Pulp Alley: Shootout at the Docks

The Rebel players in Joel's Junta & Pulp Alley mashup - Keith, Bruce, and Brian

We hadn't played Pulp Alley in what seemed like forever. So, when Joel volunteered to run it last Sunday, I knew we would need a refresher. I read through the "Quick Start" guide to get the basics down in my head, again. I passed along these to the other players -- especially the two brand new ones -- and felt like I was semi-ready to play. The Pulp Alley rules use some very clever mechanisms that go beyond the basic move/shoot/melee types of rules.

Brian's Rebel Peasants came charging in from the jungle countryside to enter the fray

Years ago, I had run our group's initial campaign following the adventures of Dakota Smith in SE Asia in the interwar years. It was a lot of fun, so I was happy to get a chance to play when Joel picked it up, albeit with different characters. Joel's Pulp Alley world was a very clever combination of the old Junta boardgame and Pulp Alley. Each player was one of the factions from the boardgame - I was the University Faculty, Allen was the Black Marketeers, Keith was the 3rd Brigade, and so on. He had also given us our alliances, Rebel vs. Loyalist.

Allen's Black Marketeers leader (in black, of course!) and Sidekick race to engage the 3rd Brigade

Unfortunately, with five players and Joel GMing that meant only Allen and I were present from the Loyalist faction. Add in the fact that both Keith's faction, and the Peasants that Brian would be playing had a "league ability" that gave them extra troops, we knew we'd be outnumbered. The rebel faction that Bruce would be playing (the Church), was a "normal" league for our games, consisting of a Leader, Sidekick, and Ally. I didn't realize till the end we were outnumbered 18 to 6, but hey, who said life in a Banana Republic was fair?

One of the features of Pulp Alley is the use of "plot points" (one major, four minor in our game), which act as the victory points for theses games. Most of the minor plot points were spread throughout the warehouses in the docks district. As a real twist, Joel made the Leader of the Church faction the major plot point. He also placed him in our midst, far away from his own league and those of his Peasant and 3rd Brigade allies.

The Church and 3rd Brigade tack refuge among the shipping containers as they close in on an objective

Allen and I planned to jump on his quickly, hopefully knock him out, and meanwhile send the rest of our forces to spread out and snag the minor plot points. Fortunately for Bruce, he won the Initiative and his leader (who had a special ability that made him faster) quickly skedaddled and disappeared among the shipping containers. I took that as a change of plans, and spread out to seize three of the four minor objectives (each worth one VP, while the major was 3 VP). If I could get those, and Allen snagged the remaining one on his side of the board, we'd eke out a victory.

That's about when the shooting started. My Sidekick, Professor Emilia, is a handy shot with a gun - as is my leader, Professor Duarte. Our graduate assistant doesn't believe in guns, so has no shooting ability. I gave him the device our "Bastion of Science" league ability grants us that allows him to automatically solve a plot point when adjacent. Within two turns, both the grad assistant and Duarte had seized minor plot points. Emilia decided to be overwatch instead, and gunned down the first unlucky rebel of 3rd Brigade who came within her line of sight.

Allen's Black Marketeers & Keith's Rebel 3rd Brigade mixed it up in the center of the table with grenades, guns, and fists

Allen sent his Ally to the corner of the table furthest from our enemies to snag the third plot point. His leader and sidekick dashed towards the center and began to mix it up with Keith's 3rd Brigade, and an occasional minion of the Church who popped up. It was a back and forth battle that had the effect of stymieing each from accomplishing anything else. Meanwhile, Bruce concentrated most of his league into picking up the fourth minor plot point. There was nothing I could do that didn't seem suicidal, so I began to move back towards the waterfront, taking cover behind crates, containers, and a fountain along the way.

