Dec 21, 2012

It ends today!

The whole warband armed and ready.
To give a proper end to the dwarf warband project for SAGA, I wanted to summarize the all thing in a single post with some group pictures of the all bunch. By the same mean, I'll be ending the blogging for 2012. I am taking two weeks break off the brushes, incidentally to be among my relatives for Christmas, before coming back in 2013 with new projects and a challenge to accomplish.

Warlord, banner and hornblower
Now, before I leave, I wanted to share a few thoughts about this project. The choice dwarves to start with SAGA is obviously odd. My pristine intention was to put together an actual Anglo-Danes warband. But when John and I decided to throw ourselves in the SAGA joy, it seemed to me that I could never go through the all process of purchasing, preparing and so on (you all know the drill). Also I did not have quite the time to decide which figures I would want to order, so I moved on with what I had, and rush through the bushy beards.

Twelve double-handed axes make 3 pts of SAGA hearthguards
I had the design to paint a dwarf warband inspired by images from the Russian folklore and tales since a while. I actually started to put together a few figs last winter, then got caught by other idea and lost motivation. I wanted to have group of figures that would be versatile enough to be used with any kind of rule set, and slowly came to the concept of soft fantasy, of which I have read about here and there. Basically the goal was to create something that would be closer in essence to the flavor of fairy tales and myths, than to the hardcore vision of a teenager of worlds and realms torn by wars led by brutal morons armed with none the less moronic weapons or ninetypercentnaked armored chicks.

The shieldwall. Sixteen shields or 2 pts of SAGA warriors.
The fact that I picked GW LotR figures for this project was only because I found the design, that the Perry brothers gave them, to be quite close to the traditional Rus outfits, especially the helmets and scale armors. To tell the truth, even though I am a definite fan of Tolkien's novels, I never really meant to use these dwarves in their original Middle Earth setting, nor did I ever really mean to play the Lord of the Ring Battle Game. It is only now that they are all painted and ready that I have started to consider this option. Also, because John, after years of painting Napos, has suddenly jumped in his son's collection, and is slowly bringing back to life a quite impressive collection. But, I can tell, I will need to think about it twice; because the concept of Durin’s Folks, is not something I am nearly quite enough familiar with.   

Twelve bows and dozens of arrows makes 1 pt of SAGA levies.
Next projects will be all more historical in essence. Well… probably with a twist, since I am not that much an historical accuracy geek. But, I am already planning ahead to give these dwarves some opponents of their size, an unexpected warband of creatures raised in the shadows of the deepest forests from popular beliefs, myths and beyond...

Finaly for the actual Lor of the Ring fans,
Murin and Drar, the fearsome brothers.
Merry Christmas to all who pass by and see you in 2013!

Dec 14, 2012

Ronin takes up challenge or commits seppuku…


Like 46 others, addicted to all things beginning with the letters P, A, I, N, T, I got myself enrolled in Curt’s growing in fame Analogue Hobbies Painting Challenge. For those who wouldn't have heard about it so far (really?), this third edition of the contest gathers 47 painters, under the famous name of the forty-seventh ronins, with Curt being some sort of daimyo for us all. Or, does he play the part of the Shogun? Well then, the story could end quite bitter for him…

Anyway, each of the challengers has to conform to some rules, the most important being that the challenge goes from December the 20th to March the 20th, and that, not a single figure that we intend to reveal during this period and earn points from, should be adorned with colors until then. Yet, we were strongly advised to list our objectives, roughly evaluate the amount of points expected, and get the lead trimed and primed, before the sword strikes on the 20th.

Now, the challenge is essentially about manufacturing painted figures, rather than crafting jewels of painting skills. I believe Curt’s pristine idea was to take advantage of the freezing canadian winter to get done projects that had been sitting around for too long. So, this is going to be a definite challenge against my tendency to procrastination, rather than against the other 46 ronins. Will I turn out to be the tortoise of the story, at the arrival?

