Vikings Invade Pictland at World at War Convention

    Pictish Cavalry gallops towards a line of armored Viking raiders ready to hurl their javelins

We hadn't gotten a chance to play Lion Rampant lately, so I figured I would get my fix in by running two games of it at a regional convention. World at War is a two-day con, so I ran it in the afternoon on Friday and the morning on Saturday. Each game took slightly more than two hours, with six players each commanding a 17-point force (instead of the rules-recommended 24AP). The reason for this was I would have only a 6'x4' gaming surface because of the table sizes. This translated to each Viking command being composed of four units and each Pict one five units.

    I had a full table of players for both Friday & Saturday - here, Jenny assists new players with rules

As the convention neared, a moment of panic set in. How would I ever get all of those individually based 28mm figures out of my box and organized into commands on the tabletop in a reasonable amount of time? Personally, I have always disliked movement trays. However, I wanted the commands to be able to trade units before the game started. That way, they could weigh one flank heavier with missile troops, or mass their cavalry on one wing, giving the players more control over the battle. I hate convention games where the GM deploys all of the troops starting close to each other and all the players really do is march forward and roll dice. So, movement trays would make swapping units more logistically possible (and minimize wear and tear on the figures, weapons, etc.).

    Pictish army arrived in time to prevent the Vikings from looting the Celtic monastery!

 My friend had recently purchased a Bamboo Mini 3-D printer, so I showed him some examples of what I wanted. He did some searching and found an STL he could modify with the dimensions I gave him. I asked him to print it in brown filament to match my basing. In addition, I ordered a pack of paper steel and lined the bottom of each tray with that. I found some scrapbooking paper that looked like muddy ground and cut and glued a rectangle of it atop the paper steel and hide the bright white gaps between figures and edges. The new trays worked great, and I even added magnetic material to the bottom so the figures could stay inside the trays -- and the trays themselves would not slide around -- in my tin-lined boxes.

    Arrows & javelins fly as the two warbands approach, ready to settle the issue hand-to-hand

I had six players for each game, and others standing by who wanted to play. So, it obviously was popular. One gamer said he drove two hours mainly to participate in my game! That made me feel good, of course, as did all the praise on my paint jobs on the 28mm figs (especially the checks and tartans on the Picts). I added some eye candy to the tabletop with a scratch-built Pictish tower broch in flames on the Viking side of the table, and a Celtic monastery with beehive huts on the Pictish side. Otherwise, it was a fairly basic table set up with a fleece mat, trees, rocky areas, hills, and such. 

    Band of Pictish spearmen stand to receive the fierce charge of Viking housecarles (Elite Infantry)

In both games the Picts did some "horse trading" with units while the Vikings held firm with their one unit each of Elite Foot, Heavy Foot, Light Foot, and Archers. I think swapping around units helped the Picts, who won both games. In the first game, the Picts were aggressive and marched out to meet the Vikings. The Pictish Light Cavalry was particularly aggressive, even charging the Viking Light Foot and Archers. In the second game, the Picts held back, for the most part. They massed one wing of all missile troops. The poor Viking command opposite them did their best to minimize the shooting, cutting through a big woods to reduce casualties. However, their Courage Tests were poor, and time and again, they failed and would have to rally in place, giving the Picts another turn of shooting at them.

    Ground level view of the battle on Saturday as a huge Viking Jarl challenges his Pictish adversary

The fact that both games went the Picts' way, makes me wonder if something I did was wrong. The typical Pictish force had three units of five that could shoot, though two of those were shorter range javelins. Maybe 60% missile armed troops vs. 25% unbalanced the game? Or perhaps the one extra unit per command made things unbalanced? One thing that my friends and I do in all of our games in the Rampant series is use the rule from Rebels and Patriots that one activation failure does NOT end a player's turn. All units are given a chance to roll to activate every turn. If they fail, they stay in place, but the player can go on to the next unit until he has attempted to activate all of his troops. 

