The dash to plastic in wargames figures continues with the release of Wargames Factory’s Saxons. As usual for this company, the figures are 28mm in scale and you get good value for money with 32 figures in each box.
The Saxon Thegns were the wealthier, armoured warriors, usually the body guard of the local warlord or chieftan and formed the hard centre of the Saxon Army. When these men locked shields to form their shield wall, they were a tough nut to crack and won many victories in battle. It had seemed to me that the Saxons were the fall guys of history as they were remembered as the losers of the Battle of Hastings to the Norman invaders and they are constantly portrayed as the under dogs to the Viking Raiders of the time. However, the Anglo Saxons held off the Vikings and under King Alfred, eventually beat in them battle to establish a stable, wealthy kingdom of England. As to being the underdogs, have a read of Bernard Cornwells Saxon stories to see what a tough bunch they were!
The Saxon Fyrd made up the bulk of the Saxon army and consisted of the less well off, everyday folk, called up from the local area to form a militia. As such, these warriors would be less likely to wear armour and would carry a variety of simple weapons, such as axes (from the farm, rather than war axes!), spears and bows. It was the Fyrd that were lured off the hill at Hastings by the Normans and this was evidence of their indiscipline and lack of military training.
The sets themselves are very nice and the moulding is crisp and well detailed. The two sets share the same Arms & Shields sprue but the Thegns set contains torso’s with Chain Mail armour where as the Fyrd set has unarmoured torso’s.
Apologies for the quality of picture. The focus doesn’t do justice to the detail present on the models. So here’s a better shot of the heads!
The heads, arms, weapons and shields are all seperate, enabling you to create plenty of variety for your warriors and there will be no problem in producing a very convincing warband with these figures. The sets retail at