A Few Pictures From an Incomplete Battle

Jon and I started a battle of Sacred Ground but only got halfway through.  Tough to say where the battle would end up at this point.  Jon still had 2 units left: 2 Berserkers and 8 Hearthguard.  I was down to a total of 7 Hearthguard but also had my Crossbows.  Still anyone's game!

My Normans: Now and Later

I wanted to take a second to catalog my Norman army so far, and talk about where I plan to take it.  I've been slow getting this army off its feet since Saga is very much my "Second Game".

What Conquers a Conqueror?

The White Tower (Tower of London)

Advance warning & disclaimer time! Fundamentally, I'm a historian of medicine. Its what I studied at university, and its something that runs deeper than even military history, so what I'm about to write is going to be gross, or downright lose-your-lunch disgusting. So if you're put off by gruesome stuff, or perhaps your sitting down for lunch or something while catching up on the blog-o-sphere, you may want to have a look at Dux's excellent Saga blog and come back once your meal has settled firmly.

Right, you've been warned!

Norman Crossbows!

To counter Jon's new Viking levy bowmen, I finally finished up some Norman crossbows!  With their reduction in enemy armor, these guys are one of the best shooting units in the game.  I've had great success with them- especially vs those who already take a reduction in armor against shooting like welsh or knights!

Normans vs Vikings in Clash of Warlords (4pt)

Sean's first game of Saga!  Sean borrows Jon's Vikings for this round.  We decide to play Clash of Warlords just to show Sean the mechanics.

Steveaux the Handsome's Normans 8x Knights 4x Knights 4x Knights

Sean  Luc's Normans 6x Hirdmen 6x Hirdmen 8x Bondi

More 4Ground Games Buildings

After thoroughly enjoying my Medieval Cottage by 4Ground Games (see my review here), I was eager to order the other 2 buildings in the line: The Dwelling, and The Hovel.  Because they are essentially the same product shaped slightly differently, I'm not going to review them individually, but instead let the pictures do the talking.

The village

Miscellaneous Celtic History 101

The Ancient Celts

The Celtic languages constitute one of the major branches of the Indo-European family of languages in Europe. Celtic-speakers seem to have been particularly wide-spread across Northern Europe in the ancient period of Iron Age Europe. As the dominant "barbarian" groups of the Europe, various Celtic tribes first appear in early Greek histories.  The Celtic speakers of Gaul were one of early Rome's major enemies.  In the 390s BCE, a Gallic force defeated the Romans and sacked Rome itself.

Such Celtic preeminence gradually faded as Roman rule expanded northwards. Thanks to the Gallic Wars, in what is now France, the Roman Republic brought many Celtic-speakers under its rule. The Roman invasion of Britain incorporated the many island Celts there.  The peoples in these new provinces did not immediately switch to Latin - rather a hybrid culture with Roman and Celtic elements developed -- but Celtic tribes lost their independence in these areas.

Guns of August SAGA tournament

The Guns of August Convention is one my favorite local cons in a good location that my whole family enjoys.  I was able to take the kids to Busch Gardens in the day and play SAGA  all night so everybody was happy.  The SAGA Tournament was 4 point armies and run by the Williamsburg Legati.  I cannot say enough good things about the Williamburg Legati they are a super bunch of guys who really know how to run a tournament.  They had Architects of War support and everything a gamer needs provided on the table. 

At the tournament I was running Welsh: 1 Levy and the rest Warriors.   I had one unit of mounted Welsh Warriors.

Battle with Skraelings

My first game was against Mark Mckinley a Skraelings player and all around great guy.  I had never played the Skraelings before and was not sure what to expect.  It started out with missile exchanges because the Skrealings are just like the Welsh and "Throw Sticks" the only difference is all his troops are one less armor.  So we were winning the exchange and Mark's horrible dice were not helping him.   I was killing tons of Skraelings but little did I know these guys have an ability to regenerate dead skraelings into new units so it was like fighting a zombie horde.  My thought now was the only way to stop the zombies is to kill the warlord.   I got lucky with the initiative roll and had two turns that were back to back and mark could not recover from that and I was able to ride the Cavalry to the back and kill his warlord.   I killed 27 warriors 6 Levy and his Warlord so going into round two I had a lot of points.

Normans vs Vikings Battle at the Ford (4pt)

Jon and I got in a quick game one night before doing some recording for News From the Front.  I promise I'll have my 5th point ready soon!  I am the bottleneck.  Painting horsies is hard!  Jon wanted to try a "silly" army this go round.

Steveaux the Handsome's Normans 8x Knights 4x Knights 4x Knights

Jon the Dirty's Vikings 8x Hirdmen 4x Berserker Babes 12x Thrall Archers

SAGA: Beginning Impressions

Steve-O and I have jumped right in to SAGA over the last few months, and I have organized my thoughts and impressions so far.

QUICK PLAY
I really like the fact that we can crank out a game in an hour or less. There are not a ton of complicated rules to bog you down in this game -- toss some SAGA dice and get on with it! I like the fact that the armies are pretty evenly matched, with mostly the Battle Board to give them flavor. The Missions are mostly straightforward and do not need a ton of strategy time.

The Challenge: Normans v Vikings

After getting crushed in one turn on our last game, I was eager to redeem myself!  We elected to play The Challenge.

Stev Goatcrusher's Vikings 8x Hirdmen 4x Hirdchicks (Battle Babes!) 8x Bondi

Jean Luc's Normans 6x Mounted Knights 6x Mounted Knights

The Last Kingdom

As I prepared for my entry into the world of Saga, I tooled around the Internet researching the various factions found in the game. While doing this, I stumbled upon a series of dark age novels written by Bernard Cornwell. Cornwell is perhaps best known for his historical fiction series that follows the exploits of Richard Sharpe. His lesser known Saxon series focuses on the Anglo-Saxon kingdom of Wessex, England during the 9th-century reign of Alfred the Great, his opposition to the Danes, and his attempt to unite England as one country. The series currently consists of six books: The Last Kingdom (2004), The Pale Horseman (2005), The Lords of the North (2006), Sword Song (2007), The Burning Land (2009), and Death of Kings (2011.)

The Last Kingdom (2004)

	ISBN 0-00-714990-5 (hardback) ISBN 0-06-053280-7 (paperback)

Viking Levy Archers

Eric Lauterbach bullied me into buying some Archers for my Vikings. Even though they are Levy, give no SAGA dice and are very....un-Viking, I decided to get some. Eric was nice enough to drag me around the vendor area of Historicon and help me put together 12 of these guys. Here are the pics:

Normans vs Vikings: Clash of Warlords

Luke's first game of Saga! Warning- it's a short one. I make a bad Viking. The mission is Clash of Warlords

Stev Goatcrusher's Vikings 8x Hirdmen 4x Hirdchicks (Battle Babes!) 8x Bondi

Jean Luc's Normans 6x Mounted Knights 6x Mounted Knights 4x Mounted Knights