Normans vs. Welsh - SAGA AAR

Alex and I met up last weekend at 7th Dimension Games for a couple of games of SAGA. While we were playing to get the rules down, we had an ulterior motive in that we hoping someone else might take an interest. No one did, unfortunately, but we had a couple of enjoyable games. 

We each had 4 point warbands - Alex with his Welsh and myself with my Normans (recently fleshed out by models sold to me by Alex).

Welsh

Warlord

x3 Warriors

Levy

Normans

Warlord (Mounted)

x2 Hearthguard (Mounted)

Warriors

Warriors (Crossbows)

Game 1

During set up, Alex deployed his warriors in 2 groups of 12, and basically had every Welshman take cover in the woods. 

I did the opposite, hoping that the superior mobility of my mounted Hearthguard could get them moving quickly enough.

Thing's didn't go as planned, however. My crossbows didn't do much since the woods gave the Welsh decent cover. I slammed a unit of Hearthguard into a group of Warriors. My knights did some damage, but they took a lot of hits in return, only leaving a single man who was quickly overwhelmed. 

Alex let me know how devastating Welsh combat could be, especially with their ability (Strength of Numbers) to add attacks equal to the disparity of men in combat - those 12-man Warrior units could hit really hard! Combine that with a flurry of javelins, and I lost another unit of knights. I had my foot Warriors move into the woods as they braved waves of javelins.

Having lost all of my knights, I decided discretion was the better part of valor and pulled my Warlord back.

My major problem was that I could get those Warrior units down to small sizes, but I could never seal the deal, and Alex kept getting SAGA dice from those damaged units. He used the Strength in Numbers with his Levy to kill of my wounded Warriors. 

The game ended when I decided to get a little daring and have my Warlord charge Alex's Levy. Once again, Alex used his Strength in Numbers ability to turn my Warlord into mincemeat and end the game. 

Game 2

For this game I combined my Hearthguard into a single unit. This brought me down to 5 Saga dice, but now I could move my Hearthguard all at once with my Warlord.

Alex deployed his Welsh shieldwall mostly in the woods, with his Levy outside. I had my foot Warriors cover my Hearthguard's advance. Stupidly, for some reason, I had put my Hearthguard outside of my Warlord's We Obey ability, so I had to spend a turn getting him over there. D'oh!

Alex consolidated his Warriors and Levy into the woods to cover his Warlord. I advanced my line to engage in the next turn. 

And engage I did! I managed to wipe out a unit of Warriors, but lost half my Hearthguard in the attack. 

I must have forgotten a few pictures here, but essentially Alex decimated my Hearthguard, wiped my Crossbowmen off the table with some well placed arrows, and beat back my foot soldiers. I tried to get his Warlord with my own, but what few attacks connected were passed onto the nearby Warrior unit. 

Alex ended the game by having his Warlord led his Levy (which got the MVP Award for the night) in a charge and killed my Warlord. Ouch!

So, things I learned:

1. Normans are tough at 4 points. They don't have the breadth of choices that a 6 point list would have. 

1a. Norman foot Warriors aren't too useful. I had hoped to use them as a screening unit for my Hearthguard, but once that was done, they kind of... died. I think a unit of Levy would serve better in a screening unit, especially since they could actually fight from a distance. 

2. Welshmen are absolute bastards when you give them a bit of scrub to defend in! The ability to activate all their units at once for a shooting attack really hurts, and the ability to gain extra attacks if they outnumber you makes for deadly 12 man units of Warriors. 

3. A bit of a correction. Alex and I remembered that unit's can't generate more than twice the original number of attack dice they had when using Battleboard abilities. So those Levy aren't quite as dangerous as them seemed. I still have to be wary when engaging those big block of Warriors, however!

So, I may go back to my Anglo-Danes and try getting better with them. I enjoy their defensive and denial-based abilities more so than the Normans shoot-and-charge tactics. 

Painting Update - ACW

Back in April of last year, I mentioned that I was starting to paint the 20mm-esque miniatures that came with my copy of the 150th Anniversary version of Battlecry. Well, that was a little bit of a lie. I had fully intended to start painting them, but I really just placed them back in the box and they were forgotten. I've taken so long in getting to them that the primer started to flake off, which is really messy. 

Oh yeah, that was back when I was doing the 15mm French-Indian War with This Very Ground. Man, don't I have some regrets there. 

Anyway, wanting to do something different than 15mm WWII or 28mm Dark Ages, I broke out my light and dark blues and got the Union generals, cavalry, and artillery done. 