    'Bigger they are, harder they fall...!' proven by a tattooed Pictish leader about to deal the final blow

I realize that this perhaps over-values cheaper units, and certainly gives an edge to forces with more units. They will get a chance to activate all of their units every turn, unlike in a game with the standard rules which would end their turn on their first failure. That said, though, it could easily be the unit with fewer units that "craps out" on its first roll. I simply don't like a game hinging on this mechanic, and certainly not a multiplayer game at a convention. Imagine the poor player who fails on his first unit's roll and has to sit and watch while the other players on his side finish their turn. Then he sits while the opponents activate and move all of their troops. Imagine if when it is finally his turn to do something, he craps out on his first roll, again. "This game sucks!" is going to be going through their mind, and in my opinion, rightly so -- at least for a convention game!

    Even MORE full table on Saturday, with a look at the full gaming area & other events in progress

So, seeing as how I intend to stick with the no turnover modification of Lion Rampant at conventions, and also at home games because our group prefers it that way, should I change anything? I think that in the future I will ensure each side has a balanced number of missile troops in this system. And I also will give them the same numbers of units per command. There is a definite chance that the Pictish players had better tactics or even simply better dice rolls. The Rampant system is a very dicey one! It is very easy to pick up, though, and I think works fine for teaching it quickly to new players at a convention. I think I will also make sure I have a larger table. I think the forces were a little cramped on the battlefield. Turns out that the convention also had eight foot wide tables -- d'oh! All of my years attending cons at Fort Meigs and I just realized this past weekend there are both six and eight foot wide tables...ha, ha!

    Friday's leader of the Pictish Light Cavalry was very aggressive, charging Viking Heavy Foot here

It was good to see the spectacle of all those Picts and Vikings on the table. The movement trays were a definite success. I think I will store most of my Dark Ages troops in those trays, too. Note that the trays are only for 12-figure units, not the 6-figure ones. It is easy enough to move those around on the tabletop, as well as handing them out to players. I'm contemplating whether I want to have my friend print up more so that I can put my Orcs and Goblins inside of them, as well as my Elven spearmen. I do have leftover paper steel (the most expensive part of the process). Maybe I'll count out how much I have and get him to print up enough trays to fully utilize my six sheets of the material.

    Pictish javelin men (Light Foot) form up to face a charge of armored Viking raiders (Heavy Foot)

Running Lion Rampant was a nice change of pace at a convention. Normally, I run skirmish games on smaller, but highly scenic tabletops. This was so easy to run it almost seemed like I was "slumming it" -- ha, ha! I really would like to grow the number of folks playing Lion Rampant (and Dragon Rampant), locally. To do that, I'll likely need to provide the troops, at least initially. So, this six-player game was a good test for taking the rules to local game stores. Will anything come of these plans? Not sure. I have a few feelers out there trying to get some other Central Ohio gamers to set up a recurring game day or night at one of the stores in town. Stay tuned to see if anything comes of it!

    Another shot of the battle lines about to clash, with both Picts & Vikings fighting fiercely

So, what's on my painting desk, you may ask? I have five Gringo40s Viet Cong that are almost completed. I also am working on another batch of mangrove trees for this weekend's Surviving 'Nam game at Hold the Line convention in Camp Perry, OH. So, those are my focus for this week, though today I did pull out some packs of "old figures" to be the next ones in line that I paint. Stay tuned to see what they are!

    Another shot of the Picts, on left, about to clash with the invading Viking warhost

MINIATURES Acquired vs. Painted Tally for 2026

• Miniatures acquired in 2026: 234
• Miniatures painted in 2026: 237

TERRAIN Acquired vs. Painted Tally for 2026

• Terrain acquired in 2026: 22
• Terrain painted in 2026: 48

SCATTER Acquired vs. Painted Tally for 2026

• Scatter acquired in 2026: 50
• Scatter painted in 2026: 75

    My players ponder their next move in Friday's game of Lion Rampant at World at War

A Batch of Dark Ages Cavalry for the Win!

    With these 5 Dark Ages cavalry, I have now painted more minis than I acquired in 2026 -- woo-hoo!

For a couple years now, I've been tracking the number of miniatures I've acquired (bought or given to me) vs. miniatures painted. With this batch of five Dark Age cavalry, I am now "over the top" and have painted more minis than I've acquired for 2026. As Theoden would say, "Victory!" Assuming I don't go crazy and make a big purchase before the end of the year, I should stay "ahead" and theoretically continue reducing my unpainted pile until the end of the year.

