AAR: Byzantines v Scots

Here's a little photo AAR with some notes from a game I played on Friday evening.

I was using my new 6 points plastic army as Scots (four points spear warriors, two points of Hearthguard cavalry). You can find out more about it on my blog here.

The cavalry are what I would like to use as Norman Exile Knights (under "Warlord Macbeth" someday). They are plastic Conquest Games Norman Knights (these models are very flexible in how they can be used in Saga)

 The spearmen are made from Gripping Beast Dark Age Warriors and I have kept them deliberately "generic" enough to use as Welsh, Strathclyde (foot), Irish and maybe a few others as well!)

My opponent, Dan, was using his own Byzantine troops. Three Hearthguard (Kavallaroi) spear-armed Knights, two Hearthguard bow-armed Knights and one unit of Steppe Nomads.

We kept things easy and went for the "Clash of Warlords" mission - just kill the enemy Warlord to win!

We chose only two scenery pieces and the table was very open. The new Saga book, the Crescent and the Cross improves terrain selection greatly, but we are using the old ways until the new book hits the streets!

Here is a photo walkthrough....

Byzantines win the deployment and get to put most of their force down after the Scots. The Byzantine Warlord hangs back (centre right mainly out of shot)

The Crescent & the Cross - The Spanish Faction

With the impending release of the new Saga expansion "The Crescent & the Cross", I thought I would give a little teaser on the Spanish faction and its battleboard.

This is one of my favourites so far as it allows for a lot of "cavalry action". Always good to see something that should be able to counter the Normans "like for like"!

Model Review: Gripping Beast Swords for Hire: Monks and Minstrels!

Gripping beast have sent some more metal figures from their extensive range for the Saga wargame. This time it is the turn of the Bards and the Angry Monks.

Let's start with the Angry Monks...

Gripping Beast Angry Monks - armed to the teeth!

The SAGA Tapestry Historicon Tournment IS ON!!!

Posted by Eric Lauterbach

The SAGA Tapestry tournament will be held at Historicon 2014 on Friday 18th Starting at 9:30AM and ending at 4PM. The format will be “jump in, jump out” meaning you do not have to play all the rounds to join. Rounds will roughly run an hour long using 4pt or 6pt SAGA armies, from all current official lists. The point level will be decided by you and your opponent based on what you have. Heroes are allowed if you and your opponent agree. Score will be based on number of wins and then points. Points will be awarded in accordance with the rules with 1pt for every three Levies, 2pts per Warrior and 1pt per Hearthguard eliminated by your army. Each enemy Warlord eliminated is worth 5pts. No unpainted figures will be allowed. We will use the official scenarios in an order TBD. If you would like to sign up please contact Brian Sherry at blackknight@gmail.com, or show up the day of and we will squeeze you in if at all possible. We will have enough tables for 16 players at one time. To keep up with current announcements go to http://www.sagatapestry.com/

Great fun at these had by all!  Even this guy...

You can't do worse than this confused dude! New Players welcome, bring your army and try it out! This is a very noob friendly event very low key.

 Thanks again to Brian Sherry for running this event he has secured some great prize support from Gripping Beast as well.   See you all there!

WSS Wargaming Survey

Apart from rolling dice, there seem to be few things wargamers like to do better than discuss the state of their hobby. Are we dying out? Are we all just loners in a dark basement? The purpose of this survey is to actually get a measure of some of these - and many more - questions. The outcome will be published in an upcoming issue of Wargames, Soldiers and Strategy as well as online.
At the end of this survey, you'll have the chance to enter your email address into a raffle for some very nice prizes, such as the SAGA Great Hall from 4Ground, a 1000-point Bolt Action army offered by Warlord Games, pirates from NorthStar, books from Osprey and Casemate as well as three 2-year subscriptions to either Ancient Warfare, Medieval Warfare or Wargames, Soldiers & Strategy! Moreover, as a thank-you for taking part in this survey, everyone will get a discount coupon for use on the Karwansaray Publishers website and can be used to purchase any of our books and magazines.
Please note that this survey is entirely anonymous, unless you choose to provide your email address for the raffle. If you do, this will only ever be used to contact you if you win. 
Finally, filling out the entire survey shouldn't take more than 5-10 minutes, and we're taking responses until July 31st, 2014.

CLICK HERE TO TAKE THE SURVEY