Battle Report - SAGA Campaign 2

Hello Folks,

Had another game for the SAGA Age of the Wolf campaign that the club is doing, Nick came over and another battle was had! Nick choose to use his ambushing powers that his Warlord had to we rolled for an Ambush Scenario and got Escort.

I had my Pagan Rus again but down a bunch of warriors and some Hearthguard. Nick had the Anglo Saxons, but they were mostly ok. I had a theory that this battle might be a really good one for my faction, as the Pagan Rus have some really good abilities that restrict movement or mess with isolated units. So I thought I can force them to spread out and make it hard to give support, but my main goal was to limit combat as much as possible.

Here is the start of the game, I have 4 warriors and 3 Hearthguard on the left with a bagage, a baggage 4 hearthguard with a banner and a warlord in the center, and then 3 more hearthguard and the last baggage on the far right. The Anglo Saxons had to spread out allot and had 4 hearthguard on the right, 11 warriors in the center, and 12 levy, 4 warriors and their warlord on the left.

I had good dice on turn 1 so I was able to use some abilities to kill the 4 Hearthguard right off.

This forced the Saxons to advance and spread out as much as possible. I had called up the Great Winter thou so they could not move very far.

Next turn I got a bunch of 6s which gave me more options, so I decided to try a big attack. I sent my units of 3 Hearthguard into the Levy unit and got a few kills with no losses and exhausted them.

The Saxons used the next turn to redress their lines and remove all the fatigues. Being sure to keep units within 6 of each other now.

I used my next turn to just move the baggage on the far right as many times as it took for him to escape. Which took most of my dice. This of course left my Hearthguard open to attack, so the Saxon leader came in with a unit and made a good attempt. I got lucky with the defense dice thou and one pesky lady survived the onslaught.

I sacrificed that one remaining lady to get a fatigue on the big unit of 12 warriors, I was hoping for a kill also but it never happened. I also moved my Warlord and his protecting unit to the village, and sent the second baggage as far as I could. The Sacons tried to give chase, but I was able to use the Frozen ability to make it very hard. This one cancels a units second activation and then they can't be activated again, so it s hard to chase.

This left a second baggage in range of the edge, so I used all my dice to move him off the board. With 2 baggages off, that was a win for the Rus.

Since the fighting was not to severe I didn't loose many figures, actually all the losses came from just the one unit, so I lost one but got it back. Similar for the Saxons. But the fates where very kind to me, adding 6 warriors, and harsh the the Saxons the had a famine or something and lost a wealth.

But it was a fun interesting game, very different for Saga as I as able to mostly meet my goal of not fighting?? What kind of Saga  campaign is this again?

Thanks;
Mike

Painting Update - Science Fiction Time

Hello Everyone,

Time for another painting update. This week I decided to do a bit of work on some smaller projects before I move into allot of big time stuff for Cangames, but that has to start sooner rather then later! Anyway it ended up that I was working on some various Sci-Fi bits.

Oniwaban:

First up is another new model for my latest Infinity army. This guy is basically an elite Ninja. The more invisible guys the better.

Shaolin Monk:

I also need some cheaper models to go along, so I got a warrior monk done. This guys is a warband guy so his job is mostly to get killed I guess!

Neo Ashigaru (Fire Warriors):

I signed up for the Epic Armageddon tournament at Cold Wars in March, so I thought it would be cool to do a new army. Sadly the stuff for that game is long gone out of production and is hard to get, but there are a few companies that make 6mm models that are meant to be similar, so they make great stand ins. I picked up these few models last year to give them a try so they are the start of my Tau Epic army. Here are the basic infantry guys, have to add some transports for them.

Raijin Grav Tanks (Hammerhead Gunships):

A few tanks, need units of 4 and they come in 3s which is a bit unfortunate, but you can make bigger units also I think so just need a few more really.

