Moors Battle a Carthaginian Enemy from the Distant Past

 

    My Moors faced a new & dangerous opponent - Carthaginians from Age of Hannibal

Word had come to the court at Cordoba of a landslide high in the mountains that had exposed a hidden valley. Villagers in the area complained of raids by a strange people who plundered them, then retreated back into the valley. The emir was concerned, and ordered his trusted commander, Majik Ibn Battuta al-Waqaa to march his company to investigate these stories. Majik advanced cautiously, sending scouts on foot and mounted ahead of his forces. They found the raiders in a bleak area of hills, not far from the entrance to the valley. They wore bronze armor, some on foot, some on horseback. There were even troops riding atop an elephant! These were definitely a foe that Majik had never faced before.

I spent the first round of our initial Saga game day at the Dragons Guildhall helping pair up opponents, and answering questions from our newer players. It had been more than six months since we had met, so even the relatively experienced players were rusty on the rules. I had originally intended to record interviews for Saga Ohio at the game day, but the players needed my help with the rules more than they needed me pestering them with questions!

    Mike S examines his battle board as our armies are deployed for a Battle of Heroes scenario

As players were finishing up, my friend Mike S urged me to get in a game. He was playing his brand new Carthaginian army, having barely lost a slugfest with Andy S's Gauls in round one. To be honest, I was a little leery of taking my Age of Crusades army against what I'd heard were very potent Age of Hannibal opponents. I had not really read the Age of Hannibal book all the way through, but it is set up like the others. So, I figured that I could mull my way through things. I had already considered how my army would deal with an opposing elephant. So, it would be fun to see if my plans would bear fruit.

    A closeup of part of Mike's gorgeous, new Carthaginian army deployed for battle

Mike chose Battle of Heroes and wanted to use the "Considered" option. That meant we rolled or each of the five variants, one at a time. I won the first roll and was "first player" for terrain setup. I chose "Bleak Moor," which uses the standard setup method. I started with a large gentle hill in the center of the board, so my cavalry would have room to maneuver. Mike countered with a rocky area on my half of the table along the right board edge. I needed to place one more piece, so I chose a Marsh, but tucked it away on the far left hand corner of his baseline. He chose to move that piece a Medium distance closer towards the center, and so our battlefield was set.

Next, he won the deployment roll and chose "Vanguard." That meant we placed our troops in alternating groups, beginning with our mounted troops, then foot troops. He placed his elephant and mounted hearthguard and Tarantine mercenary cavalry on his left, facing the gap between the large hill and the rocky area. I placed my mounted hearthguard and warlord near my baseline, behind the hill. All subsequent troops must be placed within a Short distance of previously deployed troops. I walked my foot troops to the right, placing both foot warriors to the right of my cavalry, and finally the levy archers in the rocky area. Most of Mike's army ended up behind his mounted troops.

    I was worried about facing an Age of Hannibal army, as I'd heard their boards were very powerful

I won the next roll, too, and chose "Cautious" for game length. This meant our game would last only five turns (we were getting a relatively late start, and I figured that would help speed up our game). It also meant HE had to move first, and no unit could move more than one activation on turn one. I won the roll for "Special Rule," as well. I chose "A Dash of Nostalgia" because it meant his mercenaries would not generate a Saga die, and our warlords would generate two. Although it left him unchanged in total dice, it would give me one more. My Moors thrive on their maneuverability, so I could use the extra command dice. Finally, Mike won "Show of Force," which meant we'd be counting Survival Points and score bonus for getting a unit within a Medium of the opponent's board edge.

    Mike's Elephant had effective firepower with the "Eagle Eye" ability on the Carthaginian board

Mike opened the game by moving his elephant forward towards my archers in the rocky area. I noticed he had the "Eagle Eye" activated on his board with a Rare dice. Not only would this give him 4 extra dice in a shooting attack, it meant no cover bonuses for the target. Uh-oh. Oh well...there are 12 archers -- they can take a few casualties, I figured! I was surprised that he moved forward so aggressively with his four-man unit of mounted hearthguard, though. They were supported by a unit of citizen foot hearthguard, but I felt they were pretty vulnerable with an Armor of 4.

On my turn, I sent both of my 6-man mounted hearthguard units dashing forward. They tossed their javelins. Twelve shooting dice later, and extremely poor saving rolls by Mike, and his mounted hearthguard unit was eliminated. My levy archers tried to get in ojn the act and shot at the approaching elephant, but Mike had cleverly positioned a contingent foot warrior unit with range of them. With the "Blood Price" ability, he could push casualties inflicted on the elephant onto their "escorts." 

    

    The Moorish battleline prepares to advance against their ancient foes

The elephant lumbered forward into range of my levy with their composite bows. Their normal two dice were boosted to six with Eagle Eye and three of my levy fell, riddled with arrows from the elevated vantage point of the howdah. In the center, Mike saw the danger his foot hearthguard was in, so sent a citizen foot warrior unit forward to support them. However, Mike is an aggressive player, and saw that the hearthguard were also within a double move of one of my mounted units. Wanting payback for his dead cavalry, he ordered them in. I used his fatigue to raise my armor to 5. His rolls were poor, and the hearthguard were driven back with casualties. My Moors saved all but one of the hits he rolled, and were ready for the counterstrike.

Although I had my "Torrent of Iron" ability activated on my board, I guessed that I could destroy the Foot hearthguard with shooting alone. Majik waved his cavalry forward again. Javelins flew, and another of Mike's hearthguard units lay dead on the hillside. My levy were not having the same luck, though, and his elephant took only one fatigue from my sole hit (he considered it not worth playing Blood Price). My foot warriors, though, edged away from the elephant, making sure they were outside of a Medium + Short of the elephant. We were winning in the center, why jeopardize things with unreliable things like dice rolls?

    Majik Ibn Battuta al-Waqaa orders his cavalry forward to pepper the enemy with javelins

Mike began to furiously try to bring up the rest of his army, but the citizen foot warriors were exposed. On my next turn, I sent both units forward to shoot again, whittling down their numbers. I followed that up with a Torrent of Iron charge (my Moors signature battle board ability), which completely eliminated a third unit of the Carthaginians. On Turn 4, I switched targets to his elephant. He had advanced the pachyderm and crew towards my warriors, hoping to find someone he could charge (entering the rocky area to charge the levy he considered too dangerous with too little reward). 

    After each advance, Majik would pull back his cavalry and out of range of counterattack to rest up

The final volleys of the game flew. My levy, and both units of cavalry hurled their javelins at the elephant. He was out of range of his elephant escorts, and my multiple attacks quickly used up his Resilience. The great beast fell. At this point, Mike conceded the game, having only his warlord, the contingent warriors, and his Tarantine mercenaries (who had dashed back and forth, not sure where to commit themselves for most of the game) left to face my entire army. Unlike my last game, which I won with charges, this game my Moors triumphed with shooting. 

I know this was only Mike's second game with his Carthaginians, while I had played the Moors half a dozen times. So, he will get better with them. Still, I really like this army, and love the flexibility of my two 6-man, mounted hearthguard cavalry units. They can skirmish or be an armored fist. With Torrent of Iron inflicting a fatigue on the enemy unit when I close, it means I can raise my armor class from its vulnerable 4 to make them more survivable. I really look forward to playing more games with them!

    A look at the board at the end of the game