Four pieces of scenery were chosen and placed on the table. The mission selected was "Champions of God". The objective is for one side to get 3VP's more than the enemy (Slaughtering Victory points) at the end of six turns.
The Franks won the first turn, the Welsh got to roll three Saga dice to put on their battleboard at the start of the game. Then the Franks got to roll their six Saga dice....
Setup:
Welsh:
Warlord and 32 x Warriors in four units of eight for a total of six Saga dice.
Franks: (nominal Capetian force)
Mounted Warlord, 12 mounted Hearthguard (3 x4) and 8 mounted warriors for a total of six Saga dice. Note: I cheated slightly by mounting the Frank Warriors - That's what I had at the time in my "Saga box".
Turn 1:
Welsh get three Saga dice for non-Orders abilities. Franks got six dice.....
The Franks moved their unit of mounted warriors - a double move giving them a FATIGUE.
The Franks second move was shortened by a reactive Welsh 'Holy Ground'.
Welsh turn 1 Saga dice (they used their Activation Pool)....
The Welsh Warriors near the hill throw their javelins at the Frank warriors.
Two rounds of missiles (a 'We Obey' move and an activation die shooting) including 'Deadly Strike' and a few Combat Pool dice manage to kill only three Franks. Not too impressive. The Franks even kept the Fatigue on the Welsh unit (!)
Turn 2:
The Franks load up their Saga dice and go for it...
Franks Warriors charge the Welsh warriors and use 'Protection' to help reduce casualties as well as using their Battle and Combat Pools to give them extra Attack dice. That Welsh Fatigue point makes it a pretty foregone conclusion.
The Welsh lose 5 men and fall back toward their Warlord. The Franks lose two riders.
The Welsh go for more shooting based attacks....
Their own retribution is swift.... scratch one Frank Warrior unit.
Turn 3:
Franks use 'Exploitation' to get 4 extra dice for a total of 8. They can only activate for moves, not to go into combat.
The Welsh prepare for any combat....
The Welsh go for activating a unit but....
The Welsh continue their interrupted activation by move/throwing javelins....
Welsh Warriors are ordered forward to throw javelins by their Warlord.... The Frank Warlord (right) looks on as his men are killed....
Some seriously good shooting gives some great results....
These Welsh know how to throw!
The Franks don't know how to save...
Again, more move/shoot sees another dead Frank.... this time a Hearthguard....
And more.....
The Welsh use their last activation to retreat on the uneven ground....
Turn 4:
The battle is hard fought and their are casualties on both sides. The Franks are losing Saga dice though....
The Frank Warlord sees his chance and charges three Welsh warriors....
Heroic.....
And the other riders....
Ouch...
Retribution?
The Frank Warlord is tired, so are those Welsh Warriors from earlier who have been watching the progress of the battle.... they are tired too, but vengeful....
and they score.... scratch one Frank Warlord....
The other Franks are down to three and fighting tired.....
Turn 5:
The Franks load up their battleboard again but with only four dice. They charge the Welsh in open ground....
Go for broke....
The birds eye view..... a real mangler of a fight.....
The Welsh comeback and manage to kill the Frank Hearthguard unit bar one rider.
The Franks battleboard is looking a little bare...
Franks back off and recover fatigue...
Welsh decide to withdraw onto uneven terrain and keep close...
For Slaughtering Victory points, the Welsh win with 3VPs more than the Franks. Just enough for victory. Just one less man down on the Frank team and it would have been a draw. Losing their Warlord was just too much!
Conclusions:
Yet again, though Franks came close, they just don't seem to be able to get any "oomph" in combat. The Welsh were able to use their missile fire to rain down on closing Franks then give battle usually with an edge in numbers. It does have to be said the Welsh got very lucky with some rounds of shooting. The dice rolls really were in their favour. The Welsh played it close by staying around their Warlord. This only went against them once when some units were too close to seeing another unit destroyed and picked up some fatigue. The Franks tried to keep around their Warlord, but mounted units tend to go out of range pretty quickly, the downside of mounted forces trying to take ground / manoeuvre.
Another day!
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