Queensland Northern Knight's: VETR'S SAGA! 6 Point Saga tournament.

Today I went along to Queensland Northern Knights Premier Event for 2016. A fantastic,challenging and fun filled weekend of wargaming. Many systems are at the event such as Kings of War, Warmahordes, Bolt Action, Infinity and of course, Saga! Again, such great event run by the boys at QNK and supported by numerous suppliers across Oz.

As suggested in the title I entered into the 6 Point Saga tournament and took along my Pagan Rus.

The one-day event consisted of three  2 hour rounds.  Each win and each draw having points up for grabs. In case of a tie breaker the lads had a casualty point tracker which ran for the duration of the day.

I managed to battle my way through all 3 rounds undefeated and won the day! I went away with a lovely trophy, and a brand new 4pt Spanish Warband provided by War and Peace Games (thanks guys!)

The victorius Rus with their trophy and prize!

A brief run-down of my games;

In round1 I faced a formidable opponent in Tom, playing a rather intimidating Irish warband in the Sacred Ground scenario. In a tough battle that was slipping away, it was around turn 4 when I used Cold Winds on his brick of shooty Hearthguard, promptly followed with Endless Wastes that turned the tide.

In round 2 I faced (for the first time ever would you believe) a very fast moving Norman army helmed by Peter from QNK In "Clash of the Warlords". I played very defensively using The Great Winter a number of times to get myself into a position to counter-attack his Warlord and Hearthguard who were harrasing my right flank. After clearing his Hearthguard with a unit of Warriors I slammed into his Warlord with a side by side taking the win.

In the 3rd round I faced off with Phoenix and his wall of Anglo-Saxons, again, in the Sacred Ground scenario (roll of for scenarios in rnd 3) After weathering the advance of the Saxons I sent my Hearthguard in side by side with my warlord and chewed through 2 of his big units of warriors. It was then I got out of reach in victory points and took the win,

Here's a few more shots of some of the games today. Thanks again to QNK, War and Peace, and in particular Wayne for being a fantastic T.O.

Cheers for stopping by, Happy Gaming!

Last efforts of 2015

Happy new year! Just thought I'd share a few bits and pieces from the last few weeks of 2015.

I'm very excited to now be painting some Infinity models as I want to get more games in and possibly a tournament this year. I find the models fantastically detailed and a pleasure to paint. I purchased this box of Highlanders a few months ago now, but they had been left behind while I pushed ahead to get most of my Pagan Rus stuff for Saga painted. Plus I wasn't too confident in taking on the kilts at the time but after the stripy goodness of the Rus and some practice runs  random warhammer mini's I figured I'd give it a crack.


I'm pretty happy with the kilts, I'll definitely get better as I get more of the figures done. I'm onto the starter box next (have already started the SAS model) so will be practicing my camouflage as well!

 45th Highlander Rifles

 Conner MacLeod, Stephan, Ramirez and Rob Roy!

I placed an order with War and Peace for a unit of Joms and a Character figure for Saga. The latter of which was a gift to my Brother. I'll have to sort a photo out of the finished product with him as I've already given it to him for Christmas. The Joms will fit nicely into my Pagan Rus warband as a warrior unit. They are pretty much complete and have seen a few battles already, I just have to highlight the pants and will put a photo up with my next post. 

This dude looks like a beast! He will be a worthy opponent for any Warlord who dares cross his path!

 We squeezed in a few more practice games of Saga before our little family/friend Christmas Saga Bash. This feast for Crows was a fun and bloody match up with a heap of laughs and crazy dice rolls!

 I would end up leading my Pagan Rus to victory in the end of year tourney in what was a fun day and one of the best Christmas get togethers I can remember.

Cheers all, thanks for the inspiring blog posts you all shared in 2015!

Happy gaming!

4pts Saga: Anglo-Danes vs Pagan Rus

Another game of Saga during the week. Anglo Danes (Phoenix) vs Pagan Rus (me). We rolled up for our scenario and got; Clash at the Ford

Here's a quick breakdown.

Anglo Danes

Warlord

2x4 Hearthguard

2x8 Warriors

Pagan Rus

Warlord

2x4 Hearthguard

2x8 Warriors

Ravens eye view. We had to shorten the table size just a little bit.

The Pagan Rus starting on the East.

The Anglo Danes moving forward from the West.

The first few turns saw the Pagans move very hastily towards the River, the Hearthguard gaining fatigue in the process. As they approached the River the Danes let out a battle cry to Intimidate the Rus.

