A Saga of SAGA

 A Saga of SAGA

 About two weeks ago, I was able to return to the Hamilton Road Games Group at the Crouch Branch Library in London, ON. My time there was limited to about 4 hours, so Andy and I decided to run a game of SAGA, the "Dark Ages" skirmish game by Studio Tomahawk. It's a fun game with some odd twists based on a special ability "Battle Board" that each faction has. Andy fielded his Normans with some heavy cavalry while I fielded my Irish who barely have armour!

I conceded the game after about 6 turns. I couldn't hold up under the armoured onslaught of the Normans. Even my pack of war-dogs - my favourite unit - wilted under arrow fire and the stomping of spears. (The war-dog unit ignore terrain and fly through rough terrain the would slow other troops down. That's why I love 'em!)

The chieftain and his Fianna (household troops) advance through some woods.

Norman heavy infantry face off against Irish Kern with javelins.
Guess who got the short end of THAT stick?

Norman crossbow-armed infantry vs. Kern with slings.
Crossbows are deadly, but take time to load and have a few other disadvantages.

The pack of war-dogs slide through the woods and try to attack some Norman bowmen.
The battle puppies did not to well.

Kern flanked by Danish-axe-armed Fianna face down Norman infantry
... at least until the Norman knights came forward.

The knights cleared the hill but took some casualties.
Actually a lot of casualties.

I hadn't played SAGA in years and both of us were very rusty. However the game was fun and it fit into the time constraints we had to work under.

Last week, I didn't go because I didn't feel well for a number of reasons. This week, Bear and I hope to shoot it out on the streets of Lerado with some Old West Gunfight rules. We're breaking in the rules and I hope to report on them shortly after.

El Lobo with Ignatius the Iguana

SAGA-palooza

 That's such a horrible title for what went on last Saturday at the Hamilton Road Games Group in London, ON. That was not the title chosen by the organizer, but I needed to get your attention. For those who don't know, SAGA is a dark ages/Crusade-era skirmish game that pits various "factions" against each other in small battles. It started as a Viking-era game that branched out into the Norman Conquest of Saxon England, the Viking influence in what is now Russia, and finally the Crusade period as it's know in the West.

(Photos courtesy of Andy and my cell phone.)

At Andy's invitation, 8 players came together to play SAGA. (More were invited but could not make the event.) A few others came a played a WWII game under Wayne's watchful eye. Here were the SAGA factions represented:
           Matt                                  Anglo-Danes
           Tom                                  Normans
           Derek                                Normans
           George                             Milites Christi
           Martin                              Pagan Rus
           Ralph                               Welsh
           Duane                               Mutataw'wai
           Your humble Blogger       Irish
Andy was gamesmaster/cat-herder/time-keeper. Kevin, Bear, Tyler (and his son, Thomas), and Wayne were at another table playing a WWII tank game.

The SAGA tourney was to be won on points. Each scenario includes victory conditions and there are point values for any casualties from the opponent's hearthguard, warriors, levy, or warlord. Extra points were awarded if your entire army was painted and if you brought all the items needed to play the game (rules, measuring sticks, fatigue markers, etc.)

We were more-or-less randomly matched up and I faced Tom in the first match, using the "Kill the Warlord" scenario. The goal is simple: kill the opponent's warlord.

Tom moves some of his mounted hearthguard up.

The movement continues. Matt and Martin hack at each other in the background.

Norman knights, mounted sergeants, and foot sergeants with crossbows face down my scattered
kern (levy) and Fianna (hearthguard). My entire army is armed with javelins except for one unit.

Tom's bow-armed levy and his cavalry again.

Here you can see my bonnachts (warriors) armed with the Danish axe.
The Irish warband is very lightly armoured and the axemen are even more vulnerable.
They do pack quite a punch in hand-to-hand combat.

My Warlord and his closest unit of Fianna (hearthguard).

Tom points out his warlord.

Tom's foot sergeants face off against my warriors. Both units have fought and taken casualties.
The accumulated fatigue markers are laid behind the units.

My one unit without javelins.
The Irish are permitted to replace one unit of warriors with a unit of wardogs and a handler.
They move as cavalry and ignore all terrain restrictions, except for totally impassable terrain.
There were not well used in either game, but they seem to confuse my opponents.

