Restarting Saga Game Days with Masks

The warlords wore masks and our restart of our Saga Game Days at the Guardtower East was a success

After polling our local Saga gamers, enough people expressed interest in restarting our monthly Saga Game Days at the Guardtower East in Columbus, OH. The store has a policy that masks must be worn while up and walking around inside the facility, but are optional while actually seated at the table gaming. I made it clear to the gamers that if your opponent wanted to remain masked that they should honor them with that courtesy. In addition, the store has reduced the number of tables and spaced them out closer to double the six-foot recommendation. Under those conditions, we had eight players show up today -- with others being busy and saying that they would have otherwise. All eight of us got in two games, something that doesn't happen on our normal meetings, so everyone must have missed in-person gaming.

It was good to see 8 Dark Age armies deployed for battle on the table again, exchanging blows and shooting bows

I think the masked Saga Game Days were a success from the reactions of the gamers. No one was grousing and saying the mask was such a pain that they're never coming back. No one was saying this is crazy and I'm not taking the risk to come back. I would call it the definition of a happy medium if all eight of us were happy, and that's what it appeared to me. One gamer drove over from Dayton, another from Springfield, with the remaining six of us from Columbus. Hopefully, our success will continue on in two weeks at the Dayton group's monthly meet at the Dragon Guildhall in Beavercreek, OH. We are even talking about maybe trying a tournament in August there, if the store is willing to host it. Stay tuned for more news about that.

Adrian's Anglo-Saxons were my 1st opponent - here his mounted hearthguard charge into battle urged on by his warlord

I brought my Picts (Age of Viking Scots list) again, and had two very challenging games. Other armies that people brought included Anglo-Saxon (2), Viking (2), Last Romans, Romans, and Irish. We had one brand new player who had just finished their army that week, and another bringing a newly-acquired army seeing their first Saga Game Day. Two gamers used loaner armies, which means we still have players needing to paint up figures...haha!

The attack of the Pictish spearmen on the left was blunted by Anglo-Saxon levy foot and archers

In my first game, I finally got to play Adrian from Dayton. He wanted to play a scenario from the Book of Battles called "Battle of Heroes." It is a somewhat bizarre one that requires the players to roll special conditions for Scenery, Deployment, Game Length, Victory Conditions, and Special Rules. Our game was in Rough Ground and Hostile Land (all uneven terrain was dangerous), and used Pincer Attack deployment rules, which meant we split our armies into two halves and began incredibly close to each other. It was a normal game length (Until Dark), and used Carnage (Survival Points) for victory conditions. I completely misread the Pincer Attack rules and misdeployed my troops -- particularly more poor 4-figure mounted hearthguard unit. Adrian was able to deploy his Levy archers within range and he took the first action, shooting them twice and knocking them down to one figure remaining.

On my right, my archers in the wood and one unit of spearmen attempted to hold off the surging Anglo-Saxon hordes

In the beginning of the match, my die rolls were absolutely horrible and his (particularly his saving throws) were unreal. For example, on my left, I quickly advanced and charged one of his 12-man Levy units with my 12-man Warrior unit. I had loaded up my battle board with Long Spears, Hold at Bay, and Counter-Attack. This one-two-three punch produces a phenomenal number of attack dice and can usually wipe out or decimate a unit. I caused only three hits on his levy unit. Now, don't get me wrong, I realize that Anglo-Saxon levy units have a LOT of abilities on their battle board which means they are essentially Warrior units. But three casualties for 24 attack dice?? Meanwhile, the Levy bow unit next to the heroes who were facing down my largest warrior unit were filling my 10-man warrior unit with shafts and knocking them down by several figures with each shot. I couldn't buy a saving roll, it seemed!

After spending several turns attacking at range with Reach, we began to whittle away at the stalwart Saxons

After a couple turns of beating my head against the Anglo-Saxon wall of levy, I changed tactics and began to use Reach. This allows my non-missile armed infantry (including my Warlord) to shoot as if they have javelins. In addition, every turn I used Diversionary Shot with my Levy archers, and began to slowly chew up his troops, too. Gradually, my shooting began to wear away at his troops. I refused to play into his hands and let Adrian use the abilities he'd stack on his battle board for the melees he expected me to initiate. I had written off a win, and was instead going to wear him down so the battle could possibly even be a draw. I did charge a couple charges, but tried to limit them to when his board was empty and it would be a fight more on my terms and less on his.

A wild Irish battleline - Tyler finished painting his army this week and fielded it here for his first game of Saga!

