The Rocky Road to Dublin...

The rocky road to Dublin passes through these gents, so best take care.  All Gripping Beast figs with LBMS shield transfers. The Norse Gaels remind me of the saying "To a hammer, everything looks like a nail." These guys are hammers, every one, and they have the battleboard to prove it.

The Norse-Gaels SAGA battleboard is built on personal challenges. Personal challenges represent combat between single champions from units engaged in melee and are settled with a die roll. The defender can decline the challenge but then the Norse Gaels automatically get the benefit of their battleboard ability associated with the challenge.  Most opponents will accept the challenge on the off chance of winning the die role and denying the NG their battleboard ability. I say "off chance" because the NG battleboard can generate a +1 or 2  bonus for personal challenges. The odds should always be stacked in their favor.

A couple of neat tricks...

Howling Axes: Gives 3 additional attack dice, 5 if the unit is armed with Dane axes.  That's a good reason to field axes in this warband.

Slaughter:  All 1s rolled become hits, 2s too if you use a rare rune.  When combined with the Dane Axe, you can turn all of your attack dice into hits. Combine this ability with Howling Axes and a small unit of hearthguard can wipe out a much larger one.  Deadly!

With abilities like Slaughter, Howling Axes, Death Dance and Ostmen’s Fury, their Viking roots shine through. If you like running Vikings in SAGA, you’ll love their mad cousins, the Norse-Gaels.

I'm working my way through the Great Courses lectures on the Vikings.  The 34 half hour lectures count as 1 book at Audible.com so with my monthly subscription, it's a bargain compared to the retail rate. I paint with the door to my painting room open and I think my family is enjoying the lectures as much as I do! So far, it's a great deep dive on the Norse. When I'm done, I'm going to grab the Romans and Barbarians course next.    

Howling Axes! Norse Gael axemen

The Norse were first recorded in Ireland in 795 when they sacked Lambay Island. Raids continued until 832, after which they began to build fortified settlements throughout the country.  The Norse–Gaels originated in settlements when the Norse intermarried with the native Gaels in Ireland and Scotland.  They founded the Kingdoms of Man, Argyll, Dublin, and Galloway. To this day, the Hebrides are known in Scottish Gaelic as Innse Gall, the islands of "foreigners." The Norse–Gaels dominated the region until the Norman invasion.

Gripping Beast did a splendid job of capturing the spirit of mad Viking-Irish warriors.  The warband contains a shocking number of barefoot fellows.  What they lack in fashionable footwear is made up for by the Dane axe. These barefoot axeman have a wicked look about them.  Slopping around without shoes might turn anyone into an axe-wielding maniac.  

First up are 8 warriors, followed by 4 hearthguard. Take a look at the warrior in red below. His hair is plaited and each plait is secured by a small golden ball. I knew I'd seen this look before and sure enough, Ian Heath's "Armies of the Dark Ages" has an illustration that appears to be the inspiration for this figure.   

This winter has been a brutal one, even for Minnesota.  We're going to get popped by another round of the Polar Vortex with temperatures dropping below -25 tomorrow.  Gray skies and icy cold temps are fueling a bad case of cabin fever.  It's a good thing I don't own an axe or I just might chop through a door, pop my head through and yell out "Heeeere's Mooonty!" Thank goodness for the painting table as it does keep me sane.   Stay warm and sane, where-ever you are!

Where's my SAGA warband?  WHERE??

First try of Dead Man's Hand

I met up with my friends Hugh and Mark at Fantasy Flight Games Center to try Dead Man's Hand. Hugh kindly brought everything-figures, rules, buildings and terrain.  He had his Old West town up in 30 minutes.

That was time well spent as this game looks LOVELY on the table. 4Ground's prepainted buildings are gorgeous.  Each comes apart floor by floor, which allows you to fight from the ground floor to the rooftop. We had 6-7 people stop by to ask what we were playing.  That was a record amount of interest for us!

I ran the Lawmen and Mark ran the Outlaws. The game uses a small deck of playing cards for each gang. The cards determine initiative and activation order. Some cards are held in hand to be played for special abilities or interrupts. I loved that the cards break up the IGO-UGO.  They bring drama and uncertainty as you find yourself hoping for a turn of a friendly card.  Tempted as you are to play the cards quickly, you only get one new card at the end of each turn.

Sharp eyed readers will recognize these fellows from my painting table last fall. That's the bonus of "painting local."

The game is played with 3 linked scenes.  The first 2 are small affairs that build to a final showdown. In the first, 3 drunk Outlaws were giving my Lawman a hard time.  My gun ran out of ammo after my first shot so I ducked into a building for cover.  The Outlaws shot me dead anyway. Not a great start for the good guys.

In the second scene, my Lawmen got revenge by fighting through an ambush and sending the Outlaws packing.

The final showdown felt like a classic Western.  The Outlaws holed up in the Undertakers Office. As they ran in, I played a card that saw the undertaker pull a gun to defend his business.  It didn't turn out well for him as he became the first customer of what would be a busy day.

While the Outlaws were running to the rooftop, I rushed the first floor and dropped the Outlaw tasked to cover the front door.  In the picture below, the Lawman with the "Out of Ammo" marker has a sawed off shotgun.  His specialty is to run up point blank and shoot both barrels.  It's a high risk, high reward strategy. In close quarters, there's nothing better!

Dead Man's Hand gives you many decision points. When the enemy rushes you or through your line of fire, you can activate for a single quick shot if you haven't activated already.  You can also activate for a duck and dive as well, which is often the most sensible move you can make. The game plays out like a classic Western, with players crashing through doors, windows, and jumping off rooftops.  My Sheriff found himself outnumbered and in a bad spot. I played a "Bullets Can't Stop Him" card and kept him alive for that turn.

The end was played out behind the Undertaker's Office.  The Outlaw boss jumped down from the roof and drew my gang into the alley.  The Outlaws up on the roof had a good line of fire on my Lawmen and all the lead was making it hot, hot, hot.  Try as I might, I could not drop the Outlaw boss and losses on both sides mounted until each gang had to take a "Big Morale Test."  Hugh told us both "Don't roll a 1!" to which I replied, "Isn't that the name of a famous blog?"  And just like that, Mark and I tossed 1s.  Both sides broke and ran, resulting in a tie.  Like a good cliffhanger, we'll have to wait until the next episode to see who wins.

I'm completely smitten by Dead Man's Hand.  The rules were easy to grasp and the game moves very quickly. It builds a tense and colorful narrative. As someone who's gamed, lived in and loved the Old West, these rules hit all the right notes for me.  Very well done, Great Escape Games.  I'm off to get my copy and I can't wait to get another game in! Next time, I hope Mark will be singing, "I fought the Law but the Law won."  

Hugh and the Outlaw Mark in green

Fantasy Flight Games Center-aka Gaming Nirvana!