Koyote's SAGA Britons, Irish,Late Romans, and Saxons

[Dean]

Oh man, you are really setting the bar with those markers, very cool, and I will think about how to emulate you shamelessly 

[syrinx0]

"and 3D printed base placards."

Damn.  Brilliant.

[richardpate]

Very well done and the figures really “speak to the viewer” great job!
 ”

[Koyote]

On Tuesday, I took my Romans out for a spin. In preparation for an upcoming AoV + AoI Saga tournament in Langley, British Columbia, my buddy (playing Normans) and I played a scenario from the tournament packet. 

The scenario is essentially a six turn version of the Ambush scenario from the Book of Battles.

I brought my shiny new (but still unpainted) Foedus markers with me.  However, as luck would have it, I didn't roll even one 'rare' Saga die result until Turn 6. And since I 'went second,' I didn't have a single opportunity to use Foedus all game. Clearly the painting gods and dice gods had conspired against me.

You can see in the upper right corner of the photo where the Foedus markers sat, pouting and unused, for the entire game.

Despite the poor Saga die rolls, it was a good game and I managed to eke out victory against a veteran player. This was only my third or fourth game with the Romans, and despite my victory, it's clear that I still a have a lot to learn about the Roman battle board.

The photo below was shot during Turn 3.  At this point, the Romans and Normans each have one objective marker (the round mdf markers) and the last remaining baggage model stands there nervously, between the two warbands. 

The baggage marker would make it another 12 inches towards the opposite short table edge before a unit of Romans Warriors were able to destroy it and capture its objective marker. This marker was subsequently lost when the Norman archers shot down the last surviving Roman Warrior from that unit. At the bottom of Turn 5, my Roman levy recovered the lost marker and held onto it for the rest of the game.

[syrinx0]

Appease the dice gods and get painting. 

[Koyote]

Here's another not-so-great photo of my Romans arrayed for battle.  I added white flower 'tufts' to all my cav, the manubalista, and about 3/4 of my infantry models in each unit. It's hard to tell from this photo, but the splashes of white on the bases breaks up the dark(ish) bases and matches the models' shields and tunics.



Last night we played another scenario from the Langley tournament packet, Holy Ground. A hill was placed in the center and each player placed one piece of terrain within the central 'L' corridor as shown below. VPs were earned solely by conquest points, which a player earned each turn based upon the number of models entirely on the three terrain pieces.  Thus, all that mattered was getting units into the terrain and holding out as long as possible.




Since most of the fighting was to occur in and around the central terrain pieces, I opted to field by 4 HG on foot. I also deployed poorly, causing me to move a few units laterally, rather than directly towards the terrain.

On Turn 2 the Norman archers fired a volley at my foot HG and by using Superiority the archers inflicted a total of four wounds. I flubbed the saves and all 4 HG were removed from the board, splashing extra fatigue on 4 nearby units. Next, a 4-pack of Norman HG circled the Woods and using Pursuit and Charge slammed into my 10 Warrior bowmen who WERE hiding behind the unit of now annihilated unit of HG.  Eight of my ten archers were slain, but the scrappy archers managed to wipe out all four HG in return.  Another 4-pack of Norman HG hit my 12 Levy, but by closing ranks and using Scuta I lost only one Levy and dragged down one Norman HG.

At the start of my Turn 2 things were looking pretty bad for the Romans. The Normans held the woods and the hill and two of my units were out of the game, either literally or figuratively. Nevertheless, I soldiered on and thanks to some clever planning and a lot of luck, I was able finish off the last 3 Norman HG with my Foedrati, and then charge my Levy into the woods, mauling the Norman archers and forcing them to flee from the woods.

On Turn 3 the Norman warlord tried to avenge his fallen HG, but my Foederati fought like maniacs and simply refused to die.  This resulted in only two dead Foerati and an exhausted Norman Warlord. 

On my Turn 3 my Levy finished off the Norman Warlord with their Dark Age lawn darts (Plumbate) and my berserk Foederati charged up the hill and murdered a unit of Norman crossbowmen, who were at full strength but encumbered by 2 fatigue due to death of the Norman Warlord and my previous use of Foedus (Yes, I FINALLY managed to roll a rare).  The three un-murdered crossbowmen fled off the hill.

At that point my opponent called it quits. At that point my 10 Levy held the woods. A unit of 10 Roman Warriors held the field to the right of the hill, and between my crazed Foederati and my manubalista, the few remaining Norman Warriors on the hill were in trouble. It was clear that the Normans simply didn't have enough models left to catch up to the Romans in VPs.

The takeaway from this game is to not let early setbacks cause you to give up.

[Dean]

Wow, yep that didn't end the way I thought it was going after reading the first turn, well played sir! 

[Koyote]

On Saturday, I brought my Romans to the West Coast Viking's Lindisfarne in Langley Tournament, which was a 3 round AoV + AoI tournament.



First round I drew Jomsvikings in a variant of the Ambush scenario. My opponent was a very good player.  It was a relatively low casualty game, so the deciding factor were the baggage objectives. At game’s end, the Romans held 2 of the 3 objectives, earning the Roman a victory.

