Picts Out-Pillage the Huns

    Pictish raiders marshal their forces in a woods ready to snatch plunder from a Hun warband

Drust's raiders had sailed far to plunder the rich lands of Gaul. Other raiders were lurking nearby, though, and seeking to pillage the same farmlands as Drust's men. The men from the Orkney Islands had never seen such fierce and cruel-looking horsemen. They dashed about on their horses, nearly every man carrying a bow and sporting evil-looking scars on their cheeks beneath dark slits for eyes. "These must be Huns!" whispered one of Drust's commanders, having heard tales of them from prisoners taken in previous raids of Roman lands. Drust nodded and turned away, motioning his commanders to him behind the trunk of a wide, sturdy oak. "This is how we shall snatch the prize from these foul horsemen..."

    Jenny celebrates Yule in front of a festive tree as her Pagan Rus take on Karen's Vikings

We had eight players show up for December's game day at the Guardtower East in Columbus, OH. Half of the armies fielded were from Saga's newest release, Age of Invasions. Both Dave E and Bob B were fielding Roman armies, while Joe D had brought Huns and I was running my Picts, again. Also taking the field were Jenny's Norse as Pagan Rus, Karen's Vikings, Jim R's Normans, and Lowell's Anglo-Saxons. Joe and I squared off, and I was looking forward to seeing how the Hun's battle board played. Joe wanted to play an objective-based scenario to hone his skills with this army, so we picked Feasting and Pillaging from the Book of Battles. 

    Picts, after their first turn of movement, advance against a Hun warband in Feasting & Pillaging

Three objective markers representing loot were spaced evenly across the centerline of the table, with each of us deploying our armies a Short distance from our baselines. A large woods was on my half of the table, towards my left, and a smaller woods near my baseline on the right. On the opposite side, another small woods was in the Huns rear on their right. A large, gentle hill was on his left. Most players don't like being "Player 1" in Saga, but I found that it is a slight benefit to the Picts. It allows the player to place an extra piece of terrain, which is crucial to utilize the Pictish battle board to its best advantage.

    War dogs! My newest Pictish unit ended up never seeing battle, spending the game marking trees

Drust had swapped out one of his units of levy javelinmen for a "mercenary" unit of war dogs (Molossians from the Age of Invasions book). I wasn't sure if they'd be much use with the Picts, but I wanted to try them and see how they worked. As it turns out, it probably wasn't the best choice in a battle against an army with lots of archery like the Huns! The eight warriors (seven dogs and one handler) are only armor class 3 vs. shooting, so I quickly moved them into the large wood where they ended up never leaving. Doubtless, they found plenty of trees to mark! Also in the woods, and a key part of my battle plan, were the levy archers. They moved in on turn one and were able to shoot at enemies every turn afterwards. On either side of the woods, a unit of tattooed foot warriors advanced slowly forward towards the center and left hand objectives. On the right, a third unit of warriors and javelin levy marched past or through the trees towards the right hand objective.

    Bob maneuvers his Roman legion against Jim's encircling Normans in the first of their two games

As Player 1, I could have done double moves and seized all three objectives on turns one, at the cost of a fatigue on each unit. However, I had never faced the newest version of the Huns and wasn't sure what its battle board could do. I had yet to pore over the list and didn't really have a lot of study time before the game began. So, I played it cautious, and advanced only one move from my baseline. The archers, war dogs, and levy javelinmen all sheltered beneath the trees at the end of our first move. Joe responded by waving forward his mounted horde. Armed with composite bows and deployed in small units of six figures, they galloped towards two of my spear units and showered them with arrows. I had Sacred Tattoos, which provides 4 bonus defense dice queued up, but ended up not using it. Nor did I used Secret Ways, which allows a unit to redeploy near uneven terrain after suffering a shooting attack or charge. The attacks and damage seemed minimal, so Drust's Orkney men simply endured the scattering of casualties.

    After two turns of movement, the Picts on the attack, but also remaining close to the shelter of woods

On turn 2, Drust waved the archers further forward into the woods. This brought them within range of one of the horse archer units, which had pulled back after shooting. The foot bowmen unleashed their own volley, and three Hun horsemen fell from their saddles. In the middle, the center unit of warriors seized the first objective, each man burdening himself with as much loot as he could carry. There was an angry shout from the Hun battleline as the steppe warriors saw the barrels of fine Gaulish wine being taken by the northmen. A large band of 12 Hun mounted levy hurtled towards the Pictish warriors and charged into them. The veteran raiders closed ranks, interlocking their shields and thrusting their spears between them. In addition, I played Sacred Tattoos, which gives me 4 bonus defense dice. Joe rolled 12 attack dice, but with the tattoos and closing ranks, we suffered only two casualties. The mounted levy also suffered two casualties, so withdrew, leaving my Pictish raiders in possession of the wine barrels.

    Tartan-clad Pictish warrior seize the first objective - a stash of fine Gallic wine

On my third turn, the the levy archers switched targets and whittled another unit of horse archers down to three horsemen. The warriors carrying the wine began to withdraw. They were able to move back an extra Short move with Swift as the Wind, almost reaching the shelter of the trees. On the right, Drust ordered forward the levy javelinmen. Using Scouts, they moved a Long distance and then hurled their javelins at another unit of horse archers, tumbling three more men from their saddles. Joe's saves against my shooting were below average all game long. Otherwise, he said afterwards he felt his dice were okay throughout the game. It was just my shooting he didn't seem to have an answer for. In addition to throwing their javelins, the levy javelinmen also rounded up a small herd of pigs. My third unit of foot warriors marched forward to support the javelinmen.