Eventually, Adrian decided he needed to kill my archers in the woods. He ended up charging them three times with Anglo-Saxon levies, and once with his Warlord. The archers hung tough, and still had two figures left at the end of the game -- even driving off their attackers once. On the left, where my first charge had gone so badly, I began to grind down his units. The dice had swung a bit, and I was getting better rolls and his were less impressive than how he'd begun. I was waiting to charge him when his board was pretty much empty. This allowed me to destroy his levy unit, archers, and even his mounted hearthguard unit.

One of Tyler's units was a warrior pack of Irish wolfhounds and handler - a scary prospect charging across the table!

It was going to be a close game, because we received bonus 2 victory points for each unit of at least four figures more than a Long distance from our baseline. His left wing had done that to my right, and my left had done it to his right. The final score ended up being 18-16 -- the narrowest of victories for me. I agreed with Adrian that levy (which are the Anglo-Saxon army's strength) don't get a fair shake in most victory conditions. My surviving warriors were counting for more points than his surviving levy, and this was enough for me to eke out a win. It was a heck of a game, though, and one I was certain for most of it that I would lose.

Round 2 games: Joe (left) and Andy battle in the foreground, while Bob and Jenny square off beyond them

The scores for the first round were:

• Bob B's Last Romans defeated Anthony B's Anglo-Saxons 31-12
• Joe M's Vikings defeated Dave E's Romans 31-14
• Tyler P's Irish defeated Jenny T's Vikings 23-11
• Mike D's Picts (Scots) defeated Adrian J's Anglo-Saxons 18-16

Tyler's Irish emerge from the terrain to swarm Jenny's invading Vikings

I was happy that everyone wanted to play another game. Usually, about half of the players leave after the first round on our normal Saga Game Days. So, we switched opponents and deployed our armies for battle, again. I faced off against Dave E's Romans this time. Dave's army has probably the single most discombobulating 1/2 point unit in the Saga universe: a ballista. When the Romans spend a point on a ballista, they also receive a 6-figure levy unit. Why is it so disconcerting to face? It is hell on wheels against large unit. What do I play with most of my armies? Large units. For example, if he were to get a shot against my 12-man Warrior unit, he would roll 6 dice (half the figures of the target unit) at +1 to hit. Granted, it takes a fatigue after each shot, but that doesn't make up for the tree trunks falling amidst your big units!

Valhalla bound! A lone Viking warrior faces off against more than a score of jeering Irish

So, what to do to negate the less than 1/12th of his army? Fight tree trunks with TREES! I placed two Woods. Surprisingly, Dave place a large woods, too, on his left flank. I told him in the future he should consider Marshes, which slow down the enemy but provide no cover and do not block line of sight. After we placed our terrain and Dave adjusted a piece, we had a large wood on each flank and I had a smaller one guarding my center not far from my baseline. I cravenly hid my army at deployment so that he began the game with only one shot on the back edge of one of my 10-figure Warrior units.

The gadfly of my battle plans -- the 1/2 point Levy ballista unit in the Roman army

My plan was to maneuver to the left with my 12 and 10-figure warrior units, backed up by my Warlord. My 4-figure mounted hearthguard would stay hidden behind the center woods and be reserve. On the right, I deployed my levy archers behind the large woods, supported by another 10-man warrior unit. Dave's army features a lot of smaller units. Besides the ballista, 6-figure levy javelinmen, and warlord, he had two small foot hearthguard infantry of Praetorians, and a small mounted hearthguard, as well. He had two 8-figure warrior units, one of bow and another of hand weapons. Against my attacking wing, he had deployed the mounted hearthguard, warrior hand weapons, and small levy javelinment. On his hill in the center, Dave deployed his ballista, flanked by another foot hearthguard and the warlord. Against my delaying wing on the left, he deployed his warrior bows and another small unit of Praetorians.

My attack goes forward on the left with two Pictish spear units, the warlord, and my mounted hearthguard in reserve

Dave did not back down to my attack, and advanced to meet me on my left. On turn 2, he ordered a mounted charge with his small hearthguard unit against my smaller warrior unit (which had been nicked by the ballista and was down to 9 figures). We were ready, though. My battleboard was loaded up with my 1-2-3 punch and I let him have it. With 19 attack dice, and seven bonus defense dice, my warriors eliminated his charging cavalrymen and suffered minimal casualties. Meanwhile, an archery duel had arrows whistling through the woods between his warrior and my levy bows. His troops were in the woods, but mine were not. I could never spare the dice, it seemed, to move them into the woods to even out the modifiers. My poor levy gave it their all, though, slowly chewing away at the smaller warrior unit, and never losing huge numbers.

