Thracians Facing Down the Greek Phalanx

    Rusty Parker's Athenian hoplites from Victrix Miniatures were my Thracian's first opponent in Saga

Awhile back, Saga released their Age of Alexander book covering armies from that part of the Classical period. Of the six armies covered, the Thracians interested me the most. These semi-barbarian tribes from the northeast of Greece were a thorn in the side of a number of Ancient kingdoms. They were also known for very colorful cloaks, which I thought might be fun to paint in the 28mm scale. However, they had an unusual mechanic attached to their Saga army list called "Pillage." I thought perhaps I should try them out  for a game or two before purchasing any figures.

    Rusty, left, consults his Greek City States battleboard as he analyzes what to do against the Thracians

I know, I know! That goes against the knee-jerk response of most miniature gamers: "Oooh, shiny!" New army? Take my money, please! For a change, I was being deliberative about the process. So, I read through the list the day before our latest Saga Sunday at the Guardtower East. I drew up an army list and then went downstairs to cobble together forces to be my proxy Thracians. I used my Picts, Irish, some medieval peasants, and Roman cavalry to represent three units of Thracian warriors with javelins (two 9-figure and one 10-figure unit), one 6-man foot hearthguard unit with rhomphaia (a Thracian heavy cutting weapon), one 8-man mounted warrior unit with javelins, and a mounted warlord.

    The two armies deployed for battle - Thracians at bottom and Rusty's Greek hoplites at top

Rusty contacted me and said he'd be coming down from northern Ohio for the weekend for family reasons, but would sneak away for a game of Saga on Sunday. He wanted more practice with his Athenian army from the Alexander book, as well. Perfect! Rusty and I had never played each other in Saga, and we'd both get a chance to test out Alexandrian armies against each other. Rusty's Athenians were composed of a foot general (which we both decided would be better to switch to a mounted one in subsequent games), one 8-man foot hearth guard unit of veteran hoplites, three 8-man warrior hoplite units, and a 12-man unit of levy slingers.

    While Rusty and I fought a historical matchup, Mike S and Andy S play Age of Magic fantasy Saga

We decided to try a straight-forward "Clash of Warlords" game, since we were both learning new armies. Since the Athenians had no mounted, I began terrain placement with a large gentle hill in the right center of the board. He placed fields on his right for his slingers to shelter inside. I countered with a ruins opposite it on my side of the table. He then placed a marsh on my base edge, hoping to mess up my deployment. I then eschewed placing a piece, instead scooting the marsh towards the side edge. With the mostly open battlefield set up, we were ready to deploy. 

    The Thracian cavalry at right pull back after a lackluster pair of javelin tosses at the Greek hoplites

My plan was to use my cavalry and javelin-armed warriors to swing around on my right and enfilade and shoot at the left end of his battleline. I deployed my three foot units of warrior javelin men across the center of my line. Backing up the unit on the right was the hearth guard with their big chopping weapons. I placed the cavalry on the far right, where they would attempt to use an ability on the Thracian battleboard that allows units to throw javelins then move away. If I used a "Rare" die, it was a free move. Otherwise, it would cause one fatigue, as per normal. Either way, the dice used to activate "Elusive" not only gave two bonus shooting dice, it also moved them. A nice ability, I thought, and fitting with ancient skirmishers.

    Stung into action, the Greek hoplites dash forward and shatter a unit of Thracian javelin men

Rusty deployed his battle line close together, as the "phalanx" special rules require. From my right, there were two units of hoplite warriors, then the double-strength veteran hearthguards, then another hoplite warrior unit, and finally, the levy slingers in the fields arrayed against my left. I was first player, so moved forward in a staggered line -- pressing forward on my right and hanging back on the left. We also edged the left towards the center to avoid the enemy's sling stones. The warlord trumpeter sent a long, deep-throated blast on his horn, and with a shout, the Thracian cavalry galloped forward. They tossed their javelins, but I held "Elusive" back because I planned a second volley. Rusty saved against all of my hits. I did the second volley with Elusive and this time nicked one figure for a single casualty. Ten dice and one kill was under average...hmm. Was this a sign of things to come? Rusty had a chance to slow the cavalry down as they withdrew, but decided against it. 

    Greek phalanx advances 12" with 3 Saga dice on Turn 1 -- everyone is within spitting distance!

Instead, his eyes were focused on my first unit of warrior javelin men who had advanced forward quickly, the rhomphaia men close behind. We were both about to very shocked at how quickly an Athenian hoplite battle line advanced. The Greek City States battle board has a Basic ability (meaning it can be played as many times as a player likes) called "Form Line of Battle." It allows all phalanx unit in the battle line to move a Short distance (4"). Yes, I know, that sounds slow. Remember, though, it costs only one dice for all those units to move. Rusty played it twice, plus used "Marathon" which changes the following Form Line move to "Short plus Short: (8"). So, for just three dice, all four of his battle line units came screaming across the battlefield 12"! One of the Form Line activations can be a charge, so his leftmost hoplite unit slammed into my right wing unit of warrior javelin men.

    Thracian cavalry men charge into the surviving spearmen of the Greek phalanx unit

With all the defensive abilities the Greek City States battle board allows, and three dice for movement, Rusty didn't have any melee abilities queued up. I felt relatively good having 10 guys vs. his 7, though his armor class was one better. Rusty rolled all seven hits (needed 3+), though, and I piled onto this misfortune by missing all seven saves (5+). Yowsa! The dice were definitely showing bias in favor of the Greeks in the early going! We hit him hard in return, though, causing four kills. It was a bloody start to the hand-to-hand fighting! Thankfully, Form Line of Battle allowed only one charge, otherwise he could have decimated my line on turn one!

