SAGA AAR--Vikings vs Normans 6 point battle

I played this game of SAGA over the holidays against my friend Pete who was using his Viking army. I decided to use my Normans.

This game was based on scenario 1 "Clash of Warlords" with the victor being the one who is able to kill his opponent's warlord. If at the end of turn 6, both warlords are still alive, the winner was to be determined by victory points gained from destroying enemy models.

The Vikings consisted of a warlord, one unit of 8 hearthguard (hirdmen), 3 units of 8 warriors (bondi), and one unit of bow-armed levies (thralls).

My Norman force consisted of a mounted warlord, 2 units of 6 mounted knights (hearthguard), a unit of 8 crossbow armed warriors, a unit of 8 sergeants (warriors) and one 12 man unit of bow armed levies.

The set up is below, with the Vikings set to the left and Normans to the right. The Viking warlord was just right of center near his 8 man hearthguard with levies in the middle.

Vikings to the left with Normans on the right separated by a large swamp in the middle.

I placed my two groups of mounted knights to my left to go around the open edge of the board. My crossbowmen were placed directly in the middle near the large swampy area in the middle of the field with my levies placed to cover the open ground on the right.

During turns 1 and 2 the Viking thralls moved into the swamp to shoot at my dismounted sergeants while I took shots at the Viking warrior unit on my far right with my levies. The Vikings made good use of Asgard giving them an armor boost against my archers. However my crossbowmen were attacked by a group of Viking warriors who eliminated six models leaving my last two to die on the top of a small hill.

Last stand of the Norman crossbowmen

Turns 3 and 4 didn't go much better. I started moving the levies toward the center of the line while working my two units of mounted knights to the rear of the Vikings.

Norman knights trying to get around the Viking left flank.

My concern was avoiding the swamp with my mounted units but in the end I wasted the first half of the game trying to get them in position behind the Viking warlord. Worse the Viking bow men in the middle of the table turned around and managed to kill three knights from the first unit. The weakened knights were too much of an opportunity for the Viking hearthguard to pass up. They separated from the warlord in an effort to destroy the knights and cause me to lose a SAGA dice.

The lone surviving knight after they are caught by the Viking hirdmen.

At this point of the game I had lost a unit of six knights and 8 crossbowmen and my unit of dismounted sergeants were stuck in the swamp chasing the Viking bowmen.

Norman sergeants (warriors) chasing the Viking thralls through the swamp.

But the Viking hearthguard pulling back to attack my mounted knights left their warlord protected by only one unit of warriors which I then attacked with my mounted warlord and the other unit of 6 knights.
Using "Gallop" I rode around a small hill to attack the warriors in the rear.

Knights charging the Viking bondi protecting the warlord

The Vikings fought back eliminating all but one of the knights but in the end it was the Norman warlord and one knight against the lone Viking warlord who died valiantly ending the game on turn 5.

The Viking warlord departs for Valhalla.

In the end I felt badly outplayed after letting my crossbowmen get cut down without releasing a single bolt and losing a unit of knights to levies with bows then charged by the large block of Viking hearthguard. If they had stayed closer to their warlord there was no way I would have been able to get him in melee. If the game would have lasted to turn 6 the Vikings would have won on victory points. In the end Pete had only lost 12 or so warriors and 3 or 4 levies.

A couple of other thoughts:

I know the Viking battle board does not have any skills to enhance shooting, but this is the second game in a row where the bow armed thralls have done major damage. They are especially effective against mounted units thanks to the armor penalty. I lost three mounted knights and 4 warriors to them. That may not be much but any damage they do is bonus on top of the already great Viking melee ability.

The Norman crossbowmen can be effective if protected by another unit but are very fragile and since you are only allowed one unit of up to 8 once they are gone they are gone. I try to use a unit of levies to support them and to mass their fire on the crossbowmen's target but in this game they got separated form each other.

Being able to move 12 inches is great, but I passed up some early opportunities to land a nice cavalry charge by spending three turns riding around. I have found 6 knights to be about right for a unit. Four is not enough--once you lose 1 or 2 the unit is near worthless and 8 is too big to effectively maneuver unless you are playing in open terrain.

SAGA is a great game and hopefully this report will get more people to try it out.