A Saga of a Duel

I decided to play some Saga for you this week. The game is a little shorter, but then I can't play 5- or 6- hour games every week, right?

I took Vikings while Dave took Anglo-Danes. We both took pretty typical forces, ignoring lighter levy troops in favor of the heavier warriors and hearthguard.

We originally rolled the scenario Battle of the Ford. However, we had set up the table without a river to ford, so we substituted the closest thing we had:
 

A model Ford F-150! Pardon the pun.

Seriously though, we re-rolled and came up with a mission where our warlords duel in the middle of a soon-to-be-swirling melee. Here are the pictures:

 We set up in opposing shieldwalls across a village.

 Our warlords are locked in combat in the middle.

 Our forces advance. My berserkers rush to get into the fight.

 Combat draws inexorably closer.

 I lose three Hearthguard doing some minor damage to the enemy warlord.

 The clash of shieldwalls is imminent.

 The Danish warlord lets his warriors take hits for him! The coward!

 Serious blood is shed this turn. I lose my berserkers to do a ton of damage to the enemy warlord.

 My warlord bravely stares down many enemy soldiers.

 My warriors come up to support my warlord.

 This they do successfully, pushing the enemies away from me!

 We grind each others' forces down with shocking efficiency.

 My troops advance in a surprisingly bloodless turn of events.

 My warriors are outnumbered and outclassed by Dave's hearthguard.

 My left flank is Intimidated into inaction.

 My warriors evaporate, but not without doing some damage in return.

 My warlord could be in serious jeopardy.

 We call in Loki's tricks to eliminate the Danish warriors, and my warrior (singular) fights valiantly against the hearthguard.

 As our men get massively fatigued (the chickens) my warlord hangs on.

 My warriors watch on, intimidated, as the game ends.

As neither of our warlords wound up dead, I won by having one single fewer point of damage on my warlord.

This was a fun (and much quicker) game. I'm glad I won, although I think I could have done it more convincingly if Dave hadn't immobilized my warriors on the left. My Viking ability to resist fatigue and deal extra damage when I had to (barely) won the game for me there.

I look forward to having another report up for you in the next week or two.

More Sagas

I have decided to play some more Saga, as I had quite a fun time with it the first time. We have pretty much the same forces, just larger, for the first one, and for the second battle in this group of two we have the same forces we had in all the previous battle reports. The first battle is one in which we are trying to cross the river. the second one is the same pitched battle that we all know and love.

We are aligned across from each other across the river.

A view from the other side.

My hearthguard are the first ones on the bridge, and they get slinged to death. I am now preparing the anti-shooting power each turn. 

All my forces are already heavily fatigued.

I attempt a crossing of the bridge.

My hearthguard charge and get repulsed, losing half of their number.

There are a ridiculous number of Anglo-Saxons on the other side of that bridge.

The next turn was simply a turn of repositioning.

My hearthguard suck, but my warlord is a god.

Another shot of that, because that's what Norse sagas are all about.

M warriors on the other sided of the battlefield finally fight their way across the bridge.

My warriors advance, two abreast, behind their lord.

We face off.

Both warlords retreat.

My levy advances in support of my warriors.

 This has obviously developed into two separate mini-battles.

My warlord appears to be beating back the enemy on the stone bridge.

The enemy are on the back foot.

My warriors are dead and the enemy are across.

There are now no Anglo-Saxons on the stone bridge at all.

There is quite a force of Anglo-Saxons across the wooden bridge now, to win the game.

My warlord is across, but it's not enough.

A victory for the Anglo-Saxons. Very frustrating.

A new battle has begun. We face off across a village.

The shields on the Vikings are very impressive.

One of my units of warriors committed suicide to kill six of the enemy's warriors.

That unit is smaller.

My warriors and warlord charge in to rout it, at the cost of four of our own.

My hearthguard are coming in to reinforce.

The levies bounce off of my hearthguard, but one of our own is down.

The berserkers always seem to suffer a high number of casualties.

The levy form a circle around my hearthguard so they can't get to my warlord.

Not for want of trying, though.

Our warlords end the battle locked in mortal combat, with mine finally being struck down.

These were a couple more fun scenarios. I think that I needed to make a better plan for the first scenario, go in less piecemeal, and just get shot less. For the second one, I probably needed to have my hearthguard and berserkers in the right place to begin with. I had fun though.

See you in a couple of weeks with the report from the latest club meeting!