    Not to be outdone, the Thracian Rhomphaia men wade into the next phalanx in the Greek battleline

On my second turn, our two battle lines were already close, within spitting distance. I used "Elusive" on my middle warrior unit to toss javelins at one of his hoplite units and then pull back a Medium distance (6"). I debated having my horsemen throw javelins at the depleted unit, but I figured it would be too easy for the hoplites to shrug off the hits. Rusty had played on of the four (!) Activation/Reaction abilities on the Greek board to make all of his units save vs. shooting as if they were in cover. I decided to send the Thracian cavalrymen in for a charge instead. Javelins add +1 to the attack roll in melee, and his unit had a fatigue which means I should rack of plenty of hits to eliminate the unit. The dice did not cooperate, again, and there was one survivor reeling back from my horsemen. Still, I decided to follow up the success and send in the hearth guard Rhomphaia men in with their choppers. I expected another slaughter, as this was my best unit rolling 12 dice at +1 against a fatigued enemy. My dice deserted me once more. I rolled a boatload of 1's, plus Rusty continued to save like a demon! Instead of nearly wiping out the hoplites, we killed only three, while he killed one of mine.

    End of Thracian Turn 2: My plan to envelop his left end of his battle line appears to be working

I knew my Rhomphaia men's charge would leave them dangerously close to his veteran hoplites. So, I played another ability to remove the fatigue from our battle, and had queued up the best defensive ability on the board: Protect the Loot. The Pillage mechanic means that when a unit wins a melee against non-levy, it acquires a Loot marker. So, both my cavalry and hearthguard had loot markers, now. Interestingly, this also means they would be harder to activate to move. Still, I was willing to dig in and let him charge my hearth guard and see how Protect the Loot worked. Unfortunately, Rusty wisely kept track of what I had queued up on my board and did not fall for my trap. Either that, or a Greek version of Admiral Akbar was whispering in his warlord's ear!

    The dice begin to go my way -- my unit of Thracian javelin men shatters and drives off a phalanx

Instead, the wily Greek general consolidated his depleted units away from where I was enveloping him, and towards his right. He then moved to the attack on that wing. His warrior hoplites crashed into my Thracian javelin men opposite them. I decided to save Protect the Loot for this fight and have my 9 warriors try to kill as many of his hoplite as I could. We had also killed some of them with javelins last turn. Once again, the melee was bloody. The Thracians got the better of it, though (were the dice changing in my favor?), as only two hoplites were left standing at the end, while four of my javelin men were alive. Crucially, as it would turn out, they also acquired a Loot marker. 

    Thracian defensive abilities are put to the test & enable 4 warriors to drive off 8 hearthguard!

Now, the question was where would Rusty send his veteran hoplites -- fully 1/3 of his army points? He chose to have them go in mop-up role against the surviving four javelin men. I played Protect the Loot and also another Thracian ability that allows them to count as in heavy cover. Not only would I be saving on a 4+ instead of 5+, Protect the Loot allows me to re-roll 1's and 2's that missed. If I had a Rare (which I didn't) it would allow re-roll of ALL missed saves. On top of all that, the ability also allows the Thracian player to discard their Loot token to cancel the first two casualties suffered after rolling saves. The Athenian veterans rolled their 16 attack dice and I rolled my two. Amazingly, both were hits, and even more astoundingly, he failed both saves. On my end, I saved all but two of his hits. That means we tied. Since I was defender, and in solid cover, my javelin men drove off the Athenian veterans! The worm had truly turned, I felt.

    The battlefield at the end of Athenian turn 2: Thracian speed, javelin fire & defense are proving key

On my turn 3 (wow, was this really only turn 3??), I sent my only remaining full strength javelin men forward, charging one of the heavily depleted hoplite units he had consolidated onto his right. The survivors were wiped out, which sprayed fatigue around to all units within Short distance. Rusty and I surmised that this is a danger players of Greek City States armies need to watch out for and minimize. Over and over in this game, his tightly-packed units suffered fatigues when one of their number was eliminated. Towards the end of the game, this sometimes meant three units were taking additional fatigue. Encouraged by the mayhem my Thracians were creating, I sent the Rhomphaia men into to assault one of his other hoplite units. It was not nearly as devastating, but brought the five-man Greek unit down to two at the cost of one of my Rhomphaia men.

    Rusty consolidated his depleted units into his line, which left them easy targets for my fresh units

Rusty was in a pickle, he knew -- mainly because of the fatigue he had been suffering. Also, as yet, his slingers had not contributed to the battle at all. He surprised me by sending his Greek warlord charging in against my Rhomphaia men. In continuing with a theme, the battle was bloody. All four of my hearth guard were cut down. In return, he took three casualties. Rusty had planned well, though, and his own veteran hoplites were within "Bodyguards" range. He decided to kill two of them, and take one fatigue. He then pulled the general back to a safer distance (giving him a third fatigue, and exhausting him).

Rhomphaia men join in on the mayhem, whittling down more Greek spearmen & bunching them up

I knew if I could kill the remaining veteran hoplites and his general, Rusty would likely concede the game. So, the Thracian horsemen -- who proved to be a key force in this game -- charged in and trampled the remaining fatigued Greek spearmen. The full strength javelin men unit then raced forward and hurled their javelins at the warlord. It came down to Rusty's saving dice, and this time, they deserted him. The Greek Strategos was transfixed, and fell to the ground. 