My University Faculty moved towards the water with our plot points, taking cover and firing on the rebels all the while

A surprising development occurred when the entire Peasant force made a beeline for the corner where Allen's Ally had thought to easily snatch up the plot point there. One feature of Pulp Alley that is unique, and takes some getting used to using effectively, are the Fortune Cards. These allow you to spring traps on other players, cause them to move less, be out of ammo, etc. With three players on the Rebel side, and only two on the Loyalist side, we were at a disadvantage in these. Still, things looked pretty much in hand until Brian's peasant gunned down Allen's ally, giving them a clear road to the the fourth plot point. We got a bonus when Bruce's minor plot point he'd snatched up turned out to be a Red Herring (0 VP).

Brian's Rebel Peasants begin to make a run for the crucial final plot point

I saw the danger developing, and all three of my characters began rushing for that side of the board. On the final turn, both my Duarte and Emilia got in good shots at Brian's sidekick, who was looking to give them the clear win by securing the third minor plot point. He was wounded, and when he activated, we played the nastiest trap we could on him. Brian needed to roll three six-sided dice, all with 4's or higher for them to win. Otherwise, we would secure a tie. Luck was not with the University Faculty and Black Marketeers that night as Brian succeeded (12.5% chance?).

The climactic final scene as Professors Emilia (yellow) and Duarte (green jacket with gray hat) try to prevent the Peasants from seizing the final minor plot point

It was fun to play Pulp Alley again, though. I thought the Loyalists (particularly the University Faculty) did a good job, despite being outnumbered. We almost held them off and secured a tie -- despite the fact after the first turn we had very little chance of wresting the major plot point from them. It just goes to show you...there is never a "dole" time in the Banana Republic!

Sigurd Skullsplitter's First Foray to the Guardtower Saga Day

A fierce Roman counter-attack drives my Jarl Sigurd Skullsplitter's Danes back to the river's edge

I have decided to use our monthly Saga game days at the Guardtower East in Columbus, OH, to try out different armies, rather than use the same one over and over. Last meeting, I brought Norse-Gaels and had a lot of fun with them. This time, I thought I would try out the Anglo-Danish list, which includes the Viking kingdom of Jorvik (York). I created a fictional jarl - Sigurd Skullsplitter - and looked over the "battle board" a bit beforehand to try to figure it out.

Dave E and my deployment - my Anglo-Danes are to the bottom of the river, while his Romans await our attack opposite

Each army has a unique command and control battle board that is definitely the "learning curve" part of the game. It seemed to me that the Anglo-Danish specialty was to put fatigue on their enemy's units. They had a couple melee abilities that could take advantage of enemy fatigue fairly effectively, so I decided to try my hand at this list. I even wrote up some notes for myself beforehand. Many of the Saga abilities on an army's battle board are set up to be most effective to use them in 1-2-3-etc. order.

Dave E decided to await my attack on the far side of the river - here his warriors begin to march towards the middle

In particular, I saw that you can use the "Noble Lineage" ability with any die to try to ensure you get to "6's" (helmet), which enable you to use "Exhaustion." This puts a fatigue marker on three enemy units. You put these on likely charge targets. You then use "Determination" to give you a combat bonus, which is even more effective against units with fatigue. Then, you use their fatigue to take their armor class down to 3 or less, which is when you hit them with "Crush the Week," which gives bonus attack dice against units with an armor of 3 or less.

Jarl Sigurd's right gains a toehold on the opposite bank, while Dave E's Romans begin to mass to try to drive us off

To me, that is the key of Saga. Figuring out how to maximize the inter-relationships between the various Saga abilities on your battle board. This is partially why I stopped running my Welsh army (which was undefeated). I figured that I would become a better player by trying my hand at various armies so that I know what they can do.

At game's end, the Roman warlord forded the river to try to slay Sigurd, but failed, while forces from my left finally arrive

Thus, Sigurd Skullsplitter's foray this Sunday. I was matched against Dave Eblin, who was playing only his third game of Saga. He was using the Roman list, which of course meant I was once again facing a ballista when I had large units. I had decided to make my six army points into two units of 6 hearthguard, two units of 12 warriors, and my Warlord. The bigger the size of enemy units, the more attack dice the ballista (which counts as only 1/2 point of Levy troops) rolls. Sigh.

