The Tale of Sir Chasm - Saga AAR

Josh and I continued our run of weekend games. This week we decided to pick Saga back up, but with the Age of Fantasy book. 

After a quick scramble to purchase dice (which we both forgot!) we cracked open the books. 

We decided to use the "Battle of Heroes" scenario from the Book of Battles to randomize the table and objectives. We were fighting in the Uplands, with two ruins, two pieces of rocky ground, and a woods in the middle. With the Confusion deployment, our warbands were diagonally opposed across the battlefield. The game length was Until Dusk (six turns), the special rule was A Dash of Nostalgia (Warlords generate two Saga dice), and the victory Condition was Subjugation (a straightforward counting of massacre points at the end of the game.

Josh had brought a Masters of the Underearth warband, using the Dwarves of the Silverheight legendary rules:

• Warlord
• Wizard
• 8 Warriors
• 8 Warriors
• 8 Warriors with Heavy Weapons
• 8 Warriors with Crossbows
• 8 Warriors with Firearms
• 2 Bipedal Creatures (Living Statues)
• Static War Machine (Cannon)

I brought a Horde Warband, which seemed best suited to my Orcs & Goblins:

• Warlord
• Wizard
• Lieutenant
• 4 Hearthguard
• 8 Warriors
• 8 Warriors
• 8 Mounted Warriors
• 3 Bipedal Creatures (Trolls) 
• War Chariot

The two warbands seemed well balanced against each other. The Horde battle board largely focuses on charging into combat, and increasing the number of attack dice thrown when charging. The Underearth battleboard has more table control, with abilities that can block or halt enemy units, improve ranged attacks, and use your numbers (either because there's more models in your warband, or you have better armor) against the enemy. 

With just three dice in the first turn (as per the Until Dusk scenario length), Josh managed to roll two rare dice results and used the Chasm ability to throw up an obstruction to my infantry, keeping them back for an entire turn. 

My cavalry moved out to the right, hoping to land some blows before the big infantry horde would arrive. 

In the second turn, Josh decided to throw his Warlord forward at the War Chariot instead of letting it get a charge off. Unfortunately, in order to do so the Warlord ended up going into the fight with three Fatigue. While the Chariot wasn't as good while defending, I just needed Josh to fail two defense die rolls to kill his Warlord early in the game. 

So with the Rage ability and some luck, the Warlord and Chariot ended up destroying each other. It was a trade I was willing to make (although my unlucky streak with Chariots continues!). 

Since the first turn Chasm had forced my Orcs into the rocky ground, I was trying to rush them as quickly forward as possible, while the Dwarves hit them with rifle, crossbow, and cannon fire. Luckily, the Horde has the Endurance ability, which is a reaction that gives a unit solid cover from shooting attacks. 

Annoyingly, my cavalry charge completely whiffed, with the Boar Riders bouncing off the well-armored Dawi warriors. The Dwarves followed up with a counter charge, leaving only two Boar Riders left. I had these remaining Mounted Warriors flee, rather then give them up as easy points for Josh. 

With my cavalry functionally gone, I bet everything on the remaining infantry units, who were still slogging forward towards Josh's defensive position in the ruins. By now both sides were starting to feel the loss of their Saga dice, especially since Josh had lost his 2-dice Warlord so early in the game. 

My Wizard managed to get a fantastic round of combat thanks to his Transformation spell, which turned him into a Beast-mounted Warlord. The transformed Wizard wiped out a unit of Dwarf warriors whose crossbows had riddled the Orc Hearthguard before they ever got a chance to get into combat. The Orc Lieutenant followed up and wiped out most of the other unit of ranged Warriors equipped with firearms. 

With that last turn, the game ended, and the two warbands retreated to lick their wounds and count the dead. Josh's Dwarves racked up an impressive tally, scoring 29 massacre points. The Orcs didn't do too badly either, scoring 25.5, which rounded up to 26. As the Dwarves didn't manage to pull ahead on points, the game ended up as a tie. 

