Saga: Vikings v. Scots v. Anglo Danes

Tonight I was supposed to be gaming. Stevo and General Ballroom were due to be faced with an unstoppable green tide of Orks.
Instead I am in bed wrestling with an unstoppable green tide of mucus as part of my post Christmas cold.

However in happier times just before Christmas the Sherwood, Hucknall and Ilkeston Team got together in the Ilko Gaming Hut for our annual Christmas game. This year we settled on SAGA and General B duly laid a snow white carpet across the hallowed gaming surface to make it look dead Cristmassy and that.

General B told us that this was the first outing for his Vikings.
So we outed them: "Ooh Ragnar I do love a hairy man with a huge chopper in his hand!" etc.

Then we played the game.
As is traditional I was the Scottish meat in a Viking and Anglo Danish sandwich.

We had all, of course, forgotten most of the rules, but it soon all came flooding back. Some of it even matched what was written in the rulebook.

Anyway it was a few weeks ago and I've had several sleeps and  Christmas since then so in place of my usual expert analysis* here's some low quality pictures with frivolous captions.

 Vikings enjoying their outing

 Dour Anglo Danes trudge toward the peaceful hamlet of Glen Tromnich

 Law abiding Scotsmen going about their business

 "Hey, pal, what yoose doin' near oor wee village?"

 Dour Anglo etc.

 "Is that a seax in your pocket or are you just pleased to see me?"

 The vikings get wood!

 Anglo Danes. Of a dour demeanour

 

 "Come on then ye wee dour sassenach bastids"

 Huscarls versus Thanes. 1-0 to the Huscarls

 The vikings head into Glen Tromnich

 Anglo Danes on top of a hill. Dourly.

 The Scottish warlord seeks strength in numbers

 Boldhal the Bloody enters the village

 

 The vikings are getting weary

 

Boldhal and Ruiseart come to blows

All in all this was splendid fun. The mechanics of SAGA are very easy and the twist of this scenario of having to place your dice before knowing who's moving first makes it entertaining.

However the long gap since any of us played meant we were spending more time looking at the boards and planning the actions than actually pushing soldiers around. To really make SAGA swing you have to play it a lot and yet it's has the feel of a quick pick-up "beer and pretzels" game. I'm not sure it's possible to quite square that circle, so having played it a lot when it first came out I'm not too inclined to play it a lot these days.

That said we had a lot of fun and it was a good way to finish off an entertaining and varied year of gaming.

Oh, and I won.

*Stop tittering at the back.

Another Scots v Normans SAGA game

I played this a couple of weeks ago, but real life prevented me writing it up until now.
And I've forgotten pretty much all of it.
But anyway, here's the pictures:

 Reet, less get these wagons tae market

Who are yoose?

 

 Oh aye son, ya reckon dae ya?

 Hae soame ae tha ya froggy we bastid

 You'll nae get yer hands on mae wagons

In yer face Charetier, we're aef tae market!

SAGA Scots v Normans

The mist cleared over the swift flowing waters of the Invericay river. Lost in reverie Ruiseart was startled by the arrival of McMurdo, his most loyal and hairy retainer.
"There's some braw wee tin men oon their way doon tae the bridge tha noos" he blurted.
"Aye, that there is McMurdo"
"Shall we get yin and stick wan on 'em"
"Aye, that'd be best"
And so the two warriors gathered their weapons to them and marched off to meet the Norman invaders

My chum and I convened for one of our occasional games of SAGA.
Neither of us had played for a while. My opponent suggested we play a 4pt game, as that way we could try and get two in on one evening. I laughed myself hoarse as I knew even a 4pt game would take ages as we struggled with the rules and boards.

 Invericay Dickie and his warband

I took my Scots as they're finished now, led once more by Invericay Dickie or Ruiseart the Thane of Invericay to give him his full title. This time I was to fight Normans rather than Welsh.

We rolled and got the battle on the river scenario. My chum has amassed a rather nice collection of scenery, so we arranged a peaceful, picturesque Scottish valley as the killing ground. I set up with a unit of warriors and one of hearthguard opposite the ford along with Ruiseart. The other crossing point was covered by the remaining warriors and hearthguard.

 The peaceful Invericay valley

Jean Charretier positioned a unit of serjeants and a unit of knights opposite each crossing and posed on his horse across the ford from Ruiseart. I was to go first and duly rolled five worms and a duck. (Snakes and a Ptarmigan, possibly). Not a good start. It was at this point I remembered that the Scots board is a bit complicated. Certainly compared with the brutal simplicity of the Anglo Danish board. I moved up toward the two crossings and left some dice in place.

Immediately the knights opposite the ford started galloping off toward the bridge. My warriors tracked them and hurled javelins, knocking some from their saddles. meanwhile, filled with confidence Ruiseart led his men into the ford. Unfortunately a fierce counterattack by the Normans saw them pushed back and Rusieart was separated from his men. Seizing the day the Norman warlord launched himself from the hill and was able to hack Invericay Dickie to death in the flowing waters of the river. Meanwhile his serjeants finished off the clansmen.

From here it was uphill for the stout Scottish defenders. With few dice at my disposal the cruel Normans were able to pick their fights. First the butchered the hearthguard defending the bridge and a group of knights forced their way onto my side of the river. Then my remaining hearthguard joined Ruiseart face down in the River Invericay.. Finally with the way clear the Norman warlord strode manfully across the ford, whilst his knights tried, but failed to kill the last of my warriors.

This was a tough game. I played badly, the dice were a bit against me at first, and I was struggling to remember how the board worked. For a first game since December I should probably have stuck with the Anglo Danes as being a more straightforward option. Still, it was a good fun game, SAGA is still simple but challenging I find and always gives us a good game whenever we play.

McMurdo hauled his battered body out of the swift flowing river. His helmet was dented, the clear impression of a horseshoe marking the top.
"Yon big man certainly stuck one on auld Dickie" he mumbled to himself.
From the far side of a patch of bullrushes came a low groan
"Aye, that he did use big hairy ..." the words were interrupted by the sounds of a man coughing up water.
McMurdo sighed and set off to extract his lord from the fringes of the river.