Dozen Games at Guardtower, Dozen Sagas to Tell

Jenny's Viking berserkers lead the charge against Lowell's Anglo-Saxon battleline

We continue to attract new players to our monthly Saga game days at the Guardtower East game store on the east side of Columbus. With a handful of players out sick with the crud that has been going around, we still managed to have 13 players fight out a dozen battles over the course of a Sunday morning and afternoon between Christmas and New Year's. Once again, I took Sigurd Skullsplitter's Anglo-Danish army of Jorvik.

Close up of the brave (& usually doomed, in the games I've played) berserkers taking on the entire Anglo-Saxon warband

My first game was one of the scenarios from Book of Battles called "Prized Possessions." I would be trying to escort three baggage wagons across the table from my base edge to that of my opponent -- Anthony, also playing Anglo-Danes. I had skimmed the scenario rules this morning to make sure I had the proper terrain, but should have read the victory conditions more closely. I knew that I would get the most victory points if the wagons exited the table on Anthony's board edge, and would lose the most if they were destroyed. However, I incorrectly recalled that if they were still alive at the end of the game I would receive victory points, but a smaller amount. Actually, I would be penalized in this case.

Sigurd Skullsplitter's attempt to punch through on the right, led by a large warrior unit and hearthguard in the woods

What's more, I should have pre-measured the distance from baseline to baseline (two of my wagons would march onto the board on my first turn). As it turns out, the wagons must move a full Medium move distance every turn to have a chance of exiting the table edge. If they're held up for even one turn (such as by the presence of enemy troops), the odds become longer at achieving your victory. I am beginning to become less enchanted with the scenarios from Book of Battles. I simply don't think they are balanced. On the table behind me, Mike S and Dave W were playing Pillage -- which I had played at the last meeting and found very unbalanced against the raider. Their game produced similar feelings - there seems no way for the attacker to win. I would be curious to see how others feel about the scenarios in the book. Honestly, I haven't been impressed, thinking perhaps they weren't adequately play tested?

Sigurd's warrior unit drives off Anthony's warrior unit to try to clear a path for the wagons

Anyway, Sigurd Skullsplitter's force was identical to previous games, with two large units of 12 warriors and two units of 6 hearthguard each. Although this gives me only five units when you include the Warlord himself, I like the survivability of larger units. Each of the three baggage wagons had Determination, so their movement would not be a drain on my Saga dice. I set up my army to punch through on my right, screening the wagons with one of my large warrior units, whose flank was guarded by a hearthguard unit advancing through a forest on my right. Not having played the scenario before (nor counted out the distances), I was WAY too methodical in my advance. I was more concerned with protecting the wagons than a pell-mell charge across the table.

The left half of my force followed along slowly -- our two centers essentially ended up just countering each other

One of the Anglo-Danes' main abilities on their battle board is to put fatigue on enemy units. Both Anthony and I did this regularly, which further slowed down our attempts to close with each other. A unit of Levy archers stood in the way of my advance, shooting at us as we closed. My warriors did drive off his smaller warrior unit which guarded their flank. Anthony countered with a charge by a unit of hearthguard, who shattered my large unit and drove it back into the wagons. I riposted with a charge by my own larger hearthguard unit, which sent his reeling back, down to one survivor. I set it up to use Sigurd himself to drive off the archers, but Anthony astutely launched a spoiling attack on my warlord with his warlord, pushing him back.

Mike S's Last Romans on left attempt to pillage an aggressively-defended Welsh village

Sigurd's attempt to take advantage of his fatigued warlord ended in disaster and the loss of my hearthguard unit. I brought Sigurd back up to try to force the issue, again, driving back his archers. It was simply too little, too late, though. There would be no way we could clear out his units guarding his table edge. Honors in kills were close, with Anthony having a slight edge. Victory points for the wagons took him over the top, though, and Anthony won, 11-3.