   The Huns do not relinquish the wine barrels easily, following up and harassing the Pict withdrawal

The Huns continued to send waves of horse archers forward to shoot at Drust's Pictish raiders, but their small unit sizes kept arrow storms from inflicting too much damage. I kept expecting the Hunnic nobles, his mounted hearthguard, to charge into the fray, but Joe seemed to be saving them. He was willing to send the mounted levy into battle, but was shielding his nobles from combat. Meanwhile, my successful pillagers continued to withdraw towards our baseline, moving one or two Short distances a turn. One of the Pict battle board's strengths is its variety of ways to move troops. Scouts is very effective, and with a Rare die allows two (one with a Common or Uncommon) units to move Long distance -- their move not being reduced by either terrain or fatigue. We agreed that the rules to Feasting and Pillaging prevented my units carrying objectives to exceed a Short distance, though -- even if moved with that ability. My warriors on the left charged and seized the third objective from Hun horse archers, and then hunkered down, ready for Joe's counter-attack.

    Second objective is seized - a herd of swinge - by Pictish javelinmen on the right flank

Surprisingly, it came not in the from of a shower of arrows from his the Hun levy foot archers sheltering in the woods, but in a charge from them! My six warriors (reduced by previous horse archery) closed ranks, expecting to easily repel the levy. Shockingly, the archers caused two casualties and saved all but one of our hits. Embarrassed, the spearmen withdrew from the surprisingly fierce steppe footmen. Seeing this humiliation of his warriors, Drust swore. A horn blast and their warlord's pointing and shouting attracted the attention of the Pict warriors on the right. They raced across the board using Scouts, and then charged into the jeering archers with Swift as Wind (which doesn't cause a fatigue if the move or charge ends within a Short of uneven terrain). Once again, the archers fought fiercely, but the attack of the tattooed tribesmen was more savage, and the archers dropped their loot and scampered back to the shelter of the trees.

    Pictish warriors seize the 3rd objective, taking it from a small unit of Hun horse archers

Once again, I held all three objectives. Using multiple moves, the warriors carrying the Gallic wine were able to exit the board, while the javelin levy edged closer to the shelter of the trees near our baseline. Once again, the Huns galloped forwards, firing arrows. The Hun battle board also has the ability to put fatigue on enemy troops, which Joe was also doing in attempt to slow down my Picts. However, with three different ways of activating my raiders for movement, I was able to frustrate his attempts to keep me from making off with the loot. On the fifth turn, Joe sent in the archers out from beneath the trees again. This time, my warriors repelled them -- sending them scurrying back to the trees. Frustrated, the Hunnic warlord sent in his nobles, who charged into combat shouting their fearsome war cries. This time, my Pictish raiders were beaten back, and they dropped the loot at they ran for the shelter of the large woods.

    Brave beyond measure, the Hun foot levy archers fought tenaciously for the 3rd objective

On my final turn, my archers used the last of the arrows in their quivers to target the enemy hearthguard. We scored four hits and the northmen celebrated when the enemy failed all four saves. On the opposite side of the battlefield, the levy javelinmen were able to sneak through the trees and off the edge of the table, escaping with their stolen herd of swine. Drust had yet to unleash his war dogs upon the enemy -- the pack was gathered on the edge of the treeline, growling at the enemy, hackles raised. However, he knew victory had been won by this point. He ordered the withdrawal of his raiders from the field, content with loot they had snatched from underneath the noses of the fierce steppe horsemen. The men of the Orkneys had stung the enemy more than once this day, and would sail home to boast of their victory.

    Hun horse archers try to prevent the escape of the Pict javelin levy with their stolen swine

Afterwards, Joe and I discussed how his army performed. I told him that I was planning similar sized horse archer units for my Mongol army. I was a bit concerned at how quickly his units were whittled to three figures (no longer generating a Saga command die). The Pict shooting is tough, though. When a full sized levy unit shoots and is augmented by using the Stalkers battle board ability, they generate nine shooting dice. Against armor 3, that should be six hits. Saves should be at 50%, which means my shots were not above average -- three losses is what should have happened. Joe talked about maybe increasing the size of his units in future games. On the other hand, I felt he was a little tentative in charging. He rightly sent the mounted levy into combat every turn that he could help them with the +6 attack dice Barbarians of the East ability. I just think he could also have charged with other troops and used some of the other melee abilities on the Hun board.

    Dave's Romans (left) and Lowell's Anglo-Saxons wage a close-fought clash that ends in a tie

Either way, this was not the best terrain nor scenario for an army of mounted horse archers. Mounted units trying to move an objective marker suffer a fatigue every turn. Joe could have taken one with the foot archers, but all in all, I felt he was at a disadvantage in this matchup. The Picts got the terrain they needed pluw were able to use their foot troops to take and move seized objectives back multiple times a turn. 

    Jim's Normans encircle and overwhelm Bob's Romans in hard-fought battle

Here are the results of the first round of battles (Jim R and Bob B were setting up for a second game when I left):

• Mike D's Picts defeated Joe D's Huns in Feasting and Pillaging (no score tabulated).
• Jenny T's Pagan Rus defeated Karen's Vikings in Feasting and Pillaging, 33-29.
• Jim R's Normans defeated Bob B's Romans in Clash of Warlords, 23-18.
• Lowell L's Anglo-Saxons tied Dave E's Romans in Clash of Warlords, 22-21.

    Battling beneath the northern lights! Pagan Rus and Vikings come to blows in the far, frozen north

With Christmas less than a week away, it was a small turnout with only eight players. Hopefully, we will have a nice tune up session in two weeks when we do it again the Sunday after New Years. It will be the last chance to practice before the Saga Tournament at Game Table Adventures, Jan. 15. I hear that a half dozen players are coming up from Cincinnati for it, as well as another half dozen locals in the Newark, OH, area are playing. It should be quite the clash, and I am looking forward to it! If you're looking to get in some good Saga games, come on out that Saturday and join us!

