Picts Emerge Triumphant at Saga Tourney at Game Table Adventures

    My Pictish army at bottom closes with Ted H's all-foot Crusader force in round 1's Change of Plans

Drust son of Drust set a cup of whiskey in front of his father the king and then relaxed into his own carved, wooden chair. The bard began to strum his harp as he saw Drust take a sip from his own cup. "Tonight, we hear the tale of Prince Drust's battle against the men of iron who invaded our isles." Drust remembered the mist that plagued the Orkneys for days prior to the arrival of the strange fleet. Their sails were emblazoned with red crosses, as were many of the host themselves. Drust had been tasked by his father with repelling the unexpected invasion. So, he assembled his warband. Half were veteran warriors, while the other half were the untried and adolescents...

    Drust's Picts faced Ted H's all-foot Crusader army in the first round in the Change of Plans scenario

My first battle in the Game Table Adventures tournament Jan. 15, 2022, was against Ted H's Crusader army. Surprisingly, it had no mounted troops. There was only one small unit of foot knights who remained close to the warlord -- the rest of the army were levy and warriors (like my army). There were two units of levy pilgrims, one of warrior crossbowmen, and two units of foot warriors. 

For the tournament, my Pictish force composition was identical in all three rounds. The tournament allowed a 7-point list, from which you choose 6-points each round. My unused 7th point was the Molossian mercenaries (war dogs). Here were the forces I used:

• Pictish Foot warlord
• 3 units of 8 Pictish foot warriors
• 1 unit of 12 Pictish levy archers
• 2 units of 12 Pictish levy javelinmen

    Two units of Pictish levy javelinmen cut down the crusader crossbowmen with accurate volleys

 

Round 1: Change of Plans vs. Ted H's Crusaders

One of my later opponents was surprised by the size of my army. Three units of levy really pad out the numbers of your warband. I took all three levy rather than the dogs in the first round because I wanted more missile troops. My plan would be to harass and wear down the crusader's slow-moving footmen. When the crusaders charged my levy units, their sheer numbers should allow them to survive, and my plan would be to then counter-attack with my warriors.

Ted's crusaders moved first and advanced steadily on his first turn. We were playing the Change of Plans scenario, which has you count victory points three times. At the end of Turn 3, each player tallies their Slaughter Points (enemy slain). At the end of Turn 5, we would calculate Survival Points. And finally, at the end of the game, we receive bonus Conquest Points based off of our units that are fully beyond the centerline of the board and inside the enemy's half. Like Ted, I also advanced steadily. My first target would be his crossbowmen (his sole missile unit). I advanced both of my units of javelin levy forward quickly, one deep onto the wooded hill and the other alongside it. Each threw their volleys of javelins. Ted's saving rolls were horrible all game, spectacularly so on turn one. Six of the eight crossbowmen fell, as did two of his foot warriors.

    The crusader pilgrims advanced through the center valley but were blocked by Pictish spearmen

The crusaders were undeterred, though, and continued to advance. Both pilgrim units advanced into the center valley between the forested hill and gentle hill. The foot knights marched forward to plug the gap created by the loss of the crossbowmen. The enemy foot warrior who'd been stung by my levy javelinmen charged in and drove them back into the forest. On the Pictish half of the second turn, my levy units continued their volleys. The javelin men targeted the foot knights this time. My above average rolling and Ted's below average saves continued unabated. All but one of the foot knights fell transfixed by the Pictish javelins. Meanwhile, the archers began to target an advancing crusader warrior foot unit that was marching across the gentle hill towards them.

    Crusader foot warriors hurl Pictish javelinmen back into the woods in

It gradually became obvious that Ted's battle plan was to rely on his pilgrim's enthusiasm. He used the crusader board's advanced Saga abilities to have them fight as warriors and activate for free. One charged into a unit of Pictish spearmen who were blocking the center valley. The veteran Picts closed ranks and hurled the pilgrims back. The other pilgrim unit charged into the woods and shoved back the other unit of javelinmen. 

    Pictish archers whittle away at an advancing crusader warrior unit while Pictish spearmen close in

The first phase of my battle plan was nearing its end. Two of my three levy units were depleted, but still at about half strength. It was time for my Pictish warriors to do their part in the struggle. On the far right, a unit of Pictish spearmen charged and shattered the crusader footmen who had chased the javelinmen into the woods. On the far left, another unit of Pict spearmen closed in towards the center. In the center, the already-engaged unit of warriors remained in place, blocking the Crusader advance.

