Christmas Day Tussle - Kings of War

    It's almost a tradition for my daughter, Katie and I to have a game on Christmas Day or Boxing Day. This year it was Christmas Day with my son, Robb acting as rules source/referee and while he and Beth cooked our non-traditional Christmas dinner - Teriyaki Salmon and a vegetable stir-fry with rice. (Say what you will, Traditionalists, it was delicious!)
    Katie and I fielded Elves and Kings of Men in 10mm for Kings of War, a game set we all enjoy. Katie's 25mm army is still in the process of being painted and the Warmaster armies are available and adaptable. We use metric measure rather than Imperial, measuring in centimeters rather than inches. It works just fine for 10mm figs! There are a few other small adaptations we make as well. We even used the KoW 3rd edition, since the Uncharted Empires book arrived on Christmas Eve.
     After set up, I took the first move and it didn't take long to get into pike range. Robb advised me to make some interesting unit choices; I'd never taken Kings of Men berzerkers before. Katie conscripted assistance from her cat, Maeve, who insisted on smacking around a bolt thrower or dice when ever she could! We played a scenario called "Loot."

KoM knights and mounted scouts with a wizard on the far left.

A horde of pikes with muskets to left and right.
"The Captain" is in command.
A lot of the figures are from my collection of English Civil War/Thirty Years War
troops in 10mm (Either Pendrakon or Old Glory)

On the far right flank, behind a hill, a cannon, a troop of  musketmen,
a regiment of berzerkers (actually Galloglaich), and Tiny, the giant in his 10mm form.
(Old Glory, Pendrakon, and a GW giant)

Elves in opposition.
I don't know the Elf list very well, but I know it includes heavy cavalry, bows,
spears (there was a horde), and bolt throwers.

More Elven cavalry.
The stand turned sideways is light horse archers. GW's Warmaster originally mounted
all cavalry 2 wide by 2 deep. For KoW, 4 wide by 1 deep would be better, but I'm too lazy
to rip figures off the stands just now.

Elven bows and cavalry moving so fast the camera couldn't catch the action.

A 15mm "grasshopper gun" in service as a howitzer or siege artillery.

Elf spear horde vs. Mannish pike horde and shot

Elf cavalry caught the mounted scouts and destroyed them.
I almost always arm the scouts with "black powder" weapons.
3rd edition makes no distinction between pistols or carbines like 2nd edition.

From the Elvish side.
The Elf magic user rides a windstorm.
The small dice indicate casualties,

As Tiny and the berserkers advance against the Elvish cavalry, the muskets and cannon
hang back... because you can't move and shoot with black powder weapons!

{"I'm gonna get that bolt thrower yet! You'll see!}

Elves charge out of the forest. Believe it or not, the muskets held on.

The knights advance tentatively with the wizard on the flank.
Charging a spear phalanx is suicide since their formation nullifies
the cavalry's Thunderous Charge bonuses.

In a maneuver Robb said he'd never seen, the berserkers and Tiny charge downhill
 against an Elven hero, with Tiny taking the flank.
It was not pretty.
The dime coin is an improvised loot counter.

Spears and pikes mix it up. The spears got hurt.

As the musketeers hold on against the cavalry, the pikes wheel to flank the cavalry
and tear them up.

   After that flanking movement came, Katie conceded the game and I was declared the winner. I don't win often so this was a Christmas surprise.

"The Captain" (GW)
I use a different, less armoured figure in 25mm 

The human wizard whom I call Dermot the Inevitable (GW)

Tiny
Note the cringing figure on the ground behind his left foot.
A nice and very whimsical GW figure

 

The Elven Magic User (GW)
The whirlwind is a nice touch.

{"Where'd them fig'gers go?"}

My Wife Triumphant

The time between Christmas and New Year's Day is an odd time for me. I usually try to take some time off and I was able to do so this year. If I can, I like to get in a game of Napoleonic warfare, but that was not to be.

Instead, my wife, Beth, and I ran a small game of SAGA between her Welsh warband and my Irish. We decided to try something new and used a named warlord for each army. She chose Maredudd ab Owain, king of the Britons. This guy has the nasty ability to restrict the number of SAGA dice his opponent can throw in the first two turns, then allow his army to activate on any SAGA dice. Seriously nasty. I chose the only choice I get with the Irish - Brian Boruma mac Cennetig, the Ard Re (High King) of Ireland. He's inspiring and ancient and really slow moving. However, taking him allows the Irish player to take Brian's brother, Ulf the Quarrelsome, who cannot be a warlord but counts as a Hearthguard unit all by himself, replacing two hearthguard. He is a fearsome fighter with some special abilities and a gruesome character. So I had him and another unit of Hearthguard, six strong.

Clearing the kitchen table, we began to throw dice.

Beth's warlord, warriors, and hearthguard.
(Gripping Beast, Old Glory, and Foundry figures)

My unit of wardogs and their handler; they all count as warriors.
(Dogs by Gripping Beast, handler by Mithril - the Beorn figure from their LOTR range - a favourite of mine.)

More Welsh warriors... from Old Glory and Gripping Beast
Beth took the figures from her Late Roman/Arthurian/Sub-Roman Briton army.

