main scale I decided to jump into this in 15mm. Cruising the internet I found a miniature company that is local to me! Splintered Light Miniatures (http://www.splinteredlightminis.com/).
They produce 3 Dark Ages lines: Post Romano-British, Early Saxons and Early Scots/Irish. Having read the Cornwall Arthur series, I was entranced by the Early Saxons. I wanted to create a Saxon raiding party. I contacted SLM and told the owner about what I was looking for. He made a custom skirmish pack for me and allowed me to specify the contents. For $20.00 I received over 25 miniatures. 2 bowmen, 2 with javelins, 11 medium infantry with spears, 4 armored spearmen, 3 armored men with swords, 1 armored musician, 1 armored standard bearer, and one armored guy with a big axe.
Since Armor and swords were marks of wealthy men, I figured that they would be fairly rare. I will be treating the fellows with swords as Big Men. One has a Sutton Hoo type helmet which was nice to see. I wanted a group that was mostly unarmored spearmen. With SLM's help, that is exactly what I got. I am very pleased. This will definitely derail my painting plans over the holidays.
I will be spending some more at SLM in the future to be sure. One thing I really like is the Personality packs that they have. The Saxon pack contains a giant of a man and some shamans/wizard types. It looks like the Sutton Hoo helmet fellow was from this pack so that was a nice bonus. It also has some other infantry poses that are not in the other packs. Great variety all around. Perfect for skirmish armies. The standard bearers for the Saxons have some sort of dead animal skull on a stick to wave about and inspire the troops with. Another bonus pack that they have that I did not get was some War Dogs. They might end up on a future wish list.
My plans are to create two Saxon Raiding parties. One that is completely unarmored and this one. Then once those are painted up, I will get a Post Romano-British infantry only force. (Can't assume Arthur and his knights are everywhere after all.)
SLM also has some Dark Ages buildings for your skirmishers to defend or attack. Very nice miniatures and worth checking out.