    When the Athenian strategos is transfixed by javelins and killed, we called a bloody end to the game

With that, we called an end to a very bloody (and fast-moving) game. The Thracians had triumphed with their combination of speed, javelin fire, and a couple stalwart defensive abilities on their battle board. They DO take some management with the Pillage mechanic. The Thracian board gives good multiple move abilities for units without Loot markers, but the tribesmen become less willing to move once they have one. Both hearth guard and warriors activate only on Rares or Uncommons once they have Loot. The warlord's "We Obey" can be used to remove or give a maker to a unit, but that means you lose that ability to activate a unit to do something else. This is not a beginner's board, in my opinion. It has the potential to be a very fun one, though. I really enjoyed playing them, and thanks to Rusty for providing a fun, hard-fought game.

    Joe's Mutatawwi'a camel riders and foot battle against Dave E's Roman legionaries

Otherwise, it was a lighter Sunday for us, with only 8 players total showing up for Saga that day. Here were the scores in the various games:

• Mike D's Thracians defeated Rusty P's Athenian Greek City State in Clash of Warlords, 28-16
• Dave E's Romans defeated Joe M's Mutatawwi'a  in Clash of Warlords, 16-10
• Andy S's Undead defeated Mike S's Native Americans in an Age of Magic Battle of Heroes, 27-17
• Jenny T's Eastern Princes defeated Mike C's Carolingians in Clash of Warlords, 25-17

 

    Mike S's Native American army battles hordes of undead in an Age of Magic game

Picts Triumph in Cincycon 2023 Saga Tourney

Opening stages of my Picts' Round 1 game against the Normans -- their cavalry attacking my right

After playing last month in the Ft. Wayne Saga tournament, I went back and forth a bit on which army to take to Adrian John and Jim Beegan's Cincycon 2023 tourney. On the drive back from Ft. Wayne, Jenny and I hashed out how her Eastern Princes and my Picts had performed. I floated the idea of taking a unit of mounted hearthguard with javelins to be able to shoot at armies that were keeping their distance from my Pictish levy occupying the terrain. Ostensibly, I could send them a Long distance away (12"), then they would toss their javelins a further Medium (6"). If I make sure they're close enough to terrain, they can get the bonus three dice from the "Stalking" ability on their battle board.

Jenny suggested squeezing a half army point out of my two units of Pictish levy. Instead of making them two full units of 12, instead field them at 9 figures each. Use that half point (and the new FAQ rules) to bump 1 army point of hearthguard up to a 6-man unit. My warband would be composed of those six cavalry, two levy units of 9 figs each -- one crossbow and one bows, three units of warriors, and my warlord. I honestly felt it would be a more flexible army than my previous list. Not only could those Pictish cavalry shoot, they could also charge in a pinch. The idea of using that army list convinced me to settle upon the Picts as my army for Cincycon.

    The Pictish left and center held in force, as the Normans do likewise across the table from us

The first scenario was a popular one for Saga tournaments, it seems: Desecration. Each player places three objective markers on their half of the board and is attempting to destroy the opponent's markers while defending their own. I used to like this one as a tourney scenario, but it is beginning to sour on me. Recently, I have seen very defensive armies place all their markers on one side edge and then draw a line across the table diagonally with their troops to protect them. If the opponent does the same, the game ends up being a tie (or an unexciting one). The scenario victory conditions cap your points at how many enemy markers you've destroyed. So, scores tend to be low in this one.

    One of my objective markers guarded by my center - warriors, archers, cavalry & warlord himself!

Thankfully, my opponent and I did not do that and we had a fun, much more freewheeling game. As the Picts, I placed as much terrain on the board as I could. The scenario has you place the objectives at various distances from your table edge. The furthest forward objective I hid inside an area of rocky ground occupied by my levy crossbowmen. The middle one was next to an area of ruins that my levy bowmen and a unit of warriors were holding down. And the one nearest my baseline had another unit of warriors hanging out nearby, in case my Norman opponents used their mounted troops to make a run for it.

    Dennis L's Norman mostly-mounted army deployed for our Round 1 battle, "Desecration"

 I was matched up against Dennis L from Newark, OH. They have a modest-sized group of Saga players there, although we don't get to see them that often. His army was composed of five units of mounted troops (three 4-man knights and two 8-man warriors with javelins) and one foot unit -- levy bowmen. I have played against a number of Norman armies and they often like to sit back and use their "Volley Fire" ability, which enables archers to fire at double range. They will pelt you with arrows and try to force you to come forward and attack them at a disadvantage. 

    Dennis's Breton cavalry hurl their vollies at my Pictish crossbowmen sheltering in the rocky terrain

Dennis did something a little different, though. He sent both of his mounted warriors, which represented Breton skirmishing cavalry armed with javelins, forward to hurl their spears at my crossbowmen in the rocky ground. This counts as "heavy cover," so I was expecting to be able to survive it with few casualties. My typically poor saving die rolls meant we lost two crossbowmen immediately. This took my already smaller 9-man unit down to 7 figures. I was very surprised to see that he did not pull the warriors back, and they remained in place for my return volley. My Pictish hunters fired back at the Bretons and caused a few casualties. This was only to soften them up, though. I sent a unit of warriors forward with "Scouts," then charged them in with "Swift as the Wind" (which allows a charge move with no fatigue). This is a combo I have used over and over in my games with the Picts, effectively giving infantry as 18" charge range.

The warriors wiped out the Breton skirmishing cavalry, which encouraged him to pull back his other unit of warriors on his half of the turn. Meanwhile, on my left, my two other units of warriors began edging forward across the table, their lines providing a screen for the Pictish cavalry behind them. My plan was to get the cavalry within range of his furthest forward objective marker and charge it. I could probably also get a second marker with my long range movement combos, but it would likely leave the unit on the opponent's side of the table and vulnerable to a counter-strike by his knights, which he was holding in reserve.