On the next battle board, Jenny also played Anglo-Danes against Jason's Romans

We were playing "The Crossing," which places a river in the middle of the board and heavily rewards a player who gets all his army across to the other side. The deployment rules force you to split your army into two halves. The half of my army that was facing his ballista (one hearthguard unit, one warrior unit) immediately pulled back and marched towards the other side of the board. Meanwhile, my other hearthguard and warrior unit, supported by the warlord advanced towards the river.

Jenny and Jason were playing "Guard the Loot" - here Jenny's Anglo-Danes at bottom advance upon the treasure

Dave had deployed a small unit of four hearthgaurd and a unit of 8 warriors flanking the ballista, along with his warlord. The other flank, opposite my advancing force, was guarded by another small unit of 4 hearthguard, 8 warriors, 6 levy spear, and a unit of warrior archers in the woods. He seemed content to have this force await my attack, while shifting his troops from his right over to support his threatened left.

Lowell, top left, and Mike got in two games, as did Thomas, bottom left, and Daniel

The river ended up being impassable on the side opposite the ballista, while we rolled "chaotic" for the other side. This meant each turn a player rolled to see if it counted as uneven terrain, dangerous terrain, or was impassable. Luckily for me, it was uneven often enough (50% chance), that my right could advance across to confront Dave's blocking force. It took two turns to cross it because the terrain piece we were using was fairly wide. We stayed as far to the right as we could to avoid ballista shots, and definitely did not set foot on the bridge.

Dave W points out where his Normans will advance, while Jeff as his opponent coaches him in his first game

In hindsight, I should not have been as afraid of his ballista as I was. I let him use this 1/2 point of levy essentially take my left flank hearthguard and warrior unit out of the battle. They did nothing the entire game as they made a wide loop towards the crossible part of the river. I should have marched them straight at the bridge and crossed so that they could have supported my assault on the right wing.

The Norman battleline prepares to fight the Saracens to a bloody draw

Things looked good at first for my assault on the right. I was using "Exhaustion" to place fatigue on his units, making him reluctant to charge as my troops stepped out of the water. He sent in his levy spear against my hearthguard, followed up by an attack of his unit of hearthguard. The levy were sent back reeling with only two figures left, but the hearthguard hurled my unit back into the river. Sigurd charged them and sent the retreating, as well.

Meanwhile, Jeff's Saracens prepare to wage war for Allah in a close, hard-fought game

Then, came what was supposed to be the crushing of Dave's left. My large, 12-man warrior unit smashed into his 8 warrior bow, completely destroying them. We followed up a turn later into his 8-man warrior unit. We had 13 attack dice, hitting on 3+ against his 8 attack dice, hitting on 5+. We lost. Badly. This was the cracking of the assault. Dave began pouring in fresh units -- his other hearthguard and warlord -- against my battered warriors and warlord.

Lowell's Anglo-Saxons advance quickly upon Mike S's Vikings, and the battlelines prepare to clash

This is when I needed my reinforcements to appear, but they were stuck in a long, looping march. Both my warlord and warriors were pushed back into the river. However, we had savaged them with casualties, and were probably winning on survival points. I redeployed my troops to maximize the points I could gain from the victory conditions.

The brothers clash as Daniel and Thomas wage a historical war -- Vikings against the Last Romans (Byzantines)

I re-read the victory points to Dave, and he mentally calculated the I would win, unless he struck a major blow. So, he decided to charge his warlord across the river at mine. Sigurd had just survived back-to-back assaults by hearthguard and the Roman warlord by one hit. The final, climactic clash on the banks of the river resulted in three fatigues on each warlord, with both surviving. Dave conceded my win on points, due to the slaughter we'd inflicted.

Andy and Steve were excited to finally get a chance to play Sage: Age of Magic at this meeting

Meanwhile, battles were raging all around us. We had 12 players show up this time, which was a great turnout. Once again, we had another brand-new player, Dave W, as well as many of our other semi-new players. I am really happy with how our monthly Saga game days are growing. It is a great sign that we keep having new people show up.

