2019-07-03: SAGA Age of Magic, Goblins versus Gondor

Today, I introduced Emil to AoM; I had prepared two 5-points lists (Horde and Kingdoms), but without any fantasy elements (basically, it was like playing with 'historical' warbands).

I skipped the 2nd Ed. rule about having to end the movement of each model within S of the first moved model (I plan to go back and also play with the 1st Ed. rule that only models within a certain range of enemies add dice to the Combat Pool), and this eased Movement quite a lot.

Emil was 1st player, and we both advanced; I even used some extra SAGA Dice activations to move a bit further.

The lines closed in.

The Gondorians kept Manoeuvering closer...

...while my Goblins rested to get rid of some Fatigue.

The Gondorians converged on my center. We did not adhere rigidly to the rules on gaps between units.

There was blood. Much Blood. First, my Hearthguards charged a warrior unit, rolling perhaps 20 dice, inflicting 4 hits. The, my Warlord charged the same unit, also failing to wipe it out. Finally, my Hearthguards took a Fatigue to charge again, this time annihilating the stubborn Gondorians.

Then there was more fighting. My last Hearthguard barely survived a Hearthguard versus Hearthguard scrap, after fending off another Warrior unit. On my right, my Warriors beat the crap out of some cocky Humans.

The Levies on both sides moved towards the center (neither side had fired a single shot), but the dwindling number of SAGA Dice was beginning to be felt.

Emil went all in on attacking my Warlord, but failed to kill him (he was saved twice by his Resilience). On the end of Emil's turn, both Warlords were Exhausted, and it began to resemble the old Robin and Marian movie. We called it a day, and did not count the Massacre Points.

We both had some horrific dice rolling at certain stages in the game, but Emil suffered badly from his as it occurred late in the fight, and thus was rather decisive.

Understandably, Emil was not all that excited about the game, but he agreed to try it again when we meet up after the summer holidays. If he still dislikes SAGA, I shall read up on Age of Fantasy (non-skirmish version), and see how many units I can field for that game (or how many I have to paint up - I intend to get some of the new Citadel Contrast Paints to use for unit painting, so as to be able to get some models ready for the table faster).

2019-06-23, SAGA Age of Magic, 2nd Test Game

This time we added the rules for Lieutenants and Creatures. Ulolkish brought his Dwarves and borrowed my two bears, and I fielded a force consisting of Moria Goblins and some Citadel Dire Wolves I bought painted a couple of years ago, as I only have two painted riderless Wargs, and needed four for this warband.

On my first turn (above) I let the Wolves advance fast on my right flank, while the rest of my warband manoeuvered forward.

The Dwarves (below) also advanced, but kept their Bears close to their flank.

On my second turn, my Wolves swept in and attacked the Bears. I annihilated the enemy Creatures (I rolled a bucket of dice, and we got the Resilience rule wrong), but two of my Wolves also bought it in the process.

Then the Dwarven Warriors killed off my Wolves (Creatures are really a glass hammer, even though we did not get the Resilience rule right), and both some Warriors and their Hearthguards advanced on my left.

My Warriors then fought the Dwarves who just killed the Wolves, but failed to defeat them and had to retire. My Hearthguards charged the Dwarven Lieutenant, killed him losing 3(!) models in the fight, while my Warriors an the left fell back behind the woods to avoid getting hammered 1-2 by the two units threatening them.

The Dwarves followed and charged my Warriors on the left, but the fight was a drawn, and the Dwarves had to fall back.

Then, I lost the game by the Dwarven Levy scoring 3 hits on 4 dice on my Hearthguards with their bows. I did not manage to save any if the hits, and my Hearthguards were annihilated. Sorely disappointing performance, but, well, it is Goblins...

The next turn, on the right my Goblins and the Dwarves decimated each other, and my Warlord finished off the enemy unit. There was some ineffective fighting on the left.

On the next turn, my Warriors on the right were reduced to 3 figures, and I would now had only my Warlord generating SAGA Di(c)e, and I did not see any reason to continue the fight. Again, one single roll completely statistically off was the main reason for the final outcome; had my Hearthguards unlikely demise not happened, they could have charged the Levies and probably dispatched them without being wiped out themselves, I would still have a SAGA Dice generating unit, and would have stood a chance against the Dwarven Hearthguards.

Conclusion:

We still need to play more times to get the rules properly memorized, but this game gave me some understanding of how this edition of the game works.

Tactics are not really important; you do not get a bonus from charging, and the 2nd Ed. rules have all members of a unit in combat fight, so you cannot out-manoeuver an enemy unit, hitting it in the flank to reduce the number of models fighting your charging unit (this was possible in 1st Ed.).

