Saga Norman army, the other one that didn't go to Adepticon

I was also going to play in the  Saga Age of Vikings competition. I was going to use my Normans. I could not use mercenaries so my favourite Flemings were not going to make the trip.

I have 3 points of Hearthguard, 2 points of warriors and 1 point of levy. Normally I would have 2 units of 6 knights, 2 units of warriors 1 with crossbow and some levy archers. I had the choice of taking the warriors mounted with Javelins or on foot with hand weapons.

I also made 3 objectives out of the casualty models I got with the sets of figures.

This is the Warlord, he is a plastic knight from Conquest games. The shield is hand painted

 These are the levy, they are great for bombarding enemy units from double long range. Watch out for the Viking ability to exhaust you. You can use this ability to shoot and then stack extra dice in the combat pool or other Saga abilities to make the shot count. Its an effective way to open the battle.

 Here is a unit of Heartguard. These are also plastic with hand painted shields.

 This is the other unit. These all came from the same set of Conquest games models. Normans have a battle board ability that allows you to activate for a charge and gives you bonus dice. So this is a reason I don't go for a unit of 8. If you did this the extra dice would be wasted because you would end up with an initial set of dice of over 16.

 This is a unit of Gripping Beast plastic Dark Ages cavalry. I made this unit when I made the Last Romans. They are the Bretons. But they also make up a great unit of mounted warriors. These have Little Big Men shield transfers.

 I made this unit of Crossbowmen from some plastic Gripping Beast dark age warriors with arms and weapons from Perry and the odd set of arms from Fireforge Games. I ahve another unit of Crossbowmen which are Gripping Beast metal models but they are more desert themed for my Templars. So I made a new set.

 This is a unit of Merceanry infantry, I used them as Gall Gail or Vagrant Warriors These are Gripping Beast metals.

 These are the Flemmings, I made these for my Templars, I also have a unit for my Last Romans. I think these guys are great for taking point in your advance and then taking a charge.

Thoughts on Normans
Normans have a battle board that provides bonuses for missiles and mounted units. The poor old foot warriors get no advanced Saga abilities..

My strategy is therefore based around shooting up the enemy and using the abilities to put extra fatigue on them and then charge in with the knights.
Norman cavalry have some reactionary move abilities so you can charge in and then force the enemy to move towards you and then ride off. This can be used to pull infantry out of position and simulate the feigned flight used at Hastings.
Normans also have abilities to get extra dice for attack or defence so the mounted units can fight quite well, especially against infantry.