Second Game of 'Ilium' - 8 Heroes Clash on the Plains of Troy

    Heroes gather around the dusty plains of Troy for another game of Ilium: A Game of Heroes

After our first try of the Trojan War game, Ilium: A Game of Heroes, we had decided we enjoyed it enough to introduce to the rest of the Sunday Night gaming crew. Written by Nic Wright of Irregular Wars, the game has players commanding contingents of up to seven figures -- one Greek or Trojan hero and his band of companions. Since our group usually features 6-7 folks each week, we wanted a game that played quickly and could have all of us gathered around the same tabletop. Though written as a two player game, Ilium works well as a multiplayer one, too. This past Sunday was our first real test of that -- all seven regulars showed up.

    Diomedes & his Promachoi (28mm Wargames Foundry) advance towards the Trojans in the distance

I had volunteered to step back and game master, but Mike S and Keith insisted that we all play, and simply give one of us experienced players two commands. I wanted to be on the Achaean side so that I could use my newly-painted Diomedes and his contingent of six Promachoi with tower shields. Mike volunteered to control both Achilles and Menelaos, while Mike W would control the Cretan king Idomeneus. Yes, as often happens, we were Mike Force -- all three Mikes as Achaeans on the same side! Opposite Mike W's Cretan contingent was Keith, who had brought all seven of the other contingents and was busy doling them out as I explained the rules. Keith took on the role of Memnon, King of the Aethiopians. He was using Bronze Age Egyptian figures to represent them. Next to him, Allen took charge of Hektor -- Troy's greatest hero. As long as Hektor was alive, all Trojans would receive a +2 to their morale (Resolve) tests. Next to Allen was his brother Joel, who was controlling Helenos, prince of Troy (and Hektor's brother, coincidentally!). The brothers faced off against Mike S's two contingents, Hektor staring down Menelaos and Helenos nervously facing Achilles. Finally, ranged against me was birthday boy Tom, ably leading Sarpedon and his cousin Glaukos against Diomedes.

    Memnon's Aethiopian archers climb atop a ruined building only to be shot down by Cretan archers 

I moved quickly forward -- well, as quickly as the relatively slow Shield Bearers could march, eager to get to grips with the Trojans. I had a plan in mind for Diomedes and his band and was looking forward to trying it out. The first to come to grips, though, were the Aethiopians and the Cretans. Despite his archers taking the high ground and cover of a ruined building, Mike W was rolling hot that night! All three Aethiopian archers were shot down by their Cretan counterparts. Meanwhile, Idomeneus and his shield bearers marched steadily forward to plug the gap between the rocky ground and the ruined building. Allen and Joel's Trojan princes moved forward steadily as Achilles and Menelaos' bands closed the distance, too. As Diomedes' men neared the enemy, they formed into a wedge formation, protecting their leader, who was just behind the Shield Bearer at the tip of the wedge.

    Trojan prince Helenos the Archer leads his companions around a building to face the Achaeans

Tom and the Trojans showed no fear of Diomedes' reputation as one of Greece's greatest warriors (or my wedge), though. Sarpedon darted forward and engaged the left hand side of the wedge, slaying the first Shield Bearer he contacted. He followed up before the Achaeans could react and threw his spear at Diomedes, causing two wounds. Diomedes shouted his war cry, inspiring his troops, and returned the spear throw, causing three wounds to Sarpedon. The Trojan hero's companions dashed into the fray, eager to help their leader who was attacking a mighty force alone. In the game, there are three types of Promachoi (companions). The hardest to wound are the Shield Bearers, which made up my entire contingent. Next are the Warriors, who may throw javelins or fight in hand-to-hand, with stats only slightly lower than the Shield Bearers. Finally, there are the archers.

    The forces at the end of the first turn of movement, quickly closing with one another

The gods were truly honoring Tom on his birth day, and Sarpedon's Promachoi began cutting threw Diomedes veteran men. It seemed that every turn one or more of my shield bearers fell. Where was their much vaunted Defense? The only saving grace was that Diomedes was slowly getting the better of Sarpedon on their exchanges. After their spear casts, Sarpedon had challenged my hero to a duel, which Diomedes gladly accepted. This meant that no other figure could intervene -- just like in Homer's tales. More of my companions began to fall, which even though it wins the enemy no Kleos -- or honor -- was still disconcerting. The winner of the game is the side that accumulates the most Kleos (chiefly from slaying enemy heroes). 