Roman cavalry dispatched, the Pictish spearmen close in on the Roman legionaries and auxillary javelinmen

In the meantime, we continue to advance on the left. I switched gears and used Reach against his foot warriors, attacking him with both warrior units and the warlord. On the next turn, I charged him with my larger spear unit and his foot warrior legionaries, as well. Dave wasn't about to back down, though, and sent the Praetorians on the hill into position to attack my smaller warrior unit, which was taking it on the chin from his javelinmen and his ballista. When the Praetorians charged the Pictish warriors, we closed ranks and went all defense with our Saga abilities. We suffered no casualties, and causing one on him, which forced the imperial guards to withdraw. Down to just five figures, my warlord ordered the depleted unit of warriors to the rear (where it could continue to provide its Saga dice), and brought up the mounted hearthguard to take their place in the line.

An archery duel between the Roman auxilary archers and my levy archers lasted for the entire battle

We tried Reach again, but by this time, our very good dice at the start of the game had begun to cool. Dave's very bad dice had begun to heat up. All of our shots caused no hits on this 3 Praetorians. Undeterred, the mounted Pictish nobles charged in. The Roman gods smiled on Dave and we each caused only one casualty to the other. This forced my nobles back. Dave's foot Praetorians held the line for him for almost the remainder of the game. Aided by the shooting of the javelinmen and the ballista, we simply were unable to do anything but the most minimal casualties.

Dave's gorgeous Praetorians launched an ill-fated attack on my right that may have cost the Romans the battle

Emboldened by the goddess Fortuna, Dave ordered an attack against my delaying right wing. His 4-figure Praetorian foot did a double advance and charged my 10-man warrior unit. We saw him coming, and were able to load up our board. Rather than Counter-Attack ("chickens," as I call the Scots uncommon die, were not coming up on my saga dice rolls), we instead used a Saga ability we rarely try: Wall of Spears. With this, we roll 1 dice for each figure in the unit. Any that score under my armor class (4), give my unit one bonus attack dice AND one bonus defense dice. So, an average roll would be five successes, but on this roll my old luck returned and I scored 7. With 17 attack dice and 7 bonus defense dice we completely eliminated his Praetorians and suffered one casualty.

Round 2 game saw Adrian's (left) Anglo-Saxons exact revenge for his defeat on Tyler's Irish

At this point, Dave lost heart. I reminded him his shooting was doing a rope-a-dope on my left wing, and it was going to be closer than he thought. The warlords even got in the action on the final turn, but both survived. Mars protected his double-fatigued warlord against my fresh one, and it was time to count up points.

Bob's massive and beautiful cavalry force in his Last Romans army - including the Legendary cataphract unit

In the end, my Picts triumphed 24-21. One more point less for me or more for him and it would have been a draw! As I feared, his ballista was a constant drain of casualties on my troops. It easily killed more than a half point worth of Picts, and along with his javelin levy and one unit of Praetorian foot, staved off disaster and nearly won them the victory. Two VERY close games, and very challenging games against determined opponents. The Picts might have gone home victorious, but they were battered and bruised, and had plenty of wounds to bandage.

The Legendary Last Roman Klibanophoroi -- half of their army points -- charge Jenny's Viking hearthguard in Round 2

The results of round two were:

• Adrian J's Anglo-Saxons defeated Tyler P's Irish 29-9
• Joe M's Vikings defeated Anthony's Anglo-Saxons 23-17
• Jenny T's Vikings defeated Bob B's Last Romans 24-19
• Mike D's Picts (Scots) defeated Dave E's Romans 24-21

The Last Romans hurl themselves upon Anthony's Anglo-Saxons in a round 1 victory for Bob

I am looking forward in two weeks to our next group meeting at the Dragon Guildhall. Some of you are probably wondering what was it like gaming for more than five hours wearing a mask. It was less uncomfortable than I thought. There were times I honestly forgot I was masked -- just like when I am at the grocery store or picking up carryout. Everyone was courteous and respected each other's preferences, as I'd hoped. The Guardtower's tables are very widely spaced apart, and for much of the time, there wasn't even another game going on in the room besides ours. I hope we have continued good turnout of masked, in-person gaming until that day when we can leave them at home and see each other's smiles like to good old days! Feel free to join us and give it a try!

