Count Drogo's Franks Drive Off Viking Raid

Count Drogo waves his banner, urging his Carolingian warband to attack the raiding Viking force

Jenny wanted to get some more practice with her new Viking Saga army, so we decided to take advantage of a Saturday evening with no plans and get in a game. I had been interested in playing Carolingians, so what better matchup for Vikings than their favorite punching bag on the continent? I had been close to buying figures for a Carolingian Saga army a couple times, but hadn't pulled the trigger. Maybe this would make me want to finally make the purchase...or not!

The Viking army deploys for battle, with its deadly 6-man hearthguard units in the center

I studied the battle board and read the Age of Vikings section on the army. The most unusual thing about this army is the Proelium aspect of its board. You can have 0-3 Saga dice in this section (one of each of the three faces of the dice -- common, uncommon, and/or rare). They remain there until you either play Combat Bonus (when you lose one) or play Vides, which allows you roll them and place them on your battle board. I never used Vides, which I see as a last-ditch attempt to repopulate the board before a potentially calamitous opponent turn. By turn 2, I had three dice in the Proelium section, and they remained there until the final turn when I used Combat Bonus and dropped to two.

Count Drogo plans an advance on the right headed by the warrior bows, while his center and left will echelon back

So what that means is your are playing with fewer command and control dice -- five instead of eight. However, it is worth it, I think, simply by the Ardor ability -- which allows you to move or shoot as many units as you have Proelium dice...and these activations DON'T cause fatigue. This would be a crucial part of my strategy in the upcoming game. I played Ardor all but one turn (the first), which means those three Proelium dice gave me three movement or shooting activations every turn. It seemed a fair tradeoff to me!

The Carolingian right wing - a unit of warrior bows in the woods, supported by a unit of foot warriors

Seeing how I needed to stock the Proelium quickly, I decided to go with small, standard sized units. I chose two 4-man mounted hearthguard units, two 8-man foot warrior units, and two 8-man warrior bow units, along with my warlord, Count Drogo. Why foot bows -- and especially two of them? Two advanced abilities on the Carolingian board, besides Ardor, jumped out at me immediately: Vinco and Potentia. Vinco allows you to inflict a number of automatic hits in either shooting or melee equal to half your Proelium (3 dice = 2 hits). Potentia allows you to reroll a number of attack dice in shooting or melee equal to twice your Proelium. Although some may see the potential devastation in hand-to-hand, I saw the potential for it to be very deadly with missile fire.

The Viking Levy prove resilient, and cause far more casualties (and take fewer) than Count Drogo had expected

What's more, the Domine ability allows the Carolingian player to trigger any Shooting, Melee, or Shooting Reaction advanced Saga ability a second time. So, yes, you can hit somebody with Vinco and two automatic hits -- in addition to what you roll -- a second time. What's more, since Ardor's actions don't generate fatigue, you can shoot the same unit twice and end the turn with zero fatigue! Now, perhaps you see why I chose not one, but TWO foot bow units. The question was -- would my tactic work? I had never used foot bows in Saga, and in fact, always scoffed at players who chose them. Eight guys that fire with only four dice? What a waste! Take Levy that fire with six dice for the same points, right?

Things begin to unravel on the right as the Viking hearthguard exact revenge on the depleted warrior unit

Jenny and I were playing Clash of Warlords, and I deployed first. Our battlefield had two medium sized woods on either flank, a gentle hill in Jenny's half of the central sector, and a farmer's field with crops in between the center and right. I concentrated my two bow units on the right where her own Levy archers were located hoping to overwhelm them and drive them off. My foot warriors were placed in support of their bow brethren, and the mounted hearthguards in the rear in reserve.