    I believe that these are all Gripping Beast 28mm metal cavalry except the rider in the middle

I chose to do these five Dark Ages cavalry because I actually could use more of them for Dark Ages games of Lion Rampant. At the upcoming World at War convention at Fort Meigs, Perrysburg, OH, I will be running a Picts vs. Vikings scenario. So, hopefully these will see the tabletop that weekend. The good thing about Dark Ages soldiers, whether foot or mounted, is that they all look so similar. A Saxon or Pict or Frank all look relatively the same.

    The rider was leftover from a batch of mounted Dark Ages Britons I painted a decade-plus ago 

Most of the riders were bare-handed and needed weapons. I chose to also give one of the figures a javelin in his shield hand, as well. For their weapons, I used a mix of swords and spears. Next, I epoxied the riders to the horses before priming. Once cured in place overnight, I began by working on the horses. I have a few color combinations that I like for horses, so I used them here. Once I finished the horse's color and highlighted it, I did the manes, reins and straps, plus any other miscellaneous metal fittings or tassels. I save the horse blanket for after I've chosen the colors of the rider's clothes so that it can complement how I painted the rider.

    I used a leftover horse from my Moorish Saga army to mount the rider in red - very interesting pose!

As for the riders, I do them the same as I do for most foot figures. I begin with the skin, do the armor or main tunic color next, and essentially work my way outwards. Three of the figures have chain or scale mail, while two appear unarmored. These aren't mean to be command figures, but standard horse troopers. So, I don't need to worry about banners or anything fancy like that. I tend to use pale colors when painting medieval or Ancient troops because I figure their clothes or uniforms are worn repeatedly and fade in color over time. Still, if you can afford a mount and armor, you're probably fairly wealthy in the Dark Ages, so I splurged with a few brighter colors, too. For their. hair color, I used a variety of common European hair colors. The more variety, the more irregular a force looks!

    I liked how the cloaks came out, but wish I had done more to 'jazz up' the rider on the left

I also went with more basic shield patterns for these five troopers. I have tried using decals more than once, but always fail spectacularly at them. So, I always hand-paint my shields (or use my micron pens for fine detail our outlining work). I have been using pill-shaped bases like these for my cavalry ever since I began (and since stopped) playing Saga. I'm not sure why I prefer them, nowadays. Maybe they look less chunky than large, rectangular ones? Either way, the shape is certainly more common and easier to find now, but I doubt I will ever go back and re-base my rectangular-based cavalry.

    I finished these guys today & they will be used in a game tomorrow - can't beat that for timing!

What else is on my painting desk? I have five Viet Cong guerrillas from Gringo40s that are moving along nicely. I have also begun the next batch of four mangrove trees my friend Mike W printed for me. And I sat down a few days ago and made a list of batches of "new" and "old" purchases in my unpainted lead pile that I wanted to paint up soon. Think of it as an "On Deck Circle" in American baseball...ha, ha! So, stay tuned. Though we are in November already, there's plenty more on the way!

MINIATURES Acquired vs. Painted Tally for 2026

• Miniatures acquired in 2026: 234
• Miniatures painted in 2026: 237

TERRAIN Acquired vs. Painted Tally for 2026

• Terrain acquired in 2026: 22
• Terrain painted in 2026: 48

SCATTER Acquired vs. Painted Tally for 2026

• Scatter acquired in 2026: 50
• Scatter painted in 2026: 75

Ten Warbands, Ten Players, Lions & Dragons Rampant, oh my!

  Pictish spearmen prepare to form Wall of Spears as the Vikings advance ever closer in Lion Rampant

We had a friend who visits only about once a year coming into town and he wanted to join our Sunday Night Gaming crew. I messaged him to see what he'd be interested in doing and Anthony said he would like to try Lion Rampant. With everyone coming, it looked like we'd have nearly a dozen people, so we decided to stage two multiplayer games. Anthony would join Tom, Joel, Mike S, our host Mike W, and myself in a giant game of Lion Rampant on a 10' wide table. Meanwhile, the 6' wide table would hold a 4-player game of Dragon Rampant. I was in charge of bringing all the battle mats and terrain, in addition to three 24-point commands of Picts, so it was quite the load to set up.

