Last Game of the Year- SAGA AoC-Show of Force

 

Myself and Luis got together at the L'Abyss for what I presume will be my last game of the year. I was pretty tired as I had driven up to Montreal that day, I really did not have much time to get things together so I decided to go with the same warband as my last SAGA AoC, namely the Moors. Luis went with the Levantine Crusaders. As I was packing up my stuff before taking the metro to Le Petit Maghreb quartier (is that not an unusual coincidence for an AoC game) where L'Abyss is located, I found that I did not have my rulebook or Book of Battles book, just the Age of Crusades sourcebook. Opps....it seems that I am going to have to rely on my poor French or Luis's English transaltion for any rules questions that might arise during our game!

Game Set-up (BoB Chaos)

Scenery-Uplands

Deployment-Vanguard

Special Rule-Night Fight

Victory Conditions-Show of Force

Game Length-Until Dusk

The Levantine Crusaders (6 SAGA Dice)

Warlord
3 units of Mounted Hearthguard in 2 groups
1 unit of crossbow armed Warriors
1 unit of spear-armed Warriors
1 unit of Pilgrims

Moors (7 SAGA Dice)

Yusuf ibn Tashfin (2 saga dice)
The Black Guard (2 saga dice)
1 unit of javelin armed Mounted Hearthguard
1 unit of  javelin armed Mounted Warriors
1 unit of Bow armed Levy

Some Photos (unfortunately we were at turn 3 before I remembered to take any photos)........

Luis started the game by sweeping in on my left flank and essentially taking out my mounted Warriors. I responded by taking out a unit of his mounted Hearthguard but losing 3 of my mounted Hearthguard. At this point my left flank was decimated with only my Warlord, 1 Hearthguard and 1 Warrior left. Luis still had 5 mounted Hearthguard and his Warlord on this flank. In the centre, Luis was advancing his Foot Warriors and his Pilgrims while his Crossbowmen were shooting away at my bowmen. The Black Guard were a bit out of position...at this point things were not looking good.

Luis's Fanatical Pilgrims, I think these figures look great...but it is best to stay away from them as each pilgrim is killed a SAGA dice is generated which is immediately placed on the Crusader Battleboard!

I started to swing the game back though my using my Warlord with an accompanying Hearthguard to take down the Crusader Haerth Guard. I also had some useful BB abilities as well as some good dice throwing.

Turn 6,...Luis decided to send his Warlord at Yusuf ibn Tashfin in a final titanic battle, no Hearthguards left. They of course both die! The game was decided by Survival points + 1 point for each vivtorious melee. I had accumulated 5 points during the game while Luis had 3. Left on the table (the basis for survival points) for the Crusaders were 9 levy and 8 warriors. For the Moors, there were 8 Hearthguard, 1 warrior and 6 levy. If I have my calculations correct it was a 14-7 point game with a Moorish victory.

I have to say that  I enjoy playing at L'Abyss, it is quite a distance from our apartment but very easy to get to via the Metro system. I also quite like playing with Luis, he has an excellent sense of humour and is a great gamer.

Well it has been a great year for gaming, 38 games.....wow! It has been a lot of work to set up games near to Salem, the CoC campaigns have been slow to progress so I am quite pleased at the number of games I have got in. Montreal has been great for gaming this year, mostly because I am meeting new gamers who are quite keen to play.

For 2020, hopefully myself and Adam will get the year started with our Pickett's Charge campaign. Myself and P-Y are planning a new CoC campaign and I am sure myself and Luis will get in some more SAGA, maybe some Congo and we are talking about having a go at the BattleGroup ruleset. Hopefully, I will get to finish the 3 CoC campaigns I have going with Tom, Mike and Greg. I am sure some Black Seas will be played and myself and Iannick are think about getting a game of Epic in for our next encounter. Also need to get in some Général d'Armée, can not let all those beautiful AB figures wither away in the dark!