    From left, Joel (Helenos), Allen (Hektor), & Keith (Memnon) confer in the early part of the battle

On the opposite flank, Memnon rushed forward and hurled his mighty spear at Idomeneus. In return, the Cretan king waved his companions forward to overwhelm the lone Trojan hero. Three charged in, each landing a blow. The third dashed Memnon to the dust, whereupon his divine mother Eos appeared with a howl of rage. She gathered up her mortal son in her arms and flew back up to Olympos, vowing revenge upon Idomeneus and his Cretans. When a hero on a side falls, all other heroes have to take a Resolve check, but none failed with Hektor's +2 bonus. Neither did the Aethiopians lose heart, and they rushed to take revenge upon the Cretan soldiers. Still, the Achaeans were up 1-0 in Kleos!

    Menelaos' contingent rounds the corner of the building and prepares to charge into Hektor's group

Soon, the centers joined, as well. Menelaos and his force charged into Hektor and his companions, who shook their spears and met them man to man. Soon, Menelaos and Hektor were locked in a duel, and bronze rang on bronze. It could be heard on the other side of a Trojan building, where Achilles and Patroklos charged at the front, lead their Myrmidons into Helenos' men. Achilles challenged the Trojan prince to a duel, and the archer felt honor bound to meet the semi-immortal hero. In Ilium, you earn +2 Kleos if you knock an enemy hero out of action in a Duel, but only +1 if you kill him by other means (such as the Cretan companions ganging up on Memnon). You lose one Kleos if you refuse a duel. Of the four pairs of opposed heroes, three were locked in duels. Whoever won these would likely win the battle. There are ways to win more Kleos once you have felled your opponent. You can strip him of his armor (+1), or take his body off-table (+2). This can be done either by the hero's friends (to perhaps heal him up for another game) or by enemies trying to deny him an honorable burial. Think of Achilles dragging Hektor's body around the walls of Troy after slaying him -- THAT kind of +2 Kleos!!

    Trojan hero Sarpedon charges Diomedes' shield wall and slays one of his companions

 Although Tom was clearly rolling better than me in the clash between Diomedes and Sarpedon's contingents, he was killing only my Promachoi. When he scored a hit against Diomedes, he would often muff the Roll to Wound. In a melee or shooting attack in Ilium, the attacker must roll higher than the opponent's Defense to score a hit. If he succeeds, he rolls another 10-sided die. The results range from no damage to four wounds. Most heroes can take 7-8 wounds. Tom was rolling great to hit Diomedes, but poorly to wound him. On the other hand, my hero was steadily inflicting more wounds on Sarpedon until he finally struck the blow that tumbled the bastard son of Zeus to the ground. Diomedes immediately stripped the armor from him, and the Achaeans went up 4-0 (+2 for defeating Sarpedon in a duel and +1 for stripping him of his armor). Now, if either Achilles or Menelaos won their duel, the gods would grant us victory -- despite way more Achaean Promachoi dying on the battlefield than Trojan ones!

    A view of the left, with Diomedes' & Achilles' forces paired off against Sarpedon's & Helenos'

The next hero to fall was Menelaos -- one of the instigators of the Trojan War, when he demanded Achaean help after his wife was kidnapped and taken to Troy by Paris, one of its princes. Hektor, the brother of Paris, slew Menelaos in their duel. Weirdly, the only Achaean hero to fail his Resolve was my Diomedes, who ran back towards his base edge. I liked to think that he was withdrawing from the field to secure Sarpedon's armor as a trophy...ha, ha! The score was no 4-2. If Helenos could defeat the deadly Achilles, the Gods would rule this day a draw. However, Achilles is very tough in Ilium, as he should be. Even after Patroklos was struck down and Achilles reacted in blind rage, Helenos could not hold off the sea nymph Thetis' son. He fell, and victory was awarded to the Achaeans.

