Blood eagle is the latest release from the wonderful Charles Murton and Craig Cartnell line of wargame rules, published by Northstar, I received my copy on Saturday and well IHMN is perhaps my favourite game so me and Alec decided we must go for it today.
after a good read i composed Warbands of warriors Three based out of the books and one of my own. we had a quick look and followed the rules of setting up the game and terrain . we chose the "Raid" as the first game and Alec set up the table as its one of his pleasures, I decided not to alter anything and we set out the conditions and complications.
I used Ragnars list with Ragnar, Lagertha a veteran warrior, Berserker 2 shield maidens and a basic warrior, they needed to get 3 figures to the hall for 1 full turn to steal all the goods
Alec chose Uhtreds Warband of Uhtred, Steppa 2 Saxon and 2 Viking warriors and a bow man, they had to stop Ragnars people
Using my Dark age terrain and terrain scatter the table on a 3 X 3 as normal looked the part we places 12 civilians on the table as complications to the game
my collection of Piggies is impressive
the long hall/ Church (need to get along hall )
Uhtred lays out his men ready for the attack
Steppa is ready for anything
Raganar strikes in 2 war bands , Ragnar leading one from the left
Lagertha and her shield maidens from the right
A shield maiden charges straight into the fight
Steppa charges at her
the warrior charges one of Uhtreds men
the second Maiden makes to flank the defenders
Uhtreds man plant ther ambush
unable to resisit a fight uhtred charges inot the fight
Ragnar flanks and by passes the now confused melee
Lagertha backs up her companion
Uhtreds archer fires and this is the result from alec lucky he did not break his weapon
Steppa cleaves the Shield maiden in 1/2 with eas no sweat, she basically ran into his axe
The fight starts on the left spears and axes flying around
the shield maiden attacks the archer who in turn is jumped by a Saxon veteran
the archer does a runner, escaping the fight
Lagertha dives inot Steppa in revenge for her fallen Maiden
Uhtred slays the Viking with ease
The Berserker knocks a Saxon down but not killed
the Viking Vetran knocks another down but unables to slay him
Lagertha smashes Steppa on the head felling him but he still lives
the viking warrior is also knocked down in the left handed fight
Steppa rises as Ragnar strikes hard
the Archer decides to now charge the shield maiden
Steppa falls again but is again only knocked down not slain
the shield maiden is slain by the Saxon
Uhtred slays the fallen Viking as his men rise and attack the Berserker who is killed. Ragnar sees his has not enough to complete the raid and he and Lagertha escape the village leaving all his raiders killed by the defenders.
We were rusty on this game but really enjoyed it it is IHMN in a senses but a totally different beast, Nice game play also, and is intent with the activations
The next game as we had time was the second in the book "Making off with the spoils" one side must exit the opposite corner with the spoils of a raid, encumbered by loot and slaves they are ambushed by the other, I decided to use a war band of my own creation based on my characters from long ago and featured in many of my games
Wolff Blackmaine, his wife Shalla,Bear the champion a veteran warrior , Berserker, 3 basic warriors and Skyclad female fighter, Alec would use the same War band again Uhtred and his men
Alec laid out the table again, and i was the raider he the ambusher
the raiders with loot and slaves make there path along the road
Uhtred s ambushes split and seek to stop the path
Steppa tells the archer not to miss this time"or else!"
the raiders move slowly down the road
Uhtreds man spring into the attack
"Block the road and kill them all!"
The warriors move as fast as they can to engage, ( Decent armour means you cannot run and is a huge minus)
Bear flanked by Wolff does not stop just goes head on
the raiders make a left off the road and hope there warband stops then ambushers ensuring there spoils are theres
Uthred as a true hero blocks the road "Who dies first"
Bear discards his captive and charges in "Odin "2
Wolff strikes fast he takes on one defender as another joins seeking to over power him
Shalla drops her loot and charges an axe man
raider is felled down by the archer who at least hits some thing this time
Wolff swings the two handed axe and sends to Odins table his two attackers in one sweep (split the FV between the two combatants still disadvantaged by the out numbered they both made dreadful fate rolls)
Shalla drive her spear into the axe man running him through (Alec lost 3 of his war band in one turn, bad news)
Steppa charges behind Bear who sees the attack and makes a dash past Uhtred not wanting to fight both at once(he failed his fate and also saved the hit from Uhtred as he moved away)
Uhtred wants to finish the fight and dives on Bear
Shalla charges the archer
The raiders continue there escape
Shalla is mercyless and the archer is killed outright
Wolff strikes down another warrior, alec is loosing all fighters
The berserker charges but Steppa drops him on the spot, as Wolff charges into the huge man
Uhtred and bear exchange blows in a furious fight
Wolff's axe finds its mark and the huge Steppa who had blocked so many blows is slain
The raiders start to make it off the road and to victory
Wolff and Shalla go past the 2 mighty warriors struggle "leave them to it there enjoying themselves)
Uhtred knocks Bear out as he sees the last raider escape at least he had a captive and drinking partner, the raiders won easy, in a few turns Alec's war band depleted fast. But a very enjoyable game,
I see is creates storeys and tales in the game play, and works very good composing a war band is not easy there are calculators and articles on here to give a examples
https://bloodeagleskirmish.wordpress.com/
we have also a great face book page
https://www.facebook.com/groups/424811634371518/482452131940801/?notif_t=like
Over view and Review
Being along time IHMN gamer , Iam hooked on this it works as the rules tested and played are seasoned , as IHMN it creates a great game play and makes you think a lot in the game,
The book is a lovely composition with great examples and pictures to inspire . It is easy on the eye to read , if you never played IHMN nothing will stop you getting into the rules and concepts with ease. great war bands and ideas to pick. find your miniatures work out your war band and off you go!
Recomended thank you Charles , Craig and Nick (Northstar)
Superb! I'm honestly so excited about playing this...unfortunately I have a poorly little daughter to look after this Easter so I shall have to wait a while!
ReplyDeleteFantastic report!!
ReplyDeleteHad a good read of the rules and itching to have a game. Being new to the game mechanics it looks like a crib sheet with all of the bonuses etc would be useful. An empty Rosta sheet with space for equipment/bonuses etc would also be useful when creating warbands. Already have the first scenario planned, hoping to test it later this week.
ReplyDeleteLooking awesome. Where are the Ragnar and Lagertha models from - they look equally awesome :)
ReplyDeleteNevermind, found them both :)
ReplyDelete