A Prologue to the Saga

It is pretty good to be back living in Germany. Regular thursday night gaming is a big improvement over almost no gaming in Finland. Saga has really picked up in popularity here since I left. There were four games underway at the store when I was there. I think the relatively recent publication of the rules in German has helped with that. We played the Challenge scenario from the first rulebook. I dont really like the scenario as once again my Warlord ended up far closer to the enemies starting position that Steve's did to mine. add in the fact that his troops are mainly mounted and that leaves me with a lot of distance to cover quickly. I believe I once saw an amendment where both models are set up on the centreline six inches apart. I would definitely prefer that arrangement. I believe I was down six wonds by the end of the second turn and my troops were not in a position to do anything about that until the third.

I used my Anglo-Danes for this battle. the action got fairly intense as by the third turn and the halfway point of the game I hadn't managed to inflict a single wound on the enemy Warlord and he had inflicted half of mine. Troops were now engaged between the two warlords and it was going to be very tough for me to do anything to win. I tend to not spend my opponents fatigue especially on large relatively intact units and in this battle it was definitely a winning tactic. Initially I was losing large numbers of troops but I was emerging from combat with a single fatigue while the Normans were having theirs slowly mount.

In the last two turns I was able to spend this fatigue to actually wipe out units thereby inflicting more fatigue unto surrounding allies and even the Warlord. This rapidly depleted his bodyguard and allowed me to apply my axe to his head liberally in the final turn. I luckily managed to inflict seven wounds gaining me a narrow victory.

We only got a single game in but the pub was calling to us so I won't complain. The nuances of the battleboard are completely lost on me but we had fun. It actually inspired me to quickly get some more Warriors done for my Anglo-Saxons. Iwant to be able to diversify the construction of my warband and as such I definitely need more models painted.

Angry Anglo-Danes for SAGA

I had been attempting to get a few more models done for SAGA recently. The easiest way to increase a force is to paint some Huscarls. I painted these four in a rush to try and have them ready for last weeks eight point clash. Work intervened and I finally managed to finish them the other da. I kept the shields simple. I probably should have done some more elaborate designs but my heart wasn't in it and I left them plain enough. I have a huge amount of painting to get done and I didn't want to spend so much time on these. We are slowly, well truthfully I am being slow, gearing up for some Warhammer Ancient Battles here. I have at least one regiment more to do and I probably have to bulk out some of my existing regiments. I shall be playing the Anglo-Danes with some viking reinforcements. I haven't built a list in depth yet but I know I will be wanting a lot of Huscarls so I have to get through the ones I have here as soon as possible. I am also falling well behind on my French force for Muskets & Tomahawks. Too much painting too little time.

SAGA 8 points

I managed to finally get another Saga game in recently. This time at eight points. I wanted to test how the system worked once you increase the points value. This time extending it a third beyond its comfort zone. I was playing my Anglo-Danes and was facing off against a Norman force. Eight points of Normans looks huge as those horses can be really intimidating. I added a levy and eight warriors to my usual six points. I split the warriors amongst the three units I already had bulking them out considerably. I think this is a good way to go with larger point games. It doesn't increase your overall number of units and therefore stress your activation pool and yet it makes the game look much more impressive. The picture here is deployment. I concentrated in the centre while the Normans concentrated on the flanks.

The Flemish mercenaries in teh centre caused me massive headaches and lead to my downfall in the end. Once they had positioned themselves infront of my force there was nothing I could do but engage them. Every time I did I would suffer a lot of casualties and take a fatigue. Over three turns I bounced off them inflicting four casualties and recieving about twice that, including a large number of dead Huscarls.

Finally I sent my Warlord to deal with the Flemish and he easily wiped the remnant out. The Normans had completely swung around my army forcing my right flank into a complete retreat and as I had no resistance on the left the Normans that came that way were ready to pounce on the rear of my lines. I had my levy on the left and while they were effective I had used them against a smaller unit of Hearthguard rather than the more numerous warriors. My warlord was out in the middle relatively unsupported and in the end the cavalry proved too much and he died in the fourth turn thus ending the game.

As far as I can see eight points are fine to play SAGA with. The rules allow for a second we obey activation. We used this and it seemed fine. As I didn't really have any extra regiments it was a big benefit but I can see people who add two more in really needing it. We played Clash of Warlords as a scenario and as it is the most basic way to play it worked out fine. I would like to try some other scenarios at this size, especially the Ford, and see how it works.

SAGA Slaughter

I got less gaming in over the holidays than anticipated. However I did manage two games against Steve at least. The first was a desparate defence on a hill when raised voices at the parley led to drawn swords. My Anglo-Danes managed to hold the hill till the bitter end but it cost them dearly. Only a handful remained, outnumbered by the angry Normans. The cavalry preformed really well in this battle and I wish I could get some for my forces. As I had no archers there really wasnt't a disadvantage to fielding them and they almost outflanked and surrounded me, as they had in the last two encounters I played against them. The hill did have a large cliff face and their speed just wasn't enough to get them around in time. I really have to check and see if the Vikings can include some. The extra speed can really be useful at times.

In the second game the Jomsvikings were scouting a pass in Yorkshire when they were ambushed. The previous battle had been a Challenge scenario where the Warlords barely fought at all. In this scenario, Clash of Warlords, they both went at it hammer and tongs. It is quite possible that more troops were wiped out to cancel hits on the warlords than in the fighting themselves. They both killed each other in the end and granted the victory to Steve's Anglo-Danes.