Generals

Cavalry

Artillery

With that done, I need to flock the bases and hit everything with a dullcote lacquer. Then it's on to the infantry, and then at some point I'll have to start and finish the Confederates. 

Demos, Demos, Demos! - SAGA AAR

Alex and I ran a few demo games of SAGA for a local wargames club. The bulk of the miniatures were provided by Alex (6 points warbands of Normans, Welsh, and Anglo-Danes, 2 each), with my Vikings thrown into the mix. I was given one of the Norman warbands, and faced off against my own Vikings (since they didn't come with a info-card like Alex's warbands did. A very clever idea, that). 

Normans (and a very, very fast Norman Warlord) and Welsh battle it out 

My own Warlord led a group of knights into an ill-advised charge

A slight miscalculation led to a bit of a do-over for the Normans and Welsh, but they were eager to get back into it! 

'M'lord? Where'd you go?'

Anglo-Danes weather a storm of Welsh javelins

What's left of my Normans. Notice the distinct lack of Knights. 

My warriors hold. For now. Did I mention that the Norman Battleboard only support cavalry and missile infantry?

Welsh and Anglo-Danes trade blow for blow

The opposite Norman Warlord feels a little isolated.

Just Levy = no Saga dice = Viking victory!

The Welsh celebrate their victory around the fallen body of the Norman Warlord.

Previous obligations forced me to leave once the games were over (and miss a game of Fireball Forward, unfortunately) but it seemed as though SAGA was well received by the group. With a 4 point Norman forced that Alex helped me to complete, I'm hoping to introduce the game to a larger audience. 

Painting Update - WWII

Just a quick update for today. I managed to get some painting done, and finished a platoon of Pz. IV's for my Flames of War Germans. These are the Plastic Soldier Company models, and my Vallejo/Citadel paints and washes took to them incredibly well. Once I get done with my Battlefront models, I bet they're going to be indistinguishable at arms length.

Also, I've found it very difficult to sit down and get anything painted after buying a couple more pre-painted X-Wing miniatures, since they've both been done up to reasonable tabletop quality. I'm hoping to get more games in soon!

Ambush! - X-Wing AAR

When FFG released their X-Wing miniatures game, I was mildly interested. I've always had an interest in the Star Wars universe, especially with the fightercraft. I enjoyed Michael Stackpole's X-Wing series (and am in the process of reacquiring the books to reread them), and I spent hours playing Rogue Squadron in my Nintendo 64 as a kid. 

Recently, Target (a discount retailer in the United States) had a clearance sale on the core set. At 50% off, I couldn't help but pick up a couple sets. Feeling slightly guilty, I also picked up the X-Wing and TIE fighter expansions from 7th Dimension Games. Feeling pretty satisfied with my purchases, I managed to wrangle Rob, a coworker that I recently found out plays 40k and is always interested in trying out new games, for a demo. 

I set up two 50 point flights. Rob choose the Rebels, and had 2 X-Wings - a rookie pilot, and a Red Squadron pilot with a Proton Torpedo. I played the Imperials with 4 TIE fighters - two Obsidian Squadron Pilots and two Academy Pilots. The story behind the scenario was an Imperial ambush that had occurred during a training flight between a rookie pilot and his mentor.

 

The two opposing flights deployed in straight lines across the table from each other. Since this was a demo game, I decided against using any terrain. This would be a straight-up dogfight. 

 

First turn didn't see a whole lot of anything happen. Both flights approached each others with the eager Academy pilots screaming forward. 

 

The Red Squadron pilot scored a quick kill in the second turn, locking onto and vaping an Obsidian Squadron pilot with a single burst of lasers. 

 

The fighters screamed towards one another, trading laser fire. Unfortunately for Rob, by the time he remembered the Proton Torpedo that the Red Squadron pilot had, we were too close for him to use it. 

Oh boy. Somehow Rob and I got into a massive Charlie Foxtrot, which kept all of our starfighters from using any of their abilities - so no Focusing, Locking On, Evading, or Barrel Rolls this turn. Laser fire flew through the aether.

The fighters pulled apart after their little scrap and flew off in different directions to lick their wounds. 

That didn't do the second Obsidian pilot any good, however, when the Rookie blew him out of the sky, 

The game went against the Rebels fairly quickly, however. Over the course of the game the X-Wings had lost their shields and taken hull damage. The Red Squadron pilot bought the moisture farm soon after the Obsidian pilot. The Rookie pilot was vaped soon afterwards, with the Academy-trained TIE pilots getting off without a scratch. 

Rob conceded the game in good spirits, and even mentioned that he was interested in picking up a core set or two himself. Looks like I've got another game to enjoy in the new year!