New Post-Apoc Gang: The Bass Reeves

    The Bass Reeves - a black post-Apocalyptic force for my newest period that I am gearing up for

I have been intentionally taking a break from painting Saga miniatures lately. The pause may not last forever, but it did allow me to finish another post-Apocalyptic gang. These are figures from Foundry's Street Violence range. Most of them wear long "duster" style jackets, which remind me of what you see gunslingers wearing in stylized Hollywood Westerns. A couple of them had dreadlocks, which led me to paint them as black. That also inspired the force's name -- the Bass Reeves. Reeves was a famous African-American cowboy and was the first black U.S. Marshal in the West. I seem to have settled on painting seven figures up per group, which I hope will be enough to provide a good game in whatever rules I end up using (my own home brew or otherwise)!

    The figure on the right is my favorite - I love how his captain's hat and striped shirt turned out

 The first batch of two figures pictured above feature my favorite miniature in this group. I really like how the captain's hat and striped shirt lends him character. Stripes are never my strong point, but I couldn't imagine any color for a shirt other than the classic, stereotypical red and white striped sailor shirt. I decided to give all the poses jeans for pants in this gang. I postulate jeans would be standard apparel after the apocalypse for their rugged nature and common availability from looted stores or warehouses. For the duster jackets, I decided to use Howard Hues "Bay" horse paints color. It has a nice leather look to it, but was light enough to look like faded material. I dry brushed them khaki and washed them brown to give the jackets depth of color.

    My second favorite is the one wearing the Jamaican-inspired hair bag for his dreads in the middle

My second favorite miniature in this batch is the Rastafarian-looking guy who carries a boom box over his shoulder. Doubtless, it is playing Bob Marley or Peter Tosh for as long as the batteries hold out! I actually Googled "dreadlocks hair bag" for inspiration on what color to paint it. Lo and behold, a Jamaica-looking one popped up in my search and I had to adapt it for this figure. It mean more stripes, though! The miniature is a great casting and has a lot going on. He wears headphones, has rolled up sleeves, a vest, and of course, the boombox. Normally, I might look askance at such whimsy in my figures, but this guy was too good to pass up. Like the captain, he also has a great face. 

I debated whether I was going with too garish and bright of a color for the other dreadlocks-wearing figure to the left. I always picture Rastas in bright, garish colors, though, so I went with this bright green. I think it adds a nice splash of color to an otherwise dull-colored group. I honestly don't know what the piece of equipment is slung over his shoulder, though. I painted it in a brushed steel color, so it can be another boom box or whatever the controlling player decides! The third figure in the group has a gray suit jacket or vest on underneath his duster. He carries a high power sniper weapons of some sort. I like the variety of firearms these figures have. Not everyone carries an assault rifle or shotgun -- there is definitely an irregular aspect to their weaponry. This fits for a post-Apocalyptic force, of course.

    These guys have similar dramatic poses and sport goggles - which were a challenge to paint!

All of the weapons were painted Iron Wind Metals steel. I had realized recently that my newest batch of the color was noticeably brighter than it has always been. I was disappointed because I have always liked the dark steel look of it -- especially when dry brushed silver for things like chainmail. This new tone didn't have as much contrast with silver. So, I dug through my box of paints and found a half-used jar of the old steel color. About half of it had dried up and was unusable, but when I pried that out the remainder seemed okay. I asked Rich S of Iron Wind if its possible to get the "old recipe," and he said to bring that jar along next time we meet and he will match the color. The highlights of the weapons were done with craft paint metallic pewter. I think the two tone look of the guns really gives them a nice, weathered look -- also perfect for post-Apocalyptic!

The last two figures above have very dramatic poses, I think. They have a lot of character in their hair and faces, made even more interesting by the goggles either perched on their heads or around their neck. I wasn't 100% sure how to paint the googles, but decided on a light gray with sky blue lenses. I'm not fully sold on how they look. If I were to go back and redo them, I would have done a black line around the sky blue lens, at least. Otherwise, these two have very interesting shirts. The one on the left is loaded up with ammo pouches so much his shirt is invisible. The one on the right has a very unusual texture to it. So, I painted it a light, gray green and did a medium green wash over it to bring out the texture in the folds. I like the patch on the shoulder of his duster, so did that in bright reds and blues, wanting it to stand out. The skin for all seven figures was done with a dark brown base coat and dry brush of Howard Hues Camo Brown. The hair was painted back with medium brown hightlights. However, the final black wash I did over the figures seems to have hidden the brown highlights, unfortunately.

    Two Patrol Bots search the ruins for signs of humanity, continuing their war of eradication

Next up, are two poses of what I will use as Patrol Bots. These were 3-D printed by my friend Joe from the Thingiverse website. I love the retro look of these figures. I decided that I would mix in a gold-colored bot to go with the colored metallics I used for the Scout Bots. I really like how it came out, but then again, I like the robin's egg blue one, too! I know the prints are not as crisp as metal miniatures, but once you see the next two stages of large bots, you'll understand why I saved money going with these. Joe always gives me a good deal on stuff he prints for me. Of course, who knows? A day may come when I purchase my own 3-D printer...but it is not THIS day! Ha-ha! Anyway, I painted the bots the new Iron Wind steel color as a base coat, then added the gold or blue over it, leaving the steel in the joints and creases. The equipment festooned to the back of the bot was painted in contrasting metallic colors, and the gun was given pewter and silver highlights, as with the Bass Reeves, above. 

