Ragnarr's Revenge

I saved the best for last of the three BrianCon battles. This of course is hard to say when all of the gaming were in and of themselves awesome, every one of them! To conclude the day we broke out Pig Wars and kicked it into Viking gear once again. I'll let the photos do most of the talking here, suffice it to say we had six full-sized, fully painted warbands on the tabletop as well as some amazingly cool terrain and scenery. I pasted the text in places below that details the overall scenario of the battle, special rules used in conjunction with the stockade, and each individual player's goals and initiatives. Brian did a great job on these, and even though it was technically three versus three, players on the same side quickly found that their own goals ran in direct opposition with their allies. Onward!



No Good Deed Goes Unpunished:

After getting into a feud with the clansmen of Erik the Vain, who Sigmar accidentally drowned while trying to baptize, Sigmar is on the lam and has requested Christian charity and succor from the tenants of an Irish rath settlement. Sigmar might not have been entirely honest with his hosts as to the size of the band pursuing him, but it’s too late now, as Erik’s clansmen have surrounded the fortified farm. One of Sigmar’s men went for help and Sigmar’s clansmen are may be on their way.

A fairly empty stockade, as most are out working in the fields...

Irish scouts call everyone to action as they take refuge in the fort

CHARGE! Ragnarr leads his band of berserkers and warriors to the walls

Ragnarr Ketilsson's Mission:

At last. Your people are awakening to the danger the men of the cross pose to your people and their ways. The murderer Ignolsson must be punished with death. Leiknarr is weak to even accept an offer of cattle for his son’s life and place in Vahalla. Imagine how the Gods must laugh at a death by drowning while bowing to a god of peace. You will not suffer such a fate! You’ll die a warriors death, but not before earning as much glory as you can.

Forces: one 140 point Viking band – must have berserkers.

Goals:

Personally slay more enemy than any other leader on the table

Kill Sigmar Ignolsson

Kill any priests you encounter

End the game with more warriors + cattle or slaves than you started with.

Brothers of Ragnarr and their Missions:

Skógi Ketilsson

With Erik’s “untimely” death, you are next in line to inherit Leiknarr’s wealth. It would be a shame if the old man died on the battlefield today but even if he doesn’t, your time will come soon enough. Of course, you must do your part to restore the clan’s honor or your men will abandon you. It would be a shame to simply kill Ignolsson when you could extract a reasonable price in cattle from him. Vengeance is fleeting, but wealth lasts. That unstable lunatic Ragnarr would also be trouble…

Force: one 140 point Viking band – may include berserkers

Goals:

Survive the encounter

Extract a blood price of not less than 30 head of cattle from Ignolsson

End the game with more strength than Ragnar

End the game with more warriors + cattle or slaves than you started with.

Leiknarr Ketilsson

Pah! What a mess. Serves your idiot son right for defying the old gods and hanging around with that defiler Ignolsson. Still, honor demands that your son be avenged or that Ignolsson pay an appropriate price. Fortunately you have friends in the Thing that were agreeable to the price you suggested. Once he is desperate enough, he’ll find a way to pay the price… or he’ll be dead. Either way is good for you.

Forces: one 140 point Viking band – may have berserkers.

Goals:

Survive the encounter

Kill Sigmar Ignolsson or extract a blood price of not less than 40 head of cattle.

End the game with more warriors + cattle or slaves than you started with.

Scenario Special Rules (Pig Wars system):

Scaling the stockade

To climb the stockade walls, a model draws a card and consults the table below.

Unarmored 8 or better to successful scale the wall

Partially armored 10 or better to successfully scale the wall

Fully armored Q or better to successfully scale the wall

A model may be helped over the wall by up to two friends. In this case, draw a card for each man and choose the best one. A model may not use a shield during a turn spent climbing or helping another model climb. The suit of the card drawn determines how the model lands. On a red card the model lands on his feet and is ready for action. On a spade, the model has fallen clumsily and is stunned. Place the model prone. Anyone attacking the model treats it as a rear attack until the prone model’s next turn during which he may stand and act normally. If the card is a club, the model suffers will suffer a wound if it falls the entire height of the wall. If being helped over the wall and he model failed his climb test, he will instead fall on his helpers, cushioning his fall, but stunning all of them as above. If the model is climbing the wall at a place where there the fall would not be great, they are stunned instead. If the model’s card exactly equals the required card, they are caught halfway and are perched precariously atop the wall until next turn. Next turn draw a new card to determine how the model lands. A model may not scale the wall at any location that could be defended by an enemy model.

Hard Cover

A model with at least 2/3 concealment behind an obstacle that would provide hard cover and stop a missile may save against missile attacks at two levels higher than normal.

Ragnarr and his elite berserkers

I was playing Ragnarr's band, which is why they got top billing, and I made the most direct attack on the fort, but that was just a small part of the overall battle. There was action occurring all over the table! Getting into the fort was hard enough, but more Irish were coming out of woods and attacking our flanks and rear. It was very exciting to say the least.

My goal was to get in there and crack some skulls, very straight forward, but Andy (my ally) was trying to parlay first in order to get some cattle for the loss of his son. That fell through, and he joined the fray after all. Ken, the last brother, was embroiled in no-man's land between the archers and slingers on the stockade walls and the Irish coming out of the woods.

At one point, the Irish in the fort who had been sheltering Sigmar (Brian's warband) decided it was no longer worth it, and Bob's warband (Sigmar) was in dire straits indeed, and didn't have an ally in sight! Tom played the Irish coming out of the woods, and his morale checks didn't fair too well. I guess I wouldn't either if I returned from hunting to see my home absolutely swamped with berserkers!

Ragnarr's dead filled the woods

The remaining agendas and goals for the rest of the players:

Brion Mac Domhnaill

You have offered Sigmar protection and can hardly go back on your word to protect a fellow believer from the pagans. However, it seems your guest has been less than forthright about his predicament. Your lookouts have spotted Sigmars men approaching. Hopefully you can hold out until they arrive.

Forces: one 140 point band, a small group of non-combatants (all unarmored militia with improvised weapons), and 20 cattle and assorted livestock.

Goals:

Survive the encounter

Protect the non-combatants and if needed, see them to safety

Preserve your livestock

Preserve Sigmar

The Irish start the game in their rath. They may bring any and all livestock into the rath or have it hobbled and hidden in a wooded area. Anyone moving within 6” of the woods will hear mooing and if they enter the cattle will be revealed. You may also choose to hide any of your men you wish in any of the wooded areas. They will be revealed only if an enemy enters the woods or when you choose to place them on-table at the start of any of your moves (required to move or fight with these models). Most of the non-combatants were sent away, but a small number remain inside the fort. You may arrange any of the provided barrels, wagons, etc. in any way you choose.

There is a souterrain under the floor of the larger hut with a passage out of the rath that exits at the large bush on the north side of the mound. Four models per turn may move from the rath to the exit.

Sigmar Ingolsson

Damn Erik and his ridiculous vanity, demanding to be baptized in his armor. Now his father is demanding 50 head of cattle to satisfy the blood price. A ridiculous sum, but the pagans take their feuds seriously. You have 20 cattle, but not 50! Hopefully your men will reach this place in time…

Forces: one 140 point Viking band. Christian – may not take berserkers

Goals:

Survive the encounter

Either kill the leaders of the Ketilsson clan or negotiate a new blood price that you can afford.

If the end is nigh, find a priest to receive last rites

Sigmar starts the game in the rath with the Irish. He is accompanied by up to 4 of his followers, which can include no more than 2 veterans and cannot include the standard bearer. The standard bearer and the rest of the followers will enter from a pre-determined table edge on turn one.