Lowell, left, and Mike S closed quickly and were the first of our six matchups to finish their game

Saga veterans Andy S and Steve P decided to finally play a game of Sage: Age of Magic. Meanwhile, the other 10 of us player regular, historical Saga. All armies were from the Age of Vikings book, except for Jeff F's Saracens. Jeff was teaching Dave W, our new player, the game.

Here are the results of the battles, with four players getting in two games, while the rest of us each played one:

2-0 
Mike S's Vikings defeated both Lowell's Anglo-Saxons and Daniel's Anglo-Saxons

1-0
Jenny T's Anglo-Danes defeated Jason M's Romans
Mike D's Anglo-Dane defeated Dave E's Romans

1-1
Daniel M's Vikings defeated Thomas M's Last Romans, but lost to Mike S's Vikings
Thomas M's Last Romans defeated Lowell's Vikings, but lost with to Daniel M's Vikings

0-0-1
Jeff F's Saracens tied Dave W's Normans
Dave W's Normans tied Jeff F's Saracens

0-1
Dave E's Romans lost to Mike D's Anglo-Danes
Jason M's Romans lost to Jenny T's Anglo-Danes

0-2
Lowell's Anglo-Saxons lost to Mike S's Vikings and to Thomas M's Last Romans

I forgot to ask Andy and Steve what happened in their Age of Magic game. Hopefully, I will update that soon.

We are having a lot of fun with our monthly Saga games. We'd love to have more people come out. Join the Saga Ohio Facebook group to find out when we're meeting. Hope to see more people showing up, and our monthly clashes continue to grow!

Rearguard at Cassinga: Wars of Insurgency at Advance the Colors 2019

A 3-D printed South African Blackburn Buccaneer launches a rocket attack on a column of Cuban/Angolan armor

 When I released Wars of Insurgency modern skirmish rules a few years back, I purposely did not include air power rules. I wanted it to be "low-intensity" insurgency warfare. The rules have received a good reception and players at conventions have enjoyed my games. There's even a group in Australia, the Nunawading Wargames Association, who are playing an "Imagi-nations" campaign using my rules. As more played them, I've received questions how to handle various things that were not included in the original rules.

Cuban and Angolan tanks & APCs race to rescue the SWAPO base at Cassinga under attack by SADF paratroopers

I have worked on helicopter rules first, and am pretty satisfied with how they perform in games. This summer, I decided I would add in fixed-wing air support - "fast-movers," as some folks like to call jet aircraft. As mentioned in previous posts, I had a friend use 3-D printing to create a handful of aircraft for me. Although they don't have the detail of die-cast metal or plastic kits, they look fine on the table as gaming models, and are considerably cheaper.

Waiting for them, concealed in the bush, are RPG teams of the South African rearguard

I kept procrastinating actually writing down the ideas that were bouncing around in my head until a couple weeks before my game at Advance the Colors 2019, Oct. 4-5. I had decided I would run the rearguard action of the anti-tank platoon against a Cuban/Angolan armored column that came to the rescue of the SWAPO camp the South African paratroopers were raiding at Cassinga. A pair of Mirage IIIs and a Blackburn Buccaneer had helped the raiders fight off the column, so I had a historical engagement I could model it after.

A pair of Mirage IIIs were also available to strafe the encroaching armor with their 30mm autocannons

The skirmish was a near-run thing with the Cubans and Angolans coming very close to breaking through and being able to attack the landing zone where the South African raiding force was trying to evacuate from. So, I chose my forces off of the historical Order of Battle, figuring it would give me an idea of prospective point costs for aircraft. As it turned out, I probably should have given the Cubans and Angolans more armor than I did (each of the players controlled one T-34/85 tank, 2 BTR-152 armored cars with mobile infantry, and one civilian truck loaded up with infantry).