 

Screen by Pictish warriors, the mounted nobles line up for a charge against Dennis's sacred objective   

This was Dennis's first time facing the Picts, so he wasn't as aware of some of their tricks. One that I have finally begun to be able to use more lately is called "Secret Ways." When one of my units is shot at or charged, the unit (after suffering the enemy attack) can be picked up and redeployed near any uneven terrain on the board, as long as they are at least Medium away from enemy figures. Dennis planned to send one of his units of knights against my infantry that had cut down his Bretons. However, he decided to soften them up first with his archer's Volley Fire. I played Secret Ways and redeployed them in the woods on the flank of his levy archers. 

This left my crossbowmen all alone guarding my objective that was placed furthest forward. The remaining unit of Breton cavalry showed up, hurling javelins at my crossbowmen. Dennis decided to charge them into the rocky ground. He debated whether to go after my objective marker or the crossbowmen. He ended up deciding to take on the crossbowmen, who were a much lower armor class than the pagan wooden idol. The crossbowmen, sheltered by the hard cover, drove off the Bretons, and won the melee. On the next turn, the crossbowmen shot down the remaining cavalry men.

 

    After being shot at by the Norman archers, Pictish infantry reappears near the flank of the bowmen

Meanwhile, it took two Pictish cavalry charges against the Norman's center objective before we were finally able to destroy or "desecrate" it. I immediately pulled the cavalry back, so that they would be safe from his knight's counter-strike. The two units of infantry continued to screen the horse troopers, which was doubtless frustrating Dennis's archers and his knights. Finally, the impetuous Norman knights charged one of the warrior units, loading up the immense number of attack dice that the Normans can dish out. Five of the eight Picts were cut down. Luckily, I had Secret Ways queued up, and pulled the crippled unit back to the ruins in my center, behind the archers.

We had our own revenge on the knights on my half of the turn. The Pictish archers shot volley after volley into their ranks, turning their mounts into pin cushions and eliminating the unit. At this point, I felt my Picts had to the game firmly under control. I could potentially take out another objective, but since he hadn't taken any of mine, the maximum points he could score would be 10. I would be capped at 16, which I had already scored. That would be enough for a victory, so I played it a bit safe and let the Normans lick their wounds. The game ended with a Pictish victory, and I was off to a good start in the tournament!

Round 2: Change of Plans vs. Baltic Crusaders

 I knew I was in for a tough game when I was matched against Dan N. The winner of our Shore Wars tournament this past December, Dan is an avid Saga player who has been getting in a lot of games, lately. He was my co-host on the Saga Ohio podcast analyzing the 2023 FAQ changes, and knows the rules inside and out. In fact, I would probably say he's the top authority in our group on the rules, even though he has been playing the game less time than myself and several other players. Dan is a frequent contributor on not only the Saga Ohio (and other) Facebook groups, but also on the Discord channel. Plus, he was playing his Baltic Crusaders, which he had won with at Shore Wars.

    The Pictish battle line ready to advance and seize the terrain in the center & enemy side of the table

Our scenario was Change of Plans -- one that our tourney host Adrian enjoys. I am less enthusiastic about it in a tournament setting because you have to count victory points three separate times. The players are competing for Massacre Points through the end of turn 3, Survival Points in Round 5, and Conquest Points at the game end. Luckily, both Dan and I were playing relatively quickly and we were just able to get our game in within the allotted two hours of time. In fact, all three of my games ended on time, though none ended early. Dan was first player, which he felt was a disadvantage three times over since we'd be counting victory points at the end of the second player's turn three times. I'm not sure, though I agree that in Saga the "first player" often seems to be at a disadvantage.

    Not wanting to engage the Picts in the terrain, the Baltic Crusaders shift left to more open ground

Dan knew the Picts wanted uneven terrain, so immediately placed a large, gentle hill near the center of the board. I countered with a ruins even more dead center. Surprisingly, he then placed a swamp on his baseline in his left corner. That allowed me to place the other hard cover -- rocky ground -- on my left near the center of the board. He then chose to drag my ruins just across the center closer to HIS side of the table. I was permitted one final piece, so placed a large forest on his baseline in the right corner. I planned to use "Secret Ways" to redeploy units into that woods because the final turn victory conditions are based off of units being on the opponent's half of the table.

The Baltic Crusaders deployed a little back from their permitted 12" from their baseline. Only his crossbowmen, who were just touching the ruins I'd deployed, were the full Long distance forward in the center. The rest of his army hung back a bit. Dan had mirrored what I had done with my two units of levy. He had 9 crossbowmen in the center and 9 bowmen in the woods I'd deployed. The remainder of his army was hearthguard -- elite troops. All but five of the 18 were on foot. That, added with his defensive battle board abilities, meant my missile fire would struggle to cause casualties in his ranks. Still, I deployed forward aggressively. My three warrior units were stretched across the center, flanked on the left by my levy archers in the rocky ground. On the right, they were supported by the crossbowmen and mounted nobles in reserve.

    Baltic foot knights move back towards the ruins, hoping to take out my crossbowmen, but spearmen black their path

My plan was to advance forward and seize all three pieces of uneven terrain (woods, rocky ground ruins). The crossbowmen would follow the warriors into the ruins and begin firing into the enemy from that hardpoint. Surprisingly, his crossbowmen abandoned the ruins and pulled off to their left. In fact, his entire army seemed to be edging in that direction, except for the archers who would remain in the woods throughout the game. After my spearmen and crossbowmen had occupied the ruins, he advanced one of his 4-man foot hearthguard in a beeline towards the crossbowmen. On my half of that turn, I stretched one of the warrior units across the flank of the terrain, blocking their path to my levy. Dan wasn't dissuaded, and after softening them up with a volley from his crossbowmen, charged into the warriors, heavy weapons slashing to the left and right.

