Crescent And The Cross Faction Breakdown!

G'day all
I hope we are all having a jolly release from gripping beast with the new crescent and cross. I'm sure our minds are all brimming with ideas, purchase lists and nasty combos to wipe the smirk off our gaming buddies faces. Today rather than doing a review of the book (which has been aptly covered by several other bloggers who have done a bang up job), I thought it would be interesting to explore the factions in the book to showcase the play styles, strengths and weaknesses of the 6 new kids on the block.

Hopefully this will help any of you out there that have either not purchased the book for lack of information or are simply waiting for the bug to bite.

THE OVERALL SUMMARY
The six new factions included are:
-Crusaders
-Saracens
-Milites Christi
-Mutatawwi'a
-Spanish
-Moors

Overall these factions each bring something new to the game and are mostly unlike anything seen in previous releases. It is also worth noting that these six factions have alot more freedom or options then their dark ages elders. For example the Saracens have the option to take Hearthguard with or without bows and warriors mounted with or without bows or on foot. This seems to be the going number of options in each Warband and is more than the early dark ages counterparts with their 1 or 2 options at most. I would stress that these options don't make these factions any more powerful in my opinion, but simply give players more flexibility in playing each of them in their own way. Before I get stuck in it should be noted that all thoughts below are exactly that... thoughts. I have yet to play these factions so at this point the below breakdowns are a first impression and are likely subject to change as we play them out.

THE CRUSADERS
Saga dice distribution:
 4 x common
 7 x uncommon
 6 x rare

The crusaders from the outset seem like the most workable force in the book allowing just about any option for each unit type. however the makeup of said options will dictate how the board is used. The crusaders battle board is somewhat locked up at the beginning of the game and the player can attempt to unlock the rest (virtues) via saga dice sacrifice for that turn. This means the Crusaders from a theoretical position require the player to have a plan and stick with it as the cost of unlocking other sections of the battle board do not favor overall efficiency. Their spread of dice across the battle board also shows that their abilities can be quite expensive when taking into account the attempts of unlocking virtues. I'm not too sure how difficult these guys will be to play but they seem like the calculative generals style with allot of thought going into pregame rather than mid game.

THE SARACENS
Saga dice distribution:
4 x common
8 x uncommon
4 x rare

The Saracens look like the Norman-esque cav+ shooting army but with a emphasis on mobility. unlike the Normans however alot of the Saracen abilities involve a large amount of randomness which can range from very good to very poor results. there are of course ways to mitigate this randomness on their battle board but at the cost of saga dice. The Saracens overall will suit the players out there who love their roulette and enjoy the highs and lows of tabletop gaming. For those out there that have shaky relationships with the dice gods...steer very clear.

MILITES CHRISTI
Saga dice distribution:
6 x common
7 x uncommon
5 x rare
Again we have a christian force that involves sacrificing of saga dice each turn to boost their abilities and options. unlike the crusaders however they are much more of a professional force leaving the levies at home. This force looks to me like the resource managers go to faction. the piety resource you gain by sacrificing saga dice can be used in many different ways and allow the player to store piety early on to hit hard late game, or simply use it throughout the game to power up abilities as you need them. While they mostly seem more able to respond to threats than the crusaders the wrong use of piety could surely leave these guys in trouble.


MUTATAWWI'A
Saga dice distribution:
4 x common
5 x uncommon
5 x rare
The Mutatawwi'a are a free peoples Muslim force built around the concept of model sacrifice to boost abilities, to put these guys simply they are the pure aggressor faction in this book. They have access to camels which are the rock to the horseman scissors and their infantry can charge forth like cavalry if need be. majority of their abilities will require a model to be sacrificed producing Martyr tokens which in turn can be used to bring models back to life later. players who enjoy getting in someones face will love these guys and the Martyr rules create an interesting dilemma of life vs power.

SPANISH
Saga dice distribution:
6 x common
6 x uncommon
3 x rare
The Spanish offer subtle but interesting changes to the battle board and as such require a little more finesse than the others at first glance. First of all their activation boxes for units only specify mounted or on foot models rather than hearthguard, warriors and levies. furthermore allot of their abilities seem to favor being used in the opponents turn similar to the franks and would suggest a more reactionary battle plan. Theoretically I am willing to say these guys are the tough or hard mode faction in the book. they represent a challenge to veterans and reward to those out there who enjoy playing reactionary. Also These guys have access to what can only be described as "Tau jet pack" units which can move>shoot>move>shoot in a single activation...nasty.