Each Angolan player also had a truck with 10 infantry to dismount and drive off the South Africans

Each South African player controlled three teams of three Professional infantry (one armed with an RPG, one a LMG, and one hand weapon). They also each had control of either a Mirage III or Buccaneer, each of which had limited ammunition or passes it could make. The Mirage were historical armed with air-to-air missiles and their 30mm autocannon. The Buccaneer was armed with 68 SNEB rockets. The South African pilot had insisted his armorer load alternating rockets of HE and HEAT (anti-tank rockets). Thus, the Buccaneer would be their main platform against the tanks, while the Mirage IIIs could affect the armored cars.

My Friday night table was full with six players, so the full force for each side was used

I advertised the game as a playtest of the aerial support rules, which in my mind was supposed to justify the fact I had NOT play-tested these rules. Then again, I did the same last year and the year before with my helicopter rules and they worked out fine. I ran the game only on Friday afternoon and evening. My Friday players were ecstatic about how the scenario worked out, and said they had a blast. Still, I scaled back the attack ability of the Buccaneer for the second game, essentially cutting its ammo in half. For game effect, I let the Buccaneer player decide how many rockets he was firing each turn at which targets. I allowed jet aircraft to designate a strafing line or flight path and roll attacks against any target on that path.

A Buccaneer and Mirage III sweep over the battlefield looking for targets of opportunity

The Mirage IIIs were given a limited number of attacks. After that, they were "bingo" on fuel and had to return to base. The Buccaneer had actual ammunition boxes to check off as he fired rockets. In the first game, each box equaled one rocket fire and one dice rolled to place it on target. In the second game, the player checked off two boxes for each attack dice rolled to hit. Strafing hits scored on 4-6 on 1d6. Each rocket hit then rolled a further attack with 3 damage dice (doubling hits against armor, just like an RPG).

A firefight on the ground between a SADF RPG team and troops dismounted from an Angolan truck

The Buccaneer was Hell on Wheels, er...wings! It blasted tanks, APCs, and trucks with wild abandon. The Mirage IIIs had a more limited attack, that nevertheless could be deadly -- especially if they strafed an open vehicle carrying mobile infantry (like the open compartment of the BTR-152). The South African RPG gunners were fairly effective, too. Like historically, they blew up a number of armored vehicles. They got chewed up way worse than in the actual Battle of Cassinga, though, where the platoon took zero casualties. The raiding force itself did take casualties, but most of those were in the assault on the camp from AA guns.

A Mirage III dives to strafe the roadside being used by the Cuban/Angolan armor

I liked how the hidden deployment of the RPG teams went. The players put dummy markers and real markers on the table to mark potential locations for their infantry. They could be placed in any patch of trees on the table, which gave them a lot of tough decisions to make. Aircraft could not make attacks on consecutive turns to represent them vectoring around for another pass.

Each Cubans & Angolan player force was given four choices on arrival points

How did the games go? In each game, all of the tanks and APCs were eventually knocked out, including some of the reinforcement APCs I gave to the Cuban/Angolan players when they were down to few troops left. It was a much closer battle in the first game when I had only two aircraft in the sky (due to two of my six players mysteriously not showing up after registering for the game). In the night game, all three aircraft were hammering the Cuban and Angolan armor. Unlike in the first game, the players got a little glum and felt they had no chance of winning the game. What was VERY interesting was that one of the South African players in that game also felt they had basically lost and that the armor was about to fulfill its objectives by exiting on the far side of the table. So, both sides felt that they were losing!

Smoke marks the strafing runs and rocket attacks on the armored vehicles

Either way, I think I would limit jet aircraft to just one per scenario in future games. I was being historical, and wanted all three aircraft that appeared over the battlefield the be represented. I am not 100% sure I like the mechanism for the flight path, though. It seems too easy for the jets to line up multiple targets on the ground. Perhaps, I will add an element of randomness to the game and either have the controlling players roll to be "on target" with their hits, with a chance of deviating to the left or right, short or long. Players still needed to roll for their attacks, and targets still got to roll saves, though. So, perhaps not. Maybe I will simply limit how many targets they can strike on the ground, or allow them to hit multiple targets only when they are close together.