Oni Close ASsault Rigs (Crisis Battlesuits):

Of course you can't have Tau without some battle suits so I got a unit of those to try as well. For these I have put the name from onslaught and then what they are standing in for in brackets. I think they work pretty well and are nice models. They have their own look which is a bit different, but you can easily see what is what. I quit like these models so have ordered some more to make an army, this is only a start really.

Actually they have started coming out with a series of End Time books for 40k now which I am finding very interesting. So I may have to do some Epic battles based around those books, sounds like allot of fun to me. They are really big battles so Epic seems like a cool place to do it. Biggest problem is Chaos models. There are a few but not tons, and they don't cover the full range of everything that would be nice to have.

But that is what I got painted for now!

Pledge Status, 2017:

Bought: 0 
Painted: 21
Total: +21

Thanks;
Mike

Battle Report - SAGA Campaign

Hello Folks,

Time to throw up a few more pictures and battle reports. This week was the start of the SAGA Age of the Wolf campaign at the club so I was playing in that on Friday. I went with a Pagan Rus group and my warlord started with Noble Mein, Land Waster, and Hero of the Viking Age. The main idea here is to get power by winning land wealth and reputation, and campaign victory points by winning games.

Game 1: Vs Vikings, Battle at the Ford

My thinking here was that this will be an ideal scenario for me, as it kind of forces you to spread out to go for the crossings. This would give the exhaustion battle board abilities of the Rus time to work. I figure my warriors can push through the levy on the right and the elite troops can take the left. You win this scenario by having more troops across the river at the end.

On turn 1 used my abilities to exhaust a unit of vikings and then kill 4 of them! Also moved a couple of units up. The vikings mostly just moved up and rested, not allot of action.

The viking archers managed to kill 2 of my warriors with shooting, which was not great but I didn't think would be to bad.

Not having the dice for freezing people I sent my troops to attack the bridge and killed the rest of the viking hearthguard, so the best viking unit was dealt with.

Sadly the Viking archers turned out to be very effective, so I had to give up on crossing the bridge, and decided to exhaust them and try and keep them from firing. Meanwhile everyone else made a B-line for the other bridge.

We had another attack and I traded one hearth guard, for 4 viking warriors. Not bad, eeryone keeps on moving, and I am able to pile more fatigues on those pesky archers.

The vikings get some good momentum going finally and kill my first unit of hearthguard, but 2 more are coming, and they are running out of troops.

I am down to only one unit, plus the 2 warriors by the woods. But the vikings just have a warlord and some exhaust levy. The viking warlord decides discretion is the better part of valor so falls back.

This basically concedes the scenario to me, and I don't bother trying to chase that warlord since it is to dangerous and preserving troops is important in this campaign. So I managed to win, but there was allot of losses on both sides, the Vikings can really hit hard in combat. I won some lad but rolled a flood and famine for my event so I am down troops and my new land was destroyed, not so great for a win? The Vikings ended up getting a bunch of new levy...

Game 2: Vs Vikings, Forest Road Ambush

Next game I was ambushed on a road in the forest by Vikings! (anyone else in this campaign??) The goal for me is to escape on any board edge, I get points for everyone but auto win if the warlord makes it off. The vikings get points for killing me, and first turn, and I only get half the normal saga dice on turn one. The Vikings put allot of their troops on the far end of the board, not really sure why. They were also worried about having isolated units so get groups together to try and block my ability to exhaust.

Things got started with a big Viking attack on my vanguard unit, which killed all but 3 of them. This had my warlord trapped where he would be forces to charge the Viking warlord if moved. But I was able to get a unit in the way and ran down along with some warriors. Both moving twice and taking a fatigue. So good on running but no fighting back.

This put me close to the edge, so the Vikings had to run to block my units, mainly it is the warlord that matters at this point. The Viking vanguard made a big attack on my warriors and traded units basically. But this left their warlord vulnerable. On my turn I got some good Saga dice so I was able to kill him. One of the Rus abilities gives you 3 bonus hits against units if they are fatigued which is amazing for fighting armor 6 warlords!