Anthony's Anglo-Saxons try their luck against Joe's Vikings in a fast-playing slaughterfest in Round 2

Joe's Vikings got to deal with Dave's ballista in Round 1, but their Odin Saga ability made it MUCH easier!

Vikings and Romans close in on each other and come to sword and axe blows in Round 1 action

New Saga army - the Moors of Andalusia

Start of a new army - Saga Moors from the Age of Crusades book (using Gripping Beast figures)

After purchasing the Age of Crusades Saga book, I decided it was time to build an army from it. But which one? I had played against only the Crusades and Saracen lists. Honestly, I feel the Crusades list is a little cheesy with its fanatic pilgrims (as opposed to a lot cheesy for the Wisconsin, Home of Cheese, Peter the Hermit list!). The Saracen list didn't impress me, so I started looking through all the battle boards and seeing what intrigued me. I like boards that give tactical flexibility and aren't just "amp up the attack dice" ones, like say, the Norse-Gaels. For example, my favorite board of all the armies I've played so far is the Welsh one. Lots of variety of abilities. I was struck by the Moors board. I liked the tactical variety and emphasis on mounted troops -- which I haven't used much in the armies I've played. So, Moors (or "Moops" if you're a Seinfeld fan) it was!

I am so happy with how the Moors' robes turned out that it has rejuvenated my faltering faith in my own painting ability

I purchased the figures from Rick Dunn, an area gamer who bought out a large stock of various manufacturer figures and bring them to various conventions as a flea market vendor. He sells the foot for $1 apiece, and mounted for $2. I asked him to bring as many Arab-type figures he had to Advance the Colors 2020. Surprisingly, he had "bagged armies," and I ended up putting two of those together to form the basis for my Moorish army. I like these Gripping Beast figures because they don't go overboard in gluing things together like a lot of companies today do. In fact, for these spearmen, even the shields were cast on. The only construction I had to do was place a wire spear (which reminds me, I need to buy more from North Star Miniatures) in the open hand. My kind of figures! You can keep your kits where you have to assemble heads, arms, torsos, shields, weapons, sheaths, whatever! I am super glue averse and challenged, so mine would end up looking like Quasimodo!

My favorite shield belongs to the guy in the yellow turban (writing in the red band says "Courage")

My army is going to represent an army of Moorish Spain of the later period, when Muslim civilization in Spain was wealthy, urbane, and sophisticated. So, their clothing will reflect the urbanity and wealth by being colorful and stylish. I Googled a number of images to get an idea what the robes of this period looked like -- lots of patterns and subtle shades! Even better, I found a page on the website of an old friend of mine who I hadn't heard from in ages -- Joe, of An Hour of Wolves and Shattered Shields. He has an "Al-Andalus" army gallery which is amazing. I used many of his patterns and colors for inspiration. Point of note: Joe's gallery is 15mm figures, but he is such a good painter that if I can make my 28mm miniatures look like his 15's, then mission accomplished. Thanks, Joe!

The Arabic writing on the black shield says "Allah" & "Forgiveness"; on red & brown it says "Luck"

I decided to start easy with this army and chose to paint 8 of the 16 spearmen that I purchased. Moorish society was more cosmopolitan due to the tolerance it showed, so I felt that the army's ranks would reflect that, as well. So, I decided to use four different flesh tones for these eight figures, two of each. The darkest shade would be sub-Saharan mercenaries and I used a dark brown as their base flesh, dry brushing a medium shade for highlights. For the other three, I chose a medium brown (a dark leathery color), a light leather color, and my normal Caucasian flesh tone. I reasoned that Spanish or other European mercenaries could be recruited into their ranks, too. I like how these turned out, but I think I will drop the Caucasian color and use just three flesh tones for the remainder of the army.

Love the variety of poses! The patterns and shields (it says"Hope" in the white band)were a pain, but turned out great

The robes would be the most challenging part of this batch of spearmen. I opened up my paint drawer and selected eight colors. I wanted a majority of lighter colors, as that's what my research had shown for the more colorful robes. So, I picked light greens, blues, reds, yellows, etc. I painted the head dresses the same color, but I think in future batches I will paint about half of them in a contrasting color. After finishing the robes, I went back and changed the colors of two of the eight head dresses to provide a little more contrast. I also painted stripes on two of them.