At least, I have been prompt. Getting the lead pile sorted out for the challenge has been quite an excitement by itself. And, after having cure cuts of knife with stains of basecoat, time has come to give some insights of what is to be expected, here in Nowhere, in 2013.

First, three magnificent horsemen from the russian manufacturer Plastic Miniatures. 3 figs / 30 pts

Second, a group of Ancient - Chariot Era figures from Foundry. 48 figs / 240 pts


Third, a SAGA warband of Franks Capetians Crusaders, from Perry Miniatures. 46 figs / 300 pts

Obviously late... Hurry up Canada Post!
Fourth, specially for you John, since you have been asking so badly ;o)... What's left unpainted of my Perry's 1815 Napos. approx. 38 figs / 200 pts


If time allows, but I suspect it won't, I might also sneak a few Darkest Africa civilians and hunters from Foundry. 18 figs / 90 pts

All in all, this is 860 pts of lead that I have under the elbow. To tell the truth, I'll be more than pleased, if I achieve to paint half of this. Wait! Could this shiny parcel, that Santa has just delivered in advance, seal my destiny?


The answer next year...

Dec 6, 2012

The last of their kind

Finaly, here they are, contemplating the empty horizon of their endless fate, the last of their kind, kings of fading realms and lost dreams... Or, to put it straight, the last two figures I'll be painting for the SAGA dwarves project. 

"Axes drawn, watch your back...

One of those could have make a convincing a warlord, but I did not really need an other one, instead of what I thought it would be fun to have my 6 pts war band led by the Anglo-Danes King Harald and his two brothers, from the rule book. Thus, since I wanted to have these two Dwarf Kings painted since ages, here are the two brothers.


...I have the feeling someone is staring at us from behind."
Now, I know that I will suffer from the comparison, but I thought it would be fare to show the picture that inspired me for those last two. Again, it is a magnificent piece of art from the russian illustrator Ivan I. Bilibine, whose work led almost all my choice with the painting of the dwarf  war band. I discovered the artist six years ago and his rather colorful prints have been haunting me ever since. Eventually it had me dive into the russian folklore and discover wonders that I never could quite imagine before. Lets just say for now that my attempt to render something from these corpus of inspiration is a first try, that is to be followed by many other.

Ivan I. Bilibine, an illustration for the tale Vassilissa the Beauty.
But, for the time being, I'll be soon setting sail towards other interests, other kind of being too. The kind of regular human sized figures of an appearance totally compatible with SAGA. But that will be for 2013, for I recklessly enrolled in a painting contest that I have absolutly no chance to win (well, I did it more out of friendship, than for the vanity of honors), whose rules stipulate that brushes have to be kept dry from paint until december the 20th. So, more on that latter, I'll probably post an entry detailing what my modest participation to this challenge will consist of.





Oh, and I soon as I can take descent pictures of the all war band, I think I'll bundle it together on a single page... That is it for now!

Dec 1, 2012

An humble piece of land

I had started November by opening a parcel and unwrapping a rather exciting medieval homestead, so I thought  it would be nice to exhibit the results of this interesting sub-project to kick-start December.

"If you look for the keys, they lay under the stone"
"A simple place, for simple after pillage parties with the lads"
I think I did wrong when assembling the cottage, since some parts did not adjust very well. I might have interverted the opposites side walls, so I had to trim the bottom of each piece a little, in order to have everything on the same level. I can't really imagine this is due to a defect of the kit, since the quality of Renadra products is not something to question here. Anyway, I didn't really worried about the overall look of the finished piece. One  can disguise many under layers of drybrush, and the house surely looks more medieval thus.

"Follow the guide, if you like to see where the peas are grown"
My initial idea was to arrange all elements of the kit together in order to create a terrain feature that could have a significant impact on the battlefield and give a feel of the period. Well, I don't really aim at historical accuracy in gaming, the dwarves I have painted like russians and played like SAGA Anglo-Danes tells it enough. This kind of timber framed house probably apperead in Feudal Europe during the 12th century and so might very look like a snobish avangardist piece of architecture in games meant to be set during the 11th century. Nevertheless, I tried to have it look plausible, if not accurate.