This put the Vikings in a tough spot and there was no real way to stop my guy from running off.

The fate table was a little better this time and my warlord gained the Bravery ability which lets him ignore the first fatigue every turn. But I am bleeding troops and not getting them back so that is starting to be a big concern. Maybe I can get a nice peaceful battle for the next one and a good roll to give some re-enforcements.

Infinity Tournament:

On Saturday I went to the Infinity tournament at Fandom. Infinity is a skirmish Sci-Fi game which is allot of fun. My intention was to make a report of this as well, but I took one picture then got to into things and forgot about it. Anyway you can see one example of a table with some very nicely painted buildings, along with some paper cars and random blocks that are just painted grey hah. Had 8 people there for this so had to spread around the good terrain.

Anyway I ended up winning that so 2017 is starting of with allot of victories.

Thats all for now.

Thanks;
Mike

Battle Report - Trafalgar

Hello All,

Time for the first Wednesday Wargaming Battle Report for he new year!

As discussed last time we have some age of sail ships all painted up now, and Serge made some terrain so it is time to start having some fleet battles. We decided to play the Warhammer Historical rules called Trafalgar. I have a few different rules for this period but decided to go with this because I have the physical book, and also they give you an army list for each nation and a set of scenarios that you can play through. So it is build an army with points game, most of the others just give you rules and stats and you have to try and make balanced scenarios on your own.

My squadron has 4 British ships as discussed in the last post, Serge has a Spanish one of also 4 ships with a first rate, 2 large third rates, and a small third rate. So basically the same types of ships. But the British has a few rules for having better crew and the Spanish get some extra points to upgrade and add a few extra cannons.

To start off we just went for the first scenario which is a basic fleet engagement. They suggest a maximum of 2 islands, but we had some cool look stuff so added in a bit of land for looks and to mark the edge of the table. Wind starts of blowing to the left in these pictures.

Fleet Engagement:

Turn 1:

Here we are at the start of the game ready to go. I deployed in a line with bigger ships in front. The Spanish are coming in line abreast. Not really sure how this is going to go down so don't really have a plan, just drive forward and then blast people.

Turn 2:

Our Ships start moving in. Turns out you don't move super fast so is going to take a few turns for the engagement to happen. The Spanish are trying to re-organize so they don't have their smallest ship leading.

Turn 4:

Now the lines start to meet. We are using cotton to show which ships fire but sometimes forget it. My line is being passed on 2 sides which feels bad. Actually the Spanish had some very good gunnery dice to start off so Royal Sovereign is taking a royal beating! Being even set on fire, that can't be good.

Turn 5:

Now a real battle sets off and all ships are hammering away. I am mostly blasting into the first rate Spanish ship, this guy has allot of heavy cannons so I am trying yo knock some of them out. But last ship I think gets a bit of a bow rake on one of the Spanish 74s. The Spanish are concentrating mostly on Royal Sovereign who is left is a sorry state. But she is able to limp away one hit from being crippled, one point of crew left, and taking water with only one hit left below the water line before she sinks!

Turn 6:

Next turn we mostly pass by each other with allot of ships firing as she bears. Some good hits but nothing crazy like the first go. The Spanish are now having a bit of trouble with the island, and we have to come around for another pass. These rules give you very little control over movement, you have to move the full amount unless you pass an order to go at half or more, and turn have to be 30 degrees or nothing. So it is a bit annoying. Also ships that are more to leeward have to move first, so we found it would be impossible to sail into the wind in line but we just ignored that.

A Few Turns Later:

This is how we ended up. The Spanish split up around the island. the 64 is anchored by the land getting engaged by both of my 74s, but Mars grounded on the rocks! Royal Sovereign limped off the try and not sink. We ran out of time here but there are still half a dozen turns left to be played. I am pretty sure that the small Spanish third rate is going to be crippled with 2 ships firing on it. But the other 2 Spanish ships will get a couple of chances so they might take out one of my 74s. There is just about enough time for the other Spanish ship on the right to come across and get a shot at Royal Sovereign as well.

