This week in the Duchy

Term started back this week so I've been completely knackered, especially since I didn't really get much of a holiday. Had brilliant day yesterday though out at the Hall of Heroes playing in their second Saga tournament. I was fortunate enough to win the first one, but balance was restored yesterday as I received a comprehensive drubbing.Fortunately I forgot to take my camera with me, so a revisionist school of history will shortly deny categorically that the Scots were even present, let alone abjectly defeated. The tournament consisted of three 6 point games, using the Clash of Warlords, Sacred Ground and Escort scenarios. I brought along my Scots, using them for the first time, with Kenneth MacAlpin as the warlord. MacAlpin has the ability to target an enemy unit before the game, which may result at best in the unit actually switching sides. Sadly I was unlucky with this all day, and effectively fought each battle with a point less of troops for no real advantage. In the first game I was up against Vikings, with MacAlpin simply making one of the units of Vikings enraged, so that they had to charge me. Sadly, I think they were planning on doing that anyway. Despite the great ability of the Scots to pile on defence dice, the Vikings overwhelmed my men. MacAlpin survived, but I lost on points. The second game saw the Scots up against Anglo Saxons, who fielded three very large units of warriors. This game was close, with my men breaking two of the Saxon units, but the third finished off my hearthguard and warlord, leaving the Saxons in control of the Sacred Ground objectives. In the third game, Scots fought Scots. I had the thankless task of trying to escort my baggage off the board, and never really looked like I was going to succeed. My opponent was an experienced Scots player, and successfully hemmed in my men so that I couldn't either maneuver through a gap or bludgen my way through. So three defeats, but another excellent day of Saga games with a great group of opponents. Congratulations to Steve (the Viking player) for victory on the day. It was particularly great to see so many beautifully painted warbands, and I'm only sorry I couldn't hang around to enjoy the stew made by Matt from Hall of Heroes while watching The Thirteenth Warrior. I am going to decimate my dice later in the week as soon as I can find an angle grinder and blowtorch. The other big thing on my radar this week has been the imminent release of Dux Britanniarum from Too Fat Lardies. Reading about the game developing on Lard Island News and hearing Richard Clarke interviewed about it on Meeples has certainly captured my interest, and I went ahead an pre-ordered a copy of the rules. Check out the pre-release deals from Too Fat Lardies here. They look like excellent value for a great set of rules. Once Dux Bellorum is out as well Arthurian Gamers are going to be in hog heaven, and it will be great to compare the games, that look to me like they might actually complement each other nicely. It is indeed a Golden Age for the Dark Ages.