To Minneapolis, for a Weekend of Saga

 

    I packed up my Moorish Saga army and flew to Minneapolis for a weekend of Saga

After interviewing both Monty Luhmann and Rodge from Saga Thorsday for my own podcast, we began discussing how much fun it would be to schedule a weekend of Saga in the twin cities. I would fly up, Rodge would drive over, and we'd do two days of Saga with Monty's group and anyone else who wanted to come. We traded weekends that would work back and forth until we finally settled on the last weekend of July. I found a great deal on tickets, Rodge recruited a couple fellow Saga buffs from Wisconsin, and we talked Terry Doner from Chicago into making the drive up, as well.

    With my Moorish cavalry on my right wing, I deployed to face Monty's Ordenstaat crusaders

I got in five games over the weekend -- three on Saturday and two on Sunday. Since Monty's group was using this weekend as a chance to get in some initial games for their Age of Hannibal campaign, and the fact that Rodge and Monty needed to do their climactic showdown in their two-player campaign, we decided not to do a tournament format. It was a very informal affair. People matched up against opponents as they finished their games, much in the style of our old "Rolling Thunder" DBA tournaments. Since I was flying, I really could bring only one army. Monty and Rodge wanted to face off against my Moors, so I loaded up Majik Ibn Battua al-Waqaa and his warband and took them along.

Monty and Rodge's groups have played a LOT more Saga than our Ohio group. Heck, probably most groups out there have been playing longer than our Saga Ohio's two years. So, I fully expected to go up there and get my butt kicked. The only question was would I win any games at all? I may have a good Win-Loss record here, but nearly all of those I would be facing have competed in tournaments. Also, many have been playing Saga since Version 1. Interestingly, the twin cities group is more focused on matchups within "Age of..." books. Here in Ohio, we're willing to play any Age warband against any other. So, many of Monty's "Saga Storm" folks brought Age of Crusades armies, knowing that is what myself, Rodge, and Terry were bringing.

    After the first Moorish turn, my cavalry has moved forward, thrown javelins and withdrawn

I'm going to talk about all five battles in this one post, so there will be less blow-by-blow in these accounts than in previous ones. Also, in the interests of keeping these fresh in my head, I will actually start with Game #5 and count downwards. The more recent ones, I assume, will be most fresh in my head! As such, Game #5 was a rematch against Monty, who I also played the day before in Game #2. He used his same crusader figures, but instead of fielding them as Baltic Crusaders, Monty used the Ordenstaat board. This board represents the Teutonic Knights of the Middle Ages and their crusade against the pagan tribes of the Baltic region. Monty confessed he felt Ordenstaat was a weaker warband than a Baltic Crusaders one, but I think he wanted to give me a chance to face a new army (and -- spoiler alert -- a chance for revenge!).

Game 5: Moors vs. Ordenstaat

The scenario was one Rodge wanted to playtest called "Hallowed Ground." Each player can earn a single bonus point by having enough troops within Medium distance of the centerpoint of the board. Each round, the minimum amount of troops needed inside the circle goes up, so it forces the armies to meet in the middle of the board. I deployed half of my troops first, which consisted of my Levy archers in the swamp on my half of the middle of the board, flanked on their right by a unit of warriors, and backed up by my warlord. Monty then deployed his full army. On his far right were 4 foot hearthguard with heavy weapons. To their left were his levy archers. His warlord on foot was in the center of his army, flanked by a unit of warrior foot and another unit of foot hearthguard. In reserve were two units of mounted hearthguard. Monty admitted he hid them behind his lines to protect them from my shooting. I then completed my deployment, continuing to my right with another unit of warriors and both of my 6-man units of mounted hearthguard with javelins. I planned to skirmish aggressively with my cavalry, running forward to throw javelins and then pulling back out of the range of his counterstrikes, hopefully.

    The end of the game after Monty's last gambit - he has only four figures left on table!

 

I opened by marching my center unit of warrior foot into the Hallowed Ground. Then, both cavalry units galloped forward and tossed javelins at his leftmost unit of foot hearthguard, killing two of them. I then pulled them back out of range of his reserve mounted knights, making sure it would take them more than two moves to reach them. Monty countered by marching his archers forwards and shooting them at my foot who had advanced within the Hallowed Ground. He also edged forward his line, bringing one of his units of mounted knights to a closer position so they could charge next turn, but keeping them shielded from my cavalry. I responded on the next turn with another advance and javelin toss, which eliminated the two remaining figures in the foot hearthguard unit. Stung, Monty double moved his mounted knights to charge one of my cavalry units. A bloody melee ensued which eliminated all four of his figures and four of my six cavalrymen.

My counterstrike the next turn was to charge one of my foot spear units into his warriors who had moved up to support the archers. I played "Inspiration" from the Moorish battle board with a rare die, meaning I could reroll any 1's, 2's, or 3's. Ostensibly, I should get almost 8 hits out of that. Monty's dice were nowhere near as good as our first game, and five of his eight warriors went down, and they were shoved back out of the Hallowed Ground. Meanwhile, my own archers continued to pour fire into his Levy archers, whittling them down bit by bit. Monty next sent forward his foot hearthguard with heavy weapons to support his archers. He declined to go after my cavalry, which I had pulled back towards my baseline. He also chose not to send his last unit of mounted knights into my foot, seeing how I had "Forest of Spears" queued up and ready for his charge.

The opening stages of my second game with my Moors advancing towards the center and Terry's Mongols massed in one corner to strike

I poured in more archery fire, this time into the heavy weapons foot knights. I got very lucky on my two shots and Monty's luck continued to spiral down as the unit was entirely wiped out. Desperate, he sent his remaining foot knights on a charge across the board to my baseline against my remaining full strength unit. He did well, and killed 5 of the 6 figures, but my attacks killed 3 of his 4. This brought Monty down to four figures let on the board, and at that point, he conceded the game. Revenge was mine!

