"Blood Eagle rules review" Topic

Having a collection of Viking miniatures I looked around for more rules, beside SAGA, that would scratch my "skirmish game" itch. I also really wanted "Viking fantasy" as it was something that rumbled around in my head for the past couple of weeks.

Browsing the internet, as usual, you always find something that look interesting or promising. This was the case of "Blood Eagle: Skirmish warfare in the legendary Dark Ages". This is a game from the team behind "In her Majesty's Name" published by Osprey a while back.

Though this module focuses on both historical and mythological aspects of the Dark Ages allowing you to field warbands of pre-generated warriors from a wide variety of historical factions such as Vikings, Picts, Gaels, the warband of Ragnar Lodbrok, Jomsvikings. The book also allows you to field warbands based upon the mythology of the Dark Ages, in particular Norse mythology, fielding Jotun, Draugr, Sidhe and also have encounters with both normal animals as well as legendary creatures such as wyrms, trolls, Valkyries and redcaps. There are also rules for creating your own warriors, using a point system with weapons, armor, abilities and magic powers (Wyrd for pagans and Miracles for Christian warbands).

Check my blog for the full review:
link

I also picked this rule set up in a similar fashion; already had a bunch of models from SAGA so why not.

I found the mounted / cavalry rules underwhelming, and didn't really understand how it benefitted a warrior to be on a horse.

I also liked the magic system, as the powers are more on "realistic" side. Less magic missiles and more about superstition.

also suffers from the situation common in some skirmish point systems; i'll just describe it because I can't think if a cleaver name.

you buy a model with points who has a sword and a knife (and whatever else), however since the sword is the best attack and there's hardly ever a reason why the sword would not be used, why have the knife? really just because there is a slight chance of a fumble / sword goes missing somehow. yet with the re-rolls it's easy to avoid that.

have yet to play a game though, but overall seems like a fun setting.

I think I will skip the fumble rules when I play. Dropping a weapon and not being able to use it again is silly imo.

I actually like fumble type rules, as long as they make sense. I fenced for a number of years and if I could disarm an opponent he was a goner. Seems to be the case as well with SCA type stuff I participated in, and the reason some people had back up weapons.
Gaming wise, if your character drops his weapon of loses and the enemy is right there bearing down, there might not be a chance to recover and use it without being skewered…

I like the rules, I don't have many viking mounted figures so I didn't even read that part, I may use something else if I want to break out bodies of mounted Normans. The points system I ignored for our first game, I just gave them what the minis had and gave each a trait just so we'd have a chance to try them out. I ran the opposition (evil village & witch). I really like the magic system, not a D&D style smg wizard. It's easy enough to skip the magic part if that's not your thing and it'll have no effect on the game. The players used my Old Glory/Ghost minis "barbarians" so they have big nasty weapons but some have very little armor. Overall the big burly guys can wipe out "spuds" but the tough guys aren't invulnerable. I like the fumble rules (1 on d10, then another 1 on d10) as it throws in some chaos within reason and it can lead to a figure going from a really good weapon to bare hands or an "object". We didn't have any fumbles occur in our game, the 2nd die roll wasn't a 1.

Actually the fumble rules work very well in practice. They are simple to operate, rarely result in an actual fumble but do introduce a lovely bit of tension during the game when your hero rolls a 1 to hit and then has to roll again to see if his favourite weapon is unusable for whatever reason.

Overall there is only a 1% chance of it happening but when it does it can inspire some creativity amongst the players in describing in the game narrative what happened. This can be as simple as a bowstring snapped or a spear head broke off the shaft at a critical moment or something more epic than it being dropped in the mud.

As to picking a secondary weapon, most warriors did that for good reason and in my view it is better to model your figures on that historic practice than worry about min-maxing the effect of your points spend. You should try to think of your figures as Characters not point sinks and equip them accordingly. All adds to the flavour.

A very fair review.
I've only managed to play a couple of games of Blood Eagle so far due to a lack of time but I enjoyed them. However, I am very familiar with Daisho from the same authors which takes a very similar approach. If you are sensible in your selection of your warband and its weapons, say limiting it to 2-3 characters with a number of basic similarly equipped warriors in support, it is pretty easy to remember the key stats you need in play.

The whole emphasis is on generating a narrative during the game and we have found that it is easy to generate a campaign by following through on the outcome of one game into the next.

Anatoli – thanks for the balanced and thoughtful review :)

Stewart – In the period and region we are covering there was little real cavalry. Horses mostly got you to the battlefield, where you dismounted to fight.
In BE horse are very useful to get around quickly, i.e. to out flank an enemy or get to the objectives first.
Another thing to consider is the horses of the day were not the great Destriers of the late medieval period. They were smaller and not really capable of heavy horse tactics.
Having a dagger/throwing axe, as well as a sword or fighting axe, benefits you in a couple of ways;
1. As others have said that rare fumble may well leave you with a bent, broken or missing weapon. The secondary weapon is a fall back.
2. You can throw the dagger or throwing axe while actually in combat (see 3.3.4) during the shooting phase.