Three warbands of Picts & Vikings each clash on a 10' wide table for a huge game of Lion Rampant

To fill the forces for three Lion Rampant commands of Picts, it took up a big chunk of my 28mm Dark Ages miniatures. Our side would field 20 units and more than 200 miniatures. My friend (and as it turned out, cross-table opponent) Mike S would be bringing 17 units of Vikings, I believe he said. It would be an epic clash as the Vikings launched an invasion of Pictland, hoping to secure northern Britain as their base for raiding. We played a straight up battle rather than a scenario, since it was some players' first game of Lion Rampant. In addition, we used our usual "no crap out" variant of the activation rules. A failure by one unit did not end a command's turn. We use that across the board for all of Daniel Mersey's "Rampant" series and believes it provides a much more enjoyable and entertaining game.

    My 2 units of Pictish light cavalry swing wide right and prepare to pepper the Vikings with javelins

I gave all 20 unit cards to Tom and declared him the overall Pictish commander. I asked him to divide them into three commands, left, center, and right. He took the center and I was given the right with six units under my command. I had two units of Pictish spearmen (light infantry), one of Warrior Infantry (wild chargers), one of archers, and two of Pictish light cavalry. Facing me were six frothing at the mouth units of Vikings -- or at least that is how it looked to my Picts! I sent the two cavalry units to the far right, supported by the archers. In the center, the Pictish spear intended to advance to tempt the Vikings to advance, and both units formed their schiltrons (Wall of Spears) to resist the Viking charge. Meanwhile, the Warrior Infantry would try to race into the woods on our left and chase off their archers.

    Viking battle line, led by a fearless and battle-hardened shield maiden in the center

It was a good plan, and early on it seemed to be working. The one unit of Vikings (Warrior Infantry) that entered the large field of crops opposite my archers began to waver under the archer's arrows and the cavalry's javelins. They began to fall back, battered, which encouraged my two mounted units to circle around the field. The lead unit of cavalry charged the Vikings while their morale were still battered and inflicted enough casualties for them to fail their courage test and rout from the field. The cavalry looked ready to encircle the Vikings and attack them from the rear!

    The battle lines of Picts & Vikings begin to edge towards each other as arrows fly overhead

On the left, my warrior infantry charged one of their opposite numbers from the Viking's center command. Joel's Viking warriors had surprisingly been driven back by Tom's Pictish archers. My warriors struck the disheartened Vikings and slaughtered enough of them to drive them from the field. Elated, they rushed towards the woods where the Viking archers were firing upon my spearmen and inflicting casualties. The warriors were cut off, though, and charged by a unit of Viking axemen (heavy infantry with bloodthirsty). Luckily, my warriors rolled high enough to counter-charge. We inflicted more casualties, and more importantly, Mike had a second drastic morale failure. The axemen ran from the field. 

    My warrior infantry, having chased off one unit, ready to face down more Vikings with impunity!

Emboldened by their success, the Pictish warriors charged their third foe -- the Viking archers. Their numbers were thinned by two combats already, but they inflicted enough casualties to rout the archers, as well. Good rolls on Courage tests were a scarce commodity on this flank! My Pictish spearmen were also failing their tests vs. the one or two casualties Mike's archers had been inflicting. Unfortunately, that third charge was it for my good rolling for the night! From this point on, I failed nearly every courage test and rolled poorly in every combat. The warriors decided they'd done enough for the day, so they also decamped from the field. Good on them, though -- three enemy units driven from the field!

    My Pictish spearmen are thinking, 'That sure looks like a lot of Vikings...! Are we sure about this??'

That was indeed the Pictish "high water mark" on the right flank. Mike's remaining three heavy infantry units began to advance on my wavering Pictish spearmen. Just in time, I rallied one unit and was even able to form Wall of Spears before the Vikings charged home. On average rolls, this should have been a victory for the Picts. However, over the next several turns, three times Mike's Vikings charged my cowardly and intimidated spearmen. Three times they were driven back by the Vikings. When my commander's spear schiltron eventually failed morale and broke and ran from the field, it unleashed a string of 2d6 rolls that never came close to average or succeeding. One of the cavalry units became battered upon hearing the warlord was dead, and proceeded to fail their next two tests, as well. The other spear unit steadily failed and retreated backwards four more times over the next four turns, until they backed off the field.  

