Mystic Helps Picts Overcome Strange Invaders at Dayton Saga Game Day

Nechtan Mac Fergus' Picts advance to contact against their Saracen foes

Six of us gathered to play Saga at the Dragon's Guildhall for our monthly meeting in the Dayton area. Adrian and Jim hosted, and had brought along two newer players, Adrian's brother Aaron and Jim's friend Mark. Jenny and I drove over from Columbus, which made for three games. Jim set the matchups, with Jenny helping Aaron in an Viking vs. Irish battle, while he coached Mark in a Viking civil war. That left my Picts (Scots in Age of Vikings) to face Adrian and his Saracen army.

The right of the Saracen battleline - horse archers, foot warriors, and more Saracen horsemen

Adrian is a big fan of Saga's Book of Battles, so he randomly rolled one of the scenarios for us to square off in. "Old Feuds" was the result, which meant each of our armies would be bolstered by a "challenger" -- a single-figure "hero." As first player, I chose the Mystic -- not because I thought his abilities would be useful, but simply because I have a great druid-looking figure that would be perfect for him. Adrian chose the Brute for the same reason -- he had a great, loathsome slave master figure terrorizing a slave with a whip. The goal of the scenario was to kill the other's hero. If one player did that while preserving their own, they automatically won -- no matter what the army losses were. If both challengers died (or survived), the scenario would be decided by slaughter points. My Mystic's special ability was to possibly give me additional "Saga dice" to roll for my board, though I think that happened only once or twice. Luckily, I never rolled a "1-2" on 1d6 and lost Saga dice, though!

The Pictish spear advances obliquely on the enemy, while archers race through the woods on the left

Otherwise, battle setup was fairly normal for Saga. We each placed terrain, with me putting out several woods to mess with his horse archer's abilities to shoot at us (or scoot around the board too quickly). Examining the Saracen battle board, I noticed "Ruse" which he could use to remove a command dice from my Saga board if he isolated one of my units with two of his. Thus, my plan was to keep all of my units within at least a Short distance of another to prevent him from using that abilitly. Our Old Feuds deployment helped with that, as all units must begin within a Very Short of another friendly unit. My warlord, Nechtan Mac Fergus, planned on keeping his units close together and under his control -- much like when he faced the Huns many months ago. 

Saracen center - many of Adrian's awesome figures are converted Haradrim from Lord of the Rings

I deployed with my Levy archers in the large wood guarding our left flank, with the Mystic closely following them through the trees. In the center, our three large spear blocks (12 figures, 10 figures, 10 figures) were deployed obliquely, stepping back towards our baseline. Following up behind them were Nechtan Mac Fergus and also his small unit of mounted noble hearthguards. We would keep this relatively tight formation throughout most of the game. The Saracens had five mounted units, and I didn't want them isolating and encircling a lone unit. 

The Saracen's main weapon - their large, composite bow-armed warrior units

Adrian deployed with one of his larger units of composite bow-armed mounted warriors on his baseline opposite my woods with the Levy bow. To their left was a unit of 12 foot warriors. Their center was tightly packed together, as well. Behind the foot warriors was a smaller mounted unit of warriors armed with spears and swords. To their left was another large unit of composite bow-armed mounted warriors, backed up by a small unit of mounted hearthguard. Adrian's left was guarded by his warlord, brute, and a tiny unit of four foot warriors carrying along another cool figure on a palanquin.

With no charge coming, the Pictish spear advance to within Medium to use 'Reach'

I began the battle with a steady advance, the archers darting among the trees to get into firing position against either his horse archers or foot warriors. The staggered line of Pictish long spearmen advanced, followed by its supports. Adrian opened the battle galloping forward with the center unit of horse archers. Composite bows fire as a free action that does not generate fatigue. However, they must move or do something else between shots, and have a range of only a Medium distance (half of foot bow's long). Adrian had a strategy in mind, though, and had no plans on leaving the horse archers dangling, exposed in front of my long spearmen. The horse archers galloped to within Short distance of two of my spear units, firing at one of them using Armour-Piercing Shafts (+1 bonus to shooting). They followed this up by playing Multiple Shots on their battle board, which meant that each of my units within a Short of the horse archers must roll a die equal to or lower than their armor, or suffer an additional casualty. Luckily, we took only a limited number of hits from these initial volleys. 

The Pictish counterpunch of 'Reach' has hurled the first wave of Saracens back, killing many

Adrian then pulled the horse archers back out of my range with Thoroughbred. He would then begin the next turn resting the unit to take off the fatigue all of that shooting and moving had generated. This was an effective use of his battle board, and he employed it time and again during the game. However, his shooting rolls (and my saves) meant it caused fewer casualties than it probably should have. Other than the very beginning of the game, this seemed par for the course. Adrian's rolls were bad to awful, at times.

A close up of Adrian's Saracen foot warriors - great conversion job!

We continued our slow, steady advance. I kept my battle board stocked with my usual defensive advanced Saga abilities, expecting a charge at some point due to some particularly deadly melee abilities the Saracen battle board had. However, after three turns of this shooting and scooting, I realized there was no charge planned. The Saracens were going to try to whittle me down with bowfire. By then, my archers were in range, and they began to pour withering fire into his foot warriors (Adrian's saving dice rolls were well below average, and the unit began steadily shrinking, unable to hit back). Nechtan Mac Fergus then waved the spear line forward and all three units closed to within range to use Reach -- a surprisingly effective counterpunch that the Scots battle board has (allowing them to "fire" at Medium distance). The horse archers began to take casualties, trapped, unable to fall back as the second line of Saracens hemmed them in.