    

    At game end, the crusader warlord has only the remnants of a pilgrim unit left in his command

Ted continued to use his Saga dice to hammer the pilgrims into my troops, but each time we withstood his blows, backing off slightly or hurling them back. Their numbers were being whittled down. On Ted's turn, my troops would either close ranks or play one of one or more of our defensive Saga abilities to minimize casualties. On the Pictish turn, I used "Stalking" regularly to add 3 attack dice to shooting, and "Ambush" to give 4 bonus attack dice to attacks. There are more lethal melee abilities on the crusader board, but Ted was feeding his dice to his pilgrims instead. As the game wore on, the Picts continued to grind down the enemy army while taking way fewer casualties. Soon, all his warriors were gone, as well as one of the pilgrim units and the last surviving foot knight. I "called off the dogs," so to speak, and focused on moving my entire army across the centerline of the table. Ted did likewise, but the score was very lopsided in this game, and I was off to a 1-0 start in the tournament!

    Rich S studies the deployment of his Welsh and my Picts in round 2's Claiming Territory

Round 2: Claiming Territory vs. Rich S's Welsh

The cheers of the king's hall rebounded from the rafters as the bard finished his song. Whiskey cups banged on the oaken table and Drust beamed as his father's men cheered the tale of his victory. The bard held his hand up for silence and the noise slowly died away. "Since it is our Prince's birthday, we will have another tale of the martial prowess of our king's heir.  Who remembers the raid on Damnonia?" Drust looked around the hall and saw many of his men from that raid nod their heads, their eyes misting over with memories. "We shall have that song again tonight!" the bard shouted and the hall erupted again...

Those on the Saga Facebook groups and our local group know of my utter disdain for round two's scenario, Claiming Territory. Four objective markers are placed on the board, two on each player's half (their position selected by the opponent). The ONLY way to get points in this game is to move one of your units within Very Short (2") of these while keeping any enemy more than Short (4") away. That's it. Squat on the objective markers and rack up the points. Slay the entire opponent's army? Meaningless. No points at all for killing enemy troops, or losing your own. The Conquest Points chart in the Book of Battles is also heavily weighted in favor of large units of warriors. If your army is composed of no or few warriors you are at a big disadvantage here.

    My right wing deployed to seize one objective marker, while the archers prepare to harass the Welsh

The good news was this was my third time playing this scenario, so I knew its quirks. Even better news was I had 3 points of warriors in my army. For this game, I split them not into three units of 8 but instead into two of 12 figures. My entire battle plan was to squat these big units in front of the objective markers (back rank within 2") and block the enemy's access to them. And rack up the points. Offensively, I would move my two units of javelin levy to contest one of Rich's markers. If I could cause him to not score it for a few turns, he would be too far behind in Conquest Points to come back. What's more, Rich had not played this game before and did not change his unit sizes to maximize his points. As the game unfolded, Rich had an old gamer phrase for the way it played: Sitskrieg (little maneuver - mostly sitting and staring across the table at your enemy).

    My left wing, which would seize and guard one objective and move into position to contest the other

I absolutely love the Welsh army and it is one of my favorite armies I have ever played in Saga. There are so many ways to "mess" with an opponent's battle plan on its board. Plus, it has some nice abilities that provide it a powerful punch. Rich's Welsh warband was composed of two units of 4 mounted hearthguard with javelins, 1 unit of 8 mounted warriors with javelins, two units of 8 foot warriors, and one unit of 12 levy with bows. He began the game advancing his right wing close to the objective marker on his side of the table -- the one I would end up contesting. The other marker, he sent only a unit of foot warriors to claim it. The mounted warriors stayed back and kept an eye out to make sure I didn't get to close to the warriors they were guarding.

    The key maneuver in the game - my javelin levy occupy scrubland that denies the Welsh one objective

On my half of turn one, my 12-man warrior blocks moved in front of the objective markers and adopted a defensive posture. The three levy units raced forward to get within range of the enemy, but staying completely inside the terrain to minimize the effects of a mounted charge. To conform to the terrain, the javelinmen were several ranks deep, which meant very few could get off a shot at his mounted hearthguard. The archers had a longer range and killed one of the enemy warriors. On Rich's turn 2, he sent one of his mounted hearthguards to pull my the old trick I would use with my Moors. He dashed forward, threw javelins, then pulled back. With his unit being only four figures, and mine being 12, it would take a lot of turns of this to have any effect on the points I was racking up, though. Trying to be courteous, as Rich is still learning the nuances of Saga, I pointed out a better use of his battleboard abilities to do this mounted skirmishing tactic.

