Fjord Serpents

'Fjord Serpents' is a relatively new game (a couple of years old, tops) from Australia which covers Viking naval battles. It's one of those 'game in a box' offerings, with rules, templates, counters and enough models for a decent single-player force or a small two-player game all in the one box. Obviously there's extras you can buy as well.

Our club seemed to have a sudden desire to try this game last month, and four people bought sets. After lots of talented painting we had our first game last night, with six people split onto two teams of three running one ship per person.

The scenario involved salvaging cargo treasure from a sinking vessel in the centre of the table, flanked by a couple of islands. Obviously such an easy mission for each side is complicated by the presence of rivals. Both sides had a small ship (a karvi) and two larger ships (the snekkja). Ships are defined by how many hits they can take (the karvi take 4 and the snekkja 6), which is also how many crew bases they can carry as well. 

The figures are 10mm, so the ships are about 1/150th scale. They are lovely resin models and come with optional shield-racks along the side, plus a full-sail mast and a furled sail one. The interior has slots for the crew bases. Each based has eight figures, and they cover a range of different warrior types, each with their own advantages and disadvantages. Some are elite and are simply better than the common herd (or hird, I guess). This is the ship I commanded - Odin's Fury. I had six bases of troops - some elite armoured axemen, some armoured swordsmen, two lots of leidang spears and two lots of javelinmen. The latter can do ranged attacks during boarding actions. 

Here's the same ship, bit with a furled sail; with the wind against us I decided that rowing was a better option than sailing.

In fact sailing is fairly simplistic. There are two arcs - wind in front and wind behind. There's no Can't Sail Zone. Going into the wind you can only use half-sail. With the wind behind you you can use half-sail or full sail, the latter being faster. With the wind behind you you also get a speed bonus. Rowing is slower, but you can control your speed. When sailing you must move the full available distance. Turning is via turning-circle templates and is done at the start or end of a ship's movement.

Anyway, on the first move we blundered about trying the movement. On our opponent's side of the table Caesar and Mark used the fact that they had the wind in their favour to bear down on the wreck. They then discovered that collisions with wrecks can be quite nasty. However Mark ignored the damage he'd taken and started salvaging cargo. Caesar bounced off the wreck and came around it to cover Mark's flank form my ship and that of Daniel (out of shot the the right of the picture. That's Caesar's ship with the blue and yellow sail.

Mark salvaging cargo.

Keen to try out boarding, I ran full tilt at Caesar's ship and grappled him. 

On the other flank Keegan and Ralph's karvi's were locked in combat as well.

And here's a shot of everyone's ships in action.

So ... combat. The game is split up into a movement phase and combat phase. In the movement phase each ship moves twice. Then after movement there is the crew phase, with players alternating taking actions with crew stands. Obviously there's not a lot crew can do when the ships are apart - archers can shoot mostly. But when ships are grappled there's a range of combat options available. 

Combat involves rolling a a number of D6 looking to score a target number (Major Success) or the number of either side of it (Minor Success). The target number is an odd rule. At the start of a turn you roll a D6 and the score is the target number for the turn. Rolls of 6 and 1 cause the numbers each side to loop around (so if the target number is 6 then a roll of 1 or 5 is a minor success, for example). The whole mechanism could be replaced by a rule that says a 6 is a major success, a 4-5 is a minor and a 1-3 is a miss. It seems to be an unnecessary complication which, as far as I can see, has no purpose.

I digress. 

Stands roll to hit enemy stands, and stands that are hit get to save. Fail to save and minor successes wound the stand (it can take two wounds) whilst a major success destroys it. Armored troops get a second save roll to avoid wounding/destruction. Once you get going combat is pretty quick, and the different troop types and action options create some interesting decisions as initiative passes back and forth.

Anyway, whilst Caesar and I hacked at each other (and my crew threw javelins with great effect). Mark was escaping with the bulk of the cargo. Keegan (red and white stripes) set out to stop him. He failed.

Mark escaped with six of the nine cargo pieces, to give his side a win. Ralph's ship was trapped by Keegan's and sunk against an island. I was a turn or so from clearing the last of Caesar's crew from his ship; the base just before the mast is actually some of my swordsmen who had gained purchase there.

So financial success for one side and a bit of glory for the other.

It's an interesting game. We played just the basic rules; there are all sorts of traits that can be added to leader and ships, plus special crew types that can be deployed. I guess we'll see more of those as people crack on with their painting. I think a fifth person is looking at investing in a set as well, so as a club we should soon have two fairly decent fleets.