Jim's Byzantine army marshals its battle line in one of its two battles

My second game was against a new player, Adam. Steve P had sat him down to play his father, Christian, in the first game. Dad's Normans triumphed over Adam's Vikings, but both were spoiling for a second game. Adam and I set up a Clash of Warlords game, with several forests dominating the flanks and center of the board. I coached Adam on how he could rearrange his points and units, and he chose to combine his two hearthguard Viking units into one big, 8-man unit, leaving the rest at minimum sized units. He placed his double hearthguard unit and his Warlord on the extreme left of his line. I promptly marched my Warrior unit facing them towards the center, and the Hearthguard on that side into one of the woods to delay the clash with these two powerful units.

Close up of Jim's Byzantine infantry and their draco standard

In the meantime, I marched my other large warrior unit forward and hurled back one of his 8-man warrior units. My warrior's left was guarded by the advance of a hearthguard unit, which was hurrying to close the distance with a unit of levy archers shooting at us from a wooded hill. I felt bad for Adam when he brought up a fresh 8-man warrior unit, loaded up with abilities from his Viking board, and charged into my bigger unit. He sacrificed two figures with Valhalla and used another ability to roll 17 dice to my 10. Uh-oh, I thought. He's beating me at MY game. However, Adam's dice completely failed him. He caused only two casualties, while I savaged his unit. Bad luck for the new player!

Anthony's Anglo-Danes advance against Jim's Byzantines in a second round matchup

I followed up and destroyed the depleted unit on the next turn. His first Warrior unit charged in, again, driving my unit back, but whittling us both down to three figures. These two remnant units spent the rest of the game resting and eyeing each other warily. My hearthguard crashed into his levies, but Adam's luck returned, and he lost only two of them to one of my figures. I would spend the rest of the game charging into his levies with the hearthguard, eventually destroying them on the last turn of the game.

Stop me if you've heard this before: Jenny's berserkers lead the charge...this time against Jon's Irish

Meanwhile, the showdown on the center-right was looming. I slowed his advance enough with fatigue enough to be able to concentrate three units against his two -- one large warrior unit, a hearthguard unit, and Sigurd himself. What followed was a knock-down, drag-them-out slugfest. Both of our hearthguard units were slowly whittled down, as were my warriors. Although both warlords were brought to exhaustion, neither of us could strike the killing blow. There were tense moments for each of us, but all five units were still facing off against each other when the sixth turn ended.

The climax of game two - Sigurd Skullsplitter trades blows with the Viking warlord

It was VERY close on points. I ended up squeaking out a victory, 20-16. Adam played a great game, and showed he was picking up the tactics and use of the Viking battle board well. I was impressed. With a couple breaks, he could easily have won this game. His awful start on dice rolling handicapped him, but his luck returned at the end when I could have killed his warlord. Fun game!

Dave W borrowed my Welsh (being of Welsh ancestry) and went 2-0 for the day, defeating Steve's Romans

Only one of the 13 players had to leave after round one (Steve P had not played the first round, shepherding Christian and Adam through the rules). Here are the results of a great day of Saga gaming:

Round One

• Anthony's Anglo-Danes defeated Mike D's Anglo-Danes in Prized Possessions, 11-3.
• Jenny's Vikings tied Jon's Irish, 20-19 in Clash of Warlords. 
• Dave W's Welsh defeated Mike S's Last Romans in Pillage, 19-7.
• Lowell's Anglo-Saxons tied Daniel's Norse-Gaels in Desecration, 16-16.
• Andy's Anglo-Saxons defeated Jim's Byzantines in Desecration (no score tabulated).
• Christian's Normans defeated Adam's Vikings in Clash of Warlords, (no score tabulated).

