Picts' Young Lads Help Repel Roman Invasion

    We had 8 players for our cold, rainy November Saga Game Day, including this Norman civil war

Drust, son of Drust, looked out over the approaching column of iron-clad men. The heavy stamp of their boots caused leave to fall gently from the trees overhead. "The Romans have cut us off from our currachs," Drust growled to the men nearby. "We must drive them back before we can regain the sea. Prepare the clan - we fight!" The Pictish seaborne raid from Drust's home in the Orkney Islands had gone well at first. The pursuit by the local Roman garrison had been much faster than he'd guessed, though. Drust knew if he lost too many men on this raid, there would be repercussions back home. A big disgrace could even mean he might lose his name to his next younger brother. He liked being "Drust" -- the successor -- to his father, the chieftain of the Orkney Islands. Drust knew he would have to use all his cleverness in the battle, everything his father had taught him, to hold on to what was rightly his!

    Joe charges his troops into Jim's lines in a Norman vs. Norman civil war

Cold winds and rain were blowing on the third Sunday in November, making it a perfect day to stay inside and play Saga at the Dragons Guildhall in Beavercreek, OH. This Scottish-style weather would also be a fitting accompaniment to my second outing with the Picts from the recently-released Age of Invasions book. I had played these Pictish figures extensively as "Scots" from the Age of Vikings. Would Drust and his sons match the success of Nechtan Mac Fergus, my Pictish/Scottish warlord? Nechtan's triumphs had kept bards busy in his halls with his 11-1-1 record. The early tidings were as iffy as the weather, as my previous game a couple weeks before against Republican Romans had ended in a tie. 

    Adrian marshals his Baltic Crusaders for a Book of Battles 'Desecration' game against Byzantines

Over the last two weeks, I had re-examined the Pictish battle baord, pondering how to use its hit and run abilities. I decided to do something I'd never done before -- use three points of levy in my 6-point army. I would take one unit of archers and two of javelinmen. My thinking was that levy javelinmen could fit the fast-moving nature of this army. We could toss javelins and either dash off to safety or charge home with our +1 in melee for javelins. 

    The Baltic Crusaders march on Byzantine lands to dispute a point of Christian doctrine and heresy

The advanced Saga ability "Ambush" matches up well with this by granting +4 bonus attack dice in melee if the unit is within Medium of uneven or dangerous terrain. That very efficiently doubles a levy unit's melee combat pool of 4 AD to eight. What's more, three levy shooting units could soften up any target pretty effectively. Another ability encouraging me to try three levy was the excellent "Stalking" ability, which gives 3 bonus shooting dice if the firer is within Short of terrain. After all three units shoot, I could use "Swift as the Wind" on the final javelin unit to charge into melee with no fatigue (assuming we were near terrain). Doing the math, if all three levy units shoot and then the third charges home, the enemy unit would be on the receiving end of 29 attack dice!

   Bob seems confident his Byzantines are on the side of right in this Orthodox vs. Catholic clash

I was a little worried, though, about how many Uncommon dice I would need to move all those levy units and pull this off. If you plan on moving one Levy with the warlord's We Obey, that means you need two to move all three. Luckily, most of the advanced Saga abilities I planned on using could also use Common dice. Unfortunately, one of those that required an Uncommon was Swift as the Wind. That would likely be where my third Uncommon die would have to go if I planned on charging in.

    Caren's Vikings clash in the frozen wastes against Jenny's Pagan Rus

This meant that I would need a fourth Uncommon dice to be able to queue up "Secret Ways." This is a very clever ability on the battle board that allows a Pictish target of shooting or melee teleport to a piece of terrain after suffering the attack. I would end up being able to use it only once during the game, as Swift as the Wind and activating levy units ate up most of my Uncommons. That, and rolling only two rare dice the entire game may have had something to do with it!

As much as Uncommon dice, I would also need terrain to fully utilize the new Pictish battle board. Most of the best abilities on the battle board require the unit to be near terrain to use it to maximum effect. Luckily, my opponent for today, Dave E, out-rolled me for the dubious honor of First Player. That meant there would be at least four pieces of terrain on the board -- five if he moved one of the previously-placed ones. 

    Byzantines defend their loot in a game of Desecration against the Baltic Crusaders

Dave cleverly saw the trap of repositioning a piece, and declined to do so. This left my large woods in the center and another smaller woods on his left where I had placed them. He had placed a marsh in his own deployment area to park his manuballista artillery piece behind. Another marsh was placed on the left edge of the board. Seeing all the terrain, I was certain that this game I'd finally get to use Secret Ways. My strategy was to use Secret Ways to move a large javelin levy unit into the small woods in his deployment area. They could move once, throw javelins once to soften up the ballista, then use Swift as the Wind to charge and hopefully destroy the artillery. Clever plan, I thought. Dave unknowingly foiled my plan by keeping his his reserve units hanging next to the woods. This preventing me from using it, as "teleporting" units must be outside of a Medium of any enemy and within Very Short of the terrain. Foiled again!

