Trying out Age of Invasions Picts at Saga Game Day

    Andy S's new Republican Romans saw their first battle against my Picts from Age of Invasions

Age of Invasions has come out since my last blog post and I am definitely intrigued to try out some of the newly retolled armies. First up would be the Picts -- which is actually what my Age of Vikings Scots are painted to depict (no pun intended). I listened to the Northern Tempest Saga Podcast episode, as well as the Saga Thorsday preview, giving a nice rundown on each of the eight armies in the supplement. The Picts interested me the most. Fortunately, the army was already painted, so I decided to try them out at our November Saga Game Day at the Guardtower East, Columbus, OH.

    We had a fantastic 14 players show up at Guardtower East for our November Saga Game Day

My army would be a foot warlord, 1 unit of 8 mounted warriors with javelins, 3 units of 8 warriors (spearmen, essentially), 1 unit of levy bows, and 1 unit of levy javelins. This would be my first warband ever featuring two levy units. Why? Well, the Pict battle board has a "Stalking" ability which gives a bonus 3 attack dice. Plus, I felt the javelinmen could morph into a charging group with all of their melee dice bonuses when around terrain. Twelve javelinmen plus the "Ambush" ability can be 8 attack dice at +1 for charging with javelins. Not an overwhelming attack, but a nice solid punch to finish off a depleted enemy unit. 

    Joe M, left, brought his newly-painted Mutatawi'a onto the field to face Dave W's dangerous Welsh

The mounted javelin could also be sent in to attack a unit like the levy javelinmen, being even more effective due to their Long charge range. What's more, the "Scouts" ability would allow me to withdraw them a Long move with no chance of their move being reduced to Short due to fatigue. Similarly, I could simply gallop them up to take a free shooting attack, as well (and then withdraw them so they don't get shot or counter-charged). There are a number of other Melee attack and defensive abilities on the Pictish battleboard which can buff up either the mounted unit or the foot ones.

    Bob B's Byzantines march across the table to try to engage Jim R's ever-elusive Normans (Bretons)

A key aspect of the Pictish board is the need for terrain (uneven preferably) to maximize their abilities. Five of their 10 abilities require the unit to be near terrain or have terrain ontable to maximize its use. There is one Orders ability (which converts an area of terrain into solid cover for your troops but does not slow their movement in it), three Activation abilities, one nifty Activation/Reaction ability which essentially allows one of your units suffering a shooting or melee attack to teleport to within Very Short of a piece of uneven terrain, one Shooting ability, and four Melee abilities. It seems to me that the Picts will have to use their mobility and nimbleness around terrain to make up for devastating attacks that other boards may have. We shall see, though!

    Andy S's Republican Romans get their first game in, as do my Picts (bottom) - armies at deployment

My first opponent was Saga Ohio founder Andy Swingle, playing his Republican Romans from Age of Hannibal -- also for the very first time! His list featured mostly warrior foot with two units of mercenaries (Thureophoroi and Cretain Archers). Luckily, I was second player so was able to get the fourth piece of terrain on the table. Our Clash of Warlords game featured a large woods on my left, fields in my center, and Andy placed a marsh guarding his left rear and a rocky area his right rear. He deployed the Cretans in the rocky area and the rest of the army between the two pieces of cover. The Theureophoroi led the center, supported by five (all but one 6-man) units of warrior foot Hastati/Princeps legionaries. His warlord was a Tribune, which would give him an extra "We Obey". This allowed him to advance steadily, yet still utilize at least one or two Activation/Reaction abilities to stiffen his legionaries' defensive abilities.

Picts meet the Roman advance on their half of turn 1 with their only effective shooting of the game

I deployed my levy bow in the center, ready to enter the fields. They ended up not needing to do that as Andy's aggressive advance meant they had targets within range from Turn 1. The bows were flanked by one unit of warrior foot on their left and two on the right. The mounted warriors were in reserve, while the levy javelinmen were in the woods, ready to dart out using the Scouts ability when a target presented itself.

    Roman turn 2 - Theurophoroi (in blue) and legionaries (white) lead the Roman advance

As Andy's legion marched forward, I decided to seize that opportunity on the very first turn. His entire formation except for the Cretans advanced steadily forward. The archers fired at the far left hand legionary unit in front of the Cretans. Next, the javelinmen dashed out and took a shot, as well. Our rolls were above average and with 15 attacks we caused five casualties. Little did I know, this would be our high point of the game when it came to rolling. An even more ominous, that was Andy's low point. From that point on, he would continue the tradition that began at Cincyon game two of my opponents rolling spectacularly. Andy was quite disconcerted that one of his legionaries was down to one man already, but he need not worry. We apparently ran out of missiles after that first shot!

    A small unit of Hastati legionaries chase of Pictish levy javelinmen

I also moved up the warrior unit in the gap between the fields and woods to support the javelinmen. Andy responded quickly, shooting with the Cretans at the levy and causing two casualties. The Theureophoroi entered the fields and hurled javelins, killing one warrior spearman. On his left, the main weight of his legion advanced against the two units on my right. During turn 1, I had also maneuvered the horsemen out to that side, thinking to maybe isolate a maniple of his legionaries. 

    We must be out of arrows! 15 attack dice yields only two casualties on advancing legionaries

I decided to load my board up and try an attack on turn 2. Let's see how good these Pictish spearmen are on this new battleboard! I had Ambush ready, to give the warrior unit a bonus 4 attack dice. Should be enough, right? First, I did my shooting, firing twice with my archers at the closest legionary unit advancing against my right. With 15 attack dice, I scored 2 hits -- well below average. With the levy javelinmen, I scored zero hits. Whoa...definitely subpar, and about to get worse. My warrior spear unit charged against the Theurophoroi. We had 12 attack dice, he had 8. My spearmen caused zero casualties against his mercenaries and lost two, dropping down to five figures and falling back.

