New "Basic" Ancient Counters Sets

These have long been asked for and a long time in coming. You can find these new "basic" ancient counter sets on the Warmaster Paper Armies page. They use the same counters from their Warmaster Ancients counterparts, except these counters do not contain unit labels and are not grouped into pre-made units. These sets can provide greater flexibility for those who play other DBA-based games or for those not wanting labels on their counters. As I post a new WMA set, I will post its corresponding basic set. As time permits, I will create basic sets for older WMA and Fantasy sets. (I have to rework some counters from older sets, so those will take longer to post. Plus, I am trying to return to actual figure painting.) Let me know what you think in the comments below.

Norse Warmaster Ancients Paper Army

If you like Dark Age armies with tons of infantry and nothing but infantry, this army should appeal to you. This is the third of my Dark Age paper armies from the original Warmaster Ancients core rulebook: the Norse, the Normans, and the Anglo-Saxons. All these armies fought one another. If you are playing in 10mm, all the usual sources have a line of Norse miniatures. You can find a list of 10mm manufacturers on the Norman army page.

Norse Warmaster Ancients Army List
As always, you can use the Warmaster Army Selector website to create Norse army lists. As I've done for the other two armies, I've also included a scan of the Norse army page from the Warmaster Ancients rulebook. This is the only army list for the Norse. Other than a fantasy version for Warmaster Revolution, no other historical variant has been published that I am aware of.

I have also included a scan of the Norse page from the Ancients rulebook, listing all the army information and tactics. You can download it as a pdf file by clicking its image to the right. No variant army lists were posted for the Norse, but the fantasy-based Warmaster Revolution does have their own Norse list.

Printing the Counters
Print the counter sheets at actual (100%) size. Do not print to "fit margins." You can cut the counters and then use them how you like. If printing on cardstock, for example, 110lb has worked well for me. You could also glue the counters onto wooden stands from Litko, giving them a miniatures feel. I sized this set so each page of counters will fit on a cheap 'Silver Age' comic backing board. Spray glue the sheet onto the backing board, and then cut out the counters using a sharp Xacto knife with a steel ruler. The counters will last a long time this way. However you do it, I hope you enjoy using this set of counters. Let me know what you think in the comments below.

Click on the counter set images below to download the the complete army counter set in PDF.

Normans Warmaster Ancients Paper Army

As the opening of the Normans entry in the Warmaster Ancients rulebook states, "Here is an army fit to conquer England. It is based upon that of Duke William and as such represents the Norman army of the second half of the 11th century." This is the 31st counter set I have made for the original fantasy version of Warmaster, Warmaster Revolution, and Warmaster Ancients core rulebook. It's been fun returning to historical armies. If you like these Normans, check out my Anglo-Saxon counter set.

Norman Warmaster Ancients Army List
The Warmaster Army Selector website lists all the armies in the Ancients core rulebook, so you can use it to create your own Norman army. I don't have any sample Norman armies to present, but it shouldn't be too hard to figure out some.

I have also included a scan of the Normans page from the Ancients rulebook, listing all the army information and tactics. You can download it as pdf file by clicking its image to the right. The Normans take a single page in the rulebook, so that makes it easy! On his old Warmaster website, Rick Priestley did have an army list for Sicilian Normans (1035-1194), which is very different from the one presented here. Right now, I have no plans for that army.

Ancients Using Warmaster Revolution?
Also, if you do not own Warmaster Ancients and do not feel like rummaging around online for a copy, I would think the Warmaster Revolution rules would suffice because they merged the Ancients rules into the Fantasy rules. Don't quote me on this. I haven't done any comparisons. If anyone knows if using the Revolution rules would or would not work for Ancients armies, please leave a comment below.

Old Glory 10mm

10mm Norman Miniatures
For those looking to recreate a Norman army, here are a few suggestions in various scales. They are the usual suspects for 10mm. Let me know in the comments if I missed any 10mm Normans or what you think about them.

Old Glory Miniatures has 8 packs of 10mm Normans. Two of those pack are command, one mounted and the other foot. I'm not sure if William and Bishop Odo would be in there.

Magister Militum has a number of Norman packs, but their website always drives me nuts. I leave it to you to search for them!