    Although the foot knights shattered the spearmen, the Pictish noble cavalry rode them down to a man and then pulled back behind a new line of spearmen

We both made mistakes in that melee. I had my Picts close ranks instead of trying to take out some of his hearthguard with their lower armor class. Dan forgot to play an ability that would remove the fatigue he would get from our combat, enabling him to charge a second time, fresh, into my levy crossbowmen. His foot knights shattered my tartan-clad spearmen, cutting down seven of eight, and sending the survivor fleeing. However, he thought better of pushing his luck, and charging in with a second fatigue against my crossbowmen in the ruins. This gave me a chance to take advantage of the foot knight's fatigued state. I ordered in my mounted nobles, playing "Ambush" to give us 4 bonus attack dice (it would be my 16 dice against his 8), each of us getting +1 to our rolls with my javelins and his heavy weapons. The foot knights were ridden down to a man, while my own troopers rolled my greatest saving roll of the day -- shrugging off ALL of their hits!

    Although used sparingly, the Pictish noble cavalry played key roles in winning my 1st and 2nd games

At that point, I honestly think Dan's morale broke. He felt that placed him on a downward slope. I was losing Warriors and he was losing Hearthguard. The game was still very close (I was up by one point at the end of turn 3). Even though my shooting was not being particularly effective, I kept picking off his own levy and targeting (unsuccessfully, for the most part) his knights. Meanwhile, Dan was rolling a LOT of rare dice, allowing him to use "Activation Pool" and getting to his maximum Saga dice turn after turn. It was an amazing display of rolling. It encouraged him to send his mounted knights on an end run. I knew he was gunning for my fatigued mounted nobles (who I had pulled back after their successful charge). However, I drew another line of infantry in front of them. He pulled out every trick in the Baltic Crusader book to remove fatigue from multiple moves, but in the end, didn't feel strong enough to charge the fresh warrior unit guarding the cavalry. Instead, he picked off the sole survivor of the shattered spear unit, causing a major "fatigue bomb" (as it is called in Saga when a unit within Short (4") of a destroyed unit receives a fatigue).

    Baltic Crusaders begin pulling back, away from the center, and moving to their left

In the meantime, my own Saga dice were failing me and I wasn't rolling Uncommon Dice, which I needed for Secret Ways. So, I began to move my force forward with activations, knowing we would have to get across the center point by our final turn. My archers loosed volleys into Dan's archers in the woods. My crossbowmen continued to shoot at targets of opportunity. I had my own failed charge late in the game when my warrior spearmen charged from the ruins to attack his depleted crossbowmen. Though rolling three times as many attack dice at an easier-to-hit target, we did little damage. I considered charging into his depleted archers in the woods with my other units of spearmen, but felt that I would be better off simply using them to screen his archers from shooting my horsemen. 

The game ended anti-climatically with both of us simply moving in a Yin-Yang towards the opponent's left side of the battlefield. Dan assured me that I was ahead, and when we counted up the points, I did come out victorious. A lot of that was due to edging him out just slightly in all three of the VP counting phases. I killed more points worth of troops, had more alive during Survival Points, and finally scored more Conquest Points with my larger units at the end of the game. It was a close game, but the Picts were now 2-0 and had a chance at another tournament victory!

    A closeup of my foe for Round 3 -- the Goths and their 12-man warrior infantry blocks

 

Round 3: The Crossing vs. the Goths

I had a couple "firsts" on tap in my final game of the tournament. I had never had the pleasure of matching up against Rob S, the son of a veteran Cincinnati area gamer I had known for decades. We had both entered in the same tournament before, but just never played. I had also never fought against my opponent's army, the Goths. Still, I felt I had a lot of advantages going into this game. Number one, our scenario was The Crossing. In this game, you are attempting to reunite your army which is split by deployment in opposite corners separated by a river. People who first play against the Picts are often astonished by the speed of this mostly foot army. I felt I would be able to use Secret Ways to move my units to my chosen side of the battlefield where we would reunite. Also, I would be able to use "Scouts," which allows a unit to move Long Distance (12") and cannot be slowed down by either terrain or an opponent utilizing their fatigue.

    A view of the right half of the board with two Gothic infantry blocks and my "moving force" opposite

Not only did I think the Picts would be able to muster together much more easily than the typical foot army, I found I had another advantage at deployment. Rob deployed his Goths into five units, while my Picts had seven units, counting each of our warlords. Each unit that ends the game within Medium (6") of their general receives 2 bonus victory points. If the unit ends on the opposite side of the river from where it started, that 2 points goes up to six. My goal would be to cross four units to join the three units. If I could do that, and keep the battle relatively even on destroyed enemy, then I should win simply by having more bonus points.

    The other half of the board, with my archers, crossbowmen and warriors. Opposite, Rob's large cataphract horse, archers & warlord.

That being said, I was wary of the reputation of the Goths.  I had heard that they are able to use their own and enemy fatigue to pile up impressive numbers of attack dice. I would have to weather Rob's blows, and dish out damage in somewhat equal numbers. Rob's army featured two large units of 12 warriors, one 8-man mounted hearthguard (cataphracts), one unit of 12 levy archers, and his mounted warlord. His infantry deployed on the bank opposite from my four unit command which would be attempting to move across the river. That wing was composed of my foot warlord (a mistake -- I should have mounted him for this game), two units of warriors, and my mounted nobles. The rest of my army was sheltering in the terrain on the opposite corner of the battlefield.

