"Early Saxon Horde" Topic

These last few months I've been daubing away at some of those lovely Musketeer Miniatures Saxons inspired by the Age of Arthur book from Warhammer Historicals.

I've now got done 9 characters, Cynning, Atheling Army Standard, four Athelings/Thegns, one Scop, a Christian Priest and a Wiglera.

One unit of 20 Gedricht, one unit of 24 Duguth, two units of 24 Geoguth, one unit of 16 Geoguth and 13 skirmishers with javelins.

20 Gedricht
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24 Duguth:
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24 Geoguth:
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24 Geoguth:
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16 Geoguth:
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Cynning, ASB and Christian Priest:

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Characters:
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Fillers:
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Skirmishers with Javelins

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The entire force as it is looking now:

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There are a load more shots including some 'extreme close up' at link

Well done that man!

They look business-like and full of animation.

Base composition is very well done, colour choice is spot-on.

I like them a lot.

What a great looking army. Really good color choices on the units as well as a nice coherent basing scheme.

Very nice basing and great brush work. I just ordered a bunch of there Goths definitely fantastic looking figures. I'm hoping my results are half as good as your!

Very nice. What size bases are the squares and circles?

Beautiful work!

What are gedricht, duguth and geoguth? And would an early Saxon warband be neatly divide up by troop-type?

Gedricht – professional fighters, oath-sworn to their chieftain. Literally: 'Hearth-Guard'.

Duguth – the rank-&-file warrior tribesmen. Guys of some experience who've earned a place in the battle-line.

Geoguth – bands of youths and newcomers looking to make a name for themselves as fighters.

They're all valid and accurate historical descriptions, but
WAB probably makes the division between them more neat and complete than it would have been.
Then again, so do many games that list specific troop types.

I think it adds to the flavour, as opposed to calling them all 'spearmen' or what-have-you.

I see. I have read many books about Anglo-Saxon England, Stenton, Hindley etc, and am familiar with the terms Cyning, Atheling, scop and so on.

Strange that I have never come across gedricht, duguth and geoguth. If I were a cynical person I might have thought WAB had made them up….

Thanks for all the kind comments.

The figures are based on a 20mm frontage and a 25mm depth (I think they are too animated to fit on a 20x20 footprint). They are based either singly, in pairs on a 40 x 25 or in groups of 4 on a 40 x 50. The round bases are 30mm diameter and I stand the characters in front (or behind) the units and denote their location in the unit with a blank 20 x 25mm base. All the bases are 2mm MDF from warbases.co.uk

The movement trays are home made from thin plywood, balsa strips and magnetic/steel sheeting.

The troop types are as listed in the WAB Age of Arthur supplement and the Musketeer Miniatures catalogue. As alluded, much more flavoursome than 'Inexperienced Saxon' , 'Experienced Saxon' or 'Elite Saxon'.

Nice collection and very well painted.

Thanks for sharing.

Chris

Lovely figures those. Very well painted. You leave me wanting to pick my paint brush up again!

Strange that I have never come across gedricht, duguth and geoguth. If I were a cynical person I might have thought WAB had made them up

Gedriht
ge-driht, -dryht, e; f. A host, company (from Bosworth Toller online)

Duguð
duguþ, dugoþ, e; f. [dugan v&a-short;l&e-long;re]. I. manhood and all who have reached manhood;
II. multitude, troops, army, people, men, attendants, the nobles, nobility, the heavenly host;

geoguð
geóguþ, geógeþ, giógoþ, geógaþ, gígoþ, iúguþ, e; f.
I. YOUTH, the state of being young;
II. the youth, young persons;

You can check the full definitions in the online Bosworth Toller:
link

I have seen these terms used before in wargames rules and suspect wargamers appropriating the real words to mean something more specific than the Anglo-Saxons would have understood by them.

I suspect you are correct, wukong….