Moors Beat Back Night Raid by the 'Rumani'

My Moorish warlord Majik ibn Battuta al-Waqaa and his cheetah pet, Scirocco

Majik ibn Battuta al-Waqaa leaned forward in the saddle and squinted into the darkness. He heard the high-pitched chirp of the great cat beside him as it also peered into the night. Watching the ears of the cheetah's spotted head slowly track then stop let Majik know his pet had spotted the intruders. "You see them even in this darkness, Srirocco?" Another chirp confirmed that he could trust the cheetah's tracking senses to lead his warband towards the incursion. 

I like the look of a large warlord base with a bodyguard, banner, and animal companion on it

 As they paced forward, Majik heard the soft hoofbeats of his cavalry following. His lieutenant whispered, "Who are they, al-Waqaa?" Behind them, two squadrons of veteran Moorish cavalry paced in single file on either flank. Between the horsemen, two files of spearmen followed in their warlord's footsteps. Bringing up the rear were the archers.

The battle after my first turn - my Moorish cavalry have returned to shelter behind the infantry's lines

"Rumani," Majik whispered in return. Romans. Or what remained of that fallen empire, who would be called in later tomes the Byzantines. Its still mighty navy could put raiding parties ashore in Andalusia, though, and that was what Majik guessed had happened. Why they were here in Spain he could only guess. The emir of Cordoba had decreed that the foreigners must be driven off, though, and Majik and his men would do that, inshallah, or die trying.

End of his 2nd turn - note my depleted levy and 2 fatigue tokens on his archers

I was almost as uneasy this past Sunday as Majik would have been. After a year of planning and painting this army, I was finally getting to play a game of Saga with my Moorish warband. Though not complete, I had enough figures ready to play a 6-point game if I used the cavalry as mounted hearthguard. I split three points of them into two units of six. I supplemented this force with two units of 8 warriors and 1 unit of 12 levy bowmen. My warlord base had been finished the night before and dullcoated that very morning.

My opponent was Mike S, who was using his Last Romans, again. He was still tweaking his list, not content with previous versions of it. The one I would face also included 3 points of mounted hearthguard, but deployed in three units of four. Two were armed with composite bow, while the third had standard melee equipment. Mike also brought two units of warriors to the field, one of which was bow armed. The final unit was composed of 12 levy javelinmen. A very similar composition to my force, but who would prevail?

The Byzantines strike back! Javelins and Byzantine cavalry charge whittle my 6-man unit to two

Mike S wanted to play "Battle of Heroes" from the Book of Battles. Our rolled variations were Night Battle (which means each unit that starts its turn without a friendly unit within Short distance suffers a fatigue), and Unknown Lands, which meant Mike set the terrain with four small pieces. I rolled Meeting Engagement, which meant he deployed his entire army after setting up terrain, while I got to set up second. I rolled Pitched Battle, allowing me to roll and place 4 Saga dice prior to his first turn. The final special rule was Show of Force, which would reward us for melees won and getting units within a Medium distance of the opponent's baseline. With my Horse of the Maghreb ability, I thought this would be a cinch for me to do - though that's not the way it turned out! My cavalry was way too busy to go on an end run in this battle.

Mike S deployed with his warrior archers on his right, backed up by the levy javelinmen. In the center, he deployed one unit of Tagmata (hearthguard horse archers) and another with melee weapons. They were backed up by his warlord. On his left, he deployed another unit of Tagmata, backed up by his remaining warrior unit. Called by his troops "al-Waqaa" (the Shield), Majik had a plan to use his infantry battleline as a wall from which the hearthguard cavalry could emerge, attack, and fall back behind. Very historical tactics for Moors, and I thought quite possible with the extra distance move provided by Horses of the Maghreb (Long+Short move), and Perseverance (activate two mounted or two foot units) each requiring only one Saga die. After Mike S trotted forward on his first turn, but staying outside Long range, Majik waved his horsemen forward to try. The attack actually began with a volley from the levy archers at the Tagmata horse archers, who were my target with their low armor class. That was followed up with one 6-man hearthguard unit racing forward and tossing their javelins, then the other. Finally, Perseverance allowed both to return behind the spearmen with only one fatigue.