    Terry's Khan takes the 1st objective, but at the cost of two fatigue, leaving him vulnerable (I thought)

Game 4: Moors vs. Mongols

 My first game on Sunday morning was against Terry Doner, who'd brought his Mongols along for his Age of Crusades army. I was really interested to see how they performed since that is my next Saga army that I am painting. We chose to play "Ambush" from Book of Battles. His Mongols and my Moors would seek to attack and loot the three wagon trains marching across the center of the table. This would be interesting because the wagons are all but invulnerable to shooting (Armor 6, and counting as a Hero so you need 4 hits in one turn to take them out). My Moors had played this once before and we knew how useless shooting would be against the wagons.

    My 'Torrent of Iron' charge rolls miserably, and fails to kill the vulnerable Mongol Khan

Terry's army was all mounted, of course. It consisted of mounted warlord, mounted camel drummer, two 4-man mounted hearthguard, and three units of 8 mounted warriors. He was the first to strike at the wagons. He sent in a hearthguard unit which inflicted two casualties (fatigue on the "hero" wagon), but lost one, recoiling back. Surprisingly, the warlord followed up. He was able to finish off the wagon, but ended the turn with two fatigue. I took that as an opportunity and launched a Torrent of Iron charge on his warlord. This is my big strike, and when combined with Wholehearted from my board, meant that I was rolling 16 attack dice against his warlord. I also played Inspiration, allowing me to reroll 1's on my attack dice. I was sure that this would finish off his warlord, even though he had a unit of four hearthguard to use the Bodyguards rule and remove figures as casualties instead. Nope! Between my initial roll and my rerolling 1's, I totaled 8 ones on my dice throw. After his saves, he took only 5 casualties, which meant he ended the turn Exhausted and lost only two hearthguard from my hits. I had used two of his fatigue to raise my armor to 6, which meant he could not do anything to my cavalrymen. With my +1 from javelin, and lowering his armor one, I should have scored 10-11 hits -- not counting rerolls. It was truly a subpar attack, and had I been successful, the game likely would have progressed very differently.

    The midpoint of the game - my foot warriors have seized a wagon and the Mongols mass to steal it

As the other two wagons progressed across the table, one came within range of my foot warriors. They charged in and plundered it. The Mongols were having none of that and Terry immediately charged one of his horse archer units into my warriors and snatched it from them. I decided that it was time to start attacking his light cavalry, who were vulnerable in melee. I launched three charges into them, one by each of my cavalry units and the other by my remaining unit of warriors. He lost a lot of figures on that turn, but none of them his hearthguard or warlord, who were doing most of the fighting. He was also able to take back the center objective, which I had seized, and pulled back his depleted units on the wings. Terry retained possession of two of the three markers, while the third wagon continued its slow advance across the center of the table.

    Three Moorish charges kill more than a dozen of his light horse, and take back our objective

I had one more chance to even things up. I shot my archers and threw javelins at his hearthguard, hoping to destroy them with missile fire (their armor class against shooting is only 4). However, he had cleverly played Human Shields on his board, which allowed him to remove his casualties from the light horse who were hovering protectively in range around his hearthguard. My final act was to send my warlord against the final wagon. My rolls were subpar again in melee, and Majik failed to do four casualties. The game ended with losses about even, but Terry in possession of two objective markers, which gave him a comfortable victory. I had a blast playing against him and seeing how he played the Mongol battle board. I'm glad he's planning on coming to our Advance the Colors Saga tournament Oct. 2, so I can drink a beer and chat with him more.

    Majik Ibn Battuta al-Waqaa charges a wagon to seize the objective but fails

Game 3: Moors vs. Carthaginians

Both of my first two games on Saturday went quickly, so when Brent proposed we play a game, I agreed. It would be my third of the day -- a first for me. I told him not to worry about playing an Age of Crusades army. Instead, play what he wanted to play. He chose his Age of Hannibal Carthaginians. We decided to roll up a Battle of Heroes using the "Chaos" option (all random rolls for Scenery, Deployment, Victory Conditions, Special Rule, and Game Length). The most distressing roll for my Moors was Fog, which meant that no charges or shooting could be done from greater than Medium distance for the first three turns of the game. A key part of my defense against his two elephants would be shooting, and a good one-third of my missile power had been declawed.

    'Pincer' deployment meant both Brent's Carthaginians and my Moors deployed in two wings

We had rolled 'Pincer" for deployment, which meant we divided our army into two halves which were deployed widely-spaced from each other on our half of our board edges. Being the first to deploy (as usual), I split my army into two modular sections - each had a cavalry and foot spear unit. The first I deployed also contained my warlord (in the left wing), while the second half had the Levy archers (right wing). Terry put deployed his foot far forward on the wing opposite my warlord, with a unit of Levy slingers, mercenary Thureophoroi, and two separate elephant units of one model. On the other wing, against his baseline, he deployed his mounted troops -- mounted warlord and 16 mounted warriors broken into three small units of Numidian cavalry.

    Both wings of the army have joined up, with the cavalry having pulled back behind the infantry

On my turn, I sent the cavalry on the left wing forward to throw javelins at his mercenaries, killing two, then pulled them back towards the middle. The warlord and the foot on the left also move towards the center. My right stayed put, waiting to see what the Carthaginians would do. Initially spooked, Brent pulled his right wing back, but on subsequent turns sent it in pursuit of my left, which kept withdrawing to form a compact, unified formation, joining up with my right. He sent one unit of Numidian cavalry forward, while the other two and the warlord shifted to join up with their right wing. Of all the targets that my Moorish cavalrymen love to see lined up and within their move and shoot range, mounted warriors with missile weapons are their favorite due to their low armor 3. With 12 dice, I should inflict 8 hits on average, every turn. Both units galloped forward, hurled their javelins, and then withdrew safely behind the infantry battleline. The entire Numidian unit had been destroyed, and Brent's eyes widened and was obviously surprised. He was impressed with the Moors ability to skirmish and then withdraw to safety.

Brent gave me no more chances at his Numidians. He did send his slingers forward, hoping to squeeze in a shot through my lines at the cavalry. One of my warrior foot units chased them off, doing far fewer casualties than we should have (Brent made up for his bad roll with the cavalry and saved 5 of 11 hits!). I kept my spear units out of range of his elephants' charge, waiting for the fog to lift so I could attack them with missile fire. It was only a five turn game, though, and as we closed in on the final turn, I honestly felt bad for Brent. I had been skirmishing and withdrawing and he had yet to get a chance to charge any units into combat. I felt that I was comfortably ahead on points, so I decided to give him a chance to have some fun. It would likely result in both of us losing a unit or two, but would make the game more interesting for both of us. I know, I know. You can't feel sorry for the "enemy," but in the end -- as I told Brent -- it IS a game. So, let's have some fun!