    One of my warrior units cross the river and move along behind the woods and Gothic infantry

Once we were deployed, we made what to me was the most critical roll of the game -- how difficult would it be to cross the river? If I rolled a "5" for the section next to my warlord, I would be screwed as it would be impassable. Luckily, I rolled "Dangerous," which means a unit ending their turn in its waters takes a fatigue. Rob rolled "Uneven" for the side opposite his warlord, cataphracts, and archers. The movement game was on, and my battle plan SHOULD work...! I was first player for the only time in the tournament, and limited to three Saga dice. I queued up Secret Ways and moved one of my warrior units in a screening line in front of the rest of the force. The other warrior unit moved to the river bank and the mounted nobles did likewise. The warlord moved into the woods towards the edge of the table, wondering why he'd left his horse behind in that battle!

    By the end of my turn 3, five of my seven units were assembled in the target corner of the battlefield

Rob obliged my plan and moved up his archers to shoot at the screening warriors. We used Secret Ways, and after taking two casualties (other than the roll last game with my cavalry, my saves were my usual terrible all tournament). The slightly depleted Pictish spearmen redeployed into the opposite corner, safe and sound in the ruins. They were effectively done for the game. On my next turn, I used a Rare dice on Scouts, which allowed both the cavalry and the other unit of warriors to cross the river. I had a line of activation dice ready to race the nobles all the way into their destination corner. Two of four units in position, two to go!

    The Gothic cataphracts begin to cross the bridge as our archer's arrows bounce off ineffectively

At this point, Rob may have surmised my plan, or simply wanted to do some fighting. Both his warrior units forged their way through the frozen woods towards my warriors who had crossed the river. They couldn't reach them this turn, but would easily next turn. On my half of the turn, I queued up Secret Ways again. When the Gothic foot warriors charged into my spearmen, they closed ranks to minimize casualties and were pushed back to the board edge. They were then picked up and redeployed to the destination corner. Three units in place! The only unit remaining was the most important of all -- the warlord. The way the scoring is set up in this game, if you lose your warlord, you effectively lose this game. You will receive zero bonus points because no one is within Medium of him.

    The first Gothic attempt to batter through to my warlord protected by a line of Pictish spearmen

It then became a cat and mouse game of me trying to move my warlord via Scouts and other moves to the corner where the rest of the army was waiting for him. Rob's cataphract cavalry came thundering across the bridge to try to ride him down. First, a unit of spearmen formed a battle line in front of their warlord. The Gothic heavy cavalry charged in, but I had many of the Picts' defensive abilities ready for the melee, and we lost only one figure. On our turn, we continued to fire at the cataphracts with our archers. At one point, Rob had shrugged off nearly a dozen hits (50% chance of saving a missile hit) in a row! Although his attack rolls were abysmal with the cataphracts, his saving dice were odds-defying. 

    The Pictish army is assembled, but the warlord is still in danger - not all the way inside the fields

Meanwhile, the warlord shunted along the back edge of the battleline towards the corner. Now, it was the turn of the archers to draw a line in front of the warlord. It was Turn 5, and Rob felt this was his last chance to catch my general, who was only partially within the frozen fields. Rob's cataphracts slammed home and drove back my archer unit. Rob then declared a follow up charge on the warlord, whose base edge projected out of the fields. I felt horrible to do it to him, but I used his cataphract's fatigue from the melee to shorten his move. He came up about a half inch short or the warlord's base, so his activation cancelled. He had no further dice to activate them, plus his warlord (being a cataphract) was too far away to dash forward and give them a "We Obey" command.

    Attempt #2, this time the Gothic cavalry thunders down upon my levy archers

On my Turn 6, the crossbowmen eyed the cataphracts, overjoyed to finally have an enemy within range for the first time in the game. The bolts flew, struck home, and broke the veneer of invincibility the cavalrymen had enjoyed all game. Four troopers tumbled from their saddles. Meanwhile, the warlord moved to the back edge of the fields, while the rest of the army collected around him. On Rob's half of the turn, he decided the best course was to start collecting his own army together. All of his units were able to successfully gather round their commander, and it was time to count up victory points. 

    Rob's Gothic cataphracts were near invincible in this battle, shrugging off hit after hit

As I had projected, my higher number of units offset his slight edge in kills. The Picts had emerged triumphant in all three battles. As it turned out, I was the only player in the field of 10 that went 3-0. So, for the second time in a year and a half, the Picts won a tournament for me. I really like the flexibility and speed of this Saga army. Their battle board gives them the ability to compete in many different kinds of scenarios. I think they are indeed more potent with the addition of a 6-man mounted hearthguard unit. Although they did nothing in game three except run for the opposite edge, they were a big part of my victories in round one and two. Thanks to Adrian and Jim for running the tournament, and to all of the players who came to Cincycon to play. My opponents were all gracious and tough adversaries, which makes the victory that much more satisfying.

Fun Weekend at the Ft. Wayne (IN) Saga Tournament

    I took my Picts to the Ft. Wayne Saga tournament and did well -- going 2-1 and having a great time

Once I decided to make the journey to the Saga tournament in Ft. Wayne, IN, the next question was which of my armies to take along and play? My most recently-painted army was the Mongols. The entire army is mounted, though, and I wasn't sure how well they would fare in a tournament featuring three scenarios with very particular victory conditions. I was especially worried about the Round 1 scenario, King of the Hill. The players get bonus points for occupying a central hill at the end of each their turns. The Mongols are all about striking and pulling back -- at least the way I play them. That would certainly entail me having to stay in place for a counter-strike by my opponent. This could prove deadly if the army was adept at shooting.

    Some of the crowd of 18 players at Power 9 Gaming in Ft. Wayne, IN, Feb. 11

So, I ended up shelving the Mongols for this tournament and playing my Picts. I actually won a tournament with them last year, and really enjoy their speed and striking ability. Their weakness, though, is they require dense terrain on the board to fully utilize their special abilities. Since terrain would be placed by the player, I felt I would be able to get at least enough terrain to give me a chance every game. I also decided to take a mercenary unit called "The Guides," which allow you to either put out additional terrain or shift the position of what's already been placed. 

