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Anglo-Saxon defenders rally to try to fight off fierce Viking raiders who have come to loot their town
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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.
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A good view of the Anglo-Saxon town as Allen, Mike W, and Joel laugh about how the raid is going
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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.
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Joel's leader, Olaf the Wise, is under attack by a Saxon axeman while his companions rush to his aid
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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.
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I put our host, Mike W in the blue shirt, in charge of drawing the event cards and reading the results
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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.
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Tostig, at right, engages an Anglo-Saxon archer while his leader Krumm takes a breather
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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.
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Viking chief Halfdan, left, and his swordsman Fafnir fight off a horde of Anglo-Saxon fyrd
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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.
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Each of the "blood spots" marks where a defender was slain by the deadly Yvgni and his Viking crew
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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.
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Ulfgar the archer is ridden down by an angry mounted hearthguard, while Tostig tries to aid him
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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!
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Mike S, left, smiles in the early going of the game, not knowing the ill luck that awaits him in town!
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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!
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Young Viking chieftain Krumm falls to a horde of defenders just as he was in sight of the church!
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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!
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It is dawn and a pit fire burns in front of the church before word of the Viking raid awakes the town
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Miniature Painting & Purchasing Tally for 2024- Miniatures acquired in 2024: 227
- Miniatures painted in 2024: 254
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The monks are awake, though, and singing praises in the church by the flickering candlelight
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An overhead look at the raid's progress towards the end of the game
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