Huscarls!

Here's the new hard core of my Anglo-Saxon / Anglo-Danish army - the Huscarls!

In a line

These twelve murderous looking professionals are all Crusader Miniatures products, from their Dark Ages Saxon range. These figures are nicely sculpted, with good detail, limited joint lines and no flash. Weapons are cast in place (except for the standard) but shields are separate. Pre-painting clean-up is minimal and easy to accomplish. I replaced the standard shaft with a short length of steel wire, which resists bending far better. Overall, these are very nice figures that I would recommend. If I have a reservation it's that the slightly uniform posing among the rank and file axemen. More variety would have been nice.

The axemen have shields painted by me, but I splashed out and bought some Little Big Man Studios decals for the command group shields. These are lovely. The designs are clean, crisp and bright, and there isn't a hope of me being able to match these patterns! The application method is a bit different to what I remember from aircraft modelling back in the Bronze Age, but is easy enough. Patience and careful burnishing took care of them and I'm thrilled with the results.

The figures match nicely with Gripping Beast, Newline and Black Tree size and shape-wise. This little lot are going to stand like a stone wall in the middle of my army and frighten the life out of any opponent!

Drawn up two ranks deep

 Enjoy!