The South African pilots quickly pounced on the enemy armor as it arrived on the table

It was fun to see the jets on the tabletop, though. I think my camera tripod flight stands worked fine. I will probably paint them entirely matte black, though, just to make them less obtrusive on the tabletop (and in pictures). I think most players enjoyed the scenario, though. I think I am "go" for planning my next playtest using the Chad air war. Stay tuned for more!

Lord of the Isles Wages Battles Worthy of a Saga

A 2-on-2 Saga battle, with John (Normans) & Dave (Viking), top, against Jenny and Mike S (Last Romans)

We had 10 players waging war at once across Dark Age and Medieval battlefields during our monthly Saga game days at Guardtower East. As always, Steve P and Andy S hosted, but this time I was able to convince both of them to play, as well. We had one brand new player, a second time player, and a handful of gamers who had used the rules several times among our 10 warlords. Armies included Vikings, Anglo-Saxons, Irish, Normans, Romans, Last Romans (Byzantines), Crusaders, and my own first time playing the Norse-Gaels. Although most people think of the Vikings in Ireland when they think of this list, it is also for Scotland's Kingdom of the Isles (essentially the Hebrides Islands in the Viking Age).

My Norse-Gael armys at bottom (with Vikings, Scotsmen, & levies) closes in for the kill against Dave E's Viking list

I decided not to play my normal Welsh list this time because, frankly, I wanted to try something different. I enjoy playing my Kingdom of Gododdin with Lord Gwendawg as its defender, but I think I have the hang of using this army in Saga, by now. Not to brag, but I have won every game I've played using this list, so I thought it was high time I tried my hand at commanding a new army. The Norse-Gaels immediately caught my eye when I saw they could be used for the Kingdom of the Isles. I've always felt that this mix of native Vikings, Scots and Picts was a really interesting period, and have long wanted an army to represent their best-known king, Somerled.

Our first battle against Jeff F's Crusaders, at top, did not go so well - not the numerous levies advancing in support

I certainly had the figures already, using my Viking miniatures as the army's hearthguard (elite warriors), my Picts in their tartans and checkered cloaks as the warriors, and various Dark Age and Medieval peasants or tribesmen as the levy. In fact, the Norse-Gael list played into the strength of my collection, so to speak. When I began painting up 28mm Dark Ages miniatures years back it was not for Saga, but for Song of Drums and Tomahawks, which requires far fewer figures for battles. So, I don't technically have enough miniatures to field a Saga army for each of the nations I have in my collection. I have enough Britons to use as Saga Welsh, of course, but am still short of enough for a good list of the Picts (which I will use as Saga Scots -- the Pictish list is for the earlier period, which fought the Romans). Neither do I have enough for Saxons or Irish, but I have a growing force of each. 

A bad omen -- six javelin armed, Combat Bonus aided Scotsmen charge to their death against Crusader crossbow

Perusing the Saga battle board (command and control) for the Norse-Gaels, I was struck by how one-dimensional they are. Their abilities essentially allow them to amass great amounts of combat bonus dice to deal death upon their enemies. There is none of the tactical subtleties you find in the Welsh list -- no Evade or abilities that allow you to take an action during opponent's turns. Instead, there is a very clever list of cascading abilities that allow you to continually roll available (already used) Saga dice and place them in your combat pool. I thought it would be fun learning how to use them all in the proper order to maximize my army's attacks.

The die rolls went Jeff's way again and again -- perhaps God was on his side, after all? Deus Volt!

There is also a component that allows you put fatigue onto your levies, sparing your main combat troops, or to amass more combat dice for other units in battle. As such, in my first game I spent two of my six points of troops on levy, breaking them into three units of 8 foot armed with javelins. Their job would be to hang back behind the main battle line, close enough to be used to "soak" up fatigue intended for my hearthguard or warriors. In my second battle, I dropped that back to one point of levy, splitting the dozen into two units of six. I liked this much better because it gave me the extra point of troops to spend a third on hearthguard. This meant I could have two units of six figures in my second game, more survivable than the two units of four I had in the first.

