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!

Moors Beat Back Night Raid by the 'Rumani'

My Moorish warlord Majik ibn Battuta al-Waqaa and his cheetah pet, Scirocco

Majik ibn Battuta al-Waqaa leaned forward in the saddle and squinted into the darkness. He heard the high-pitched chirp of the great cat beside him as it also peered into the night. Watching the ears of the cheetah's spotted head slowly track then stop let Majik know his pet had spotted the intruders. "You see them even in this darkness, Srirocco?" Another chirp confirmed that he could trust the cheetah's tracking senses to lead his warband towards the incursion. 

I like the look of a large warlord base with a bodyguard, banner, and animal companion on it

 As they paced forward, Majik heard the soft hoofbeats of his cavalry following. His lieutenant whispered, "Who are they, al-Waqaa?" Behind them, two squadrons of veteran Moorish cavalry paced in single file on either flank. Between the horsemen, two files of spearmen followed in their warlord's footsteps. Bringing up the rear were the archers.

The battle after my first turn - my Moorish cavalry have returned to shelter behind the infantry's lines

"Rumani," Majik whispered in return. Romans. Or what remained of that fallen empire, who would be called in later tomes the Byzantines. Its still mighty navy could put raiding parties ashore in Andalusia, though, and that was what Majik guessed had happened. Why they were here in Spain he could only guess. The emir of Cordoba had decreed that the foreigners must be driven off, though, and Majik and his men would do that, inshallah, or die trying.

End of his 2nd turn - note my depleted levy and 2 fatigue tokens on his archers

I was almost as uneasy this past Sunday as Majik would have been. After a year of planning and painting this army, I was finally getting to play a game of Saga with my Moorish warband. Though not complete, I had enough figures ready to play a 6-point game if I used the cavalry as mounted hearthguard. I split three points of them into two units of six. I supplemented this force with two units of 8 warriors and 1 unit of 12 levy bowmen. My warlord base had been finished the night before and dullcoated that very morning.

My opponent was Mike S, who was using his Last Romans, again. He was still tweaking his list, not content with previous versions of it. The one I would face also included 3 points of mounted hearthguard, but deployed in three units of four. Two were armed with composite bow, while the third had standard melee equipment. Mike also brought two units of warriors to the field, one of which was bow armed. The final unit was composed of 12 levy javelinmen. A very similar composition to my force, but who would prevail?

The Byzantines strike back! Javelins and Byzantine cavalry charge whittle my 6-man unit to two

Mike S wanted to play "Battle of Heroes" from the Book of Battles. Our rolled variations were Night Battle (which means each unit that starts its turn without a friendly unit within Short distance suffers a fatigue), and Unknown Lands, which meant Mike set the terrain with four small pieces. I rolled Meeting Engagement, which meant he deployed his entire army after setting up terrain, while I got to set up second. I rolled Pitched Battle, allowing me to roll and place 4 Saga dice prior to his first turn. The final special rule was Show of Force, which would reward us for melees won and getting units within a Medium distance of the opponent's baseline. With my Horse of the Maghreb ability, I thought this would be a cinch for me to do - though that's not the way it turned out! My cavalry was way too busy to go on an end run in this battle.

Mike S deployed with his warrior archers on his right, backed up by the levy javelinmen. In the center, he deployed one unit of Tagmata (hearthguard horse archers) and another with melee weapons. They were backed up by his warlord. On his left, he deployed another unit of Tagmata, backed up by his remaining warrior unit. Called by his troops "al-Waqaa" (the Shield), Majik had a plan to use his infantry battleline as a wall from which the hearthguard cavalry could emerge, attack, and fall back behind. Very historical tactics for Moors, and I thought quite possible with the extra distance move provided by Horses of the Maghreb (Long+Short move), and Perseverance (activate two mounted or two foot units) each requiring only one Saga die. After Mike S trotted forward on his first turn, but staying outside Long range, Majik waved his horsemen forward to try. The attack actually began with a volley from the levy archers at the Tagmata horse archers, who were my target with their low armor class. That was followed up with one 6-man hearthguard unit racing forward and tossing their javelins, then the other. Finally, Perseverance allowed both to return behind the spearmen with only one fatigue.

The battlefield prior to my 6-man cavalry unit charging (and destroying) another unit of cavalry

My dice were terrible, though. With 18 shots needing a 4+ we killed only three of the four figures in the unit. Mike S quickly wisely pulled it back to the rear, where it would remain for the game (but continuing to provide a Saga die!). Next, the Byzantine strategos waved forward his foot archers. They advanced and took two shots at my levy archers. My saves in the cover were as bad as my shooting and we lost five figures. We did NOT use his fatigue on the second shot - I had plans for those two tokens in my turn!

