SAGA: The Taxman Cometh...

Adam and I managed to find time to have a game of SAGA last night (not that hard, SAGA doesn't exactly take long for us). The Brave and dashingly handsome Irish were fighting the ruthless, cold, kitten killing and generally bad guys, the Rus.

The Irish were hanging in their village, tending their crops, telling stories of their greatness and downing an ale or two, before the a messenger of the oppressive land owners arrived, demanding their due. Screaming something about taxation and representation, the Irish dutifully sent that messenger back headless.

Apparently that was not payment enough, so it was not long before the Rus arrived..

Cue the Imperial March from Star Wars....

The Warlord Fionúir emerged from his castle, ready to do battle.

The Warriors sallied forth to defend the wagon (which might have been previously owned by the Rus. It was their own fault for leaving the windows down and the keys in it)

The Rus advanced relentlessly towards the Irish, but much to their suprise, the Irish sallied forth from their walls, and sought combat! So much for a walk over!

The Irish ran forward, throwing Javelins at the oncoming Rus. In spite of a ridiculous number of projectiles, no one died. Not even a scratch. Loki was pulling the wool over the Irish eyes!

There are meant to be less of them!

This clever plan of running out and throwing sticks seemed to maybe not be the best idea. First, the women and children were hiding in the woods, and were spotted by the evil lord along with his axe-wielding vassals...

Ruh Roh.

The Levies needless to say did not last long. They killed one of the enemy, but were not spared.

Then the enemy levies sought combat with the brave Irish boys..

Which ended with the Warriors killing many Levies, but losing almost all of their number. Then they ran off (stupid enemy battleboard ability killing my dudes)

In the centre, Fionúir surrounded by his loyal wolfhounds was ambushed first by enemy warriors, who sacrificed three of their number to roll an astronomical 20 attack dice!

Before...

And after...

The cunning Rus had sought to isolate Fionúir, for without his loyal hounds he was easy picking for the heavy axes of the enemy Varangians.

But the Varangians themselves were then ambushed by yet another unit of warriors (I have a few), who pelted them with their javelins. This time, the missiles had an effect, killing almost all of the number. The last Varangian was killed trying to avenge the death of his brother in close assault with the Warriors.

But then those warriors were ambushed by the enemy Warlord and some more Varangians, the mutual destruction leaving just two men standing before the gates of the village.

The game ended shortly thereafter, when that lone warrior rolled many, many 6's on a dice to give himself a lot of Javelin dice, then proceeded to throw them all at the enemy Warlord. One missile was enough to cause a fatal wound, saving the village!

Not that there is anyone left alive in the village...

Was a fun game of SAGA, something very different! It was good to play SAGA after so long, the Irish were getting very bored sitting in a box without a game!

Right, painting challenge is all go, I need to get cracking. Moderns game Saturday, which will be awesome.

CP

SAGA Dark Ages: Alliances formed and treaties broken...

On Thursday Night, we scrounged up a few locals for a 4 way game of SAGA. We decided to run the scenario from the Northern Fury book, where there is changing alliances and general mayhem! So the game starts out as 2 v 2. Then, at the end of turn one, people choose a colour of card (red or black). For the next turn, it is Red Team against Black Team, with casualties counting for the respective teams. At the end of that turn it repeats, until Turn 4, when the choices are permanent! Team with the most kills at the end of the game, wins!

So to the fight, I brought Cu Eion and his Irish lads and lasses, but we also had the Rus (Vikings), some Anglo Danish and the dreaded Jomsvikings! How these four armies got to the same battlefield, I have no idea. But since they did, it only seemed right to have a scrap!

The Irish and the Rus began allied for turn 1. This is what the game looked like at turn one....


Anglo Danish archers holding a wood


The Rus (with their pretty shields) storming out from the ruined castle


Some of Cu's warband


Cu Eion himself, directing the warriors

Turn one was markedly uneventful. We were all a long way from each other, so no shooting, no nothing really. Only thing to happen was the Jomsvikings began increasing their level of wrath.....

Turn Two.



So I chose black. What colour did everyone else choose? Red. So it is now 3 v 1 for a turn. Good....

But the only thing in my favour is that I got initiative! So, without any adieu I began to storm the castle...


Charge!


The castle is ours!

Unfortunately, revenge was swift in it's retribution, coming in the form of Varangian Guard equipped with very large axes and lots of armour. So... the opposite of my Irish! Luckily they could only kill so many warriors, and I managed to kill a couple of them too.

On the other side of the board, not much was happening. Or at least there was a hill in the way so I couldn't see anything going on. Perhaps they weren't even moving at all?


