Age of Invasions Campaign-Franks vs Visigoths (S2,G1)

Last Friday I got together at the Abyss with Robbie for the start of season 2 of the Age of Invasions campaign. This time I was asking on the Visigoths. In my previous 2 games, I had a loss and a draw so I was not that confident going into this game as Robbie is definitely one of the better Saga players in our club. 

I had chosen to DEFEND this season, thus there would be just one game. We played the Turning the Tides scenario from the Polish Tournament Battle Pack, it was a bit of a weird scenario where we each started in opposite corners with our Warbands. There were 5 objectives (animals) spread across the centre of the table and essentially we had to grab them and then move them to our opposite edge at which time we would gain VPs, so it became pretty clear that this was quite difficult so the route to Victory was Massacre Points.

Photos

Results

It was nice to have victory. Well that is it for this season, on to Season 3.

Age of Invasions Campaign- Franks vs Saxons (S1,G2)

The second game in the first season of our Last Age of the Eagle campaign was played at the Abyss about 3 weeks ago. In this game, my Franks carry on after their minor defeat at the hands of some marauding Romans and move on to the island of Briton to do a Raid on the Saxons.

The Battle

Scenario: Scared Ground

 Post Battle Sequence

That was a tough game but on to Season 2!

Age of Invasions Campaign: Romans vs Franks (S1,G1)

One of the Saga players in our club has put together a campaign for Age of Invasions incorporating the Age of the Wolf and Saga 2. Robbie has put an enormous amount of work into the campaign and it looks like it will be a lot of fun. Five players have signed up for the campaign for season 1 but I see the Welsh have showed up for season 2.

We played the first season in the month of July, the Franks decided to go on a Raid specifically across the water into the lands of the Saxons. Unfortunately on their way before they crossed the sea, they ran into a warband of Romans, who had decided to Campaign against them.

So my first encounter in the campaign was an Ambush against Gavin's Romans.

The Battle

Scenario: Turning of the Tides

Well it was closely fought but a clear victory for the Romans. They were much better at capturing objectives and keeping them.

Post Battle Sequence

Hengist and Vortigern

Last Sunday, myself and Robbie got together for our long delayed game to cap our Limes campaign. The campaign was won by Robbie's Britons but we had planned to put together a final battle which included the two Heroes of the Britons and Saxons. 

We decided to play the Fight around the Fire scenario from the Age of Invasions sourcebook which we felt would be historically plausible. As we all know, Hengist and his brother Horsa were invited by the Vortigern, King of the Britons, as mercenary fighters in his battles with the Picts and the Scots. 

We also know that the Saxons betrayed the Britons in the Treachery of the Long Knives. The Fight around the Fire fit this history. 

I was surprised that Robbie showed up with an army of levies accompanied by Saxon mercenaries, he usually selects a hearthguard heavy mounted warband.

Britons

Vortigern

2 units of Saxon Mercenaries

1 unit of Levy Archers

2 unit of Levy 

Saxons

Hengist and Horsa

3 units of Hearthguards

2 units of Warriors

Here are some photos of the game.

Starting Positions with the Saxons to the left

The Saxons split their forces to wipe out the Briton's levy archers

Hmmm! The archers are still there 3 turns later

The Saxons furiously hit the Briton's shieldwall 

Hengist's blood rage gets the best of himself and he throws himself against the shieldwall, supported only by his brother Horsa....unfortunately he fell in battle.

It was a fun game with the Britons winning, I think the score was 20-15 which was closer than I thought before we did the calculations. I had lost all my Hearthguard as well as Hengist. Thanks for the game Robbie, it was lot of fun.

Limes Game 2

Myself and Robbie had our second game in our Limes campaign a couple of weeks ago, it was quite a different game as you will see as the Romans have built up their defences.

The Saxon force was lead by a Warlord with 2 Missile Levy units, 2 Warriors units and 2 Heartguard Units.

The Romans as below with a Warlord and 2 Companions 

Reports

Limes Summing Up Raid 2

Saxons

4 Victory points

Resolve drops to 6

Romans

13 Victory Points

Morale stays at 8

4 Hearthguard and 2 Warriors lost.

This was tough game for the Saxons and they will have to be a little more cunning in our next game!

Game Photos

Initial Set up

The Romans have a new Armoury

The Roman cavalry are a challenge but we were able kill quite a few of them.

Quite a few melees in the game

I misinterpreted one of the advanced BB abilities thinking I could get off the board in a single move, in the raid scenario the Saxons score points by getting off the opposite edge.

I only was able to save my Warlord and a Hearthguard by hiding in the woods.

Ending up being a very solid Roman Victory. I have to remember that the Saxons do not get any points for killing Romans! 

Limes

A little more than a week ago Robbie and myself got together for the start of a Dark Ages Saga campaign. I had played one previous Dark Ages campaign under the persona of Iohannes using the Dux Britanniarum campaign system, it was pretty complex but a lot of fun so when I saw that Robbie was looking for partner, I happily agreed.

Briefly, the campaign is a 6 turn event where the Romans try to withstand a number of raids by the barbarians. We set our series of games in Southeast Briton 40 years after the Romans have abandoned the island for good. Robbie wanted to play the Romanised Britons while I took on the Saxons. We started our campaign just as Vortigern's son Vortimer has betrayed the Saxons under the brothers Hengist and Horsa. 

We have gone with the process as laid out in Limes as well as using the Saga Age of Invasions sourcebook and Battle Boards. We were not sure if you could use Heroes or not but to add to the fun and the narrative we decided to add the ability recruit Heroes as laid out in AoI. Each turn in the campaign takes place in the spring of the year with both sides able to recruit troops over the next winter. The Saxons have a new warband each game while the Romans recruit their warband in the first turn, this initial warband remains in place and can suffer attrition but also can recruit new troops over the winter as well as build up their defences. The recruitment process is calculated by using Time Units (TU), the Saxons start by constructing their warband where every unit costs so many TU according to their composition. The more the TU's spent allows the Romans to increase their recruitment efforts. It is a novel process that I found quite attractive. To add in Heroes, we settled on a cost of 4 TU. Once recruited (and this can happen in any turn) that Hero stays as the warlord with all his associated attributes. Once the Romans have paid they have no further costs but the Saxons have pay for a Warlord (1 TU) each turn. We are hoping this does not unbalance the campaign but we will have to see. The Saxon player introduces a Stratagem  before each game.Additionally the Saxon warlord makes a Boast just before the game begins. Victory is declared when the Saxon's Resolve drops to zero

As you can see I used 6 TU in the first turn

The Saxon force was lead by a Warlord with 2 Missile Levy units as well as 4 Warriors units.

The Roman force was mostly mounted with 2 units of Mounted Hearthguard, 2 units of Foot Hearthguard, 2 units of Warriors and a Warlord with 2 Companions.

Reports

Limes Summing Up Raid 1

Saxons

20 Victory Points

Resolve stays at 10

Romans

15 Victory Points

2 Warriors Killed

Morale -2, now 8

I had a lot of fun and a few photos

Bardic Poem by Keredig