Army List (2nd edition)

III/40 Viking and Leidang 790–1280CE

(a) Viking 790–849CE:  1x4Bd Gen, 2x4Bd, 8x3Bd, 1x3Bd or 3Wb or 2Ps.

(b) Viking 850–1280CE:  1x4Bd Gen, 10x4Bd, 1x3Bd or 2Ps or 3Bw.

(c) Leidang 790–1070CE:  1x4Bd Gen, 8x4Bd or 3Ax, 2x2Ps or 3Bw, 1x3Wb or 7Hd.

(d) Leidang 1070–1280CE:  1x3Kn Gen, 8x4Bd or 3Ax, 2x2Ps or 3Bw, 1x4Sp or 7Hd.

House Rule Option:  1x3Cv can be swapped in place of any stand in the above lists, except for the General.  When the 2nd edition DBA army lists were translated from DBM, not all the troop options were carried over.  I like the house rule that one stand of any troop type from DBM that was not included in DBA may be swapped in.

III/77 Scots Isles & Highlanders 1050–1493CE (1280-ish really):  1x4Bd Gen, 8x4Bd, 3x4Bd or (2x3Bw + 1×3/5Wb).

Background Vikings — what more do you need to know?  The Leidang are the home-defense fleet levy.  The miniatures in this army work best for the early-middle years of the lists.  To get all fancy, it could have some more optional stands with kite shields to sprinkle in for the later years.  But since I’ll mostly be playing this army in games set during the peak of the Viking Age I’m happy to use it as is for the occaisional foray into a late period game.

For bonus points, the Viking figures do perfectly for early image Scots Isles and Highlanders! The position of Earl of Orkney having started as a Norse Jarl and all.  While this army list covers a very broad span of time, the Viking figures do nicely during the Viking Age.  Later image figures would of course better suit the later time periods.

Figures 15mm figures, mostly Baueda, some Splintered Light bows, a scattering of Feudal Casting and Essex.  The starting core of this army was the stands for the (b) list plus extra fantasy elements for use with Hordes of the Things rules, all painted by Paul Potter.  I’m not sure which company makes the fantasy figs.  His painting style is much different than mine.  I tend to use a white primer and mostly enamel paints.  He uses a black primer and a very wet technique with acrylics.  When I painted up the camp and the additional figures for the other sub-lists, I also did a little touch up on Paul’s figures too, making them a bit brighter, adding some dry-brush highlighting and crisping up some of the details.  The stands I added to the mix can be spotted by the lighter shade of static grass I have on hand compared to the darker green Paul uses.  It’s always fun coming up with a flocking ‘recipe’ to match new stands to an army.

In order to use the same stands for both the 4Bd (15mm deep stand) and 3Bd or 3Ax (20mm deep), I made base extenders that can be added to widen the base.  The bottom of the extenders is carefully sized and cut sheet magnet, with basswood edging glued on. The blade General and more blades:

Blade stands (4Bd), can be used with base extenders for 3Bd or 3Ax:

Skirmishers and bows, some Splintered Light archers mixed in:

Other Foot, berserkers and raiders to be used as 3Wb and/or 3Bd, and the levy horde for the last-ditch home-defense option:

Optional Cavalry scouts, and the Leidang Knight General:

Some Heroes and Flyers for HotT, and any of these can also be used for the DBA Camp Followers:

The Camp, 15mm Essex Dark Ages Boat.  The halyard and rope coils are embroidery floss: