A Saga Worth Telling ! The final stand of the Danes

So it came down to this - The Danes had fallen back to their ships and on a cold morning on the coast of England either way a great tale would be told and great deeds would be achieved.

The Vikings having lost men on the retreat formed up on the hill - depleted but not at this stage undefeated - Greg the Mad, Peter Ironside and Jon The Devil stood together watching as the Saxons and Normans moved onto the field.

This battle would be hard to win but there was still honor to be had and legends to be made.

Across from the assembled Danes , Wal the Silent, Jon the Avenger ( Son of Ian the Bold) and Niel Righteous, had formed up and where deep in council as Jon the Avenger laid out the plan of attack.

Spears and Shield would be shattered this day and blood spilled and the ravens will have allot to feast on this day!

The Viking Camp - Having wintered it has been set up as an established point.

The Armies deploy the Vikings taking the hill and preparing for a hard fight.

The Battle for the Gates - Rebellion in 1088

So this past Saturday saw the third battle in our series of linked games, the Danes seeing the mess the kingdom had fallen into and with the Anglo-Saxon's rising up and the Normans in all sorts of trouble, decided to prosecute their claims to the crown.

The Vikings then brought their full force to the fore in attempt to prosecute their claims and where confronted with the Anglo-Norman army before the gates of a local Burgh seeking to achieve a quick victory the Danes launched into attack - but it was not to be and the Saxon shield-wall and Norman cavalry reversed the drama of the previous battles- with some very smug Saxon Lords grinning as the Vikings fell short...... (only battle they have won so far so I think they are a bit too optimistic:P )

I have decided to add a little bit more character to this unfolding saga as well :)

Dramatis Personae: 
 I used the random system in Dux Britanniarum to come up with the reputations and simple backgrounds.

Some times you are the Insect and then other times you are the Magnifying Glass...... A Hail Ceaser AAR

This Saturday past was the rematch on last weekends dark ages game and what now looks like expanding out to a few more linked games depending on the groups views.

In the time between the last game and this one I had also begun the work to improve the movement trays my lads are on and I will look to have a post about that up in the coming days.  I've slowed down the work a bit as I start to really dive into the study and keep the balance between that and work and a happy wife and hobby.

That being said I continue to move closer to completion to the viking project with two commands of 6 units each done, and planning for the final command in place (ie sourcing of figures and styles etc)

So Saturdays game saw me again face Wal with his Norman cavalry but this time I was on the left of our line and Peter was C-in-C again holding the right and Niel was in the center.  As it would have it we faced off against our usual suspects, Wal vs me, Greg vs Niel, and Ian vs Peter.

And lets just say Wal had another bad day of it with the cavalry facing the vikings with thier heat seeking axe's.

Anyway here are the pictures and comments from this last battle.

The Raid - A Dux Brittaniarum AAR

On Saturday Darren invited me over to his new home for a game of Dux and as we are about to embark on a campaign down at Berwick over the coming Wednesdays we thought we should get another practice game in before the kick off.

We played a raid on a settlement and used played saxon's v saxons as a test for some of the potential battles that may come up - in this case one side was activiating on the british cards (of course) and then bonuses where only applied when Boar Sutied cards where played etc.

I have designs to build a Late Roman -Romano British Army for Dux and Beyond but for now ill use my vikings as stand in raiders - because I can.

I really really like the Musketeer Miniatures range so watch this space when it comes to late romans! 

The quiet Village that has recently been taken over by a Saxon lord and his men.

1088 and all that

 

So after much work and waiting and work and waiting I finally got to deploy my Vikings and boy was it fun!  

Peter had set up a simple scenario of the basis of the rebellion in 1088 and a battle actually happening with some Anglo-saxons rising up and some danish forces coming along to help.

So it came down to Greg, Ian, Peter, Wal, Niel and Myself to duke it out,  Niel, Peter and Myself took to role of the rebels with me proudly deploying my vikings and Greg, Wal and Ian taking on the role of the Normans and the loyal Saxons.

The Forces Muster for the field of Slaughter - Anlgo-Saxon and Danish Allies on the left and the Normans and Anglo Saxon on the right

Arcadia Quest Kickstarter

 

Arcadia Quest

So this is the second Kickstarter I've supported and the 1st game I've considered backing - Coolmini or not have form on delivering if a bit late and the production qualities look fantastic-  This one looks and feels like a simpler version of decent that would be appeal to all types of players - simple rule mechanisims but allot of the fun with really great looking models.

There are a few days to go and the backer rewards are all ready huge so I strongly recommend you check it out and if so inclined get in on the action!

Resources for Understanding the Vikings and the Anglo Saxons and maybe even gaming the period !

One day Ill have room like this for war-gaming in just you watch !

I had allot of great feedback from the blog post I put up about English civil war resources so  I have sat down and put together a list of books that I have read so far on the topic as well as few documentaries I would suggest you watch.

As in all of these things when you put a list together you may find that not everyone agrees with the books your choose and since history can and has been influenced by the socioeconomic and political climate in which the author wrote the book, it is always worthwhile cultivating a range of sources.

Also this is no means an exhaustive list and I find myself always finding new books to look over and read and I find myself extending the library - even now I'm looking at two new books to get and read through......

Conquest in April and Bolt Action event

Right as a change up from the Dark Ages stuff..... well for a little more to come for sure :P ....... I'm thinking about attending the Bolt Action event at conquest and finishing off my Fallschrimjager Platoon. 

So I have a few to go.... well about 30 models and might be stretching the expectations a little and I need to finish one last unit of Vikings I have on the table before I launch into it.

That being said with a challenge it might not get done at all so I think it is a worthwhile endeavor so I will give it a go for sure.

The Horde of Models Minus 6 that I need larger bases for

 So look out for some WW2 stuff over the next month and half and then on the flip side of that the last of the vikings i have in the lead pile and then....... we are into Anglo Saxons and maybe if I'm good and Secret Weapon Miniatures are on track my terrain boards !

Dux Britanniarum conversion to larger battles ...... well my attempt anyway

So an I mentioned a few posts back I have been thinking about how I would like to change some of the elements of Dux and working in the elements of Chain of Command I really like to make a game that is allot more interesting than Warhammer Historical but also has allot of tactical challenges.

I admit from the beginning there is not real originality here - I am just taking elements from two games I like to make a game I would like to play -  I like Hail Ceaser still but this is also about having a game that does not require allot of space - Ive been playing this on the dining table so far but that also has a little more texture to the game.