AAR : Vikings v Irish in Champions of God

This weekend I managed to get a quick game of SAGA in and took plenty of pictures too!

I recently finished an Irish Wolfhound Warrior unit and a couple of champions and wanted to use them in a battle. Who better to fight than the Vikings. Good times about to roll? I hope so!

This was a 6 point Vikings versus Irish battle using mutually agreed terrain on a standard 3 x 4 foot table.

Here's the battle report, using images as the guide...

Vikings vs. Scots

It had been a very long time since Jon the Dirty and I, Steveaux, faced each other on the field of battle using the Saga rules. Since my Normans are still in a shipping container somewhere, we used Jon's forces: Vikings and Scots. Despite my ancestry, I opt for the Vikings.

My Viking. 2 units of Hearthguard, 1 of Warriors, and 1 levy.

Jon has 2 units of spearmen warriors, and 2 units of Hearthguard. We settle on the "Clash of Warlords" scenario.

Vikings ready for battle!

AAR: Vikings v Normans - 4 point Sacred Ground

I ran a little Saga game to flex the skirmishing muscles after recently getting more Flames of War games in.

I wanted to try something a little different and strategic so here is "Sacred Ground". Unlike a scenario like 'Clash of Warlords' where you have to be tactical in deciding how to strike the enemy Warlord at the right time and with certain abilities stacked up in your favour, this mission is a different beast.

A Clash of culture - Norman Elite Cavalry smash into Viking Warriors.

Saga LBMS Shield Decals

by Mike Wood

I recently purchased a number of shield transfers from LBMS as I wanted to give them a try. Previously I had used some Norman kite shield transfers and had some issues getting them to stay free of blemishes. The images on the interwebs of Saga figures with colourful designs and creatures look really great.

Here is one of  the sheets of transfers I purchased. You can source them here... Saga LBMS Shield Transfers

 These are my Vikings with very plain painted shields...

AAR: Scots vs. Vikings

Tom and I decided to get in a game of Saga this week to try out my new Scots from CGR Painters.  The models looked great, but I wanted to see how they did in bloody combat!  We decided to have a simple bloodbath, and lined up our guys on opposite sides of a lonely village to face off in manly combat!

The Viking Horde.

We decided on a 6 point battle.  Tom took a regular Warlord, 2 units of Heathguard, 3 units of Warriors and a unit of Levies with bows.  He decided to leave his units composed as-is to maximize his Saga Dice.

For the Scots, I took 4 units of Hearthguards and 2 units of Warriors.  I went ahead and put together the Hearthguard into two units of 8 each.  I gave up some dice, but decided that the big units were more important.  I have learned this lesson with my Vikings before.

Viking Levy Bowmen.

Hero of the Viking Age - Sven Forkbeard

Another man of Myth and Legend.... Son of King 'Harald Bluetooth' (the first Scandanavian King to be baptised a Christian) and father of Cnut the Great. Who is this Hero apparently baptised Otto but preferring not to use that name?  Whether his name was Sweyn or Sveinn or Sven, legend follows him as a notable King of the Dark Ages. Now learn a little more about his life and Saga abilities...



Sven Forkbeard - King of Denmark and England

Life and Death.

"Legend says that he grew up amongst the Jomsvikings in their Jomsborg stronghold". I don't put much faith in Legend, but it seems clear that Sven was no stranger to warfare and strategy....

Byzantine Basileus Vs. Viking

by Eric Lauterbach

Joe Moore and I wanted try out his new Byzantine Basileus Saga army which is all Hearthguard!  We threw out some terrain and got the armies engaged in a hurry.

The Table

The Vikings 3 Warriors and 1 Hearthguard

AAR - Vikings vs. Scots

by Eric Lauterbach

Another grudge match of Joe Moore's beautiful Scots and Eric's Vikings.   It was a ugly affair.  Not much fancy happened in this fight. We met in the middle and shield wall vs shield wall blood bath began.

The Table

Scot Hearthguard

AAR - The Escort - Vikings v Anglo-Danes

When two forces clash over a baggage train, who will prevail? In "The Escort" a 6 point Saga Viking faction is protecting a convoy of carts as they cross dangerous territory. A band of Anglo-Dane hearthguard is trying to stop them. Who will be victorious?

The Vikings have to get two carts off the far table edge, to help they take the first turn..... Anglo-Danes line up to stop them. The terrain will not make this easy as the carts cannot travel on uneven ground. The Vikings choose to start with the hill to their back. The Hill would make it hard to get off the table if the table sides were reversed!

The Vikings move several units forward.....

Clash of Warlords AAR: Fast and Furious!

On an ancient battlefield, the forces of Jhon the Dirty and Steveaux the Fluffy face off in a titanic struggle of might vs. tailored pants.  Clash of Warlords was the flavor of this Saga game.  We did a four point battle:

Viking Forces:

Jhon the Dirty

Hearthguard

Hearthguard

Bondi

Levy Archers

Norman Forces:

Steveaux the Finely Groomed

Mounted Knights

Mounted Warriors

Crossbow Warriors

Archer Warriors

The Vikings strategy:  Line up.  In a line.  The Normas hide in woods and generally prance about.

