The Gauntlet Thrown down!

Well I got a chance last Thursday to get in another game of Saga in and the chosen scenario this time was “The Challenge”. This is an interesting scenario and probably one I’ve had the most fun with so far. Your Warlord starts out the game with 12 wounds, instead of the usual two hits to bring him down, with the normal Warlord rules still applying.

My adversary was my usual opponent who of course brought his only army the Vikings (which through a lot of ribbing he has slowly started to actually finish painting), versus my Anglo Danes (which are COMPLETELY painted by the way, hint, hint to my opponent).   

I’ve really learned to hate the Vikings. I feel they are the Anglo Danes kryptonite. With the Viking battle board aligned for mostly offensive bonuses, the Anglo Dane does not really have anything to beef up their dice (offensive or defensive), theirs has more to do with fatigue etc. So it is my opinion that the Anglo Danes really have to think about how to best employ their troops with maximum affect toward this end. The other thing I really hate about the Vikings is those damn Berserkers. I’ve tried shooting them, but then he uses that stupid ability (well not to him) to force a unit taking an action to shoot and force it to become a move instead. Well I am learning and thought I had the perfect battle plan until I actually played it out. The Story below:

Order of Battle:

Anglo Dane 

1 Warlord (2 handed Axe)

4 Huscarl (2 handed Axe)

4 Huscarl (2 handed Axe)

4 Huscarl (2 handed Axe)

8 Warriors

8 Warriors

4 Levy (Bow)

4 Levy (Bow)

4 Levy (Bow)

Vikings: 

1 Warlord

4 Berserker's

4 Huscarl

4 Huscarl

8 Warriors

8 Warriors

8 Warriors

At start setup.  (remember to left click on image to see larger view and if you want to see full size view, right click on opened image and select view image to see full size).

Based on some hints from Studio Tomahawk forum I decided to form my Levy into fatigue bombs. If the Vikings where going to force me to move then I was more than happy to do this. I wouldn't get a whole lot of dice with them but the idea was to exhaust his units. Then follow up with a nice fresh Huscarl unit to really bite into them. Well that was the plan anyways. 

His Warlord started first on the board, and then we alternated setting up units (I won the roll) and he finished setting up first so he got the first move. Of course he loaded up his battle board to try and smack my Warlord with maximum affect but I was able to hold on. I then brought up a Warrior unit to support my Warlord and smacked into him. This was my first mistake. I should have focused on bringing up my whole army to be able to use right away and get a jump on him. Here is the situation at the end of a complete turn one.

 

 So far so good. My plan seemed to be working out, or so I thought, and I had one exhausted Warlord sitting in front of me waiting to be crushed. He wouldn't be able to move, would only get half of his attack dice, and I would be able to capitalize on the fatigue thing using his fatigue, yet still able to apply more fatigue later in the combat. Then all hell broke lose.

He used a double move to bring up those accursed Berserkers and slammed into my Warlord. Of course he used Heimdal and Ullr to gain 3 dice and reroll all misses, and this caused 17 hits (Yikes!!!). In return I only needed 2 or better to hit him back and rolled three ones out of five dice and then he saved one of them. I was ready to just spit! Right away I thought the game was over, except now it was time for a little magic save rolling from me. I rolled nine saves and that left me with 8 to deal with. I used four warriors, my one freebie, and only had to add 3 more wounds to my Warlord which now stood at 9 total. Very lucky indeed, as it could have been much worse. At the same time he used the rest of his dice to bring up more units to support his Warlord and during my turn I thought the better part of desecration was in order and retreated. I was able to do this because of line of sight and distance now between his Warlord and mine. Also I was cursed not to roll a single helmet (the Anglo Dane version of a 6) between turn two through turn 5. So I used my crappy roll to try and bring more troops up. The end of a complete turn two below:

The Vikings used turn 3 to bring up more troops and reorganize their lines. He rested his Warlord to bring him down to 3 fatigue and then used Njord to get rid of another and help other units lose one within M of him. So I say to myself I will give him a bloody nose now, and rolled my Saga dice.