As Mythic Americas adds to Warlords of Erehwon to provide flavor to a somewhat vanilla system, Age of Magic adds just enough to Saga to give it a very different on-the-table feel compared to its more historical counterparts without slowing it down. The six factions or archetypes have enough variety in their units and from their battleboard to feel distinct, and you could even have two warbands of the same archetype use radically different approaches. The larger warbands didn't feel slower, since single-model or 2-3 model units are common. And magic was pretty easy to use, especially since the Wizards themselves are fairly static (you don't have to worry about magic levels or equipment, and each wizards get to pick three spells from two different schools of magic, depending on their faction). 

A fun game that feels different enough from Warlords of Erehwon to deserve time on the table. 

Painting Update - Warhammer Fantasy

It's been a bit slow around here, with the holidays coming up and Covid spiking. I've also hit a bit of a slump with painting as well.

After the last game of Warlords of Erehwon, I decided to get back to work on my Orcs & Goblins project. I've only got a few units to work on left, one of which was this group of Orc Boar Riders.

I also picked up a unit of Trolls from Satyr Art Studio, which I found through a Black Friday sales promo. These are fantastic metal miniatures, with lots of life and detail. 

Lawn Care - Warhammer Fantasy: Renaissance AAR

With restrictions lifting in the state, I was able to head out to the local game store and finally get a game of Warhammer Renaissance with my Orcs & Goblins. 

So with mask on and hand sanitizer in my pocket, I packed up my minis and tape measure for the first game I've played in three months!

Nick and I decided on a 1,500 point game.

My Orcs & Goblins warband had six regiments, with Orc Boyz, Black Orcs, Night Goblins, Boar Boyz, and Wolf Riders. They were accompanied by a couple Black Orc heroes, a couple Goblin shamans, and a spear chukka.

Nick's army was much smaller, with most of the points going into a very scary unit of Chaos Warriors of Khorne and a Chaos Warlord. There was also a unit of Bloodletters, a Chaos Chariot, and a Chaos Spawn.

We used the Take the Field scenario, where one of use would need to control the forest in the center, or have the most troops in each four quadrants of the table.

Most of the fighting went down in the middle of the table. Nick's Bloodletters reach the forest first, but I managed to charge them in the rear with my Orc Boyz after they were moved by the Hand of Gork.

My Night Goblins survived long enough to deploy their Fanatics, which killed the Chaos Spawn that lured the mushroom-frenzied loonies out and even killed a few Chaos Warriors. But the regiment was routed by the Chaos Chariot, and two Fanatics killed each other when they unfortunately collided.

The Chaos Warriors went through my Black Orcs like weed-whackers, sending dark green chunks flying everywhere.

The Bloodletters sent my Orc Boyz fleeing after the General was killed in a challenge, which left only my second unit of Orc Boyz and my Battle Standard Bearer to contest the forest. They were quickly flanked by both the Chaos Chariot (which had dodged the spear chukka's poorly aimed bolts) and the Chaos Warlord.

With the Bloodletters joining the fray, it wasn't long until the last of the greenskins were obliterated, and the forest was solidly in Nick's control. We didn't need to tally up the victory points to know that Nick had won a solid victory.

This was my first game in over three months - my last game were at Cold Wars back in early March. I had been worried that I was approaching a hobby burnout and I wasn't enjoying any of the games I was playing. I had planned to take a multi-month break, which just so happened to coincide with the lockdown.

Turns out, it's exactly what I needed. Even with the rules referencing, I was glad to be back at the table, rolling dice and moving my toy soldiers again. I'm looking forward to more gaming, depending on how the pandemic turns out. This may or may not be wishful thinking in hindsight!

Painting Update - FIW, Warhammer Fantasy

It sounds like, in the area in which I live, some lockdown restrictions are going to be eased to allow non-essential stores to allow customers to come back into the building. This means access to the local game store, if they decided to open. This should also hopefully mean more gaming! I'll have to find a comfortable mask to wear. 

However, in the absence of games, I've continued working on various projects. 

AW Miniatures recently had a sale on their site, so I bought a couple packs of French and British Regulars to round out the units I have. I finished the French first, since I've got the foam to store them in. I'll get around to the British when their foam trays arrive.

Also finished were a unit of Goblin Wolf Riders and two Goblin wizards to support my Classichammer Orcs & Goblins army. I'm so close to finishing it! There's three units - Boar Riders,  Black Orcs, and Trolls - and a few characters to paint and I can call that project complete. 

