SAGA tournament report from Kllingencon, Germany

As those who have followed my blog over the past few weeks will know, I took part in a SAGA tournament the other weekend. For those who will now ask “Did you finish your Anglo-Saxons?”… yes I did, but that will be my next post.

What exactly did I play? My Anglo-Saxons were led by a Religious Advisor Warlord. It featured two points of mounted Heathguards (amalgamated into one unit), three points of Warriors (amalgamated into two twelve-men strong units) and one point of Levies with shields and spears.

So how did it go in general? Well, it was mixed. My opponents were great all around and a joy to play with, so no complaints on that front! My SAGA dice rolled really well, although I always got the multiple helmets on those turns when I did not need them and never when I really did. My D6 were abysmal though. Worst was the attack where I had 21 attack-dice with a target of 3 and only scored four hits (of which my opponent saved three). But.. c´pst la guerre, mon ami!

In the first game I played a novice player with Jomsvikings in a “Clash of the Warlords” mission. Do not let yourself be fooled, novice or not, he knew his force and played it well, making the best of his abilities and keeping his Warlord well protected behind a strong screen of Warriors and Heathguards. The only reason why I was able to win this one was because I managed to lure his Warlord forward to attack one of my exposed units together with the Heathguards. Once he was in the main battle line, he fell to repeated charged by my Heathguards after an assault by my levies had reduced the number of retainers he could sacrifice to safe his life.

SAGA Tournament II Klingencon (Anglo-Saxons vs. Jomsvikings)

The second game (where I forgot to take pictures) was “The cart” against a very experienced Moors player. He played a force loaded with Warriors and supplemented by Nephatim… one everyone seemed to loath at last years Grand Melee. Combined with my bad dice rolling his sound tactics really kept eating into my force, until there was hardly anything left. Desperate times calling for desperate measures I used what little was left of my force to block his cart, while I sent mine on a mad, unsupported Hail Marry move. Which paid off, since I managed to my cart of the table, to win the game.

After this second game, I was second in the standings and was paired against the first and eventual tournament winner with his Welsh for a game of “Holy Ground”. The game was quite interesting in that I ignored the woods to the left for the game, while we battled it out for the hill in the middle. I held the woods to the right for the whole game while constantly being subjected to arrows and javelins from more than half his force. What really broke my neck there was the turn were my opponent rolled really well on his SAGA dice and was able to activate all his units at least once by regular means, plus another two times through the use of his two mass activation abilities. In the end it was quite tight with me loosing by two points.

SAGA Tournament II Klingencon II (Anglo-Saxons vs. Welsh)

SAGA Tournament II Klingencon (Anglo-Saxons vs. Welsh)

The last game was against Mutataw’wia in a scenario called “Pillage Village”. This is where my dice started going from bad to worse, with all my attacks and defenses going bad. Plus I was starting to feel the drain of a stressful week, a headache and four games in a row on this day. and was starting to make mistakes. Needless to say, this one ended in another loss.

SAGA Tournament II Klingencon (a view over the tables)

All in all I finished 12th out of 24, which was not bad, although I had entertained higher hopes after the first two matches.

Thoughts on my force. Well most people criticised the use of two units of Heathguards in an Anglo-Saxon force. And I have to say… it was a mixed blessing. They proved critical during the first game and would have been of good use in two more games and I still think this has potential. But it holds true, that they were loosing effectiveness fast, since it was hard to keep them as the large unit to have them work for the Anglo-Saxons. The Religious Advisor Warlord was good, since he provided the resources (= SAGA dice) I badly needed and even though he lacked punch, he was really essential for the force as a whole. The Warriors and Levies worked fine though. BUT, I am sure I would ever use the Anglo-Saxons for a tournament again. You can really feel that they are lacking when compared to the newer Crecent & Cross factions that will often keep you from acting and making the best of your abilities.

SAGA Tournament II Klingencon (another view over the tables)

Well up next the preparations for this years Grand Melee will begin, which will mean painting my Spanish!

SAGA Tournament II Klingencon ( yet another view over the tables)