Second round was a mirror match, in that my opponent also played Roman’s. The scenario was a variant of the old King of the Hill scenario. A hill was placed in the center of the table and one terrain piece to either side. Conquest points were earned by models in the terrain at the end of the opponent’s turn. It wasn’t an especially high scoring game, but at game’s end my Romans came out on top.

Third round I drew a very good Hun player who caused an earlier opponent to concede on Turn 2. Yikes!.  We played a variant of Change of Plans. The twist was that at the end of the game, all models the weren’t on their opponent’s side of the table counted as destroyed.

I castled up on the right, in a denied flank deployment, which kept my opponent’s unit of Mercs out of the game entirely.



The Huns went first and hit my melee Warriors pretty hard, but I this left the Huns' two largest units of comp bow cav directly in front of my lines on my Turn 1. I hit back, but I rolled all commons on my Saga dice and my opponent’s dice were hot, so my counter attack didn’t land as hard as I had hoped. What followed was 3 more turns of tough play before time ran out. Due to the rule that killed all models not in the enemy half of the table, both sides lost quite a few models. At the end of the game, the only models left alive were 11 Roman Levy and 4 Hun Warriors. Roman victory!

With a record of 3-0, the Romans took first place. I also took home the trophy for best painted. My Hun opponent took home the trophy for most massacre points. My buddy won second place with his Normans, and another American won the Wooden Spoon with Vikings.

Below are the final standings based upon rank, warband, and W/L/D.

Final Standings:
1. Romans 3-0
2. Normans 2-0-1
3. Scots 2-1
4. Huns 2-1
5.Last Romans 2-1
6. Jomsvikings 1-1-1
7. Welsh 1-1-1
8. Picts 1-1-1
9. Romans 1-2
10. Scots 0-1-2
11. Visigoth 0-3
12. Vikings 0-3

[Koyote]

“Foedus” means treaty, alliance, or pact between states. The AoI Roman’s’ Foedus ability inflicts an extra fatigue on enemy units that shoot or engage in melee. As a Saga Old-Timer, the ability’s name and effect reminds me of the Saga v1 Moor ability, The Moor’s Gold. Accordingly, when casting about for ideas for Foedus markers I landed on the idea of Roman representatives using promises of friendship and/or bribes of gold and grain to bribe negotiate a pact with certain elements of my opponent’s faction, causing disunity and disloyalty within their ranks.
...

I was up unitl midnight the night before the tournament putting the finishing touches on my Foedus markers.  I think they turned out pretty good.  They were certainly fun to paint.




Since I didn't get a chance to post these before the tournament, here are my cataphract HG.  I also brought 4 HG on foot to swap out for' King of the Hill' type scenario, since I knew that the objective was to get models into terrain. 






Lastly, since I won't be able to use beloved Foederati at Adepticon (no Mercs allowed this year), I freshened up the paint on another unit of 9 Warriors and added a brand new vexillium.

[syrinx0]

Damn, that is one fantastic looking group of Romans! I love cataphract in general and yours are wonderful - especially the stripes.

[.:Gunslinger:.]

Brilliant work all around, special mention for these cataphracts, love the variation in materials of the armor.

[Grumpy Gnome]

Beautiful work mate! 👍

[Basementboy]

Beautiful work!

[Old Hob]

These are all wonderful. Beautiful brushwork.

[Koyote]

A sizeable unit of Warrior archers is must for Age of Invasions Roman warband. Except for the unit leader, the models are from the Victrix's Early Imperial Roman Archer kit. This makes them appear a bit anachronistic, but I want these models to represent some of the 3,000 Isaurians that joined Belisarius in the Gothic War.  Since the Isaurians are people from south-central Asia Minor, the idea is that the use of the eastern helms, armor, and garb would give these models and eastern feel.  And since they are Warriors and not mere levy, I wanted them to look a bit more elite than what you typically find in Late Roman archer kits.

I also have in my collection a unit of typical Late Roman archers, which I painted a few years ago. Truth be told, I'm torn between which unit to bring to Adepticon.

I continue to have mixed feelings about Warrior archers. The models turned out okay, but without me there to describe to the viewer the mix of forces arrayed for the Gothic campaign, they seem out of place and a bit anachronistic.

A few weeks ago, YouTube's algorithm suggested to me a video about the staff sling. When the video mentioned that it was used by Romans, particularly in sieges, this got me thinking. The Victrix Late Roman archer kit includes some wonderful staff slinger models AND the theme for my Roman display board is going to be the Siege of Napes.  Also, this will be a great opportunity to incorporate some unusual and very fun, period appropriate models into my warband.

I equipped each with a helm, buckler, and sword, to hint at their status as Warriors rather then mere Levy.

If I decide to replace my "Eastern" Roman archers with staff slingers in my Late Roman warband, those archers will likely find a home in another one of my warbands when Studio Tomahawk releases its Age of Caesar rules.



I picked up these transfers for their bucklers.