Feast of Saga at Dragons Guildhall

My Moorish warlord Majik ibn Battuta al-Waqaa leads his warband to ambush a convoy

We had one of our largest turn outs so far at the November Saga Game Day at the Dragons Guildhall in Beavercreek, Ohio. Three players made it from Columbus, while another came from the Springfield area to join four Dayton area gamers to bring our gathering to eight. What's more, six of the players stayed for a second round, giving all participants the chance to truly glut themselves on Dark Age slaughter! I brought my Moorish warband, while other armies included Vikings, Anglo-Saxons, Pagan Rus, Romans, Normans, Crusaders, and Skraelings.

Jenny's Vikings appear across the road to contest our ambush of the convoy - eager for the loot!

One of the things we like to do on our twice-monthly Saga Game Days is to give players a chance to match up against opponents they haven't played (or haven't faced in awhile). Not only is matching up against a variety of armies an enjoyable tactical challenge, gaming with a number of different people makes for a pleasant time, too. Since Jenny and I had not played each other in quite some time, she decided to use her Vikings to take on my Moors. I let her choose a game from the Book of Battles and she picked "Ambush." 

Moorish cavalry circles around to get behind the wagons, while Vikings emerge from the woods

Moorish warlord Majik ibn Battuta al-Waqaa's raid into Christian Spain had gone well, so far. He had located the merchant convoy he'd been tracking and had hidden his forces behind a gentle rise, out of sight. Dust plumes showed the convoy's progress towards him along the road where his forces lay ready in ambush. A glint of metal on the opposite side of the road caught his eye, though. Beside him, Scirocco made a quizzical chirping noise. "What do you see, girl?" he asked the cheetah. After a few moments of watching, he recognized the fur-clad warriors striding through the trees, setting up an ambush of their own on the convoy he'd been tracking! Majik had clashed swords with the heathen Norsemen before, and knew them to be fierce foes. But he would not return empty handed to the Emir of Cordoba, inshallah!

The Vikings eschew missiles and charge in against the wagons and strike it rich first!

In this game, three wagons begin on one short edge in the center between the two armies. Their goal is to march across the board, attempting to reach the opposite edge. Of course, both armies want to loot them and prevent that from happening. The wagons count as a Hero (armor 5), but Unarmed (+1 to your melee save), and have only 3 Attack dice. Those attacking the wagons do not get to play Saga abilities in melee, but can when shooting. However, as I found out, with their Resilience (1) they are pretty much not going to be taken out by shooting. With average die rolls, you would need to amass 24 attack dice over the course of your turn to take them out with shooting! My Moors have nice shooting, but not that deadly! Shooting can soften them up, though, for a later melee charge to take out -- which is what I did on both of the two wagons I would successfully attack.

The rest of the Moors on the right wing, ready to block the escape of the wagons

The wagons have a random die roll to determine whether they move or pause, and also whether they remove fatigue accumulated from earlier attacks. They do this prior to EACH player's turn, so any fatigue you put on them will likely be gone before your next one rolls around. Knowing my toughest units were mounted, Jenny messed with me on the terrain, placing two marshes in my deployment area. In this scenario, the player's army "marches on" to the board from any point on their board edge not within 1 Long + 1 Medium of a wagon. This had the effect of scrunching my arrival point down to the right hand 1/3 of my table edge.

A unit of Moorish spearmen emulate the Viking success and charge in to seize the loot!

My plan was to move my infantry warriors forward to block the path of the wagons, while moving the archers towards the center to put hits on them (and Jenny's Vikings, if they came within range). I sent one of my 6-man mounted hearthguard units around the swamp to come in behind the quickly-moving wagons. The other cavalry and my warlord, Majik ibn Battuta al-Waqaa, would provide the reinforced punch on the right. I had placed a gentle hill in Jenny's area opposite my right. My plan was to race across and hammer her warriors on that flank where they had no cover to hide in.

After two rounds of melee, my Moorish hearthguard still have 4 troopers whittling the Vikings to one

Jenny marched her archers onto the center of the board, supported on their right by one of her 6-man hearthguard units and another unit of warriors. The other 6-man hearthguard unit came on towards her left, supported by her second warrior unit and the warlord. Looking at her army's breakdown, I realized that our armies were identical - except that my hearthguard units were mounted with javelins! Oh, and my warlord was mounted, too.

