New Record Number of Players for Saga Game Day

My newest Saga army - Picts (Scots from Age of Vikings) marches cautiously towards Joe Merz's Anglo-Danes

We had 16 players show up for our monthly Saga Game Day at the Guardtower East, Sunday. As usual, this included new players who seemed excited about coming again for more fun next month. I took one of the players, veteran DBA Ancients gamer Bob Boggs, under my wing and coached him through most of his first game using Normans against Jason Stelzer's Vikings. Bob has played Ancients (and other) games in our area for years. He seemed to pick up the mechanics and tactics pretty quickly

Dave coaches his son Alex along in his first game against Adrian's Normans

Dave Eblin brought his son Alex along, and similarly helped coach him through his first game using Vikings against Adrian John's Normans. In another first, we had four players that wanted to play Sage: Age of Magic (game day organizers Andy Swingle and Steve Phallen, along with John Meier and Jeff Fletcher). The other dozen of us were playing Age of Crusader (three players) and Age of Vikings (the rest). For me, this was an exciting day. I would be running my Viking age Pictish army (using the Scots list) for the first time. I'd been working off and on over the past six months to finish off the figures I needed for the list. I cut Bob free in the last half hour or so of his game and sat down against Joe Merz, who had just won his first match.

My small unit of four Pictish, hearthguard cavalry

My Pictish list is a very warrior-heavy one, with four points worth (32 figures). I would organize them into one unit of 12 figures and two of 10. I also had one point of 12 Levy bowmen and a small, mounted hearthguard unit of Pictish cavalry. With my Warlord, who received his final Dullcoate spraying that morning, it made for my six points of Picts. My friend Jason Mirosavich plays Scots regularly, and I'd hit him up for ideas. His recommended list also relied mostly on warriors, but differed in some respects. The strength of the Scots battleboard appeared to me to be in its solid, defensive infantry. The strategy seems to be to wear the opponent down by closing ranks when charged, and using the battleboard to receive so many defensive dice that you take few casualties.

Joe orders his Anglo-Danes forward in his first game against Mike Stelzer's Last Romans

Joe and I set up Clash of the Warlords, and we deployed a few large forests on the flanks of the battlefield. Rolling up Version "B" meant we'd be fighting diagonally across the field, which threw a slight kink in a straight-up scrum. I deployed my largest warrior schiltron (the name the Scots gave to their long spear-armed infantry formations) in the center, along with one of the others on its left. The third schiltron deployed to advance through one of the woods, guarding the left. The right was guarded by the levy archers, while I kept both the Warlord, King Nechtan Mac Fergus of the Pictish subkingdom of Fortrieu and the Pictish cavalry in reserve.

Mike Stelzer's warrior bow take aim at an advancing unit of Anglo-Dane warriors

Joe's Anglo-Danes deployed in one long, thin battleline. On its left flank were an 8-man warrior unit, along with 12 levy slingers. Next to them, in the center, was his killer unit -- a double-size, 8-man unit of foot hearthguards with Danish axes. Guarding their right were two more 8-man warrior units. I have been playing the Anglo-Danes almost exclusively for the last 4-5 months, so I was well aware of how tough they could be. True to form, he threw Exhaustion at my units, scattering fatigue across my front line of units on two of the first three turns. We advanced cautiously towards each other until my largest warrior unit edged within two moves of his Danish axemen. The schiltron had just suffered an abnormally effective volley of slingers, causing four casualties. The initial die rolling made me a little apprehensive about the outcome. A normal roll would cause three hits on my unit, when adjusting for the heavy cover of the woods, I would save on against on rolls of 3-6. Joe did five hits and I saved only one of them. So, he was rolling way above average to start the game.

My warlord Nechtan, with his trusty deerhound, ponders how to respond to the surging Anglo-Danes

The hits kept on coming when his hearthguard charged my unit, which had been whittled down to eight figures by the slingers. I had stacked up my defensive abilities, closed ranks as I should have, and expected to weather his storm with my defensive capabilities of my battleboard. Even though I know a double-strength hearthguard unit is the toughest killing machine in the game, I was stunned to lose five more figures, inflicting only one. My biggest unit recoiled out of combat down to three casualties, too battered to generate any more Saga dice. On the same turn, Joe's eight-man warrior unit charged through the woods at my 10-man schiltron. Joe rolled significantly above average here, too, while I continued to roll below, and my larger unit was hurled back. This was not looking good. My archers were inflicting next to no casualties on his warriors, who advanced steadily towards them, seeking to savage another of my units.

According to Mike S, right, Joe's hot pink dice were...well, HOT against him in his game, too!

So, this was the vaunted defensive capability of the Scots Saga list? We were getting shredded! I had yet to roll a "Stag" (the rare Saga die, or 1 in 6) on any of my command rolls. In fact, through six turns I would roll the equivalent of one six on my command dice over the course of the entire game! It was at this point, when things looked the bleakest, that the wyrm began to turn. His Danish axemen had thrust forward, creating a dent in my battlelines. I decided to give the battleboard ability "Reach" a try. This allows all non-missile armed infantry to make a missile attack as if armed with javelins. I *think* this is supposed to simulate us edging forward, thrusting with our long spears, then withdrawing (though Saga is not the most historical of games, at times). So, I closed into Medium range with all available units and showered his axemen with missile attacks -- or poked them with our long, pointy sticks, if you prefer. Joe's dice began to falter. Our attacks whittled his hearthguard down to one figure remaining -- causing six casualties.

