Saga Club (Return to)

I have not played Saga in almost four years, but given good reports about the second edition, and being aware of an active play group, I decided I would rather play frequent, short, small miniature games, than not play at all.  Plus, good way to meet new players, try different venues, etc.

Black Tree Design Saxons, prepped and glued to squares of cereal box cardboard for painting.

I've owned the above Black Tree Design figures for over four years and never got around to painting them.  I had not sold them because I always though they were nice sculpts and you never know.  In the intervening four years I did, however, sell quite a few painted Saga warband figures (all my Welsh), and others I used for Saga were rebased on multibases for use in Late Roman/Arthurian games (early Saxons and Irish).  This cleared the runway for the Black Tree figures to finally be painted. I remembered to take progress photos this time...

Figure primed with thin coat of gesso. I really like this pose.

Figures block painted but prior to a wash with a matte medium/water/black paint mixture.

Some figures after applying the wash.

More figures after applying the wash.

Still more figures after applying the wash. The draco figure originally had a cast banner pole. I trimmed that off, drilled out his hand, added a steel wire pole, and topped it with a plastic draco from an old Wargames Factory sprue.

Completed figures out on parade on my gaming table.

Figures in the rear are the Eureka Miniatures' "Beowulf Retinue" set. I painted those years ago but touched them up (as well as 8 Crusader Miniatures' Saxon axemen) to get this warband to over 50 figures.

With the new Saxon warband painted up, I set a game with Pete and we met on Friday after work. I used the Viking battleboard and ran six points of all warriors in five units. Pete ran Pagan Rus, with three warrior groups and a eight-figure hearthguard. 

Pete spent the first two or three turns backpedaling or keeping his distance while I crawled across the board.

Finally there was some action in the center which his Rus got the better of.

To be honest, up to turn 4 out of 5 I was starting to feel that the game was a bit rubbish and maybe I had made a mistake in trying to get back in. We'd been playing for almost an hour and the majority of figures had not been in combat yet. But then on the last turn I rolled two rare symbols and got to play the Ragnarok ability, which gave all my units a free charge activation, so there was melees all around. I was already losing at this point (somewhat badly, at that), but some decent attacks made it respectable.

I need to remember to take more of these low-angle shots as they look much better. The "table overview" shots in these skirmish games look rather bland...

We'll see where this all leads but I have low expectations. It was simply nice to meet someone for a quick in-person game after work.