Ugh, it was not to be. I tried to salvage something out of my crappy roll and used Noble Lineage to change one of my dice to a helmet. As he had brought up a four man Huscarl within range of one of my Levy and it's supporting Huscarl unit, I needed this helmet to be able to select Lords of Battle (the key to the Levy being a fatigue bomb). Selecting Lords of Battle, as well as Unforgiving I charged straight into his Huscarl with my Levy. This would guarantee 4 fatigue at the end of the combat and with the Huscarl smacking into him next (if I didn't take him out) they would end up with five fatigue. The Levy where successful in causing 4 hits which he promptly saved 3 of them. In return he wiped them out but now exhausted I rolled in with my Huscarl. As I see it now, you determine attack dice and defense dice first and then apply your abilities and fatigue, so he would have been exhausted even had I used his fatigue to lower his armor and raise mine. In the end I wiped him out (so it didn't really matter) and he caused one causality to me. I used my other dice to rearrange my line into attack positions. End of a complete turn 3 below:

Turn 4 started out with the Vikings now counter attacking my exposed Huscarl unit which he had no trouble in taking out with his Warriors by using his awesome battle board abilities and my now empty battle board. He wiped out my Huscarl unit but not before I took out 4 warriors in return. At this point Mark had to leave for work and he offered to continue the game the following day which I agreed to as after rolling my turn four saga dice I was shaking my head in disbelief once more and just moved all my troops back out of range of a one turn move from his. 

The next morning Mark showed up bright eyed and bushy tailed, while I was unable to sleep at all, so to say the least I was a bit groggy. Mark began the morning rolling fantastic with his Saga dice and used a Huscarl unit to make a two activation move into my Warriors stationed next to my Warlord. Of course he used his usual tricks in Frigg (to remove a fatigue), Heimadal (add three dice), and Ullr (to reroll misses), I had a fantastic save throw and only lost four figures, but so did he, and he lost only one huscarl.

My disgust continued with the continuation of poor Saga dice rolling and not one helmet (a 6) was produced. So I used my portion to side by side with what was left of my Warriors and Warlord into his over zealous (or was it genius to draw me out?) move with his Huscarl, and wiped him out but he decided to throw all his dice against my Warriors and wiped them out. I probably should not have made this move in retrospect as it left my Warlord unsupported and exposed. Though at this point I was disgusted and just wanted to hit something (not Mark, just cause some more causalities to him;)).

 Needless to say turn 6 started with the Vikings rolling well with Saga dice again, and he used all the tricks and those damn Berserkers to do a double move into my Warlord to finish the game by taking the brave soul down all alone and forgotten as his troops fled from the field in panic and disarray.

In the end Mark played a good game, and my play could have been better. Had I played a little better I might have succeeded in drawing this out the full seven turns and made it a point count game. The 4 man levy group worked out great, and my plan was sound, but one can't count on Saga dice only.

The scenario was fun and exciting. I also believe it to be a more balanced one then some of the others. So once again thanks for reading my AAR and may your Saga dice be blessed!

Crisis in the paint room overcome!

My second paint shaker shook itself apart today (the first one I had I burned the motor up after allowing it to shake too long).

 

I wasn't about to go looking for a new one so I took the back plate off and had a look.

The problem was the glue for the head gave way and then vibrated off causing the shaft to fall down inside where I couldn't reach it. But being the prepared wargamer that I am I had the foresight in planning ahead for just such an instance. No serious student of our little hobby should not have the following in their inventory...

After a little dab from each tube it was a quick few seconds to fix and problem solved. Though I am waiting till tomorrow before I try using it again to give it a chance to harden well.

Frank Cavalry in the making...

Sorted out my Frank Cavalry and paints and started to work on them. Been a while since I painted horses and it is slowly coming back to me. Here is a picture of the nine I am working on. Once the other layers are put on and the Horse Furniture painted I can move on to the riders.

Carolingian Franks

Greetings! I hope you find the following pictures of my Carolingian Franks worthy of your viewing. The figures are from Gripping Beast, colors used from Vallejo, and shield transfers from Little Big Men Studios. This is my first Warrior group of 12 figures and I am waiting on an order of 24 Early Saxons from Musketeer miniatures to mix in with them. While waiting up next will be nine of Gripping Beasts Cavalry for my Frank Warband.

[To view larger images left mouse click on them and then right mouse click for the drop down menu and select view image to see full size photo]

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Infidel, a game by GMT

While waiting for my copy of the new Saga rules (The Crescent & The Cross miniature rules) I started reaching out to other areas to scratch that itch. I picked up a book called "Victory in the East" by John France and, though at times it's difficult sorting out all the players he is talking about, I have found it a pretty good read. Of course that has fueled more interest and I pulled a game off my shelf that has been sitting there since release collecting dust called "Infidel" by GMT games.

