Wild Welshmen vs. Vicious Vikings

"Dewch i roi cynnig arni os ydych yn credu eich bod yn ddigon caled!"*

As May 8th was International Viking Day (yes, it's a real thing), it was decreed that the club meeting that day should be given over to all things Viking!** RAAAHHHHRRRRR!!!! So in the spirit of the day I selflessly put myself at the disposal of Viking types to have a go at with my longtime Welsh SAGA project which had finally come to fruition after a sluggish mojo-less period of little to no painting (Refer to a previous post for more detail!). 

Anyway, after issuing the challenge, Ian KH (of This 28mm Life) accepted and agreed to meet me on the field of battle. This turned out to be a lovely little 3' x 3' battle-board which was more like a mini-diorama, made from mdf and polystyrene, covered in plaster and a generous coating of flock. It even featured a little pond at the foot of a cliff.

We were both very rusty on the game mechanics and not familiar with our battleboards, so our first game was a little hit and miss. Still, I can't complain, as my new Welsh warband turned out victorious after my Warlord killed his! I found the benefit of the Welsh Holy Ground ability, which reduces the enemy's move to the next lowest distance ie. L to M, M to S, etc. When the Vikings bowled up expecting to contact one of my units, a judicious use of Holy Ground stops them short and allows my unit to piff pointy sticks at them and bugger off next turn!

The second game didn't go quite as well, with Ian wise to my tricks, though I did manage to destroy one of his Bondi units. When it came to the crunch, this time he dealt the killing blow to my warlord, though it was touch and go for a while.

Melee weapon armed warriors

Bow armed levy

Game #1: Ian's Vikings start on the hill over the pool

My Welsh start from the opposite corner

Welsh warriors and levy advance

Levy in action. They did quite well: they remained on the board throughout both games and inflicted more casualties than they took.

One unit of Warriors advances in the open, while the other lurks in the woods. Warlord and Hearthguard standby.

Overenthusiastic Warriors get charged by Viking Warlord and his Hearthguard...

...but find themselves caught short by the judicious use of Holy Ground!

Vikings regroup after their nasty surprise.

With Hearthguards taking each other out, it's down to a mano-a-mano clash between Warloards with the Welsh victorious!

Game #2 started with a straight out advance up the board.

Warlord, Hearthguard and one warrior unit strike at the Vikings' Levy and Warriors...

...while the other Welsh Warrior unit goes on a flanking march through the woods using Children of the Land, which allows me to ignore terrain restrictions.

My Warlord and chums take out the Viking Hearthgurd

Now to repeat last game's ending!

The Warriors in the woods take out some Vikings with javelins...

...before going on into melee and making short work of the Vikings!

The Viking Levy's flank now lies directly in their path!

The Vikings look like they're in trouble.

Warlord vs. Warlord again!

Whoops!

*"Come and have a go if you think you're hard enough!" in Welsh according to Google Translate!

**(Rather disappointingly, we were the only SAGA game that night, with only one other table joining in the Viking-ness of the night playing a FoG game. Everyone else seemed to have missed the memo...)