    My "let's have fun" moment where my cavalry charged his mercenary Thureophoroi

The fun was charging his mercenaries with one of my cavalry units in a Torrent of Iron. As expected, we cut down all six of his remaining warriors. And, as expected, he charged one of his elephants into my cavalry unit and stomped it to pieces. The reason that I thought it would be okay to give up a 1.5 point unit for a 1 point one was that you get a bonus for destroying enemy mercenaries. Also, that would bring the elephants within the range of my archers. For my final turn, I shot and killed the elephant who had charged, and then shot the other one, as well. It came down to one final save. If Brent muffed it, he would lose the second elephant (and the game, certainly). If he saved it, then it would be a close match. He rolled the save and we counted up the points. I thought I would still be ahead, but was surprised that we actually tied, 20-20. It was a blast of a game, though, and Brent is a really fun opponent to play against. Sure, I could have hung back and likely preserved a victory. However, it is more important to me to have a good time and we had a gripping, satisfying ending to our game.

    My Moors after their first turn of advance, lined up against Monty's Baltic crusaders

Game 2: Moors vs. Baltic Crusaders

One of the promised games for the weekend would be my Moors' match against Monty's Baltic Crusaders. We had talked our way through how a game between them would progress on Saga Ohio Episode 12. So, it would be fun to actually play out the game and see how it would actually progress. Monty was the mastermind behind this weekend of Saga, and gaming with him was the reason many of us had made the trip. He is truly one of the hobby's great gentlemen. One of the things I did on the flight up to Minneapolis was to go back and re-listen to that episode of my podcast. We had told each other essentially what we would do, and it would be silly of me to forget all of that!

    The beginning of the end: This 4-man knight unit would kill 16 figures on Monty's first turn

My first sign that things were not going to go as planned came during deployment. We were doing the tactical option of Battle of Heroes. Monty had chosen March Column, which has players dice during deployment. The high roller deploys a unit, then they dice again for the next unit. I "won" (read: lost) every single roll and had to deploy my entire army before Monty had to deploy a single unit. Please don't tell me the odds of that happening, because it was only going to get worse. Monty had deployed in a compact line, book-ended by foot hearthguard with archers and crossbowmen in the center. His mounted knights were in reserve behind his main battleline.

    The knights continue to pile on charges and kill twice their number of Moorish hearthguard

One of the things Monty had said in our podcast was that he would NOT go racing across the field, pell-mell, with multiple movements and multiple charges. Guess what he did? One mounted knight unit of 4 hearthguard moved, charged, and charged again. Aided by the lethal Crusader battleboard and its multiple "gain 4 attack dice" abilities, he wiped out my entire unit of Levy archers and four of one of my 6-man mounted hearthguard units. The two-for-one trading continued without letup all game. Monty's famed "blue dice" were simply lethal. Fortunately, the memories of his rolls are beginning to fade. Suffice to say, he saved when he needed to save, hit when he rolled to hit, and simply slaughtered my army in less turns that the game was supposed to last. The Moors fell victim to charges and Saga abilities that let him clear his fatigue and charge again. It was without a doubt, the worst loss I have ever suffered in Saga. Monty continually apologized for the uneven die rolling, but that's the way the game plays. I have always had what I consider "streaky luck," and my first matchup of the weekend against Monty had me on a cold streak and he on a hot one. Thankfully, he gave me a rematch on Sunday and my dice woke up and I was given a chance at revenge.

    In my first game of the weekend, my Moors square off against Rodge's Pagan Peoples

Game One: Moors vs. Pagan Peoples

I had been looking forward to playing a game against Rodge of Saga Thorsday, this weekend. I had NOT been looking forward to facing his Pagan Peoples battle board, though! This army represents the various Lithuanians, Estonians, and other Pagan tribes of the Baltic region who were targets of the crusades launched by the Teutonic Order and other Christian kingdoms in northern Europe. As Rodge had explained in Episode 13 of Saga Ohio, it is a surprisingly lethal and effective battle board. Rodge has honed its deadly edge through his run of victories against Monty in their two-player Baltic campaign. He has figured out how to maximize his six points into an army that would generate 9 Saga dice, if you were allowed that many. The battle board rewards small units, and I believe Rodge deployed his army as mounted warlord, one unit of mounted hearthguard with 4 figures, one unit of foot hearthguard with 4 figures, a unit of 11 warrior bowmen, unit of 5 warrior bowmen, four units of 6 levy javelinmen. 

    The beginning of the encirclement - Moors have already lost 1 hearthguard, 6 warriors, 5 levy

Why would you want to a unit of 6 levy javelinmen? Well, one ability on their board gives ALL units that shoot or melee that turn 2 bonus attack dice. So, let's say all his units shoot on any given turn. That is 12 bonus dice alone from one ability -- if they shoot only once each! Those 6-man levy units generate 5 attack dice - not insignificant. Plus, he has a BASIC Saga ability (meaning you can put as many Rare dice on it as you roll) that lets him activate three units for one die. Now, Rodge and Monty will tell you that makes them vulnerable to a cold streak on Rare dice. Well, Rodge did not start out on a cold streak, I can tell you. He rolled 1 of 3 rares on his first turn, and then on turns two and three rolled 3 Rare dice each! For what should be a 1 in 6 chance, he rolled more than twice that -- just under half his Saga dice rolled on turns 1-3 were Rares!!

    A depleted Moorish spear unit forms a wall to protect the cavalry against archers arriving in the rear

So, my first game of Saga on the Minneapolis weekend was a bit of deja vu of my Moors' only previous defeat at the hands of the Tyler's Irish. We were simply swarmed by javelin (and bow) men. I had kept my cavalry units back on my left baseline and advanced my foot warriors and levy forward. They were shot to pieces. Many of his attacking unit activated multiple times, meaning that they kept taking advantage with every shot of that +2 attack dice. When Rodge's Saga dice cooled off a bit on Turn 4 & 5, I counter-attacked savagely with my mounted hearthguard. I eliminated several of his units and began to whittle down his available Saga dice. However, at that point, he unleashed his hearthguard and warlord. I had expended all my energy and lost big numbers fighting his warriors and levy. When Rodge sent them in to mop up, all of my units were depleted. 