MOORS
6 x common
6 x uncommon
5 x rare
Finally the Moors seem like a very straight forward faction but with a minor twist. That twist is corruption of the enemy forces. Some abilities in their hand punish enemies for leaving units outside their warlords influence, and resting as well as taking control of enemy units for a turn. this is backed up by some solid defensive abilities which favor their warriors on foot. The Moors look like the perfect faction for those who wish to dictate their opponents movements and options. They do not present any amazing hard hitting abilities that will melt face but will cost an enemy warlord who is not paying full attention the game.

All of these new factions look exciting to play with and against so Alex Buchel has surely outdone himself this time. I would also like to thank Ian and John at War and peace games for being super on top of this release and getting this book in my hands ASAP. I am very much looking forward to getting stuck into more Saga!

Cheers

Review: Wargames factory British infantry, american war of independence 28mm

I know the current hotness for myself is mostly in the saga camp, but occasionally I love to dabble in the idea of black powder era. In the past twelve months our gaming group has jumped into the other studio tomahawk game 'Muskets and tomahawks' and found its short, simple and story driven games to be a breath of fresh air that leaves me reading about and collecting more and more miniatures from the 18th century.

This leads me to picking up a new kit that I have been oddly anticipating for a few months. The kit in question looked to be a great way for players to accrue a small starter force for musket tomahawks so I was more than happy to dive in and grab some british infantry to fight a good mates Americans.

The contents
So whats in the box? The contents like many plastic kits these days are an array of several diffrent bodies and plenty of arms with weapons enough to create the many diffrent common poses of line infantry. There is also plenty of diffrent types of heads and arms to create and represent line, light and grenadier infantry. At first glance of the sprues instructions the kit may seem restricted in poses, however with a little patience and kit bashing skills many more poses are possible to create. In addition to infantry there are several command figures that cover all bases including 2 officers, a drummer, two colour sargeants and a regular sargeant. Overal I found the contents of the box to be impressively flexible and without a doubt there has been alot of thought put in to maxamise the users options.

The sculpts / quality of miniature
Anyone out there who has been following the wargames factory story would know the variable quality and number of faults past plastic kits have contained. Ranging from lack of detail, odd poses and utter frustration in reading sprues during assembly, wargames factory has had its fair shair of hits and big misses. The good news here is that all of these issues are not present at all in this kit. The detail and sculpting is crisp, professional  and represents the company's evolution in CAD skills. The poses are realistic, subtle and reminiscent of ranked line infantry of the period. And finally the contents of the box come with easy to read instructions that practically hold your hand as you construct each figure. It is important to note the scale and makup of these miniatures fit into more 'true' scale proportions and mixing with other company's infantry might look a little odd, fortunatley this choice in anatomic proportions suits this era quite well.

Group shots and quick painted examples

Line infantry and officer

 Light infantry

 Painted and primed

Final verdict/ thoughts
There was two reasons why I felt compelled to review these miniatures on here. Firstly the outstanding leap forward in quality and a accessibility of this kit has  succsessfully drawn my attention to future wargames factory products. If they continue along this range of miniatures with this quality they will have a set of 18th century figures that rival heavy weights like the perry's and north star. Secondly I wanted to bring attention of these to any gamers out there who want to ease their way into black powder era gaming without breaking the budget. Musket and tomahawks is a fantastic game that will have you retelling many crazy exploits of heroic or moronic proportions and this kit allows you to build a british force of around 200-300 points (the basic level) very easily.

I am honestly excited for the rest of this range as I feel it is an untapped era for multi part plastic kits and I cannot wait to get a hold of the rest of the range. Well done wargames factory! *golf clap*

For those interested the kit retails at around 28 ish dollars (AUD) and contains all the parts to create the following british units in muskets and tomahawks:
- british officer
-british line infantry
-british light infantry
-british grenadiers
-Rangers

Tally Ho!