    Sarpedon and Diomedes trade blows in a duel as their companions battle all around them

Everyone said they had fun, so it looks like we will be playing Ilium again. So far, three of us are painting up contingents (Keith has painted up way more, more than 40 than he initially had). Even Tom asked for the info on the contingents so he could perhaps work one up. I was happy with Diomedes' performance, but less so with the Shield Bearers. Hopefully, they will perform better in the next clash on the dusty plains of Troy!

    Hektor & Menelaos duel, with Hektor close to winning against Helen's bereaved husband

MINIATURES Acquired vs. Painted Tally for 2026

• Miniatures acquired in 2026: 217
• Miniatures painted in 2026: 205

TERRAIN Acquired vs. Painted Tally for 2026

• Terrain acquired in 2026: 14
• Terrain painted in 2026: 36

SCATTER Acquired vs. Painted Tally for 2026

• Scatter acquired in 2026: 34
• Scatter painted in 2026: 75

    Trojans trigger the rage of Achilles when Patroklos is struck down in battle by an enemy warrior

 

    Doomed Menelaos falls to Hektor, the greatest Trojan hero of them all!

'Sing the Rage of Peleus' Son, Achilles' - Diomedes' Contingent for Ilium

 

    My first contingent of Achaeans for 'Ilium: A Game of Heroes' - 28mm Wargames Foundry

I had been following the game reports and post of Nic Wright of Irregular Wars about his new rules set, Ilium: Game of Heroes. So, when it was published, I downloaded the PDF on Wargame Vault. A couple weeks ago, four of us got together to play test it, enjoyed it, and I think my readers can guess what happened next. More miniatures - of course! I kept things under control, though, and picked up only seven 28mm Wargames Foundry miniatures (exactly what I needed for a contingent) from my friend Keith's unpainted pile.

    My hero in charge of the force, Diomedes, was painted up fancier -- especially his shield!

And here they are! I present the Achaean hero Diomedes and his Promachoi (companions). I am painting them up as Mycenaeans, which I think most historians believe is the period in Greece in which the siege of Troy could have happened. Much of Homer's descriptions of warfare (and the poet himself -- if he was one person) come from a slightly more recent period. However, archeology tells a different story and we all know how the ancients never really understood the concept of anachronism. Witness all the Bible illustrations from the Middle Ages with medieval soldiers depicting Biblical events. Either way, the figures come from Wargames Foundry's Mycenaean line, so that was the way I was painting them, by Zeus!

    One of Diomedes' companions wearing a boar tusk helmet & carrying a large shield

I did some preliminary looking at photos of other folks who painted 28mm Mycenaeans up for their Trojan War games. Most seemed to have white or pale-colored tunics, so that is what I went with for mine. To give a bit more variety, I also did some in pale blue, yellow, and tan. I then tried to give each some colorful decoration on their tunics. Yes, I could have painted them just in plain white tunics, but you know how I roll by now, right? I'm retired...I paint miniatures for fun and relaxation -- not as a factory to crank them out! So, decoration and color they would have!

    I like how this companion's tunic pattern came out - it looks like something from a Greek fresco

Actually, I did their flesh tone first, after priming them with Liquitex White Gesso. I went back and forth whether to use a slighter darker flesh tone, but in the end decided to go with my standard European one. Similarly, I used a mix of European hair colors, too. I could also have gone with all black hair to fall in line with a more Semitic or Levant look, but the word used in the Iliad to describe Achilles' hair can be translated to blond or at least a reddish gold. So, I decided to give them a variety of hair colors figuring that folks had been intermixing among the Mycenaeans just like they did through much of European history.

    I also like how the 'Figure 8' or Tower Shields came out -- they were tricky to glue to the figure

Their bronze armor was all painted first in Iron Wind Metals Steel, followed up by their Ancient Bronze. I did brush on highlights of Ancient Gold, too, where I figured the sun would gleam off of the armor the most. I've seen others depict bronze with an almost coppery sheen, which would be cool, but I'm not sure it is realistic. Homer goes on and on about how bright and shiny it was, so I prefer a more gold-toned bronze than a copper-toned variety. Many of the figures had decorations on their armor, either on the pectorals or the helmet. I painted a silver for those to make them stand out, figuring they would be gilded to shine even more on the battlefield.