    My Picts deploy for their Round 1 Battle, King of the Hill, against Scott's Moorish army

Daniel B, who was running the tournament, permitted players to have a list of eight army points from which they could draw six points at deployment. As it turned out, I used the same six points in all three rounds, never feeling the need to change it: 12 levy crossbowmen, 12 levy archers, the Guides, and three units of Pictish warrior spearmen. I kept my warlord on foot all three games, too. My opponents were all fun to play against, and I felt they presented a wide variety of challenges. My first opponent was Scott M from Indiana. He was playing Moors from Age of Crusades. I have played the Moors quite a few times myself, and it is one of my favorite armies in Saga. In fact, Scott had listened to my interview on Saga Thorsday and was basing his army list and tactics on what I recommended in Rodge's video. I told Scott I would try to help coach him through it, as this was one of the first times he had played with that army.

    Two of the other entrants from Saga Ohio, Dan N playing his Polish on left, and Bob B & Byzantines

I missed an opportunity right away to coach him during terrain placement, though. I should have told him to limit his use of "uneven" terrain, which disadvantaged his javelin-armed, Moorish cavalry and benefited my army. He went first and placed an area of ruins next to the central hill we would have to control in our King of the Hill scenario. That was a sound, tactical choice, as it gave him a good defensive position for his Moorish archers. I countered it with rocky ground on the other side of the hill where my own missile armed troops could access it quickly. Scott should have stopped placing dense terrain at that point, but placed one more piece. I kept at it, too, and the hill ended up being almost completely ringed by terrain favorable to my all-infantry, Pictish army.

    My Picts felt comfortable with the dense terrain we were able to fight in during round one

I was a little overconfident in my striking power, though. I immediately sent in one of my spear units to try to drive his Moorish archers out of the ruins. To my surprise, they were driven back and lost 25% in casualties. Yikes - bad way to start! His rolls were fairly good and mine were fairly bad in that attack, but I should have taken that possibility into account and "stacked the deck" with more advanced Saga abilities in our melee. Still, I had two other spear units and I marched one of them onto the hill next turn to begin scoring my 3 bonus points per turn (as did Scott). I was able to get some shots on his cavalry with my crossbowmen, though, which was a bonus. They advanced, getting ready to line up a charge on my infantry on the hill.

    The name of this game was "King of the Hill," so there were a lot of units advancing onto it

One interesting ability on the Pictish board is called, Secret Paths. If it is queued up in the opponent's turn, it allows a unit that has suffered a shooting attack or a charge to "teleport" near a piece of terrain somewhere on the board. Twice Scott had cavalry charges lined up against one of my units. Both times he decided to "soften them up" with archery first. Both times the Picts disappeared after weathering the Moorish missiles, leaving his cavalry with no one to charge. It was my shooting against his mounted troops that actually won the game for me, I believe. I was able to hit them a couple times and whittle away at their numbers. And when he finally did get a "Torrent of Iron" (my favorite Moorish ability) charge against my archers, the levy performed better than I thought they would and killed two or three of the enemy.

    Having driven off the Moorish thrust on the left, Pictish crossbows begin targeting enemy on the hill

All in all, I felt that I was getting a slight edge while we were trading blows. Devastating his higher point value hearthguard cavalry ended up being enough to win my first round. I had a lot of fun playing Scott. Knowing what the Moors were good at doing was a definite advantage for me, as well. The terrain favored my Picts, too. As it was, we started off with a victory in our first round and the Picts were off and running.

    Scott's depleted Moorish cavalry finally get a 'Torrent of Iron' charge off vs. my levy archers

The second round was against D.J. Andrews, one of our co-winners from the Advance the Colors 2022 Saga tournament. He was playing an army that I had yet to face -- Spanish from Age of Crusades. I had heard that one of the rules revisions had really weakened this list, so I was surprised there were actually two players using this army in the tournament. By the way, we had 18 players in total, which is an amazing number for a first-ever Saga tournament in Ft. Wayne! D.J.'s army was heavily mounted, with three units of mounted warriors and one of mounted hearthguard. Naturally, he began placing terrain with a large, gentle hill in the center. In fact, all three of my games began the same way, with my opponents being first player and having a large, gentle hill in the center of the battlefield.

    A wide open center of the board would hamper my Picts in my 2nd Round vs. D.J.'s Feudal Spanish

Our scenario for this round was A Tale of Challenges, where each player must fulfill 2-4 "boasts" over the course of the game. I was planning on using "I Will Sack Your Lands", which requires me to have three units close to his base line at the end of the game. I planned to lean on the Secret Paths ability to help get them there, so cluttered up his side of the field with woods and scrub land. I made a mistake by not having a piece of uneven terrain opposite his large hill on my side of the board, though. Since the only defense the Picts have against shooting is hiding in terrain, I handicapped myself by leaving a huge area in the center of the battlefield with nowhere for my army to hide. This forced me to split my army into two sections, one on each wing, where they could not easily support one another.

Pictish spearmen hurtled across this board, but were unable to move en masse to the enemy baseline

Still, I planned on using Secret Paths to leapfrog across the table. This plan was scuttled by poor rolling of my command and control dice. Each six-sided Saga die has one Rare face (think of it as the "six"), two Uncommon faces, and three Common faces. I need an Uncommon for Secret Paths. Guess what I didn't roll for three turns straight? Uncommons! That seriously handicapped my chances of crossing the table and scoring bonus points for our challenge. 