If you remember, my post-Apocalyptic world is modeled after the Terminator movies. The main difference is humanity is fragmented into quarreling and fighting factions. The machines have been seriously depleted in the Holocaust, and are more of a constant menace rather than an invading and organized horde. 

What's next? Well, I have decided to give Jenny a birthday present by painting up the demon models she bought for Reign in Hell. The first four Armored Demons are complete, but their bases are not done, yet. They will take priority on my painting table as I would like to finish the dozen or so figures up in time for the holidays. And her demon lord is a HUGE figure! It will easily be the largest miniature I have ever painted. So, look for some new demons in future updates. I've also laid out my next unit of Mongols for Saga to be cleaned and primed. See? Told you that my break from Saga may not last that long!

Snakebit at Another Saga Tournament!

    Saga Tournament at DayCon 2021 - 10 participants waging war across forests and steep hill slopes

Okay, so I see how it is. I win at Saga more than my share on our game days. Tournaments, though, it appears that I am snake-bit. I am 2-3-1 in tourneys (Cincycon 2021 and this weekend, DayCon 2021). Both tournaments started out the same way. In round 1, I make a good battle plan, execute it, and pull off a pretty good win. Then, my dice take an absolute dump. Of course, I think I was pretty much doomed from the start with this tournament. My matchups were pretty poor for my Moors. The preset terrain averaged four to five pieces of very large uneven/dangerous terrain on every board. My army's strength is its mounted arm. When I razzed the tourney director about this, he essentially laughed it off and said something to the effect of, "Screw mounted armies!"

    Round 1's Desecration scenario against Joe D's Mongols after my first move (Moors at bottom)

As long as I am making excuses, I also feel that I faced armies that were not good matchups, either. In the first round -- which was the scenario "Desecration" -- I was up against Mongols who could both outmaneuver and out-shoot me. Maneuvering and shooting is what the Moors do. I felt fortunate to pull off a win in that game. Joe D is a great player (3rd place out of 16 at Advance the Colors 2021), but admittedly had only a few games with the Mongols under his belt. I have a lot of experience with the Moors -- after the tourney I still have a 13-4-4 record with them. Plus, the dense forests and steep hills we were battling over didn't do him any favors, either. 

    Moorish noble cavalry prepare to charge into Mongol horse archers in Round 1

In addition, I won the dubious honor of being "Player 1" in all three of my games. In Desecration, I didn't get the usual jinx of only 3 Saga dice. Instead, I was not allowed to charge or shoot in my first turn. Grrreeeaatt! What do the Moors like to do? Shoot. What do you need to do to take Objective Markers in Desecration? Charge. Some people feel the creators of the scenarios are very inventive in the ways they screw Player 1. Of course, in this tournament with pre-set terrain, Player 1 got to choose which side of the terrain-heavy symmetrical board you could have as your baseline. That makes up for it, doesn't it? Doesn't it??

    Joe's khan urges his mounted heavy cavalry to charge into the Moorish javelin men

Still, I chose my side carefully, picking the one where I thought I could hide the objective markers from a direct-line, enemy mounted charge. I must have done a good job as the Mongols did not attempt a charge against enemy of them during the game. Shooting against them is worthless in this scenario from Saga's Book of Battles. I was able to move my heavy cavalry into position and end up charging and destroying two objective markers. That pretty much won me the game, as objective markers destroyed determines a cap on the number of victory points you can score for destroying enemy figures. My cap was 24 points worth, and Joe's was 10. I ended up winning 20-10. It was good to play the Mongols, though, as I am s-l-o-w-l-y painting this army for Saga, too. I had played them only once before. That appeared to be another common theme for this tournament. In my previous 58 games of Saga, I had played those three lists a grand total of three times.

    Oh, look! Another terrain-clogged terrain board...this time my least-favorite 'Claiming Territory'

Round 2 is where the wheels fell off what I thought was my finely-tuned, Moorish battle machine. The scenario was "Claiming Territory" and the clogged the tabletop again. I can now honestly say that Claiming Territory is my least favorite scenario on Book of Battles. I have played it three times and hated it three times. Why? You get no points for destroying enemy troops (or preserving your own). The only way to score points is to squat on one of the four objective markers on the board (you place two on the opponent's half of the board, they place two on your half). There is a chart that says how many points you get per turn of squatting - HEAVILY weighted in favor of bigger units. So, if you have an army that is mostly warrior foot, you're golden. This is your scenario and you should win it every time. With at least 3-4 points of warriors, you can min-max your unit sizes to outscore your opponent every turn. What's more, there is a cap on how much players can score each turn. So, once your opponent gets ahead, it becomes very difficult to catch up. Even if you manage to destroy the enemy's army in the end, it doesn't matter. They have those "banked" points. You lose.

In this game, I played Bob B's Byzantine army -- an army that I had never faced before. He deployed on top of the objective markers I placed, as he was 2nd player. I had to march up to the ones he placed. His 12-man Levy units could shoot the snot out of my troops that marched up to those markers. The Byzantine battle board has a Saga ability that lets him juice up his 6 shooting dice to 10+ dice with very little effort. Half of my army's points are in mounted hearthguard with javelins, who are only armor 4 against shooting. If I left them sitting in the open, squatting on the objective (which all have to be in open terrain), he would shoot them to pieces. Still, I had a battle plan. 

    Two participants, Joe M (left) and Bob B - whose Byzantines I faced in Round 2

However, the wheels fell off when it came to my dice. On the first turn, Bob's 12-man levy shot at my 8 warrior foot squatting on the objective in the middle of the board. He rolled 10 dice and got 7 hits (needing 4+ on 1d6). Ouch. Still, I should save 3-4 of those, right? Nope. I rolled 1 out of 7 saves (also 4+ on 1d6) and lost six of one of my warrior unit's eight figures on his first activation. 

