It's not just a story; it's a SAGA!

Some of the members of the Hamilton Road Gaming Group have been experimenting with the Dark Ages skirmish rule set called SAGA. I watched them do some gaming while Martin and I played Pike & Shotte a few weeks ago. Two weeks ago, we all tried it. (Last week, the bunch of us when to Hot Lead in Stratford, so we didn't gather at the library. That's another story... and blog.)

I watched while Andy, Kevin, Bear, Martin, and Ralph all pushed small groups of lead around the table. Byzantines fought Normans and Vikings fought Jomsvikings. There are some subtleties to the game and I decided to watch for a while in order to try to understand the "Battle Board." That still has be a bit confused.

Martin's Strategos doing his strategy thing. The shields mark fatigue - a big point in the rules.

Armoured Byzantine horse archers

Byzantine Psiloi or regular light troops

 

Martin's heavy cavalry - his elites or "hearthguard"

A small-ish horde of Jomsvikings...

... about to be flanked by the Byzantine cavalry.

Norman cavalry lined up to do mischief.

Norman levy archers, the least of the soldiery on the Norman side.

Jomsvikings with Ulfhednar on the hill.

Normans clash with the Byzantines

Some serious flanking action.

Looking at some plain ol' "bread-and-butter" vikings who were fighting their flashier
cousins, the Jomsvikings

When my turn came, I fielded 4 points of Normans - a warlord, 2 units of elites (4@), a unit of warriors/sergeants (8), and a unit of levy as peasant archers (12). I faced the Byzantines and was thrashed but not too badly. Martin advised me (The Grand Vizer) and said my die rolling was horrendous. I don't have any photos of my game since I was busy playing and getting used to/being confused by the Battle Board. That's going to take some time. The good thing is I don't have to buy any (or too many) new figures. What my wife and I have on hand will do fine. She's quite interested in running an Arthurian style outfit and the closest we could find was the Welsh faction. She's ready to field them soon.

It'll be a while before I play again. Holy Week and Easter is quite a busy time for pastors and after the Easter morning service, Beth will take me home in an Easter basket and I'll rest a while.

Now a few photos Andy took.

Norman archers lurking in the woods

Byzantine troops who I think are Skutatoi because of the spear, big shield, and armour.

Norman Cavalry

Byzantine heavies

I have to say the jury is still out for me on SAGA. I'll have to play a few games with warbands of my own choosing before I'll really understand it. But I'll keep trying!