"back of the place"
"Now from a distance"
So, I ended up with this idea of having it surounded with wattlework fences, to protect both cattle and crops from the greed of foxes and boars. Well I can't claim to have invented something here, and previous works of others definitly paved my way, as much as the well known picture from the Limbourg brothers displayed earlier. Through the readings I have had as to understand how a meaningless peasant cottage would have been seated on a nasty piece of earth, I found out what seems obvious to me now, that the most precious belongings of its inhabitant, i.e. vegetables and goats, would have been kept the closest possible from its walls...

"The peas should be ready for next fertility celebration,
 when the lads will be raping enslaved virgins named Ursula"
That's it, I hope you'll enjoy my modest attempt to simulate, both a muddy yard covered with straws, and a tiny backyard adorned with peas and pods about to blossom. Let say that the same snow that started to fall on Montreal the other day has just leave room for Spring to blossom on this humble piece of land...

"The goats are away for the moment"
"But as soon as they are back,  I and the lads
will prepare the blood sausages"
Now, I only wish to order the beasts and serfs it takes to achieve the country-side feeling of this cottage. But wait, something new has just landed on my doormat straight from Volgograd, Russia...

The long coveted Plastic Miniatures Russian Heroes...

Nov 27, 2012

Liebster Blog Award has reach Nowhere!


I am honored to announce that, much to my surprise, I have been made the modest recipient of a "Liebster Blog Award". I have seen lately this award coming and going on various blogs I follow. I found interesting to watch how it was jumping from a blog to an other, but I was far to imagine that a copy of this golden friendly dude would end up on my page. I am not even sure that I really deserve it, considering how recent is my start with the bloging enjoyment. Well, at least Jonas M from A Conflict of Interest things I do, and I owe him a all lot of thanks for that. Hadn't he choose me, surely I would have choose him for his painting style is clearly one of my favorite out there.
"Lovely painted models from Ni. Tchirititch from Canada. Check out those shields!"
Unfortunately I can't award him back, this would make no sense, and would ruin the all purpose of the chain of rewards. So, before I unleash the hunger of the mighty Ouroboros, lets have a careful reading of the rules:

- "Copy and paste" the award on your blog, and talk about it a bit.
- Select for the award your five favourite blogs with less than 200 followers, leaving a comment on one of their post to notify them that they have won the award. You need also to list them in your own blog.
- Enjoy the moment, knowing that you have just made someone's day.
- Of course, there is no obligation to pass the award, but it is a good deed really.

So, here is my short list:

- Dramatic Katastases
Great blog about the LotR, constantly growing hordes of an equal painting quality, great ideas for scratch build and for converting, and the best profile picture I have seen so far!

- Par la bouche de mes canons
The new born blog of a combat hardened wargamer, better known as Archiduc Charles by the Napoleonic Era fanatics. I have some insights of what's coming next... Lets only say you would not want to miss that.

- Sam's Minis World
This one is not a wargaming blog nor is it dedicated to 28mm figures, rather than that, it displays jewels of medieval and fantasy in 20mm, and some superb oldschool Mithrill miniatures of the LotR. I am always moved by the poetry of Sam's approach. Unique to my point of view.

- Toma's Minis World
The best blog I have ever cross dealing with a colorful period that I really enjoy, 17th century warfare in central Europe: polish hussars, Cossacks, Ottomans… Here again not 28mm nor wargaming, but check those conversions on such small pieces. And painting is breath taking. A period I'd like to give a go.

- Wargaming in 28mm and sometimes smaller
If you don't know John de Terre-Neuve already, you have been sleeping under a rock in deep oceans, last couples of years. I am only surprised that he is not awarded already. Well I better hurry before he gets 200 followers…

Now, I am kind of curious to see to who they will turn the favour.

Nov 22, 2012

The first 1000



I have been thinking that each significant step in the history of this very blog should be underlined by something special, like an unrevealed figure from some collection of the past or currently off the painting schedule.