    Although Rodge has honed his army to prime effectiveness, he doesn't have them all fully painted yet! Note the warlord and hearthguard...

It was a hard-fought game. The Moors killed lots of his men, but in the end, we were simply overwhelmed by one of the deadliest lists in Saga in the hands of an experienced player. It will be interesting to see if the Pagan Peoples are "nerfed" at all in the upcoming FAQs and modifications (rumored to be out before the end of 2021). Although they are not #1 on the need-nerfing list (Peter the Hermit's Levantine Crusaders win that dubious honor), they are pretty high up there. 

Despite starting off with two quick defeats at the hands of master Saga players Monty and Rodge, it was a fun weekend. The people I played with were gracious and fun to sit across the table from. Thank you to Monty for organizing the weekend. Thanks to Brent for giving me a ride to the airport on Sunday, and Scott for buying my dinner on Saturday night. I truly enjoyed meeting everyone and had fun, even though my Moors' successes were limited. Hope to see you all again one day!

The Mongols Approach! My first batch of Mongols for Saga

    My first batch of 8 Mongol mounted warriors gallops through an enemy village on a lightning raid

I had no intention of starting on my next Saga army so soon after finishing up the Carolingians. However, Rodge from Saga Thorsday announced a painting contest. The rules were simple -- paint at least one point of a Saga army (but you could enter more, even an entire army). It had to be all new paint jobs -- nothing you'd finished prior to the start of the contest. I honestly have never entered a painting contest, so figured why not? 

    My 28mm Mongols are from Curteys Miniatures, carried by 1st Corp in the UK

I'd purchased these Mongols awhile back from Curteys Miniatures, which is carried by 1st Corp in the UK. I'd picked them for their incredible variety of poses and packs. Their price is also very good. Even including the shipping costs, these came out to be very affordable. One drawback that I read about on the internet was their smaller size. I figured since the entire army was going to be from the same manufacturer, I didn't have to worry about them not sizing up with other miniatures. Plus, Mongol horses and Mongols themselves tend to be a bit shorter than Westerners. So, no problem with being a little short, eh? They're Mongols -- they'll make up for it with attitude.

    I was really drawn to the variety of poses and expressive faces that were cast on these miniatures

This first batch was of eight miniatures, which is normally larger than what I like to paint for mounted troops. However, Rodge's rules were clear. I had to paint a full point, and one point of Saga warriors is eight miniatures. After this batch, I will likely paint in smaller groups. I selected one pack of light horse archers and one of the several command packs that I purchased. Interestingly, the horse archers came in three parts while the command pack came in two (horse and rider). The archers' lower bodies had to be glued to their upper half. I'm not 100% sure why, though. Maybe to give even more variety? However, the lower halves were very similar and I didn't think it made much difference. The different headgear did a better job of providing variety.

    I mixed a pack of horse archers and a command pack for my first batch of 8 miniatures

Looking at the sculpts closely, I really liked the expressive faces. I liked the headgear, but boy did they have a lot of equipment festooned on them! Most had a bowcase, quiver, sidearm like axe or sword, ceramic jug, and some other bag-like piece of equipment I didn't recognize. These were all attached to the lower half of the rider (or rider himself, in the case of the command pack) -- not the horse. The horses were okay sculpts - not the strongest part of the casting, but acceptable. They were actually where I started, once I'd assembled the figures and primed them. I decided to glue the figure to the horse before painting, unlike I had done with the Carolingians, recently. I was worried about fitting the riders to the horse and wanted to be sure I could ensure the fit was good before applying paint.

    My favorite robe was the dark, blue-green one worn by the standard bearer

I wanted these horses to stand out since I was painting this batch for a contest. So, I pulled out all of my 28mm Dark Ages cavalry figures and picked out the horses that I liked best. I set my favorite eight out on my desk than placed the primed miniatures up next to them, side by side. Sometimes I had to scratch my head to figure out what paint color I had used on the figure I was using as a model, but for the most part I was able to match the previously painted ones. I used a mix of grays, tans, browns, chestnut reds, and such. Previously, I had done research to see what colors Mongol ponies (who aren't actually ponies, but just small, hardy horses) actually were. Everything I read made it appear that their horses are the same variety of colors we see elsewhere in the world.

    I'm very happy with how these figures came out, with decorated robes, bowcases, and quivers

 For most horses, this meant there was a base coat and lighter shade of it drybrushed over top. Then I used two to three colors to give the fading to darker colored legs, noses, or whatever coloring the horse had. The manes were also painted a base color and dry brushed. I used a couple different color combinations of leather -- a darker one and lighter one. Each set of reins, bridle, etc., was done in two colors - a darker base coat and a lighter highlight color painted full strength (not dry brushed) atop. Once the horses were done, it was time to figure out what color to paint the rider's robes.

    The standard was modified, chopping off the metal top and placing it one wire spear

Another decision that I had to make was what skin color to use for my Mongol army. I don't have a jar of paint that says "Asian flesh" or similar. I went online and looked not only at historical images painted of the Mongols (such as Japanese or Chinese paintings), but also at photographs of modern Mongol herders. I then opened up each of my bottles of paint, finally settling on a Delta Ceramcoat paint called Khaki to use as the base. Honestly, I think it is far too dark to be what I consider khaki, but I liked its tanned flesh look. I added in standard Ceramcoat ruddy flesh until I came up with a mixture I liked. It was still a little light for my tastes, so I put on two rather than one coat of brown wash and was finally satisfied with the result. I had created my own Mongol flesh tone. I then used a plastic bottle to mix a big bottle of it up so that I didn't have to worry about matching the color with each batch of figures (like I had done for both my brown and black washes).

