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.