Formation dancing. That's what that is.

Turn 3 began with the royal placing of the cards. I chose black (again), and was rewarded with an ally! This time some Jomsvikings were on my side.

Which was really handy, because those Russians were not on my side, and the Jomsvikings could help with that!


Cu eyeing up some Russkis

So the plan? Simple. Take and hold the castle! Oh and clear out the Russians.

How did that go? Well, it went alright. Killed a few more with Javelins, but it was really helped by this happening on the other side of the castle...


Jomsvikings Charge!

Unfortunatly for the Joms, they bit off a bit more than they could chew! The Russian Warlord was seen to cut down the Joms' leader, as well as a score of his followers.

The other flank saw the Anglo Danish finally leave their dancing formation, and actually engage in combat! They charged the women and children, thinking that they would be easy prey. Not so for the Irish! More than a few Danish ended up on the wrong side of an mad Irishwoman's frying pan....


The Anglo Danish lads finally get involved....

Turn 4 rolled around, time for another card! What did I choose? Black. So the Anglo Danish are my allies now?

But I have a plan, after seeing the Jomsvikings get so badly decimated by the Rus, surely I could do the same thing to them, but with Javelins?


Ignore the Russians, throw spears at the Northmen!


Ok, so we killed the Northmen, but the Russians and the Danish are slaughtering us!

It was at this time that the leader of the Rus with his retainers charged Cu Eion himself. Fighting to defend his country, his fallen childhood friend, his fallen pet, his homeland, with a broken axe AND with the sun in his eyes, Cu Eion sadly fell to the Russian invader, but not before taking many of the invaders with him (two, probably two).

Turn Five. What card did I choose? Black (see a theme here?) What card did everyone else choose? Black. So the victory conditions now were having the most stuff left on the battlefield!

Turns 5 and 6 were all kinds of not good for the Irish. Cu had fallen to the Rus, my warriors on the hill had been slaughtered by probability-defying bow fire from the Anglo Danish and my left flank was being accosted by many many more Anglo Danes.


"Anglo Danes, yes, we have a reservation. Here to accost we are, thank you"

The brave levies fought on, but without being able to generate many activation dice (at this point, 3), I was very much hamstrung by not being able to roll a 6 for extra dice!


Just throw more things at them! Stones, frying pans, goats!

The levies did eventually fall before the Anglo Danish, leaving even fewer alive to call the land Irish.


Dogs can't call the land anything... Run dogs run!

The rest of the battlefield saw the Jomsvikings and the Anglo Danish finally meet combat, although it was too little, too late for the Joms, the Anglo Danish were just too fresh an army to be able to fight it in two turns.

The final act was the Rus Warlord storming across the battlefield in an attempt to slay the Anglo Danish Warlord, thus claiming his right as ruler of the land. But, by the time he covered the ground, he was tired, but to his honour, he cut down two vassals to get to the enemy Warlord, only to be cut down as he swung his axe....

So ended the great 4 way game of SAGA. It was.... enlightening! I was probably too bold with my attacks, SAGA has a way of making you pay for killing enemy troops (usually at the cost of a similar number of your own), and so while the Rus and the Irish destroyed themselves and each other, the Joms took a while to arrive, but arrived piecemeal and so were slaughtered. The Anglo Danish held back, waiting for the battlefield to clear and then claimed it as their own. I could call it cowardly, but to be fair, there really isn't anyone left to make that smart remark!

There was one positive of the battle, the castle was still mine!



Look for some reports from the other protagonists, I will link them on here once I have them.

The Russian "opinion" of the battle is here

Up next? Romans. I have some to finish basing, and some on the painting table.

CP

SAGA Dark Ages: Cu Eion defending the Shores of Eire

So, I managed to get in a couple of games of SAGA last night, where the mighty Irish were defending the shores of Eire against the rampaging Anglo-Danish!

In true style, the Irish turned up late, so missed the chance to attack the enemy at their beach head, so instead had to make do with a pitched battle further inland.

The Irish formed up in their battlelines, wary of the opposing forces. Hearthguard took the flanks, warriors in the centre with Cu Eion himself, with a protective screen of women and children (that sounds a bit bad actually...)



But the cunning Anglo-Danish were lurking in the trees...



Darn cunning!

But, both armies surged forward, eventually meeting at the crest of a hill...



And, in true SAGA style, proceeded to beat the snot out of each other. SAGA has had an incredible body count in my games so far, and this was no exception. But, the Irish were able to hold their own, the game being decided in single combat between each of the Warlords with their retainers...