On my half of the turn, it was time for Rich to show me something about the Welsh I had never really used the way I played them. I moved one of my javelin units up to hurl missiles at his cavalry. He immediately played Guerrilla -- which takes place after my move but BEFORE the free shooting activation. To get all of my levy in on his cavalry, I ended up within range of not only HIS cavalry returning fire, but the javelin-armed warriors to their right and the levy archers to the left. Before we could get off a shot, the levy were plastered with 14 attack dice of shooting! To add insult to injury, when I opted to take my free shot with my surviving javelinmen, he played Evade, and scooted this cavalry back out of our range. That cancelled our shot at their declared target as it was no longer within range. Whoa! I had never happened upon this in my half-dozen games with the Welsh. As I had planned to do, I then pulled the levy back with Scouts, sheepishly vowing never to try that again!

    Static positions on the right - Pict archers unable to shoot Welsh warriors (who would Evade away)

If the Welsh activation reactions were keeping me from targeting his vulnerable mounted troops, the Pictish board had its own ability that deterred him from routing out my levy contesting his marker. Masters of the Field takes an area of uneven terrain and turns it into solid cover for my troops (also not slowing us down as a bonus). It can be played with either an Uncommon or Rare and I was thankfully never short of those in this game. Every single turn the scrubland that my javelin levy lurked in was solid cover for us. What's more, I queued up good defensive melee abilities in case he did decide to try to drive us out. 

In the end, Rich chose not to risk the casualties and try to force the levy out. Thus, we devolved into a Sitskrieg. Neither of us moved from our hunkered down positions. Granted, he SHOULD have tried it. Otherwise, I would continue to pile up 6 Conquest points every turn while he would get only 2 points. And that is what happened. The game ended with a lopsided total in favor of the Picts, even though Rich had killed 10 or so figures to my one. And this is why I detest Claiming Territory. I won this game mostly with my unit sizes and a little bit of maximizing the terrain. I can guarantee that I will never choose this scenario in any tournament that I run, even though my victory in it took me to 2-0. 

  In the "finals" of the tourney, I was facing my nemesis of late: Jim R's Normans in Clash of Warlords

Round 3: Clash of Warlords vs. Jim R's Normans

 As the song of the Raid on Damnonia finished with a flourish, many of the veterans of the battle clustered around Drust and clapped him on his shoulders. A cup of whiskey was slammed down in front of him. Drust hefted it and tossed the fiery liquid back. More cheers resounded from the wooden rafters of the hall. Drust roared, "The Damnonians rightly feared your spears, my brave comrades. Let's hear now of a battle in which we struck blows upon the enemy and received them boldly in return!" Drust waved his cup towards the bard who stood smiling and leaning upon his harp. "If I may ask, will you sing of Orkney's plundering of Normandy and the bloody Fight Amongst the Fens?"

At the end of three rounds, three of the 14 entrants had 2-0 records -- myself, Adrian J's Pagan Rus, and my opponent for round 3, Jim R's Normans. Jim has been a recent nemesis of sorts for me, winning both of our previous meetings. His Arpadian Hungarians (which use the Norman battle board) beat my Carolingians towards the end of last year, and his Normans defeated my Moors in The Crossing scenario at the DayCon 2021 Saga Tournament. Jim has obviously fallen in love with the Norman battle board. Since returning to Saga after sitting out during the Covid interlude, he has played nothing else, to my knowledge. I give it to him that it is indeed a tough army. The 2xLong shot of their levy archers makes it difficult to hide units vulnerable to shooting. The three Activation/Reaction abilities makes it almost impossible for foot-sloggers to catch up with their horse. And their Crusader-style melee abilities mean they pack an incredibly powerful punch. My Picts were in for a tough contest, made all the tougher by the battlefield which include NO pieces of uneven terrain. This entirely took both my Secret Ways and Masters of the Field battle board abilities out of my arsenal. We would fight amidst three swamps (dangerous terrain), with a good area of the board being open ground which the Normans prefer.