I rationalized that my Mongols were representing a period after the Mongol conquests had begun. So, they would have access to Chinese silks and Middle Eastern fabrics. Most source books like Osprey that I had perused also showed Mongols in brightly-colored silks. I took that as a go ahead to paint the riders much like I had done the Moors -- probably my favorite 28mm army that I have ever painted. I looked up at my paint rack and picked out base colors. Next, I decided what kind of pattern I would have on the robe. As always, I use the cardboard base that I glue my unpainted figures on to write notes, drawing sketches of the patterns, and so on. My favorite of the robes was the standard bearer, who has a dark blue-green robe with a sky blue pattern of dots. Not everything was a dots, I also painted little crescents, hollow circles, and more. I was really happy with how the patterns turned out.

Once the flesh and robes were done, it was time to delve into the plethora of equipment the riders were wearing. I pulled out about 7-8 bottles of paint that would fit in the linen-leather-brown spectrum. I picked up a figure and painted its bowcase, quiver, ceramic bottles, and bag all at the same time. I didn't want a bland look of everything being the same color, but I also didn't want a jarring rainbow of colors. I made sure the equipment gave a pleasing tonal range but still looked like something a tribal culture would produce with hides or ceramics. 

All in all, I was very happy with how this first batch turned out. Next batch, I will talk about the basing with the oval bases and the decisions I made on why and how I did that.

 

Last Points of Carolingians!

    Count Drogo - lord of the Lombard Marches - leads the forces of Charlemagne on its borders

Here are the last of the figures for my 28mm Carolingian Saga army. They include another batch of eight warrior bowmen, the warlord, and a supplemental batch of six archers. As I mentioned in earlier posts, all of the figures in this army except for the bowmen are from the Gripping Beast 4-point starter box I purchased at Game Table Adventures in Newark, OH. I already had a number of various Dark Age bowmen, so I didn't really see the point in going out and purchasing more for this army. I decided instead to use the figures I had and paint them up to match the rest of the army as best I could. Some are from Old Glory, some Warlord Games (I believe), and who knows where else? Feel free to comment on my blog if you recognize certain miniatures!

    I was really happy with how the hand-painted shield and the Photoshop-created banner came out!

I really like how the warlord base came out. I was planning all along to go with a red and green stripe theme for Count Drogo, my fictional Carolingian warlord (count of the Lombard marches). I made it a point to repeat those two colors throughout the warband so they predominate. I obviously made Count Drogo's reds and greens much brighter and fancier! I am not a big fan of painting stripes, but I am pretty happy with how his striped cloak came out. The yellow dots on the tunic were kind of overkill, but hey! A Dark Age noble will want to show off his finery when it comes to clothes. His dragon shield is hand-painted and one of my favorites from recent batches of figures.

    Count Drogo's companions, his trumpeter Ranulf and his Doberman Pinscher, Griffo

The other bit of overkill was on Drogo's scale armor. I decided to paint alternating rows of silver and bronze scales. The Franks were known to produce fine armor and weapons during the Dark Ages, so I figured this noble lord would have the best. Oh, and in case you think "Drogo" is completely made up name, that's not the case. I "Googled" Frankish names and saw it pop up on a list. I like the way that Count Drogo has the same rhythm and rhyme as Khal Drogo, the badass leader of the Dothraki from Game of Thrones! Count Drogo's Doberman Pinscher (no, I did not research if that breed was around in the Dark Ages...) is from Iron Wind metals, I believe. Or perhaps yet another 28mm dog miniature I picked up somewhere in a flea market! I used wire to wrap around the dog's neck as a leash and tucked it underneath Ranulf's hand resting on the hilt. 

    Batch #2 of my Carolingian archers - note the four with shields strapped to backs at the last minute

As mentioned before, though Count Drogo was included in the box, his companions on the base came from other places. I tend to take the figures out of the manufacturer's packaging nowadays when I purchase them. I put them in ziploc bags so they fit better in my unpainted lead drawers. Yes, sad to say, I have a mini cart on wheels with 5-6 drawers full of unpainted lead -- AND a supplemental 3-drawer bin on the shelves next to my painting desk! There's no way everything would fit if they remained in their original packaging. Lately, I have been trying to snip off part of the label and put it inside the ziploc bag, or at least write on the bag in marker what manufacturer and pack the miniatures are from. I would like my blog posts to be more informative and say, "I have no idea where this figure comes from" over and over here...haha!

    I am fairly certain the two on the left are Old Glory Viking archer figs, but not sure about the left two

I did the archers in two batches, one of eight which I had originally planned on doing, and a supplemental group of six after I foolishly thought I was finished with this army. Why paint more? Well, in my Carolingian Saga army, the warrior bowmen are the real killers due to the way I use the advanced abilities on the battle board. So, I decided to paint some more up so that I could reduce the number of warrior spearmen and increase the number of archers, if I choose to do so. Also, as I was finishing the first batch, I decided to attach shields to the backs of four of the Old Glory archers. They are supposed to be warrior bowmen, after all -- not Levy! This meant scraping paint off the figure where the shield would touch the archer's back. I tried to scrape the paint off the corresponding part of the shield off, too. Normally, I would attach any weapons and shield first, before painting. However, I already had these mostly done when I made the decision to give them shields slung on their backs. Probably a poor decision that will result in shields popping off that were insufficiently glued metal onto metal...!

    As with my other Carolingian warriors, I gave these colored hemlines on their tunics

Two of the archers had cloaks, so I was able to do a little pattern on the bottom border. Otherwise, all of the tunics have a simple, contrasting stripe at the hemline for decoration. They also had helmets, so I continued the two-tone metal color combination. These are actually two of the miniatures that I'm not sure if they are Old Glory or another manufacturer. They seem a little more cleanly cast then the other Old Glory sculpts that I used, but that could be just random. They also are a markedly different pose than the others. Old Glory specialized in big bags of figures with slight variations in pose and equipment, so maybe these are their figures and maybe not.

    My modifications to Old Glory Welsh/Irish figures changing them into supplemental bowmen

Once I decided to do the supplemental group of archers, I rummaged through my Dark Age & Ancient unpainted bin drawer. Much to my surprise, I had actually painted up ALL of my archers already. I thought I had more than a dozen more Old Glory Viking bowmen left over, but nope! Oh, no...does this mean I would have to (gasp!) buy more miniatures?? Well, don't despair -- my skinflint nature won out and I found some figures that I felt I could easily convert to bowmen. They were from my "Welsh/Irish" bag of Old Glory miniatures. They are meant to be holding a javelin and a knife, I believe. However, I switched that to a bow and arrow.