Where ultimatly Cu Eion was victorious! Well, more that his 4 Hearthguard with Dane Axes and a whole combo of extra dice were victorious!

So, with the lead army crushed and leaderless, Cu Eion set about catching up with the remainder of the invading force....

This game did not go as much according to plan! The Anglo-Danish were able to roll very, very useful dice, gaining the right abilities at the right time. To be on the recieving end of at least +3 fatigue for each of my units was a real, real pain!

So, at one stage my army looked like this...



Why yes, that is the entire army fatigued to the point of exhaustion! Which is a real problem in SAGA, and something I was very, very lucky to counteract!

But, the Irish did as Irishmen do, and they killed everyone. In spite of being fatigued, they managed to do the business!


"I thought I had friends... like a unit or something? Guys? Hello...?"


"There they are, get them!"

So, in spite of my massive fatigue, I was able to scrounge another win. So the Irish go 3-0! Must be some luck there. Still liking SAGA, nice and simple, easy and enjoyable to play.

Must get back to painting, plus some more gaming I hope!

Next up? 28mm historicals I hope!

CP

The SAGA of Cu Eion

Jamie and I managed to get a couple of games of SAGA in yesterday, giving my Irish army it's first proper run around! We played the "battle of the ford" scenario since Jamie has some lovely river terrain, it was only right to use it!

So it was Ragnar Hairy Pants against the Irish (Republican) Army of Cu Eion, fighting over pillaging rights for some poor Welsh farmers!

The left flank of the Viking battleline, viewed from the Irish lines across the ford.

How did the first game go? Well, on one flank, the Irish surged across the ford, adopting human wave style tactics.

Where they met some Vikings....

Who they then proceeded to slaughter through cunning use of Javelins and other such pointy sticks.

On the other flank, it was the Vikings who surged across, led by their warlord, Ragnar!

But after a hail of Javelins, there were suddenly less Vikings on the ford....

So Cu Eion himself led a glorious charge against Ragnar, seeking him out in singular combat! Actually, that is not entirely true, Cu Eion "might" have brought some friends along....

But the result was without doubt, Cu Eion has crossed the ford, ready to pillage the Welsh countryside!

Sadly however, Ragnar had not been slain, he had gotten away! It was not long before the foul Viking had returned to claim the pillaging rights once again...

The second game was no less brutal, Ragnar had stacked his right flank, seeking to crush a hammer blow through the Irish lines. Battle was once again joined on the ford....

But again, the superior numbers and large amount of javelins took a heavy toll upon the Vikings.

Before long, there were only a few Viking warriors, fleeing for their lives away from the rampaging army of Cu Eion!

So, two engagements over the fords, two victories for Cu Eion! Admittedly, he didn't roll badly but the combination of large numbers of javelins and use of some of the battleboard abilities meant that the Vikings were weakened when they got over the ford, so the superior numbers of the Irish could bring them down! I do really enjoy SAGA, it is a good, simple beer and pretzel style game. Plus I do really like my Irish army!

Until next time, for now, the ford is mine!

CP

SAGA Irish Completed

As part of the Analogue Painting Challenge, I set about finishing off an army to use for SAGA in the Dark Ages. As part of my usual goal to use an army which other people don't have meant that I wasn't going to go for the usual Vikings!

So instead, I chose to make an Irish army, using Crusader Miniatures from War and Peace Games.

This is the 6 point SAGA Warband as a whole, but here are some closer shots.

Two shots of my Warlord Cu Eion, with his loyal retainers. There is also a poor unfortunate saxon who has been on the recieving end of Cu Eion's axe! The command is from Crusader, the saxon is from Gripping Beast.

Two units of Irish Nobles with big axes. I decided early on that my nobility would have tartan patterns- and each would of course have their own style given their own houses, so after a bit of a google search, I was able to find some easy to replicate patterns! All are historical, especially the ugly ones!

Here are two units of 8 warriors- the first "Shirts", the second "Skins" so I can tell them apart! I chose a simple colour palatte for the 16 as a whole, just to keep them looking like a whole force.

My next unit of warriors is something unique- they are Irish Wolfhounds! I will split them into two groups of four, to combine with the other warrior units to have nice big units of 12.

And lastly, probably my favourite of the army, my levy. They are a combination of Crusader and Warlord Games miniatures. They are a combination of women and children, some far more scary than others! The kid with the sling is probably one of my absolute favourites.

Overall, I am really happy with how the army has turned out as a whole. I like the Crusader Miniatures, so much so that I am already looking at the next army from them!

As for painting- time for more Greeks I think! A proper write up about the challange tomorrow I think.

CP