At long last some wargaming!

So gaming buddy Chris came over last weekend and we did some gaming! I have been on a big Saga kick recently, so we played a couple of games of that. My armies are still being developed, so there are a few substitutions in here.

The first game we played called on the players to contest a pair of river crossings. I like the core scenarios in the Saga rulebook, which tend to lead to Dark-Ages-appropriate self-sacrifice.

Anglo-Danish huscarls prepare to defend the bridge crossing. Briefly. 

The Viking berserkers prepare a suicide attack on the ford. 

Anglo-Danish warriors prepare to lay down their lives heroically. 

Here are some more general photos of some of the units. I painted a lot of these many years ago (over 10 years, in fact, when I lived in Durham), so be merciful.

Vikings: Foundry, Gripping Beast and Essex

Berserkers: Gripping Beast and Foundry

Levy archers: Gripping Beast and (I think) Essex.

Warriors: Gripping Beast (the bald guy is one of their plastics) and ... Harlequin?

The next game saw the Anglo-Danes trying to protect a convoy of valuable things, including a group of civilians, a flock of sheep and a bishop. I didn't have treasure bases made, so I had to stick some of my loose models to bases I had lying around. I should make some permanent ones. Time to buy more civilians and livestock! I do like civilians and livestock.

Chris used solid blocking tactics that kept the objectives shielded, swinging his line around to obstruct my shot at them. I wonder how this would have played out with more mounted troops on the board. I was a bit perplexed that the English chose to save the civilians and the sheep while leaving the bishop and his massive chest of gold to be captured. Very humane people, the English.

The bishop, one of his lads and some, er, holy relics. 

The Anglo-Danish forces form a defensive line in front of the refugees. Please
excuse the ruins of Osgiliath down front -- scenery is also still in development.

The centre of the field becomes a swirling melee, but the English defensive
line is holding. A group of Viking warriors break through on the right to attack
the bishop and his retinue, but it isn't enough. 

The line holds at great cost and the women and children escape. Also the sheep.
Figures: Essex, Black Tree(?), Gripping Beast, Perry, Irregular, I dunno.

I am turning into a pretty big fan of this game. Funnily enough, for a big dark ages guy, I don't have a lot of appropriate terrain, so I need to get on that.

We also played a quick game of Bolt Action, which was good fun. I didn't get any photos. I like the way the system handles pinning and combat stress, although I do not usually have any time for tournament-competitive systems. But the mechanic looks pretty robust, and I am looking forward to giving it another try. There are good inexpensive Red Army plastics out there ... and it's been a while since I've got to do a little UUURRRAAAAAHHHH!

Anyway, that's what I've been up to lately. Not a lot, but hopefully I'll have some good stuff to report when I go to Dragonmeet on Saturday. I'll be manning the Isles of Darkness booth for part of it, but am hoping to make some of the panels and do a little shopping.