Archive for Normans

Saga: Battles

Posted in Miniatures with tags , , , , , , on April 1, 2019 by Sean

I’ve been playing a lot of Saga lately. I’ve been running demos and multi-player games at my FLGS. These pics are from a bunch of recent games. Along with them are some basic battle reports.

 

Battle: The Crossing- Vikings vs. Anglo-Danes (6 pts)

Terrain- tilled field in upper left, river and road in the center axes, forest in lower left, and cottage in lower right.

The Crossing scenario involves trying to fight your way in to the opponent’s table half, with VP’s for kills and bonuses for units with your Warlord on the other side of the river. Were the English valiantly holding off yet another Viking raid, or was this just another territorial dispute in the Danelaw? It seems we were also sort of re-fighting the Battle of Stamford Bridge. The deployment rules divide the armies into 2 equal groups pushed to the corners of their sides, which is why we both started with a big gap in our lines.

My Vikings, upon finding out the river was far too rapid to safely cross, instead all rushed for the bridge. The Anglo-Danes were slower, advancing a few units, but opted to loose arrows to no effect (the Vikings on the bridge made good use of the stone cover).

 

The bridge saw charges and counter-charges, with the Vikings pushing into the Danish Warriors. Thrall bows shaved down the larger units of Danes before the screaming Vikings slammed into them. The Viking in orange from the pic saw three separate fights, surviving repeated arrow fire, before the Dane Hearthguard cut him down at cost to themselves. More arrow fire from both sides started to whittle men down. The Danish Warlord was forced to step up to hold back the tide, but was dragged down by the Viking Hearthguard.  Neither side managed to get across the bridge, but the Anglo-Danes were broken past the ability to resist. Win for the Vikings.

 

Battle: Clash of Warlords- Anglo-Danes vs. Vikings (4 pts)

Terrain- Small woods in upper left, ruin in upper right, tilled field in lower left, and rough rocky ground in lower right.

This was a basic fight, the typical ‘meet and greet’ as I call them. This was one of the demo games, with a new player leading the Vikings against my Anglos. The scenario was a simple setup with massacre VP’s. We got to break in a friend’s new mat, which looked amazing with terrain and miniatures on it.

The Vikings surged forward, while the Danes hung back. Danish archery bounced off Viking shields as they slammed into my Danish line, invoking the Call of Ragnarok. With all his charges free and every model’s armor at -1 it was going to be messy. The Viking Warlord slaughtered a unit of Danish Warriors and the Huscarls, while his Warriors did some shoving with my own for some damage to both sides.

My Anglo-Dane Warlord had to take the fight to the invaders or they would overwhelm them. He charged the Viking leader, but in a flurry of axe and sword, the Vikingr emerged out of the melee, hurt but alive. His nearby Berserkers gladly intervened to protect him, absorbing 4 wounds. My Warlord was no so lucky, dying in the fight.

After that, my meager forces tried to bring down the isolated Viking leader, but he overcame all my attempts. After that the surviving Danes changed tactics, picking off his men with arrow fire (stripping him of Saga dice) and slowing the Warlord with remnants of units. Eventually bow fire finally brought him down, leaving very little on either side. Win for the Anglo-Danes, but at massive cost.

 

Battle: Desecration- Normans vs. Carolingians (6 pts)

Terrain- swamp in upper left, temple on hill in upper right, cemetery in lower left, and forest in lower right

This was a first for both of us. I haven’t played the Normans in 2nd edition before. I used my Polish/Crusader army as Normans (close enough right?), while my opponent tried the Carolingians, also for the first time. He subbed in his Anglo-Danes as Franks. I fielded a mounted Warlord, 8 mounted Hearthguard, 8 mounted Warriors, 8 spear Warriors, 8 Crossbow Warriors, and 12 bow Levy, while the Franks were Warlord, 8 Hearthguard, 24 spear Warriors, and 8 bow Warriors. He opted to go all foot for this battle.

In the Desecration scenario, both players place 3 objectives. These objectives can be targeted by the enemy to destroy them. While the game uses massacre VP’s, the upper limit is based on how many enemy objectives are left on the table. Thus, you might go for kills, but you have to also go for the objectives to win. The table was a sort of temple complex, so we figured we were each going for tombs of the other faction’s ancestors or assorted monuments.

 

The game began with the Normans rushing forward- the Crossbow and spearmen  moved slowly over the walls of a cemetery, taking cover behind the tombs, while the mounted Warriors rushed along the far right flank toward an objective. The Carolingians advanced slowly out of a swamp, banking Saga dice for later. A volley of arrows brought down a few Crossbowmen, despite the cover of the cemetery.

In the second turn, it turned violent. With all 8 Saga dice to use, the Normans brought the fight to the Franks. Crossbows and archers brought down some Frankish Hearthguard, adding Fatigue. The Norman knights then slammed into the Hearthguard, wiping them out. They then charged again, this time at the Carolingian Warlord; a couple abilities adding both Attack and Defense dice, resulting in a single Norman casualty while they trampled the Frankish leader.

The Franks line was crippled. Fatigue and casualties started stacking up, keeping the enemy bowmen from firing on the surviving Norman knights. The Norman mounted Warriors destroyed one enemy objective and threatened another. The Norman Warlord then rode forth, crushing the Frankish bow. Archery from the Norman lines cut down more of the Frankish Warriors, spelling the end of the game. The Franks gave in, conceding the win for the Normans.

 

More battle reports in the future.

 

Leave a comment »