Well, Tom killed my warlord very late in the game - probably turn 5 out of 6. It was a hard fought game and my javelin armed levy did much better than I expected. It's hard for fighters in their underwear to fight armoured cavalry on equal terms. It was a hard-fought game and a very clean one. I have to say that there were not any of the usual arguments that often happen on the wargames table. Everybody came to play and not necessarily to win at all costs.

In the second game, we all changed opponents and played the same scenario. I faced George and his Milites Christi (Knightly Orders) warband - a faction that does not field levy! Again I was faced with a mass of cavalry. I did the best I could.

I have no idea what I was reaching for.

George's foot warriors/sergeants emerge from the woods.

Crossbow armed foot warriors, knights, and mounted sergeants.
No levy at alll

More mounted sergeants on the other side of the line.

Knight vs. bonnachts - If I recall, I gave them a bloody nose, but got hurt too.

George's mounted warriors from Conquest Miniatures.
They look ghostly here, but I believe they'll be choice when fully painted.

I surprised myself in this game. I actually killed George's warlord toward the end of the game. A warlord can take two hits before they're out, and somehow I dealt three in one turn. So I got the points for this in another hard-fought game.

The third "heat" was four players in a scenario called "Feast of Crows", which is basically a four-sided free-for-all. George, Tom, Ralph (Welsh) and I hammered each other for 6 turns. We didn't bother with any type of negotiation or allies; everybody was fair game. I tried to use my special ability of being able to missile attack an enemy unit within 4" of rough terrain even though I have no figures in that terrain! I suppose it's leprechauns or the Sidhe or something like that, but it's fun. We hacked at each other for 6 turns and George came out on top, primarily because his warlord survived. Tom and Ralph often asked me to deploy Shawnessy and the boyos against George and I did what I could. Again the javelin armed figures did better than I expected.

The match-up for "The Feast of Crows"

Here we are with Bear observing.
It poured rain outside, so much so that the storm sewers backed up into the parking lot and the men's room.

I'm making some vital move, but no one cares! 

Each faction starts in a corner of a 4"x 4" field and we take it from there.

Tom's mounted and foot sergeants face my warband.

My Fianna and Bonnachts follow up the kern as we attack Tom's crossbows.

The wardogs hold their position and more levy come up.

George's crusading order troops race toward Ralph and demonstrate toward my Gaels.

In the end, the ultimate winners were announced at supper at a local eating place. Tom was second place, and Martin took first place with his Pagan Rus. He was Crouch King! (We play at the Crouch Branch of the London Library.)

Vive l'Roi!
He'll never wear that crown again, I bet!

I was named "jester" since I finished dead last in points. Such is life.

All-Day SAGA and a change in the prevailing weather

   

 For Saturday, the hive-mind of the Hamilton Road Gaming Group had planned to play some SAGA games. SAGA is a "Dark Ages"* skirmish game from Studio Tomahawk. The sides are rather small and handy and various "factions" are available - like Vikings, Anglo-Danish, Anglo-Saxon, Franks, Pagan Rus, Saracens, and the list goes on. I've been told that there are "bootleg" LOTR lists available if you can find them.
(* I don't believe in the so called "Dark Ages." The term reflects a Romano-centric view of Europe, that is, without the Roman Empire, civilisation did not exist. In the Eastern Roman/Byzantine Empire, in the Muslim world, and in Ireland prior to the Viking incursions, culture, science, thought, and the Classics were alive and well. There were even lively civilisations based in the Roman successor states which are called the Barbarians. The Byzantine return to Italy saw to the end of Lombard culture and the others sort of faded.)

When Beth, Rob, and I arrived at the Crouch Branch Library, we were pleasantly surprised to find tables set up for 4+ games of SAGA and a further table for a game of Napoleon at War. The day looked promising!  (All photos by Beth, Andy, or myself.)

The Long Table with Rob and Steven in the foreground.

Your Humble Blogger expresses some sort of emotion.

Rob assures us that "It'll be a piece of cake."  I think he lost this one.