    No two units failed more morale checks than these two units of spear -- it was maddening!

The cavalry unit and archers, although passing their courage test when the warlord fled, proceeded to fail their activation rolls time after time. When the archers did shoot, I rolled way under average and did not cause any casualties to a Viking unit that was at half strength and ready to crumble. It was a miserable ending after a spectacular beginning. Thankfully, Tom in the center had routed Joel's entire command, and began to send help my way. One of Mike's Viking heavy infantry broke under Tom's pressure, leaving him with just his general's heavy infantry and the half strength unit. That unit refused to charge my archers, who themselves failed to inflict enough casualties to get the Vikings finally running. Time after time, Mike's Viking heavy foot unit with his commander passed morale checks while mine failed them. In the end, I still outnumbered him in units, but my troops just wouldn't fight!

    Beers, snacks, and lots of orcs & goblins raging about on the Dragon Rampant battle table!

Fortunately, Anthony had finally won on the left flank, outlasting Mike W's Viking wing and driving it from the board. Tom crushed Joel in the center, losing no units, while Joel's entire command fled the field. Seeing this, we called it a Pictish victory. My wing was wavering at best, but Mike's was hanging on by a thread, too. My Picts could console themselves by saying they'd driven off more enemy units than we lost, but honestly, their "second half" performance was shameful! It was certainly the most frustrating run of failed courage tests I've ever had in any of the Rampant style games we've played. 

    The arid plains of the DR! battlefield were soon drenched with blood (fortunately no spilled beer!)

On the Dragon Rampant board, Andy and Allen's orcs and goblins had a bloody battle with Bob's and Keith's armies. The orcs fled the field in the end, with Bob and Keith holding on for the win. I didn't get over there much to watch the battle, but it sounded brutal. They were fighting on a smaller width battlefield (6' wide for four armies, two per side). I had brought over a folding table to add 2' to their width, but the table heights were too mismatched. There would have been a weird drop off three quarter's of the way across the table! So, the orcs and their foes fought in close quarters that evening. Still, it was impressive to have 10 players and 10 warbands clashing all at once. It was fun, but a LOT of work to set up and pull off. Thanks to Mike S for bringing three warbands of Vikings and Mike W for hosting such a throng of gamers! Lots of dice were flung and good times were had!! 

MINIATURES Acquired vs. Painted Tally for 2026

• Miniatures acquired in 2026: 179
  
• Miniatures painted in 2026: 141

TERRAIN Acquired vs. Painted Tally for 2026

• Terrain acquired in 2026: 12
  
• Terrain painted in 2026: 29

SCATTER Acquired vs. Painted Tally for 2026

• Scatter acquired in 2026: 21
  
• Scatter painted in 2026: 62

Photos from Viking Raid at Buckeye Game Fest 2025

    Mounted Saxon nobles attack Bjorn Ironside while his companions leads off a string of captives

It has been a busy week here, and I am finally getting around to posting pictures and an account of my games at Buckeye Game Fest 2025. Jenny ran my Viking Raid on an Anglo-Saxon Town scenario twice -- once on Thursday evening and again on Friday morning. Both times we had the full six players. The whole point of us running miniatures games at this mostly board gaming convention was to expose new players to minis. My fellow game masters from HMGS Great Lakes were hoping to recruit folks who are already gamers to historicals, or at least miniatures.

    The players on Saturday morning study their character sheets while Jenny explains the rules

If that was a goal, it must have been a success as only one or two of our players were folks we knew. Most seemed to pick up the Sellswords and Spellslingers rules very quickly. Our job simply became flipping and implementing the event cards that come about because of player characters failing to activate (which moves or puts new defending foes on the board). It is interesting how the randomness of dice and event cards that are shuffled and reshuffled regularly begin to tell a story. One Viking player and his band of raiders may suffer counter attacks of the defenders time and time again, while another is left alone to break down doors of homes, take slaves, or steal livestock. 

