Wacrcry ... have I gone a bit too far?

I think it was the community that sucked me in ... that and a healthy dose of nostalgia for games in the past (I am almost 50.) I have been painting fantasy miniatures since lockdown and have really enjoyed painting a smaller amount of figures rather than a whole army. The variation is also enjoyable. 

I LOVED Mordheim, but club enthusiasm has fallen for this game. I looked for another fantasy skirmish campaign game. Rangers of Shadowdeep and Morkborg's wargame variant have been tried. I thought long and hard about Frostgrave but the guys in the club are prone to liking GW. (Something I swore off over 16 years ago and haven't looked back.) 

Warcry seemed to offer a narrative gaming experience in a fantasy setting (which is mildly imaginative but far from well conceived or written) and a small figure count. I must say I was very hopeful and enthusiastic. In any case I played two games. 

Not really sure I got my head around what I was doing. I played my Flesh Eater Courts - I love the concept of ghouls in any fictional setting - and I did enjoy that. I very much like the miniatures. 

The game was ... fine ... nice??? I liked the basic idea of things ... then there is hammer/shield/dagger and variable victory conditions ... and warband abilities ... and reactions ... and universal reactions and universal abilities ... and lots of scenarios ... and twists ... and ... I'm sure I'm forgetting some bloody thing. 

I am left with one question (the same after I played 4 games of the new Killteam recently) ... does complication - achieved through masses of special rules - really make a good game? I'm deeply concerned that where you move is less in important than how you've made you list and what special moves you decided to do (and the fact you chose an army with the currently dominant special rules in the first place - before FAQ's and other 'nerfs.') 

(By Apollo, I can't believe I typed that last sentence ... I'm playing a game whose troops types can drastically change to sell some models - would NEVER happen in Napoleonics or Ancients - can anyone imagine Sam Mustafa trying to increase French Old Guard sales by releasing an update to their stats! As a historical player I'm just not used to massive list tooling - not since my FOW days!) 

I know ... I'm new ... give it a chance. Don't worry, I'm committed to doing so. But this nagging feeling will take a long time to shift. I'm thinking about games such as Lasalle 2 or Blucher or Maurice or Saga ... do they achieve their tactical focus but just layering rule upon rule? Are player decisions made more impactful, interesting or intelligent just because there's 50 to make rather than 10? 

I have no idea how to lay out terrain as yet. My friend Nick has suggested more raised areas and overhead platforms. I'll try this next. How to best use chaff models is also a little beyond me right now. The tiny playing space is also something limiting for me. 

Perhaps I'm just a grognard ... but I will say this. If Warcry doesn't work out for me ... it will be another 16 years before I touch ANY GW product again (except Mordheim as that's fucking gold!) 

 

The Return of Saga ... but Saga 2nd Ed

For father's day this year I finally took the plunge and ordered Saga 2 - complete with Viking Age and Book of Battles. I had prevaricated about this for over 12 months as I'm the only one in the club with Dark Age miniatures. In addition, we already have lots of games in our mix and players are flagging in enthusiasm ... but I'm not. I always thought Saga was great and I just thought ... why not. 

The only problem are my figures are not based individually any more - there are FAR too many for that (around 200+ 28mm Vikings, Saxons and Britons.) But, there must be a solution there. 

My friend Nick kindly came over for a game and we both enjoyed the rules. We played a game with just four points and only using saga dice for activations and bonus combat dice then played a six point game with the full board. This slow intro worked very well and Nick picked up the Anglo Saxons and their abilities without any problem. 

I played the Vikings - which I usually don't - as I love the idea of classic Viking Saxon match ups. In the 6 point game the large 12 man Anglo Saxon units really had the edge in combat against the smaller 8 man Viking units. The addition of a 12 man levy unit with bows also gave the Vikings considerable pause. The Viking decided to loop around a forest to try and shield them from the shooting. 

This left the action happening on the far side of the board. We played the standard scenario from the main book. Victory was determined by 'carnage' points (I've got that wrong ... the one where you gets points for killing stuff - 1 for a hearthguard, 1/2 for a warrior and 1/3 for a levy.) 

The Viking threw their warrior units forward in an attempt to whittle down the larger Anglo Saxon units. I did note how much better levy seemed in this version of the rules. After taking many losses it was down to the Viking huscarls and warlord to face down the Saxon commander. 

The Vikings had one more hearthguard unit than the Saxon and these held stoically. A final Viking unit double moved, shook off its fatigue and hacked into a Saxon unit in the final turn. 

These actions saw the Vikings sneak ahead on points for a narrow or minor victory. The raven and the wolf were pleased and the saga of Guthrum grew. Ruin has come to the shores of Angleland but its brave defenders were not cowled by fear and will gather their strength to oppose the foe soon. 

Ah ... I do like the Dark Ages ... all you need to do is listen to one Saga Thing episode or read so Beowulf and whoosh ... off you go into thrilling adventure. Time to do some homework with the Book of Battles for a Saga campaign and try to snag some enthusiasm for this rich period. 

The final thing worth saying is about Saga itself. Dark Age gaming, especially when using commercially successful Ancient and Medieval rules, is a very static and grinding game with little to make it exciting. The Saga rules and battle board does that - even though most walk away feeling it wasn't quite historical as the saga moves feel a bit 'exaggerated.' BUT ... it does give the impression of playing a Dark Age battle and this is important - emersion (but not complete.)