13 Players Try Their Luck on Saga Game Day

Anthony B's Welsh were one of the 13 armies that gathered on a blustery November Saga day

We had such a great turnout at our November Saga Game Day that I am going to have make two separate posts about it! Thirteen players showed up on blustery, chilly first day of November for masked, socially distanced (as much as possible) skirmish wargaming. The armies arranged from our first Age of Hannibal army through Age of Vikings to Age of Crusades. Our breakdown was 4 Viking armies, 2 Last Romans, 1 Pagan Rus, 1 Irish, 1 Scots, 1 Welsh, 1 Crusaders, 1 Gauls, and introducing my first-time ever playing my new Moorish warband!

Dave E's Roman Cavalry were matched against Anthony B's Welsh in the first round

I sat out the first round to facilitate all the matchups. I try to encourage pairings with opponents who haven't played each other, yet. Luckily, we have new players coming in (welcome, Steve C!), so that I can get at least a handful of the matchups being new ones. In addition to Steve playing for the first time, we also had Lee P for the third time, and Jason S returned to the fold (now that he's moved to Columbus). 

First-round action with (from left) Lee, Adrian, Mike S, and Tyler preparing for battle

We also had our first Age of Hannibal warband take the field. Although the rulebook recommends playing these warbands only against those of the same era, Andy S wanted to try out his Gauls. Bob B was game to take them on, though, so we did a little Ancient vs. Crusades game. Although it wasn't intentional, all four Viking armies ended up in a Norse Civil War on one of the three 8-foot tables we use at the Guardtower East. Jenny T was teaching Steve C how to play, while Jim B and Jason S were trying out Battle of Heroes. 

Tyler's fierce Irish war dogs charge into Lee's Scots levy archers

Another fun thing for me was how many of my armies were playing even though I was taking a bye in the first round. Lee P was using my Scots, Anthony B my Welsh, and Steve C my Vikings. I was looking forward to getting my Moors on the field in the second round, but filled my time enjoying the action on the six tabletops and taking photos. Thus, this post will be mostly photos with an overview of the games. Later this week, I'll add another post about my game with Mike S's Last Romans.

Bob B added Western Knights as a mercenary unit to his Late Roman warband

Here are the results of the two rounds:

November 2020 Saga Game Day Results

Round 1

Jenny T's Vikings defeated Steve C's Vikings in Clash of Warlords, 26-22

Adrian J's Pagan Rus defeated Mike S's Last Romans in Battle of Heroes, 7-4

Andy S's Gauls defeated Bob B's Last Romans in Clash of Warlords, 34-27

Dave E's Romans defeated Anthony B's Welsh in Clash of Warlords, 29-15

Lee P's Scots defeated Tyler P's Irish in Clash of Warlords, 17-11

Jason S's Vikings defeated Jim B's Vikings in Battle of Heroes, 11-7

Jim B's Viking warlord charges into Jason S's unit of warriors

 Round 2 

Adrian J's Pagan Rus defeated Jim B's Vikings in Clash of Warlords, 27-22

Mike D's Moors defeated Mike S's Last Romans in Battle of Heroes, 18-14

Jenny T's Vikings and Tyler P's Irish tied in Clash of Warlords, 18-16

A horde of Scots warriors was a daunting sight for Tyler's Irish

Notable was the absolute slaughter-fest between Andy S's Gauls and Bob B's Last Romans. Bob started the death-dealing off with a charge of his 8-man, mounted hearthguards unit against a unit of 8 Gallic mounted warriors. One charge and the knights rode them down to a man. Andy returned the favor by charging a 12-man Gallic warrior unit into Bob's victorious hearthguard. Andy stacked up several battle board abilities and destroyed the Roman cavalry to a man. I was walking by when they rolled their dice and it was something like 17 dice vs. 18 dice.

The Viking table with 4 Viking warbands (from left, Jenny, Jim, Jason, Steve)

Adrian continued his victory streak at our game days, and seems to be enjoying playing the Pagan Rus. In the first game, he edged out Mike S's Last Romans. In his second game, he won the Norse blood feud with Jim B's Vikings. Along with Andy and Jim, Adrian is probably one of our most veteran "Saga Ohio" players.

Bob's Crusaders and Andy's Gauls close in what will become the biggest slaughter-fest of the day!

Andy's Gallic warriors counter-charge Bob's Crusader knights and exact revenge

Charge and counter-charge went back and forth between Gauls and Crusaders till the bitter end

Adrian's Pagan Rus continued their rampage through our Saga Game Days going 2-0

The Saga Ohio group does its best to stay safe, masked and tables spaced as far apart as possible

The Viking battleline of Jim B - one of the most laid-back and friendliest of our Saga Ohio players

Jim's round 1 opponent - Jason S's Vikings and their hulking warlord

Lee's Scots await the approach of Tyler's Irish through the bogs and fens between them

Dave's ballista is a regular feature of his Roman army- frustrating his opponents with large units!

Jenny's 6-man hearthguard unit slams into Steve's Bondi warrior unit in a 1st round civil war