A few months ago I began a new adventure into an era I hadn’t previously considered for wargaming, the Dark Ages. In retrospect I suppose the writing was on the wall but I was looking the other way. Over the past few years Vikings have been the subject of quite a few television and streaming shows. My wife and I had picked up on one such show, the then Netflix series, The Last Kingdom in 2021-2022. We had very young kids at the time and once they went to bed we enjoyed an episode or two a night a few times a week. Covid gave us a reason to stay home and watch shows I suppose. We both ended up liking the series quite a bit.

Now, before you roll your eyes at the potentially dubious historical accuracy portrayed, The Last Kingdom sparked a historical interest for me. I started pulling on strings to find out what scholars think happened around the rule of Alfred the Great of Wessex. Based on The Saxon Stories, a 13 book series by Bernard Cornwell, the Netflix series blends researched history with fictional characters. The show follows Saxon born Uthred of Bebbanburg during the formation of England around Alfred’s rule. The books were apparently well researched and spurred on by the author finding out he was a descendant of the real Uthred of Bebbenburg.

There is no doubt the real Uthred lived quite the life but the fictional Uthred lives through a lot of historically important real life events. The show covers between the years of 866 and 937. The Great Heathen Army arrived in England in 866 and kicked off an era of Danish incursions and turmoil for the Kingdoms of England. While born a Saxon, Uthred was raised by a Dane family. His relationships with both sides continually put him in a tenuous position while he tries to reclaim his birthright lordship of Bebbanburg. Political ambitions abound and problems of the day were solved with savage violence. Uthred tries to navigate the broiling political landscape, being used as a pawn, but also using his lords to advance his own desires.

Maybe there were some inaccuracies with not quite historically accurate equipment, a proliferation of swords (in reality a rare status symbol), and fictional characters living a bit too long. But the show felt right and that counts for something. The combat was visceral and locations were very beautiful and moody. I would definately recommend the series if the time period interests you.

Fast forward to 2025 and a ruleset called “Pillage” was released by the miniatures company Victrix Limited. Somewhere in between the Netflix viewings and 2025 I had purchased a bag each of Victrix Vikings, Late Saxons/ Anglo-Danes, and Archers with the intent of playing Saga. Saga, while having interesting game mechanics, was not visually pleasing. Terrain plays a minor role in the rules but most players seem to be content with 2D terrain features. I am not. Terrain plays an important part in the suspension of disbelief for me. So the Victrix miniatures stayed on the shelf. By the way, it bears saying that the Victrix kits are a superb deal with most sets hovering around $1.00 – $1.25 per miniature.

Once Pillage caught my eye I decided it was time to break out the dark age miniatures. Pillage was written by Guillaume Rousselot of Noodle Wargames. I was impressed that rules were a passion project written by one man with his friends group assisting with play testing. Seeing a hobbyist release such a cool ruleset is very inspiring for me.

When the English version was released a minor “controversy” about the use of AI art for the book cropped up. Guillaume explained that AI was used to generate some of the art and a human artist then tweaked and touched the pieces up. Budget and time constraints were cited and in fairness Noodle Wargames was a one man shop at the time. He disclosed the use of AI art in the original French version of the rules. Victrix apparently removed this disclaimer from the book when the English translation was done.

Guillaume has always been up front about the issue and he has committed to using human artists now that the rules have a following and more importantly a budget. As far as I am concerned, rock on Guillaume. The game looks entertaining by my read through and futzing around with a few minis to understand the rules.

After doing some reading, video watching, and audiobook listening I decided to crack on with two 250 Gold warbands. I tried to soak in how forces would be armed and comprised in reality. One warband would be a few relatively well armed Danes and the other a larger group of less lavishly equipped Anglo-Saxons.

My two initial warbands consisted of the following:

Vikings – 245 Gold

Chieftain (1 × 50 = 50)
– Armor (5)
– Dane Axe (15)

FiveWarriors (5 × 30 = 150)
– Armor (5)
– Shield (5)
– Hand Weapon (10)

Three Warrior (3 × 15 = 45)
– Unarmored (0)
– Spear (5)

Anglo-Saxon – 245 Gold

Chieftain (1 × 50 = 50)
– Armor (5)
– Shield (5)
– Hand Weapon (10)

Huscarl (1 × 60 = 60)
– Armor (5)
– Shield (5)
– Hand Weapon (10)

Warrior (5 × 20 = 100)
– Unarmored (0)
– Shield (5)
– Spear (5)

Warrior (1 × 35 = 35)
– Unarmored (0)
– Bow (25)

I printed a ton of terrain and started constructing a 2’ x 2’ demo board. A 2 by 2 board will be perfect for a small raid on a hamlet. I have about half a dozen buildings printed and copious amounts of scatter terrain ready for paint.

As I said Dark Age is new to me and so is the dark age color palette. All of dyes of the time were derived naturally, usually from plants. Some of the more vibrant colors were reserved for those with the coin to afford the more exotic materials. There is also a bit of… room for interpretation as no photographs exist and most existing artifacts are well, artifacts. So mostly natural and desaturated colors are the order of the day.

As a start I painted up the dane axe armed Viking Chieftain, three Viking spear armed skirmishers, and an Anglo-Saxon archer. I have a bunch of the beautiful Little Big Men Studio decals but I wanted to start with minis that didn’t require them.

I dolled the bases up with some Gamers Grass tufts to finish them off. I was going for a nice early summer meadow look. Helpfully Gamers Grass makes a Green Meadow set that was a perfect start for the look I wanted. This part is for future Ben when he looks back to see what was used. I used a blend of the following tufts:

2mm Tiny Beige

4mm Green

4mm Light Green

6mm Dry Green

6mm Strong Green

Here are the finished test pieces! The rest of the warbands will follow them at some point in the near future. I just have to jump into the Little Big Men Studios decals with reckless abandon. My wife even mentioned she would play Pillage with me. Well, maybe she just gave me a pity “yes” but it still counts! That should be motivation enough for me to get these done.