    There is a LOT of pose & clothes variety in the Wargames Foundry 'Mycenaean' range 

In Ilium: Game of Heroes, Diomedes' companions are composed entirely of warriors carrying tower or figure eight shields. Most images of these show a cow spot pattern, representing leather stretched over a wicker frame. I've seen some with more reddish-brown spots and others with black, so I decided to do both. For inspiration on the dots, I Googled images online of Myceaean frescoes depicting shields. I am really happy with how they turned out, though these shields probably took more steps to complete than any I have done in recent memory! The inside was made to resemble wicker, the outside various tones I used for cowhide, the rim and boss I did in Steel and Bronze, the spots in either brown or black, and finally the inside rim was done in a wood brown. Oh, and they got a wash, too!

    For some reason, this fig reminded me of the look of Brad Pitt in the Hollywood 'Troy' movie

I made Diomedes's shield fancier, though, using inspiration from other images I've seen depicting them as painted than natural cowskin. I chose a red and blue quartered background color. Inside the blue, I did two circles of white, with a flower pattern snatched from a fresco for its design. For the red, I did two parallel, zig zag lines with my micron pen. The space between I painted in a dull yellow. I really like its fanciness, though I have to admit the black and yellow zig zag evoked the shirt worn by the comic strip character Charlie Brown! So, I went back with my micron pen and added dots inside the yellow to break that connection (and protect him from any potential Trojan "Lucys" on the battlefield...ha, ha!

    Another tunic pattern that I felt turned out rather well -- looking forward to painting more of these

All in all, I am very happy with how these seven Mycenaean figures turned out. I will likely pick up more one day so that I can field more than one contingent. Hopefully, Diomedes and his companions will get a chance to strut their stuff on the tabletop this weekend. We're talking about introducing Ilium to the rest of the Sunday Night gang. In the meantime, I am under serious deadline pressure on some things on my tabletop! I have a medieval 3-D printed building given to me by Rich Brown from RRB Minis & More to paint for him. It will be in repayment for a couple game mats his wife is making for me. The building is mostly done, but we know how "mostly dead" worked out in the Princess Bride! I need to be able to take it with me Thursday morning when I leave for Advance the Colors 2026 in Springfield, OH. Also scheduled to come along with me are three 28mm Knight figures and three Priests. I am painting them up for the ATC Saga tournament for the GMs to give away as prizes. So, lots to do in less than a week!!

    I think there were more steps to doing these shields than any others I've done before! I like 'em!

MINIATURES Acquired vs. Painted Tally for 2026

• Miniatures acquired in 2026: 217
• Miniatures painted in 2026: 205

TERRAIN Acquired vs. Painted Tally for 2026

• Terrain acquired in 2026: 14
• Terrain painted in 2026: 36

SCATTER Acquired vs. Painted Tally for 2026

• Scatter acquired in 2026: 34
• Scatter painted in 2026: 75

Warlord Stands as Prizes for Advance the Colors Saga Tournament

    Warlord stand I painted as a prize for the Age of Medieval Saga Tournament at ATC 2025

Even though I am not playing Saga actively myself, nowadays, I want to support the community and the Saga Ohio folks out there running tournaments. So, I committed to donating a painted warlord stand for both their Friday Medieval Age tournament (Chivalry & Crusades) and their Saturday Age of Iron & Steel (all books except Ancient ones) tourney. After finishing up a couple batches of Orcs and the French & Indian War figs I needed for the first Sunday's game at the museum, I decided it was time to get cracking on them!

