Gripping Beast SAGA. A proper 4 point Viking army list.

After their destruction of Al the other week I figured my SAGA Vikings deserved some attention with the paint brush and finally finished off four points with paint, basing and banners.

"Bring us all your riches and no one gets hurt!"

So here is my 4 point Viking army list for SAGA.

No poxy levy (whats the point!). 

The Warband consisits of;

 Warlord (free)

1 unit of Berserkers (1 point)

2 units of twelve Bondi (3 points of Bondi split into two units of twelve)

"Now wheres that church?"

Due to the sacrificial nature of certain Viking battle board abilities I feel it is best to take the Bondi units in as large a unit as possible to give them more durability and use abilities like Valhalla more then once.

This is why I have gone for two units of twelve rather then three units of eight.

I also find it allows the unit to keep generating SAGA dice for longer without having to hide at the back for part of the endgame.

I know in the updated rules banners have a purpose (I don't know what that is!) but I just like banners because it makes the unit (and for that fact the army) look more imposing and you can hide losses in the gap behind the banner which can fool an unobservant opponent into thinking the unit is bigger then it actually is.

This unit crashing into a unit or Warlord with full battle board boost can generate 24 attack die! Thats enough to get most jobs done, especially if you charge into an enemy unit flank and can keep half of the enemy unit out of the action.

Unit one ready to go!

The Berserkers are a compulsory unit for Vikings!

With Valhalla and other augments they generate 32 attack die! BUT they are a glass cannon and unless you keep them at the back you will always need a SAGA die on the 'Asgard' ability to save them from enemy missle fire. Even losing ONE of these fellas will really hurt their ability to cause carnage to the enemy!

They really are a one shot trick as they will almost definately be wiped out in the combat, but if those 32 attack die are against the enemy warlord who cares!

One warning I will give is against using them to clear an attack channel as they will always be massacred and this WILL generate a fatigue on any friendly units within 6 inches, which your opponent could exploit, especially to shorten the movement of the next charging unit which can stop the assassination run in its tracks.

The compulsory Berserkers but whats with the Mankinni!

The Warlord (Olaf the lucky) is a givern and in most scenarios his death results in your defeat. I try to keep my army in a 'flying brick' formation with as many units as possible within 6 inches of Olaf to allow the 'come with me' ability to get any unit moving.

This is especially true with this army list as the majority of the warband is Bondi and you can not always be garranteed the die to get all the units moving and make full use of the battle board boosts.

Remember just because you activate a unit with the Warlord he does not have to attack the unit with them. I usually just move him over to stand next to the other unit of Bondi while the unit he activated crash into any threats.

"Lucky by name. Tactical by nature!" "Shhhh don't tell anyone!"

I like to keep a large unit of Bondi around the Warlord as it always hurts to pawn hits off onto expensive and hard hitting Hirdguard (especially Berserkers!) when my Warlord gets attacked. Having the unit of twelve Bondi allows me to soak up a lot more hits and leave the Elite units free to do what they are best at - collecting skulls!

Also a unit of twelve Bondi with the Warlord in support can (with the right die) generate up to 34 ATTACK die. That is enough to put off any Warlord from making a run at your Warlord. Especially in the early stages of the game.

Unit two present and correct

As an aside I can now introduce Sven 'The Oak', half brother of Olaf 'The lucky'.

Sven was the result of a tryst between Skorri 'the adventutous' (Olaf's father) and Hilda the gigantic ginger milk maid!

"Kiss my axe!"

The mini was originally a Grenadier model bought at Hamleys when I was about 14. Always LOVED Grenadier models but thankfully I realised I did not have the skills back then to paint it.

It has had to wait over 15 years for a paint job but I feel I have finally done it some justice

They are not painted to the best standard but they will do for an army / game that only makes an occassional appearance.

I gave Sven and the Berserkers a bit more time with the brush as they tend to end up in a lot of the pictures due to their decisive, game ending nature.

6 more down, 357 to go!

P.S. if you have any comments about my list feel free to comment as I am always willing to learn new tricks.