Thus, in order to celebrate the first 1000 of page views at Nowhere to Lead Soldiers, let me present you with this pair of combat hardened voltigeurs of the 1er Léger regiment.


These two skirmishers of the Movember kind are part of a project that has slowly gone out of fuel a couple of years ago. I originally wanted to recreate Bauduin's brigade of the Jerôme Bonaparte Division at Waterloo, with the blurry objective to take the bunch  out for a pick-nick somewhere close to the orchard of Hougoumont. Building this little project on my own, I ran out of mojo, after spending to much time trying to have the black of the eye right in the middle of every single eyes… In the end I only managed to paint half of an half brigade, which make something close to a quarter, if I am correct, or even closer to a "nowhere to lead soldiers" award in the guinness book of failed wargaming projects.


This thing said. These were some great Perry figures, some of their bests, so I have been wise enough to bring them in the new land where I have settled. And the customs control was kind enough to let these guys of francophone ascendences cross the boarder.



Since then, I have been lucky enough to find two people of choice to game with, who among their various qualities, share an unconditional taste for the Napoleonic Era and about everything related to it. John (here) and Iannick (here and there) are both the tireless owners of amazingly numerous Napoleonic armies, and even if they don't really need me to clutter the battle field with my own minis, I sometimes feel tempted to give an other go at the period. The serie of great napoleonic games we have been playing lately has of course to do with this. As much as the great set of rules designed by Curt of Analogue Hobbies we have been trying a few weeks ago (see the AAR here and there) and that we have already swear to play again.


Now, would this occur in the future, I might this time follow their wise pieces of advice: "Don't paint the eyes, you crazy fool", "Don't paint two layers of highlights", "Don't spend more than 40 minutes on a single figure", and "Don't paint the eyes, you crazy fool"…


Many thanks to all who have been following this blog so far. 

Nov 19, 2012

New shields on the blog

Well, the title says it all. At first I thought I'd name these new shielded warriors New kids on the block... But this sounded way too absurd.


It's a relief to show these rough beards, since it took me quite long to finished them. I must say that painting shields directly on the figure, is a completly different story than painting them when they are attached to a flat cardboard. 



In the end this new serie does not come out to bad. Only It has me sweating a little more. On the other hand, these are lead soldiers and after having been caught by the versatility of plastic figures, I start to feel more and more conservative as time goes by.


Now I really like the new patterns I tried with the mix of white, blue and red. Although it was hard to achieve regular curves (still need to improve on this soft spot), it seems to me that both shields looks quite fine, and have this bright eastern touch to them. But, I can't tell the same about my two attempts with the yellow, green and white designs. Not that I do don't like them, rather that they don't stand out as well as I expected. White against yellow doesn't make for sharp contrasts.


I tried to have a special attention on the shield above, since this character is supposed to be some sort of hero/captain/leader, or Drar if we stick to the LotR rulebook... Or is it Murin? Anyway, this one supposedly depicts a flower pattern taken again from a drawing by Bilibin. You guys tell me if you can see how the leaves and petals are arranged together.


Last of the new cool kids. This bearded ten years old has some quite nice red facial hairs, isn't it? He was supposed to carry an ugly GW shield cluttered with carved crows. I thought a kid this age could not carry such an heavy piece of iron, so I went with something more handy for his infant arm.

That's it for the moment. Oh... and, please have a look back to my previous post. I have been adding new pics. Last time, I felt a little puny with the double-handed axes. May we keep this place colourful and friendly!






Nov 4, 2012

A rabbit, a dwarf and an humble piece of land.

I have been fighting on different fronts lately, slowly building up a new gameboard for SAGA skirmishes, and painting a new batch of Anglo-Dvergish, at the same time. And, hum... you know what they say about chasing two rabbits... This ended up with two rather unproductive weeks which I found quite frustrating. And an Halloween party hangover did not really help. I was only kept motivated by the decisive progress I made on the preparation of a short SAGA campaign to be played between Skraelings and Vikings for the domination of Vinland. And the enthousiastic correspondance that John and I had while creating and editing the scenarios. But more on that later...