In the end no ships were actually crippled taken or sunk so it was a draw, but I just barely made it out!

I found these rules to be pretty good, but the sailing is a bit to picky for us. I think what will happen is that we will use the sailing rules from Fire as She Bears! which are much easier and give more control. I also found the weather gauge is a bit to powerful and can lead to some gameness so maybe that will get changed as well. But Age of Sail naval gaming is allot of fun, and pretty cool! Hope you enjoyed the report.

Thanks;
Mike

Painting - British Fleet

Hello All,

I guess it's time for the first real post of the year. Been a bit slow getting back into the swing of things what with vacations and being lazy and all. Anyway I finally got all of my fleet finished off, well mostly there is still maybe a few small fixes to do and have to gloss varnish the base. But basically done.

This is the British squadron pack A. So I have HMS Royal Sovereign (100), I had this one painted a few years back but Included it anyway. HMS Ceasar (80) IRRC that is the one on the far left of the bottom picture. The other two are not named models but lets call them HMS Mars (74) and the smallest is Polyphemus (64).

Pretty happy with how this squadron turned out, not perfect but I think they look good all together. As has been said this is by far the most difficult modelling project that I ave done thus far. Lots of small pieces and the fiddly bits and the rigging can be a big pain, but you need to do some of it for them to look good. I cut some corners and only did the standing rigging, so about half of it maybe, plus the brass etched ratlines that are provided.

At some point I would like to get some smaller ships like a couple of frigates maybe another 64, or some merchantmen, but this is it for now!

The naval battles are starting today, we are using the Trafalgar rules from Games Workshop's old Historicals line to start with. So look forward to some sailing battle reports. Hopefully we will play through all the scenarios once at least and there is 6. Serge has done all the terrain so should be cool!

Let me know what you think.

FYI the mat is from FAT Mats which is a bit blue but I like it. I regret now not getting the fantasy ship game from GW but oh well. They have a cool mat also.

Pledge Status, 2017:

Bought: 0 
Painted: 3
Total: +3

Thanks;
Mike

Year End Review: 2016

Well another year is over, so time for a look back at all the stuff that gone completed last year, and how many goals were met and what not.

Last years goals were:

1. Templar SAGA army
2. Crusader SAGA Army
3. Team Yankee
4. By Fire and Sword Skirmish Force

Well I didn't complete either of those SAGA armies, but I did do an Ancient Greek one. Got all of the Team Yankee I wanted to do done and more, and finished off more like 3 forces for By Fire and Sword. So something like a 50% completion rate.

On the pledge side, as discussed last time more stuff got completed then bought, and lots of things got painted so pretty happy there. Hopefully can crack 500 for this year, but who knows what will happen.

Anyway here are some pictures of things that got done in 2016, not going to post every single thing but just some stuff I see as the highlights.

Team Yankee:

Old West:

Frostgrave:

Epic Armageddon:

Infinity:

Samurai:

Greeks:

By Fire and Sword:

Romans and War of Roses for ADG:

Warhammer 40k:

So yeah lots of painting as you can see, and lots of variety also which is really good if you ask me. Now on to the goals for next year, planning time:

1. British Ships for Trafalgar
2. 15mm Samurai (Monks) for Cangames
3. 15mm WW1 
4. Get more into the Hobbit Game Planning to do some Terrain for Cangames for Frostgrave
5. Would like to get to some more Eipc, really enjoy that game

Well that is probably a good enough set of goals for now. Well see how that gets on as we move into the new year! The ships are the first up and they won't take long to finish. Very excited to finally give that a try, and they are almost done really just have to do the rigging when I get back from vacation!

Final Pledge Tally, 2016:

Bought: 383 
Painted: 484
Total: +101
2015: 216 Painted
2014: 140 Painted

Thanks;

Mike