    Warlord stand I painted as a prize for the Age of Iron & Steel Tournament at ATC 2025

The central mounted figure for the medieval warlord is a Gripping Beast Mounted Breton War Banner Bearer. I converted his banner to a lance and gave him a foot standard bearer. It's an old Norman figure in padded armor that I've had in my unpainted lead stash for ages. The trumpet blower is from a group of Welsh/Briton figures that I've also had for a long time. Since this is the age of heraldry, I knew I should decided what the warlord's banner and symbols should be before painting them. I decided to go with a quartered banner, one half being checkered purple and white. The other half would be a white field with a black tower on it. When I was teaching History to 7th graders, every year I would have students use medieval heraldry to design their own knight's shield. The purple and white checkered ones always looked cool, so I decided to go with that (and it followed the rules of Heraldry!).

    I really like how the quartered purple and white banner came out on the medieval warlord

The central mounted figure for the Age of Iron and Steel warlord is a Gripping Beast Eastern Princes Warlord. He has enough of a Viking look that he would work for a Dark Age army, I felt. Equally, he could work for a medieval one, as well. I dug through my miscellaneous 28mm Dark Age figures and found one that would make a good standard bearer and another as an extra bodyguard. I think I have fully exhausted my supply of musicians, by now. So, he's just a third figure on the base doing his best to protect his lord. I thought about giving him a leash and painting up a dog, too, but wasn't sure there would be room on the base for it.

    I thought the black bear on a red field looked appropriate for a generic Dark Age warlord

As I usually do, I epoxied the riders to their mounts before priming them. I think by doing that, you make them more secure and less likely to pop off if dropped or grabbed the wrong way. All those layers of primer and paint are just more glue, the way I see it! I also based the foot standard bearers to the 60mm round stands first, as well. I like the brass wire standard to be drilled into the wood of the base and then also connected to the hands of the figure. Two points of contact are always more secure than one. Once this was all done, all of the figures received their Liquitex White Gesso primer.

    With this horn blower, I think I am all out of musicians for my warlord bases - I like the fancy horn!

I did the flesh first, using a craft paint flesh tone followed up after drying with the clay-colored watered down wash I apply to Caucasian figures. It usually does a nice job of settling into the crevices in the skin and darkening the too-pale craft paint flesh color. Next, since so much of these figures were armor, I did the Iron Wind Steel base coat for the metal armor and Bambi Brown for the padded armor. From this point on, it was the usual 28mm base coat of a color and then followed by a lighter, dry brush highlight added to the figures. I worked my way outward, with the tunics, sleeves, trousers, and such, step by step.

    With no musician for his stand, this Dark Ages warlord has to make do with an extra bodyguard!

The colors for the Dark Ages warlord ended up being a hunter green and dark red. I waited till late in the process to finally decide what to do for his banner and shield. In the end, I decided to go with the outline of a bear's head in black on a dark red field. Since the rules of Heraldry hadn't been invented yet, I felt okay breaking them with the black on red ("color" on "color"). I did fancy borders or decorations on the clothes of all six figures since these would be the wealthiest figures in the warband. Of course, this made the batch take longer. I think their time on my painting desk will likely be two weeks -- not counting waiting to do the banners. During this time, I wasn't working on them solidly and ignoring everything else, of course. I was mixing in time each morning on other stuff, as well. 

The banners themselves were designed in Photoshop, resized, and then put on a USB drive to take to Office Max to print out with their color laser printer. I cut them out, coated the back with white glue, and then wrapped it around the spear pole making the sides match up as best as possible. I immediately reshaped it while the glue was still wet, giving a blowing in the wind look. After the banners were dry, I painted the white edge of the paper that was showing to match the banner.

    I also like how the medieval warlord's saddle cloth game out -- nice understated decoration, I felt

I really like how these two warlord stands turn out, and I hope the players in the Saga tournaments do as well! I'm also glad I didn't flirt with deadline pressure, as the tournaments are still about 3 weeks away. And if you look below, you will see these two stands of figures put me at the 200 miniatures painted for the year! As I'm typing this, it is the 265th day of 2025. That's less than one figure a day, but still not bad, eh? So, what else am I working on? You will see very soon my next batch of figures for my Dragon Rampant orc & goblin army. They are in the flocking stage and will likely be posted soon. For terrain, I've finally figured out how I am going to do rice paddies and bamboo for my 28mm Vietnam project. I purchased most of the material I need for them today, but still have a couple more things to pick up. 

