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Sunday, September 21, 2014

SAGA Storm

SAGA Storm Day at Fantasy Flight Game Center came and went, and  what a day it was! The organizers brought 12 themed battleboards, each with a scenario. More than 24 SAGA players turned out to throw dice, tip beers and have a great time playing SAGA.  This was my single favorite day of gaming ever and I've had some great games in my lifetime. Take a look at some of the tables Eric Hagen, John Stenz and Jason Meyers put up.  I only wish I could have played them all.  
You know its going to be a great day of SAGA when your first opponent is an honest-to-goodness Viking named Tor. We played The Challenge twice on account of  Tor smiting my Norse-Gael warlord in a first move strike with Viking berserkers. We rebooted and ran the scenario again with my Norse-Gaels going first. Thanks for the do-over, Tor! 
In my 3rd game, I played my old friend Mark and his Pagan Rus.  Fighting in the mountains was a natural for his Rus and my Norse-Gael went down to defeat.  Mark bought me a consolation beer so all hope was not lost.   
Next up was the Shores of Normandy with a custom Breakthrough scenario that saw each side trying to fight through the other.  The beer must have contained some magical properties as I had a great run in the late game, coming up with a victory against John's tough as nails Scotsmen.  

By dinnertime I was starting to wear down.  After a big cup of coffee, I threw in for the Grand Melee- 5 Viking type warbands on one side versus 5 non-Viking factions on the other.  In the Wooden Oaths scenario we were playing, it's one side against the other for 3 turns.  After turn 3, it becomes a free-for-all with points scored for kills.  Each side of the table ran their battleboards simultaneously, allowing us to complete this epic megabattle in just over two hours.  

I got 5 games in with my Norse-Gael warband.  I got to see a lot of my old gaming buddies and meet a lot of new SAGA gamers.  I can't wait to do it all again and with any luck, I won't have to.  We're talking about setting up a SAGA group to keep the energy and good times rolling.  An naturally, I'm thinking about painting up a new warband.  Thanks once again to the organizers and to everyone who turned out!  

52 comments:

  1. Some cracking terrain and warbands on display. Sounds like it was a great day, especially with such gentlemanly opponents as Tor! Thanks for sharing.

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    1. It was a great crew, from the opening gun to the finish!

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  2. As Millsy said, some great looking games, perhaps to bring you luck you need to have a few beers before, during and possibly after the game.....it may help????.....or not?

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    1. Ray, I do like your suggestion! My opponents know if they want to throw me off my game, give me a couple beers on an empty stomach. Or just wait for the dice to turn on me.

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  3. Monty, those are terrific looking game boards! What a pleasure to game on something so inviting. Five games in one day? That's a full day, for sure and it looks like you had a great time.

    Good for you!

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  4. Sounds like a great day Monty! The themed battle boards look fantastic.

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    1. I had to pick up my jaw before I could even play!

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  5. Awesome! now, that's what I like to see nice clean terrain pieces with great figures to boot to play games with great guys!.... no potato chips, coffee/beer stains on the table! you guys are civilized! :o)

    cheers,

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    1. Civilized? Everyone was wearing pants so that counts for something I supposed. ;-)

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  6. Awesome boards and great recap. Thanks!

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  7. Great figures and terrain. Consolation beers and big cups of coffee. Sounds like a great event!

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    1. Hey Jeff! You have an open invitation for SAGA any time you're up in the Twin Cities.

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  8. Those terrain boards are simply outstanding, love the rocky one. Yep those Berserker unit can be lethal with 4 attacks each. I have played the wooden Oaths mission before and found it a real hoot.
    Cheers
    mark

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    1. Mark! I do love Wooden Oaths. Having played it once before, I knew to shrink my frontage so the fellows to the left and right of me couldn't slam into me easily.

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  9. What a great event. Love those games tables.
    cheers

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  10. @ Ray Rousell, at least one of your banners made it to the SAGA Storm table yesterday- thanks for making it possible for me to have a great looking flag! With opponents like Monty, Eric and the others who attended having a great time is almost effortless. Thanks for the right up and the kind words Monty, I can't wait to play again soon!

    Tor

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    1. Tor, great opening move and game! Talk about synchronicity Everyone and everything is interconnected, thanks to the blogosphere.

      I'm ready to get right back into the mix.