Chasing down the final wagon of the convoy, javelins and bows attempt to soften it up

Jenny struck first at the wagons when one passed close to the woods her archers were moving into. The 6-man hearthguard unit raced out and walloped the wagon hard enough on their charge to destroy it. They grabbed the loot, but did lose one veteran Viking in the process. This left them with two fatigue markers since they had done an extra move to charge the wagon. My Moorish horsemen circling around behind the wagons licked their lips in anticipation. Jenny sensed this, though, and used a third order on them to withdraw them into the woods, exhausted (but carrying their ill-gotten loot!).

On the final round of the game, Majik and Scirocco charge in and seizes the wagon and its loot!

I considered following up and harassing them anyway, but decided it would be ineffective shooting at them (armor 5 and in cover in the woods). Charging into the woods seemed suicidal, so the riders chased down the wagons instead. On the right flank, though, my other unit of cavalry galloped forward and charged her 8-man warrior unit that had come into my "Horse of the Maghreb" extended range. My horrible dice rolling continued, though! Despite the "Inspiration" of their warlord behind them, my attack killed only five of their eight. As always, Jenny had the "Loki" Saga ability in waiting, so his warriors garnered enough attack dice (and rolled well enough) to cause four casualties on my 6-man unit. I pulled the unit back with "Perseverance," stopping them in the path of the final wagon just short of its escape point. Jenny's unit of warriors also retreated towards their rear, happy to have survived the encounter.

Dave E (left) matches up against the steamroller of Bob B's Crusaders

Around turn 3 (of only five in this scenario), I realized shooting wasn't going to get the job done against the wagons. So, one of my 8-man warrior infantry units charged a wagon that had been softened up a bit by incessant shooting. They destroyed it, and eagerly plundered the wagon, equipping themselves with an objective marker. I foolishly left my outflanking cavalry unit in the center of the table, close enough for her archers to get a shot at them. For the first time in the game, though, my dice were good and I saved all hits she put on my vulnerable (armor 4) mounted troopers.

The Crusaders gallop in, eager to close with the Romans and their armored infantrymen

Jenny wasn't done with them, though. She raced her other 6-man hearthguard unit out to charge them. These mounted Moors continued to bless Kismet (fate), and rolled incredibly well on their saves again. The hearthguard backed off, having lost one trooper. When our turn rolled around, we loaded up on Saga abilities and sent the charmed troopers in again. Alas, their luck had run out. With a rare dice on "Inspiration," they would reroll any misses on 1, 2, or 3. "Wholehearted" gave extra dice for the enemy's fatigue, and I was sure I would eliminate them. Needing 4's to hit, I managed only a few hits on 14 dice. I rerolled and totalled exactly half -- seven hits! Luckily, Jenny flubbed her saves, and only one figure was left.

Jim B's Skraelings call for their totems to protect them against Mark's Viking invaders

That would end the actual fighting between Vikings and Moors. On my final turn, I had all of my javelin-armed cavalry and my levy archers shoot the wagon, then followed that up with a charge by the warlord. With Majik's pet cheetah savaging the horses, the warlord struck down the last of the guards and the loot was ours! With six points per wagon looted, this gave a big advantage to us on final points. The Moors triumphed in their second encounter, 37-29.

Just a small part of Adrian's Anglo-Saxon horde - six points of levy = 60 figures!

Elsewhere in Round 1, Bob B and Dave E were playing their first match against each other. Dave's Romans and their ballista faced Bob's Crusaders led by the legendary warlord Prince Henry. A bloodbath ensued, and Bob edged out Dave in Clash of Warlords 34-29. The genial Jim B was teaching his friend Mark in his second game of Saga. Mark was playing Vikings again, while Jim through a historical but unusual matchup of Skraelings at him. Despite Jim's encouragement and coaching, the Native Americans drove the Vikings from the field in Clash of Warlords with their archery, 22-9. In the fourth game of the first round, it was brother against brother as Adrian battled his brother Aaron in Prized Possessions. It was a close-fought struggle, but Adrian's Anglo-Saxons came triumphed in this historical matchup against Aaron's Normans, 15 1/2 to 9 1/2.

This game also saw the first use of my newly-created, custom-made Moorish measuring sticks!

 Round 1 Results

• Mike D's Moors defeat Jenny's Vikings in "Ambush," 37-29
• Bob B's Crusaders defeat Dave E's Romans in "Clash of Warlords," 34-29
• Jim B's Skraelings defeat Mark's Vikings in "Clash of Warlords," 22-9
• Adrian J's Anglo-Saxons defeat Aaron J's Normans in Prized Possessions, 15 1/2 - 9 1/2.

Mark and Aaron decided to head home, which left six players to get in a second round. I decided that I would go ahead and write up a second blog post for the second round. It is rare that I get to play twice in one game day, so I will take advantage of that and get two entries out of this day! Stay tuned for the next update!