4pts Saga: Anglo Saxons vs Anglo-Danish

We managed to squeeze in another closely run 4 point game of Saga yesterday. Good action and some hate from the Dice Gods!

I played my newly finished Saxons with my son Phoenix once again taking control of the Anglo-Danes. 

We rolled up for a scenario and got; Sacred Ground!

Victory Points accumulate at the end of each turn for each of your figures inside any of the three terrain pieces.

I won the roll and deployed first with the warband configurations as follows

Anglo-Danish

Warlord

2x4 Hearthguard

2x8 Warriors

Anglo Saxons

Warlord

2x10 Warriors

1x8 Warriors

1x4 Warriors

 Ravens eye view of the Battlefield. The terrain placer in the middle is not counted as a wood, we had to use a tree to hold it in it's place as the wind was blowing viciously this day.. A good omen for the Danes according to the lad.

 In the first two turns the Saxon Thegns used a combination of double move activations coupled with No Surrender to march into the centre terrain area.

 The Anglo-Danes on the East table edge manage to get into the woods before their Saxon enemies.

 As The Anglo-Dane Warlord and his Hearthguard reach the edge of the Centre terrain piece the Saxon Thegns charge forward while maintaining ranks!

 Being devout Defenders of the Realm and standing Shoulder to Shoulder, the Thegns manage to eliminate a whole unit of Hearthguard sending the Dane Warlord himself into a swift retreat the next turn!

 Along the East edge the 8 man unit of Saxon Thegns slowly advance towards the woods ahead.

 The Anglo-Danish Warlord barks orders from behind the ranks and his Warriors swiftly charge into battle. They run head on into the Saxon Thegns Shieldwall. The Saxon unit count after the initial fight with the Hearthguard had left them depleted and under strength however the men rallied with their Stout Hearts and the unit fought as though they were at full strength of 10+.

 The Anglo-Danes were once again repelled from the centre terrain piece but managed to take out 2 more Thegns for their troubles. 

As the turns rolled on the Saxon Warlord along with his 4 warriors managed to sit unopposed in the Western Woods. Phoenix realised he needed to eliminate them or at the very least get into one of the terrain areas to keep up with victory points.

 The battle for the Eastern Woods continued with both units going toe to toe each turn and both contributing nicely to their VP tallies. 

 On the 6th turn the Anglo-Danish Hearthguard pressed into the Western Woods to eradicate the Warriors and hopefully the cowardly Warlord with them!

In a fierce melee both units suffered two casualties, the Danish Hearthguard were pushed back but gathered themselves and charge in again! 

Defeat! Two pairs of Snake-Eyes vs double 6! The Anglo-Danish Hearthguard were miraculously slaughtered by the much inferior Saxon Warriors with what is easily the wildest dice rolling I've seen in some time!

That last melee took the (not so vicious anymore) wind out of the Anglo-Danish sails and there was no hope now to catch up on Victory Points...

VICTORY TO THE ANGLO SAXONS!

Cheers for looking, Happy gaming.

4pts Saga: Anglo-Danes vs Pagan Rus

Another game of Saga during the week. Anglo Danes (Phoenix) vs Pagan Rus (me). We rolled up for our scenario and got; Clash at the Ford

Here's a quick breakdown.

Anglo Danes

Warlord

2x4 Hearthguard

2x8 Warriors

Pagan Rus

Warlord

2x4 Hearthguard

2x8 Warriors

Ravens eye view. We had to shorten the table size just a little bit.

The Pagan Rus starting on the East.

The Anglo Danes moving forward from the West.

The first few turns saw the Pagans move very hastily towards the River, the Hearthguard gaining fatigue in the process. As they approached the River the Danes let out a battle cry to Intimidate the Rus.

Once the Ford was crossed the battlefield was taken by The Great Winter and some of the Danes became Frozen

The Danes held their ranks awaiting a charge from the Pagan Rus, using the Saga Dice heavily on Melee abilities in preparation. However the Pagan Rus Warlord suddenly burst forward from the ranks and let his Eastern Anger rain down from the skies! A bold move that would take a total of 6 Anglo Danish Hearthguard to their graves.