There are actually two colors in the blue splotches on the light yellow robe (his shield says "Wisdom" in the black band)

After examining Joe's gallery, I came up with 8 patterns I would use for the figures. Two of them would just be colorful, patterned borders, but the other six would have a variety of dots, crescents, and stripes. I hope I am not boasting here, but I honestly felt that these turned out wonderfully. In fact, doing this batch of eight figures has reaffirmed my faith in my painting skill. Several months ago, I was convinced I was beginning a noticeable decline in my ability. Two things are responsible for reversing this, I feel. Number one on the list was beginning to depend more on the lighted magnifier attached to my desk. I can actually SEE the detail I am trying to paint now! The second thing was to break down and buy smaller brushes. I was trying to use too blunt of brushes to do too fine of detail. What's more, for the tiniest point brush, I snapped off half of the handle's length so that it wouldn't "clink" against the underside of the magnifier as I focused on details. These spearmen turned out so good that I actually feel like I am a good painter again...ha, ha!

The urbane and sophisticated Moors of Andalusian Spain will be a colorful army on the tabletop

The next challenge on this batch was the shields. Once again, I imported ideas from Joel's Shattered Wolves website, adjusting them with my own ideas and what types of shields the figures had cast on. For the Arabic writing, my friends who accuse me of being anal will not be surprised by this next fact. I actually Googled how to write certain Arabic words like Courage, Hope, etc. And yes, assuming my source was correct, then those are real Arabic words on the shields! I tend to do my shields by first painting the base color of the shield. Then, I do the design in black. I go over the black with the chosen color, doing my best to leave a thin line of black to make the design pop, and give some depth. Once again, I was very happy with how these turned out.

So, all in all, a very inspiring (to me) start with my Moorish army. I hope you enjoyed them, as well. Stay tuned for the next batch of eight spearmen, which I've decided I will do next so that I can ensure good variety.

Saga Practice Game: Vikings vs. Islemen (Norse-Gaels)

My army of Islemen advance towards their Viking foes, who have invaded to contest control of the Hebrides Islands

As we hopefully inch closer to having in-person Saga game days or tournaments, Jenny wanted another tune up game with her new Viking army. We'd played one a couple weeks backs, with me using my Picts (Viking Age Scots). I offered for her to choose which army I'd play, but she deferred. I decided to give the Norse-Gaels list another try. I had played it only once before at our Saga Game Days, winning one game and losing the other (see Lord of the Isles Wages Battles Worthy of a Saga).

The armies at deployment, spread out across the board because Jenny rolled "Method C"

My list is composed of seven units, but two are never meant to see combat. I take one point of Levy Slaves and break them into two units of six. This is not a cheesy move for the additional Saga die, but for the Norse-Gael list ability for "Expendable" ability on the battleboard. With this, Heathguard, Warriors, and the Warlord can push fatigue they accrue off onto the levy. The units must be within Short distance, though, so I needed at least two to cover enough of the battlefield that they are within range of the units in combat. For the rest of they army I take 3 points of Hearthguard (broken into two units of six figures), two units of 8 Warriors armed with javelins, and the Warlord.

The opening stages of the battle, with Viking hearthguard advance in the center and through the woods against my right

My tactics were to have the hearthguard be the spearpoint of my army and use the warriors to maneuver around and throw javelins at the enemy (aided by the "Gaels!" ability). One major problem we would run into when facing the Vikings is they can counteract our strengths with their "Odin" ability (which exhausts an enemy Shooting unit) and especially "Loki" - which goes against the core design of the Norse-Gael battleboard. Loki awards the Viking player two bonus combat dice each time an enemy triggers a Saga ability in melee. The whole philosophy of the Norse-Gaels is to trigger a bunch of Saga abilities when entering combat to give them a slew of dice to roll. At best, we'd be helping them as much (or possibly even more) than we were helping ourselves! Note that we ruled that Loki would go into effect EACH time I used a bonus combat dice (that I had to use them separately, one by one). I couldn't play four combat bonus dice off my battleboard and have it "count" as one Saga Ability. Perhaps we were wrong on that.

Slaves-eye view as the Vikings come closer - thanking god for the Islemen hearthguard and warriors protecting them!

So, it was going to be a tough fight, made a little more challenging by the deployment (Method C) which spreads our units out at least one Medium distance from each other. The Slaves are supposed to keep close to the Hearthguard and Warriors, but now they'd have to chase after them. The first clash occurred in the center when one of Jenny's 6-figure Hearthguard units clashed with mine. I geared up on the bonus dice, including a rare one which raised my armor class one. Helped by that, the Islemen won the first exchange of blows. Five Vikings were slain while only three Islemen  were lost. Jenny quickly moved up her Shield Maiden unit to finish off my depleted Hearthguard. I decided to make her pay for that by loading up more dice for the matchup. This time, the Norse gods smiled upon her, and my remaining three figures were eliminated (but at the cost of four shield maidens to her).