All I can say is Wow! What was I thinking not getting this one to the table sooner. There are six battles in the box spread out over the time period of the different Crusades. Rules are about 14 pages and pretty easy to read, and digestible by experienced or novice players. I gave them a quick one over and played the scenario Antioch 28 June 1098 face to face with a friend. We both found it refreshingly light and fun. Having played I went over the rules again and only had a hand full of questions that where resolved by the second reading.

If you have ever played Great Battles of History (GBoH) series, you will find this a lot lighter and can easily play a game in 2 hours or less. You do sacrifice some realism for playability, but now a days I want to complete a game, drink a brew, and have a nice conversation with my opponent. My plan is to try and play each scenario before I move on to the sister game called, "Blood & Roses" (taking place during Medieval times called War of the Roses, think Tudor's, Lancastrians, Yorkist, etc.).

The game models the supremacy of Cavalry during the Crusader Era and how the different types (Knights, bowed armed light cavalry, etc.) fared against one another on the field of battle, and how the tactics evolved over the period of the campaigns. 

I liked the game enough that I got my PBEM Vassal playing friend across the Ocean to give it a go. The following is a picture of the game set up based off a current playing file (Vassal is a Java based program that allows you to play live over the Internet or play by email with anyone around the world, how far we have come since the Crusade day tech) of the battle of Antioch.What's nice about this scenario is there is practically no setup as both sides start off the board.

[Remember to left click on the image and then to see the full size right click on the image and select view image to see full size]

I highly recommend this game as a light fast playing game that you can enjoy over beer and pretzels and have enough time to set up another if you feel like.

Cheers
Kevin

Anglo Dane Redemption!

Well so far I've loved playing Saga and this after not winning a single battle! That right there has to tell you that it's a fun system if this ole fart keeps on giving it a whirl. Well the losing part my friends is finally behind me. Last Thursday my good friend Mark with his Viking hoard once more graced my humble home and allowed me another chance to regain my honor with my poor lads the Anglo Danes. Mark was fresh back from the convention Historicon where he participated in the Saga tournament and came in second place. Also out of four games played he killed the opposing Warlords three out of four games. Seeing how he's killed mine every time we've played my confidence was not brimming as you can imagine.

Knowing that my Anglo Danes are more of a defensive army I decided that we would try a scenario that would take away the Vikings very powerful offensive tactics whether they defended or attacked. That's right Ladies and Gentlemen I came up with a ringer (meaning I picked out a scenario that benefited me;)). I selected the scenario called Homeland. The attacker is there to raid the enemies village and the defender trying to keep that from happening. You have to bid to be the defender in this scenario and knowing that Mark is an offensive player and wouldn't really take the bid seriously I bid 5 and he 6 (your bids can be from 2 to 6 and that is how many points you can spend on your army). So with a suppressed chuckle I picked out my units and placed them in the village. The village is two standard buildings (max 8 troops each), and one large building (max 12 troops). Order of battle ran like this:

Anglo Dane:
8 Huscarl
8 Warriors
8 Warriors
12 Levy (Bows)
Warlord

Vikings:
4 Berserkers (made up of his Amazon She Devils)
4 Huscarl
4 Huscarl
8 Warriors
8 Warriors
12 Levy (Bows)
Warlord

Here is a picture of the initial setup (As always click on the picture to see a larger view, you can then right click on enlarge picture and select view image to see original size).

The Anglo Dane player (me) placed the 8 Huscarl unit and Warlord in the large building on the Dane right flank, and in the other two buildings I placed an 8 figure strong warrior unit each, and the bowmen in the middle front of the village. The Viking player responded by placing, from his left to right, the 4 x Berserkers, 4 x Huscarl, Warlord, 4 x Huscarl, 8 x warrior, 8 x warrior, and finally his 12 x bowmen. The player who loses the bid becomes the attacker and gets 6 points to spend and can't set up his troops closer than 12 inches to a defender or building.

Turn 1 was basically the Vikings moving up and his bowmen exchanging shots with mine where I lost 2 figures to his 1.