Instead, it is important to hold off, until you have those killer combos on your Battle Board, giving you an edge when actually duking it out with the enemy.

Characters, although packing a lot of dice for single minis, are not really fighting  machines. They are great for mopping up the leftovers from earlier scraps, but as the Warlord's ability from 1st Ed. to fight 'side by side' with another unit by using 'We Obey' has been left out of 2nd Ed., I find him too difficult to use in an offensive role, as his Hearthguard Bodyguards are often too far away.

I may suggest we go back to using some of the rules as they were in 1st Ed., to add more tactics to the gameplay, as games may otherwise turn into very defensive affairs, if none of the sides can get the SAGA dice results they want, and do not want to risk their troops without proper Battle Board support.

2019-06-10.: SAGA AoM, Kingdoms vs Horde Test Game

Ulolkish and I met up in Argonor's Attic yesterday evening to finally try out SAGA Age of Magic.

We had agreed to play 4 points 'plain', that is without any of the new stuff, such af Creatures and Magic, and I had built a Gondor warband using the Great Kingdoms, 3 points of Warriors in 2 units of 12, and 1 point of Levies in 1 unit.

Upon Ulolkish' arrival, he made a Goblin Horde list comprised of 1 point of Hearthguards, 2 points of  Warriors in 2 units of 8, and 1 point of Levies in 2 units of 6.

We simply lined up our warbands 12" in on my large table, and Ulolkish started his first Turn.

Both warbands made extensive use of the Manoeuvre rule during the first two Turns, only rolling and placing SAGA Dice for practice purposes.

On my third Turn, both my Warrior units charged home, the first annihilating the Goblin Hearthguards, the second almost destroying a Hoblin Warrior unit. We forgot to use each other's Fatigue during the Melee, but that is just a lesson learned.

The Goblin Warlord then charged and beat back the Warriors on my flank -

- and the other Warrior unit took one casualty from the Goblin Levy on the hill.

By then, it was almost 11 pm, and as I wanted to get up early and see off Lea for a four day field trip to Copenhagen, we called it a night.

Casualty count was very even, I think I may have been slightly in the lead because of the destroyed Hearthguard unit, but that might have changed quickly with just a few below-average rolls.

All-in-all it was an enjoyable experience, and I look forward to play SAGA a lot more! I am certain that Kevin is also interested in playing the 'historical' version of the game, and as the game flow is almost identical in SAGA 1 and SAGA 2, we should be able to get the rules 'worked in', so as to not have to look up rules all the time (we did that a lot yesterday, as it always happens with new or not so often played games).

SAGA: Age of Magic Dice

Today, I received a parcel from Lenton, UK. This time 11 days from dispatch to arrival (with one day being a Holiday), still is not bad, considering the domestic delivery times of PostNord.

I ordered two of each set of the Age of Magic Dice, so that I can cater for both sides, no matter whar factions are played.

I have been working slowly and steadily on the Skeleton Archers, but now I think it is about time I get some of them - preferably at least eight - ready for the table!

Tomorrow, we shall be visiting my mother-in-law, so I shall not get much hobby time in, but Sunday I should be able to splash some paint on the deadites (unless, of course, the weather suddenly decides to become agreeable, in which case I shall have to do some work in the garden).

I have to take some classes Monday and Tuesday, so this week I shall not be able to make gaming appointments those two days. Hopefully Thursday, I can get an appointment with Emil for some Age of Fantasy, and then perhaps SAGA or Grimdark Firefight with Ulolkish Friday (I shall be at work Fri-Sat-Sun nights), but we shall see about that, he may have other plans, I only got my schedule for the week two days ago.

SAGA 2nd Edition and Age of Magic

I ordered these two from North Star on May 1th, and they arrived here on May 8th!

I have been wanting to play some SAGA Fantasy for quite a while, but I have not been able to convince anybody of playing A Fantastic SAGA with me, although I think that fan-powered project is quite remarkable.

I have also been holding off buying 2nd Edition as I like 1st Ed. a lot, and I have almost everything for it, but with Age of Magic coming out, I had to take the plunge...

I have been reading a lot since Wednesday, and that is the reason why I have not yet started painting the Rohan Royal Guards, and also did not yet find the time to assemble the Renedra Saxon Tents.

I have no firm grasp of the rules, yet, but Age of Magic seems to bring back strongly flavoured Battleboards, which has been a thing complained about missing from 2nd Edition.

Tomorrow, the weather should be dry and sunny, and I shall probably have to spend some time in the garden, but I hope to also start rebasing some Skeletons I dug out of a box in the garage attic yesterday.

