Saga 2nd: Age of Magic

After several disrupted weeks, my planned game of Saga 2nd Ed: Age of Magic finally arrived. During lockdown, I underwent temporary insanity and painted roughly 1000 points of Flesh Eater Courts. I'll never play AOS but don't mind the army as I have always enjoyed ghouls in horror or weird fiction. 

In this 8 points game, I played the special ghoul list from the Undead section of Age of Magic. It consisted of a warlord, a behemoth, 3 biped large humanoids, 3 flying large humanoids, two units of 12 warriors and 1 unit of 8 warriors. I was playing against the Lords of Under-earth and was concerned about their shooting units and access to magic - as I had none. 

The crypt in the above image was my undead special terrain giving me a restorative bonus to necromantic saga abilities. 

We planned a standard battle and alternated terrain choices. I was happy with the woods I placed on the table as it restricted deployment spaces for my opponent. 

My opponent, Nick, had come with the wrong figure cases so I substituted my dark age miniatures for dwarfs. Above is the entrance to his tunnel system. Warily, I deployed a unit near its exit but it would not be used in the game. 

Nick deployed his forces in depth but also placed two hearthguard units behind some woods. This would result in them marched around and through to reach the action. Ultimately, they were caught out of place. 

With the initial turn, I surged forward with everything trying to close the gap and lessen shooting options. Nick replied with several shots and, more tellingly, he opened a chasm with quite a few ghouls fell into. This only worried me more as - of this continued - it would reduced my units of warriors in each round. These troops were the backbone of my forces. 

And then we discovered how fantastic the necromantic battle board abilities are for restoring troops ... Ghouls thought lost leapt back into action and the tide of slavering cannibals surged on afresh. 

On my right, I threw out my small warrior unit to block Nick's warriors then pressed my monstrous creature forward. It shrugged of paltry shots from the levy. My flyers were centrally placed to threated the back line or flanks on either side of Nick's underground forces. 

In the middle of the above image, a 12 strong warrior unit plugged the gap in the trees meaning all fire was directed toward this. A well placed saga dice saw regeneration of these losses with little effort. 

My large humanoids stood menacing at the rear and left flank. They were waiting for the dwarfs flying war engine to come close. 

As the dwarf bowmen withdrew, my flyers pounced mauling the unit. They used their resistance to avoid losses stacking up fatigue. When attacked by hearthguard these fatigues were used by the enemy giving my forces the chance to do it all again. They annihilated the hearthguard for not losses but were then slain by a unit of 12 warriors but it took significant saga dice for this to occur. 

My other large unit double moved to catch the flying war machine and dismantled it for only fatigue point losses. The ghouls were looking unstoppable. 

Over on the right, the ghoulish behemoth had simply eaten some levy. The warrior unit used the Already Dead saga ability to hold off the dwarf warrior unit. This gave them resistance 4. The undead have 2 fantastic defensive abilities. 

The warriors were then another course for my ravenous behemoth. 

At this point we called it quits. The dwarfs had lost three units and had 3 more savaged. The ghouls had lost their flyers - at fearful cost to the enemy - both otherwise only had fatigues. The ghoul warlord and one 12 warrior unit was completely untouched. The undead seem extremely tough with a wonderful supporting cast of saga abilities perfectly suited to keep them in the fray and negating losses. I would love another game, but I might put a Great Kingdoms army on the table before I return with my Ghouls. 

 

The Battle of Dunstan Abbey - A Saga 2nd Battle

After a long repose, a single post has emerged from the mist. A game of Saga finally caught in the sails of my imagination. This week Saga 2nd Edition and "The Siege of Dunstan Abbey." 

6 Points of Vikings attacked - 1 bow levy, 1 huscarl, 4 warriors (8 figs each.) 

AND one skald. 

4 Points of Scots defended - 1 eilte units with mounts (and the option to dismount), 3 units of warriors (again 8 figs each.) 

AND 1 small base of monks + 1 Abbot Dunstan. 

(Above shows Abbot Dunstan before his monastic hovel on the sea blasted coast of Scotland.)

The scenario was hand sculpted. A double 6 roll for either side could cause special effects:

For the Scots ... the Abbot would call upon the Christ god to rouse the waves to fury or revive the deceased. 

For the Vikings ... any group of warriors could knock down a section of wall. 

Two of the Viking units began in boats - rowed at speed M - while the rest started in the swallows of the sea slowing their first movement to S. 

The Scottish monks were setting to work defiling and blessing a nearby pagan burial mound and needed to be rescued at the beginning of the game. 

