SAGA: Beginning of the Saga

Game one: deployment

Yea, I get to pop my Saga cherry.

Welsh Bow levy face off against the Scots battleline

It turns out that there was a Dark Ages Battle for Britain theme saga event going on in Berlin on the weekend of the 6/7 Dec. I opted out after several weekends away from home. But it turns out at Matthias was going and was looking for some practice games to get to grips with the rules. I have to date played zero games of Saga Vs Matthias two games, making him a veteran in comparison.  We opted for slay the warlord ie pitch battle mission.

Scots line up but lack  missile troops to pressure the Welsh

I brought four points of Welsh and Matthias brought some Scots. In hindsight a Welsh Scots match may not be the best intro to Saga. The Welsh are tricksy relying on manoeuvring their opponents into bad positions whittling them down with shooting attacks before overwhelming them with numbers. While the Scots are more defensive themed and geared towards taking it on the chin and wearing out their opponent. Could the Welsh out manvouring the Scots and overwhelm isolated units before the scots could bring more warriors into the fray. It would be interested finding out.

Scots Warlord leads from the Rear

The game went large to plan for the Welsh. A welsh unit flanked the Scottish battle line and between taunting (making enemy unto move towards you) and Hollowed Ground (make an enemy unit move as though in difficult terrain) the Scottish battle was fragmented. All the while suffering shooting attacks from bow armed levy. In the end the Scottish warlord was isolated and mobbed by the Welsh warlord and twelve of his friends.

frist Blood Levy Bow put the hurt on a unit of warriors

We started a second game but neither of our hearts was in it and we called time with about forty minutes left.

Scots hearthguard are lured away from their Warlord by taunting Welsh Hearthguard

But leave their Warlord isolated

Welsh Warlord and 12 Warriors game up on the Scots warlord for a take down

My initial impression of Saga was I really like the battle board mechanics. The basic game is fairly simple with the flavor coming from the battle broads.  There is a lot of  thought needs to going into to what option you have and what order they need to run in plus trying to counter your opponents options or potential options. Going into the game I was concern there might be power creep with the newer Scottish list being better than the first generation Welsh list but that did not happen. In fact I would say it was the opposite the Welsh appeared to be a lot better with more options having a bigger impact while the Scots struggled to come up with much. I am slightly concern with the randomness of the orders and comparative strength of different fractions. Both should be in the game but to what magnitude I am not sure. Regardless I have six points of Welsh to painted up for next year and I am looking forward to seeing how they turn up.

That is all for now thanks for stopping by. 

Welsh swarm the Scots Warlord while his hearth gaurd look the other way

Scot ine begins to fragment with a but of Taunting and hollowed ground

Game two Welsh warlord and his warriors battle the Scots Warlord with the rest of the Scottish warrior band closing in

Welsh hearthgurd look on from far away and their warlord and his warriors tackle the Scots