That warrior bow would be our target for turn two. Once again, the archers began the attack. This was followed up by one cavalry unit riding forward and throwing javelins. We used the Wholehearted ability to gain 2 attack dice per enemy fatigue (so +4 dice). The second unit then crashed into the remaining warrior archers, with me playing Inspiration (reroll of 1's in combat, or 1-3's with a Rare die). The last of the warriors fell, though they did kill one of my hearthguard despite my bonus defensive dice. The theme continued - my abilities were giving me lopsided attacks in my favor, but my dice rolling was not fully taking advantage of them! However, Mike S had enough of my shooting and scooting and used the fatigue on my victorious unit to limit its pull back move to a Short. Oops. He had spotted a flaw in my strategy that I hadn't seen coming!

One of my Moorish spear units hurries to support the exposed cavalry

Mike S countered by targeting my exposed hearthguard unit. He moved up his javelin levy to shoot, and then followed it up with a charge by his melee cavalry. Once again, my dice were pathetic and this time his dice were very good. He didn't suffer a casualty and my unit was cut down to only two figures remaining. I knew that the Moorish cavalry with an armor class of 4 were vulnerable. That's why I wanted them shielding behind my warrior spearmen - not exposed out in front of the army! Mike S decided to pull the victorious Byzantine cavalry back to his center, which left them with 2 fatigue. Majik stroked his beard, eyeing them as a target, "Hmmm..."

This was not necessarily the battle I wanted to get into - charge and countercharge. However, with a chance to take a fresh 6-man hearthguard unit against a double-fatigued 4-man unit, the Shield of Cordoba decided to cast caution to the wind. I loaded up my board with Inspiration and Wholehearted and shouting praise to Allah, the Moors rode in! Despite receiving four defense dice in bonus from his fatigue, my unit still lost four figures. My dice were dependably below average all game. However, we did eliminate the Byzantine cavalry which scattered a fatigue onto the warlord and two other units. Of course, Mike S cleverly used my unit's fatigue when we tried to pull back!

Last gambit - Moorish cavalry attempt to put enough javelins into the enemy warlord to soften him up!

At this point, my primary attack arm was blunted - each down to 2-man units. I couldn't even do the run to the opponent's board edge because it requires a unit of at least four men in the victory conditions. Majik had no choice but to order the spearmen forward. It would take three charges by the two units to finally destroy his remaining warrior unit, as my dice continued to suffer. Luckily, neither of us were rolling particularly well on Saga dice. I think we rolled two rare dice between us all game! Mike S decided to use his remaining horse archer unit to do the end run and scoop up 4 victory points. 

Majik had one last gambit - try to shoot down the enemy warlord on our final turn. I tossed both 2-man units forward, using Wholehearted to gain 2 extra dice for his fatigue. Six dice = no hits. If I had managed to exhaust his Warlord, Majik was going to charge in and finish him off. However, with only one fatigue on him, it wasn't worth the risk. I thought I was up on points. So, I let the game end there, and we counted it up. As it turned out, Majik did emerge victorious, driving the wily, determined Byzantine Strategos from the field, 18-14. 

Close up of the Majik ibn Battuta al-Waqaa's banner (pattern looks black but is actually blue)

I really enjoyed playing the Moors in my first game. I was excited that historical tactics - sending cavalry out from behind an infantry battle line then returning them - worked well on the table with Saga. Mike S and I discussed that perhaps I shouldn't have been so impatient, and simply shot instead of charging in. That might have been enough to wear down the vulnerable Byzantine units and force them into doing something rash. 

Of course, I realized much later that evening that perhaps my dice wouldn't have been so bad if I had remembered something that I also forgot over and over in my games with my Welsh: Javelins receive +1 to attack dice when charging! I never used that the whole game!! I don't know the Arabic word for "D'oh!" but maybe I should find out! That gave me a goal for the next game: paint a marker of a javelin-pierced miniature with "+1 when charging" on its base to keep with my combat dice...ha, ha! I look forward to two week's from now, though, and our Saga Game Day at the Dragons Guildhall in Beavercreek, Ohio. Majik and Scirocco are looking forward to matching wits with another enemy!

13 Players Try Their Luck on Saga Game Day

Anthony B's Welsh were one of the 13 armies that gathered on a blustery November Saga day

We had such a great turnout at our November Saga Game Day that I am going to have make two separate posts about it! Thirteen players showed up on blustery, chilly first day of November for masked, socially distanced (as much as possible) skirmish wargaming. The armies arranged from our first Age of Hannibal army through Age of Vikings to Age of Crusades. Our breakdown was 4 Viking armies, 2 Last Romans, 1 Pagan Rus, 1 Irish, 1 Scots, 1 Welsh, 1 Crusaders, 1 Gauls, and introducing my first-time ever playing my new Moorish warband!