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  11. What a fantastic day, the tables, armies, everything looks great! Excellent write up too. Really good to see so much enthusiasm and energy for SAGA :-)

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    1. Paul, I enjoy reading about the great tournaments you fellows run for FoW with top notch terrain, players and troops. I'm lucky I got to be a part of something like that!

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  12. Wow! What a pleasure to game on those fantastic tables. The water one looks like a museum piece. Best, Dean

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    1. Dean! I hope to work and learn at the elbows of some of these fine fellows. Locally, we haven't seen this kind of terrain in historicals before.

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  13. Some great looking tables there! It looks and sounds like you had a blast!

    Christopher

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    1. Christopher! I'm at a loss for words. All I can come up with is "epic!"

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  14. Wow, Monty, I wish I could have been there to see that! What a brilliant set of battlefields!

    I must get painting again... need more warbands!

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    1. Evan! If you were here, I could learn the finer points of the ax heads used by Vikings. Plus, tip a few. ;-)

      I need to get painting on a new warband myself!

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  15. Looks like you had a fantastic day. Days like that are fantastic for charging up the enthusiasm batteries. What are you thinking about doing next?

    FMB

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    1. Marcus! I have a couple in mind. There is a new US miniature maker that is picking up speed and offerings. It is Footsore Minis and they're doing Dark Ages Irish and Skraelings. The figures are lovely and I just need to pick between the two of them!

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  16. Great looking tables, the water effet is most impressive...and playing Viking troops after a good and strong coffee is a nice idea!

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    1. Phil! You are blessed with a wonderful club, weekly games and an unbelievably beautiful and diversified collection of armies. I'm glad I could have a taste of that over the weekend!

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  17. Thanks for posting -- I regret not being there. Looking forward to playing with this group in the future!

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    1. Winter is coming and there is much gaming to do. How many days until the next Recon? Not too many!

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  18. Looks and sounds like a great day, Monty! Nice one.

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  19. Awe inspiring! These tables looke so awesome. I perfectly understand it beeing your best gaming experience ever.

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    1. Moiterei! Thanks and I hope you are surviving Octoberfest! ;-)

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  20. It seems to have been the weekend for gaming round here. Glad to see you all out there having fun.

    How could you even think straight after 5 games?

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    1. Anne! I did buy beers to inebriate my opponents. That way, we were close to even. :-)

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  21. Oooh, that's a lot of Dark Ages goodies right there. Thanks for posting Monty! Very inspirational, both miniatures and terrain. I dream of one day having a board like that viking village by the water ...

    Looks like you had a great day gaming!

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    1. Thanks Jonas! I need to make my own battleboards one day. It's a long winter so maybe a winter project?

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  22. Sounds like an excellent time, Monty !
    And reminds me of the AAR I wanted to post about our last Saga game.

    Thanks for sharing your experience and reminding me... ;-)

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    1. Stefan, I'd like to read about your last SAGA game!

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  23. Absolutely fantastic! This must have been such a fantastic event! I saw Jason and Eric posting the tables, figures and ship on Twitter and Google + as the event drew near, and I could see that this was going to be a great event. I love the Blood Creek of Wales, and the hill carved with the wonderful Saxon horse. And that's even before we get to the figures - some brilliant painting in evidence there, including your own very fine warband!

    Thanks so much for sharing the photos. Great work all round. Days like this stay in the memory for ever. What a great event!

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    1. Sidney, what you've done with WW I gaming s an inspiration for us all. Its a reminder of how high any of us could aim (in theory of course!)

      Jason, John and Eric have WH roots and brought over amazing skill sets to the historical gaming. I'm going to have to learn and give some of this a try. THANKS for your kind words! And yea, I'm still talking about Saturday to anyone who'll listen.

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  24. Monty... It looks fantastic. As I said before... Envious it was not in my neck of the woods! Hope you had as much fun as it sounded like!

    Oh and my compliments to Tor. I have played people that were just the opposite and can ruin the day for everyone. So this was great sportsmanship!

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    1. Burkhard! So true, the sportsmanship and energy of all of the participants was wonderful. Handshakes and laughter all around. I'll be playing Tor again many times I hope!

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  25. Brilliant - glad to see so MANY Saga players. Looks like it was a great time.

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    1. It was the best turnout I've ever seen for SAGA. Great to see so many people who share the same passion for gaming and history, and well painted warbands too!

      I love your articles for SAGA Tapestry. Keep up the great work!

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  26. Congrats to you guys on a successful event. It's great to see that sort of turnout for historical games. FFG has a really nice facility.

    David S.
    Minnesota, USA

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