It looks like I will be playing a lot of Dark Ages stuff this year. A specific Dark Ages group has been started here in Hamburg and every one seems to be enthusiastic. I even have some urge to play some Warhammer Ancients. I have enough models to put together a decent army for sure and Steve's Normans are expanding at a rapid pace. I need to get some scenery constructed as I don't have much that is appropriate but I enjoy making scenery so it won't be much of a chore.

Battle at the Ruins

I don't often think of taking photographs of battles I am playing, mainly as my camera is a brick and it is easier to leave it at home. The recent popularity of iPhones however means that getting decent ingame shots is pretty easy. I played a great game of SAGA at the local gamestore last Thursday and my opponent, Steve, grabbed these shots. It was a six point battle between the Anglo-Danes and the Normans. I hadn't played against cavalry before and it was quite intimidating to see three units of them lined up against me.

The scenario was 'A Clash of Wwarlords' pretty much the default scenario. I had to weather a hail of missile fire from the Normans as I closed. Their Flemish Mercenaries held the centre as I advanced. In the end it was a bloodbath but the speed of the Norman cavalry allowed them to encircle me and I just couldn't keep my Warlord safe. He bravely charged the Norman cavalry himself but the counter charge the next turn killed him. So victory to the Normans! The more I play Saga the more I come to like it. It is relatively simple but well balanced. I have seen some complaints that there can be mismatches between the armies but so far I haven't come across any. There has been talk of a campaign in the local gamestore here in Hamburg so hopefully that gets off the ground. More likely however is the prospect of a four player team game with the Aanglo-danes comprising one team and the other yet to be decided! I am looking forwar to that.

Anglo Dane Warlord

This is the last SAGA model for a while. I have had enough of the Dark Ages, that itch is now scratched! I am glad to have three warbands complete and I look forward to getting some games in with them. The local gamestore has asked me to run a demo day so hopefully we get a few more players interested. That may spark my interest in painting again but I have a lot to explore with these three warbands first. I put two models on this base as these came together in the army deal I bought. I often find that at a 28mm scale the Warlords base is really empty. Putting two models on the base fills it up nicely without over crowding it. I didn't know how to paint the dragon banner. The cross hatching came out much better on the back as I made it closer together. On the front it is too widely spaced and didn't come out great. I was too lazy to fix it...

Only Eight More

Maybe playing more games of SAGA would help me get through painting these guys. Only eight more to go! These ones here are my third batch of warriors. Again I lost motivation for freehand while in the midst of painting them. I just don't like the effort that good freehand takes to do. I can spend almost as long on a single shield as I do on the model and while it is most definitel the most visible part I don't think it is worth it. Sometimes it is hard to think that this is just a tabletop standard model, I don't need to go overboard! Thankfully I have only eight more models to go.

Huscarls and High Command

Here are my quickly painted Huscarls. I wanted to put a whole lot more effort into these models but I was getting bored and distracted by all the other models on my desk. These don't have shields so I got through them really quickly while listening to the Foundation series by Isaac Asimov. I often find that a good book can help keep me motivated to paint. As I can't listen unless I am painting I am forced to paint if I want to hear what happens next. I got most of the next six warriors done already and the army finally feels like it is coming together. I have also been painting away on some more Marauder Horsemen so I really feel like I am making progress. I have been painting so much over the last few weeks I am finally having to reorganise my painting cabinet to see where I can squeeze in some more models.

Despite all my painting efforts I have been getting in far more board games recently than wargames. Dominion has once again proven really popular amongst my friends and I think I got about six games in recently. Now that Privateer Press has announced High Command I am quite excited. I like deck building games when they are done properly. I also like living card games. I am curious to se what innovative mechanic that they have come up with to differentiate this game from the slew of other similar ones. I really hope they are not just relying on the intellectual property to make it succesful. I am guessing that PP will have a big hit on their hands if they can keep the pressure up on the release schedule, similar to what Fantasy Flight do with Warhammer Invasion and A Game of Thrones. Sadly I have to wait until autumn to get my hands on the game!

More Danes

I am really not enjoying painting these anymore. I don't know if I have caught the chaos bug but I seem to be more motivated to paint them than these models. I think it comes down to the shields. The freehand rapidly becomes annoying. I skipped it on the last six and I only did a few of these shields before I gave up. I just want to get these finished. I have at least managed to get a few games in of SAGA. They were excellent and the Jomsvikings really proved to be tough. I rolled over my opponent twice when I used them. The Aanglo-saxons are much harder to play with but they are fun!

The game is quite interesting but really different from anything I have played before. I have had three different opponents on the tabletop and they all have struggled to play. Every turn despite what may be best they load up their abilities section of the battleboard and then have almost nothing to activate. The army stalls close to where it deployed and I am able to swarm all around them. I think new players focus far too much on the abilities and forget that they need to manouver just like in any other game. I wonder if anyone else has had the same experience when teaching others?

The Saga Continues

The wonderful winter weather in Hamburg has kept me fairly enthusiastic to paint. It seems that the weather can't decide if it should be springlike or more the heart of winter. This morning I was greeted by a massive snowstorm that thankfully didn't last long. A few hours like that and the city would have completely shut down. I am rapidly running out of bases from Renedra and so I have made up a four point SAGA warband that uses them up exactly. I have loads of miniatures left it seems but no bases for them. I am hoping that I can pick up another set at Tactica in a few weeks. I am also waiting on the basing material, the hobby store assures me it will be available soon! I am getting tired of painting these models. As mentioned on the Madhouse Workshop some of the models are fairly poor, especially the metal vikings. The unarmoured models are fine enough. These are the first of twenty four warrior models that will make up the bulk of the warband.