AAR : Vikings v Irish in Champions of God

This weekend I managed to get a quick game of SAGA in and took plenty of pictures too!

I recently finished an Irish Wolfhound Warrior unit and a couple of champions and wanted to use them in a battle. Who better to fight than the Vikings. Good times about to roll? I hope so!

This was a 6 point Vikings versus Irish battle using mutually agreed terrain on a standard 3 x 4 foot table.

Here's the battle report, using images as the guide...

Mission: "Champions of God" (from 'C&C' page 110).

6 turns. The winner is the one who gets greater than 3 points difference in Slaughtering Victory points (SVP's).

Basically, kill more than the enemy!

Scenery:  mutually agreed to use 6 pieces and set them no more than M from any other piece.

Deployment: started with the Viking Warlord, then alternating units until all are placed within L of your table edge.

Forces:

Irish: Warlord, 32 Warriors, 8 Wolfhound Warriors, 2 champions (6 points).

Vikings: Warlord, 4 Berserkers, 8 Hearthguard, 16 Warriors, 12 Levy archers (6 points).

Field of Battle (or is that fields...)

Vikings!

Irish faction ready to go - the keen eyed may see this is my generic (read: Scots!) warriors with extra 'dogs' and champions.

Start: Vikings won the turn start roll and went first. The optional rule to give the second player three Saga dice was used.

Turn 1:

Vikings planned to use Warlords Side by Side and We Obey plus the above

The Fatigues were cancelled out in with 'Njord' and on into combat with just one fatigue (thanks 'Frigg') ...

Side by Side...

Some really bad dice rolling saw just two Irish Warriors dead and Vikings pushed back!

A Side by Side / We Obey saw the Vikings decimated for just two Irish Warriors..

Sons of Dana boosted with combat die kills off the surviving Warriors.

Turn 2:

Moving that Viking Warlord ?

Bravely, the Viking leader makes a fall back move and moves his best troops into the path of the enemy...

Saving up for a big Attack....

The only move for the Irish is to make two L moves with the Wolfhounds and take on the Berserkers.

Even with fatigue, the doggies take out all the mad Vikings and only lose 6 of their own.

Are those some archers watching us dogs from the field?

Turn 3:

Vikings bravely fire their arrows at the Irish dogs...

Two failed saves later... no dogs.

Sons of Dana again on a unit near uneven terrain?

Yes, SoD kills one more Viking Warrior.

Turn 4:

Only 4 Viking Saga dice now.

It all goes into a mad charge by the Elite Vikings...

Who wipe out the Irish Warriors...

The Irish Warlord and Champion are tired by the loss of their mates...

lots of Combat dice there?

The Irish Champion sacrifices himself and gives a Fatigue to the Elite Vikings

Those Vikings now have two Fatigues... as the Irish Warriors move to block the way.

Sons of Dana Strikes again.

Not looking so good now for the Viking elite...

Turn 5:

Is it all going on those Viking Hearthguard?

Yes. The combat result is two dead each - the Attacking Vikings fall back.

Not Sons of Dana again?

Yes - the last two Hearthguard fall to boosted Sons of Dana.

Turn 6:

Final positions from the end of Turn 5.

The Vikings threw in the towel at this point as the VP score was 10.5 to them and Irish had 17.5 - There was nothing they could do this turn with limited Saga dice other than get into charge or shooting range of the enemy.

Conclusion:

This was a fun game. The Irish have some good abilities that allow them to lay down some smack and also level the combat playing field.

From the end of turn 1 after the unsuccessful attack it always seemed the Vikings were on the back foot. The Irish made full use of the terrain to lay down some extra smack with the "Sons of Dana" ability. Next time I doubt the Vikings will stay near any terrain items. Having more terrain helps the Irish but not their enemies. Also, the Vikings had less Saga dice to start with than the Irish and really felt the crunch when they got down to 4 dice, then 3 for turn 6. At that point it was pretty hopeless.

The Irish Wolfhounds had really wanted to get to grips with the Viking Levy (hiding in uneven terrain doesn't help from dogs!) but the Berserkers were too much of a target - their sacrifice took out a key unit. The Viking bow never got a target other than the two wolfhounds.

A good win for the Irish but the Vikings fought pretty hard too!

Hope you enjoyed this battle report as much as I enjoyed playing it.

--Mike