SAGA-Pitched Battle

Myself and Adam got together for our regular SAGA game last night at the Hobby Bunker. We both had obtained our Age of Magic SAGA source books last weekend at Huzzah but we really have not had a good look yet so we went with the Viking Age warbands. I again fielded my Skraelings and Adam this time decided to bring his Irish. I really dislike fighting the Irish as their BB is quite a challenge.

We again played the Chaos setup from the Book of Battles and ended up with the following:

Scenery-Bleak Moor-(standard set up)

Deployment-Pitched Battle (18" deployment area on player's table edge with a split army)

Special Rule-Fog (no shooting or charge beyond M in first 3 turns)

Victory Conditions-Carnage (Survival points rather than Massacre points)

Game Length-Cautious (5 turns only)

Irish

Warlord

2 Curaidh

Javelin-armed Hearthguard-1

Javelin-armed Warriors-3

Wolfhounds-1

Skraelings

Warlord

Javelin-armed Warriors-5

Bow-armed Levy-1

Here is the set up of the terrain, so 3 out of 4 pieces with uneven terrain which clearly favour the Irish.  Three pieces blocking LOS. Adam was the active player but I got 4 SAGA dice on the BB before his 1st move.

My right flank: I had a unit of Levy and a large 12 man unit of warriors on this side. Adam had a unit of Warriors and 2 Curaidh. I was not really well prepared here as I had used my 4 SAGA dice to generate 2 totems. I was eventually able to take down a Curaidh but as you can see both my units were cut down.

My left flank: Here I had 3 units of warriors and my Warlord. Adam had placed a unit of Hearthguard, his Warlord and a unit of warriors in the scrubland with another unit of warriors and his wolfhounds in the open ground.

I was able to knock down his wolfhounds quickly to 4 figures with the Skraeling  ability of Tribal Tactics. Adam decided to send in his unit of warriors to counter. A fairly even battle but javelin armed  have a slight advantage when attacking. 

On to penultimate turn, I advance 2 units of Warriors and my Warlord to the scrubland, this is quite sucessful with both shooting and melee going to my advantage...... 

........last turn, this is really where I screw up what could have been an easy victory. I set up my BB properly but I need to get my warriors to advance to attack the Irish in the open first by we obey and then initiate Tribal Tactics for a 2nd attack getting 3 javelin throws in the last turn. Instead, my Warlord attacks the 3 warriors in the scrubland forgetting to do this first. My Warlord goes in and kills all the warriors but at some risk as his bodyguards are more than S away, but he survives but I can not use Tribal Tactics on my warrior unit as there is nothing within M to shoot. The game ends in a tie!

It was a fun game. I really felt I was done for most of the game as my initial set up was poor and my right flank collapsed almost immediately. I did push back on my left flank and was relatively successful and could have won the game if I had not royally screwed up my last move.

So an 18-18 point tie. It was a fun game, the Book of Battles really has changed the game of SAGA, as every game is quite different and we have not even got past the first chapter.

We might see some Age of Magic in our next game but it will take some planning, we will have to see.