More double-handed axes...
Some new dwarf warriors shall finally see light during the week. Meanwhile, here is a group of dwarves armed with double-handed axes, that I painted few weeks ago, but did not found the opportunity to publish a descent picture of them. As this blog is also a mean to keep record of all units I paint, here they are. I might field them as two points of Anglo-Dvergish hearthguards.



Now,  my primary goal with the dwarves is really close to be achieved. Thus, I have thought my next move should be completly devoted to terrain building. And fortunatly, the postman rang my doorbell at the end of the week, right on time to support my efforts toward this new objective. So here is a preview of what is to come next: an awfully cool slice of perryness.

Perry Miniatures, Medieval Cottage.

I'll try to arrange the wattlework fences in some sort of medieval way, and I might cut it down into pieces to round things a little. By the way, am I the only one who find some sort of ressemblance between these really handy Renadra fences and the equally famous artwork of the Limbourg's Brothers ?

February, Les Très Riches Heures du Duc de Berry.

I might try to stick to their colour schemes...

Oct 20, 2012

A banner for their fame


Alkonost by Ivan I. Bilibine,
an illustration for the tale
Vassilissa the Beauty.
Today's entry is dedicated to Alkonost, a famous deity of the slavic mythology. Half-woman half-bird, Alkonost flies from the sky to deliver the messages of gods, specificaly the good news. Her twin sister Sirin, who brings the bad news, is slightly less worshiped...


Alkonost peddles the fame of the heroes around the world of men. She is thus a reccuring character of the russian tales. At least in the versions illustrated by Ivan I. Bilibine (1876-1942), a sheer genius who issued some of the best pieces of art ever inspired by popular tales and folklore, where her presence personifies the narrative.

As the colour pattern of the dwarves is primarily inspired by the russian folklore, and despite the fact that I call them Anglo-Dvergish now, which is completly misleading, I thought I had to stick with this idea and try to craft an heraldry inspired by russian tales, for the warlord. Alkonost quickly springs to my mind, for she seemed convenient enough for my drawing skills.

Now the result might look a little cartoonish, although I do think it also holds some early medieval touch. I must say, I had a really relaxing time at painting this small piece. I somehow felt like a monk of the so called Dark Ages and it worthed doing this only for the time travel.

Not as good as Bilibine, but I am happy with the result.
Although I have made a mistake. Does someone see it?

I really needed someone of trust to take care of such a precious handmade banner. Hence the reason I have adorned the bearer with a grey beard. He is probably the uncle of the warlord, the most trusted brother of his mother, the kind of tough nut who survived many feud in the past...


Two things have gone a little wrong. First of all, an hair of my brush got lost in the middle of the flag, and I could not remove it. I think one can really see it on this picture.


Second of all, for some reason my matt varnish has turned into a gloss varnish, so the mantle looks a little shiny... I probably did not shake the varnish enough... I'll have to come back to it later.

Out on a party with some friends.


Oct 12, 2012

One SAGA, two SAGA, three SAGA... and more to come!


Here are some pictures (not so good, despite my photoshop's attempts) and an account of the SAGA afternoon, that John and I spend last saturday. With this report, I thought it would be interesting to comment and keep track of the mistakes we made and how we could have play better. At least from my own point of view.

FIRST SAGA EVER:

- Set-up:

As we are rather pragmatic people, we choosed to play the first scenario of the Rulebook for this first game: The Warlords. John took the initiative on the dice roll, so I had to deploy first. When it came to the Hearthguards, John decided to have both of them flanking my line from the left and the right, with the Ulfhednars ambushed in a bush of trees, really close to my Geburs, on the left flank.