Gunnvaldr Ingolsson

You have followed your brother’s lead and accepted the Christian faith, but with less gusto and more trepidation than your brother. This episode with Erik seems like a message from the Old Gods and many of your men agree. Still the bonds of clan must be satisfied and destroying the Ketilsson clan strength would improve your own position. Perhaps if they can be reduced in strength, a bargain can be struck for your brother’s honor. Of course, if your brother were to die in battle you would be left to lead the clan…

Forces: one 140 point Viking band. Christian – may not take berserkers

Goals:

Survive the encounter

Either kill the leaders of the Ketilsson clan or negotiate a new blood price that you can afford.

End the game with more strength than your brother and with the Ignolssons stronger than the Ketilssons

Enter from a pre-determined table edge on turn one.

Weekend o' BrianCon

Well this last Saturday, July the 17th was our inaugural "Briancon". It was a bittersweet affair, and no, the photo above is not the con itself. Anybody who has been around has seen me mention my buddy Brian and his blog, Repple Depple. Well it was that Brian who was the focus, and the reason being is every gamer's lament...he's moving! Losing a regular member of any gaming group is always a bummer, especially now that we're all getting, ahem, older. It's one of those things that happens though, and although we're very happy for him and his family in their new venture, we're also incredibly bummed they're leaving.


We kicked off the festivities at ten in the morning with a rousing game of Field of Battle set in France, early World War II. I'll do up a separate post for each game we played of course, but let me just say I loved, loved, loved Field of Battle. As is the norm for the historical group, the table was huge, the minis were beautiful, the terrain was lavish...the works.


The game was broken up by an awesome lunch of grilled sausages, dips, and other great foods. Brian's wife was super cool and was in full-on "cook for gamers" mode allowing us to roll dice without a food care in the world. The one and only bonus of a family moving away is they don't want to take all the food with them, so they were cleaning out the cabinets, and what a better food-wreckin' crew than a gaggle of gamers?


Check Your 6! was next in the line up, and finally I got to play the "jet age". Having flown, err, played with just 1930's and 40's era planes, these jets were crazy. They were super fast, maneuverable, and had missiles (that never seemed to hit anything). The scenario took place in the 1970's between Egyptian and Libyan air forces.


To round out the day we played a large game of Pig Wars, with each of the six players fielding their own warband of Vikings or Irish, and havign their very own agendas. Even though everyone thought they knew what side they were on, special circumstances might have said otherwise. This was a very inspirational game and although I said I was "done" with project viking, I could see myself painting up "just a few" more guys to fill in some gaps in the collection. Also, Brian had some great terrain set up with a central palisade on a hill complete with stone cottages and a couple of fire pits.


Speaking of fire pits (ha, nice segue!) we had another scrumptious meal for dinner. Again Brian's wife was a dervish of the dish in the kitchen, taking care of all our gastrointestinal needs. Some leftover sausages from lunch made it into the fray along with grilled chicken, these great little shrimp/bacon/pepper thingies, beans, cole slaw, and kinds of other fixings. To round it all off, homemade key lime pie and peach cobbler with whipped cream provided the perfect, final send off.

All in all, it was a great day full of everything that makes this hobby great; gaming, food, and friends. Like I said, I took lots of pics of each of the games, so there will be more to come. If you live in or around the Winchester, VA area and looking for a game or know of any solid historical groups nearby let me know and I'll pass it along to Señor Repple Depple.

Proper Batreps Up

As the title states, gaming buddy Brian over at Repple Depple has posted game reports and high quality photos of the last couple of historical games we threw together. They are of the Pig Wars game, and the Flames of War game I reported on here not too long ago. Since Brian was running both scenarios, he actually has accurate information concerning both games, imagine that. He was also using a real camera (not a cell phone!) so his eye candy is rockin'.


FoW: Back to the Eastern Front, Summer 1944


Pigs War: Flotsam and Jetsam

Flotsam and Jetsam: Pig Wars Batrep

The coast is not so lovely this time of year...

Last Friday saw another "big ole" game of Pig Wars. This time, I am proud to say, I showed up with two complete warbands totaling 39 models altogether. I really had to shoehorn one of those warbands in points-wise to make it fit, so most of the figs were militia quality. We had five total players, two represented Northern Vikings (the Dubh Linn'ers), two represented rival Southern Vikings (the Wexfordians), and the last group represented the shipwrecked survivors from the Church and the band Irishmen sent out to rescue said survivors.