"Big Mistake, Indy!" My warlord is Exhausted (3 fatigue), a sitting duck for Jeff's divinely-inspired crossbowmen

The remaining two points went into warriors, which were armed with javelins. I have a choice for all my foot troops to use either javelins or heavy weapons (think Viking long axe or Scottish claymore). I ended up choosing heavy weapons for my warlord and hearthguard, but javelins for the warriors and levy.

At bottom, John's Normans advance while Dave's Vikings move up in support against Mike and Jenny's Last Romans

My first game did not go too well. I faced Jeff F's Crusaders army -- a very potent list. He had some very nasty abilities on his battle board, including Blessing of the Righteous, which when played means a unit can only lose as many casualties as its armor class. The Norse-Gaels are built on dealing maximum, overwhelming attacks against enemy -- quite likely eliminating enemy in a single charge. There was no more devastating ability than Blessing to counter our strength. Chinks in the Armor is an incredibly nasty attack, too -- giving the Crusaders either four or six bonus attack dice in an attack. I found out quickly that things were not going to go well when a unit of my warriors charged his warrior crossbowmen (missile armed troops should have been easy prey for my souped-up charge), and Blessing meant we killed only three of their eight figures. Meanwhile, aided by Chinks in the Armor, they eliminated my unit completely. The same thing happened when I charged with a unit of hearthguard -- I caused three hits and he eliminated my unit.

Two buildings occupied by Norman archers proved too tough a fortress to assault for Jenny's Last Romans

I made a rookie mistake, too, forgetting to save Expendable for the charge of my Warlord. Instead of being able to give all or most of the fatigue he accumulated onto the nearby unit of levy, he ended up the battle Exhausted -- right in front of Jeff's crossbowmen! "Big mistake, Indy!" We called the game when I was down to my two units of levy, while he still had half of his double-size knights unit and his warlord, plus levy Pilgrims.

Jason's Romans march through a valley to confront Steve's Norman battleline (bolstered by his son's dice rolling)

My second game went MUCH better. I faced Vikings commanded by Dave E -- who had called me that week after disappearing from the gaming scene here in Columbus for a couple decades. He siad his kids were grown, now, and he was looking to get back into gaming. I talked him into coming to the Guardtower and he said he had a great time playing two games of Saga. Both Steve P (who had finished his game) and I tried to help him out as much as possible, giving tactical advice and pointing out advantages and disadvantages of various moves (and battle board abilities). We couldn't save him from his below-average dice rolling, though. Nor from the cascading bonus combat dice of the Norse-Gael battle board. Everything I wanted to do against Jeff, but was frustrated by his excellent rolls and frustrating Crusader abilities, worked to perfection against Dave.

My Warlord, bottom center, watches his Viking hearthguard, left, and Scots warriors, right, close in on the Viking enemy

I was getting the hang of which abilities to use to amass a handful of bonus combat dice. For example, you can stock your pool with Clenched Fists (which allows you to roll 3 or 4 available Saga dice -- such as ones you've already used for movement), and place them on your Combat Bonus. Roll ALL of them in your next attack, then use Spill Blood to restock it. This ability allows you to roll as many dice as there were casualties in that melee -- combined, from both sides! Bingo!! Full Combat Bonus pool for another devastating charge!

Closing stages of first game -- only 2 units of levy left to face Jeff's knights, warlord, surviving crossbow, and pilgrims

Needless to say, I really enjoyed playing the Norse-Gaels. Their in-your-face style was certainly a change from the more finesse Welsh list. I think the Welsh are a more powerful army, and I think there are many things that could frustrate the one-track Norse-Gaels in a game. However, when the blood starts flying on the battlefield, you are in their wheelhouse, so to speak. They certainly must be a potentially frightening army to face!