    Fearing my archer's effect against his horse, Jim charged them immediately to try to take them out

Round 3's scenario was Clash of Warlords (which Jim also prefers to play on our Saga Sundays). He was first player (I feel I caught a break there) and rolled the "spread out" deployment method. This meant every unit except the warlord had to be more than a Medium (6") away from another friendly unit. Surprisingly, his levy archers were in the open -- not one of the marshes. He did have them in the center where their 2xLong (24") range could sweep the board. There would be no cover either -- marsh is "Low," so doesn't block line of sight. To the archer's right were both units of Norman foot warriors, then further out on the flank were one of the small, 4-man units of mounted warriors and a 6-man unit of Norman mounted hearthguard. Note: I had not realized that the tourney director had okayed the 1/2 point option for buying your troops. Jim bought three points of warrior foot, but gave up half a point to the hearthguard to give them a bigger, more survivable 6-man unit. The Norman warlord was directly behind the archers. Their left was guarded by the other 4-man mounted warrior unit.

Battle lines at the end of Pict turn 1, with the Orkney men scurrying to pin the enemy near the swamps

How would I attack that? My number one priority would be to keep the battle within 4"-6" of the swamp pieces as much as possible. So many of the Pictish battle board abilities require the unit using them to be within either Short or Medium of uneven or dangerous terrain. The three swamps had already taken two of my 10 battle board abilities out of the game. Fighting away from the swamps would declaw the Picts even further. Number two priority was to take out the ridiculous 24"-shooting levy archers -- or at least mask them or reduce their effectiveness. I played a levy javelin unit directly opposite them. To the right of that unit were the levy archers, to their left the other unit of levy javelinmen. On the far left, one warrior spear unit guarded the gap between the swamp and the board edge. In reserve were the two other units of warrior foot and my warlord.

I've found in our games that Jim has two speeds - full stop (when he is just hanging back and shooting you) and super-aggressive. Jim began with the latter, charging a 4-man mounted warrior unit against my levy archers. I understood the move. They are the missile troops that can inflict damage on his cavalry at range. Still, he would likely lose a Saga die -- which is the main point of splitting the 8-man warrior point into two units of four. The Breton cavalry charged in, slew five archers, but at the cost of half their numbers.

    It was important to tie the battle down around the swamps so I could use my battle board's strengths

On my half of the turn, my archers moved close enough to the swamp to play Stalking (gaining 3 bonus shooting dice), then loosed a volley to eliminate the remainders of the Breton cavalry. On the far left, the Pictish warrior unit used Scouts to hurry 12" towards the edge of the swamp anchoring the Norman right. I did not get a Rare, so was unable to move a second unit with Scouts. I was also short on Uncommon dice, which prevented me from having the javelinmen move towards the Norman archers and to try and block out any other targets. This would cost me on the next couple turns. Otherwise, the Pictish army advanced as fast as it could. 

My rapid advance was partly to prevent the Normans from withdrawing to the open areas of the table

Jim's levy archers loosed their usual "ridiculous range" volley (I call it the Norman trebuchet unit) and whittled my levy archers down to 3 figures (eliminating one of my Saga dice - this would be a very tit-for-tat game!). I countered with an aggressive advance on his right. The Pictish warriors moved into the swamp, while the javelin levy advanced alongside in the open and hurled javelins at the 10-man Norman foot warrior units. Bad rolls meant we killed only one. The other javelin levy unit did much better, advancing right into the face of the Norman archers, killing four of them with their volley.

    Knowing their bravery would be sung about, the Pictish youths hurled javelins at the Norman line

Jim went from shooting mode to aggressive mode on turn 3. His warlord, much to my surprise, took on the job of driving off the javelinmen menacing his archers. He loaded up some big melee abilities -- remember, I said the Normans are like the Crusaders and pack a humongous melee punch -- and slaughtered nine of the 12 javelinmen. My other javelin levy unit was charged by the warriors who they'd stung them with a casualty last turn. Six javelinmen fell, but importantly, this weakened the warrior unit even more and would set up my riposte. With a fierce yell, the Pictish tribesmen splashed out of the swamp and into the flank of the Norman warriors. They cut them down to a man, losing only two of their own number. Meanwhile, Prince Drust brought up the other two units of Pictish warriors for the next counterpunch.

    In back to back turns, both Normans and Picts launched bloody charges and counter-charges

This was the polar opposite of my game from my round 2. The Normans and the Picts landed blow after blow on each other's army. As the turns went on, the casualty totals seemed to be about even. The key difference that I was seeing was that I was completely eliminating some of his units, while he was usually leaving a few survivors. I was carefully moving the remnants towards the back and behind my other troops where he couldn't pick them off later with the "Norman trebuchet." On Jim's turn 4, he sent his mounted hearthguard unit to avenge the death of the warrior spearmen. We closed ranks - as we would tend to do on turns he charged -- and were able to keep the unit alive with a single figure, who scurried back towards the swamps. Then, he decided to prove his levy archers had not been defanged by my javelinmen and shot at one of the advancing Pictish warrior units. He put 5 dice into this attack (1 Uncommon to fire the archers and 4 other Saga dice in Combat bonus).  Three spearmen died, but the unit was still at an effective force and producing a Saga die.