    Pictish archers, followed by the Guides, loose volleys at the surprised Spanish cavalry

My other challenge required that I pick his most expensive unit in points (I chose his 12-man mounted hearthguard unit) and destroy it entirely. The biggest barrier to doing that would be the Jinetes ability on the Spanish battle board. This allows a unit of his mounted troops to move after one of mine have moved or shot. The Picts are very speedy, but their long range charge they would need to complete two separate activations. However, whenever I darted forward to where I could charge his cavalry, they would scamper away before I could play my second action (the charge). In the end, I would fail at achieving either of my challenges, which would cost me 10 points.

    Pictish spearmen come up short, as the faster Spanish cavalry at top keep evading away

As for casualties, I was actually ahead of him in destroying enemy throughout the game. I caught him off guard early (when he did not have Jinetes queued up), and moved quicker than he expected with my archers. They loosed a couple good shots at his smaller units of mounted warriors. I felt I did a good job of keeping his Flemish mercenaries out of the game, too. They were meant to be his unit that took my punches, but we did not oblige that and never charged them. When the Flemish charged one of my warrior units, I had my board stacked with good defensive melee abilities. My Pictish spearmen actually drove them off and caused some Flemish casualties.

    Late in the game, the Picts are too far from the enemy board edge to score boast to sack their camp!

Still, I was staring down a negative 10 point deficit in failed challenges. D.J. skillfully kept me from closing with my target unit. The game felt close all the way through. He had been able to pull off the "First Blood" challenge on turn one. Even though he failed to kill my warlord (his other challenge), the fact that he scored one of his and had only a single negative one made a big difference. In the end, D.J. and his Feudal Spanish prevailed in our tense game of cat and mouse.  I had a lot of fun playing against him, and would relish a straight up matchup with him another time!

    Another Round 1 game, Phil's Welsh tackle Jenny's Eastern Princes and their battle wagon

The tourney GM, Daniel, had done a great job matching up folks who normally don't play each other in the first two rounds. That's something I strive to do, as well. The Ohio contingent had brought six players - fully one third of the tourney's numbers. Indianapolis had also brought a good number to Ft. Wayne, as well. Patrick W even drove up from North Carolina! However, in the last round I got matched up against one of the Saga Ohio players -- tourney veteran Jim Randall. He was also 1-1 with his Last Romans. We had recently played in Shore Wars 2022 in Cleveland, which I had run (and played in to make an even number). Jim is an excellent, crafty opponent. You have to bring your "A Game" against him, or you will end up defeated. Even with your A Game on, it is still a likely chance he will emerge triumphant.

    My Round 3 opponent at right, Jim, as he unravels the mystery of how to attack Eric's Spartans

This version of his Last Romans was different than what I'd faced at Shore Wars. He had Flemish mercenaries (to hold the hill in Round 1) instead of Jarl Sigvaldi. Other than that, his army was infantry heavy, with only one six-man unit of mounted hearthguard with composite bows. It was obvious that Jim planned to win a shooting duel, and eke out a victory based on that. This would not be a clash of battle lines, if his strategy played out, but instead a skirmishing duel. On one turn, it became unmistakably apparent that was his strategy. He loaded up nearly all of his Saga dice in Combat Bonus to augment a shot at my Pictish crossbowmen. He ended up rolling 14 dice on that attack, I believe, and was stunned when it caused only one casualty. I reminded him that I was in heavy cover (giving me better armor and a +1 save). He countered with, "You're living a charmed life." I then reminded him my previous roll of Saga dice was 7 Commons on no Rares or Uncommons. And his own infantry in Woods had survived unscathed a 9-dice shot from my crossbowmen!

    Jim ponders and assesses the battlefield for a few moments before beginning to move on our turn one

The scenario was Desecration, and I think Jim was planning on neither of us destroying one of the three enemy objectives. However, my goal was to take out at least one, hopefully two -- if I got lucky with a Secret Path redeployment. I advanced quickly with one of my spear units and sent it charging in. The Picts succeeded in taking out his closest objective. This began a tit-for-tat string of counter-punches where each of us attacked an exposed enemy unit, leaving one of our own open for the other to counterattack. This string of charges and shooting ended when he unwisely galloped forward with his mounted warlord into one of my units. On my turn, another Pictish spear unit charged the fatigued warlord and cut him down.

Pict left wing, which joined the right wing, one by one, when no threat came their way

At this point, I felt I had the game well under control. He had yet to take an objective (capping him at 10 Massacre Points), while I had taken one of his and killed his warlord. Jim tried some last turn shenanigans, aided by some incredibly fortunate Saga die rolling. He began his final turn with 3 command dice, and somehow rolled enough Rares to play Activation Pool all the way up to his full 8 command dice! His mounted horse archers finally got into the battle, but it was too little, too late. The Picts had triumphed and we got our revenge for his gouging of my Carolingians at Shore Wars!

    Pictish spearmen charge into and slay the Roman warlord when he ventures too far forward

I ended the day 2-1, but in the middle of the pack because of my low scoring in round 2. Nevertheless, I had a great time and played three fun games of Saga. Oh, and my fear of entering my Mongols in the tournament? Fellow Saga Ohio player Joe Dihrkop brought Mongols and won it all! In addition to the gaming, we had an equally great time out the evening before. The Ft. Wayne Saga folks had organized a Friday night outing at a local wings place and 14 of us showed up. It was fun to meet a lot of the players beforehand, and get a chance to get to know them. All in all, it was a great weekend of gaming and camaraderie. Thanks to Daniel, Mark, Eric, Troy, and all of the other Ft. Wayne folks for being such great hosts! If you get a chance to make it to one of their events, I highly recommend it!!

    Finished at 1:30am the night before, Eric's Spartans were one of the cooler looking armies there!

    At left, Patrick W (who drove up from NC) advances on Anthony A from Indiana