    Here are the six painted as a group - I used four different Old Glory poses to create these six archers

Converting or modifying miniatures is not my strong point, I admit. However, I thought I did a fairly good job drilling out their hands and using the remnants clipped from wire spears to create bows in the hands of these four separate poses I used (two duplicates), and an arrow in one of the poses. I have included a picture in the post so you can see my modifications before painting.

    I was getting bored with plain tunics, so I decided to add a bit more decoration to the mantles

Since most of figures that I have painted up for this army are ordinary, rank and file warriors, I have to admit I am getting a little tired of painting plainer looking figures! I am ready for a change up. The parade of dull greens, faded blues, and other earthy tones look good in mass. However, they're not very exciting to paint. However, at least they are not a uniformed army! It has been a L-O-N-G time since I painted uniformed troops. My guess is the last were the groups of 6-8 figures that I did when I was painting my 28mm Pulp project. I painted some U.S. Sailors, Senegalese riflemen, British Indian troops, and so on. So, I am sure all of those gamers who are painting up uniformed armies are laughing at me, now! "You think YOU'RE bored...!"

    The feathers on the arrows being held up are just a couple thicker layers of paint with tiny gray lines

So, what's next for me after Carolingians? I plan on getting the last of the terrain done for my Saga collections. Inspired by Jim Beegan's efforts, I want to have enough to set up eight games for a 16-player Saga tournament. That means I need to add four more swamps, fields, rocky areas, and ruins pieces. And if I can ever find a source of large sheets of styrene, I will make make some generic, flocked "large" pieces (10"-12" circular shapes). I also have a lot of resin/plastic pieces to paint up to place on the rocky areas and ruins (which I actually finished before these last six archers, see the More Terrain for Saga post here). 

After that, I was going to intersperse some character figures that can be used in the Old Feud scenario for Saga. Any figure can work for the "Soldier," of course. However, I wanted some distinctive figures for the "Brute," "Mystic," "Counselor," and "Princess." I have found some at both the Guardtower and Dragons Guildhall from their AD&D and Reaper Bones lines. Of course, I already had some figures that I could use for some of the characters, but I wanted more. I hope to have 16 participants in the Advance the Colors Saga tournament, so want to have a good handful of loaner characters for those who haven't painted up anything that they can use for them. Speaking of which, the player packet for the tournament has been released. For a copy of the file, click here. If the link doesn't work for you, comment below and give me your email address. Also, be sure to contact me and let me know you are planning on participating, and I will save you a spot!

More Terrain for Saga (Ruins, Rocky Ground Scatter Pieces)

    28mm Carolingian archers take cover amidst Acheson Creations rocky ground pieces

Normally when I create terrain, I do a fairly decent job of documenting it on my blog here. However, after creating three different types of areas awhile back (rocky ground, ruins, and fields), I didn't do a post. I just put in some pictures of them on one of my Saga battle reports. The good news is the pieces worked out great, and I decided to do a second batch of all of them. 

    Acheson Creations tumbled columns and ruined stone columns and walls

My friend Bryan Borgman, who used to be a rep for Acheson Creations, had a garage sale a few weeks ago. I found a number of boulder pieces and a couple toppled columns that were perfect for the "scatter" to set atop my flocked terrain pieces. I have always loved Acheson Creations' stuff, and find it easy-to-paint, looks great on the battlefield, and relatively inexpensive. I also took some Graeco-Roman columns from the Mantic Games temple terrain I'd purchased at the local game store. So, once I finished my Carolingian army a couple weeks ago, I slotted these pieces in to paint up and flock. 

    The pieces after "Step 3" -- the 50/50 mix of water & black paint has been brushed on

Step one is running them through the dishwasher on low heat to get rid of the release agent. Otherwise, the paint will bead up like rain drops on a newly-waxed car. Step two is spraying them with Krylon flat black acrylic. Step three is to brush on a 50/50 mix of water and black acrylic craft paint. Once that has dried and "shrink wrapped" itself onto the pieces, it was time to dry brush them.

    The rocky pieces from Acheson Creations after their first dry brushing of medium gray

I gave them a medium gray dry brush first, then followed that up with a light gray highlighting. Once dry, I did a final black wash over them to blend int the dry brush lines, so to speak. After that, it was on to flocking!

    The column pieces after their first drybrush - note the extra stones I added to the column bases

The first layer of flocking is painting the surface with a 50/50 mix of white glue and brown craft paint. While it is wet, I dip the piece into a tub of Woodland Scenics fine brown ballast. I spray a Krylon clear coat over it when dry. Then, I gently brush on a 50/50 mix of white glue and water over the ballast. While wet, I dunk it into a tub of Woodland Scenics Blended Turf.

    The ruins & rocky pieces after drybrushing, washing, and the first layer of flocking

The final stage is dabbing on full strength white glue and sprinkling Woodland Scenics Blended Grass in random patterns -- much like I do for my figure bases. Think camouflage -- irregular patterns to break up the outline. While it is still wet, I dab three or so areas with more white glue and press on various shades of Woodland Scenics clump foliage to give it an overgrown look.

    The Mantic Games terrain box that I got the columns and broken columns from

One final spray of clear coat, and they are done! These took remarkably little time, and are enough scatter for plenty of terrain pieces. For most games, I prefer to do flocked pieces of styrene plastic with these type of scatter pieces (or trees for woods) atop them. You simply move the pieces out of the way of the figures and you have terrain that looks good but is fully functional on the tabletop.

Sunday Night Gaming Group Back in Session!