    More charges punches landed as the two armies batter each other mercilessly, turn after turn

Now, it was time for the Pictish counterpunch! The levy javelinmen advanced and hurled their missiles at the Norman cavalry, knocking two troopers from their saddles. The full strength Pictish warrior unit charged the remaining 10-man unit of Norman warriors, slaughtering seven of them. This was turning into one of the hardest-fought battles I've played in Saga. I felt like I was using 100% of my consciousness and maximizing the use of every Saga dice to inflict the most casualties on the enemy while trying to minimize their potentially devastating counter-blows.

One of the hardest-fought battles I've played in Saga - I squeezed out every tactic & advantage I could

At one point, we honestly lost track and weren't certain whether we were on turn 4 or 5. We had to retrace what his archers had done to be able to ascertain it. In the intensity of the game, I had forgotten to flip the turn marker die I usually keep on the table. The game came down to turn 6 - no surprise! The Norman cavalry attempted to charge the javelinmen who had wounded them earlier. However, I noticed he had no other way of activating them and they had a fatigue. I played their fatigue, and their charge came up short so was cancelled. Next, his warlord once again charged into the fray, slaughtering to a man my largest unit of Pictish warriors. I was down to three Saga dice for my final turn.

    The cinematic final moment of a hard-fought game: Prince Drust cuts down the Norman warlord!

Now would have been the perfect time to roll a Rare so I could utilize Activation Pool. However, the Rares were stingy in this game despite being plentiful in my two earlier rounds. No Rare on turn 6. Examining the remaining clumps of warriors on both sides scattered across the battlefield, there seemed to be only one tactic: the Norman warlord must die! First, I used "We Obey" to activate the javelinmen to hurl their missiles at the general, hoping to inflict more fatigue. Jim played the levy's own fatigue to raise his armor to five and he survived with no hits. I'd been hoping he would play that fatigue right away. Next, I used a Saga dice to activate them to shoot again. I also played Stalking, giving a bonus 3 dice. After saves, he still suffered only one casualty. However, he was double-fatigued. 

Now was the time, Drust son of Drust knew. Time to forever cement his name in the annals of Orkney legend. Accompanied by his bannerman and his faithful Deerhound Machrie, Drust charged the wounded warlord. His steed pierced by a javelin shaft, the warlord could not get away. Drust raised his sword and cut his enemy down. As the Norman leader tumbled from the saddle, the Pictish prince was certain this would prove to be the decisive blow. Victory would be theirs!

Both Jim and I let out a huge sigh after this epic game. We counted up the victory points. At first glance, it looked like we were tied. Tied?? Then, I recounted. No! I had forgotten to tabulate his six destroyed mounted warriors. That earned 3 more points -- exactly what was needed to go from a dead-even tie to a victory! Adrian actually also ended up 3-0 with is Pagan Rus, and would have won if we did end in a tie. It was a long day, but definitely a satisfying end. After my two previous experiences in Saga tournaments (1-1-1 and 1-2), it was good to get the monkey off my back and have a good outing.

 Here are the standings for the tournament, as given to me by John:

• Mike Demana (Picts - AOI), 3-0, 110 points
• Adrian John (Jomsvikings - AOV), 3-0, 97 points
• Jim Randall (Normans - AOV), 2-1, 92 points
• Rich Smethurst (Welsh - AOV), 2-1, 84 points
• Robert Smethurst (Goths - AOI), 2-1, 81 points
• Theodore Hehemann (Levantine Crusaders - AOC), 2-1, 62 points
• John Loy (Saracen - AOC), 1-1-1, 70 points
• David Eblin (Roman - AOI), 1-1-1, 65 points
• Ross Geidenberger (Vikings - AOV), 1-2, 78 points
• Jason Stelzer (Romans - AOI), 1-2, 73 points
• Michael Cooper (Republican Roman - AOH), 1-2, 72 points
• Karen C (Vikings - AOV), 1-2, 68 points
• Mike Stelzer (Vikings - AOV), 0-3, 73 points
• Jenny Torbett (Vikings - AOV) 0-3, 47 points

Thanks for John for running the tournament, and Dan at Game Table Adventures for hosting it.