- Turn 1:

John started by activating the Ulfhednar, and moving them towards the Geburs, but they could not come close enough for melee. He then activated his Hirdmen on the other side of the table and move them towards the closest group of Ceorls, but they were too intimidated, by the amount of filth spilled on them by the foe, to continue. Finally, He moved one group of Bondi towards the center of the battlefield.


The threat of the Ulfhednars seemed terrifying for the Geburs, so I decided to shoot at them without waiting a minute. The Geburs achieved to kill two out of four, which looked like a good start. I then choosed to activate the Huscarls held in reserve behind their Warlord twice. They engaged melee but had to suffer from one Fatigue. Even reduced to an half, the wolf skins still get to throw 8 attack dice and I guess I had bad defense dice, for the clash of axes ended in a bloody draw: No one survived.

On the right flank, one ceorl was dispatched to stop the Hirdmen.


Here I think the Ulfhednars could have run to engage directly melee with the Geburs. Although they would probably have been interupted. Also I think we went wrong here with the Heimdall ability, that the Ulfhednars used during melee. We increased their armor value instead of reducing it. This did not really affected the outcome anyway, as the double-handed axes of the Huscarls balanced it.

- Turn 2:

At this early point, we both had lost our best men, which left us with one SAGA die less each, for the order phase. For one of my unite was a levie, the Anglo-Dvergish clould throw only four SAGA dice. I quickly learned how priceless is each one.

John's Warlord and Bondi on the move to the battlefield.

This time John activated his Hirdmen twice on the right flank, and managed to engage melee, despite the repeated intimidation of the Ceorls. The latter payed quickly for their insults, by loosing four brothers in this first clash. I recall they had formed a shieldwall with great haste, but this was not quite enough to stop the fierce charge of the Hirdmen. Again Heimdal was hammering hard with them.


The remnant of our warbands rushed to the center of the field, and I hoped to be close enough to the coming Bondi as to be able to fire a new round of arrows the next turn.


- Turn 3:

John promptly pursue his move towards the center. Is it at that point that I suddenly remembered that the goal of this game was not to be the first to reach the center, but rather to be the first to kill the opposing warlord...? I am not quite sure, yet it was sure that the Geburs were still not close enough to shoot their volley. Scarce SAGA dice, and the obligation to device some trick to counter the Hirdmen on the right, did not allow for faster movements.


And trick there was, John has quite an advantage, as he was not gripped by a unit of levie and could benefit from one more SAGA die than me, which he uses to give rest to the Hirdmen, before they charge again. Confident, they surely were after a first victory, but self confidence is not a SAGA ability, and they had to suffer from a better prepared defense this time. Having spare a die on the Noble Lineage ability, I could change an horse for the axe I needed to bring my Ceorls Hard as Iron. This combined with one extra defence die and half of my dice spared for defence purpose was enough to repulse temporarly the invader and force a hirdman to bend on his knees.



- Turn 4:

The Viking's Bondi were still regrouping to form a shieldwall between a bush of trees and a rocky hill. They were finally at range and the brave archers (you will soon know why I call them brave) could shoot their arrows for a second time. Helas, John used the cover of the trees quite cleverly, and only 8 Geburs could unload their bow. Obviously not enough, because not a single arrow reached its target.


Then again the fight focuses on the right flank, where things were turning into a separate dog fight. For this turn I was fortunate enough to get an Helmet on my roll of two extra SAGA dice which allowed to add a shieldwall ability to a Hard as Iron and the extra defence dice. Things were getting hairy and two more hirdmen bit the dust. The loss of one more Ceorl was nothing compare to the pride of repulsing these nasty pillagers again.

The last of the Hirdmen...

- Turn 5:

Well, this time I caught myself in ubris, as I decided to get rid of them for good. With only one Hirdman remaining, the odds seemed to side with me. This was forgetting to fast that my power lay in my defense abilities, in fact, with the sacrifice of his last brave, John killed the last three of the Ceorls, and leave on this side of the field, nothing but a puddle of blood.

...happened to be the best!

Thus nothing could distract us anymore from the action in the center of the battlefield. Here John had manage to bring steadily all his Bondi near my Warlord, in a fashion that really shows he had a clearer sense than me of the goal of this battle.