Round Two

• Mike D's Anglo-Danes defeated Adam's Vikings in Clash of Warlords, 20-16.
• Jenny's Vikings defeated Lowell's Anglo-Saxons in Clash of Warlords, 29-20.
• Christian's Normans defeated Mike S's Last Romans in Clash of Warlords, (no score tabulated).
• Dave W's Welsh defeated Steve P's Romans in Clash of Warlords, (no score tabulated).
• Jim's Byzantines defeated Anthony's Anglo-Danes in Clash of Warlords, (no score tabulated).
• Andy's Anglo-Saxons defeated Daniel's Norse-Gaels in Clash of Warlords, 33-20.

For those counting, we had two players each using Anglo-Danes, Vikings, and Anglo-Saxons. We had all varieties of Rome, with one player each using Romans, Last Romans, and Byzantines. Representing the Celts, we had Welsh, Norse-Gaels, and Irish. And finally, one player used Normans. The bulk of the armies continue to come from the Age of Vikings book, with only the Byzantines being from the Crusades book. The Romans are from the Aetius & Arthur book, of course.

Another great day of Dark Ages wargaming -- worthy of the sagas! We look forward to welcoming back our friends who were under the weather, today, and growing even more!

Battered and bloody, Sigurd's Anglo-Danes survive

The hardest-fought and bloodiest battle Sigurd Skullsplitter's Anglo-Danes had faced was against Thomas' Crusaders

One of the things I am enjoying most about getting our Saga group together here is the interest we're getting from the next generation. My friend Mike's son Jason, along with his twin cousins Daniel and Thomas, have been enthusiastic about playing the game since we first coaxed them into trying it out. All three have bought figures and are painting armies (or getting them painted). My second matchup in our November Saga Day at the Guardtower East was against Thomas and his newly-painted Crusader army.

The deadliest of troops in Thomas' Crusader list, I felt, were its Fanatical pilgrims

Since this was a second game, we agreed to do Clash of the Warlords so we could get started right away. Our first round of games had taken close to two hours and learning a new scenario would take extra time, we felt. In the first round, Thomas had defeated his brother (who was running Romans) 6-5 in The Crossing scenario. Daniel was saying how tough Thomas' army was, and I had heard that the Crusader army -- especially one with fanatical pilgrims -- could be nasty, indeed. Never one to back down from a challenge, when some suggested me being the next one to take it on the chin from the buzzsaw of an army list, I agreed.

Thomas' mounted warriors prepare to charge my hearthguard as my whittled down units of warriors have fallen back from the crusader onslaught

I put more terrain on the table than Thomas did, expecting him to have crusader knights, who would struggle with that part of the board. However, there was an open middle, with a pond on one side and groves of palm trees on the other. I deployed with both of my large, 12-man warrior units guarding the center. The smaller, 6-man hearthguard units were deployed on my right. The left was safely blocked by the impassable pond. My warlord stayed near the joint between the warrior line and the hearthguard column. Sigurd would be the linchpin between the warriors in the center and the hearthguard racing through the palm grove on my right.

My hearthguard have stood like rocks, driving off both warrior knights and his double-size foot knights, while Sigurd stands ready to back them up

Although I'd read about the crusader list (and played it once), and even listened to a podcast which extolled its deadliness, I was NOT prepared for the avalanche about to descend upon me! The Crusader battleboard is viscious. It has a perfect balance of potent attack capabilities that boost their attacks, along with maneuver abilities which allow it to launch attack after attack, and even defensive abilities which ward off a major strike by the opponent. With my large units, I love to stack up the abilities on my battleboard to launch a major attack on my opponent which is capable of wiping out his unit.

Meanwhile, on Andy's gorgeous desert town board two pairs of opponents were fighting the Urban Uprising scenario

Thomas advanced quickly, and hurled both of his pilgrim units (one of which was fanatical) against my warriors. Thanks to his abilities, I could do little damage in return. Both of my warriors were recoiled. Meanwhile, my hearthguard units were hurrying through the palm grove to launch our counterattack. The lead unit was attacked at the same time by a unit of foot warriors, which we drove off. When it was my turn, I launched my own assaults. It was a dizzying affair of charge after charge. No fancy maneuvering - just load up on the battle board abilities and close to contact and unleash them upon your opponent.