He followed that up by charging in his warrior horse archers into the two survivors and slaughtering them. On my next turn, I went in with my hearthguard and a "Torrent of Iron" charge to take out the impertinent horse archers. I used their fatigue to raise my armor to 6 and yet the five remaining figures (I'd softened them up with shooting beforehand) still rolled three sixes. How many of those hits did I save (5+ on 1d6)? None. My dice were in a death spiral and kept getting worse. 

    Another photo from my first game against the Mongols - the "snow board" proved best for photos!

His 6-man mounted hearthguard charged my other warrior foot squatting on the other objective. We closed ranks to increase our save to 4+. He got 7 hits. We saved just one of those seven 50% chances, once again dropping from eight to two figures in one attack. Remember when I said the chart is HEAVILY weighted towards bigger units? I have one warrior unit gone, and another reduced to two warriors left to squat. My archers' ranks were being riddled by his shooting, too, despite the fact were were in solid cover. What's left to send out to squat on the objectives? My mounted javelinmen? So, I steadily fell behind on the squatting points, er "Conquest Points" as they are called.

So, maybe you're sensing my futility here. The game was over by turn 3 when I scored 0 Conquest points, and had no legitimate means to get more. I did my best to attack and destroy his units, though. I destroyed one of his 6-man hearthguard units, his warrior horse archers, and 10 of his 24 levy. Half of his force were casualties by the end of the game. Yet, he won handily, 30-something to 9 points. Saga buffs can argue all they like, but in my opinion, Claiming Territory is a stupid scenario. It simulates NOTHING. Feasting & Pillaging simulates a Raid. Old Feud simulates two rival forces intervening in a civil war. Desecration simulates destroying enemy supplies. The Crossing simulates separate contingents attempting to rejoin in the face of an enemy advance. What does this simulate? A mathematician's idea of a fun scenario?

    Close up of Joe D's newly-painted Mongols, who also struggled with the terrain and went 1-2

It is essentially possible to design your force numerically to make it next to impossible for your opponent to win. In all the games I play, I feel you should win with tactics on the tabletop -- not at the recruiting depot! That's why I avoid Warhammer-esque games where you min-max an army list to take out an opponent in two turns. Give the players the bread and butter troops and let their tabletop tactics win, I have always felt. With Saga, your army's battle board will dictate what troops you should recruit, and perhaps even unit sizes. It shouldn't be the scenario doing that, though. Not all armies are able to do that kind of unit size min-maxing that Claiming Territory requires. So, I will never use that scenario as a tourney director. And if someone suggests it in a friendly game, I'll smile and say, "pick another."

My final game was The Crossing, which features a river running from right to left across the center of the board, with a bridge in the middle. Your army is divided into two halves in opposite corners. The tourney director was able to stuff only three large pieces on this tabletop, but it would be enough to once again disadvantage mounted armies. The river itself as a fourth piece was a huge disadvantage -- foot would have been able to cross it slowly anywhere, but mounted need to use the bridge to avoid extreme penalties. I was matched up against one of the nastiest armies in Saga -- the Normans, run by Jim Randall who loves this list.

    Moorish cavalry approach the bridge, desperately hoping to reunite with its infantry screen

The problem with Normans is that they are, once again, more maneuverable than my Moors. They also have a Levy Bow unit which can shoot two feet across the 3'x4' board. I call it the Norman Levy Bow Artillery Battery. Jim parked them along the edge of a massive forest which let them cover about three quarters of the tabletop. Still, I had a plan. I would deploy my heavy cavalry and warlord together and they would use our speed and Perseverance to dash across the bridge and behind the wall of my warrior foot and levy bow. To accomplish this, I needed to roll at least one common die (three of the six faces on the die) to play Horse of the Maghreb, boosting my movement. And I would need to roll at least one Uncommon (two of the six faces) to play Perseverance. Based on how my dice rolling was going, what do you think the chances are of that happening with my three Saga dice as 1st Player? Yep, you're right. Didn't happen.

Jim shot my foot to pieces, just as Bob had done in the previous game. His double-size, 8-man mounted hearthguard unit charged in with the vicious Norman battle board abilities and destroyed all of my archers. I hammered back at him, tossing javelins with both cavalry units as they crossed the bridge. The last unit charged in and wiped out the survivors. Maybe this game would turn out all right, after all! Jim's counter-attack was devastating, though. His warlord took out my victorious mounted javelinmen and then his mounted warriors charged in and eliminated my own warlord. 

    Close up of Bob's Byzantines shooting Moors to pieces as we attempt to "out-squat" the Byzantines

At that point, I knew the game was over. I kept hammering, though. I made a mistake late in the game and forgot to block off his warlord's path to escape to the other side of the river. On his next-to-last turn, he skedaddled it across the river to join his two warrior foot units and his artillery park, who'd remained motionless all game. For the fun of it, we figured out Survival Points, and he barely edged me 18-15. Adding in his bonus points for units within Medium of his warlord, he beat me eight katrillion to 15, of course.

And so ended another frustrating Saga tournament. Another snake-bitten day of playing Saga and having wild dice swings handicap my chances. This time, we threw in unfavorable terrain and matchups, too, for the fun of it...ha, ha! But hey -- we have game days coming up later in the month. I am sure things will be back to normal and my treacherous dice will act kind to me again. If this report is a bit short on blow-by-blow details of my battles, I apologize. It is hard to keep all the details of three back-to-back games of Saga clear in my head. Plus, the pickle of figuring out the unfamiliar enemy boards and what they might throw at me across the terrain-heavy battle boards sapped the time I would normally use to take photos and document the games. Hopefully, this experience will hone my Saga skills, though. What is the famous Conan the Barbarian quote? That which doesn't kill us makes us stronger!

