Saga - An Anglo-Danish & Welsh Alliance Vs The Vikings & Irish

After a while in the impenetrable darkness of the foam trays my Welsh came out for a fight using the Saga rules.  The plan was an introduction to Saga for Andy, and we also acquired Luke and Red.  Having played a basic ‘how-to’ introduction for Andy we set up again for a 2 vs 2 battle, where Andy’s Anglo-Danes (kindly lent by Luke) joined my Welsh in fighting Lukes Irish and Reds Vikings, a real mixed couple of alliances!  On the 4ft by 4ft battlefield the allying warbands were quite close together, but it still split into two separate fights, with Red’s Vikings going all out at my Welsh, and Lukes Irish looking to wrestle control of a crossroads and church from Andy.

The Danish-Welsh alliance had the best of the opening exchanges with Andys warriors and hearthguard wiping out Lukes larger hearthguard unit behind the church while my javalins cost Red his berserkers for the loss of a bunch of warriors, and another large Viking warrior unit was whittled down and then destroyed by my mounted warriors.  Luke gained some revenge on my horse with his nasty ‘shooting from cover’ saga ability, before Red’s warlord stepped amongst them and wiped them out.  In the process I isolated another Viking warrior unit, and reduced it too one exhausted man who would play no further part using my warlord and hearthguard before falling back to prevent a counter attack.

Lukes troops advanced down the road, warriors in front and hearthguard and warlord behind.  The warriors met the Danish warriors and came off worse, before the Irish hearthguard stepped in.  Then the Danes warlord and hearthguard attacked and wiped out the irish hearthguard, leaving Luke to mount a counterattack on the Danish warlord with his own warlord and a champion.  Sadly for the Irish this went horribly wrong and his warlord was slain.

This coincided with the Welsh victory on the Danes right, and an attack by the remaining Viking warriors was seen off by the Welsh hearthguard, before the Welsh warlord waded into the Viking warlord and defeated him.  A javelin in the back for the last Viking model – the exhausted warrior, and the Welsh, down to their last two models, were victorious.  With two warlords on the rampage the Irish didn’t follow the Viking example of ‘too the last man’ and retreated leaving the field to the Anglo-Danish/Welsh alliance.

An enjoyable game, and definitely time to get my Saga out more often!  We used 4pts per player to make it more manageable for Andy as a new player, but he picked up the rules swiftly and next time we could expand to 6pts (I felt lost without my levy).  I also setup the table to look nice rather than to the saga rules for scenery, which I always feel is better, and makes it feel more realistic even if it can give one side an advantage – not in this case however. 

The early stages - Welsh in the cottages garden waiting the Viking onslaught opposite.

The Vikings advancing.

The Irish hearthguard (yellow shields) get into trouble.

 

Closeup of the Welsh warlord about to wade in.

The Anglo-Danes await the Irish at the crossroads.