Horisont VIII, 2016: Congo - My First Game

I played a much anticipated game of Congo at Horisont this year. I took up the bloody spear of the natives to avenge the theft of a sacred mask by the nefarious British expedition.

The explorers had to leave the table by one of the two edges of a pre-determined board edge - I had to prevent them from doing so.

My Jungle Cannibals charged right into the nearest group of Askaris.

And were beaten off.

Another group of Askaris and some Scouts moved to attack the Warriors on my right flank.

Followed by the White Explorers.

The Warriors swiftly charged in and drove back the enemy!

The Askaris decided that it was better to engage the natives from a distance, opening up with their rifles (I guess?).

The British tried to sneak out through some dense jungle.

My other unit of Warriors, led by the mighty Chief, swiftly moved to intercept the white devils...

...and charged thim on the next Activation Card.

The female lone surviving explorer ran off from the carnage, while the soldiers formed up to protect the rear of the expedition Column.

The expedition, hard pressed from 3 sides quickly re-grouped into a makeshift, almost square formation to protect the young woman,

With the Askaris out of the way, the Cannibals decided to ransack the camp.

And both the Maiden Archers and the musket-wielding guys (I forgot what they are called) moved to be able to pepper the British formation with lead and arrows.

Seeing the Cannibals looting the wardrobe of the English Miss, the Maiden Archers also decided to try their luck plundering the camp.

My decimated warriors on the far right withdrew, and the British circled my flank, going for the nearest corner. Again, the Chief's unit moved to intercept.

I was taking some beating, but managed to prevent the expedition from leaving the table with the sacred mask, depriving them of 5 victory points, and on the next to last Activation Card, my musket guys ran to the camp and secured loot worth 2 victory points, carrying the day for the Jungle Tribes!

I can only day: Studio Tomahawk did it again!

As with SAGA, the system is VERY streamlined and elegant, and although I am not a fan of too many counters/markers in the playing area (and I really think the rosters could be used for placing those on, instead), the gameplay is so easy and involving, that this game is a must for anyone interested in Victorian or Pulp games set in the Dark Continent.

It would be too time-consuming to explain the system, but it uses identical decks of Activation Cards for both sides - players choose 3 cards at will for each game turn, then both players reveal the first card they wish to use. The cards have an Initiative Value which determines who goes first on this card. Players the resolve the actions listed on the card, shooting/combats are resolved as soon as they occur, usually with one side retreating half a move. All 3 card are played each turn.

The game also has 'Totem Cards', usually 1 drawn before chosing the Activation Cards. They provide extra actions, dice, or other effects, and can be played at will when appropriate.

Try it, if you like fast-flowing, simple mechanics that till offer lots of depth and tactical choice!

I already ordered some minis form North Star/Copplestone to use along with the Zulu I have WIP, so that I can make my own native 'Column'. and I shall then probably purchase the rules after Chistmas (no need to rush, as I need to paint up quite a bunch of minis before I can play the game as intended).

SAGA: Fantastorical Game!

The second game of today's session was another incarnation of SAGA, using the 'historical' force lists/battle-boards, and fantasy minis.

Ulolkish once more deployed his Dwarves (as Anglo-Danes), and I used a force primarily consisting of Rohan warriors, but using Boromir as warlord, and some Minis Tirith warriors as Hirdmen/Hearthguard (as Vikings).

Warbands deployed:

Both sides advance - the Humans in a less disciplined manner than the Dwarves.

The Human warlord leads from the front... almost!

The Warlord nad his Hird charge into the Dwarven Levy, all but annihilating them.
I managed to roll 19 dice for the first attack - nine of those were 1s and 2s - then rolled 15 for a second attack (SAGA ability) - 7 of those were 1s and 2s. Anyone still claiming that dice rolls will statistically even out the more dice I roll, please come and have a game with me and see for yourself.

The field of battle so far.

As you can see, I foolishly exposed my Warlord to be charged by his antagonist (accompanied by his Hearthguard). Needless to say, he was hit many times, and I rolled an awful bunch of saving throws, not rolling a single 5 or 6.

I really like the SAGA rules, but I think I have to play them more regularly to get the hang of them (and read the rules thoroughly a couple of times in between games, to memorize all the little peculiarities).

Well, come time, come new battle...

SAGA: The Crescent and the Cross

Got this in the mail today.

Initially, I am going to use the rules for Crusaders and Saracens (or Moors) for Gondor vs Haradrim. I already have some Gondor infantry units ready from my GoB army, and I shall have to paint up some cavalry units to represent mounted knights (and possibly serjeants and squires, haven't had time to read the rules/army lists, yet).

That being said, I don't think I'm going to be able to resist the urge to use the Milites Christi rules and make a small Knights Templar army.