CLXXX. Legen: The Battle

Recovered from the game, so now it's time for a brief report. Had a great time, was glad to see my friends from before, and meet a new one. Thanks for coming, everyone!

If you are somehow hearing about this for the first time, I'll explain what the event was about. Legen was a collab project by a group of hobbyists from the Dark Age of Sigmar (AoS28) crowd. I invited people from all over Europe to come to Zagreb for a game. Not all were able to make it, but there were still nine of us playing; five from abroad. Some of those who were not here still sent the minis they made for the project. It was all about building and painting unique minis specifically for the event, inventing their lore and playing out a story on a custom table, while the rules were kept very loose and simple so that they don't get in the way of a good time. The venue was provided by my club, UMS „Agram“, and I would not have had the board to play on without the help of my friends Marko Paunović and Goran Krunić. You can actually see the first half of the board build tutorial in Initiative Magazine vol 12. It will continue in the next issue. I've covered the creation of my warband, giants and scenery here on the blog during the past months. You can find them all under the Legen label, or by clicking the Legen logo in the left sidebar. There will actually be more bits of story coming late, since I simply didn't have time to blog as the event was approaching.

List of contributors with their sites. I expect at least some of them might do their own writeups at some point:    

• Helge Wilhelm Dahl (Wilhelminiatures, Instagram)
• Mikkel Engh (Instagram) 
•  Rebecca Karlsson (Instagram)
•  Witold Krawczyk (Krokodyl zoczami na szypułkach)
•  Tommy Hovind Kristiansen (BigBossRedskullz, Instagram) 
•  Goran Krunić
•  Vladimir Matić-Kuriljov (Instagram)
•  Saul Painter (WarbossKurgan, Instagram)
•  Marko Paunović
•  Filip Petersson (Instagram)
•  Ana Polanšćak
•  Ivan Polanšćak
•  Tomislav Rac
•  Alexander Winberg (Echoesof Imperium)

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The Gargants are coming! 

The people of Dol were in a state of panic. They knew they were coming, they could feel the ground trembling when the Gargants were still a long way away. The women, children and old folks were evacuated hours ago, on overloaded carts carrying everything they could. The only ones that remained in the village were the brave, the foolish, and the too slow...

Towering figures approached from the north, trampling crops and toppling trees. Moving in with determination, like an unstoppable, destructive tide. Their dull, beady eyes searching for men and cattle to devour; ugly maws dribbling, clubs ready in their massive hands. The peasants could only behold in despair, wait powerless for their homes to be torn down... and curse their lord for not defending them. The bastard is cowering in his castle, waiting for the giants to pass through his lands unopposed. 

But what is that? A sound of horses, and of steel clanging. Could it be the lord is coming to their aid after all? No... It is knights. But their colours are not familliar. They all look foreign to the people of Dol. But what does it matter, if they've come to help them. Blessings upon the unknown heroes! 

Eight lances step in front of Nerod and his herd, their retainers following behind them. There is yet hope for Dol. For a moment, the giants halt their progress. They did not expect any opposition here. But then, their leader roars a command, and they all charge forward. The ground shakes, as the fierce battle commences.

I was pretty underslept and too preoccupied with the battle to take precise notes of what was happening. I was in charge of Gargants because Tomislav hadn't managed to finish his warband in time, so he controlled my Sir Pelial. But I can say there were some twists and turns, some Gargants died easily, others proved very lucky. 

Nerod kept falling over at the start, so he advanced very slowly. He got an intense finale battle alone against four knights, which was really great. Went on for a few turns. He managed to crush Helge's knight to death after he was slain. We had at least one Gargant fleeing off the table. One of the Gargants, the Moss Giant, remorsefully switched sides after fatally bludgeoning Sir Tanasian and his rhino mount (Have you seen that guy? That wasn't an easy feat). 

Skoff  * The Moss Giant * Bauge * Manson * Nerod, Prophet of the Legen-King * Rolfish * Dundo * Slonus * Droggen

In the end, all nine Gargants were slain or fled the battlefield, and four out of eight knights were dead. Tomislav got the idea to claim the village for Sir Pelial, and nobody opposed him. So hell, now he owns a village. Good job, Tomislav! I'll think of a way to continue his story. The village's cowardly lord might want to take it back. Westcott and the Aelf survived fine, the dog fled the scene (of course he did...) and poor Murdered Knight got murdered again. I think it's permanent this time, as he got crushed to dust by the giant Rolfish. 

Hopefully the others will give more info on the heroic deeds of their knights in their own writeups. Keep an eye on their blogs! I also intend to update the Legen 'Battletome' PDF with all the warband and giant Warscrolls, so I'll put that up for download when it's done.

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I have here a showcase of all the Warbands. For more pictures and lore check their authors' respective blogs/instagrams. Most have been shown publically before the game.

 Sir Nikosh, the Knight Transcendent by Witold Krawczyk.

 Demihippogryph Knight by Mikkel Engh.

 Unnamed Knight by Helge Wilhelm Dahl.

 Sir Tanasian, Baron of Ivona by Vladimir Matić-Kuriljov.

Pegarius Bardas, Champion of No by Rebecca Krohn Karlsson.

 The Jackalope Knight of Nevergreen by Filip Petersson.

 Don Manos, the Left-Handed Knight by Ivan Polanšćak.

Sir Pelial of Turm, Death Knight of Vvolos by Ana Polanšćak.

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I'll have a report on Legen in the 28 Magazine as well, but from a 'making of' perspective. Could be interesting to anyone considering organizing a similar event, so keep an eye out for that. Will be out this autumn.

Thanks once again to everyone who participated, and to all who followed the development of the project here on the blog and on social media. 

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Oh, and my Tor Megiddo warband was in White Dwarf this month. :)