    Dave finishes deploying his Roman army against my Picts - both new factions from Age of Invasions

My large wood contained both my archers and one of the Pictish Levy Javelin units, with my warlord close behind. To their right, in the open, was the remaining Levy unit, backed back up in reserve by two units of foot warriors. My third foot warrior unit guarded the gap between the large woods and the marsh on the flank. Opposing that flank, Dave deployed two units of legionary foot (who actually never moved the entire game). In the center behind the marsh was his ballista and his warlord. In the gap between the marsh and woods, Dave deployed another unit of legionaries, backed up by a double-strength hearthguard unit of 8 elite legionaries. On Dave's far left was his unit of four mounted hearthguard cataphracts.

    The Romans advance towards the Pictish lines, while the Pictish levies prepare to hurl their missiles

Dave opened the battle by advancing the legionaries on his left, the cataphracts keeping pace with them. The ballista shot its first volley and my spirits sank. My dice rolling woes appeared to be unending. He would hit my levy in the open on 3+, and scored 5 out of 6 hits. On my five saving rolls (4+), I rolled only one. One levy unit was down to 8 figures already! There was nothing to do but stick to the plan and hope the dice eventually turned in my favor. I queued up my Uncommon dice, put another on Stalking, and fired away at his legionary unit who had advanced towards our lines. We rolled 18 dice (needing 4+), scoring only 7 hits. Dave rolled his saves and got 5 out of 8 (4+). The consistency of his rolling above average and me rolling below average couldn't go on forever, could it?

    The Pictish levy units hurl their missiles, rolling 18 dice & killing only two legionaries - good armor!

Dave shot his ballista again on turn 2 at my weakened unit, giving me hope by scoring only one hit. Of course, I muffed the save, and the javelin men were down to 7 figures. Emboldened, he charged his legionary unit into my depleted levies. I had left queued up on my board both Sacred Tattoos (+4 defense dice in melee) and Ambush, mentioned above. This meant I was rolling 7 attack dice against his 9 -- Dave would play Ardor virtually every turn giving him bonus attack and defense dice. As the rain fell on the battlefield, the Picts took heart and finally began to fight with more spirit. We each scored four hits, but the worm really turned when the saving rolls were made. Even though he was able to re-roll four missed saves, Dave scored only two 5+ rolls. I saved 4 of my 8 -- finally, well above average! The levy javelinmen were driven back, but had survived the legionary charge and killing two more Romans!

Roman legionaries charge in and drive off Pictish levies, but at a cost   

Drust sang his clan's battle paean as he moved through the trees among the younger lads, who'd accompanied the raid as skirmishers. He slapped them on their backs and shook his spear stirring up their ardor. Fully one half of his raiding force was these young, enthusiastic teens. Success in this battle would rest on their shoulders. Drust knew if the lads fought with heart, then their superior numbers would wear down the Romans. If they shrank and ran, his own more experienced warriors would not stand up to the Roman arms and armor.

    A fresh unit of Pictish levy javelinmen charge in and wipe out the remaining legionaries!

Encouraged by the success (of sorts) in melee, I loaded up my board for turn with melee abilities. The other two units shot at the depleted unit of legionaries first. Then, my fresh unit of javelinmen rushed out of the trees, deferring their free javelin shot till later in the turn. This is a new wrinkle in the most recent FAQ. Javelin-armed troops that move get a free shooting activation, but apparently don't have to take it immediately after the move. I decided to save it till after the melee, as the levy followed up their advance with a charge with Swift as the Wind (taking no fatigue for the second activation). I played Ambush, as usual, doubling my dice to 8 attacks (with the +1 bonus for javelins). We wiped out the remaining legionaries, then took our deferred shooting attack against the hearthguard cavalry. Dave used one of our battle-gained fatigues to raise his armor to 6 (cataphracts are a base armor of 5 in both shooting and melee). We were lucky again and scored a hit on the armored horsemen.

    The 3-step levy plan worked! The unit in the woods dashes out and finishes off the legionaries

During the early years of the Roman Republic, the legions had a saying for a long and difficult battle: res ad triarios venit. It means "It came down to the Triarii" -- the veterans who were normally kept in reserve. Having lost his first probing attack, Dave decided the battle required intervention by his elite legionaries (the 8-man unit of foot hearthguard). He moved them forward and followed up with a charge against my victorious unit of levy. My battle board was empty -- I had thrown everything at him the last turn. I had anticipated this happening from time to time with the Picts, though. Levy units are 12 figures, and this often saves them. They will be charged by tough units, but the levy survive because of their numbers. This was the case here, as his elites cut down seven of my 12. The young javelinmen fled back towards the woods.