Initial Thoughts on the Anglo saxons

G'day all

To start this blog with some kind of intelligent discussion (that will more than likely erode with days to come) I decided I would bash the keyboard with some of my Anglo Saxon musing for the fantastic tabletop game that is Saga. After playing several games at both 4 points and 6 points I have found the faction challenging and rewarding at the same time. For those fellow Anglo Saxon players out there ill attempt to break down what has worked and what hasn't worked thus far and give thoughts on the faction overall (from my opinion of course).

Composition and Saga dice

The immediate draw for me to join the ranks of the Anglo Saxons was the diversity of options in the warbands composition. This means I can field cavalry, warriors, and archers in the same force which makes me a happy warlord. The Anglo Saxons are also capable of fielding melee equipped levis, which can prove to be a formidable and efficient unit under saxon kingdom.
On the saga dice front the Saxons suffer from being forced to run large units and end up with less saga dice overall being generated each order phase. In larger games this isn't noticeable initially but after you lose a unit or two you will notice your saga dice begin to decline.

The Muster

The first thing I had noticed with the Anglo Saxons is there tendency to group together in larger units of between 10-12 models to make use of all their abilities and as such warriors and levy are the favored selection of men to fight in your warband. To add to this majority of their abilities offer largely defensive benefits to ensure you maintain any numbers advantage as well as the 10 man threshold to boost the aforementioned abilities. This as I have noticed is a double edged sword due to the length of time it may take to grind an opponents force down with your warriors. having large units on the table limits the amount that you can accomplish over a turn without taking on too much fatigue, and in turn you will find your force surrounded and hounded from multiple assaults. Solid abilities like 'defenders of the realm' and 'shoulder to shoulder' offer powerful means of keeping an anchor unit of warriors alive if used together and should be able to repel most offensive moves (bar loaded bezerkers) however at a hefty cost of 3 saga dice. So its obvious the Anglo Saxons require a little more finesse than pushing models forward and rolling dice than I originally expected from the 'horde' faction of Saga.

Combat the weakness

It is of my understanding that while the Anglo Saxons need larger units to benefit from their abilities it is how the supporting units of hearth guard and the warlord act that can swing the battle your way. I believe it is important to note that wasting any units simply for kills is not advised. The Saxons posess amazing defensive abilities at your disposal to keep units alive, to this effect your warriors are your anvil and hearthguard and warlord are your tactical hammer. Let the warriors and levi take the fight to the enemy and hold ground while the warlord leads from the front with hearthguard striking at weak contingents of your opponents force. Mounted hearthguard fill this role beautifully by giving you options in threat range. The warlord loaded with bretwalda followed closely by warriors is nigh unkillable and can be used as a battering ram into opponents lines.

While this does not work every time, I have personally found the amount of success I have with the Saxons largely hinges on the performance of the hearthguard in tandem with the warriors.

Overall
To sumarise these ramblings from the little experience I have mustered, the Anglo Saxons are the stalwart and surgical warlords dream. If you enjoy playing large solid defensive groups of warriros that grind down the opponent while key pieces strike weak elements of the opposing force you will enjoy the Saxons. If you expect them to throw down hundreds of models, roll perfect saga dice and steam roll opponents you will likely have problems. To finish off I would like to stress that the above thoughts and opinions have been built around how I have played them thus far and are likely subject to change as I try new things. In addition others may have completely diffrent interpretations on how this faction works and I would love to hear about them.

Hope this has been helpfull to some Saxon warlords out there.

Cheers

The beginning

G'day all

 I must confess I am very new to this whole 'blogging' thing despite my age and hobbies, but it was not until I became involved more in online gaming communities through Facebook and forums etc that I begun to witness some fantastic tabletop eye candy and articles from everyday gamers like myself. So naturally I thought it only fitting that I begin my own blog to bring the miniatures, games and adventures of our local gaming group to the world wide web in the hope that someone may stumble across it and enjoy it as I have many times in the past with others. I doubt anyone will read or keep up with these postings but if it documents some of my local gaming groups miniatures, battles and thoughts I shall enjoy posting it all the same.

To kick off I thought I would simply list the games and miniatures that will likely appear on this blog:
- Bolt action
- Saga
- Muskets and Tomahawks
- Dead mans hand
- X-wing

others are likely to appear on the horizon of course

and finally to jump start with some eye candy

cheers all!