The Warlord and his warriors being belligerent.

Welsh Hearthguard... really Viking Bondi on loan from Rob.

Beth started out by constricting my movement by cutting the number of SAGA dice down to 1/3 for the first turn and 1/2 for the second. That really cuts the legs out from under you. Her archers chopped up a sling-armed unit of levy facing them. My javelin-armed levy never even got into the battle at all. The only success I nearly had was from a combined charge by Ulf and the wardogs. They took apart a Welsh warrior group but were hurt in the process. 

Welsh archers, infesting the forest.

My sling-armed levy and the Hearthguard armed with 2-handed axes.

Beth's sling-armed levy

Beorn and the wardogs
Pick up their latest album when you can.

As it ended up, we called the game at the end of turn 6 (especially since we had dinner reservations at a local Mexican restaurant, a truely excellent place.) Beth won on points quite handily - 22 to 6. She ended up killing Ulf, cutting up the wardogs, smashing my slingers, and fighting my warriors and Hearthguard to a stand-still. She really knows how to play this game... and I'm getting the feeling that I don't. I have to look into other options for factions. Franks? Norse-Gaels? I don't know. We'll have to see.

Christmas Eve and Boxing Day

My whole family was home for a few days just before Christmas. Rob came home on the 23rd, Katie was already home, as were Beth and I, so we were all together for the festival day. Rob intended to be home for Boxing Day but he had to work and since he was being paid  time-and-a-half on Boxing Day and some bills had surfaced (like a 'gator in a swamp), we couldn't blame him.
On Christmas Eve, Beth and Rob played a game of SAGA - Beth's Welsh versus Rob's Vikings. It ended up being a fairly even match. I served as referee of sorts since my back was hurting a bit. 
Rob took a warlord, two units of hearthguard, two of warriors (Bondi), and two of levy (Thralls). Beth took a warlord (Arthur, of course), a unit of mounted hearthguard, three units of warriors (fielded as two units of 12), and two units of levy with bows and slings.

Rob's Ulfhednar hoody... worn for effect.

Viking warriors/Bondi and levy/Thralls. Since Rob's force is not complete he needed to borrow from my Irish faction force.

More Thrall and four female Hearthguard.

"Arthur" and his Welsh mounted Hearthguard

Beth's levy defend the house and wall while her warriors move to the attack.

Beth's Welsh warriors lurking in a wooded area.
(Late Roman or sub-Roman Briton figures by Essex, Griping Beast, and Old Glory)

Rob's Vikings move forward, His Jarl and Hearthguard are on the hill. Again, borrowed Irish but the Jarl was a Christmas gift to him.

A close-up of the Shield Maidens -
Wargames Factory huscarl bodies with Wargames Factory Female Zombie Survivor heads,
which work fine with a little filling.

Another view of the Welsh line of battle

 

The battle from overhead.
The Welsh hearthguard charged the Viking hearthguard and they each destroyed the other although Arthur survived.
The other Viking hearthguard - Berserkers all - charged into the flank of the Welsh at the wall and smashed them. The archers were destroyed to a man by the Berserkers with 2-handed axes.

The game was pretty even and neither side killed the others warlord. We went by victory points, which totalled up as Vikings - 19 to Welsh - 20. The Welsh won by points! Rob had to leave shortly after this for his girl-friends house for Christmas Eve, but both he and Beth enjoyed the game. His work schedule doesn't leave as much time as he'd like for this kind of gaming, but that could change over time.

On Boxing Day (December 26), we had scheduled a game of Traveller, d20 version -  a favourite RPG. Beth played her Darrian medical doctor with an interest in alien cultures. Katie ran her two characters - A Vargr ship's captain and a very interesting human noble with multiple personalities, a character tough to play but really adding a lot of fun to the game. DJ played his retired Imperial Marine Force Commander/Major who pilots the ship. Tyler had his human rogue/pirate with a scientifically enhanced monkey, while Ken played his "Quendi" rogue, a sort of space elf, for lack of a better description. (Rob's Aslan character was "on leave". Crew NPCs included a human drive lackey, an android, and two Unsine heavy weapons specialists - Yogi and Boo-Boo. All of these folks watched the ship while the party was away.) 
They joined an academic on an archaeological expedition to a lower tech planet to find possible Ancients artifacts. The Professor had a crack-pot scheme which put him on the "outs" with academia. When they arrived there as a security/assistant-ing/support team, the local aliens saw Ken's character and immediately went into religious awe! He was the Venerable One who was to fulfil the promises of the long-gone Fullness of Mysteries!

The party, the Professor, and his lovely assistant meet with the local denizens.