Steveaux, of the ambiguous gender sings and serenades his retinue.  How positively... womanly!

Old Glory Viking Long Serpent Ship

- by Eric Lauterbach

At Fall-In I picked up the Old Glory "Long Serpent Ship" and due to a bizarre - for Virginia - snow day have finally painted it up. I had looked at several plastic kits and laser cut wooden versions of Viking ships and none of them thrilled me. Knowing what a beating my wargame toys take moving from game to game, I did not want a plastic kit. The best solution seamed to be go with resin ships from Old Glory.  Turns out Old Glory has the Viking ship in two versions: one with crew: SVS-12 and one without: SVS-12s. The with crew sells for $65 dollars and the without crew sells for $35 dollars, this is before any discounts which you can get 40% if you join their army club.

Normans vs Vikings- Clash of Warlords!

Tom and I got a game of Saga in one night recently.  He brought his Vikings, and ran them in 1 big unit of 8 Hearthguard, and 2 units of 12 Bondi plus a 12 strong levy archer unit.  My Normans were my usual configuration of 2x4 mounted Hearthguard, 1x8 mounted hearthguard, 8 crossbows, and 12 archers.  The mission was Clash of Warlords.

Vikings Vs Irish: The Song of Ri Ghiaerhithghe

Olaf's Viking Raiders

Joe Moore and I played a game of SAGA  Clash of Warlords to give the Irish another run.  It was an epic game and Joe composed  The Song of Ri Ghiaerhithghe.  

Normans vs Vikings: Clash of Warlords

Tom and I got in 2 games of Saga one night, this being the second.  With little time left, we decided to play the basic "Clash of Warlords".  We thought it would be neat to have a burning village in the center.  Why?  Cause some men just want to watch the miniature world burn.  Tom's warband consisted of one unit of 8 Hearthguard, 3 units of 8 warriors, and 1 unit of levy archers.  My list was one unit of 8 Knights, 2 units of 4 knights, one unit of Sergeants with Crossbows, and a unit of peasant archers.

Viking Wardrums ...

The war drums are sounding.  Warriors are gathering at the banks and launching towards glory.

     Being the Noob Commander and having an attention span of a 4 year old, it was only a matter of time before I launched my hobby efforts into the World of Saga.  I was able to get a game in at Fall In and won!  It was a simple yet crunchy and fun game.  The models look great and can be purchased from many product lines to make your forces fit.

    
     Steve and Dirty Jon assisted with my force launch by donating Vikings to the cause.  I am looking forward to clashing in the Feast of Crows !

     The first unit I am gonna concentrate on for this WIP is the Warlord.  The warlord is actually a Foundry Barbarian I picked up at Historicon 2012 for $1.00.  I decided I wanted my Warlord to stick out and "paint a picture" as well.  I purchased Norman Casualties SG01 and began to form a plan.

Normans vs Vikings- The Challenge

Tom came by tonight for some games of Saga!  In our first game we played "The Challenge".  Tom's warband consisted of one unit of 8 Hearthguard, 3 units of 8 warriors, and 1 unit of levy archers.  My list was one unit of 8 Knights, 2 units of 4 knights, one unit of Sergeants with Crossbows, and a unit of peasant archers.

Tom's Vikings

My Vikings
Here are some pics of my viking army.  (I figure it can also do double-duty as Anglo-Saxons, Anglo-Danes and Jormvikings.)  Most of the figures are Wargames Factory plastic Vikings, but the central figures are the Eureka Miniatures metal Beowulf and Retinue pack.


The Warband

Quick AAR: Blood in the Snow (6 point Clash of Warlords)

Jon and I had a little time to kill and decided to quickly throw down on a game of Saga.  We both used our standard 6 point lists: Vikings (6x Hearthguard, 6x Hearthguard, 4x Berserkers, 12 Levy Bowmen, 8 warriors) and Normans (8x Hearthguard, 4x Hearthguard, 4x Hearthguard, Crossbows, Levy Bowmen)

The board.  Vikings all in the North.  Normans: Levy Bowmen to the left, with Archers to their right.  On the other side of the pond is a big unit of Knights.  Warlord and Knights wait behind the ranged units.

Focus On .... Viking Berserkers

Each Warband in Saga has its own unique flavour. For the Vikings Warband, specific rules are on the sparse side. One option you may want to consider is the Viking Berserker. Here are the rules from page 41 of the Main Rulebook.

"One Unit of Viking Hearthguard exactly 4 models strong may be desginated as Berserkers. Each Berserker model generates 4 attack dice in melee (instead of 2 for other Hearthguards) but has their armour reduced to 3."

Normans vs Vikings in Homeland (5 Points)

With my recently completed 4Ground Games buildings, I knew it was time to try the "Home Land" scenario. Jon bid 4 to defend, and came up defending. I knew this was going to be a very tough one with my Normans since they aren't exactly good with buildings, but I was ready to give it a go!