Napoleon at War...  with 19mm figures.

We ended up playing at least two games a piece. The first set of games included Vikings (Rob) vs. Normans (Steven), Skraelings {North American natives} (Ralph) vs Byzantines (Martin) {a true historical match-up if ever there was one!}, Vikings (Andy) vs. Anglo-Saxons (Kevin), and Welsh (Beth) vs. Norse-Gaels (Me). All the games appeared to be hard fought, except mine because Beth slaughtered me. I was trying out a new faction, because my Irish couldn't seem to win if they had a bye.

My dear wife and her Welsh warband prepare to slice, dice, chop, and generally deal out mayhem to my Hiberno-Norse.
(To me, that's what they are; you can call 'em what you want.)

Andy watches his son, Steven ride over my son, Rob's Vikings with his Normans.

Ralph's Skraelings give Martin's Byzantines a tough time... although the Skraelings had never before seen horses!

Jarl Andy's Vikings approach Kevin's Anglo-Saxon settlement while the Fyrd prepares to defend it.
(Angles and Saxons and Jutes... oh, my!)

Berzerkers! Civilians! Sheep! The Great Fyrd! Wattle and Daub! Everything that makes life worthwhile!

Another view of the Byzantine attempt to colonise Vinland or Labrador or where ever.

Beth throws a lot of dice and I lose a lot of Hiberno-Norse.

Welsh hearthguard and warriors.

Welsh warlord, warriors, and bow-armed levy skulking in the woods.

Welsh sling-armed levy advance on the right through another wooded area.

My warlord and what was left of my Norse-Gael hearthguard battle Welsh warriors.
The dog followed the warlord to show he was a warlord!

Since I was paying more attention to my game than any other, all I can say is that Beth beat me handily. As usual, I couldn't throw dice to get what I needed in any situation. The Norse-Gaels have a challenge option as part of their tactics and that could be quite nasty from the looks of it. Could I get it to work? Not a chance. It was a matter of an unfamiliar "battle board", rotten die rolls, and Beth's ability and good die rolling that took me out. I got more than a little disgusted with my situation, and at one point, I stated that I hadn't worn a game since 1982... which was a bit of an exaggeration but not by much! You can see the lay-out of the terrain for the battle in the photo above.

A second round of games came on and Rob played his Vikings against his mother's Welsh and beat her just before he had to leave to go to work. Ralph's Skraelings met Bear's Jomsvikings on the field and that was a tough one as well. Eventually Martin and I played, his Byzantines against my Irish.

Meanwhile, the Skraelings and the Jomsvikings hack at each other.

Skraelings near the long house.

Strategos Martin's warriors attempt to flank me, spear-armed warriors in front with bow-armed warriors behind.
The advantage of drilled, regular troops is the ability to work together in support of each other.

My band of wardogs take on Martin's kavallroi hearthguard. I did some damage with the pups but the Sons of Dana (hidden snipers in the rough terrain) did more.

Spearmen, archers, and horse archers - again one of the advantages of a truly disciplined outfit.

The hearthguard ride to the support of the Byzantine warlord.

The last survivor of my wardogs craves a return to the fray, but it was not to be.

The opposing warlords and hearthguard attempt to get the measure of each other.

After much riding around - which you can do if your outfit has a lot of cavalry - the Byzantine warlord and his house troop charged my warlord and his Fianna. It was messy - my Fianna hearthguard was armed with Danish axes but had very little armour - but my warlord killed Martin's and I won! We counted up victory points for laughs and Martin had one more that me, but since his warlord was killed (the victory condition), it didn't matter, I squeaked out a win! I still can't get over it.
Next week, we will be experimenting with Warlord Games' rules for ancient warfare, Hail Caesar! I am looking forward to this. I am busily rebasing my Gauls but I think the plan is to fight a Roman civil war. (There are enough to choose from.)

Meanwhile, on the Napoleon at War table, the British advance.

The Royal Artillery
If you don't have enough, figures there are card stand-ins available.

Looks like they're about to come to bayonet point.

The French

The Welsh hearthguard, dismounted, face a lone Norse-Gael warrior;

The Norse-Gael levy screen a line of warrors with Danish axes.