Islemen hearthguard in the center bait the enemy to the clash, which their Viking counterparts in front of them accept

The next clash would occur near the woods that guarded my right. My warriors' javelins were ineffective against her second unit of Hearthguard. We stayed outside of their charge range, but within our throwing distance (made possible because they were in a woods). I moved up my second hearthguard unit to oppose hers, and soon they were both hewing and cutting, with the Vikings getting the upper hand this time. My unit retreated, down to three figures. On the next turn, the warriors killed one of their hearthguard with javelins, and then the Warlord charged into the finish them off.

My warlord blocks the Viking hearthguard, who go around him to charge the depleted Islemen hearthguard again

By this time, my left was finally getting ready to engage the Vikings. Opposing them was the Viking Levy Bow, the depleted Shield Maidens, and a unit of Warriors in the center within striking distance. We moved forward and used Gaels! with lots of combat bonus dice to decimate the enemy bowmen, killing half of their figures. The Viking warriors moved forward to avenge them and charged into my javelin-armed warriors. Luckily, our losses were not as bad as they could have been, and we wounded their unit deeply, too. So far, the Slaves had done a good job soaking up fatigue from their betters, and avoiding being shot at or charged.

My weary right wing after driving off the attack of the Viking hearthguard

At this point, Jenny took stock of her losses and decided to begin withdrawing her depleted units - which include all of them except her warlord. One unit of hearthguard had been destroyed, while the other was down to a single figure. Both her warrior units were down to a couple figures, and her archers were at half strength. With one unit of warriors full strength, I held a slight edge, and advanced into the center. The Vikings backed off, and retreated.

Time for the Islemen warriors on the left to join the battle!

It was a bitter struggle, but the Islemen were able to triumph and drive off the Vikings. Jenny felt it was a worse defeat than it was, in my opinion. My army was in only slightly better shape. The Slaves soaking up the fatigue helped, certainly, as well as having two full-strength combat units (warlord and warriors) ready to chew up her depleted ones. We certainly took a beating, too, though. I would not relish facing the Viking battleboard again. As suspected, Loki made things very difficult for us. It was only on subsequent turns after it was used that I could truly load up on combat dice and utilize the Norse-Gaels' typical tactics.

And the warriors answer the call, their flurry of javelins whittling the Viking archers down to half their number

Bogs or Fens Done Inexpensively

My 28mm Dark Ages Irish thread their way through my new bog pieces I created for Saga games

 One of the terrain pieces I have not made in years -- since my early days as a DBA Ancients player -- are bogs (or marshes or fens, if you prefer). They are listed as an eligible type of terrain to deploy on the battlefield for games of Saga, so I figured I should probably make some pieces I can use for them one day. This past Winter while shopping at Hobby Lobby, I saw plastic pieces that I thought might work for them.

The inspiration - rippled plastic sheets - two for $3.99 (don't forget to use your free online 40% off coupon!)

They are from JTT Scenery Products Embossed Pattern Sheet line (#97481 Still Water = $3.99). Each pack comes with two 7.5"x5.5" (19cmx14cm) sheets which are clear with a rippled pattern on their surface. I figured that I could either paint the bottom surface of them or find something to glue underneath them that looked like stagnant water. A few weeks ago when I was looking for accessories for my kiosks, I saw in Hobby Lobby's printed paper lines crinkled paper with a mottled green surface. I thought it would look perfect for the underside of the plastic sheet, so picked up two of them (about $1 each). When I got home, I checked, and yes -- I thought they definitely looked like swampy water with the rippled sheet place over them.

The plastic has been cut and snapped into an irregular shape, which is placed over the paper and traced to match

I bought a second set of the sheets, and proceeded to make my bogs. I had to do them one at a time because of the need to keep them from warping (see below). I supposed I could have glued the plastic sheet to thick enough styrene and I would not have had to worry about it. I was running low on styrene, though, so decided to see if just the paper and sheet would make it sturdy enough. The first step was to score the sheet deeply in an irregular pattern with a sharp box cutter knife. Being plastic, it then snapped fairly easily along its score lines.

Paint the surface of the crinkled printed paper with white glue to join the plastic to the paper

Next, I placed the sheet atop the paper and traced along its edge with a ballpoint pen. I cut the shape out going just slightly inside the lines to keep the paper from extending out underneath the sheet. I lined up the paper and sheet with their identical cuts. Then I painted one white (PVA) glue onto the surface of the crinkled paper. I didn't soak the paper -- just enough to allow it to bound with the plastic sheet.