(If this sounds a little like The Man Who Would Be King award yourself a extra piece of Christmas gingerbread.) 
It ended up that the Venerable One (who told the rest of the party in his most venerable and revered voice, "Shut your cakehole now!") was to be thrown into the fusion reactor to join the Fullness of Mysteries... along with all his friends! For some reason, Ken objected to this and gave new religious commands that allowed him to "ascend" ("Shut up! I'm ascending!" and "Trust me; I'm your god!") with the help of flash-bang grenades, smoke bombs, an alien tractor-pressor projector, and his chameleon-configuration Combat Environment Suit. The Professor objected to this trickery, so DJ tranked him while his assistant put him in a choke hold. The party ended up gathering some really interesting alien/possibly Ancient goodies and high-tailing it into the next subsector. A good thing too, since DJ tired to blow up the Professor's ship, first by having his ship's AI hack into the Professor's ship (Failure #1!) and then planting an alien explosive aboard. (Failure #2!) As the ship's went their separate ways, the party (well, DJ anyway) notices hidden insignia on the Professor's ship - the open-eye insignia of the Imperial Bureau of Internal Security! Things could get interesting in the future. Beth's abilities to dope out alien equipment was vital in discovering what these alien gee-gaws could do.

In case you were wondering, it's wonderful to have a wife who games!

Beth, always wear a visor so you won't be blinded by science!

So? She's an alien.

I'm going to take it light between Christmas and New Year's. I hope my wife and I can get a Napoleonics game in, and maybe we'll do some small SAGA skirmishes. I hope you're holidays are all great.

Friday afternoon's SAGA

I get two days off a week. This isn't unusual for many people, however, I can't take Sundays off unless I'm on my holiday. As a pastor, I work Sundays. I'm not really complaining; I knew that this "came with the suit" when I took up the ministry. So I take Friday and Saturday off. So this past Friday, my wife says to me: "Let's get out the dice and figures and play a game." We decided on SAGA since we're both still learning the system.

So out came her Welsh and my Irish. She chose the Welsh because she has a great affection for Arthur and his reign. She holds that Arthur has a strong tie to Wales, and I certainly can't dispute her. She as an Arthurian army for WAB/Hail Caesar and so the figures were readily available in the house. I have some Dark Ages Irish and use some early Saxons as the more well-armoured Gaels. (I had a professor in univerity who held -with a good bit of evidence- that the Dark Ages with the Volkswanderung and the destruction of the Roman civilization in the West never took hold in Ireland. I leave that to greater minds than mine.) {By the way, Volkswanderung sounds like a peaceful vacation excursion rather than its alternate term... "Barbarian Invasion." It sounds like a few Goth came by, knocked on the door and said "Hi! We saw your light on and decided to drop in!"}

Anyway, we chose to go with the standard 6 point game, giving each of us a Warlord, a unit of Hearthguard (4@), three units of Warriors (8@), and two units of Levy (12@). Beth's Warlord and Hearthguard were mounted, and her Levy were bows and slings. All my troops were on foot and armed with javelins, except for the one Warror unit that was wardogs, because... well, because I couldn't resist.

Beth's version of Arthur - a Gripping Beast figure. Behind him are various warriors.

A close-up of some of Beth's Welsh warriors.
A more abstract Auxilia shield and the famous "Fox Boys"

Faction dice, Irish in brown and Welsh in yellow.
Birdies, snakes and elk for the Irish and Dragons, Celtic Crosses, and Celtic trefoils for the Welsh.

I won the initiative and deployed and moved first. It was a straight heads-down attack led by the wardogs who hit a Welsh levy unit and pushed them back. I was also able to grab some harder cover with a small homestead on my right.

The Wardogs pose for a photo. I think the dogs are Gripping Beast while their handler is from Mithril Miniatures LOTR range. He is listed as Beorn in human form. I've always liked the figure as well as his bear-form counterpart.

Sic 'em, puppies! The Wardogs take on the Welsh levy.

A unit of my Bonnachts (Warriors) occupy the farmstead.

Their opposition - one of Beth's Warrior units

My javelin armed Kern/Levy face more of the Welsh Warriors.

The Hearthguard and Warlord begin their ride into history.

Beth's Levy fell back but had given the Wardogs casualties.
The red bingo chip indicates a "fatigue" on the unit.

My Kern had exchanged javelins with Beth's warriors who fell back to leave the heavy lifting to the Hearthguard and the Warlord. It wasn't pretty for me.

The Hearthguard are a mix of Gripping Beast and Old Glory Arthurians/Late Romans.
My Kern are Old Glory figures.

The slaughter from Beth's perspective.

And again.

After disposing of the Kern, the mounted Hearthguard (less one... Hurrah, me!) wheeled left to take on more hapless Irishmen.

So Beth caved in my left, shattered my centre, and demonstrated on my right where one unit of Warriors and one of Kern/Levy held on. My Hearthguard attacked her's with my Warlord and a handful of warriors, but they were driven back, When her Hearthguard and Warlord wheeled left, the handwriting was on the wall. Shortly after that, her Hearthguard killed my Warlord and that was the end. 

Through later discussions, it appears I wasted my Wardogs and would have been better served by holding them in reserve until a melee started somewhere nearby. Since they move as mounted troops and ignore difficult terrain, the Wardogs could fly through stuff and add a nasty attack to an on-going melee. Maybe arming my Kern with slings would help too, doubling their missile range. The next game will see,

Welsh archers

The Hearthguards engage in a spirited discussion of politics... with swords and spears.

My Hearthguard, Warlord, and a few Warriors fall back.

The end of the game from the Goodyear blimp.

... and from a slightly closer angle.