MINIATURES Acquired vs. Painted Tally for 2025

• Miniatures acquired in 2025: 288
  
• Miniatures painted in 2025: 200

TERRAIN Acquired vs. Painted Tally for 2025

• Terrain acquired in 2025: 40
  
• Terrain painted in 2025: 61

SCATTER Acquired vs. Painted Tally for 2025

• Scatter acquired in 2025: 115
  
• Scatter painted in 2025: 200

Viking Town Raid With Sellswords & Spellslingers

    Anglo-Saxon defenders rally to try to fight off fierce Viking raiders who have come to loot their town

With my playtest of the Viking Town Raid using Saga not being a smashing success, I veered from armies to the other extreme. I would give each player command of three Viking raiders and they would be trying to gather the most loot, captives, and animals to win. It would be a cooperative game using Ganesha Games' Sellswords & Spellslingers fantasy miniatures rules, but with only one winning Viking player. Under these rules, the foes (Anglo-Saxon townspeople and defending soldiers) are controlled by the AI and a deck of cards.

    A good view of the Anglo-Saxon town as Allen, Mike W, and Joel laugh about how the raid is going

So, instead of commanding four units, my players were down to just three guys each. I had read reviews of SS & SS rules and was intrigued. I especially like how it neatly encapsulated the actions of enemies in its activation rolls and card deck system. When it is a player's turn, they select one of their characters and choose to roll for either one, two, or three potential actions. Rolls of "8" or higher on a 20-sided die are successful, 7 and below failures. For each failure, a card is drawn from the event deck. This could activate either a single foe, a horde of them, or even every foe on the board. It can also bring on reinforcements for the bad guys, have an enemy pop out of ambush, or a myriad of other events. 

    Joel's leader, Olaf the Wise, is under attack by a Saxon axeman while his companions rush to his aid

People are encouraged to tailor the event deck to their scenario. For example, whenever the "Trap" card was drawn, I ruled that a village dog would spring out and charge the Viking character who failed their roll. Another neat mechanic is that when a player character (PC) attacks a foe, or an event card determines one attacks the PC, only one die is rolled. The player rolls and if he equals or exceeds the "Danger Level" of the foe, they inflict damage on it (usually killing it -- except for tougher foes). If the player rolls less, they are struck by the foe and possibly take damage if they fail any armor or shield rolls.

    I put our host, Mike W in the blue shirt, in charge of drawing the event cards and reading the results

Designed as a cooperative or solo game, SS & SS essentially "runs itself." I stood by as GM and directed the action for our first game, but I can easily see in the future we can run it as fully cooperative and I can play, as well. Not for the Viking raid, of course, but for our own skirmishes (which, I am sure you are SHOCKED to learn I have an idea for...!). The game flowed easily with the players understanding the sequence and system by the second turn. I could step away for a bathroom break or refill my beer and come back to find the action continuing unabated.

    Tostig, at right, engages an Anglo-Saxon archer while his leader Krumm takes a breather

I used my new hexagon game mat and had each of my five players select an edge to start with their three Viking raiders. In the center of the board was my scratch-built stone church (with flickering LED lights inside tonight!). Guarding the front were the Anglo-Saxon captain in charge of the town defenses and his hearthguard. Their numbers would swell by one whenever the "Scenario Event" or "Mana Flux" cards were drawn. On subsequent runnings of this scenario, I will probably reduce that down to just one of those two cards. By the end of the game, there were far too many hearthguards for the Vikings to risk trying to break through.

    Viking chief Halfdan, left, and his swordsman Fafnir fight off a horde of Anglo-Saxon fyrd

In fact, I will likely reduce the number of foes that begin on the table at the start of the scenario, too. Only two buildings were entered, and only the crew of Mike W's Hakon the Skald took any captives. No one bothered to snag any of the town animals in their pens, either. I will likely make both captives and animals worth more loot in future games to encourage such raider-like behavior! As it was, most of the "silver pieces" worth of loot was taken from the bodies of the slain defenders. 