Things aren't much better in the center where another Viking hearthguard unit has killed half of the supporting warriors

We began a slow advance on the right, while keeping back our center and left in echelon. My archers on the far right entered the woods for cover from Jenny's levy bowfire. Jenny took the first shot and it was a good one -- killing two of the warrior bow in the woods. Our return fire on the next turn did little, even with tossing in Vinco and Potentia. She had lost only about four figures out of 12 -- hardly devastating. My backup plan was for a foot warrior unit to charge the levy, who had moved into the field for cover from our archery. The warriors charged and drove the Viking archers out of the field, but at a stiff cost -- we lost three figures. She lost only another four figures, and my depleted warrior unit was in danger of being countercharged by one of her large, 6-man hearthguard units.

The Viking hearthguard appears unstoppable, slaughtering Frankish warriors and chasing the Carolingian bow

Jenny saw the opportunity and took it, slaughtering the remaining warriors to a man. Things were beginning to unravel on the right where I was attacking in force! I have learned that in Saga, the dice are fickle. Momentum shifts. Don't be discouraged -- if one method of attack is not working, try another! Jenny brought up here other 6-man hearthguard unit and charged my second warrior unit which had advanced in the center to support the archery. Luckily, we lost only four of eight this time, so the depleted unit was still generating a Saga die. However, this left the Viking hearthguard exposed in the center of the battlefield. My archers concentrated on them, with my full strength unit taking two shots and the one in the woods one shot.

But perhaps not! Archery fire depletes the center warrior unit, who are then ridden down by the Carolingian nobles

The Viking Huscarles had lost one of their number in the battle against my spear. They lost three more to the archery, leaving them with just two. That was enough to tempt the Carolingian nobles to charge. They galloped around the archers and smashed into the side of the remaining Viking hearthguard, eliminating them to a man. Perhaps Jenny had baited me just as I baited her with the foot warriors. She double timed her Shield Maiden unit into my mounted hearthguard, tossing in Thor, Loki, and a Combat Bonus Saga abilities into the melee. It was a bloody battle, but in the end, two of the maidens stood tall, while the four Carolingian mounted nobles lay dead at her feet.

The Shield Maidens charge, slaughtering the Carolingian nobles. It look grim, but can our archery save the day?

Jenny could have guessed what was coming next, though. More Carolingian archery, and soon the last of the lady warriors lay bleeding on the ground, pin-cushioned by arrows. Undeterred, she advanced her remaining hearthguard unit which had destroyed my warriors. However, I used their fatigue to shorten their move which meant their charge fell short of my bow unit in the woods. Half of the hearthguard unit protruded from the woods. Once again, Lord Drogo ordered his archers to loose their hailstorm of arrows and soon all of the Viking elite warriors lay dead.

Had this charge struck home, the answer probably would have been no, but a fatigue caused them to fall short

At this stage, Jenny was left with only one 8-man warrior unit, two Levy archers, and her warlord. I had two units of warrior archers (13 figures total), one unit of 4 warriors, one unit of 4 mounted hearthguard, and my warlord, Lord Drogo. She decided that the day was lost, and withdrew her troops back to the far side of the hill. The Franks cheered at the departure of the raiders - they held the field and had driven off the feared Northmen!

Two turns of devastating Carolingian archery and all the Viking hearthguard and shield maidens lay dead -- victory!

We counted up the points and though it looked one-sided, 23-13, the score did not reflect how the Vikings were winning through the early part of the game. If her Shield Maidens and remaining hearthguard unit had been able to shrug off our archery, things would have ended fairly differently. Did my strategy work? Definitely. Ardor more than makes up for keeping three of my Saga dice in the Proelium. The deadliness of Vinco and Potentia ensured my archery fire was effective. All in all, I feel the Carolingian list is a very deadly one. Now, I admit things would have been different if Jenny had used the Odin ability on her Saga board. She chose not to do so on the first turn, and then didn't roll the proper symbols on the second turn. By the third turn, she was seeing the need for melee abilities to follow up her successes. By the fourth turn, she had lost too many units, and couldn't afford to use Odin, or didn't have the rolls. So, we were fortunate with how it worked out. A forewarned opponent may not be so obliging at letting the Carolingians riddle them with arrow storms. Still, I look forward to having Count Drogo ride forward into battle again, and see if we can follow up our initial success.