    Pictish spearmen are repulsed, causing no casualties, despite having a 12-8 attack dice advantage

Andy saw he had the momentum and charged the Theurophoroi against my depleted warrior unit. I had saved "Sacred Tattoos" for the bonus 4 defense dice. I had also played "Feint" to give me a +1, so when I closed ranks it meant I saved on 3-6. Andy couldn't bump his attack dice because they were mercenaries, but as it turned out, it wouldn't be needed. He used my fatigue to lower my armor to 3 and managed to hit with all 8 dice. I rolled 12 defense dice, saving on 3+ and failed utterly, with the entire unit wiped out. Whaaat??? Would this be a repeat of the abysmal dice I suffered in my 1-1-1 performance at CincyCon? It appeared so. On his left, Andy charged with his legionaries. I closed ranks again, but suffered two hits again. Luckily, we scored two hits on them and they fell back. 

    Andy's mercenaries continue their superhuman exertions, wiping out the remaining Pictish spear

On my third turn, I decided to shoot some more, once again ineffectively for the most part. Nine attack dice should score 4-5 hits every turn on warrior targets, but I was way below average. And Andy's saves were sublime. At one point in the game, I hit him six times and he saved every single roll! I moved my horsemen back over to the left, because I thought I would need them. I was hoping my Pictish spear could hold off his legionaries. All in all, it was two completely ineffective turns in a row.

    The horsemen get their revenge, riding down the Thereuphoroi and then withdrawing out of range

Andy's legion continued to pressure my warband. Another legionary unit charged my javelin levy, while the legionaries facing my right switched targets and charged my levy bow. Andy loaded up on his defensive abilities against melee in both my and his turns. He was content to nick away at me, knowing that with his bonus defense dice and my inept rolling he would come out on top, consistently. The javelinmen were driven back into the woods. The archers lost half their number and recoiled away, too. 

    Andy's left of three legionary units begins to grind down the Pictish right wing

It was time for the horsemen, I decided. They galloped forward and charged the Thereophoroi. I had loaded up my battle board abilities, adding Frenzy (2 bonus attack dice, plus rerolling misses) to Ambush. This was finally enough, and we obliterated the mercenaries to a man.

 They continued to be the only unit doing any damage late in the game. On the next turn, they galloped forward again and hurled their missiles at the unit that had chased off my javelinmen. Two hits reduced the unit to three figures. With a little misdirection, the horsemen galloped past their targets and instead charged his single figure legionary from turn one who had been trying to withdraw from battle. I used "Swift as the Wind," which meant I suffered no fatigue on this second activation. I had Ambush queued up and rolled 12 attack dice against the single-figure unit, scoring six hits. He. Saved. Them. All. Nooooooo!!! 

    The Pictish horsemen would take over in the second half of the game as my only effective troops

I could see his eyes light up as he anticipated his Cretans decimating the low-armor mounted warriors with shooting on his turn. Not so fast, Tribune! I played "Scouts," which moves a unit a Long distance and cannot be reduced for fatigue or terrain. I used this to pull the horsemen back out of his range. The only satisfaction I got was a disappointed, "Oh, come on...!" Hey, if you can't fight, at least you better be able to move out of the way!

Andy got his revenge on Turn 5, though. He charged and wiped out my archers, and cut one of the warrior units on my right down to half strength. Of course, the numerous Roman bonus defense dice meant he was taking no casualties in these engagements. My saving rolls continued to be terrible, and my figures (especially the levy bow) died in droves. There wasn't a whole lot I could do about it, though. I launched some game end attacks, getting a second shot at his single-man legionary unit and failing equally as spectacularly. My levy javelin tried to charge his legionaries, but the +1 to my rolls made little difference. On my final turn, I even had the warlord charge one of his legionary units that had been chipped down a couple figures by my horsemen's javelins. 

    You  know I must be frustrated if I am charging in my warlord to get a couple kills late game!

By my calculation, I had lost abysmally. I simply couldn't seem to cause casualties. I know that the Romans' strength is their defensive abilities. However, Andy complimented that with superb saving rolls all game long, barring the first turn. He admitted the dice were in his favor this game as we counted up the points. Shockingly, it ended in a draw. He scored 20 points while I scored 18. Clash of Warlords requires you to beat your opponent by more than 3 points, so somehow my first outing with my Picts ended up in a tie.

I did make a major mistake, I admit. I misread "Secret Ways," thinking that the unit which teleports also needs to begin near terrain. It doesn't. It only had to end up within Very Short of uneven terrain and more than Medium from enemy figures. I should have withdrawn my right flank steadily as he charged it, bouncing it over to the woods on my left. That would have saved a lot of figures, and possibly won me the game. I probably also underestimated the steadiness of the Roman defense. I thought a couple bonus defense dice here and there would make only a minor impact. They contributed to my inability to do much damage to his legion. I look forward to trying out the Picts again -- hopefully soon. 

I probably should have mentioned his higher up in the blog post, but we had 14 players show up for our November game day. Three were brand new players brought by Lee P, and one was playing her second game. Here are the results of all the games (which I believe were all Clash of Warlords):

• Joe Merz's brand-new Muttatawi'a tied against Dave W's Welsh, 20-18
• Karen's Vikings defeated Jason's Vikings (no score recorded)
• Lee P's Milites Christi defeated Stan's Gauls (no score recorded)
• Jenny T's Vikings defeated Mike's Anglo-Saxons, 20-12
• Andy S's Republican Romans tied Mike D's Picts, 20-18
• Jim R's Normans (Breton) tied Bob B's Byzantines, 18-17
• Adrian J's Britons defeated Dave E's Romans (no score recorded)