    Each of the "blood spots" marks where a defender was slain by the deadly Yvgni and his Viking crew

Still, all the players knew it was a playtest and understood their goal. Even if they didn't reach the church, they had fun slaughtering townsfolk and avoiding their counter-attacks. The deadliest defenders were the "Wandering Monsters" of a mounted Anglo-Saxon hearthguard who would show up on the table edge and charge into the closest raider. The town dogs performed particularly badly, though, being driven off without causing any hits in all but one occasion. The most spirited defender was a town boy who, after watching his mom and older sister being knocked unconscious by a Viking, fought off that same Viking for several rounds before finally being subdued. 

    Ulfgar the archer is ridden down by an angry mounted hearthguard, while Tostig tries to aid him

Still, the Anglo-Saxons inflicted some losses. Mike S, despite it being his birthday, received the unhappy present of terrible combat die rolls. Two of his three Vikings were knocked out of action by the defenders. Allen lost one, as well, and probably had the worst luck at activation rolls of any. Otherwise, all forces were able to withdraw off-table when we called the game for time. Mike W barely edge out Tom 36-35 victory points as we "kibbitzed" what would happen in the next turn and counted up the points. Allen scored 31, Joel 25, and birthday boy brought up the rear with only 14 points. Hard luck for Mike S two weeks in a row!

    Mike S, left, smiles in the early going of the game, not knowing the ill luck that awaits him in town!

Unlike last game, I am calling the Viking Town Raid using SS & SS a success. It will likely be my game that I run at conventions in 2025 -- well, at least for the first half of the year. In fact, I plan on giving the game a "Hollywood" hook and purchasing figures for "Vikings" stars Ragnar Lothbrok, his wife Lagertha, and their sons and painting them up for my convention games. I asked my players what they thought of the scenario and rules and their comments were very positive and encouraging. The only suggestions were on how to balance the scenario out a bit more. So, I would say look for more semi-historical skirmishes in 2025 using SS &SS!

    Young Viking chieftain Krumm falls to a horde of defenders just as he was in sight of the church!

What's next? Well, I took the week to hurriedly bring two more buildings into play, nine town defenders, and six farm animals. Amazingly, they were done in time and used in the game. So, it will be just a matter of taking pictures and writing up the blog post to show you those. Looks for that in the next couple days!

    It is dawn and a pit fire burns in front of the church before word of the Viking raid awakes the town

Miniature Painting & Purchasing Tally for 2024

• Miniatures acquired in 2024: 227
  
• Miniatures painted in 2024: 254 

    The monks are awake, though, and singing praises in the church by the flickering candlelight

    An overhead look at the raid's progress towards the end of the game

Playtest 'Saga Lite' - Viking Raid

    Saxon forces advance against Viking raiders to protect their town from being looted

Ever since first playing Saga a number of years ago, I was struck by the simplicity of the "bones" of the game. You have just a handful of troop types, with each class being proportionally "better" than the others. The point system gives you fewer of these better troops and more of the lower class troops. I thought it would be a great game to teach folks quickly at a convention, except...! For when you put on the flesh and hair and everything on the bones, it does add a significant layer of complexity.

    Viking raiders were looking to loot the monastery (right), church (center) & livestock from the village

What if I strip that back off, though? Do I have a good, simple system for friendly multiplayer games or a convention to teach to new players? That's what this playtest was all about! I was considering running a Viking raid on an Anglo-Saxon village using "Saga Lite" at conventions this year. It gave me a chance to pull out my Saxon church, which I feel is probably still my greatest scratch-build, my monastery, and a host of Dark Ages buildings by Acheson Creations. 

    Viking archers advance through the town's fields, followed by the rest of the force coming ashore

The game would be set for three players per side, each controlling 4 points of similar troops in Saga. The Viking players would have one more unit of Hearthguard (elite warriors), while the Saxons would instead have an extra unit of Warriors. Twelve points of Vikings would face off against 12 points of Anglo-Saxons on a 6'x4' table. There would be no "Advanced Abilities" on the battle boards. Units activated could rest, move, shoot, or charge. I was also trying a suggestion from the Firelands Games Group of simultaneous Orders phases followed by alternating activations. Each Viking player would activate one unit, then each Anglo-Saxon player would do the same, alternating until all players had "passed" and were done.

