Battle Report: Odin's Ravens- Into the Lair of the Beasts

[Easy E]

Today we are going to be taking a closer look at these rules for recreating Viking Sagas on the tabletop.  We are going to be using a Norse hero versus a group of game-controlled monsters.  We will also be using one of the Mythic scenarios from the rules. 

You can find those rules here: https://www.wargamevault.com/browse.php?keywords=blood+and+spectacles&x=0&y=0&author=&artist=&pfrom=&pto=

Erik Greybeard was attempting to build up his legend.  He was planning an expedition across the ocean, and to do that he needed to gather followers.  The Jarl's were not taking him seriously and he knew he needed to prove himself.  Therefore, he gathered his kin and out to face the horrors in the Shieldlands above Geatland.  He had heard rumors of an Ogre and his kin band terrorizing the people of the area.  Erik was determined to track them down.

Forces

Vikings:
Erik Greybeard - Hero - Chain Mail, Shield Hand Weapon - Patron: Heimdal- Disengage

Gunnar Erikson - Second- Spear, Armor, Shield

8 Kin - Soldiers- Shield, Mix of spears and hand weapons

These will be my Victrix models. 



Monsters:
Ogre - Monster- Chain Mail, Two-Handed weapon

Winter Wolf - Beast- Shield, Fast

7 Black Elves - Creatures- Hand weapons, shields, armor

1 Wolf- Creature- Fast

I will be using my Heroquest models to represent the Monsters!



Mission:

For this game, we will be using the Into the Lair of the Beasts scenario found in the main rulebook.  We will be using 1 MU = 1 inch on a 36 x 36 MU board. 

We also rolled up two complications!  The first is Long Shadows and the second was Bad Omens!  Let's see if I recall them during game play.  These make it easier for the Hide action and more likely for things to fail Fear tests. 

The Vikings are trying to get into the Lair of the Beasts.

Set-up:
We set-up terrain per the rules in the main rulebook.  However, we also needed 1 terrain piece to act as the entrance to the monster's lair!  This time I used two frozen ponds to represent the entrance, similar to the lair for Grendel's Mother. 



You can read the details and results of the battle report here:
https://bloodandspectacles.blogspot.com/2025/06/battle-report-odins-ravens-into-lair-of.html

You can find the rules on the Blood and Spectacles Wargame Vault page Here:
https://www.wargamevault.com/browse.php?keywords=blood+and+spectacles&x=0&y=0&author=&artist=&pfrom=&pto=

[mikedemana]

Looking forward to reading the battle report! Sounds like fun... 

Mike Demana

[Easy E]

I hope you liked it Mike!

[Frugalmax]

Nice work! The battlefield looks good- convincingly wintry (wintery?). I have those same trees (I think) from a package of Christmas decorations. I stripped the fake snow off mine to make them fit better with my pre-existing terrain, but they look great with the snow over that white surface!

As an aside: for years I had only a few store bought trees because what I could find (model railroad/woodland scenics stuff) was pretty expensive on a per-tree basis. Then a few years back I saw those Christmas decorations at Michael's art supply store on a post-holiday discount (it was something like 18 trees of various sizes for $12-15) and managed to get an entire forest of bigger, far more stable trees for what it would have cost to get just a few of the others- good find!

[Rick]

Easy E - whilst I like the fact that you do good reviews and I do appreciate you sharing this, could you perhaps stop saying 'we' when you actually mean 'I'? It doesn't come across well, it seems a bit weaselly and patronising.
Apart from that one minor niggle (and it really is a minor niggle, despite how it looks) I liked the review/battle report - what are the rules mechanics like?

[anevilgiraffe]

It doesn't come across well, it seems a bit weaselly and patronising.

it is a bit kids TV... 

[Easy E]

Thanks for the feedback. 

I guess it is a habit as most of my games are not solo, but this one explicitly is!