To repell the threat of the closest group of Bondi, I decided to threw my Geburs and the warlord against them. A good opportunity to try a more complicated type of melee. I recall it took us time to figure who should benefit from the Fatigue of one and an other. The Geburs fought with great bravery, loosing barely one man while four bondi fell to the ground. I remember I was quite happy with this result and the vision of John's warriors fleeing away...


Yet, I have come to think that this turn was the turn of all mistakes and cost me a victory in the end. First of all, I should not have pursue the isolate Hirdman on the right flank, but rather wait for him to attack me one last time and hammer him for good. This would have left me the possibility to move my other Ceorl towards the center to cover the right flank of my warlord. Finally, this would have allowed to form a strong defence line by retreating a little the Geburs, thus building a wall of men to shelter my warlord behind. In the last turn the use of Intimidation and some good defense abilities would probably have won the day.

Those heavely armed Ceorls...
...won't do anything to save their lord.

- Turn 6:

Either way, I only did not do this. Hence John did not hesitate a single second to rush on my warlord accompanied by a bunch of bondi. I can not really remember if the dice throw was tied, only one thing is for sure: none of the Geburs has jumped forth to save the life of his warlord, and the Ceorls were only to far.


John won by K.O.

Congrats John!

SECOND SAGA GAME:

- Set-up:

For the second game we picked the fourth scenario: The Challenge. We agreed to switch sides and John took command of the attroupment of short legs that I came to name the Anglo-Dvergish. Thus, I was leading the Vikings. The initiative dice throw was a draw, so, as the scenario states, John took the initiative, for he is way more bearded than me...


- Turn 1:

There they were, daring one and an other in the middle of the battleground, bolts of lights against burning flames in their eyes. We tested again for initiative and I took the opportunity to exhibit my muscles first. The Viking warlord ran at the Anglo-Dvergish, vigourous as a crazed bull, and after having inflicted four wounds, thanks to heimdal and an outrageous luck, he then called the ability of Thor to hit again. But nothing came out from this second assault.

John counterattacked swiftly with a combined movement of his warlord and a group of Ceorls, that ran from the line to rescue their chieftain. Yet after a quite sad dice throw, his warlord was compelled to move back, with two more wounds to his chest. Thus, he has allready reached six wounds out of twelve, at the end of first turn.


- Turn 2:

Following John's example, I spared enough activation dice as to draw the Ulfhednars from the line, and give chase to the faltering Anglo-Dvergish warlord. The foe tried to intimidate them, but they were filled with anger and only followed their thirst for blood. The hunt turned into a kill when my warlord joined the Ulfhednars for the feast. After adding all combat abilities, I had nothing less than twenty-six attack dice to throw, and, hum... The outcome was obvious. This was no longer a duel between two competing warlords, but rather a murder by stabbing.


Well to bad dvergers! You loose again!

Congrats myself!

This time at least, I did not miss the objective of the game. What we have completly miss though, was to use the Fatigue markers to slow down the moves... My, it would have changed everything! A costly lesson I would say...

THIRD SAGA GAME:

- Set-up:

Somewhere in New-Foundland, or Vineland as they call it, the Vikings have settled a camp, and raised fences around their common house. Night is falling and a group of Viking foragers is on the walk back to the camp. Yet, hiding between bushes and mist, an unknown threat does not see these wanderers to fit well in the landscape.


There won't be to much detail about this last game. It was the last we had in the afternoon, and we were getting a little tired. I had especially a quite abusive use of the Odin ability from the viking's battleboard. You know what? One can not use this one against javeliners since their shooting is considered to be a part of their movement. I tried out the Valhalla ability against a group of skraelings and could not achieve to wipe them from the table, instead, my Bondis were the ones to be wiped out.

John and I both agreed to say we should try this one again, with a fresher mind. And I am starting to have idea for a serie of scenarios for a quick campaign. So, lets not spoil this one now.