SAGA Anglo-Danes

I started this project in 2012... I just finished off the final unit of eight warriors, and can now present my 6-point Anglo-Dane SAGA force!

Anglo-Danes

Warlord

Hearthguard (GB Plastic)

Warriors (GB plastics)

More warriors

Latest warriors, finally!

Levy archers (Conquest plastics)

The Harrying of the North- Saga report

A Saga battle- Clash of the warlords- 6 points Normans vs Anglo-Danes.

Northern England, late tenth century. Ealdorman Godwin's Anglo-Danes stand against the Norman invaders... learn more about the Harrying of the North here.

The club's light-narrative Saga campaign continues. My Anglo-Danes face a bow-heavy Norman force, led by William the Bastard himself.

Anglo-Danes

• Ealdorman Godwin
• 2 Hearthguard (Dane axes)
• 3 Warriors
• 1 Levy

Normans

• William the Bastard
• 1 Hearthguard (mounted)
• 4 Warriors (bows)

William's army is allowed to have an excess of bows. Quelle fromage! My only chance was to advance swiftly across the open ground and close with him before his arrows did too much damage.

Setup- The Normans cower in a corner.

The Norman occupation force- Warriors in front, Hearthguard and William behind.

Turns1-3: His Massed Volleys destroy my levy and most of my warriors. Storm of Arrows is very effective for William the Bastard. I try to pile fatigue on him but without too much success.

The Levy have been destroyed by ranged fire.

The Anglo-Danes come closer...

...closer...

...while the arrows take their toll.

Turn 4: A depleted and angry pair of my warriors sacrifice themselves against the right of the Norman line, but without destroying a unit. My overstrength Hearthguard damage (but don't destroy) the adjacent bows, but are cut down to a man by a devestating counter-charge from William and his mounted Knights.

The Hearthguard hack into the Norman line...

...but are cut down by a mounted charge.

Turn 5: The warlords face off- Godwin's mighty axe unhorses William for victory!

William (far right)- honour demands he charge Godwin!

But horses and axes don't mix...

This was close- the ranged abilities of the Normans had me on the ropes, and the only chance I had to take William out in hand-to-hand combat paid off.

Getting in early for International Tabletop Day!

Club games: Omega Protocol, and Saga battle report

So, I made it down to the monthly Newcastle Legion Club meet, and got two games in.

First, I played Shannon in Level 7- Omega Protocol. This is a gun-crawl following on from the events of Level 7- Escape, a smaller-scale tile-based survival horror game. L7-Escape is about an underground lab where human-alien hybrid experiments have gone wrong, and you have to escape. L7-Omega Protocol is the spec-ops team going back in to mop up.

My three commandos of Team Disco* advanced through the first level, finding both the required intel and the exit lift. I mowed down more than a few Greys, and took a few scratches in return, but nothing too serious. I'm sure we overlooked a few rules.

Team Disco preps a napalm grenade for a target-rich environment

The aliens are of the 'Grey' variety, and the sculpts are suitably creepy. The commandos are hard-SF full body armour types, and all the minis and components are decent. The dice are nice simple hit-miss custom dice in black or red, depending on damage potential.

Gameplay was surprisingly good. Commando action points are spent and then passed to the alien player- the more you do, the more he can do and vice versa. Each soldier comes with extra kit options to boost their abilities. Each turn you select a 'Stance' for each soldier- firing, advancing, or running- which doesn't limit what you can do, as much as how well you do it. For example, if I sprint I can still shoot but not very well, and if I shoot I can't move so far, etc.

Next, it was time to get back into Saga with a 4-point game against DC. We're kicking off a light narrative campaign. The border was being threatened by Vikings, and Godwin's Anglo-Danes were protecting the bridges. Here are DC's photos from his perspective (and my only one):

Vikings start with an aggressive charge over the right bridge

Berserkers and Warlord approach my Warriors and Godwin!

My levy are covering the middle...

...and wheel neatly out to pepper the Berserkers. Survivors are mopped up by the Warriors.

Viking Warlord now charges the Anglo-Dane warriors...

...and almost kills them, but now faces down Godwin.

A clash of steel!

Godwin wins! Viking Warriors come to avenge their chief...

...but Godwin sends them to Valhalla.

And on the other flank, I charge the bridge and push the Vikings back.

A risky charge by the proud Viking warlord didn't pay off, and my warlord (the newly-christened Ealdorman Godwin) chopped off many arrogant Viking heads. I managed to clear the field of my opponent, huzzah! Sharp eyes will note my force is a mix of my Vikings and Anglo-Danes, including my newly-painted Viking warriors. More of them in my next post. DC's Vikings are metal Gripping Beast figures.

* yes, really.

Anglo-Danish Warlord

I struggled with his cloak, but got to an acceptable standard at the end. I like the shield colours more than I thought I would. (I just noticed the blue speck on his neck, dammit).

Here he is with his hearthguard, and with his Viking opposite number.

Men with big choppers- painted

Here are my finished four Anglo-Danish hearthguard:

Nothing terribly fancy with the shields, but the limited palette and identical patterns really tie these guys together. I think the green-stuffed shield bosses work nicely. I decided to paint the shield rims as leather hide (rather than metal), and repainted my other (round-shield) hearthguard similarly.

Here are all my Anglo-Danish hearthguard together:

Coming soon:

Men with big choppers WIP

Or, back to the Dark Ages.

I'm eagerly anticipating Gripping Beast's plastic generic Dark Age warriors following this week's announcement.

I was inspired enough to do a little work on my Anglo-Danish hearthguard for Saga. The bodies and heads are from GB Saxon Thegns, and the Dane axes are from the GB Viking Bondi set. I used some Conquest Norman shields and green-stuffed a gubbin in the middle of the three shields without.

Green stuffed shield boss

Army Painter Leather Brown spray

Some progress!

In other news, last week's river experiment continues; hopefully pics in a week or so. I got in two games of X-Wing at the club today (on a Cor-Sec starfield), I got utterly smashed for my newbie-ness. The Emperor will be displeased...

My TIE fighters immediately before getting vaped...

I've also gone in for the Sails of Glory KickStarter, and am rereading my Patrick O'Brian's. I am with child for this game to come out.