On Turns One and Two, the Viking used all their saga dice on movement surging from the foam. The Scots used a few of theirs to ride quickly from the defences to encourage the monks to cease their duties and return to the safety of the abbey. The Jarl bawled at the thralls to send a volley of arrows into the horsemen ... but these thudded into stout war boards for no effect. Meanwhile, the horsemen threw the monks bodily over the mounts and returned. The Vikings attempt to slow their effort by burning fatigue to slow movement by to little effect. 

Meanwhile, two units of Northmen warriors and the skald (see the prow of the lead boat on the right) applied themselves to the oars and approached the sea ward side of the palisade. 

There was a turn or two of delay while the Vikings implored Njord for the power to knock down the walls and aid their attacks on the soft Christians. Wading ashore, and letting their boats drift, the Viking to pound at the walls. 

The Abbot implored Christ to swamp these invaders. The sea responded by pulling three Vikings to an ignoble death. 

By Turn 4 the Vikings had moved into position but had not breached the walls. In this time, the Scots - even with less Saga dice - were stacking their board for the eventual assault. The Vikings were forced to repeated use all for theirs for movement. This would later play out into the Scots favour. 

And then the walls crashed down! 

Turn 6 saw two Viking warrior units face a single Scot defender at the wall. The Viking surged over and forced the Scots back after one victory in melee. Over the next few turns, several melees ensued but each coasting the Vikings more and more warriors. It was not a fair trade with the Scots. 

The next image shows the situation at the sea wall later in the game. All units were fatigued and gutted. The skald had many verses of heroic struggle, sacrifice, divine intervention and defeat. These tales would hopefully inspire more invaders from Denmark to attack the shores in coming battles. 

On the other side, the Vikings smashed down the wall in Turn 5 or 6 then struggled to get sufficient men through to attack the defenders. From here continual defeat was the lot of the Vikings. Urged by the vehement cries of Abbot Dunstan the defended stood staunchly. The invaders did not win a single combat as their entreaties to both Njord and Odin were swallowed by a uncaring sky. 

The huscarls hurled themselves forward and fresh warriors were bought up in between hails of arrows but only 5 or 6 Scots defenders fell. With losses mounting, Saga dice supply dwindled to a trickle and the Jarl sounded the horn of retreat. He was fuming at the inability of his men to land blows upon the Scots and knew them was something stronger than stout oak and iron guarding the lives of the defenders. 

It would seem their was more to this womanly Christ god than met the eye ... The Abbot was a powerful foe and must fall if the immortals of Asgard were to be appeased. 

It was time for the skald to weave his honeyed words, espouse the glories of those who perished and went to Valhalla ... and inspire new boatloads of strong oarsmen for the task at hand. 

A Saga of Wagons

This week's Saga 2nd edition battle consisted of the 'Prized Possessions' scenario. We'd played the Battle of Heroes quite a few times (12+) and I decided something else was needed. 

The Saxons became the defender (?) escorting the wagons across the table. The Vikings - who I'm trying to work out - were there to stop their progress. 

It was a 7 turn scenario - quite a long one by Saga standards. We used the universal terrain deployment method with the Vikings trying to create corridors of rough terrain that were hard to drag wagons through. This would partly offset the later deployment of half the Saxon army providing an advantage as the defender could see the full troop positions of their enemy. A canny commander - and this Saxon warlord was clever - would place two wagons in the second group being deployed. 

Playing for time the Vikings deployed well back in their deployment zone. Initially, I envisaged a rush at the Saxon left flank to overwhelm one side and fight my way into the wagons. However, this plan was changed after the Saxon warlord moved himself and his mounted hearthguard onto this flank early in the game. The battle would be won in the centre. 

Above are the wagons. The Saxons relied on their defensive power, hoping the Vikings would waste their strength in furious charges against their lines. This waiting game approach would eventually cost them the game. 

The Saxon warlord and his hearthguard were part of this watchful strategy. The warlord threw himself on the Vikings only in the final turn. 

Above the Vikings are shown hedging their bets and trying to block up the passages from the table as best they could. The defender would get a huge boost to victory points (survival in this case) for each wagon leaving the table. 

The Viking thralls whittled down their advancing foe who mostly stood in large 12 warrior blocks. These would block the shooting of the Saxon levy for several turns as combat drew near in Turns 4, 5 and 6. One brave Viking unit stepped out to protect the centre from multiple charges and was hacked apart by Saxons barely placing a wound in reply for their trouble. 

