King of the Hill: Vikings vs Anglo-Danes

On the same evening as our latest SkypeBoot, and as a change of pace from Age of Sigmar, we decided to play a skirmish game with a low model count, deceptively simple ruleset and faction-specific augmentations.

Pack up your horned helmets - we're off to the Viking Age to play SAGA!

Bagsie I get to play Kirk

Anglo-Dane Huscarls: The 'Tache Stash

Final batch of SAGA miniatures for the moment - these are also Hearthguard, but armed with the universal hand weapon and shield, rather than the unique Dane Axes.

Another brick in the shield wall.

Anglo-Dane Huscarls: Axe Me Nicely

Next up for the Anglo-Danes are the warlord's loyal hearthguard. They come with a choice of weapons, so I'll begin with the Dane Axes (which gains in killing power, but loses in defence - I've yet to be convinced of their virtue).

The Axeman Cometh

Anglo-Dane Warlord: Special Offa

I realise that Offa was an Anglo-Saxon king, but the only Anglo-Dane I know is Cnut - and where's the pun in that name?

Of course, Offa had a Dyke.
The whole Dark Ages is a linguistic minefield

And now SAGA!

And so, on the 19th day of Einmánuður, Kraken and I departed from the true path and took a voyage into historical skirmish.

(On the downside: you get fewer Mutalith Vortex Beasts. On the upside: it's a lot harder for the creators to flush the entire fluff into a warp portal - not without some serious historiography at least)

What had caught my eye was SAGA, a Viking age skirmish game from Gripping Beasts. The basic rulebook incorporates everything from the Lindisfarne massacre to the Battle of Hastings, allowing you to play Vikings, Anglo-Danes, Welsh (yay!) or Normans. There are also expansion packs that add Irish, Anglo-Saxons, Scots etc.

I don't know why the whole word is upper case.
I think you have to shout it.