Saturday's Change of Plans: "Tune Up" Game of Saga

 

    Change of Plans scenario with the Viking deployed at top and my Moors at bottom

With the return of Saga Ohio game days only a week away, Jenny felt she needed a tune up game of Saga. She wanted to brush up on her Viking battle board and familiarize herself again with the mechanics of the game. I needed no arm twisting to play Saga, so we pulled out the terrain and armies for some Saturday night Saga instead of our usual two-player board games. 

    Jenny's Vikings once again invade the Emirate of Cordoba defended by my Moorish army

I tossed her the Book of Battles to pick out a scenario, and she chose "Change of Plans." This game has three separate scoring rounds -- massacre points after turn 3, survival points after turn 5, and conquest points at the end of turn 6. It is one of the scenarios Adrian was thinking of using for the Cincycon Age of Vikings tournament (Oct. 23, 2021). Neither of us had played it before, so I agreed that it would be good to try it out. Jenny was using a new, hearthguard-heavy Viking build (five points in units of 6, 5, 5, and 4 figures, along with her usual one point of levy bows). 

    The Moorish warrior foot open the game with an aggressive advance towards the Viking woods

For myself, I wanted to see if my two units of 6-man, mounted hearthguard with javelins unit could switch gears from skirmishers to battering rams. We have a lot of Viking armies in our Saga Ohio group, and the Viking battle board has the "Odin" ability that can Exhaust a shooting unit. Since I also have a Levy bow unit, I normally try to tempt Viking opponents to use that ability on them instead, freeing my mounted to do their usual ride up, throw javelins, and retire behind the lines of warrior infantry. I knew Jenny was on to my trick by now, though. So, my new plan was to use them in primarily a melee role when facing Vikings. Would they be survivable enough? This was my test run.

    This will NOT be celebrated over horns of mead - Viking hearthguard repelled by Moor warriors

I set out a large, gentle hill in the center right of the table to free up maneuver space for my Moorish cavalry. Jenny jacked that up quite nicely with a pair of marshes bracketing it -- one on her side of the board and one on mine. She had a forest on her right, set up in perfect position for her levy archers to enter and use as a stronghold to unleash volleys of arrows from. Deployment in this game is by each player alternating units. I began with my own Moorish levy archers in the center swamp on my deployment area. Since Jenny had complicated things on my right, I decided to switch my main attack to the left. I put out a cavalry unit like it was going to the right, but planned to move forward aggressively on the left, instead.

   My cavalry countercharge came up equally short, causing no casualties on the exhausted Vikings

I opened the game with my two units of warrior foot advancing a full move towards his levy's woods. My levy scooted up to the edge of the swamp to be able to target anyone on my soon-to-be-refused right wing. I placed used one of my three Saga dice (as first player) on "Forest of Spears," in case one of her units of hearthguard double-moved to attack them. Jenny must have had this in mind. She began her turn with a volley from her archers which caused 3 casualties on the warriors on the left. Very good rolling on her part, and below average on mine. It was as if I had read her mind, because Jenny then moved up one of her 5-man hearthguard units once, and then a second time to charge them into the depleted spear unit. We closed ranks, played Forest of Spears, and ended up taking no hits. As if that wasn't insult enough to the Norsemen, she didn't save one of the hits I put on her, so she actually lost a figure and recoiled.

    My warriors screen my recoiling cavalry while the other unit advances into the woods

That was the opening I had been hoping for -- one of her units ending with two fatigue on it (one for the second move and another for the combat). I was VERY fortunate on my command die rolls in this game. On turns 2 through 6, I rolled at least one rare dice each time (one or twice rolling two). This allowed me to use the Moors' primary melee ability, "Torrent of Iron." My warlord Majik Ibn Battuta al-Waqaa waved the left hand unit of cavalry forward, while his pet cheetah Scirocco watched with hunter's interest. As we hit home on the chastened Viking hearthguard, we inflicted a third fatigue, making them Exhausted. This meant they were -1 to all melee dice. That is what my Moorish cavalry are looking for, and we used their fatigue to raise our Armor to 6. That meant she couldn't hit us, and we essentially had free strikes with no chance of casualties. In my excitement at getting what I wanted, I forgot to play "Inspiration," which I had cued up on my Moor Battle Board. That allows rerolls of any 1's on my attack dice. And I rolled a LOT of ones! Still, with the +1 bonus from javelin and lowering their armor, I scored 5 hits. She saved all of them. Five rolls of 5+ on a 6-sided die!!