    We had 8 players at the very first session of gaming at my house, so split into two games of Terraforming Mars

Missed somewhere in the traffic of all my posts on Saga is the fact my Sunday evening gaming group is back in session. We actually have been going on for a couple months, now. So far, it has been all board games. We almost did miniatures a couple times, but so far haven't pulled it off. I am working on an idea for a series of skirmish miniatures games (kind of like I did with the Fur-grave Ghost Archipelago games awhile back). Players would have the same warband over a number of games. I would love to do a post-Apocalyptic setting, but have to check if I have enough figures to pull it off. Plus, there would be the issue of which rules set to use. When it was all said and done, I simply didn't enjoy the Frostgrave combat system. I have purchased Burrows and Badgers, and like it's combat system even less. Maybe I will write my own set? Or use Advanced Song of Blades and Heroes...

    Close up of Terraforming Mars -- you need a decent amount of room to spread out all your cards

Probably one of the more popular board games we've been playing is Terraforming Mars. I really enjoy the game, and like it even more in an in-setting instead of just playing on the app against computer opponents. Somehow, it is less stressful and more fun when it is me and my friends than when I am trying to beat the A.I.! I taught it to them a month or so ago, and we've played it a couple times since then. It has helped that we've had really big turnouts -- an astounding 10 players last Sunday! Obviously, we split into two games going on simultaneously. Terraforming Mars takes a max five players.

    A 7-player game of Wingspan at my friend Mike W's house...or the Brewpub as we call it!

Another one of my favorite board games recently has been Wingspan. Jenny and I own both the European and Oceania expansions (haven't played that one yet, though). We have also found that you can do more than the five players that the game is supposedly limited to, though. We played a 7-player game once, and two six-player games. You simply need a second copy of the game for the additional player pieces and habitat boards. The game does change in multi, multiplayer mode. Those pink abilities (once between your turns) are much more valuable than they would be in a game with fewer players. I would have to say those are my two new favorite boardgames -- even more than Seven Wonders. Though honestly, we played the absolute heck out of Seven Wonders on our Covid-induced, online sessions on Board Game Arena.

Another Bonus Saga Night to Welcomes Our Co-founder Back

    Saga Ohio Cofounder Steve P, left, gets in a game against Keith F while visiting for a few days

Our growing group of Saga players here in Central Ohio owe their thanks to a couple people who did the necessary hard work of hosting games, teaching, and providing loaner armies. One of those is Steve P, who was back in town for a few days after moving to San Diego last year. Eight of us met at our usual haunt, the Guardtower East game store in Columbus, to welcome with a little war, Saga-style. He had not brought an army with him, though, and said he wanted to play something he had never tried before. So, he borrowed my Scots/Picts and matched up against Keith, who was also trying something new. Keith wanted to see how the Huns from Age of Invasions would play. I had warned him previously that mounted horse archery armies are hard to win with in Saga, but he wanted to see how the whole composite bow thing worked in the rules.

    Keith's Huns close in on Steve's Scots, who proved a very difficult nut for the horse archers to crack!

Two of our long-time players, Jenny T and Andy S (the other Saga Ohio co-founder), had yet to play each other in any of our meetings. So, they matched up, with Jenny using her Vikings. Andy also had a case of the "try something new" bug, and used his Norman figures to field a Polish army from Age of Crusades. He had a few questions about how the battle board abilities worked, and we did our best to figure out what made the most sense. It was the first Polish Saga army that had taken the field so far in our game days.

    Jenny & her Vikings take on Andy (wearing an appropriate shirt) as he tries out the Polish faction

Jeff F, a good friend of Steve's, also put in a rare appearance at a Saga game night. He had played extensively in version 1 of the rules, but only sparingly in version 2. He was fielding Normans against Dave E's Romans. Dave E changed up his list and decided not to use the manuballista this time, substituting in a unit of mounted hearthguard instead. Afterwards, he said he'd wished he'd gone with the ballista to be able to engage the elusive Normans. I have noticed that many Norman players really play in a Breton historical style -- skirmishing with javelin-armed cavalry. Although the board allows you to charge home in true, impetuous Norman fashion, many players are drawn to the abilities which allow your mounted troops to scamper away whenever an enemy tries to engage.

    Trying out new armies was the theme for the night. Here are Andy's knights standing in as Poles

The final match was between Lee P and myself. Lee is working on a Milites Christi army, but isn't quite finished painting it, yet. Jeff and Andy graciously lent troops from their Norman armies to allow him to field the list he is planning on running. Lee's army list included two units of 4 mounted knights (hearthguard), 3 units of ordinary foot warriors, and 1 unit of warrior crossbowmen. I was facing him with Count Drogo's Carolingian army (two units 4 mounted hearthguard, two units of 8 foot warriors, and two units of 8 warrior bow). I had never before played against Milities Christi -- nor even read through their battle board, honestly. This would come back to haunt me this game!

    Jenny's newest unit of Vikings warrior women advances towards the mostly mounted Poles

We decided to play Old Feud so we could get another game of that Book of Battles scenario under our belts. It will be one of the scenarios we are playing in the Advance the Colors Saga tournament, Oct. 2. Even though I was "first player," I let Lee choose his character first, and he chose the Soldier. I chose the Counselor - mainly for his extra "We Obey" ability. With three Saga dice sitting idle in the Proelium section of my board, I essentially end up fighting the battle with only five dice. I figured the extra "We Obey" activation would be helpful, and it definitely was!

    Dave E's Romans have faced many foes since he has been playing them, including Jeff's Normans

For terrain, I placed a ruins in the center of the battlefield, on my side of the midpoint. Lee countered with a gentle hill opposite it. Next, I placed a rocky area to the left of the ruins. He passed on placing another piece of terrain, and scooted my ruins back towards my baseline a Medium distance. For the final piece of terrain, I placed a forest on my right, also just short of the midpoint. Old Feud has an interesting deployment, with each side placing their character first, then alternating one unit at a time. Units must be deployed within Very Short (2") of another friendly unit. This means the armies end up grouped together closely.

    Count Drogo's Carolingians deployed against Lee's Milites Christi (note t-shirt!) in "Old Feud"

I deployed my two warrior bow units in the rocky ground and ruins. The warrior spear units were behind the ruins and in the open area between it and the rocky ground. My two units of mounted nobles were in the rear in reserve with my warlord. I placed my chosen character, the Counselor, in the ruins with the archers. 

