Just In Time For Halloween

Earlier this year, I ordered up a set of SAGA Revenants. I enjoy SAGA, and the thought of a bit of a fantasy expansion to that Dark Ages game seemed pretty compelling. Well, the figures are by Gripping Beast. Now, I'm not a fan of Gripping Beast sculpts, but I was willing to give them another try. 

The set came with 2 groups of 24 zombies (each group a unique set of sculpts), 2 spawning points and a Necromancer figure. Well, I still don't like Gripping Beast (sloppy sculpts), but having painted half a full set, I do now have A LOT of zombie figures. And the Necromancer figure is actually pretty good. Might use it in Frostgrave. Certainly everything is usable in D&D.

I also painted up a Gale Force 9 limited run figure from their Princes of the Apocalypse line.

This is a really nice miniature, which I'm using as an angel NPC.

We had our Halloween D&D game this past week, and happily, the girls came in costume. Come on, guys, you gotta pick up your game!

Possibly the best photo ever taken. Seana plays a male Dwarf cleric, and nailed her costume with a custom-painted war hammer.

'Til next time.

Four-player SAGA

So, a number of players at our local club pre-ordered the SAGA rules from Gripping Beast...and rulesets all got delivered two weeks ago. Good excuse for a club game!

We played the four-player scenario out of these new Dark Ages rules last Tuesday night. Dave (on the left) played Welsh. Terry and Mark (in the middle) shared the Saxon command. Scott (cursing his dice on the right) played Normans. I took Viking duties again.

We each played 4-point warbands. I was the only one to take Thralls (low quality troops) and this left me with a dice deficit from the beginning of the game. Not sure if I'd do this again, though the Thralls we able to do a good job whittling down Scott's Normans while shielding my Bondi warriors.

In the end, Dave eked out a slim victory with 58 points to Scott's 57. Terry/Mark scored in the mid-40s, and I brought up the rear with just 36. But at least my Warlord survived...which was more than some of the other guys could say!

The SAGA system continues to impress, and we'll be very happy when the campaign rules come out (rumored for the next release in the line).

Still plugging away on those Khandish horsemen models from GW's LotR line.

'Til next time.

Games This Week

I was lucky to have two really fun learning games this past week.

First off, Elliot and I had a Warmachine game over at the Edmonton Wargame Group club last Tuesday night. Neither of us had played for about two months, so it was great to shake the cobwebs out, and I got to try some of my new Menoth units.

Map setup.

Part of my starting lineup...I sent these cavalry around for a left hook, while my Daughters of the Flame did the right hook.

I was able to quickly envelop Elliot's Khador brick.

But as it turned out, I just fed units into Elliot's death grinder all evening long.

A terrible loss, but I learned a lot about playing the new Exemplar Errants unit I've recently finished up.

Then, on Saturday afternoon, Dave Coltman came over for a game of SAGA. This is the new Dark Ages skirmish rule set out from Gripping Beast in the UK.

Holy crap, is it good. The rules look nice too.

We played a scenario from the book. I took Viking attackers (6-point army), while Dave played the Anglo-Dane defenders (5-point army). This was the initial terrain set up...with my longship just beaching at the base of the village.

The Vikings debark!

On my left flank, I'm threatening one of the victory buildings with some Thrall bow fire.

My Bondi spearmen break through the market to get at Dave's Huscarls.

I cleared out the first two victory buildings pretty fast, then closed in and encircled the last one. By the end of the game, I tabled Dave's army, except for his Warlord. And honestly...that was a lot of fun.

SAGA just came out this week, and it is an innovative and very fun system that relies on the players planning out their turns based on the rolls of special "saga" dice which are then applied to army-centric battle boards. Essentially, the planning and application of these dice dictate what you can do in a given turn. You can also save dice on your battle board to counter your opponent's actions in his upcoming turn...so foresight is rewarded.

I haven't been this jazzed about a new game since Disposable Heroes came out from Iron Ivan Games six or so years ago. Can't wait to play again...I think this system will see a lot of play out at the Tuesday night club.

'Til next time.