I've been hearing lots of positive things about this relatively new ruleset. So... My copy arrived in today's post.
The rules appear to offer a twist on the igoyougo command system, with units activated in a way not dissimilar to the dice in a bag mechanism of Bolt Action. More details are available on the publisher's website. Time for a read with a test game to follow...
It's been a while but time for a few updates on the painting front. First up, some very angry monks for SAGA...
Along with a Warlord Priest. Upgrade, downgrade or sidegrade - you decide.
If your SAGA warlord isn't likely to see any melee, then the Warlord Priest can be a good option.
My Anglo Danes have been expanded and I now have an Anglo Saxon warband for SAGA. They may sound similar, but it's a whole different battleboard.
Another point of warriors, along with an Anglo Saxon warlord...
But... I recently bought an Athelstan figure, together with a standard bearer. In SAGA, Athelstan allows units to be upgraded to carry javelins, Dane axes or bows. So... The new warrior unit together with an existing AD warrior unit + Norse Gael Dane axe warriors + angry monks and of course the levy slingers of doom gives me a whole new Anglo Saxon warband! Here's the man himself...
This is my first attempt at a banner for SAGA (LBM of course) and I'm pretty pleased with how it turned out. I decided not to weather the banner too much - it is after all the King's banner!
On Sunday the Friday Night Fire Fight Club held its first Hail Caesar Mega-Mashup. We arrived at our usual venue at 9.30 am and played a Roman (and allies) VS Macedonians (and allies) battle. Here's the table before the divisions were placed (we didn't have enough sheets of the same colour to cover the whole table - think of it as autumn!).
The game included 5 Roman divisions managed by three players fighting against 2 Macedonian divisions & 2 Late Egyptian divisions managed by four players. My Celts acted as Mercanaries and each general had to bid for their services (value from 1 to 20). The highest bidder won the services of the Celts, but the looser could take the winning bid and use each point spent to force their opponant to reroll one order per division per turn. The Romans won with a bid of 10. That meant the Macedonian General could force 10 orders rerolls.
Each general set their division up on opposing sides in the middle of our 14 foot long table, with Commanders rolling a d10 to determine where their forces were placed.
Mighty Kyle played a Roman division and ended up next to his general. Two other Roman units found themselves marooned at one end of the table with the Macedonians and Egyptians located near the other. And my Celts?
Well, the Celts found themselves sandwiched between a division of Macedonians and a division of Egyptians - complete with elephants of course!
The Macedonian General used the order reroll to successfully keep the two isolated Roman units at bay. The Romans managed a maximum of one move per turn. Each time they rolled two or more moves, they were forced to reroll. This effectively kept them out of the game. The Macedonian general's division was broken by the two opposing Roman divisions (one played by Kyle). But another Roman division was broken by Egyptian heavy chariots.
As for my Celtic sandwich...
Towards the end of the game, things were starting to get a bit tight! A large Celt warband with supports found itself facing Macedonian pikes to the front whilst being charged by an Egyptian elephant to its left flank... But, the Celts managed to hold on, breaking the elephant and one unit of Macedonian pikes, leaving the remaining pike unit shattered.
At about this point the Egyptians realised their Macedonian paymasters might not deliver the goods (being one shattered unit away from total collapse), so decided to make off with the loot. As the two unscathed Roman divisions finally arrived at the battlefield the Egyptians had already legged it.
A really great game. The random placement of divisions ensured that things didn't go quite as expected. Introducing Celt Mercanaries spiced things up no end. On paper, the Romans clearly had the upper hand. But the two isolated divisions were effectively out of the fight. Whilst things didn't quite go to plan for the Macedonians, the Egyptians were happy to make off with the loot. I was just happy that my Celts didn't get completely squashed!
Just returned from a pleasant weekend away at Iron Bridge. Lots of historical interest, but not really wargaming related. Iron Bridge is a World Heritage Site due to its associations with the Industrial Revolution. The bridge and associated museums were interesting, but the kids were really there for the Halloween fun at Blist Hill...
One thing caught my eye in The Museum of the Gorge. A 1/150 scale model of the River Seven and local 19th Century Industry. Photos don't really do it justice, but here's a taster.
The sheer scale of the model was truly impressive.
With an incredible attention to detail.
Time to pick up the paint brush and get back to those monks...
Now that SELWG is behind us it's time to start thinking about a new project. Of course there's lots to choose from: Celtic chariots, robotic mummies and all sort of old Citadel lead for Frostgrave.
Whilst putting the SELWG table together I had an idea for a two part scenario that starts with the Vikings disembarking from their ship and attacking the Monastary. My idea was to have a Homeland type scenario with the Monastary defended by a Saxon warrior priest and a motley group of Angry Monks, with a few levy from the local village and perhaps a single point of local militia (warriors).
I've made the base for this figure using one of the Basius II pads that I received earlier this year through a Kickstarter project.
If the Vikings win they then have to head back to the longship as per the Revenant scenario. Since there will be casualties I need to balance the game, perhaps with the number of Revenant units determined by how many monks have died, or perhaps giving 'killed' Vikings a % chance of discovering they only suffered a minor injury. We'll see.
I didn't have time to complete the extra figures for Sunday's event but I'm still keen on exploring the idea. Since John Fry is organising another SAGA day in November I also thought it would be fun to turn my existing Anglo Dane warband into something more ecclesiastical. I suspect I'll get thrashed with them, but it should still be fun and I will at least learn how they play against different warbands.
I also have another project In the pipeline that will require additional painting.
We now have four different warbands (including the Revenants), each of which has seven available points. I thought that it would be fun to liven things up a bit by introducing a bit of uncertainty into warbands. A recently published fan made ruleset attempts to do this by randomising which warbands will play (link). These rules work best if players have access to several different warbands (ideally six). Since that is a bit of a tall order, I thought I'd try to adapt the system published in Neil Thomas' excellent One Hour Wargames.
Using the random warband generator means that a single warband can be used - with varying numbers of hearthguard, warrior and levy units selected by rolling a d6. I've put together provisional lists for my Anglo Danes, Vikings and Norse Gaels but need to paint up a few extra units to make the system work. The Revenants won't really work for this (since they consist of only a single troop type). I'll post more details once we've given it a go. Painting up extra units is something I'm doing anyway, since I intend to use each of the SAGA warbands as the nucleus of a Lion Rampant retinue. Any excuse eh?!
Fantastic time today at Crystal Palace. We managed to run four full games of Get to the Longship. In the end it was two wins to the Revenants and two to the Vikings.
Sadly no photos of other tables or bags of loot - just too busy! I think it's the first time I've been to an event and not bought anything!! I didn't even eat my sandwiches until I was driving home. Adam from the club bought me a Celtic Cross and gravestones as thanks for the lift - thanks Adam (and big thanks from Kyle for the Greeks)! Thanks also to everyone who stopped by and said nice things about the table, the Viking ship seemed to go down well. Finally, it was great to finally meet Ray Rousell from Don't Throw a One!
Next up is Cavalier in 2016 - see you there.