    My Picts were painted to play THIS army, though I used them about a dozen times as Scots

   The unit had survived, but was badly mauled. Worse, it had dropped below six figures, which is the minimum for a levy unit to generate a command and control Saga die. Now, it was time for revenge on my turn. All available levy units would shoot at the victorious elite legionaries, and hopefully take them down a peg. We rolled our dice and caused six hits on them. Apparently, they formed testudo right before our volley, as Dave rolled all six saves (for those doing the math at home, that is a 1.5% chance of doing that!). I have often discussed my luck (or lack thereof) with dice with my friends. I disagree with them that I have bad luck with dice. I have very streaky luck, I feel -- really bad streaks, then good streaks. I could only hope the tide would turn back again soon.

    Elite legionaries charge in and chase the javelinmen back to the woods, as my warriors advance

Having taken no casualties on my turn, Dave brought his hammer down, again. His elite legionaries chased down the unit they had beaten the previous turn, killing several more. Then, he turned them and charged my javelin levy unit facing off against his cataphracts. My awful luck streak was still running, and he killed all remaining 8 figures with no losses, once again. The Roman battle board has "Ardor" as an ability, that grants both attack defensive dice. These were key in cutting down on his casualties, or eliminating them altogether. I was down two Saga dice at this point, and my shooting capabilities had been cut in half.

    My archers provided supporting fire through most of the game - as long as I had Uncommon dice!

On my turn, I moved my archers through the woods over to the edge facing his elites. I also brought up my warriors, as my levy forces were about spent. Once again, the levies sent missiles raining down on the elite legionaries, once again no casualties resulted. On Dave's turn, he turned the invincible iron men on  my warriors, who were within their charge range. I had loaded up my board with defensive abilities for his half of the turn. The legionaries charged my warriors, and we both threw in all the advanced Saga abilities we could. Pict and Romans clashed in the driving rain. Blood was spilled, and in the end, we had lost four warriors. Three elite legionaries had fallen, though. Woo-hoo! They COULD die!! The clansmen recoiled, but we had cracked their shell, I felt.

    Dave's wrecking ball -- the near-invincible 8-man, foot hearthguard of elite legionaries

Now it was time to try a battle with my melee abilities loaded up for my warriors. In addition to Ambush, we also used Frenzy (+2 attack dice and re-roll misses) and Feint (+1 to roll on defense dice). I brought a full strength unit up and we charged into his elites. Dave closed ranks to minimize the Pictish savagery, but the clansmen drove his elites back, causing more casualties. I felt that if I could eliminate those elites, we could win the battle. You score one point for each slain enemy hearthguard. For Levy, it is one for every three slain, which should work out in my favor. I had also finally queued up Secret Ways for use on his turn, in case the elites weren't a spent force and they counter-attacked. It would allow me to "teleport" the target of his charge after the melee was fought into the safety of the woods.

    Pictish warriors create the first crack in his elite's iron shell, killing three before being driven off

Though pushed back, Dave's elites returned and charged the warriors who'd driven them back. He threw in the kitchen sink and was able to slaughter all but one of the previously victorious warriors. I used Secret Ways to squirrel the survivor away, deep in the woods. Otherwise, his cataphracts would have ridden them down as a follow up charge. The victory proved Pyrrhic for Dave, though. His elite legionaries had been whittled down to two survivors. 

    The victorious survivors of the hard-fought clash between Picts and Romans somewhere in Britain

On my final turn, I loaded up my board for both archery and melee. We started with the archers, and they proved to be all we needed. They slew the final two elites. I tried to figure out some way to get one of my warrior units within range to charge his ballista, which had nicked away at my figures all game. They were simply too far and safe behind their marsh. I decided to trust that we had killed more points worth of them than they had of us. We counted it up, and Dave had killed 12 of my warriors and 21 of my levies, with a bonus point for entirely wiping out one unit (14 points). The Picts had killed 12 of his hearthguard and 8 of his warriors, receiving two bonus points for wiping out two units (18 points). Final score 18-14, a hard-fought and narrow Pictish victory.

Drust watched as the Roman troops marched from the field in perfect order, their feet rising and falling as one. The iron men had proved a tough opponent, as he'd feared. Still, his tribesmen held the field and were victorious. He could recover his wounded, plunder the enemy dead, and bring back trophies to celebrate their triumph. His lads had fought well - their arrows and darts were key to the victory, as he had foreseen. Drust directed his older veterans to help the wounded, and begin stripping the Roman bodies. His name was safe, and his men would boast of this battle in the months ahead.

Interestingly, all four of the battles that were being fought that Sunday at the Dragons Guildhall were relatively historic encounters (or at least between contemporaries). Besides my Pict-Roman clash, Jenny T was trying out a new list and taking Pagan Rus against Caren's Vikings. Joe D and Jim R were fighting a Norman civil war. And Adrian J and Bob B were fighting a battle between Byzantines and Baltic Crusaders.

Here are the results of the day's games:

• Mike D's Picts defeated Dave's Romans in Clash of Warlords, 18-14
  
• Jenny T's Pagan Rus fought to a tie against Caren's Vikings in Clash of Warlords, 17-19
  
• Jim R's Normans defeated Joe D's Normans in Desecration, 16-10
  
• Adrian J's Baltic Crusaders defeated Bob B's Byzantines in Desecration, 16-10