Lead Legionaries: Viking Raiders Bedevil Cordoba Again

Moorish cavalry charge down upon Jenny's Shield Maidens in Clash of Warlords

Majik ibn Battuta al-Waqaa shook his head and mumbled into his beard as his horse crested the rise. "Norsemen in the Emirate, again? Will fair Cordoba never be free of them?" he mused, watching Scirocco, his pet cheetah, sprint up the hill and stop beside him. Majik's force had been patrolling the borders looking for signs of the reported Viking incursion. A scout led them to this hillside where they could view the Viking warriors spread across the green fields like a stain. "Prepare for battle, defenders of Cordoba! Archers to me on the rise - spear to my right, cavalry to the left. We will send these pagans back across the seas, inshallah!" The men raised a cheer and hurried to their positions. Excited at the prospect of bloodshed, Scirocco prowled forward, yellow eyes locked on the enemy.

Jenny's Vikings at bottom and my Moors deploy for a Clash of Warlords as part of the Yule event

After finishing our first game as part of the virtual Yule Saga Celebration, Jenny wanted another. It was still early on a Saturday evening, and we had not played Saga for a month or so at this point. Of course, that was the whole reason for the virtual Saga Ohio event. Players were supposed to seek out a game with someone in their "bubble" -- that they have regular contact with -- and make up for our COVID-cancelled, twice-monthly game days. We had just finished A Tale of Challenges from the Book of Battles, so we opted for a simple Clash of Warlords. Jenny reverted to her Viking list -- foot warlord, two 6-man foot hearthguard units, Shield Maidens, 8 Viking foot warriors, and 12 Viking Levy archers.

Majik ibn Battuta al-Waqaa marshals his infantry to attempt to drive off Viking raiders again

I saw no need to mess with success and kept the Moorish list I'd been using -- mounted warlord, two 6-man mounted hearthguard with javelins, two 8-man foot warriors, and 12 Moorish levy archers. Yes, other than three of my units were mounted, our lists were nearly identical. However, our battle boards were very different. Facing the Vikings and their Odin battle board ability meant I would not be able to use my shooting much. I couldn't afford to have either of my two big strike units (javelin-armed mounted hearthguard) exhausted with three fatigue at the whim of Odin! It would have to be a game of melee, charging with my horsemen instead of skirmishing with them.

The view of the brightly-colored Andalusian army from the Viking warlord's side of the table

Jenny placed a woods in the center of the board, along with her usual marsh in the center of my deployment area. I opted for a large, gentle hill on my right and a steep hill opposite that on her baseline. Although the steep hill was uneven ground, it wouldn't provide cover to shooting. I was first player and had to deploy half my units first. I marshaled my two spear units opposite the woods, with my warlord in reserve behind them. This left her guessing where my mounted would go. She deployed her archers close to the center woods, as I expected, supported on their left by a hearthguard unit and her Viking warriors. On her right was the other hearthguard unit and her Shield Maidens.

My infantry spear line opens the game with an advance towards the center woods

I then placed the remaining three units to the left of my spearmen. The archers were on the gentle hill, flanked by the two units of mounted Moorish nobles. I planned for a sweeping movement on the left, which I began on turn one. The spear advanced towards the woods to root out the Viking levy. I sent the archers forward to launch a volley of arrows towards her hearthguard unit and one of the bearded warriors went down gurgling as an arrow pierced his throat. Jenny responded on her turn with an advance -- her archers into the woods, while her hearthguard advanced quickly, followed more cautiously by the warriors and shield maidens.

On the opening turn, my two units of Moorish cavalry swept to the left to outflank the Viking raiders

Perhaps Jenny was expecting me to skirmish with my cavalry this game, like I prefer to do. She was surprised when one of the hearthguard units thundered down onto her unit that had been wounded by the archers. I played my usual 1-2-3 punch for what I call the "Hammer Blow": Torrent of Iron to begin the charge, Wholehearted to take advantage of enemy fatigue, and Inspiration to get rerolls on misses in combat. The dice definitely favored the Moors, and her entire unit was eliminated. We took two casualties, and then immediately withdrew back to our lines using Perseverance.

Beyond the trees, one of the Viking hearthguard units stalks toward my line of Moorish spearmen

Stung, the Viking raiders then launched their own attack. The far left unit of hearthguard double moved and charged into the first unit of my foot spearmen. We closed ranks, attempting to wear down the Vikings, but it did no good. We missed all of our saves and lost five figures, recoiling backwards. I had thought about placing the a dice on an ability that gave my foot units 3 bonus defense dice in melee, but had decided not to, last turn. Ouch! That was painful, but then again, not nearly as painful as her loss of an entire 6-man hearthguard unit, I rationalized.

The gathering storm viewed from the Viking side as my units of Moorish cavalry prepare to charge

Knowing her right was wide open, Jenny moved up the Shield Maidens to cover the gap. My levy archers unleashed a volley on them. She responded with Odin -- exhausting them, but too late! Two of the shield maidens fell to our shots (our her unlucky save rolls!). Seeing the Shield Maidens down one third, my fresh 6-man cavalry troop hurtled forward. Unlike last game, when the Valkyrie survived the melee, this time there were no ladies left alive. We rode down all of them at the cost of two slain troopers, again. At this point, I was feeling very confident. However, what I didn't know, was that her victorious unit of hearthguard was about to embark on a string of melees and dice rolls that would earn them the nickname "the Unstoppables."

The Viking hearthguard have smashed into one unit of spear, slaughtering more than half

These pagans unleashed their fury on my next unit of Viking spearmen. Despite closing ranks and three extra defense dice, we lost three men and had to fall back. At least they were still generating a Saga dice, being above four figures! The levy archers then targeted the Unstoppables, but they used our two fatigue to cancel the shot. The levy would try again next turn, and once again, cause no casualties. On her right, Jenny moved up her unit of warriors and charged my four remaining hearthguard who had eliminated the shield maidens. Although they lost three figures, they killed two hearthguard - a fair trade. Payback was coming, though, and the other Moorish cavalry unit charged in on our turn, eliminating the warriors to a man. Our casualties left me with two mounted hearthguard units with only two figures each.

After successfully riding down a unit of Viking hearthguard, the victorious Moorish nobles pull back

I had one last gambit to try on my turn. I trotted each hearthguard unit forward to throw javelins at his warlord. I figured that if either scored a hit -- or better yet, two -- I would send my warlord forward to battle his in melee. However, all our hits missed. I simply didn't trust my die rolls to go one-on-one against a fresh enemy warlord. On our side of the board, his unit of Unstoppables was full strength still, but surrounded by two warrior and one levy unit. Turn six ended with no climactic final clash, and it was time to count up the points.

Overview: Viking hearthguard pummel the Moorish right while shield maidens try to hold their flank

I knew it would be close -- she had killed more of my hearthguard than I had of hers. However, I had completely eliminated her two warrior units (one being the mercenary Shield Maidens). In the end, the Moors were ahead on points 21-19. However, Clash of Warlords requires you to beat your opponent by three points or more to score a victory. This mean both armies withdrew from the battlefield to bandage their wounds.