    A Saxon fyrd archer leaps out of concealment and fires an arrow of Floki and his companions

In one of the games, the raiders made a concerted attacks on the church. A battle raged in the courtyard, and most of the Saxon hearthguard were fighting to protect their holy site. However, it was too little, too late, and the Saxons held out long enough for us to call the game. Still, the players said they had fun, which is the main goal of a game, right? Viking raiders did fall to the Saxon defenders from time to time, but most players had their characters survive, even if they did suffer wounds. It is interesting for me to watch the players and their different strategies in this game. Most of the time, they are quite careful, and take care of any Saxon defenders popping up before advancing further into the town. In the half dozen times the game has been run, I've yet to see a grand strategy among the Viking players. Each seems to take my advice that the game is cooperative, yet competitive, to heart.

    Bjorn's Vikings burst into a Saxon home and begin to subdue the women & children to sell as slaves

I will run the game at Drums at the Rapids next weekend -- once on Friday evening and another time on Saturday morning. After that, it will be run Thursday, Friday, and Saturday at Origins Game Fair, June 18-22, Columbus. Once Origins is over, I will likely put the game on the shelf for awhile. I have run it a LOT lately. Time to come up with some new ideas!

    Battle rages in the courtyard in front of the church, as Saxon hearthguard try to hold off the raiders

In the meantime, enjoy some of my favorite photos of the Viking Raid from last weekend. If you get a chance to sign up and try your own hand at raiding an Anglo-Saxon town, I look forward to seeing you at the table!

    Lagertha's swordsman Fafnir dashes along the walls of the church to join the battle in the courtyard

MINIATURES Acquired vs. Painted Tally for 2025

• Miniatures acquired in 2025: 143
  
• Miniatures painted in 2025: 70 

TERRAIN Acquired vs. Painted Tally for 2025

• Terrain acquired in 2025: 19
  
• Terrain painted in 2025: 22

SCATTER Acquired vs. Painted Tally for 2025

• Scatter acquired in 2025: 54
  
• Scatter painted in 2025: 57

 

    Two Saxon mounted hearthguards charge Bjorn as he tries to escape with some chickens

    Meanwhile, Floki's swordsman is sorely beset by both Saxon fyrd and mounted hearthguard

    A Viking raider is overwhelmed by a horde of Saxon fyrd banded together to defend their homes

    Ragnar's wife Lagertha faces down the mounted charge of a Saxon hearthguard

    Ragnar Lothbrok & his two Viking companions cut down a horde of Saxons who have charged them

    Ragnar's son Bjorn & his men round up Saxon women & children captives they've taken

    Ragnar Lothbrok heads for the church, trading axe blows amidst the market stalls

Vikings Raid Angland Again at DayCon 2025

    Here I am at DayCon 2025, running my 'Viking Raid on Anglo-Saxon Town' game for a full table

I feel very lucky that the games that I run at our local conventions always seem to fill up. As a GM, I've been in that awful position of preparing for a game, packing everything up, hauling it to the convention, setting it up again there, and then sitting around and having no players. That's a frustrating feeling, but I feel so fortunate I haven't had to deal with that in awhile. Whether through word of mouth, or my cool-looking terrain and figs, or just luck of the draw, my games tend to fill up. And so it was at DayCon 2025 with my running of my Viking Raid on Anglo-Saxon Town. 

    My scratch-built Saxon church is the ultimate goal of the Viking players -- where most treasure is

My friends Terry H and John L both signed up, along with four other players I had not met (or don't remember meeting) previously. The rules I am using, Ganesha Games' Sellswords & Spellslingers, are quick to teach before the game and easy for players to learn. I like the idea of a cooperative game at a convention, too, but I also enjoy tossing in a little competitive rivalry, too. The player whose Vikings earned the most loot would be the winner. In this case, Bjorn Ironside just edged out John L's Ulf for most silver pieces looted. I believe the score was 33-31, though I did not write it down. The players all said they had fun and thanked me for running the game. 

    Ragnar Lothbrok is surrounded by a horde of Saxon fyrd and a mounted hearthguard

Unlike the last time I ran this at Cincycon, none of the Vikings made it to the church. They all got sidetracked early on by Saxon reinforcements popping up near them. It takes a concerted push by players to make it to the church courtyard, batter down the shieldwall of Saxon hearthguard, and get into the church. Of course, looting the bodies of the Saxon defenders is a valid strategy itself. Every game, it seems there is one of the six Viking raider leaders whose band never ventures far from its deployment area. A combination of random arrivals tends to hem them in early. John L's Ulf the Wise was one of those player in this game. He had mounted Saxon hearthguard gallop down upon his raiders (on the "Wandering Monster" card) more than once. John's three characters stayed close together, though, and helped each other. They also did the 1-2 punch of "You kill him, I will loot his body" that allowed him to grab silver pieces steadily all game long.