Picts' Young Lads Help Repel Roman Invasion

    We had 8 players for our cold, rainy November Saga Game Day, including this Norman civil war

Drust, son of Drust, looked out over the approaching column of iron-clad men. The heavy stamp of their boots caused leave to fall gently from the trees overhead. "The Romans have cut us off from our currachs," Drust growled to the men nearby. "We must drive them back before we can regain the sea. Prepare the clan - we fight!" The Pictish seaborne raid from Drust's home in the Orkney Islands had gone well at first. The pursuit by the local Roman garrison had been much faster than he'd guessed, though. Drust knew if he lost too many men on this raid, there would be repercussions back home. A big disgrace could even mean he might lose his name to his next younger brother. He liked being "Drust" -- the successor -- to his father, the chieftain of the Orkney Islands. Drust knew he would have to use all his cleverness in the battle, everything his father had taught him, to hold on to what was rightly his!

    Joe charges his troops into Jim's lines in a Norman vs. Norman civil war

Cold winds and rain were blowing on the third Sunday in November, making it a perfect day to stay inside and play Saga at the Dragons Guildhall in Beavercreek, OH. This Scottish-style weather would also be a fitting accompaniment to my second outing with the Picts from the recently-released Age of Invasions book. I had played these Pictish figures extensively as "Scots" from the Age of Vikings. Would Drust and his sons match the success of Nechtan Mac Fergus, my Pictish/Scottish warlord? Nechtan's triumphs had kept bards busy in his halls with his 11-1-1 record. The early tidings were as iffy as the weather, as my previous game a couple weeks before against Republican Romans had ended in a tie. 

    Adrian marshals his Baltic Crusaders for a Book of Battles 'Desecration' game against Byzantines

Over the last two weeks, I had re-examined the Pictish battle baord, pondering how to use its hit and run abilities. I decided to do something I'd never done before -- use three points of levy in my 6-point army. I would take one unit of archers and two of javelinmen. My thinking was that levy javelinmen could fit the fast-moving nature of this army. We could toss javelins and either dash off to safety or charge home with our +1 in melee for javelins. 

    The Baltic Crusaders march on Byzantine lands to dispute a point of Christian doctrine and heresy

The advanced Saga ability "Ambush" matches up well with this by granting +4 bonus attack dice in melee if the unit is within Medium of uneven or dangerous terrain. That very efficiently doubles a levy unit's melee combat pool of 4 AD to eight. What's more, three levy shooting units could soften up any target pretty effectively. Another ability encouraging me to try three levy was the excellent "Stalking" ability, which gives 3 bonus shooting dice if the firer is within Short of terrain. After all three units shoot, I could use "Swift as the Wind" on the final javelin unit to charge into melee with no fatigue (assuming we were near terrain). Doing the math, if all three levy units shoot and then the third charges home, the enemy unit would be on the receiving end of 29 attack dice!

   Bob seems confident his Byzantines are on the side of right in this Orthodox vs. Catholic clash

I was a little worried, though, about how many Uncommon dice I would need to move all those levy units and pull this off. If you plan on moving one Levy with the warlord's We Obey, that means you need two to move all three. Luckily, most of the advanced Saga abilities I planned on using could also use Common dice. Unfortunately, one of those that required an Uncommon was Swift as the Wind. That would likely be where my third Uncommon die would have to go if I planned on charging in.

    Caren's Vikings clash in the frozen wastes against Jenny's Pagan Rus

This meant that I would need a fourth Uncommon dice to be able to queue up "Secret Ways." This is a very clever ability on the battle board that allows a Pictish target of shooting or melee teleport to a piece of terrain after suffering the attack. I would end up being able to use it only once during the game, as Swift as the Wind and activating levy units ate up most of my Uncommons. That, and rolling only two rare dice the entire game may have had something to do with it!

As much as Uncommon dice, I would also need terrain to fully utilize the new Pictish battle board. Most of the best abilities on the battle board require the unit to be near terrain to use it to maximum effect. Luckily, my opponent for today, Dave E, out-rolled me for the dubious honor of First Player. That meant there would be at least four pieces of terrain on the board -- five if he moved one of the previously-placed ones. 

    Byzantines defend their loot in a game of Desecration against the Baltic Crusaders

Dave cleverly saw the trap of repositioning a piece, and declined to do so. This left my large woods in the center and another smaller woods on his left where I had placed them. He had placed a marsh in his own deployment area to park his manuballista artillery piece behind. Another marsh was placed on the left edge of the board. Seeing all the terrain, I was certain that this game I'd finally get to use Secret Ways. My strategy was to use Secret Ways to move a large javelin levy unit into the small woods in his deployment area. They could move once, throw javelins once to soften up the ballista, then use Swift as the Wind to charge and hopefully destroy the artillery. Clever plan, I thought. Dave unknowingly foiled my plan by keeping his his reserve units hanging next to the woods. This preventing me from using it, as "teleporting" units must be outside of a Medium of any enemy and within Very Short of the terrain. Foiled again!