Dave E's Roman Cavalry were matched against Anthony B's Welsh in the first round

I sat out the first round to facilitate all the matchups. I try to encourage pairings with opponents who haven't played each other, yet. Luckily, we have new players coming in (welcome, Steve C!), so that I can get at least a handful of the matchups being new ones. In addition to Steve playing for the first time, we also had Lee P for the third time, and Jason S returned to the fold (now that he's moved to Columbus). 

First-round action with (from left) Lee, Adrian, Mike S, and Tyler preparing for battle

We also had our first Age of Hannibal warband take the field. Although the rulebook recommends playing these warbands only against those of the same era, Andy S wanted to try out his Gauls. Bob B was game to take them on, though, so we did a little Ancient vs. Crusades game. Although it wasn't intentional, all four Viking armies ended up in a Norse Civil War on one of the three 8-foot tables we use at the Guardtower East. Jenny T was teaching Steve C how to play, while Jim B and Jason S were trying out Battle of Heroes. 

Tyler's fierce Irish war dogs charge into Lee's Scots levy archers

Another fun thing for me was how many of my armies were playing even though I was taking a bye in the first round. Lee P was using my Scots, Anthony B my Welsh, and Steve C my Vikings. I was looking forward to getting my Moors on the field in the second round, but filled my time enjoying the action on the six tabletops and taking photos. Thus, this post will be mostly photos with an overview of the games. Later this week, I'll add another post about my game with Mike S's Last Romans.

Bob B added Western Knights as a mercenary unit to his Late Roman warband

Here are the results of the two rounds:

November 2020 Saga Game Day Results

Round 1

Jenny T's Vikings defeated Steve C's Vikings in Clash of Warlords, 26-22

Adrian J's Pagan Rus defeated Mike S's Last Romans in Battle of Heroes, 7-4

Andy S's Gauls defeated Bob B's Last Romans in Clash of Warlords, 34-27

Dave E's Romans defeated Anthony B's Welsh in Clash of Warlords, 29-15

Lee P's Scots defeated Tyler P's Irish in Clash of Warlords, 17-11

Jason S's Vikings defeated Jim B's Vikings in Battle of Heroes, 11-7

Jim B's Viking warlord charges into Jason S's unit of warriors

 Round 2 

Adrian J's Pagan Rus defeated Jim B's Vikings in Clash of Warlords, 27-22

Mike D's Moors defeated Mike S's Last Romans in Battle of Heroes, 18-14

Jenny T's Vikings and Tyler P's Irish tied in Clash of Warlords, 18-16

A horde of Scots warriors was a daunting sight for Tyler's Irish

Notable was the absolute slaughter-fest between Andy S's Gauls and Bob B's Last Romans. Bob started the death-dealing off with a charge of his 8-man, mounted hearthguards unit against a unit of 8 Gallic mounted warriors. One charge and the knights rode them down to a man. Andy returned the favor by charging a 12-man Gallic warrior unit into Bob's victorious hearthguard. Andy stacked up several battle board abilities and destroyed the Roman cavalry to a man. I was walking by when they rolled their dice and it was something like 17 dice vs. 18 dice.

The Viking table with 4 Viking warbands (from left, Jenny, Jim, Jason, Steve)

Adrian continued his victory streak at our game days, and seems to be enjoying playing the Pagan Rus. In the first game, he edged out Mike S's Last Romans. In his second game, he won the Norse blood feud with Jim B's Vikings. Along with Andy and Jim, Adrian is probably one of our most veteran "Saga Ohio" players.

Bob's Crusaders and Andy's Gauls close in what will become the biggest slaughter-fest of the day!

Andy's Gallic warriors counter-charge Bob's Crusader knights and exact revenge

Charge and counter-charge went back and forth between Gauls and Crusaders till the bitter end

Adrian's Pagan Rus continued their rampage through our Saga Game Days going 2-0

The Saga Ohio group does its best to stay safe, masked and tables spaced as far apart as possible

The Viking battleline of Jim B - one of the most laid-back and friendliest of our Saga Ohio players

Jim's round 1 opponent - Jason S's Vikings and their hulking warlord

Lee's Scots await the approach of Tyler's Irish through the bogs and fens between them

Dave's ballista is a regular feature of his Roman army- frustrating his opponents with large units!