Pendraken Miniatures, the perennial historical 10mm manufacturer, has 9 packs of Normans, one of which is a command pack.

Kallistra has six packs of Normans, one of which is a command pack. Of course, these are on the 12mm side.

I wanted to add a 15mm listing, but have run out of time tonight. That will be another post for another day.

Battle of Hastings in 10mm
If you want to see an excellent Battle of Hastings recreated in 10mm using Pendraken miniatures and the Warmaster Ancients rules, check out Dan Becker's website. He also gives a good historical overview of the battle and advice on painting Saxons and Normans in other scales as well. His page is from 2019. Tell him I said hi!

The troops are deployed. Let the battle begin!

Printing the Counters
Print the counter sheets at actual (100%) size. Do not print to "fit margins." You can cut the counters and then use them how you like. If printing on cardstock, for example, 110lb has worked well for me. You could also glue the counters onto wooden stands from Litko, giving them a miniatures feel. I sized this set so each page of counters will fit on a cheap 'Silver Age' comic backing board. Spray glue the sheet onto the backing board, and then cut out the counters using a sharp Xacto knife with a steel ruler. The counters will last a long time this way. However you do it, I hope you enjoy using this set of counters. Let me know what you think in the comments below.

 

Click on the counter set images below to download the the complete army counter set in PDF.

The Normans are Almost Here!

I'll be honest. I have really become fascinated with the Norman army. Before working on my Norman army counters, I never paid too much attention to them. Sure, I studied the Battle of Hastings in college, but I always thought the battle boring--a bunch of doomed-to-lose Saxon 'scrubs' standing in a shieldwall on top of a hill. The Super-Power Norman army at the bottom of the hill, just waiting for the Saxons to get bored and do something stupid, and then crush them. That never seemed like a fun battle to game.

As prep work for my Normans, I began reading more about them beyond Hastings. Long story short, the Normans began fascinating me. There were more battles than Hastings, which was more interesting than my superficial judgment.I love when this happens to me. (The same thing happened to me with Republic Rome.)

All of this is my way of saying that I will be posting the set of Norman army counters by the end of the week. It will be for Warmaster Ancients, but I have other plans also. Stay tuned.

Anglo-Saxon Warmaster Ancients Paper Army

The Anglo-Saxon army in the core Warmaster Ancients rulebook covers the period from King Cnut (1016) to King Harold (1066), so the army list focuses on late Saxon England. As Rick Priestley says in the army's introduction, this is the classic style army of Harold that mostly fought up close on foot with a bit of inept cavalry. Their main enemies in the core rulebook would be the Norse and ultimately the Normans.

On Rick's now-gone Warmaster website, he had posted an army list for Early Saxons covering 420-885 AD, which I have. Right now, I want to get a Norman army set posted before I move onto something like the Early Saxons. Norse should even come before them.

I'll also be posting a set of Anglo-Saxon counters that don't have any Warmaster Ancients labels on them, just one counter from each unit plus the command stands. Players can use those in any rules, mixing and matching to heart's content. Stay tuned.

Most of the images in this set are from the Wargame's Foundry Anglo-Saxon 28mm set. Some others come from Gripping Beast, at least from what I remember.

Printing the Counters
You can print the counter sheer at places like Staples, using 110lb card stock paper printed at actual size. You can also print on regular paper and then glue the counters to wooden bases. (Check the older posts on how I did this with my Empire army.) Do not print the pdf to "fit margins." Always print at 100%.  I like printing the counter sets on good copy paper, spray gluing the dull side of a 'Silver Age' comic backing board with Super 77, attaching a sheet to the board, and then cutting out the counters using a sharp Xacto knife with a steel ruler. Using the backing boards makes for cheap, sturdy counters. I like keeping the shiny side down to make moving them easier on a table. (Note: This set is designed to fit Silver Age and larger comic backing boards.)

Click on the counter set images below to download the the complete army counter set in PDF format.

Chaos Dwarf Warmaster Fantasy Paper Army

The paper counter set for the Chaos Dwarfs is done and available for download. Plenty of style and counter choices, even for those who do not want labels on their counters. Keen eyes might spot new Orc counters that look more like Warmaster 2000 than those in my current Orc set. To download the Chaos Dwarfs PDF, just click the images below. Same as it always is. Enjoy.