Turn 2 the Viking Warlord pretty much had decided that my Large building on the the Anglo Dane right must have had lots of hidden treasure or something because he launched a fierce attack upon it. His Berserkers came in first like a heat seeking missile and took out 5 of my 8 Huscarl (this with me saving on a 4 or better instead of the normal 5!). The good thing was is I wiped out his little amazon witches from the netherworld. He immediately followed this up with one of his 4 figure strong Huscarl units but they came into the melee straight up as he had used all of his battleboard abilities with the berzerkers. He knocked off two more of my figures but I got two of his in return, but the big thing was he had attrition me down to one figure left and my Warlord. As his final move for the turn he did a side by side with a we obey with his Warlord and his last fresh 4 figure Huscarl unit. Needless to say my poor lonely figure was wiped out without causing him any damage. The nice thing about defending a building is the defender gets to choose which unit the attacker fights, and if shooting the attacker gets to choose. What's more important is the fact that if you don't eliminate all the figures or there is another unit still in the building it's the attacker that has to do a break off regardless of casualties. So during my phase of turn 2 I had a big decision to make, get out of Dodge with my Warlord (which I don't think I could have done because his Warlord was too close to mine and I would have had to come out and battle him), or immediately reinforce my larger building. Well the Warlord had taken a fatigue due to the elimination of the the Huscarl unit so I rested him to take that off and then I did a did a double move with my 8 man warrior over to the Large building from the closest supporting building, and I move my Archers up next to it to try and help support the Large building with bow fire. Here is a picture end of turn 2.

Turn 3 I'm still not quite sure what the Viking Warlord was thinking at this point, but I knew one thing, he was pissed that his troops had been repulsed for the first time against these sally lads called the Anglo Danes, and came full force at the Large building again! For sure there had to be a large reward if they could just take this building they could still cut there losses and sail home with something of a cargo. But it was not to be. He launched his Warlord and 4 figure strong Huscarl unit into the building and my Warriors bravely stood there ground wiping out his Huscarl but losing 5 figures in the process. He then brought in his warriors and took the rest out while losing 3 of his own, but again my Warlord was left keeping him from taking the building and repulsing him once more! On my turn of 3 again I was desperate for reinforcements for the large building and since my bowmen where right next to it and only 10 strong there was plenty of room for them to take up the defense.  Resting them first to take off the fatigue and then slipped them into the building. Also my Warlord had no choice but to rest again from taking a fatigue from the eliminated Warrior unit. But more importantly I was able to set up my battle board for his next assault with Hard as Iron and shield wall.

Turn 4 Now the Viking Warlord was becoming desperate. He had committed everything he had at the Large building and though he only needed to clear two more buildings to win, he erred in not sending something over to the Dane Left to try and at least put pressure on that building. The Dane Warlord was only to happy to comply and started shouting obscenities at the Viking Warlord which infuriated him (I didn't really, this is just for drama) and Viking Warlord launched another all out assault on the tired but stout hearted defenders. This time he brought in his 8 man Warrior unit, and then followed up with his 5 man Warrior unit. The Gods where with the Danes die rolling toward the end of this game, and though the Levy caused light causalities to the Viking Warriors, the more important result was that Vikings only successfully attrition down the levy by half. But it was still a close run affair. The Anglo Dane player, though down a Saga die, used Noble Lineage to convert to a helmet and then re roll two more saga die so he could take full advantage of his battle board by using Hard as Iron and Shieldwall and again was set up for the next round.

Turn 5 The Anglo Dane still holding on to two buildings, one of which had a fresh 8 strong Warrior unit and not being threatened, it was simply down to trying to win a moral victory for the Viking Warlord by trying to kill my Anglo Dane Warlord once more. But the Gods had turned away from the Viking Warlords vanity and though this time he was able to whittle down the Levy to a figure or two at the end of turn 5, it was not enough for him to have the strength to attempt an honorable death in hand to hand combat.

Final Turn 6 The Viking Warlord did his best and was able to finally destroy the Levy but all he could do was come into battle with his Warlord and a couple of his leftover Huscarl. With my choosing of using Helmets I had rolled in previous turn and using Noble Lineage I used the Activation Pool ability once more to my advantage and had set up shield wall and Hard as Iron to be able to defend my Warlord for the last glorious Viking assault on the Anglo Dane position.

One can gain no greater glory than by his enemies bravery and fierceness. We honor our enemy and bask in the glory he has brought the Anglo Danes. Songs will be sung in the great halls for ages to come.

Until next time we bid you a safe journey upon the seas, and may you always have coin in your purse;)

Anglo Dane bowmen finished at last!

I finally made it over my psychological barrier of painting my Dane bowmen. Though not the greatest paint job in the world they are finally done and I can, without guilt, move on to other projects. Here is a picture of the completed lads in front of their favorite watering hole, the infamous Japanese Tea house;)

 [Click on the picture to see a larger view]