    Lee's stand-in Milites Christi army (Normans borrowed from Jeff), deployed for battle in 3 lines

I had warned Lee prior to deployment about the very dangerous shooting ability of the Carolingians. He took my caution to heart, and arranged his troops in three lines. In front were the warrior crossbowmen and a unit of warrior spear. The middle line was composed of another unit of warriors and both of his units of mounted knights. The reserve line consisted of the third unit of warrior spear and his warlord and chosen character, the Soldier. Like me, Lee was intent on protecting his character. In Old Feud, if your character is killed and the opponent's survives, you lose. Otherwise, the game is decided by Massacre Points (killing enemy troops).

    Count Drogo's army was forced to abandon its excellent defensive terrain and march to attack

Count Drogo noted the arrival of the well-disciplined warrior monks, and how they kept their distance from his lines. He sent each of his noble cavalry to guard a flank. The archers edged as far forward as they could in their ruins and rocky ground, but the enemy remained frustratingly out of range. The foot warriors edged forward only enough to guard the flanks of their archer brethren. Would the enemy Knights of the Hospital advance? Or would they remain out of range and try to lure Drogo's Frankish warriors forward?

    Though not exactly "corner sitting," the Milites Christi were very reluctant to advance into battle

On his turn, Lee made it apparent he had no interest in advancing down the center into bowfire range. His army relocated towards my right, massing in the corner of the battlefield. Count Drogo watched the enemy movements with a frown. Beside him, Griffo the Doberman Pinscher growled. "Indeed, my sharp-eyed friend," the Count rumbled. "These knights appear craven." He waved towards his unit commanders on his left, and the archers, spearmen, and noble cavalry on that side advanced towards the center, forming a hinge with his archers and spearmen near the ruins. The noble cavalry on the right galloped out further to guard against a sweeping maneuver around the woods.

    Impatient at his adversary's caution, Count Drogo orders his troops forward into the center

Across the battlefield, the cautious Hospitaller Lord directed his troops, as well. The crossbowmen and warriors advanced to just outside of the archer's range. Meanwhile, another unit of spearmen followed a unit of knights galloping towards the woods. "Ah," Drogo nodded. "The monks do plan on trying to turn our right." Drogo let the enemy creep ever nearer. He even waved his line of troops in the ruins forward to make it look like he was focused on the center. The archers crowded behind the spearmen, ready to loose their arrows if a target came within range.

    Avoiding the deadly Carolingian archery, the Knights Hospitaller sweep around the woods

At this point, Lee struck. His flanking unit of knights swept around the woods and then charged into my mounted nobles guarding against such a move. Neither of us had faced the other's battle board, and were not fully aware of the ramifications of the advanced Saga abilities we had queued up. I played Vinco and Potentia, which gave two automatic hits and let me reroll up to six misses. Surprisingly, Lee played "Lamb's Peace," which raised both of our armor classes from 5 to 6. This meant I would very likely score more hits than him, which I did. Unfortunately, he absorbed all four of those hits with the Orison BASIC Saga ability, where he had two Uncommons and one Rare stacked. Lee rolled only one six, which I failed to save against, of course.

Drogo sends the archers forward behind the spearmen, keeping an eye on the flanking movement

In fact, his Orison ability would bedevil me all game long. There would be only one combat or shooting that occurred during the whole game when he did not have have at least three dice sitting on Orison (ready to cancel up to 4 hits). This is mainly because the board has three separate advanced Saga abilities that allow him to restock Orison in either the Orders, Shooting/Reaction, or Melee phases of the game. This is a VERY tough defensive ability, and unless you are hitting the Milites Christi with multiple shooting or melee attacks in a turn, they will likely cancel much of the damage you inflict without even having to roll saves!

    Contact at last! The warrior brethren's knights charge the Carolingian noble cavalry

Since my noble cavalry took a casualty, we recoiled. Lee did not intend to leave his knights over-extended on my half of the battlefield, though, and activated them to pull them back. Count Drogo was having none of that, though! I used the fatigue he received from the melee to reduce their move to a Short. This left them potentially in range of my archers. Count Drogo's trumpeter Ranulf blew a loud blast on the horn and both units of archers turned and moved quickly towards the right and rear. With the help of the Ardor ability, I was able to loose three volleys of arrows from the archers, which killed the knights to a man. 

    The archers redeploy to the right and rear and riddle the knights with arrows, killing them all

Infuriated at the loss of his brethren, the Hospitaller warlord charged into one of my units of spearmen. We closed ranks, but rolled horrible saves again, losing four figures. In Old Feud, the game can end on a die roll after the 4th or 5th turn. If I had been trying to just go for the win, I could have (and probably should have) hunkered down and made him come to me. I was way ahead on points. However, this was only Lee's fourth or fifth game, and I wanted it to be a learning experience. This is the army he is building, so the more practice he got using its battle board and troops, the better.

    Although I should have hunkered down for victory, I sent the archers to engage their crossbows

On Turn 5, I moved the archers to the front and they loosed two volleys at the enemy crossbowmen. Aided by automatic hits, I should have killed quite a few of them -- even with the four cancelled hits from Orison (or Ray Orbison, as I called it!). However, my rolls shooting rolls all night were awful. Only one crossbowman was killed. Knowing he was down on points, Lee sent his remaining knights into the archers, killing five. He followed up the recoil of the surviving three and charged them again. My rolls resulted in a total of only two knights dying (even with using his fatigue to lower his armor).

The store was closing shortly, so we had to call the game at this point. Both our characters had survived, so we counted up the points. I had killed six hearthguard (6 points), 1 warrior (1/2 point), and destroyed one unit entirely (1 point). Lee had killed one hearthguard (1 point), 12 warriors (6 points), and destroyed one unit (1 point). So, I told him he won by 1/2 point. However, when I got home, I double-checked the rules. It turns out you round up any fractions. There are no half points in final scores. So, the actual score was an 8-8 tie. It WAS a very defensive struggle, so the close score was not surprising. I had once again made the mistake of not looking at my opponent's battle board prior to a game and analyzing what he could do with it. I was focused on what I could do to him, not how he could either counteract it or do damage in return. 

Still, it was a fun game, and Lee is a great guy to play with. The only problem is that, seeing how his battle board performed, I now have another Saga army that I want to build! Thanks, Lee, for the great game!