The battlefield prior to my 6-man cavalry unit charging (and destroying) another unit of cavalry

My dice were terrible, though. With 18 shots needing a 4+ we killed only three of the four figures in the unit. Mike S quickly wisely pulled it back to the rear, where it would remain for the game (but continuing to provide a Saga die!). Next, the Byzantine strategos waved forward his foot archers. They advanced and took two shots at my levy archers. My saves in the cover were as bad as my shooting and we lost five figures. We did NOT use his fatigue on the second shot - I had plans for those two tokens in my turn!

That warrior bow would be our target for turn two. Once again, the archers began the attack. This was followed up by one cavalry unit riding forward and throwing javelins. We used the Wholehearted ability to gain 2 attack dice per enemy fatigue (so +4 dice). The second unit then crashed into the remaining warrior archers, with me playing Inspiration (reroll of 1's in combat, or 1-3's with a Rare die). The last of the warriors fell, though they did kill one of my hearthguard despite my bonus defensive dice. The theme continued - my abilities were giving me lopsided attacks in my favor, but my dice rolling was not fully taking advantage of them! However, Mike S had enough of my shooting and scooting and used the fatigue on my victorious unit to limit its pull back move to a Short. Oops. He had spotted a flaw in my strategy that I hadn't seen coming!

One of my Moorish spear units hurries to support the exposed cavalry

Mike S countered by targeting my exposed hearthguard unit. He moved up his javelin levy to shoot, and then followed it up with a charge by his melee cavalry. Once again, my dice were pathetic and this time his dice were very good. He didn't suffer a casualty and my unit was cut down to only two figures remaining. I knew that the Moorish cavalry with an armor class of 4 were vulnerable. That's why I wanted them shielding behind my warrior spearmen - not exposed out in front of the army! Mike S decided to pull the victorious Byzantine cavalry back to his center, which left them with 2 fatigue. Majik stroked his beard, eyeing them as a target, "Hmmm..."

This was not necessarily the battle I wanted to get into - charge and countercharge. However, with a chance to take a fresh 6-man hearthguard unit against a double-fatigued 4-man unit, the Shield of Cordoba decided to cast caution to the wind. I loaded up my board with Inspiration and Wholehearted and shouting praise to Allah, the Moors rode in! Despite receiving four defense dice in bonus from his fatigue, my unit still lost four figures. My dice were dependably below average all game. However, we did eliminate the Byzantine cavalry which scattered a fatigue onto the warlord and two other units. Of course, Mike S cleverly used my unit's fatigue when we tried to pull back!

Last gambit - Moorish cavalry attempt to put enough javelins into the enemy warlord to soften him up!

At this point, my primary attack arm was blunted - each down to 2-man units. I couldn't even do the run to the opponent's board edge because it requires a unit of at least four men in the victory conditions. Majik had no choice but to order the spearmen forward. It would take three charges by the two units to finally destroy his remaining warrior unit, as my dice continued to suffer. Luckily, neither of us were rolling particularly well on Saga dice. I think we rolled two rare dice between us all game! Mike S decided to use his remaining horse archer unit to do the end run and scoop up 4 victory points. 

Majik had one last gambit - try to shoot down the enemy warlord on our final turn. I tossed both 2-man units forward, using Wholehearted to gain 2 extra dice for his fatigue. Six dice = no hits. If I had managed to exhaust his Warlord, Majik was going to charge in and finish him off. However, with only one fatigue on him, it wasn't worth the risk. I thought I was up on points. So, I let the game end there, and we counted it up. As it turned out, Majik did emerge victorious, driving the wily, determined Byzantine Strategos from the field, 18-14. 

Close up of the Majik ibn Battuta al-Waqaa's banner (pattern looks black but is actually blue)

I really enjoyed playing the Moors in my first game. I was excited that historical tactics - sending cavalry out from behind an infantry battle line then returning them - worked well on the table with Saga. Mike S and I discussed that perhaps I shouldn't have been so impatient, and simply shot instead of charging in. That might have been enough to wear down the vulnerable Byzantine units and force them into doing something rash. 

Of course, I realized much later that evening that perhaps my dice wouldn't have been so bad if I had remembered something that I also forgot over and over in my games with my Welsh: Javelins receive +1 to attack dice when charging! I never used that the whole game!! I don't know the Arabic word for "D'oh!" but maybe I should find out! That gave me a goal for the next game: paint a marker of a javelin-pierced miniature with "+1 when charging" on its base to keep with my combat dice...ha, ha! I look forward to two week's from now, though, and our Saga Game Day at the Dragons Guildhall in Beavercreek, Ohio. Majik and Scirocco are looking forward to matching wits with another enemy!