A Desperate Escort

I have definitely been playing a lot of SAGA recently. I have managed the odd game of Malifaux via VASSAL also but my club nights are dominated by the early medieval period. We will probably move onto some Muskets and Tomahawks after we conclude this phase of the campaign. I need to consider if it worked out as I imagined it would and to make some changes to improve upon the gameplay aspects. I want to have weather factor into the next phase for instance. It is set in winter after all.The deployments are shown above. I wanted to use the river to split the Norman forces. With the positioning of the fords I could get my pigs back across easily and block the other ford to stop the Normans redeploying which is exactly what I did. The battle is the second in the Harrying of the North campaign. After the Norman success in scattering the bulk of the villagers defenders they set about scattering the herds and burning the food stores around the village. The defenders attempted to bring the animals under the shelter of the forest to the north but were intercepted. Once battle was truly joined I was outflanked completely. Retreating back across the ford did indeed slow the Normans but with some fast movement they circled by blocking force and surrounded me. I also gave away my cows far too easily and as such I was therefore always struggling. As the noose tightened I tried to force a hole in the Norman line which I almost managed. We were once again limited by the terrain selection of other tables in the shop. As we tend to start a little later than the other games we get the left overs and a few pieces we can scavenge from games in progress. The river turned out to be an excellent piece to use and made for an interesting encounter. The Normans ended up surrounded me and I had to attempt to break out along the line of the river. However I hadn't factored in a small unit of Hearthguard across the river. These duly thundered across the ford and forced my baggage to retreat out of the defensive position and then they were pounced upon.

Harrying of the North

I started a short SAGA campaign with my usual opponent Steve last week. You can read his angle on the first battle on his blog here. I had a good game though it was an uphill struggle right from the start. I am not having much success with my Anglo-Saxons at the moment. I rely heavily on larger unit of warriors, usually in the of twelve models strong.>

The battleboard is very much focused on defensive abilities and while these are good, I can only use them once per turn leaving me vulnerable to a counter attack if I use them in the offense. As I am often presented with enough shooting to force me to move forward I don't have the option but to be offensive. I deployed to the left of the table in this game, a unit is actually further out to the left and is clipped off in the photograph.

I was flanked a little more quickly than I would have liked and in the centre I wasn't able to move as I wished as the space was too constricted and the Normans once again stood well off and shot me. They actually targetted my shooting troops before I considered targetting his and my numbers were reduced to just above ineffective. I was never able to get on top with the casualty rate and I went down 28.5 : 35 slaughter points in the scenario.

One very notable occurence was the rallying of the troops by Fr. Seward. He managed to stand up to a charge by Alan Rufus and his household guard alone and then drove them back. It would have been an unfortunate way for him to exit the campaign but miraculously he survived the onslaught of the Norman cavalry and lives to lead the defence in tonights game. The campaign represents the first week or so of the Harrying of the North. this phase of the campaign is centered around the village of Lundsby and the attempts of Alan Rufus to destroy the villages winter provisions.

In the year of our Lord 1170 King William unleashed his fury on the lands of the North. He had encamped north of York at the start of winter. With the turning of the year and the late arrival of the snows his armies were divided and struck out at the rebellious towns and villages. Alan Rufus was sent against the village of Lundsby and arrived in the first week of January. His wrath was soon felt across the area. Fr. Seward led the defence of the village. His stalwart faith drove off the rampagers but the cost in blood was great.

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.

The Saga Continues

I am back living in Germany now. My sojourn in Finland was completed a month ago and my SAGA in Germany continues. I am in the process of writing a campaign based on the Harrying of the North and as a preliminary to playing it I decided to get myself back in the gaming saddle so to speak. So last week I pulled out my Anglo-Saxons and faced off against me regular opponent Steve and his Normans.

The game was great but we both quickly realised that we have a lot of catching up to do with the rules and factions before we embark on a campaign. I narrowly won thanks to succesive volleys of fire unto the Norman Hearthguard. This whittled them down to an ineffectual level and allowed my hastily advancing warriors to engage decisely in the centre despite having to weather a storm of arrows and bolts. We will play again this week, tonight to be exact. I will be bringing out my Anglo-Danes to play just for some variety as once the campaign begins we will be locked into our respective forces for a good few battles.

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.