Here are the results of Sunday's games, near as I can figure:

2-0
Jason S (Romans), defeated Steve B (Normans) and Mike S (Last Romans)

1-0
Andy S (Anglo-Saxons), defeated Steve P (Irish)
John P (Norman), defeated Jenny T (Last Romans)

1-1
Dave E (Viking), defeated Mike S (Last Romans), lost to Mike D (Norse-Gaels)
Jeff F (Crusaders), defeated Mike D (Norse-Gaels), lost to Jenny T (Last Romans)
Jenny T (Last Romans), lost to John P (Normans), defeated Jeff F (Crusaders)
Mike D (Norse-Gaels), lost to Jeff F (Crusaders), defeated Dave E (Vikings)

0-1
Steve P (Irish), lost to Andy S (Anglo-Saxon)
Steve B (Norman), lost to Jason S (Romans)

0-2
Mike S (Last Romans), lost to Dave E (Viking), lost to Jason S (Last Romans)

Labor Day (and night!) of Board Games

From left, Mike S, Jason, and Brian were my opponents in the venerable Avalon Hill board game, Britannia

Since Mike S drives over from Springfield nearly every Sunday, we thought it would be nice to return the favor and have the Sunday night gaming group visit him. We picked Labor Day afternoon for the occasion, with most of us arriving around 2pm. Most of the group made it, plus a nice handful of additions -- Mike's nephews Thomas and Daniel, his son Jason, and Jenny. We had planned on a cookout, but decided to do pizza instead, since it was supposed to storm.

Britannia was always one of my favorites, but needing exactly four players and a LONG time limited its playing

One of the main goals of the day was to "dust off" some of the old classic boardgames that take a long time to play. We figured we could start in the afternoon and finish at a reasonable time. As we had 10 of us total, I suggested a six-player History of the World and four-player Britannia. As it was, we decided to break out Secret Hitler, as it can play up to (exactly) 10 players. As usual, the Fascists won. I think every time I have played this game the Liberals have lost. Must be an accurate simulation!

This game is always a winner, and Jenny capitalized on her Sunday game night presence by winning it

Next, I polled everyone to see what they wanted to play. A number wanted to play Power Grid, so we did the six-player group as that, instead. Myself, Mike S, Brian, and Jason opted for Britannia. It took a good 20 minutes to go over the rules, as players were sorting their kingdom's pieces. For those that haven't played this Avalon Hill classic, it covers the history of Britain from the Roman invasions to the Norman attack. Players are given a series of nations or kingdoms to control. I drew Green, which meant I had the Welsh, Caledonians, Jutes, and Danes. Jason drew Purple, unfortunately for him, as it meant a newbie had to learn quickly playing the Roman invasions. Mike S was Red, and Brian -- the other new player -- was Blue.

Jason and Brian roll off as they struggle for control of Britain

It was great to play the game, again. I tried to give as many tactical hints as I could to the new players, but it takes awhile to get the flow of the game and understand ways to achieve your objectives. My goal with the Welsh was to survive the Roman onslaught, and Jason tried to make that VERY difficult for me, assaulting into my heartland. I had an incredible series of die rolls, though, and repulsed his attack. As a new player, he did not make a hard push north, which meant the Brigantes were barely touched, and the Picts were completely unmolested. The Picts, in turn, could then concentrate on the Caledones and the Scots when they arrived, pushing them back and marginalizing them.

It was a fun game - as Britannia always is, I feel. I had a comfortable lead the couple times we checked the scores. However, Brian made a surge at the end and overtook my by 2 points -- 119 to 117!

Night had fallen out on the screened-in porch where Daniel, Jenny, Keith, Thomas, and Joel gamed on

About halfway through our game, the Power Grid game ended with a Jenny win. They decided to set up Fortune and Glory, which surprised us, as we knew it was a long game. And so it proved, as they continued on for at least another hour after we had packed up Britannia. Fortune and Glory is fun, but there is just so much STUFF in the game. It takes forever to set up, and you constantly need to refer to the rules to see how to handle all the different situations that crop up.

We simply don't play Fortune and Glory often enough to be familiar with the rules to make it go quickly

As it was, we had a much longer day than we anticipated, and didn't finish till after 11pm (later than our normal Sunday evening gaming when we start at 7pm!). It was fun, though. Everyone seemed to have a good time, and it was a great way to wrap up summer.