Saga Vikings v. Welsh AAR.

First post about an actual game rather than modelling or reference materials. This might resemble a proper wargaming blog at some point.

This here was a game played using SAGA version 1 rules (because it's what we had to hand) with 'The Challenge' scenario. Only I failed to read the wound special rule for the warlords, so it turned into something else. Oh well. You live and you learn.

Here's the board at the start of the game. I think my scenery is finally starting to take shape. Still a long way to go, and the mat hides a multitude of sins, but I was pleased with how the game looked, and the preponderance of terrain elements definitely helped the game.

I was playing Vikings on the right, and good friend Chris was the Welsh, defending his home turf from the marauding invaders. A challenge had been given, in the hopes that the Welsh warlord could save the deaths of his wards in single combat.

The armies waited in the wings. The vikings with two units of warriors, two units of hearthguard, one unit of berzerkers, and a unit of levy with bows.

The viking line, including bright bag of cheesy snacks that I forgot to crop out.

Ranged opposite: the forces of the Welsh. Two units of javelin armed warriors, one mob of levy with slings, two units of hearthguard, and one unit of loyal hearthguard retainers mounted on small Welsh
ponies.

The challenge was accepted, and the Viking warlord was struck to the ground.

Where's he gone?

Yes, this shouldn't have happened, but it set the stage for the conflict. Determined to retrieve their warlord's body, and maybe enact some vengeance upon the Welsh, the Vikings surged forward and formed a shieldwall, ready to push into the center of the village and reclaim some semblance of 

honour or die in the attempt.

The Vikings retain their discipline despite the early loss of their warlord.

The Welsh pushed forward on their left flank hoping to roll up the Viking line swiftly, while their  warlord retreated to the safety of his unit of hearthguard and laid in ambush behind a hut, along with a unit of warriors.

The Welsh left, with Hearthguard pushing forwards to disrupt the Viking line supported by javelin throwing Warriors.

After a brief tussle in the field to the north, the vikings push into the center of the village to occupy the ground where their leader lay felled.

Sensing his moment, the Welsh warlord led a charge into the closest unit of warriors and drove them back.

In the thick of it, the battle-hardened Vikings knew what to do. They sent wave after wave of warriors against the warlord and his unit of hearthguard. The brave Welsh fought off every single attack until the warlord stood alone, exhausted. At this point their came a blood curdling cry as the berzerkers finally became incensed by the sight of so much bloodshed. They sprang forwards and tore the Welsh warlord to shreds. Vengeance had been exacted.

Stunned by the ferocity of the wild northmen the Welsh could only pick at the edges of the Viking force as the berzerkers changed tack and charged north into the teeth of the Welsh attack, taking on another unit of hearthguard and wiping them out entirely, before finally overreaching themselves and falling to a fresh unit of Welsh warriors.

Their most potent warriors gone, the vikings held on for several more rounds, until they were finally overwhelmed by the Welsh javelins. The levy archers, still in shock at the death of the warlord and unable to do anything except cower behind a haycart for the entire fight, finally slunk off to find either their longboats, or death at the hands of vengeful villagers in the depth of the Welsh countryside.

A good time was had by all, and probably the most fun I've had playing Saga. A few rules issues, but  it didn't detract from a good game, and in fact helped create a damn good narrative. This was the closest I have come to having the Vikings beat the Welsh, and this despite the early loss of two Saga dice for me in the early rounds. Fortunately I was mostly able to compensate for this by repeated use of the activation pool. It's convinced me I need to finally sort out my Norman force, and create a player guide sheet for Saga 2.

We also had our second ever game of Bolt Action following Saga, and again the terrain is starting to come together. The spree of field boundary making I have been on recently is paying off, but there's a lot further to go before I can produce a battlefield I'm proud of, so I'll only put one shot of it below, and not do an aar. We did find that playing from short board edges rather than long produced a somewhat more tactical game, so in future I think we'll be exploring this option, at least until I decide to pony up for the Chain of Command rules. I enjoy Bolt Action, and can see how, when one is in practice, it could play extremely quickly. However, I suspect that its lack of granularity may at some point become problematic.

Cheers.