Once the Ford was crossed the battlefield was taken by The Great Winter and some of the Danes became Frozen

The Danes held their ranks awaiting a charge from the Pagan Rus, using the Saga Dice heavily on Melee abilities in preparation. However the Pagan Rus Warlord suddenly burst forward from the ranks and let his Eastern Anger rain down from the skies! A bold move that would take a total of 6 Anglo Danish Hearthguard to their graves.

Capitalizing on the Rus Warlord being out in the open alone Phoenix charged in with his Warlord and a Hearthguard followed his leader into the fray. The Rus Warlord held his ground and pushed back the Danish menace! By this time the game had slipped away from Phoenix, with not enough turns left to make it over the Ford and both paths to do so heavily camped now with Pagan Rus.

He threw down a challenge to have our Warlords, already brused and battered to clash in a 1v1. 

I of course accepted!

So, once more into the Fray the Pagan Rus Warlord mustered his strength and lurched forward.

With a clash of steel the two went at it furiously... And then...

They struck each other down simultaneously, leaving it all, life and limb on the field of battle...

Victory to the Pagan Rus

Another great game, Phoenix is trying a few different factions to get a feel for which suits his playstyle. Despite the landslide result in this game i think he did really well with the Anglo Danes and was using the Battleboard very well.

Cheers for looking, Happy gaming.

4pts Saga: Welsh vs Pagan Rus

This afternoon I got in a 4 point game of Saga with my eldest son Phoenix. He played the Pagan Rus and I broke out the Welsh! We rolled Clash of the Warlords for the scenario, set up the table and off we went.

The Warbands were as follows;

Welsh

Mounted Warlord

1 Unit of 4 Mounted Hearthguard

1 Unit of 10 Warriors

1 Unit of 6 Warriors

1 Unit of Levy Bowmen

Pagan Rus

Warlord

2 Units of 4 Hearthguard

2 Units of 8 Warriors

Phoenix won initiative so went first, after allocating his Saga dice to the battleboard he rolled his troops up the table their full movement leaving 3 dice in the Combat Pool just in case.

I rolled up next and pushed most of the Welsh forward taking the Mounted Hearthguard up with my Warlord using We Obey. I then activated Answering the Call moving the Warlord the Levy, the smaller unit of Warriors and the Hearthguard again.  This got my Mounted troops within range to hurl javelins at an opposing Hearthguard unit... Due to horrible dice rolling, and the Pagan Rus combat pool being used for defence,  I inflicted no damage, activated them and moved away, gaining fatigue.

He then used the Endless Wastes in his next turn to kill one of my fatigued Hearthguard..

The following few turns had us both advance towards each other. The Welsh hurling javelins and firing arrows where possible but the Pagans kept a few dice in reserve for defence and managed to steadily close on the Welsh forces.

Once the Pagan Rus were upon the Welsh things started to get a little shaky for me. Even though the Welsh warband had the accuracy of The Deadly Strike and indeed had Strength in Numbers, The Pagan Rus Hearthguard were Standing Like Bears and fighting with ferocious tenacity For the Khagan!

The tables were starting to lean in the favor of the Pagan Rus. I decided to send my Warlord to hunt for his counterpart as I was falling behind on Victory Points. Smashing through a half strength Militia unit only to have the Pagan Warlord retreat behind some woods.. The battle on the left flank raged on and my Hearthguard charged withering Pagan Rus Varjazi, wiping the last man out but leaving themselves vulnarbel to some (very) well placed Militia to counter-charge on their turn and send my Hearthguard packing. The fresh Pagan Rus Hearthguard then made easy pickings out of my smaller warrior unit before turning their attention to the remaining Priodaur..

I rushed my Warlord back to the left flank to make one last attempt to grab victory via Victory Points. The Welsh just had to last through one last push from the Pagan Rus Hearthguard. (both of us were down to bugger all Saga Dice at this point..)

The Welsh Warriors withstand the final charge by the Pagan Hearthguard losing just two men. 

With one last chance to get ahead in Victory Points the Warlord calls upon his Priodaur to rally Side by Side and charges into the fray! Risking himself against the relentless Varjazi as he goes. The Priodaur bolstered by Strength in Numbers and an extra attack coming from the Combat pool charged in with their Warlord and the contest was fierce!

When the dust finally settled and the fighting drew to a close. The Warlord and what was left of his faithful Priodaur were left standing bloodied amongst the scattered bodies of the Pagans... Victory... Just.

An extremely close and hard fought victory to the Welsh!!

Final VP Tally

Welsh - 11

Pagan Rus - 8 1/2 

A fantastic game of Saga.. One of the closest games I've had to date and we had a blast.

Cheers for looking, happy gaming.