Tom's Wexford Vikings arrive and head straight to the Irish rescuers


Bob's Wexford Vikings spy the makeshift shore camp and set phasers to pillage


On the opposite side of the table were mine and Ken's two warbands, the Northern Vikings. We came in together along the shoreline and split up after that. There wasn't really a plan, just go whack the other guys in the head and take their stuff, pretty standard.

As you can see from these pics, the table really makes the game. I love the touch of all the broken up timbers washed upon the shoreline. Having all painted armies kind of goes without saying too, but it's a standing 'rule' (for lack of a better word) around these parts anyway. Also, as is my usual M.O., I get the luxury of posting cheap camera phone pics quickly and being completely fuzzy on any semblance of historical context or scenario details.


My Dubh Linn Vikings scavenge coastal wreckage looking for loot


The shipwrecked survivors erect a makeshift fortification


As the Vikings approach, the Monks close ranks


First contact with the survivors was made by my warband. Up top, by the makeshift rampart you can see the devastating charge of my Beserker, felling two defenders before they were able to react. This of course exhausted him, and he collapsed from fatigue the next turn.

Meanwhile, Bob's warband was closing in fast on the other side of the encampment. Had we been allies, it would have been a nice pincer strategy. As it was, he was just one more headache to worry about. There was no love lost between the rival bands, and while I had men engaged with the shipwrecked, he charged in as well, attacking both the embattled groups. It really all came down to morale checks (and subsequent rallying) as well as that all-important initiative draw. Had a couple of these gone differently in the last turn or two, my warband's dismal performance may have been able to be redeemed by the end of the game.


Our homemade saga cards add that extra little bit of flair to the game, and this time I made sure my warband had plenty of build points to pick up three of these. Every warband also got a bonus saga card in the beginning, so I was starting out with a whopping four cards. Looking at these cards you can get a good feel for the enhancements they bring to the table.

Swift of Foot: Allows one model to move as if they're encumberance rating was one level 'lighter'. Basically a mailed/shielded model could move as if they were mail only, etc. I gave this card to my single Berserker model who was mail only. So he was now moving as if he was unarmored, which was great, a whopping 12" per turn for the big guy.

Great Coat: This is basically an heirloom level mail hauberk. I immediately gave it to my warband's leader. Since the figure has a pronounced, ahem, codpiece, which I painted a bright, vivid gold, he didn't have an heirloom hauberk, but a vintage codpiece.

War Leader: You get to give your high hold card to anyone needing it within LOS, pretty good stuff. I never actually used this during the game, but had to give it to my leader model as well, if for no other reason than he was, duh, the warband leader after all.

Heimdall's Horn: This one affects the standard bearer of the warband, of which is a compulsory troop selection anyway. It always you an automatic rally of a routing unit, which given the nature of all our troops running away all game long, is very handy. Unfortunately, my standard bearer bit the dust pretty early in the game (my own mistake) and I never got to use this card. Ironically, I think I failed a morale test and routed because my standard died!

Overall I'm not going to say anything I haven't already; the game was fun, the terrain was beautiful, the scenario was inventive, and the company enjoyable. All in all, a Friday night well spent. There were legitimate digital cameras in attendance (with mini-tripods), so I suspect a proper batrep may show up on Repple Depple at one point.

Here Comes the (Anglican) Bride

As promised yesterday with my Viking warband post, here are some teaser pics of the latest Pig Wars game we played. The pic above hardly does it justice, but this was one of the best looking tables I've ever had the pleasure of gaming on. Throw in the fact that there were also about a hundred and twenty fully painted models, well, it was pretty sweet.


The wagon train hauling the bride price


The bride's wagon trade


An exchange of bride and bride price at the river


Viking mercs hope to make sure things don't go according to plan...

Here's the Official Batrep