4pts Saga: Anglo Saxons vs Anglo-Danish

We managed to squeeze in another closely run 4 point game of Saga yesterday. Good action and some hate from the Dice Gods!

I played my newly finished Saxons with my son Phoenix once again taking control of the Anglo-Danes. 

We rolled up for a scenario and got; Sacred Ground!

Victory Points accumulate at the end of each turn for each of your figures inside any of the three terrain pieces.

I won the roll and deployed first with the warband configurations as follows

Anglo-Danish

Warlord

2x4 Hearthguard

2x8 Warriors

Anglo Saxons

Warlord

2x10 Warriors

1x8 Warriors

1x4 Warriors

 Ravens eye view of the Battlefield. The terrain placer in the middle is not counted as a wood, we had to use a tree to hold it in it's place as the wind was blowing viciously this day.. A good omen for the Danes according to the lad.

 In the first two turns the Saxon Thegns used a combination of double move activations coupled with No Surrender to march into the centre terrain area.

 The Anglo-Danes on the East table edge manage to get into the woods before their Saxon enemies.

 As The Anglo-Dane Warlord and his Hearthguard reach the edge of the Centre terrain piece the Saxon Thegns charge forward while maintaining ranks!

 Being devout Defenders of the Realm and standing Shoulder to Shoulder, the Thegns manage to eliminate a whole unit of Hearthguard sending the Dane Warlord himself into a swift retreat the next turn!

 Along the East edge the 8 man unit of Saxon Thegns slowly advance towards the woods ahead.

 The Anglo-Danish Warlord barks orders from behind the ranks and his Warriors swiftly charge into battle. They run head on into the Saxon Thegns Shieldwall. The Saxon unit count after the initial fight with the Hearthguard had left them depleted and under strength however the men rallied with their Stout Hearts and the unit fought as though they were at full strength of 10+.

 The Anglo-Danes were once again repelled from the centre terrain piece but managed to take out 2 more Thegns for their troubles. 

As the turns rolled on the Saxon Warlord along with his 4 warriors managed to sit unopposed in the Western Woods. Phoenix realised he needed to eliminate them or at the very least get into one of the terrain areas to keep up with victory points.

 The battle for the Eastern Woods continued with both units going toe to toe each turn and both contributing nicely to their VP tallies. 

 On the 6th turn the Anglo-Danish Hearthguard pressed into the Western Woods to eradicate the Warriors and hopefully the cowardly Warlord with them!

In a fierce melee both units suffered two casualties, the Danish Hearthguard were pushed back but gathered themselves and charge in again! 

Defeat! Two pairs of Snake-Eyes vs double 6! The Anglo-Danish Hearthguard were miraculously slaughtered by the much inferior Saxon Warriors with what is easily the wildest dice rolling I've seen in some time!

That last melee took the (not so vicious anymore) wind out of the Anglo-Danish sails and there was no hope now to catch up on Victory Points...

VICTORY TO THE ANGLO SAXONS!

Cheers for looking, Happy gaming.

Saga Army Showcase: Anglo Saxons

To continue on with my current enthusiasm for Saga (and after finishing my last warband), here is 6 Points worth of Anglo Saxons that i finished today ready to roll out and form up on the battlefield! I took about 4 points (with a little bit extra) worth of these guys from my Impetus collection but to round it out to 6 points without thinning the impetus army too much, I painted up another point of warriors (8 minis) and then another 2 figures in mail. So basically i've ended up with 1 Point of levy and 5 points of Warriors. However I've done it in a fashion were there is a good amount of mail wearing warriors that could easily be separated for a hearthuard unit or two. 

Shieldwall forming up!

 Warlord Stand.

 1 point of Levy armed with spear and shield.

 1 fresh point of Warriors

 Another point of Warriors

 The full 6 points in all its glory!

Most of the miniatures are Crusader Miniatures, they probably suit around 800AD onwards (to around 1066) so middle to late and could easily pull double duty as Anglo-Danes aswell... Mind I'd probably throw in some Dane Axes and possibly a kite shield or two if I went that route.

Cheers for looking, Happy gaming.

First Game of 2015! Saxon Dispute.

First game of 2015! Today my Daughter and I rolled out some Saxon's to fight a small territory battle somewhere in England around 920AD.

We used some home made rules which are a bit of a mash up of Kings of War; Viking Age, and Basic Impetus.

We lined up two relatively even armies and had at it. Once the exchange of missile fire had ended, and the opportunity to charge in presented itself, the two Shieldwalls clashed together in a massive roar! After a few turns going toe to toe, my left flank was busted and I was done for..It was a hard fought and bloody victory for Sienna.

An Awesome game to start of the New Year. I'll be going through my hobby area in the next day or so and decide on what projects are on for 2015. I have a bit of on idea on a few but will need to see what i've got sitting around to give me a head start.

Saxons!, On to Brunanburh!

I've finally managed to get the Anglo Saxon army finished (although i still may add a couple more units!) for our Impetus and Piquet game's coming up this Easter.  The figures are mainly Crusader with a few other manufacturers in there as well. I will probably throw together a camp and a command stand (or two) with the left over figures that I have. The Army (which has been scaled down) represents the forces of King Athelstan and his brother Edmund who fought a combined Norse-Celtic army led by Olaf Guthfrithson at the Battle of Brunanburh in 937.

I do have to say cheers to Matt from Storm and Conquest, I picked up the start of this army from him and he also helped get a few more units together. Go check out his Blog for more historical goodness!

Saxon WIP for Impetus

Today I got a bit more work done on my Saxon army for Impetus.
33 more figures have been mounted onto their 120x60mm bases and have had Pumice applied for texture. Over the weekend I'll add  a few coats of paint,flock and tufts to these guys, which will bring my army nearer to completion. I think once these 3 are complete I'll only have about 4 or 5 units to go!

These 3 units will all be part of the Mercian force led by Athelstan's brother, Edmund.

Photos from the Blackberry.

 Close up of a couple of Saxon Ceorls

 

 

Mixed Thegn and Ceorl Unit.

 

 

 

 

Most of the Figures from this batch are from Crusader Miniatures which are all great sculpts, and a treat to paint.

 Sorry about the photo quality, my phone does its best though in the absence of my Wife's camera.

Saxon Update!

Sorry for no updates in the last few months, I've been hooked on Magic: The Gathering and have been spending most of my spare time down at the local card shop. I've enjoyed my break from all the hobby stuff but am refreshed and keen to keep at it and finish this years goals.

Here's another unit of Saxon Thegn's and two units of skirmishers, all three are based for Impetus. Most of the painting is now complete on the Saxon project and I've just got to get through the basing.
Sorry for the poor quality pics, my camera is flat so I used the mobile phone. I just wanted to give some kind of update as it has been a while!

The Two Skirmisher units here were painted by Matt from over at the Storm and Conquest blog.

 

I'm also currently basing up my 15mm 3rd Crusade project as both sides are fully painted aswell.

My son Phoenix and I will be playing a small trial game of Kings of War this afternoon on the kitchen table, so I'll try and grab a few shots of the battle and give a few thoughts on the rules too.