The first of a number of "tamp downs" -- heavy weight placed on the plastic to affix it to the paper (& prevent warping)

The next step would be repeated several times at each stage of the process. I placed heavy objects -- in my case large 8 oz. bottles of craft paint -- on top of the plastic to "tamp down" the plastic onto the paper. I let it dry several hours. I was pleased the white glue dried clear and you couldn't see any signs of it underneath the rippled plastic or on the mottled surface of the paper.
I had earlier Googled images of bogs and fens and found one that I wanted to try to duplicate. It would have numerous pools separated by strands of marshy land or thick vegetation. I wanted the vegetation to be built up a bit above the surface of the rippled plastic, though. So, I took a bottle of white glue and squeezed out a thick line of it around the perimeter of the piece. Holding the piece over a bin, I poured Woodland Scenics Fine Brown Ballast over the glue with a spoon. The excess was dumped off, and then I place the piece on my cutting board. I squeezed out more white glue for the pattern of solid land dividing the piece into 5-6 pools. Ballast was poured over the white glue and I had my irregular outline, with some pools being larger than others.

A Google image of a fen or bog - I went with green rather than blue water to make it murkier and more swamplike

I flipped the craft paint bottles upside down and placed them back on top of the plastic sheet, tamping it down while the glue dried. I hoped this would prevent warping, which it did fairly well. So, if you do this, make sure your pools are wide enough that your heavy objects will rest upon just them and not extend into the glue and flocking.

Now to add the "solid ground" -- white glue squeezed out onto the surface then covered in fine brown ballast

After the second tamp down, it was time to repeat the process with green grass over the ballast. For the first time, I used 100% white glue and completely covered the ballast. However, the Woodland Scenics Blended Green Turf soaked up the glue and stayed fairly soupy looking. Yes, I know it is supposed to be a bog and waterlogged, but I didn't like the look as much. For the next three bogs, I painted the ballast with a 50/50 mixture of white glue and water instead. I found the turf attached to this mixture just as well, and it provided the look I was hoping for when I planned it. Once again, the piece was tamped down with the heavy paint bottles to keep it from warping.

Yep, another tamp down! Note how I sized my pools to fit the reversed bottles of paint

The final stage was to add pieces of Woodland Scenics clump foliage spaced out irregularly along the "solid" ground. I also added a few flower tufts in there for color. And finally, I glued one marshy looking clump of grass directly onto the rippled surface of the ponds. This would represent vegetation sprouting up out of the bogs. The weights were place back atop the piece again. Maybe I was being paranoid about warping, but I did notice on earlier pieces that it could happen.

Blended green turf and clump foliage has been added (but not the tufts, yet)

Once these were dry, I did what I called the Final Tampdown. This was simply painting the whole flocking, clumps, and flower portions of the piece with 50/50 white glue and water one final time. The paint bottles were put atop the plastic ponds again for the final time and it was left to dry overnight. I should state that I NEVER sprayed a clear coat on the bogs. I worried that this may "frost" the clear surface of the plastic.

Here is my fourth bog getting its "final tampdown" - yes, I was humming the Europe song while I did this!

I was very happy with the result. I now have four bogs, roughly 5"x7", to use for Saga games or whatever. I like how the rippled surface reflects the light of the room in a dappled pattern. I like how the murky green paper looks like stagnant water, and gives a feeling of depth to the ponds. And I like the three dimensional nature of the clumps and the color of the flowers.  I have included a couple photos of my 28mm Dark Ages Irish in and among the bogs to give you an idea of their scale.

My Dark Ages Irish slosh through the fens on their way to attack an enemy

Lord Gwendawg Welsh Warlord Rebased

Lord Gwendawg rides triumphantly through the field on his new combined warlord base

Early on in playing Saga Dark Age skirmish games, I decided I like the look of the Warlord figure having a couple close retainers with him. I would usually plop down a standard bearer and horn blower next to the warlord and move them together as one. As I paint new warlords, they will all be based this way (although it's fun to include a pet on the base, too, like I did with my Pictish warlord).

