S.A.G.A. Ironman – Bristol Training Day

The best day out for any Dice Stud must surely be the visit to a friendly competition in a great venue. Like Vikings of old, we descended on the Lindisfarne of a MacDonalds. We were “ a Viking’ and it felt good……

After a quick breakfast we arrived at Bristol Independent Gaming, hungry for victory and repute!

B.I.G. is shortly to be moving so we did intend in setting fire to the car in true Viking style but the car was Steve’s mum and wasn’t insured. Richard Keenan, puts on these Ironman events quite regularly to spread the SAGA faith and advertise the wonderful Gripping Beast mini ranges.

Steve had a working knowledge of SAGA, John is going to pick up a copy of version one when the price drops and I had a quick run through when I was driving on the straight bits of the motorway. Richard provides all that is required and after a quick run through , we were off!

A good turn out with a great atmosphere!

The tables were fixed terrain with battle boards and army lists all readily at hand. Any special rules were typed out on cards and explained by our host ( below)

Richard explaining elephant combat to the newbies!

Each player was promised two games of the new Age of Hannibal. John in fact had three games of the new supplement.

In game one, I commanded Carthaginians and went for a massed citizen horse flank attack!

On other tables, the Welsh surround the invaders! An ominous event.

Dark Age colour on other tables

An elephant in distress against the Numidian.

John in distress as his pretty Greeks meet stiff opposition.

Richard provided all the minis and they were all beautifully painted.

My Carthaginians had stalled to a draw against the Republican Romans but in game two my Welsh superheroes tabled the Saxons. Eight hearthguard with javelins can make a lovely dent in any opponent!

Welsh nobles: the battle winner!

Ever the picture of generosity, Richard awards me a prize for archery! A mongol general as booty and leading the competition going into round three!

My warband assaults the woods but I am deterred by the Goth arrow storm!

I had intended to clear the woods with my war dogs but you can’t risk man’s best friends!

Visigoth mercenaries take on my hearthguard and win!

He will need his warlord to finish off my guard!

My wardogs take out a Goth warrior unit!

The heartless Goth commander kills my hounds!

Elsewhere Steve rampages through the opposition to steal third place. I was happy with two places below that though😓😓😓😭😬😭😅😳🦅

Thinking the day, we had learnt a lot; we hadn’t been playing incorrectly on club nights but we had picked up a number of pointers. Two shots from archery before fatigue sets in was my abiding lesson, that and the utility of a war dog pack ( no terrain negatives and your opponent can’t burn their fatigue!

SAGA is such a great game and Richard has promised to bring his ironman day to Cardiff soon! We were all pleased with our competition placing and look forward to our next event. John was a little dejected but once we had explained you no longer had to pay bridge tolls on the Severn Bridge, he recovered.

What a day! Thanks to all!A memorable outing!