Earl from our club organized a group trip to the Collings Foundation American Heritage Museum yesterday. Eleven of us gathered at the museum to enjoy a visit. The museum is doing a 'soft open' and is still putting the finishing touches on many things. That said they're definitely ready for the public. There is an introductory movie, a WWI trench scene with multi-media displays, and ample knowledgeable docents that provided even wargamer geeks with plenty of helpful extra detailed information. The highlight of the trip for me was being able to hear Ralph and Ed talk about the the tank they commanded while they were in the army. It was extra special having them be able to point to parts of the tank and tell detailed stories about how it impacted their use of the weapon.
The collection is extensive, but primarily consists of armor from WWII with a few notable exceptions, an American FT-17 from WWII, and a decent amount of post-WWII vehicles and armor. Most of the vehicles are running, moving examples. Many have hatches and ports open. Access around, below and above the exhibits is exceptional and taking photos inside is not discouraged.
I took a large amount of photos, too many to post here on the blog. I've included a sample below of some of my favorites. All of my photos can be viewed by accessing my Google Photos gallery here: https://photos.app.goo.gl/Y9J12hjiMB8ygVWH8
I'm VERY happy I went and will return for many visits I'm sure. I had a few nits to pick with the introductory movie, but that's a common occurrence with such offerings intended for the general public. Also the lighting could be better for photography in some places. The lighting is something they're continuing to work on as they find final locations for some of the exhibits. All in all an exceptional museum, worthy of an excursion to.
Tonight was the Northern Conspiracy's November game night. I played in some Saga games hosted by Mike C. We paired up new players with experienced players. I played two games with Kevin, and in the second game he took me to the wire with me edging him out for a narrow 3-point victory. We played two games with Kevin pushing Crusaders against my Eastern Princes army. In the second game I even got to try out the fortified wagon. It was a fun piece, but certainly not overpowered. Kevin took it out with a couple of shots from his crossbows and a charge from his warriors. Fun games. We had six players across three tables and I think each table played two games.
Peter ran a pony wars game of US cavalry vs. plains Indians.
Michael ran a pirate skirmish game with his huge fleet of pirate boats.
These are another point of figures for my Saga Eastern Princes force. They are the last of the unpainted figures I had from the Gripping Beast starter army boxed set. Russians can have crossbows, but Lithuanians can only have regular bows. That's why I'm calling these Lithuanian archers. In reality I may also use them with my Russian crossbows when I want two missile units in my warband.
Looking at the photographs and the video below, I can see that they still need another coat of matte lacquer to give them a true flat finish. There's still a bit of gloss showing through. Next up on the painting table is another unit of warriors made by converting some Pagan Rus figures.
Yesterday I hosted a second 'Saga Saturday' on my big gaming table with friends Rob, Ralph, Byron, Mike and Ed. I have a second, portable table I put in the room for a fourth table of Saga, but we had a couple of late cancellations, so it wasn't needed. Still the six of us had great fun playing Saga. Three of the players, Rob, Byron and Ed were new to Saga having played only one or no Saga games previously. The veteran players split up, each taking a newcomer. As far as I can remember, all three games were close fought affairs. We all chose to play four-point games to ease the learning process for the new players. Ed and Mike even managed to play two games.
In my game Byron played using Mike's Milites Christi army versus my Russian Princedoms force. Byron had two four-figure hearthguard units, an eight-figure warrior unit with melee weapons and another eight-figure warrior unit with crossbows. My force was similar with a twelve figure levy crossbow unit instead of the eight figure warrior unit Byron had.
Byron took no time in running down my levy crossbows, all but eliminating the unit in one charge. He followed that up with effective fire on my warrior unit eliminating three figures over two turns. I attempted to counter by charging his warriors with one of my hearthguard units. That was fatal for me eliminating only three of his warriors at the cost of all four of my hearthguard. It didn't look good for the Russians. To the left, you can see the Russian dead piling up on my side. Byron followed up my disastrous charge with an attempt to finish the battle by charging my remaining hearthguard unit with one of his. This went slightly in my favor, with him losing two figures and me losing only one. Desperate times call for desperate measures, so I followed this up with a charge from my warlord, supported by javelin fire from my warriors (thanks to a Saga board ability). This eliminated his unit, and I withdrew my force to catch my breath (photo left).
Byron finally got his second hearthguard unit through the rough terrain they were stuck in and made a final push to try his hand at eliminating my final unit of hearthguard. That attack went well for me losing one figure to his four. After that was just clean up as we both were down to only one or two Saga dice and a final turn to try to use them. Byron made a desperate attack with his warlord, which didn't damage much on either side, but the added fatigue meant the next turn his warlord was vulnerable to counter-attack.
In the end the game was very close. The massacre points I gained for destroying his warlord being the difference. Byron gave me a great game, fun and competitive for a first game. That's one of the things we like about Saga.
Here's a short video of a panorama of the games as they started.
Posts