Jenny's 6-man hearthguard unit slams into Steve's Bondi warrior unit in a 1st round civil war

Another Batch of Moorish Archers

28mm Gripping Beast Moorish archers - not my finest work, in my opinion...

I think slowly, I am starting to rein in the out-of-control horses of schoolwork and the move to the new house. One of the things that has suffered as I try to get my life under control has been painting time. However, in the last week I have been able to snatch an hour here and there to duck down to my new painting and crafting cubby hole in the basement and get some work done. First, of course, was getting it all unpacked and set up. Next, was ordering a seven-level, acrylic nail polish holder to hold my paints on my desk. The last step was actually doing some painting!

The rest of the batch of eight which go a long way towards allowing me to field my Moorish army!

Here is the result of that painting time - my second batch of eight Moorish archers. Although this may seem an impressive output for a few hours, these figures were actually half painted when I moved from my old house to the new one (with Jenny). The tunics were already completed, so it was mainly equipment that I polished off. Either way, this was a crucial batch to get done towards actually being able to field my Moorish army in Saga. I needed 12 levy archers for the list I was planning on fielding, and this brings me up to 16 of the 24 figures that were in the army when I bought it at Advance the Colors in October of 2019.

A picture of my gaming cubby hole in my new house - note the acrylic nail polish rack for paints

 I'm not actually overly impressed with the work I did on these guys. Not sure why...Jenny says they look nice. Somehow, I don't think they are up to the standard of the previous batches of Moors. I'd like to blame on the figures being less inspiring (well, one of the poses). However, I think I am searching for a scapegoat. If I were brutally honest, I would say I simply didn't do as good of a job on them. Maybe I was out of practice? The patterns on the tunics are nowhere near as nicely done as the cavalrymen and spearmen in this army - in my opinion, at least! I'd be interested to hear from readers whether they think they look a bit off compared to the others in the army, or whether it is just me being too critical.

Jenny and my new house -- may look small, but lots of room once you're inside!

The good news, though, is I figured out a way to field my Moorish army this coming Sunday with the figures I have painted! Well, if I finish the warlord's stand, that is! I worked on it tonight and it is more than halfway there. There will be a mounted general, foot bodyguard, and a creature companion. No, not a dog. Muslim society looks askance at dogs as unclean, for the most part. So, I rooted through my figure bins and found a suitably exotic pet/mascot for my army. I'll not spoil the surprise -- that's for the next update! Hope you enjoy this short post. Look for another one soon when the warlord gets done (or after Sunday's Saga game day)...

Viking Raid Battles Russian Winter & Bitter Resistance

Viking raiders arrive in the lands claimed by their cousins, the Pagan Rus

 It was a lighter turnout than normal at our monthly Saga Game Day at the Dragons Guildhall in Beavercreek, Ohio. An old friend, Joe, brought along his 11-year-old son Jacob and the two wanted to give Saga a try. I offered to play them in a teaching game, while the other four players, Adrian J, Jim B, Jenny T, and Aaron J gave the four-player Brothers in Arms scenario a try. Joe and Jacob chose to play my Viking army against the Pagan Rus warband I was fielding.

Joe and his son Jacob took command of my Viking army to learn how to play Saga

In essence, it was a rematch of my game two weeks ago against Lee at the Guardtower East. We were playing Clash of Warlords and I was first player. I rolled "Method B" so were deploying diagonally across the field. I stretched my four 9-man units of Levy javelinmen across the field with my warlord in reserve in the center. I kept my two hammers -- my 6-man hearthguard units -- to deploy last, after I saw what Joe and Jacob did. 

Units of levy javelinmen screen the advance of my hearthguard at right from bowfire

As expected, they occupied the woods on my right with their Levy bowmen. They placed the their Bondi warriors in the center and right, each backed up in reserve by a 6-man hearthguard unit, as well. I decided to force the issue on the right, and began moving three units, two levy and one hearthguard towards the woods. The rest of the army started redeploying towards the right to assist them with "Maneuver" movement. On the Viking turn, their archers let loose two volleys and devastated my lead screen of levy javelinmen.

The Pagan Rus hearthguard have charged in and chased off the Viking bowmen

Undeterred, I kept the remnants of that unit moving forward, spreading them out so that they covered the approach of my hearthguard following close behind. With two movements, they would be able to charge next turn. In the meantime, I unleashed "Howling Wind" upon the archers and hearthguard who were racing over to support them, putting a fatigue on each of them as the bitter Russian winter chilled the Vikings to the bone. My Warlord and his escort Hearthguard unit moved ever closer to support my attack on the right.