    Moorish warriors, after repelling an attack from hearthguard, charge into the levy bowmen

Now, it was OUR turn to be chastened and back off. She cleverly used my cavalry unit's fatigue to cut down my ensuing retirement move to a Short distance. My mounted units have only an Armor of 4 and are very vulnerable to both shooting and enemy charges. So, I pulled the depleted warrior unit out into a screen in front of the cavalry. Interestingly, Jenny was NOT playing "Odin" from her battle board on my levy archer's shots. She was being canny and saving it to unleash on my cavalry when they tried to toss javelins and then retire.

    My warlord Majik ibn Battuta al-Waqaa waves the Moorish cavalry forward to charge again

Determined to save her levy and eliminate the threat of my Moorish spearmen, she brought a 4-man hearthguard unit forward to charge the threat. Once again, my warriors closed ranks. We each caused two casualties, which meant her hearthguard bounced off my warriors again! My turn 3 was probably my best of the game. My warlord galloped over to the cavalry, exhorted them, and ordered them in against this new, double-fatigued hearthguard unit. Inspired by Majik's words, or intimidated by Scirocco's yellow stare, they redoubled their efforts and this time did not fail. It also helped that I remember to play "Inspiration" this time (which I needed, as I rolled a lot of ones again!). The Vikings were eliminated and we once again suffered no casualties due to their exhaustion from Torrent of Iron. 

    The Moorish warriors have driven the archers out of the woods and await the Viking counterattack

One of the nice mechanics of Saga that simulate morale is when a friendly unit is eliminated, their comrades within a Short distance receive a fatigue. This included the archers, who were then charged by my warrior unit advancing on them in the woods. We hurled them back cutting their numbers nearly in half, but they caused two casualties on my spearmen. Knowing this was the turn 3, when we would count up massacre points, Jenny brought up her other 6-man hearthguard unit from the center and charged those warriors. This was Jenny's best melee of the night, and she killed all but one of the warriors, sending the survivor running headlong from the woods.

    Another Viking hearthguard unit charges Moorish warriors, this time slaying all but one

Once again, though, the Vikings had accumulated two fatigue with their second move and the melee. Once again, the Moorish cavalry were waved forward (the right hand unit this time). Four Vikings were cut down in another Torrent of Iron. If I had not been so successful in rolling at least one rare in each of my turns except the first, I doubt my charges would have been nearly as successful. Still, we did our usual, and pulled the victorious warriors back towards our lines after their charge.

    And the inevitable response to a double-fatigued Viking unit: Torrent of Iron cavalry charge!

It was at this point that most of the fighting was done. Jenny brought her archers back into the woods and caused a couple casualties here and there. My own archers were ineffective all game. I pulled back the bigger unit of warriors towards my lines. Survival points would be counted on turn 5 and I wanted the +1 they would score for me for generating a Saga die. Jenny considered coming forward with her two, undamaged hearthguard units (one of 5, one of 4), but seemed demoralized by the charges of my cavalry. I knew that I was ahead, and since we were counting survival points, had no plans on making potentially risky charges on fresh troops.

 Situation at the end of the game - my battered warriors withdrawing knowing victory was in hand

After turn 5, which saw only arrows flying, she and I decided to call the game. She pointed out that I could move across the centerline with my two cavalry units and my warlord to score a lot of conquest points, while she would have to double or triple move to get across. The handwriting was on the wall, and it was in Arabic. The Vikings withdrew from the field, chastened. I consoled Jenny, pointing out that she punishes other players in Saga Ohio regularly with her Vikings. She has a system down using them, with the Loki-Odin combination hamstringing many armies' strengths. My advice was to be patient when facing armies that can use your fatigue as effectively as the Moors. Do single moves. Play the long game and advance steadily across the table, sweeping them toward their base edge until they run out of room to withdraw. I am reminded of my early years playing Ancients when I would lose what seemed 9 out of 10 games against my regular opponent, the late Larry Connor. It was those bitter lessons he taught me that made me a better player, though. So, my advice to fellow Saga Ohio players is, if you are selecting opponents to play, beware of Jenny! Hell hath no fury...