    Saxon bowmen engage in a long-range archery duel with Terry's unfortunate Viking archer

Terry and Shauna's Floki and Lagertha, respectively, seemed to have the worst luck. Shauna's rolls were so bad she handed my dice back to me and pulled out her own. Those proceeded to roll even worse! In fact, I would say in the half dozen times I've run this scenario, I think she's had the most misfortune I've witnessed! Like John, her trio of raiders did not make it far off their baseline. A steady progression of Saxons arrived from the trees to the left, often in the form of hordes (2-6 foes that activate and fight the raiders together). Her leader, Floki, was involved in a duel with a mounted Saxon hearthguard for half the battle, it seemed. Shauna would do everything she could to give Floki the best odds to wound or slay the rider, and she would flub the die roll!

    Well-disciplined Saxon hearthguard kept in their shieldwall in front of the church by their captain

Terry's Lagertha was the only group to lose a raider, his bad-luck archer. Lagertha and his swordsman Fafnir advanced quickly through a gap between houses, leaving their archer companion to shoot at some distant foes. What should arrive eventually, but a horde of Saxon archers to oppose him? The Viking lasted for a few turns, dodging arrows and picking off Saxon bowmen. However, eventually, with no shield and no armor, he suffered one arrow would too many. Like Boromir in the Lord of the Rings, he fell, riddled with arrows. 

    The players laughed and celebrated their rivals' successes, and commiserated on their bad dice rolls

At Cincycon, I accidentally left all of my Saxon archers behind. So, in the first game, I used substitute figures for the six who begin the game on the board. After that, I made all of the arriving defenders be hand-to-hand fighters. In the second Cincycon game, I even left out the archers entirely. I definitely think the Saxon defenders are more potent when they have archers -- especially if they show up via an Event Card as a horde. That's what happened in this game, and it is more of a challenge for the players. They have to spend actions on movement to close with and kill the archers. Otherwise, if they ignore them, they will get sniped and begin to lose wounds steadily. Still, at DayCon, only one Viking died. In one of the games at Cincycon, I think the Vikings lost 2-3 raiders. So, this outing wasn't the most deadly.

    Rollo (Ragnar's brother) bursts into a Saxon home and confronts an elderly Saxon couple

Sellswords is an excellent rules set for a cooperative game. I really like how the player's activation failures lead to Event Cards being drawn, which enables the foes to attack (or new ones appear on table). In fact, this usually leads to a flow, or the feeling that there is a storyline directing the defender's actions. There will be times when the players succeed on their activation rolls, and the defenders seem to be back on their heels, reeling under the Viking's blows. Then, someone will roll three failures, and they seem to be rejuvenated, and reinforcements arrive and press home the counter-attack. For people interested in a cooperative or solo game, I would encourage them to take a look at these rules. They're available both on Ganesha's website and on Wargame Vault.

    Lagertha and her swords Fafnir fight off the attack of a defending Saxon archer

The Viking Raid will appear several more times in the coming months. Jenny will run it at Buckeye Game Fest (Thursday evening and Friday morning). I will run it at Drums at the Rapids on the Friday evening and Saturday morning sessions. And finally, it will be at Origins nearly all convention long, Thursday through Saturday. So, if you've wanted to try it out, make plans to show up to one of these excellent conventions and try your luck at raiding an Anglo-Saxon town!

    The deadliest defenders on the board are the mounted Saxon hearthguard who charge into contact

MINIATURES Acquired vs. Painted Tally for 2025

• Miniatures acquired in 2025: 119
  
• Miniatures painted in 2025: 54 

TERRAIN Acquired vs. Painted Tally for 2025

• Terrain acquired in 2025: 10
  
• Terrain painted in 2025: 17

SCATTER Acquired vs. Painted Tally for 2025

• Scatter acquired in 2025: 53
  
• Scatter painted in 2025: 39