Capitalizing on the Rus Warlord being out in the open alone Phoenix charged in with his Warlord and a Hearthguard followed his leader into the fray. The Rus Warlord held his ground and pushed back the Danish menace! By this time the game had slipped away from Phoenix, with not enough turns left to make it over the Ford and both paths to do so heavily camped now with Pagan Rus.

He threw down a challenge to have our Warlords, already brused and battered to clash in a 1v1. 

I of course accepted!

So, once more into the Fray the Pagan Rus Warlord mustered his strength and lurched forward.

With a clash of steel the two went at it furiously... And then...

They struck each other down simultaneously, leaving it all, life and limb on the field of battle...

Victory to the Pagan Rus

Another great game, Phoenix is trying a few different factions to get a feel for which suits his playstyle. Despite the landslide result in this game i think he did really well with the Anglo Danes and was using the Battleboard very well.

Cheers for looking, Happy gaming.

4pts Saga: Welsh vs Pagan Rus

This afternoon I got in a 4 point game of Saga with my eldest son Phoenix. He played the Pagan Rus and I broke out the Welsh! We rolled Clash of the Warlords for the scenario, set up the table and off we went.

The Warbands were as follows;

Welsh

Mounted Warlord

1 Unit of 4 Mounted Hearthguard

1 Unit of 10 Warriors

1 Unit of 6 Warriors

1 Unit of Levy Bowmen

Pagan Rus

Warlord

2 Units of 4 Hearthguard

2 Units of 8 Warriors

Phoenix won initiative so went first, after allocating his Saga dice to the battleboard he rolled his troops up the table their full movement leaving 3 dice in the Combat Pool just in case.

I rolled up next and pushed most of the Welsh forward taking the Mounted Hearthguard up with my Warlord using We Obey. I then activated Answering the Call moving the Warlord the Levy, the smaller unit of Warriors and the Hearthguard again.  This got my Mounted troops within range to hurl javelins at an opposing Hearthguard unit... Due to horrible dice rolling, and the Pagan Rus combat pool being used for defence,  I inflicted no damage, activated them and moved away, gaining fatigue.

He then used the Endless Wastes in his next turn to kill one of my fatigued Hearthguard..

The following few turns had us both advance towards each other. The Welsh hurling javelins and firing arrows where possible but the Pagans kept a few dice in reserve for defence and managed to steadily close on the Welsh forces.

Once the Pagan Rus were upon the Welsh things started to get a little shaky for me. Even though the Welsh warband had the accuracy of The Deadly Strike and indeed had Strength in Numbers, The Pagan Rus Hearthguard were Standing Like Bears and fighting with ferocious tenacity For the Khagan!

The tables were starting to lean in the favor of the Pagan Rus. I decided to send my Warlord to hunt for his counterpart as I was falling behind on Victory Points. Smashing through a half strength Militia unit only to have the Pagan Warlord retreat behind some woods.. The battle on the left flank raged on and my Hearthguard charged withering Pagan Rus Varjazi, wiping the last man out but leaving themselves vulnarbel to some (very) well placed Militia to counter-charge on their turn and send my Hearthguard packing. The fresh Pagan Rus Hearthguard then made easy pickings out of my smaller warrior unit before turning their attention to the remaining Priodaur..

I rushed my Warlord back to the left flank to make one last attempt to grab victory via Victory Points. The Welsh just had to last through one last push from the Pagan Rus Hearthguard. (both of us were down to bugger all Saga Dice at this point..)

The Welsh Warriors withstand the final charge by the Pagan Hearthguard losing just two men. 

With one last chance to get ahead in Victory Points the Warlord calls upon his Priodaur to rally Side by Side and charges into the fray! Risking himself against the relentless Varjazi as he goes. The Priodaur bolstered by Strength in Numbers and an extra attack coming from the Combat pool charged in with their Warlord and the contest was fierce!

When the dust finally settled and the fighting drew to a close. The Warlord and what was left of his faithful Priodaur were left standing bloodied amongst the scattered bodies of the Pagans... Victory... Just.

An extremely close and hard fought victory to the Welsh!!

Final VP Tally

Welsh - 11

Pagan Rus - 8 1/2 

A fantastic game of Saga.. One of the closest games I've had to date and we had a blast.

Cheers for looking, happy gaming.