Andy's Anglo-Saxons prepare to face Jason's Anglo-Danes in the narrow streets of the town

When it came to number of dice rolling, I thought I was setting up fairly favorable matchups. However, Thomas' die-rolling was phenomenal. Time and again, I would use the fatigue I had placed on his units with my abilities to raise my armor class to "6". He would still manage to get 50% hits (rolls of "6" on a six-sided die). I would also unleash upon him and do half a dozen or more hits, only to see him save three quarters of them. It was the first game where I honestly felt my army was going to get out pounded. It seemed there was no way I could stand up to his battering, especially while he was saving so well against my own lethal counter-attacks.

Vikings rampage through the dusty streets of the town, fighting both city guard and Anglo-Saxon foes alike

In the end, I figured out how to face the Crusaders. You must hit them hard when their battle board is empty of Saga dice. When they have nothing left to save themselves, throw everything you have at them. Also, I learned to avoid the fanatics. Do not charge them. Withdraw. Make them spend activations to close. In future games, I will close ranks against them (I didn't think of doing that). The main reason you don't necessarily want to kill their fanatics is because they get a Saga dice for each casualty, which they can immediately place and play. Another thing, on a technical side, is to keep track of which advanced abilities they have played to help make sure they don't accidentally use it on their turn, and then put dice on it again and use it again on YOUR turn. The rules state you can use advanced abilities only once per turn.

Thomas' first round opponent was his brother Daniel's Romans, who he triumphed over in a close-fought river crossing

When it came to the bitter end, both of my hearthguard units had been eliminated. Each warrior unit was whittled down to half of their figures or less. Only they and Sigurd stood to contest the field. But we had inflicted heavy casualties on them, as well. On the final turn, Thomas had his warlord charge mine, with each of his going into the clash with two fatigue. Neither used the opponent's fatigue to affect armor clas. We rolled our eight dice and counted them up. Each inflicted three hits. Thomas -- for once (I felt) -- muffed all three of his saves. His warlord was dead. I had to save two of my three to survive. I had been rolling terrible on saves all game. I tossed the dice after seeing his failure, and watch two saves come up. Sigurd had survived!

Another first round game was Dave's Romans against Mike's Vikings in Feasting & Pillaging, which Dave won

With few troops remaining, we called the game. It was the narrowest and bloodiest of victories for my troops from Jorvik. Bloody and battered, our survivors withdrew - full of respect for our Crusader foes...

In The Crossing, Thomas' knights prepare to cross the river to face his brother Daniel's Romans

As for the other games among our 12 players, I did not do as good of a job as last time in keeping track. Here are the results I am sure of:

1st Round

• Urban Uprising: Jason M's Anglo-Danes and Andy S's Anglo-Saxons tied at 8-8 
• Feasting & Pillaging: Dave E's Romans defeated Mike S's Vikings 20-8
• The Crossing: Thomas M's Crusaders defeated Daniel's Romans 6-5
• Pillage: Mike D's Anglo-Danes defeated Jenny T's Vikings, 15-4
• Urban Uprising: (Score and player names not verified: Vikings vs. Anglo-Saxons

2nd Round

• Clash of Warlords: Dave E's Romans defeated Jenny T's Vikings 20-16
• Clash of Warlords: Mike D's Anglo-Danes defeated Thomas M's Crusaders (score not tabulated)
• -- Not sure if there were other second-round games...my apologies! Nor did I get the score in Steve P and Jeff F's Age of Magic game. I guess my second round game wore me out...!!