    Dave finishes deploying his Roman army against my Picts - both new factions from Age of Invasions

My large wood contained both my archers and one of the Pictish Levy Javelin units, with my warlord close behind. To their right, in the open, was the remaining Levy unit, backed back up in reserve by two units of foot warriors. My third foot warrior unit guarded the gap between the large woods and the marsh on the flank. Opposing that flank, Dave deployed two units of legionary foot (who actually never moved the entire game). In the center behind the marsh was his ballista and his warlord. In the gap between the marsh and woods, Dave deployed another unit of legionaries, backed up by a double-strength hearthguard unit of 8 elite legionaries. On Dave's far left was his unit of four mounted hearthguard cataphracts.

    The Romans advance towards the Pictish lines, while the Pictish levies prepare to hurl their missiles

Dave opened the battle by advancing the legionaries on his left, the cataphracts keeping pace with them. The ballista shot its first volley and my spirits sank. My dice rolling woes appeared to be unending. He would hit my levy in the open on 3+, and scored 5 out of 6 hits. On my five saving rolls (4+), I rolled only one. One levy unit was down to 8 figures already! There was nothing to do but stick to the plan and hope the dice eventually turned in my favor. I queued up my Uncommon dice, put another on Stalking, and fired away at his legionary unit who had advanced towards our lines. We rolled 18 dice (needing 4+), scoring only 7 hits. Dave rolled his saves and got 5 out of 8 (4+). The consistency of his rolling above average and me rolling below average couldn't go on forever, could it?

    The Pictish levy units hurl their missiles, rolling 18 dice & killing only two legionaries - good armor!

Dave shot his ballista again on turn 2 at my weakened unit, giving me hope by scoring only one hit. Of course, I muffed the save, and the javelin men were down to 7 figures. Emboldened, he charged his legionary unit into my depleted levies. I had left queued up on my board both Sacred Tattoos (+4 defense dice in melee) and Ambush, mentioned above. This meant I was rolling 7 attack dice against his 9 -- Dave would play Ardor virtually every turn giving him bonus attack and defense dice. As the rain fell on the battlefield, the Picts took heart and finally began to fight with more spirit. We each scored four hits, but the worm really turned when the saving rolls were made. Even though he was able to re-roll four missed saves, Dave scored only two 5+ rolls. I saved 4 of my 8 -- finally, well above average! The levy javelinmen were driven back, but had survived the legionary charge and killing two more Romans!

Roman legionaries charge in and drive off Pictish levies, but at a cost   

Drust sang his clan's battle paean as he moved through the trees among the younger lads, who'd accompanied the raid as skirmishers. He slapped them on their backs and shook his spear stirring up their ardor. Fully one half of his raiding force was these young, enthusiastic teens. Success in this battle would rest on their shoulders. Drust knew if the lads fought with heart, then their superior numbers would wear down the Romans. If they shrank and ran, his own more experienced warriors would not stand up to the Roman arms and armor.

    A fresh unit of Pictish levy javelinmen charge in and wipe out the remaining legionaries!

Encouraged by the success (of sorts) in melee, I loaded up my board for turn with melee abilities. The other two units shot at the depleted unit of legionaries first. Then, my fresh unit of javelinmen rushed out of the trees, deferring their free javelin shot till later in the turn. This is a new wrinkle in the most recent FAQ. Javelin-armed troops that move get a free shooting activation, but apparently don't have to take it immediately after the move. I decided to save it till after the melee, as the levy followed up their advance with a charge with Swift as the Wind (taking no fatigue for the second activation). I played Ambush, as usual, doubling my dice to 8 attacks (with the +1 bonus for javelins). We wiped out the remaining legionaries, then took our deferred shooting attack against the hearthguard cavalry. Dave used one of our battle-gained fatigues to raise his armor to 6 (cataphracts are a base armor of 5 in both shooting and melee). We were lucky again and scored a hit on the armored horsemen.

    The 3-step levy plan worked! The unit in the woods dashes out and finishes off the legionaries

During the early years of the Roman Republic, the legions had a saying for a long and difficult battle: res ad triarios venit. It means "It came down to the Triarii" -- the veterans who were normally kept in reserve. Having lost his first probing attack, Dave decided the battle required intervention by his elite legionaries (the 8-man unit of foot hearthguard). He moved them forward and followed up with a charge against my victorious unit of levy. My battle board was empty -- I had thrown everything at him the last turn. I had anticipated this happening from time to time with the Picts, though. Levy units are 12 figures, and this often saves them. They will be charged by tough units, but the levy survive because of their numbers. This was the case here, as his elites cut down seven of my 12. The young javelinmen fled back towards the woods.

    My Picts were painted to play THIS army, though I used them about a dozen times as Scots

   The unit had survived, but was badly mauled. Worse, it had dropped below six figures, which is the minimum for a levy unit to generate a command and control Saga die. Now, it was time for revenge on my turn. All available levy units would shoot at the victorious elite legionaries, and hopefully take them down a peg. We rolled our dice and caused six hits on them. Apparently, they formed testudo right before our volley, as Dave rolled all six saves (for those doing the math at home, that is a 1.5% chance of doing that!). I have often discussed my luck (or lack thereof) with dice with my friends. I disagree with them that I have bad luck with dice. I have very streaky luck, I feel -- really bad streaks, then good streaks. I could only hope the tide would turn back again soon.

    Elite legionaries charge in and chase the javelinmen back to the woods, as my warriors advance

Having taken no casualties on my turn, Dave brought his hammer down, again. His elite legionaries chased down the unit they had beaten the previous turn, killing several more. Then, he turned them and charged my javelin levy unit facing off against his cataphracts. My awful luck streak was still running, and he killed all remaining 8 figures with no losses, once again. The Roman battle board has "Ardor" as an ability, that grants both attack defensive dice. These were key in cutting down on his casualties, or eliminating them altogether. I was down two Saga dice at this point, and my shooting capabilities had been cut in half.