A Quick Test

Despite the recent flurry of Malifaux activity I have been painting some other stuff. This has mainly been miniatures for SAGA. As I said in my last post I really wanted to get my Viking band together. Well I have painted a test model or I should say finished a test model as this guy has been on the desk for a long while. I have no idea if I have enough models but I think I should have. The box I contained them all in is getting light but I should get by. I can just add loads of Huscarls into the band. What I am eager to get a hold of is some Berserkers that fit scale wise with the rest of the models. There are some terrible old gripping beast sculpts but I really would like something better. These guys don't have a fancy shield to hide behind so the quality of the model needs to be fairly decent.

I copied the shield design from Old Fogey's Saxon Warlord. Aalthough looking now his is much better. I will be doing higher quality shields across the band and so I have been looking everywhere for some inspiration. I have had a lot of problems with the quality of the Little Big Men studio shield transfers over time so I definitely don't want to use them. They may look fine now but give them a few years and they won't. It seems the only way to go is to freehand the designs. I wonder how long it will take before the enthusiasim for that will wear off.

I must resist!

As I have been playing Medieval II: Total War recently I have been getting into the mood to play some early medieval games. While SAGA covers that I have been looking at a more continental based system. Then I learned that the next supplement will cover the Crusades or the Reconquista. With my curiosity piqued I looked up some minatures that would be appropriate and I found these from Fireforge Games. Not only are they excellent for almost any army of the period they are perfect for an Empire army in Warhammer. I already have one of those but it is purely cavalry and I am really tempted to bulk it out somewhat with some of these infantry. Anyway I will endeavour to await more news on the fothcoming supplement. Once I know what is coming I will more than likely pick these up and make a nice force from them.

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...

Over 100 Models Already

I figured out today that I have already painted over a hundred models this year. I shocked myself a little when I realised this. I am really setting a blistering pace. These Anglo-dane warriors are the last rendera bases I have and I ordered a hundred. I thought I would have a lot to spare but my box of gripping beast models seems to defy physical space and have no bottom. I see the finish of this warband to six points and another six point band in there easily. That still leaves me with spare models. I must have bought an amazing army deal back when I got these almost ten years ago. Some of these were more or less painted already I have to admit. Still there wasn't a single completed model in the army so I am pretty proud of hitting a hundred in six weeks to tabletop standard. If I keep this pace up I won't have anything at all to paint by the end of the year...

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.

The full glory of the Jomsvikings

I don't often take army shots as my camera isn't really up for it. However here is the assembled might of the Jomsvikings. I could manage to have the camera steady enough to get a fairly decent shot of them all together. It is an improvement since the preview shot was taken! I still haven't finished the basing, eventually my stuff may arrive. Hopefully it does soon before I get lazy and can't be bothered pulling the models out anymore. Once something goes into the painted cabinet it rarely comes out for more work!

The Lord of War

I think I skimped on doing the shield for the Warlord of my Jomsvikings. I was lazy and I had had enough of tiny intricate designs. I have looked around and noticed a few ways I can definitely improve the work I did on these. The Madhouse Workshop has some really nice viking shields painted up with battle damage and I like them a lot. Mine are very new looking and a bit more damage would improve them. The Hobbyhorse has a really nice shield painted for an Anglo-saxon warlord and I wished I had thought of doing something similar. I will do it for my Anglo-dane warlord I think. I also want to get some casualties for his base so it could be a while before I manage to order everything and do him the justice he deserves.

Axe Wielding Maniacs

At last here are my daneaxe wielding Huscarls. Absolutely no shields here and as such this were quite straight forward to paint. I spent a little more time doing the clothing and I added some more detailed than usual trims. If I was painting a larger regiment I would definitely forgo this step. With only six models it isn't too painful to have to do. These are the last troops in the army and so I can move on to something new. I don't know if I will paint more SAGA models, I certainly have enough for a new army, or if I will go back and do some Warmachine stuff.

The Pagans are Coming!

These are the last of my standard Jomsviking Huscarls. I added to these the warbanner that I had painted up previously. I think the scale works a little better than the Anglo-saxon banner I did.It is absolutely huge in comparison to this one. Painting the shields for this army has shown me a few things. Firstly as I expected: I hate doing freehand. However if I don't go for really thin lines it is somewhat easier. It probably doesn't look as good but it works for me. I can paint thin lines but I can't do it in such a way that it is perfectly consistent. I end up having to do a lot of touch ups and that takes an age. Thankfully I managed to struggle through and do various geometric and curved knots on the shields for this army and it looks good. I don't know what I will do for the forthcoming Anglo-danes. There will be many more models in that army and I really don't want to have to spend an age doing them!