The Vikings fed more and more warriors into the centre of the table as this became the only route applicable for the Saxons. After several turns of inactivity with the wagons, they had no option as moving around the woods would take too long. 

One Saxon unit was reduced to but 4 levy but the Vikings were taking many casualties. Defence rolls were being made far too frequently by the Saxons - their shieldwall could not be broken. 

The Viking warlord and hearthguard stepped in the plug the gap in turn 6 and 7. Clumsy placement of these (by me) enabled some easy charges in Turn 7 of the game allowing the Saxons to kill the warlord reducing the Viking survival point total. I should have been more wary about such desperate lunges for blood once the Saxons realised their wagons would not reach camp in time. 

A couple of Viking units stayed out wide for around 5 game turns to keep the hearthguard and one warrior group occupied. This ultimately prevented the hearthguard from playing any combative role in the battle. 

In the later turns of the game, the Viking stopped attacking and allowed the Saxons to do all the pushing. There was no point to fighting in each turn as their losses were already too high. 

Despite losing almost all of the combats for the evening, the Viking tactics proved to be more effective. They prevented all wagons from leaving the field but when the survival point tally was counted, the Saxons were ahead 17 points to 9 on losses alone. However, they then lost 9 points (3 per wagon) for not achieving their goal leading to the narrowest Viking victory by a single point! It was a good game with both players reserving their strength. This only played into the attackers hands as delay and obfuscation were key. It didn't feel like a win, but I was pleased with my troop position, tactics and terrain placement which were probably the factors leading to victory. 

 

Charging into Saga 2.0

I ordered, after a LONG procrastination period, Saga 2.0 for my Father's Day present. I read it, liked it - as I had done with ALL Studio Tomahawk rules I own (3) - and was keen to play it. 

BUT, I was uncertain that my gaming friends would accept it. We already have so many games in our roster and meet but once a week. 

I introduced the rules to my friends over two weeks. On the third week, we played the pictured game and all have fallen badly for the rules. Two have order the rules plus all the period books they could lay their hands on. Saga 2.0 has taking flight - and I couldn't be more thrilled. 

The images show a 6 point Clash of Warlords, as per the Book of Battles, between Anglo Saxons and the Vikings. The Saxons decided to select 4 points of levy spear, 1 point of levy bow and 1 select fyrd. The Vikings chose 1 levy javelin, 2 hirdmen/huscarls (combined into a single unit) and 2 units of 12 warriors. This somewhat limited Viking Saga dice generation. 

The victory would be decided by survival points giving the Saxons an immediate advantage with their far larger numbers. The battlefield was a marsh. 

The Saxons deployed in a very pretty square. I'm yet to understand why ... but didn't it look impressive. They utilised their movement saga ability to activate units about 12 men. They attempted to flank on their left side but underestimated the short time span. 

The Vikings pushed their javelinmen up followed by the Warlord and hirdmen/huscarls. They invested their Saga dice in special moves rather than movement. For the battle their warrior units struggled to play a role. 

Above and below, the Saxons edge to the left to try and turn the Viking flank. If successful, they would catch the warriors of Ubba Ragnarson between hammer and anvil. 

The Vikings pressed down the centre in depth.

Later in the battle, the Viking huscarl unit was ordered forward to slay as many of the Saxon great fyrd as possible. The Vikings were peppered with arrows and their charged were absorbed by the mass of Saxons. Spears everywhere stabbed back at them and shields were interlocked. 

Casualties began to mount as the Viking elite are called upon to charge, and be charged, again and again. Fatigue mounts. 

Ubba, oh Ubba ... why not order forward more of your bondi?

At the final gasp (the Saxons called to end the game in round 4 - giving the Vikings only one more turn to wrestle victory from defeat), Ubba went forward and finished off one unit of great fyrd before being hacked down by the Saxon select fyrd - bondsmen of the mighty Earl Athelwulf. 

When points were tallied, all gained the bonus for being more than L from their table edge and the numbers of Saxon fyrd did indeed count. It was a victory of 21 points to 25 after survival points were tallied. The Saxons had thrown the invader back! 

And the other result ... players loving Saga! As I've painted around 230+ 28mm Dark Age miniatures, it makes me quite happy. I love the period, the literature and the history of the Dark Ages (or more correctly the early medieval period.) We all can't wait for more Saga and I'll be making another two sets of saga dice this weekend to enable me to use the Welsh, different Viking style armies and others. I may even get a box of Irish gripping beast miniatures - or maybe the Atlantic one with all the doggies. 

Let our saga begin!