    My archers provided supporting fire through most of the game - as long as I had Uncommon dice!

On my turn, I moved my archers through the woods over to the edge facing his elites. I also brought up my warriors, as my levy forces were about spent. Once again, the levies sent missiles raining down on the elite legionaries, once again no casualties resulted. On Dave's turn, he turned the invincible iron men on  my warriors, who were within their charge range. I had loaded up my board with defensive abilities for his half of the turn. The legionaries charged my warriors, and we both threw in all the advanced Saga abilities we could. Pict and Romans clashed in the driving rain. Blood was spilled, and in the end, we had lost four warriors. Three elite legionaries had fallen, though. Woo-hoo! They COULD die!! The clansmen recoiled, but we had cracked their shell, I felt.

    Dave's wrecking ball -- the near-invincible 8-man, foot hearthguard of elite legionaries

Now it was time to try a battle with my melee abilities loaded up for my warriors. In addition to Ambush, we also used Frenzy (+2 attack dice and re-roll misses) and Feint (+1 to roll on defense dice). I brought a full strength unit up and we charged into his elites. Dave closed ranks to minimize the Pictish savagery, but the clansmen drove his elites back, causing more casualties. I felt that if I could eliminate those elites, we could win the battle. You score one point for each slain enemy hearthguard. For Levy, it is one for every three slain, which should work out in my favor. I had also finally queued up Secret Ways for use on his turn, in case the elites weren't a spent force and they counter-attacked. It would allow me to "teleport" the target of his charge after the melee was fought into the safety of the woods.

    Pictish warriors create the first crack in his elite's iron shell, killing three before being driven off

Though pushed back, Dave's elites returned and charged the warriors who'd driven them back. He threw in the kitchen sink and was able to slaughter all but one of the previously victorious warriors. I used Secret Ways to squirrel the survivor away, deep in the woods. Otherwise, his cataphracts would have ridden them down as a follow up charge. The victory proved Pyrrhic for Dave, though. His elite legionaries had been whittled down to two survivors. 

    The victorious survivors of the hard-fought clash between Picts and Romans somewhere in Britain

On my final turn, I loaded up my board for both archery and melee. We started with the archers, and they proved to be all we needed. They slew the final two elites. I tried to figure out some way to get one of my warrior units within range to charge his ballista, which had nicked away at my figures all game. They were simply too far and safe behind their marsh. I decided to trust that we had killed more points worth of them than they had of us. We counted it up, and Dave had killed 12 of my warriors and 21 of my levies, with a bonus point for entirely wiping out one unit (14 points). The Picts had killed 12 of his hearthguard and 8 of his warriors, receiving two bonus points for wiping out two units (18 points). Final score 18-14, a hard-fought and narrow Pictish victory.

Drust watched as the Roman troops marched from the field in perfect order, their feet rising and falling as one. The iron men had proved a tough opponent, as he'd feared. Still, his tribesmen held the field and were victorious. He could recover his wounded, plunder the enemy dead, and bring back trophies to celebrate their triumph. His lads had fought well - their arrows and darts were key to the victory, as he had foreseen. Drust directed his older veterans to help the wounded, and begin stripping the Roman bodies. His name was safe, and his men would boast of this battle in the months ahead.

Interestingly, all four of the battles that were being fought that Sunday at the Dragons Guildhall were relatively historic encounters (or at least between contemporaries). Besides my Pict-Roman clash, Jenny T was trying out a new list and taking Pagan Rus against Caren's Vikings. Joe D and Jim R were fighting a Norman civil war. And Adrian J and Bob B were fighting a battle between Byzantines and Baltic Crusaders.

Here are the results of the day's games:

• Mike D's Picts defeated Dave's Romans in Clash of Warlords, 18-14
  
• Jenny T's Pagan Rus fought to a tie against Caren's Vikings in Clash of Warlords, 17-19
  
• Jim R's Normans defeated Joe D's Normans in Desecration, 16-10
  
• Adrian J's Baltic Crusaders defeated Bob B's Byzantines in Desecration, 16-10
  

The Blood Brotherhood - repost of some post-Apocalyptic figs

    Painted years ago, the Blood Brotherhood has been patiently waiting for the Apocalypse...

I believe these were my first post-Apocalyptic figures that I painted. I purchased the figs at Cold Wars or Historicon many years ago when Sgt. Major Miniatures were still in business. I always loved perusing their stall. Their selection of unique and characterful figures was inspiring. I think I may have actually used these in a random game on one of our Sunday evening game sessions, but they've essentially been waiting for me to run some games (and paint up a lot more opponents!).

    Purchased when Sgt. Major Miniatures were still in business, these were my first post-Apoc figs

One of the things I liked about these were their weirdness. They look like cultists for a Pulp game, but the gas or face masks make them look acceptable for post-Apocalyptic, as well. I debated back and forth about a color for them. Hoods not being politically correct, I wanted people to NOT think KKK when they saw them. So, I came up with the "blood red" color and a name of the Blood Brotherhood. I also kicked around the Red Sun Order, but I think I'll stick with the brotherhood name. 

    The figures have a cool variety of weapons, as well as subtle differences in clothes

I like the weapon variety, too. I am not sure what the long-barreled gun is above, but it looks like a shotgun or elephant gun or something along those lines. Fun stuff! Little things like that make a line of figures really jump out, even if your chosen rules don't go into the detail of representing every variety of firearm that ever existed...ha, ha!

    Three more members of the Blood Brother prowl the wastelands scavenging for useful finds

I posted these older figs mainly to have a consistent record of this project. I honestly am not sure WHEN I painted them. Anyway, look for more on this project soon as my school and personal schedule has opened up a bit and I have more free time.