Count Drogo Crosses to Britain's Shores for 2 Saga Battles

    Anglo-Danes Warlord urges men forward to confront the Frankish invaders to Britain's shores

We had 10 players at our August Saga Game Day at the Guardtower East in Columbus, OH. I was able to get in two battles, one against a relatively new player, and another against one of our most experienced. I was using a new variant of my Carolingian army. Count Drogo's new warband dropped one of the 8-man units of foot warriors and instead shifted those men into the ranks of my warrior bow. So, my army consisted of a mounted warlord, two units of 4 mounted hearthguard nobles, 1 unit of 8 foot warriors, and two units of 12 warrior bow. 

    Dave checks the rules in his game against Jenny, while Mike and Joe square off in Battle of Heroes

I'd made the change because I tend to have three of my eight Saga dice locked up in the Proelium section of the board, which enhances the abilities that I use. I questioned why I needed enough units to be eligible to roll six Saga dice when I have only five available to roll (the game limits you to 8 Saga dice, which are used for command and control). Plus, my archers are my main weapon that I use in this battle board. So, why not strengthen that arm? I would get ample opportunity to see if this change made them more effective on the day.

   Dave's Welsh warriors hurl themselves towards Jenny's Viking shield maidens at the bottom

My first opponent was a relative new player, Tim P, who had not played since version 1 of the rules. He was happy to get a chance to shake the dust off of his Anglo-Danish army. He fielded an all foot army -- warlord, two units of 4 hearthguard, 3 units of 8 warriors, and 1 unit of sling-armed levy. We decided to play Clash of Warlords to make the game simpler, and proceeded to set up the terrain. I warned Tim that I had a LOT of archery fire in my army ahead of time, so he could adjust his terrain placement, deployment, and tactics accordingly. 

    Tim's Anglo-Danish warband, right, deploys to take on my Carolingians and their upgraded bowfire

He placed a large woods on his left and a gentle hill on his right, while I placed rocky ground and ruins on my half of the table as "firing bases" for my archers. I explained to him how solid cover affects melee, shooting, and movement. In hindsight, I probably should have walked Tim through the Carolingian's advanced Saga abilities so he truly understood how lethal their shooting can be. Tim placed his slingers in the woods to his left and his foot warriors across his battleline as a screen for the hearthguard and warlord.

    Tim's Anglo-Danes didn't flinch and courageously advanced into the Carolingian bowfire

We had rolled "Method C" for deployment, which meant that our units began the game spread out, each more than a Medium away from its fellows. I quickly consolidated my lines using Maneuvers, and pushed my bowmen to the edge of the ruins and rocky ground. The spearmen guarded the right of my army, while both units of mounted nobles and the warlord were held back in reserve. Count Drogo's entire warband was set up to protect and utilize the bowfire of the archers, who I hoped would win the day. Tim advanced steadily across the table, even pulling his slingers out of the woods, knowing I was out of range and would be unlikely to advance to attack them.

    My dice were hot and the bowfire intense - here a unit of 8 warriors has been reduced to 2 figures

Once Tim's warrior units came within range, we fired double volleys at each of them. One of the best abilities on the Carolingian battle board is Ardor, which allows you to activate as many units as you have dice in your Proelium (which is usually three) to move or fire. This doesn't generate fatigue. So, after shooting them the first time with normal activations, they fire the second time with Ardor. I will also try to use Vinco, which inflicts extra automatic hits equal to half your Proelium (rounded up, so two), and Potentia, which allows me to reroll misses equal to twice my Proelium (six dice). If I was lucky and rolled a Rare, I will typically use that on Domine, which allows me to use one of my previously-used Saga abilities a second time that turn. Typically, I use it for Vinco for the two extra automatic hits.

    Tim's hearthguard has reduced the Frankish warrior unit to 2 figures, but his casualties mount

I felt bad that my archers' shooting was so effective. We spent two turns mowing down his warriors, then switched to targeting his hearthguard. This was less effective, but still killed two men in his right-hand unit. His center unit had saved all hits and was still full strength, so I brought out my foot warriors to distract his huscarles. I hoped he'd charge them instead of my bowmen. He did so, and though they were eventually whittled down to just two men remaining, they did their job and allowed me to pour more bowfire into the Anglo-Dane hearthguard. My dice had finally cooled off, though, so it took a charge by one of the mounted noble units to finally finish them off the huscarles.

    Carolingian nobles charge to finish off the Anglo-Danish hearthguard, leaving the warlord alone

At this point, Tim realized the game was unwinnable. Rather than throw his last remaining figures into the fray, we decided to call it a Carolingian victory. My dice were VERY hot early on. Tim said he had fun, though, and hopefully he will be back for another of our Saga game days. He said it was nice to get his miniatures out again and test out version two of the rules.