A close up of Lord Gwendawg's religious banner - simply line art Photoshopped and printed out

Eventually, I decided that was a pain to move the three figures around and that I should simply rebase the figures. I did my Saxon and Viking warlords awhile back, but for some reason never got around to doing my Welsh warlord - Lord Gwendawg. Until now, that is! This one was simpler than the other two rebasing, as I'd learned my lesson -- DON'T USE BASS WOOD (or anything that might warp)! Lord Gwendawg was on a 1"x2" mounted base, while his bannerman and horn blower were on 1"x1" bases. I peeled off their magnet backings, then epoxied them to a 2"x2" piece of black styrene. This was then epoxied to a 2"x2" piece of magnetic material.

I really like Lord Gwendawg's dappled gray horse -- one of my favorites I've done

I had to reflock the warlord base, though. I'd painted the miniatures up at different points and they had a slightly different flocking scheme. Plus, I wanted to get rid of the lines of the individual bases. I painted the entire base with a 50/50 mixture of brown paint and white (PVA) glue. I dipped the figure in a tub of Woodland Scenics fine brown ballast. Once dry, I painted the ballast with a 50/50 mixture of white glue and water. I sprinkled on Woodland Scenics Blended Turf. After spraying it with Dullcoate, I then added the Blended Grass in an irregular pattern, glued on a few tufts, and he was done! Well, there was one more spray of Dullcoate, but now Lord Gwendawg's new base is done and he's ready to ride into battle with his companions at his side!

Viking Bondi from Footsore Miniatures

My favorite shields that I painted for my Footsore Miniatures Viking Bondi - Thor's hammer and the worm Ouroboros

Awhile back, when Jenny was ordering her Viking army from Footsore Miniatures, I decided to join in on the order. Nearly all of my Vikings have chainmail -- most from Old Glory miniatures. There are some from various other sources, including Gripping Beast. When I am playing Saga Dark Age skirmish rules, I like my opponent to be able to tell the difference between my Hearthguard, Warrior, and Levy class troops. My idea was to have the mail-clad figures be Hearthguard and those without armor the Warriors. With the Vikings, the Levy are obvious because they're armed with a bow.

My new Viking Bondi pillage a Celtic monastery, preparing to loot the church and beehive huts

My plan was to order enough for 24 unarmored warriors, and luckily Footsore produced six packs (4 figs each) of unarmoredViking Bondi. The North America store showed four of those packs on their website, so I ordered those. Jenny chose to order from the UK site to be able to order from their full Viking range, and get the Saga package deal. I had her add the two packs that North America did not have to her order. As it turned out, the North America site was really struggling filling my order. After two months of waiting, I just cancelled the order. So, these eight figures are the ones that arrived (in a week or so) with Jenny's order.

More Viking Bondi from Footsore Miniatures, looking for treasure to steal and monks to capture as slaves

I have seen many others post pictures of Footsore Miniatures on Facebook or their websites, and the figures are indeed cleanly cast and wonderfully posed. There is a great variety among them, which is perfect for a skirmish game like Saga. I am a little disenchanted with the fact they don't come packaged with weapons. By scrounging through my unpainted lead, and chopping the weapons off some figures that had the weapons cast on, we were able to equip her army. I've been told the UK website has weapons packs you can order, but why not just toss in a variety in each pack?

I really like the clothes the front two Vikings are wearing -- the quilted one on the right and animal skin on left

Another thing that turned me off a bit was that the fists that you need to drill out to put in those weapons are rather undersized, in my opinion. The sizes are probably anatomically correct, but when you have to use a pin vice to drill it out and then place a 28mm scale weapon in the hand, a larger fist would make things MUCH easier. Or casting them with open hands, like some manufacturers do. When drilling out and equipping Jenny's troops (and mine), there were a number of fists that cracked and had chunks break off.

More Footsore Vikings prowl through a Celtic monastery - I like the execution of the shield design in the center

Still, the figures do look great when completed. Another thing I like is that they are not festooned with tons of extra equipment. Some don't even have a knife at their belt or a sack for carrying supplies or whatever. In addition to being cleanly cast, they are cleanly equipped, if that is a thing. I like that. Maybe I'm just scarred from painting all those 28mm Eastern Woodland Indians with more straps, bags, sheaths, and miscellaneous stuff festooned on the figure that I appreciate painting a figure that is not over-equipped!

Any monks hiding in their cells are going to be disappointed when these warriors burst in on them

All of the shields are hand-painted, too. I know that decals would look nicer, but I just haven't gotten into using them, yet. The few times I've tried I really struggle with the process of getting them positioned correctly and cleanly. I used a variety of faded colors for their clothes, for the most part, and really like how they turned out. So, if you don't mind drilling out the hands and buying or supplying weapons yourself, they are quality miniatures to add to your Viking army.