Another game of SAGA

So last Friday we played another game of SAGA. (We actually played two more games the week before, but I for got to put the memory card into the camera before I left for Martins place and those from the cell phone turned out too poor to show.)

As usual I went for Vikings, with my normal set-up. I had my Warlord, Jarl Sigvaldi and his Jomsvikings (Hearthguard / Mercenaries), one unit of Berserkers (Hearthguard), two units of Hirdmen (Hearthguard) and one unit of Bondi (Warriors). I would amalgamate both Hirdmen units into one large unit.

Martin wanted a change from his Normans and went for Welsh (with a few late Roman and Saxon stand-ins). A Warlord, two points of mounted Teulu (Hearthguard) and two points of foot Teulu, one point of Priodaur (Warriors) and one point of bow armed Bonnedig (Levies). Martin would amalgamate both the mounted and foot Teulu into a large unit each.

We played the Clash of the Warlords scenario meaning we would have to kill the other Warlord by the end of turn six to win. If neither had done so the game would be decided on points.

Seen from the Viking side the table looked like this. On the right side there was a village with five houses. There were fields and orchards behind hedges along both deployment edges. In the middle of the table there was a slight hill and to the left a very small wood. Some haystacks in the middle rounded everything off.

Table seen from the Viking side

Table seen from the Welsh side

I won the initiative and set up my Warlord in the middle of the table and Martin set up his roughly opposite mine together with his Levies. I set up my Bondi in the fields behind the hedge. Now it was Martins turn again and he set up his foot Teulu and Priodaur in the orchard behind the hedge and his mounted Teulu to the right (from my perspective) of his Warlord. Now came the rest of my minis with Jarl Sigvaldi and the Jomsvikings on my far left. My Hirdmen formed a screen in front of the Warlord (no use getting him studded with arrows) and my Berserkers behind them.

Welsh deployed in the orchard

Martin won the first initiative and began with a general advance. His riders moved to the right to get a better avenue into the village. I felt that his Warlord was awfully alone and that taking him out quickly would be the best way to win. So I though about just allocating my SAGA dice to my right, but decided against it. The Welsh centre was still close enough to come to his support if I gave my plans away too early, so I made a general advance as well. My Berserkers swung out into the village to take on the Welsh mounted Teulu and lure them further away from their Warlord.

Welsh Heathguards and Warriors

On the second round the Welsh still advanced with the mounted Teulu moving further into the village. The archers tried to fire off a volley at my Hirdmen, but the norse gods intervened and just made them move. Now it was my turn. I rolled my SAGA dice and something special happened. In all the four games we had played so far th best I had ever got (even including re-rolls) was one Sowulo rune (that is the “S”-shaped one, the rarest on the dice). This time I got four. I spend two of them to roll four more dice and got another three Sowulos. What a situation to go on a general attack! I decided to allocate all my dice to the right flank and to buy abilities on the battle board. First my Berserkers went to charge the Welsh horsemen, but the Welsh used one of their abilities to make them go slower and they only made half the way. I did not care too much since their mission was just to occupy the riders. Since they were in a position to block off the best route through the village, they would still be able to do that.

My Hirdmen and the Warlord advanced and then charged into the archers. They killed eleven of them at no loss to themselves. With the final archer on the run the enemy Warlord was on his own. I ended my activation with three dice still on my battleboard.

Stand in cavalry for the Welsh

Now the Welsh realised their mistake and started to move towards their warlord, throwing Javelins at my Hirdmen. But they only killed one of them and were too far off to move into contact. The Welsh cavalry charged into my Berserkers and I decided to use my remaining dice on the battleboard. I called the Ragnarok ability which would reduce the Welsh armour by one until the end of the turn and gave my Berserkers two more attack dice. All four of my Berserkers died, but they took four of the Welsh with them… well not really since there is no place for the enemies of the Vikings in Valhalla! 😀

Can you see it coming

Middle of the battleground

Too late

But all the Welsh moves were too late. Both the Warlord and Hirdmen rested when I activated them to remove their fatigue and then charged into the Welsh Warlord. While he tried to fight valiantly, he stood no chance and died taking only one Viking with him.

Ganging up on the Welsh warlord

This is what you get for going out alone