Sigurd Skullsplitter drives off Viking raiders near Jorvik

Vikings get ready to attack two village buildings not far from York during our monthly Saga Game Day

We met for our November Saga Game Day at the Guardtower East in Columbus, this past Sunday. I took my Anglo-Dane army again -- the Viking Lord Sigurd Skullsplitter of Jorvik (York). We had 12 players again -- a good handful of those from Dayton, Springfield, and other area locations. We have made it a goal to start playing more of the scenarios from Book of Battles. We gamed Urban Uprising, Pillage, The Crossing, and Feasting & Pillaging, in addition to the standard Clash of Warlords. Steve and Jeff also played a game of Saga: Age of Magic.

After three turns, the Vikings at right are well into the village, while the Anglo-Danes at left are arriving

My first matchup was against Jenny's Vikings in the Pillage scenario. Her Vikings were raiding an Anglo-Danish village not far from York, and we would be hurrying to protect the hapless peasants from their deprivations. Her army marches on from one short side of the board, while mine has to roll dice using the Reinforcements rule to arrive. In the meantime, four units of four civilians huddle in fear inside the buildings.

Viking warriors charge into the village, looking forward to a day of slaughter and pillaging

One of the Anglo-Dane's biggest strengths is their ability to throw fatigue on the enemy. I started loading Jenny's units up with fatigue markers from the very first turn. Meanwhile, my troops started showing up on Turn 2, with my Warlord, one unit of 12 warriors and another of 6 hearthguard arriving from the opposite short edge and hurrying towards the village. I knew I'd be able to use my units with the free Maneuver rule, so kept my Saga dice from loading up my Battle Board and continue to beleaguer Jenny with more fatigue. The Vikings successfully stormed the first two buildings, slaughtering all peasants (or so they thought) easily.

The spitting-mad Crone surprises Vikings inside her home, killing three hearthguard before being taken out

The most humorous point of the battle (for me - not Jenny) came when she searched the houses for loot (which counts as victory points). In one building she did very well, discovering two treasures. For the other, though, she pulled "The Crone" marker. This infuriated Saxon matron attacks the unit with 3d6, scoring kills (no save) on sixes. Guess what Jenny rolled? Three sixes! What's more, it was three hearthguard that the Crone killed - almost an entire point of her six point army!

A unit of Anglo-Danish warriors catches an exhausted Viking warrior unit trying to break into a building

Two turns later, my last two units arrived (another 12-man warrior unit, and 6-man hearthguard). I was getting closer to intercepting the raiders, but couldn't prevent a unit of Viking warriors from attacking the center building, where four monks were praying for God's to rescue them. I decided not to use the fatigue I'd loaded the Vikings up with, and surprise of surprises, one monk survived, leaving an exhausted warrior unit outside - still trying to get in.  On the same turn, my hearthguard charged a unit of Viking warriors in another building, but was repulsed, suffering five of six casualties. Yikes!

The Vikings set fire to the two closest buildings while carrying two loot tokens

On the next turn, my warlord took matters into his own hands and routed the remaining Viking warriors from the building. Meanwhile, Jenny brought a fresher unit to take out the last monk. My warlord then charged that Viking unit, sending it fleeing from the structure. At the same time, my unit of warriors charged the exhausted Viking warrior unit that had failed against the monks, sending them reeling backwards with heavy casualties.

Anglo-Danish warriors prepare to receive the charge of a much smaller unit of Viking hearthguard

The Crone-ravaged Viking hearthguard bravely charged the much larger unit of warriors and died to a man. The handwriting was certainly on the wall, and we agreed to call the game. We said Jenny would get away with her two tokens of loot, as well as burning the two original buildings she took. It was a rout on points, though, as my "massacre points" more than quadrupled her victory points from the loot and burnings.

I will follow up this post with another detailing my much deadlier and close second game against Thomas's Crusaders. Stay tuned!

Sigurd Skullsplitter's First Foray to the Guardtower Saga Day

A fierce Roman counter-attack drives my Jarl Sigurd Skullsplitter's Danes back to the river's edge

I have decided to use our monthly Saga game days at the Guardtower East in Columbus, OH, to try out different armies, rather than use the same one over and over. Last meeting, I brought Norse-Gaels and had a lot of fun with them. This time, I thought I would try out the Anglo-Danish list, which includes the Viking kingdom of Jorvik (York). I created a fictional jarl - Sigurd Skullsplitter - and looked over the "battle board" a bit beforehand to try to figure it out.