    Andy, left, shows Todd the ropes in Saga, while Tim, front, studies the Anglo-Danes battle board

In our other four games, Jenny T was giving Dave W a Saga refresher. He had played with us a couple times before the pandemic -- and purchased the rules -- but we thought it would be good to give him a tune up "Clash of Warlords" game. He borrowed my Welsh and played against Jenny's Vikings. Todd, another new player showed up, as well. He borrowed my Moors, and Andy S took him under wing and set up a "Clash of Warlords" game with him. Jim R also made his first appearance since Covid, and he immediately challenged Bob B to a game. Bob was using his Last Romans, but Jim wanted to try something new. So, he chose to field Árpádian Hungarians from Age of Crusades "Old Friends, New Enemies." Our last game had Mike S and his Vikings squaring off against Joe M's "Anglo-Danes." Here were the results from Round 1:

• Andy S's Anglo-Saxons defeated Todd's Moors in Clash of Warlords, 16-7
• Jenny T's Vikings defeated Dave W's Welsh in Clash of Warlords, 24-13
• Mike S's Vikings defeated Joe M's Anglo-Danes in Battle of Heroes, 19-17
• Jim R's Árpádian Hungarians defeated Bob B's Last Romans in Clash of Warlords, "by a whisker" (they said)
  
• Mike D's Carolingians defeated Tim P's Anglo-Danes in Clash of Warlords

    The Welsh warlord takes matters into his own hands and charges the Viking Shield Maidens

As a pleasant surprise, six of the players were eager for a second round of games. Mike S sat down with Todd so he could get in a second game. Jim R and Bob B had such good fun in their match that they immediately did a rematch. That gave me the opportunity to finally sit down for a one-on-one game with Andy, one of Saga Ohio's main founders. We had played only once before in a three-player game with Steve P (our other founder). We decided to try one of the scenarios that Adrian will be running at the Cincycon tournament, "Desecration" from Book of Battles.

    Swamps and a rocky hill divide the center of the board between Anglo-Saxon and Carolingian lines

I knew Andy's army was composed of six levy units (all "spearmen", i.e., no special weapons). They have a lot of very effective abilities on their battle board which allows them to fight like warriors and add attack or defense dice. Since he had no shooting, and that was my army's strength, I placed an array of terrain to slow down his advance. I wanted Low terrain that can be shot over and that provided no cover against shooting. So, I placed two swamps and one steep hill. This would complicate his advance to contact, which should provide me with more opportunities to shoot the Anglo-Saxons down.

Anglo-Saxon levy pour through the gaps between the terrain, blocking my nobles' path to the objectives

The fly in the ointment, so to speak, were the three objective markers we each placed. I would be hard-pressed to take any of them with my defensive tactics, while he should be able to get at least one or two. The markers act as a "cap" on your massacre points you total up for victory. If I took no markers, my maximum score would be 10 points. I was hoping for an opportunity to do a quick smash of one with my mounted nobles, so deployed them relatively forward in the gaps between the terrain. The archers also deployed forward, somewhat behind the swamps, while the foot warriors guarded the right flank. Their goal would be to hopefully race forward and prevent Andy taking the furthest forward of my objective markers in the right hand swamp.

    One unit of Anglo-Saxons has broken through, but has been shot down to 7 figures

It was not to be, though. Andy was first player and moved forward aggressively. He flooded into the gaps between the terrain blocking my cavalry's access to their objectives. One unit charged into the swamp and failed in its first attempt to desecrate the objective marker. They tried again and were successful, though. On my turn, I began my double volleys by my Frankish archers. My goal was to take his units below 10 figures. Many of the advanced Saga abilities on the Anglo-Saxon battle board are usable only by those with 10 figures or more. Our shooting caused a good number of casualties, but Andy immediately played an ability which makes each unit act as if it has two extra figures. D'oh - forgot about that one! So, our next goal was to shoot them down to 7 figures. Of course, then I figured the best bet is to take them below 6 so that the levy don't provide Saga dice. 

Frankish warrior spear on right plug the gap, but their charge causes fewer casualties than expected

The Frankish archers did a nice job of shooting down the first wave of attackers, but Andy immediately sent in his second wave. Much as I didn't want it, they stubborn Anglo-Saxons were going to close into hand-to-hand combat. One unit charged my archer unit on the left, but was thrown back. One good thing about warrior bowmen is they still roll 1 dice per man in combat (unlike levy archers). And a unit of 12 can cause some casualties! On the right, I sent in my noble cavalry to beat back a unit of levy that had broken through. We did, but at the cost of three of its four figures. At that point, I looked at the casualties each side had suffered. Andy had killed only 4 points of figures, so far. I had killed way more than my cap of 10 points. I figured that if I could hold him below 10 massacre points, then I could win.

So, I had a new strategy. Minimize my casualties, while continuing to wear away at his Saga dice. Soon, he was reduced to rolling four Saga dice. Then, down to three. He loaded up his Warlord with the "Bretwalda" ability, and I feared he was going to go charge Count Drogo. However, he waited a turn, and instead targeted the archers on the right. First, he sent in a levy unit to soften them up. However, we had cued up our Defensor ability, and the bonus 4 defense dice meant we weathered his attacks. Counting up the points at the end of his turn, Andy had destroyed only 6 points of troops. We skipped my final turn, as I was already at my "0 objective markers destroyed" cap of 10 points. We had withstood the onlsaught of the Anglo-Saxon hordes, 10-6! The results of the other second round games were:

• Mike S's Vikings defeated Todd's Moors in Clash of Warlords, 13-9
  
• Jim R's Hungarians defeated Bob B's Last Romans in Clash of Warlords
• Mike D's Carolingians defeated Andy S's Anglo-Saxons in Desecration, 10-6
  

    Join the Saga Ohio crew at our first tournament at Advance the Colors, Oct. 2!

It was another great day of Saga, as the players continued their practice for the upcoming tournaments. The first will be held at Advance the Colors, Oct. 2. The second will be at Cincycon, Oct. 23. If you would like to make either tournament, please reach out to us and we can reserve you a spot!