Painting Update - Warhammer Fantasy

There's hasn't been much going on in terms of games played, but I did take up a painting challenge from The Old World Lives podcast, which focuses on 6th Edition Warhammer Fantasy Battle with a little Mordheim on the side. Their January challenge was to paint up a Core unit from an army, and I decided this would be the perfect motivation to finish the biggest chunk of my Orcs & Goblins project - a 25 strong mob of Orc Boyz.

This is the largest unit in the Waaagh! so far, even counting the cavalry units. It needs to be large, however, since these Orcs are lightly armored, trading the protection of shields for an extra hand weapon.

And that's it for now! I'll put away the green paint for a bit to concentrate on other projects, but I'm rapidly approaching the end of my Orcs & Goblins.

Painting Update - Warhammer Fantasy

Merry Christmas and happy holidays, everyone!

With 2020 right around the corner, this will be the last regular post before my annual end of the year review.

Most of my attention has been spent on the Orcs & Goblins army. I've been plugging away at the various units, moving back and forth between infantry, cavalry, artillery and characters. And what's more appropriate for the season than a whole bunch of green and red?

There's still plenty to do, but the grey mountain keeps shrinking!

Any O&G army needs its characters to keep the boyz in line, so I've got a Boss and a Shaman to lead the Waaagh. 

Orcs aren't known for their archery skills, but even a small unit of Arrer Boyz can deter light cavalry from a flank, or (more likely) act as a speed bump. 

There's no better choice for sneaky cavalry than Spider Riders! These eight-legged freaks can quickly move through forests to surprise enemy flanks. 

Another faster-than-average choice for the greenskins are Orc Chariots. They can cause a lot of damage on the charge, but fall apart after a few solid blows.

I also had two more additions to the "arty party" for my Waagh. Doom Divers are an iconic unit for Orcs & Goblins, and no other army can boast that they have self-guided (if short lived) artillery units. 

And to finish my progress at the moment, I also painted up a Rock Thrower (good for squashing heavily armored units) and an Orc Bully to keep all these goblins in line. 

I've got a few more big chunks to work on, mostly cavalry and infantry units, but the end for this army is in sight. After that, I guess it's on to the next big project. And I'll have to play some games of Warhammer Fantasy at some point in 2020.

Painting Update - Warhammer Fantasy

I've been in a gaming drought recently, so I've spent my hobby time chipping away at one of my biggest projects - a 6th Edition Warhammer Fantasy Battle Orcs & Goblins army.

It's something I've always wanted to do, but I didn't enter the hobby until around 8th Edition came out, and I wasn't a fan of the massive units required to play or the insane magic spells.

Earlier in the year I stumbled across an old O&G battalion set and some units in the flea market at Cold Wars, and bought them on a whim. I've since grown that force into something that could comfortably play 2000+ point games in 6th Edition, while immersing myself in the Classichammer/Oldhammer community - groups playing in older editions of Warhammer Fantasy without the looming threat of codex creep or the hot new thing.

I actually completed the first unit last month as a test, and I think they turned out well. It's a pretty simple paint scheme that has a lot of black and green but it works well together. This was also a test for the 3d-printed movement trays Kevyn made for me, which I glued magnetic sheets to the bottom. The rare earth magnets under the miniatures' bases keep them in placed for the most part, while still allowing for them to be removed.

I decided to tackle some artillery next. A pair of spear chukkas makes for some decent ranged support in an army that's pretty focused on close combat.

I then went back to the infantry. Two blocks (or a single mob) of Night Goblins from the Battle for Skull Pass set came together pretty nicely. I decided to use the troll from the set as a unit filler, and its blue skin contrasts well against the black and greens of the goblins. I'm still kicking myself for passing up the Dwarf half of that set, however!

Of course, what's a Night Goblin force without a couple of characters and randomness? They need a Big Boss, a Shaman, and a trio of Fanatics.

And to finish up the Night Goblins, I painted up a couple units of archers. Since I wasn't using the unit commands, I had to use a couple totems and a squashed goblin, but I think they add a little flavor to the units.

While I'm working on some vehicles for Gaslands now, I'm going to get back into the Greenskins to finish of