Dave E and my deployment - my Anglo-Danes are to the bottom of the river, while his Romans await our attack opposite

Each army has a unique command and control battle board that is definitely the "learning curve" part of the game. It seemed to me that the Anglo-Danish specialty was to put fatigue on their enemy's units. They had a couple melee abilities that could take advantage of enemy fatigue fairly effectively, so I decided to try my hand at this list. I even wrote up some notes for myself beforehand. Many of the Saga abilities on an army's battle board are set up to be most effective to use them in 1-2-3-etc. order.

Dave E decided to await my attack on the far side of the river - here his warriors begin to march towards the middle

In particular, I saw that you can use the "Noble Lineage" ability with any die to try to ensure you get to "6's" (helmet), which enable you to use "Exhaustion." This puts a fatigue marker on three enemy units. You put these on likely charge targets. You then use "Determination" to give you a combat bonus, which is even more effective against units with fatigue. Then, you use their fatigue to take their armor class down to 3 or less, which is when you hit them with "Crush the Week," which gives bonus attack dice against units with an armor of 3 or less.

Jarl Sigurd's right gains a toehold on the opposite bank, while Dave E's Romans begin to mass to try to drive us off

To me, that is the key of Saga. Figuring out how to maximize the inter-relationships between the various Saga abilities on your battle board. This is partially why I stopped running my Welsh army (which was undefeated). I figured that I would become a better player by trying my hand at various armies so that I know what they can do.

At game's end, the Roman warlord forded the river to try to slay Sigurd, but failed, while forces from my left finally arrive

Thus, Sigurd Skullsplitter's foray this Sunday. I was matched against Dave Eblin, who was playing only his third game of Saga. He was using the Roman list, which of course meant I was once again facing a ballista when I had large units. I had decided to make my six army points into two units of 6 hearthguard, two units of 12 warriors, and my Warlord. The bigger the size of enemy units, the more attack dice the ballista (which counts as only 1/2 point of Levy troops) rolls. Sigh.

On the next battle board, Jenny also played Anglo-Danes against Jason's Romans

We were playing "The Crossing," which places a river in the middle of the board and heavily rewards a player who gets all his army across to the other side. The deployment rules force you to split your army into two halves. The half of my army that was facing his ballista (one hearthguard unit, one warrior unit) immediately pulled back and marched towards the other side of the board. Meanwhile, my other hearthguard and warrior unit, supported by the warlord advanced towards the river.

Jenny and Jason were playing "Guard the Loot" - here Jenny's Anglo-Danes at bottom advance upon the treasure

Dave had deployed a small unit of four hearthgaurd and a unit of 8 warriors flanking the ballista, along with his warlord. The other flank, opposite my advancing force, was guarded by another small unit of 4 hearthguard, 8 warriors, 6 levy spear, and a unit of warrior archers in the woods. He seemed content to have this force await my attack, while shifting his troops from his right over to support his threatened left.

Lowell, top left, and Mike got in two games, as did Thomas, bottom left, and Daniel

The river ended up being impassable on the side opposite the ballista, while we rolled "chaotic" for the other side. This meant each turn a player rolled to see if it counted as uneven terrain, dangerous terrain, or was impassable. Luckily for me, it was uneven often enough (50% chance), that my right could advance across to confront Dave's blocking force. It took two turns to cross it because the terrain piece we were using was fairly wide. We stayed as far to the right as we could to avoid ballista shots, and definitely did not set foot on the bridge.

Dave W points out where his Normans will advance, while Jeff as his opponent coaches him in his first game

In hindsight, I should not have been as afraid of his ballista as I was. I let him use this 1/2 point of levy essentially take my left flank hearthguard and warrior unit out of the battle. They did nothing the entire game as they made a wide loop towards the crossible part of the river. I should have marched them straight at the bridge and crossed so that they could have supported my assault on the right wing.