Jim Randall's Byzantines were the big winners of the day, going 2-0, triumphing in both of their battles

I followed this up with a charge by my small band of Pictish cavalry against the sole survivor. He was ridden down, which put a fatigue on two of his remaining warrior units.  I had also rolled my lone Stag die of the game, and used No Respite to restock my defensive abilities for his turn. Joe decided to press his advantage on my left, and his fatigued victorious warrior unit sprang from the woods and charged my warrior unit, which was down from 10 to 7 figures. I threw my battleboard at him, so to speak, even finally being able to spring Counter-Attack for the only time in the game. This destroyed his unit, and suddenly the tactical situation looked a lot different.

Packed house with 16 Saga players, including Jim R, left, against Jim B. Meanwhile, Bob Boggs picks up the game

On my turn, we used Reach again, and my cavalry followed up against his whittled down warrior unit in the center. King Nechtan and his companions charged into the woods and ran off his warrior unit, which had chased off my levy archers. At this point, I felt the Picts were obviously in control of the battlefield. On my final turn, I decided to edge backwards onto the center hill. I didn't want him getting a lucky shot with his slingers, who were having a bonanza day on their die rolling (on Joe's turn, they eliminated my remaining three Pictish cavalry!). Nothing more happened, and I was happy survive this first encounter, count up the points, and likely score a victory. The score was 22-17, and King Nechtan Mac Fergus did indeed emerge the winner from the bloody fray against his Anglo-Dane neighbors to the south.

Jenny's Vikings battled Thomas' Crusaders to a bloody draw in a first round game

I was happy that I was able to find a way to scrape together a counter-push and finesse my way to victory after the horrible way the battle began. On turn 3, I was thinking that perhaps I'd made a mistake in selecting Picts to play. They rely on good saving rolls (usually being able to adjust their number needed to 3-6 on 1d6). However, I have never been consistent on my saving rolls, so I was thinking along the lines of "Big mistake, Indy!" Still, I felt they looked really nice on the battlefield with all of their tartans, checks, and stripes. King Nechtan's men beat a very tough army in the Anglo-Danes, and a player who was hot with his dice rolling for most of the game. So, I will definitely count our maiden battle as a success!

Adrian's Normans ride towards Dave and Alex's Viking Warlord in the scenario 'Prized Possessions'

Elsewhere around the room, we had a few players leave after our first round of games. Though we had five games in round one, there were only three in round two. A good quarter or more of our players drove from the Dayton area, and two more from Springfield. So, we were all very pleased with the turnout. Bob said he'd definitely be back, though I did not get a chance to ask Dave what his son Alex thought of the game.

First time I had seen this army fielded -- Jim Beegan's Pagan Peoples (Baltic tribes) from Age of Crusades

Here were the stats for the day's games, according to what I was able to record:

Round 1

• Jim Randall's Byzantine army edged out Jim Beegan's Pagan Peoples army 17-14, in Clash of Warlords.
• Joe Merz's Anglo-Danes crushed Mike Stelzer's Last Romans, 21-12, (in honor of drummer Neal Peart), in Clash of Warlords.
• Adrian John's Normans clinched a victory over Dave and Alex's Vikings, 14-12, in Claiming Territory from Book of Battles.
• Thomas Moehn's Crusaders battled Jenny Torbett's Vikings to a 14-12 Draw in Clash of Warlords.
• Bob Boggs' Normans also fought to a draw against Jason Stelzer's Vikings, 22-20.

Jeff Fletcher's Orcs advance towards their goody-two-shoes foes in the Age of Magic game

Round 2

• Jim's Byzantines triumphed over Jason's Vikings, 27-20, in Clash of Warlords.
• Mike Demana's Picts (Scots) slogged out a victory over Joe's Anglo-Danes, 22-17, in Clash of Warlords.
• Jenny's Vikings hammered their way to another Draw against Bob's Normans, 20-19, in Clash of Warlords

Close up of Jim Randall's Byzantines, the day's big winners at a 2-0 record

Here were the records for the day's historical Saga games:
Jim Randall, Byzantines, 2-0
Adrian John, Normans, 1-0
Mike Demana, Picts (Scots), 1-0
Joe Merz, Anglo-Danes, 1-1
Jenny Torbett, Vikings, 0-0-2
Bob Boggs, Nornmans, 0-0-2
Thomas Moehn, Crusaders, 0-0-1
Jason Stelzer, Vikings, 0-1-1
Dave & Alex Eblin, Vikings, 0-1
Jim Beegan, Pagan Peoples, 0-1
Mike Stelzer, Last Romans, 0-1

In the Age of Magic game, Steve and John's Forces of Order, from left, battle Jeff and Andy's Forces of Chaos

The Age of Magic games were played on the same board, but as two separate one-on-one clashes. The "good guys," or forces of Order, won over those of Chaos. Steve's Dwarves and John's Human Great Kingdoms triumphed over Jeff's Orcs and Andy's Undead.