Tuesday 2 April 2013

SAGA: Another Clash of Arms

Leon (Pulp Citizen) and I managed to get in another couple of games of SAGA as we try to get our heads around the rules. I have added another unit to each of the warbands, making it up top 5 points each. My Anglo-Danes have a levy of 12 bowmen, while Leon opted for a rock-hard 4 hearthguard for his Vikings. 


My New Levy Archers Scrambling Through the Ruins of a Roman Temple

The first battle proved be be something of a none event. Leon was concerned about the Anglo-Danes ability to liberally scatter fatigue markers over the Vikings, and held back, playing too cautiously and thus playing into the Anglo-Danes hands. He tried a suicidal charge with his bezerkers against my warriors, which was predictably lethal, but that proved too late to inflict a decisive victory.


The Viking Invaders Form a Ragged Shield Wall


What followed was a debate about the Anglo-Danish battle board, and wither it had rather too many ways to add fatigue compared to the Viking's abilities to remove it. In order to try to resolve the debate we switched sides, so that I played the Vikings. 

The Anglo-Danish Shield Wall
In the second battle I went for it- rapidly moving my warlord and his berserkers towards the Anglo-Danish flank. My heathguard and warriors followed in his wake. I tried to ignore the fatigue markers Leon was sprinkling like fairy dust over my horde, and closed onto the Anglo-Danes. The battle was brutal and viscous:  Bezerkers are great for pulverising a unit, even if few make it through the battle. Leon's archers also nearly made my Warlord into a pin cushion but I managed some lucky saves. 

Berserkers Clash with the Anglo-Danish warriors and Cut Them Down!

In the end his warlord was cut down in battle, granting me victory. It was messy and not as decisive as I would have liked, but I think I proved that it is much better for the Vikings to get stuck in as fast as they can rather than hang back, especially when facing Anglo-Danes.




1 comment:

pulpcitizen said...

Well, one game has yet to convince me that i am not at least partly correct, especially with so few 6's rolled (by me).

Basically the flaw is that if you get a 6 on one of your 6 dice (which will be compounded in larger games with more dice as in one of the expansions I *think*), then even expending a die to flip a die to 6 means that you can drop Fatigue very easily.

the issue is then the value of Fatigue.