The Norman battleline prepares to fight the Saracens to a bloody draw

Things looked good at first for my assault on the right. I was using "Exhaustion" to place fatigue on his units, making him reluctant to charge as my troops stepped out of the water. He sent in his levy spear against my hearthguard, followed up by an attack of his unit of hearthguard. The levy were sent back reeling with only two figures left, but the hearthguard hurled my unit back into the river. Sigurd charged them and sent the retreating, as well.

Meanwhile, Jeff's Saracens prepare to wage war for Allah in a close, hard-fought game

Then, came what was supposed to be the crushing of Dave's left. My large, 12-man warrior unit smashed into his 8 warrior bow, completely destroying them. We followed up a turn later into his 8-man warrior unit. We had 13 attack dice, hitting on 3+ against his 8 attack dice, hitting on 5+. We lost. Badly. This was the cracking of the assault. Dave began pouring in fresh units -- his other hearthguard and warlord -- against my battered warriors and warlord.

Lowell's Anglo-Saxons advance quickly upon Mike S's Vikings, and the battlelines prepare to clash

This is when I needed my reinforcements to appear, but they were stuck in a long, looping march. Both my warlord and warriors were pushed back into the river. However, we had savaged them with casualties, and were probably winning on survival points. I redeployed my troops to maximize the points I could gain from the victory conditions.

The brothers clash as Daniel and Thomas wage a historical war -- Vikings against the Last Romans (Byzantines)

I re-read the victory points to Dave, and he mentally calculated the I would win, unless he struck a major blow. So, he decided to charge his warlord across the river at mine. Sigurd had just survived back-to-back assaults by hearthguard and the Roman warlord by one hit. The final, climactic clash on the banks of the river resulted in three fatigues on each warlord, with both surviving. Dave conceded my win on points, due to the slaughter we'd inflicted.

Andy and Steve were excited to finally get a chance to play Sage: Age of Magic at this meeting

Meanwhile, battles were raging all around us. We had 12 players show up this time, which was a great turnout. Once again, we had another brand-new player, Dave W, as well as many of our other semi-new players. I am really happy with how our monthly Saga game days are growing. It is a great sign that we keep having new people show up.

Lowell, left, and Mike S closed quickly and were the first of our six matchups to finish their game

Saga veterans Andy S and Steve P decided to finally play a game of Sage: Age of Magic. Meanwhile, the other 10 of us player regular, historical Saga. All armies were from the Age of Vikings book, except for Jeff F's Saracens. Jeff was teaching Dave W, our new player, the game.

Here are the results of the battles, with four players getting in two games, while the rest of us each played one:

2-0 
Mike S's Vikings defeated both Lowell's Anglo-Saxons and Daniel's Anglo-Saxons

1-0
Jenny T's Anglo-Danes defeated Jason M's Romans
Mike D's Anglo-Dane defeated Dave E's Romans

1-1
Daniel M's Vikings defeated Thomas M's Last Romans, but lost to Mike S's Vikings
Thomas M's Last Romans defeated Lowell's Vikings, but lost with to Daniel M's Vikings

0-0-1
Jeff F's Saracens tied Dave W's Normans
Dave W's Normans tied Jeff F's Saracens

0-1
Dave E's Romans lost to Mike D's Anglo-Danes
Jason M's Romans lost to Jenny T's Anglo-Danes

0-2
Lowell's Anglo-Saxons lost to Mike S's Vikings and to Thomas M's Last Romans

I forgot to ask Andy and Steve what happened in their Age of Magic game. Hopefully, I will update that soon.

We are having a lot of fun with our monthly Saga games. We'd love to have more people come out. Join the Saga Ohio Facebook group to find out when we're meeting. Hope to see more people showing up, and our monthly clashes continue to grow!