The levy archers entering the woods have hurled their javelins at the Viking Bondi in the center

Joe and Jacob began to advance in the center, while the hearthguard approaching my right stopped to clear the fatigue on them. This would prove to be a crucial part of the game. By playing Howling Wind numerous times on that unit thoughout the game, it was unable to actually enter battle at any point. Or at least, was put at a disadvantage with fatigue so that Joe and Jacob chose not to order them forward saddled with fatigue.

The Bondi drove off the levy, but that left them to be countercharged & slain by Rus hearthguard

On the next turn, I advanced my hearthguard and a second levy javelin unit. I unleashed and The Pack on him which caused a couple shooting kills. I followed that up with a charge by the same hearthguard unit. White Wolves is an excellent ability on the Pagan Rus battleboard which allows them to remove a fatigue in the Melee phase if you use a rare die. In addition, it does its usual lowering of the unit's armor by one, but receiving both attack and defense dice equal to their new armor class. So, hearthguard start at AC 5, but by reducing themselves to AC 4 they get +4 Attack AND +4 Defense dice. A great bargain! Although the hearthguard slaughtered many of the levy, they did not kill them all, as four were left to scurry from the woods.

The Rus hearthguard were in turn charged by Viking hearthguard, who they repulsed, each losing men

The second levy unit had actually tossed their javelins at the Viking Bondi in the center, slaying one. This enraged the Viking Warriors, who charged into the levy. I've found that my levy javelinmen actually make very good bait in the two games I've played so far. Yes, they slaughtered enough of my unit so that it no longer generated a Saga die. However, it left the unit overextended -- just as in the game last week against Lee. On my turn, I countercharged those levy with my fresh hearthguard unit accompanying my warlord. I played both White Wolves again and Khagan (which gives +5 attack or defense dice if using a rare -- +3 if not -- if the Warlord is within a Short distance). Nineteen attack dice later and the Bondi were slain to a man while my hearthguard were untouched.

The climax of the battle occurred when Rus hearthguard charged and drove off the Viking Warlord

The Vikings were not about to let that act go unavenged, and charged my hearthguard with their own 6-man hearthguard unit. Now, wargaming truism goes to never roll dice against kids or women. However, here Jacob's dice deserted him. Despite piling on Thor and Frigg, and my defending hearthguard closing ranks, we each did three casualties. The Vikings had to withdraw to lick their wounds. The Viking warlord had advanced to support their attack, so was somewhat exposed. On my turn, I brought over my full strength hearthguard unit which had chased off his archers and charged his Warlord. It took two moves, but we had White Wolves once again to remove our fatigue before he could use it in melee.

The battlefield after the Viking Warlord was driven off by Rus hearthguard, who lost three men

Jacob chose to not close ranks and the Viking commander roared his challenge, despite entering battle with two fatigue (from my constant Howling Winds). He did have three figures of his hearthguard unit within Short, so he could soak off some casualties. In the end, my combat rolls were good enough to do four unsaved hits on him. The three hearthguard duly stepped in front of my sword strokes and his warlord lived to withdraw, exhausted. That ended up being the climax of the battle. He tried to bring his full strength, 6-man hearthguard unit in to avenge my depleted hearthguard, but we were able to stop them with some of the Advanced Saga abilities which the Pagan Rus can unleash to harass their opponents. His other unit of Bondi were able to charge one of my half-strength hearthguard units, but they caused no kills and lost two of their own. 

It was a bloody battle, with many slain on either side

As turn 6 ended, we counted up points, and it was Joe and Jacob's losses in Warriors that were the difference in the game. That, and the two units they had that were completely destroyed to none for me. The Pagan Rus ended up repulsing the Viking raid 16-10. A key part of the battle is that I was able to use Howling Winds and various other harassing abilities to keep one of his 6-man hearthguard units completely out of the battle. Perhaps Joe and Jacob were a little tentative in not having him make a beeline for my troops, but it was their first game of Saga. It was a hard-fought, bloody battle -- as games of Saga Dark Ages combat should be! I thought they did very well in their first game and hope to see them again at future game days.

The Rus Warlord was victorious, helped by the Russian winter

The other game had to be called early because of time, but Adrian and his brother Aaron were able to defeat Jim B and Jenny T 23-19. Adrian was running Pagan Rus, while Aaron commanded a Norman warband. Jenny was changing things up and trying out the Anglo-Dane battle board, while Jim B ran Vikings. They said it was a fun game and that the four player mechanics worked well. However, it DOES take quite a bit longer as each player's command takes its turn sequentially. One warband must finish all its movement before its ally can begin.

A shot of the Brothers in Arms battle between Vikings & Anglo-Danes vs. Pagan Rus & Normans

It was a great time, and thanks to Jim and Adrian (and the Dragons Guildhall) for hosting!