    Allen's Vikings storm ashore and begin their advance towards the Saxon church in the center

Otherwise, all the normal Saga rules applied. How did it go? I think the only Basic Abilities and alternating activations worked well. In light of the alternating activations, I did change up the Orders Phase a bit. Players were free to leave all their Saga command dice rolled in the "Inactive Dice" section and simply assign one when it was their turn to activate. I felt that worked very well. One major effect I saw of this was the increased use of Combat Bonus. Players would answer their opponent's use of playing a Saga die on Combat Bonus with one of their own. This back and forth had a tactical component, too. More than one player would try to force another player to use his dice to even the score in Combat Bonus in the hopes of limiting how many dice their opponent would have left over when it came to Activations. 

    Mike S's Vikings begin their advance with their archers and lighter-armed warriors leading the way

Was that bad? No. It did slow things down a tad. However, stripping out all of the Advanced Abilities would doubtless cause more dice to be spent on Combat Bonus anyway, right? Since each player had one unit of Levy archers, managing their "Uncommon Dice" (which activate Levy troops) became a concern for players. All in all, I think the Saga Lite modifications flowed well. I don't think it unbalanced the game or slowed it down unduly. In fact, a three per side game of Saga Lite plays WAY faster than a corresponding one using Saga's own big battle, multiplayer rules.

    My warlord, left, watches the Saxon levy archers get into firing position, supported by warriors

As for the scenario, it was not the success that I was hoping it would be. I had created three looting spots for the Vikings to try to get to during the game. The church was in the middle of the board, the monastery on the Saxon left (capturing the monks and taking them captive), and the pigpen and stables for "animal loot" was on the Saxon right. I made the mistake, though, of putting them up against the Saxon baseline. As it turned out, there was simply no way the Vikings would be able to fight their way through the Saxon defenders and loot those spots. Each side had equal forces, so the Vikings would do well to simply inflict more losses on the Saxons (another victory point consideration besides the loot).

    My fellow Saxon Joel also pushes his troops forward on the left to delay the advance of the Vikings

We talked about it after we played the game and decided it we were going to re-run it, the loot spots should be put on the centerline of the table. Plus, perhaps the Saxons should have one point of troops less per player to give them a chance to drive off the defenders. In our game, the Saxons were actually winning and inflicting more losses. They knew they could sit back and simply wait for the Viking advance and use their Saga dice to shoot or charge them when they came close enough. 

    Keith, protecting his precious pigs, deploys his forces to guard the gaps between the homes

The game was fun, of course, but the Vikings had no chance of winning the way I had set it up. So, scrap the scenario for Saga Lite, but save the rules adaptions is my verdict! I actually have an idea of how to run a similar version of this scenario with a different set of rules. The players would ALL be Vikings, competing to garner the most loot, slaves, or provisions. I recently purchased Ganesha Games' Sellswords and Spellslingers for possible fantasy or semi-historical coop games next year. In this game, the opposition is played by the game's AI and cards. All the players are on the same side. 

    Saxon warriors and Viking hearthguard clash swords and shields as the battle is joined on the left

So, that's my thought going forward. Have all my players control a few Viking warriors or heroes and they're running around in a Saxon town fighting townsfolk, soldiers, guards, etc., to loot the place. Stay tuned and hopefully I will have a playtest of it before the end of the year. If it works out and is fun, I plan on running it at Cincycon, Drums at the Rapids and Origins Game Fair.

    Towards the end of the battle, the Viking "high water marks" is nowhere near the town's loot

In the meantime, stay tuned for a couple more updates. I am on to the flocking stages for both the 28mm Water Tower and my Rebel Alliance batch of figures!

    "LOOSE!" My Saxon archers in the center gave a good account of themselves, killing many Vikings

Miniature Painting & Purchasing Tally for 2024

• Miniatures acquired in 2024: 226
  
• Miniatures painted in 2024: 230  

    Allen in the center made a hard push towards the church, but the Norse dice gods weren't with him