The Saracens have been whittle down, with the reach of Pictish long spears causing many casualties

His center stung, Adrian sent forward the next unit of horse archers on his right, and they tried the same tactics against the Levy bowmen lining the edge of the woods. I was a bit worried when, instead of retreating with Thoroughbred, they darted around the woods, threatening to circle around and fall upon my rear (or worse yet, try to target the Mystic in the woods!). A wave and a shouted command from Nechtan Mac Fergus sent the Pictish mounted nobles wheeling around to meet this threat. As the foot archers softened up the encircling horse archers with a volley, the mounted nobles charged into them, driving them headlong into the corner of the battlefield. Meanwhile, the Pictish spear line used Reach again and again. Soon, few Saracen foot warriors or horse archers remained in the center of the Saracen line. 

The end around attempted by the other horse archers meets its own end on the spears of Pict nobles

At this point, Adrian tried a gambit I had not expected in the least. He loaded up his battle board with four command dice in the Ghulams section of his board, which allows him to active hearthguard or hero units. Then his warlord went for a blazing ride across the battlefield, across the front of and around my spear line. The clansmen from the hills watched in admiration of his horsemanship as he encircled their lines and spurred his horse into the woods towards the Mystic, who was performing ancient, arcane rituals beneath the trees. However, it was a desperate gambit, as the warlord arrived Exhausted from his ride. The Mystic flung crackling potions from his deerskin pouch and wielded his bronze knife dangerously, driving the warlord back. 

The brave gambit of the Saracen warlord and his hearthguard leaves them in the midst of the Pict army

Seeing their lord in danger, the Saracen hearthguard embarked on an equally impressive ride of excellent, Bedouin horsemanship. They arrived tired, but their bodies blocking their lord from archery fire by the Levy foot. Nechtan Mac Fergus knew this was the moment when he could break the enemy army. He pondered for a few seconds. Too much haste could spoil this opportunity! In response to his gestures, the archers poured fire into the Saracen hearthguards, halving their numbers. The nearest unit of spear then shouted a battle cry and charged into the horsemen, spearing them to the last (using Wall of Spears). Nechtan Mac Fergus heard a trumpet blast that signaled his nobles charging in again to slay the last of the cornered horse archers. 

Archery fire, the charge of a wall of spears, and Nechtan Mac Fergus' own blade ends the gambit

The moment had come for the stout Pictish warlord to unsheath his own sword. With his Scottish deerhound Broch bounding at his side, the warlord charged his Saracen counterpart. Nechtan still bore the scar from his last clash against the Jomsviking warlord a month ago, that had left him bleeding at his enemy's feet. He'd been saved that time only by Broch who leapt and snapped ferociously at the startled Viking driving him back until his men could rescue him. The old wound seemed completely healed, though, as he swung his sword. With a few strokes, he cut down the exhausted, dazzled Saracen commander. Behind him, his men roared in triumph, knowing the battle was won.

My Mystic exacts revenge for the Saracen intrusion upon his arcane rituals in the woods

At his point, Adrian and I called the game. He had no more chance to get the quick victory by killing my Mystic. I could possibly charge and kill the Brute, but there was no need. The slaughter points would favor me, as I had lost only a handful of spearmen and none of my Levy or Hearthguard. I felt bad that Adrian's rolls handicapped his good battle plan so thoroughly. He had structured his army around utilizing his horse archers as his main weapon. When that failed, the only thing left was to charge me. The Picts have great defensive abilities in melee, and he knew that probably wouldn't come out in his favor. His gambit with the warlord could have worked, especially if my consistently good die rolling had picked that moment to fail. I have to confess when I rolled those saves for my Mystic, I was worried. My luck didn't desert me, though, and the Picts triumped over their strange, new enemy from the faraway deserts.

Viking levy archers under attack by Irish warriors and an Irish hero in Jenny & Aaron's match

Meanwhile, Jenny and Aaron had a bloody confrontation that turned Ireland's green shores red with blood. Jenny came out on top, led once again by her shield maidens (along with her skillful use of the Odin battle board ability to blunt the Irish javelin fire.

Jenny's Shield Maidens (with banner) advance on the Irish in support of a unit of Viking warriors

In the remaining game, Jim fell into the trap that many of us veteran gamers have when playing a novice -- teaching them so well, and giving such good advice -- that he lost. Mark's Vikings triumphed over Jim's in a bloody battle for lordship of Norway. In addition to being a good coach, Jim is an amazingly generous man. He gave all five of the other participants $20 gift cards to the Dragons Guildhall. I found the store's stash of 28mm Dark Age figures, and picked up three packs of leaders from Warlord games. Jenny picked up a supplement for Terraforming Mars for us to try some Saturday evening.

Jim, at left, coaches Mark in the bloody slaughter that is a Saga Viking vs. Viking game!

Since it was getting late to start another game of Saga, Jim invited us all to play a game of Wingspan (which I had purchased at the Guardtower East on our last Saga Game Day there). It was a tight game, with me eking out a narrow victory over Adrian and Aaron. All five of us enjoyed the game, though. We closed out our trip to Dayton with our usual pizza dinner at Cassano's -- which Jenny, as a Dayton native, loves. All in all, a great way to spend my last day of summer (tomorrow, school starts up for me). Thanks to the Dayton crew for being such excellent, generous hosts! I am pondering a way to return the favor...!