Norman Battleboard Strategy

With the advantage of some Saga hindsight I wanted to try and look at how the Battleboards can be played effectively. This is going to be my thoughts and experience so if you find you have your own theories, please go to the forum link at the bottom of the post and discuss.

I have been playing Normans for a while now so it seems a good place to start. My experience has been a little mixed to say the least so what makes Normans such a hit and miss force?

Norman Saga dice - common to rare (left to right)  - Shield (1-3), Helmet(4-5), Banner(6)

AAR: Vikings v Normans - 4 point Sacred Ground

I ran a little Saga game to flex the skirmishing muscles after recently getting more Flames of War games in.

I wanted to try something a little different and strategic so here is "Sacred Ground". Unlike a scenario like 'Clash of Warlords' where you have to be tactical in deciding how to strike the enemy Warlord at the right time and with certain abilities stacked up in your favour, this mission is a different beast.

A Clash of culture - Norman Elite Cavalry smash into Viking Warriors.

Battleboards 102 - The Normans

Our small Saga group has been getting enthusiastic about the game lately and we're gearing up for an epic campaign (hopefully more on that later!). The campaign has me in a quandary deciding which army to use. It's an escalation campaign, and I've got the opportunity to actually get paint on my Anglo-Danes, but I can't help but think about answering the Duke's call and join his Norman knights... On that note, let's talk Normans!

Norman Shieldwall!

I really enjoy playing Normans and they have a lot of interesting subtle tactics and an interesting battleboard. I'd like to quickly run through the battleboard and get some discussion going over the strengths and weaknesses of the Normans. First off, lets have a look at the battleboard:

Normans

Knights Dice: Any Activation Discard any die to activate a unit of Hearthguard or a Warlord.	Charge! Dice: Any Melee Discard this die to gain 3 Attack Dice (4 Attack Dice if a 6 is discarded). May only be used by a mounted unit. At the end of this melee, add a FATIGUE to your unit.	Massed Volley Dice: 4 or 5 Orders Discard this die. Until the end of your turn the range of your bows is doubled (i.e. 2x "L").
Sergeants Dice: 1 or 2 or 3 or 6 Activation Discard any die to activate a unit of Warriors.	Aimed Volley Dice: 1 or 2 or 3 PLUS 6 Shooting Discard these dice to re-roll any Attack Dice that failed to hit the target.	Storm of Arrows Dice: 4 or 5 PLUS 6 Activation Discard these dice to immediately activate all of your units equipped with ranged weapons. They may only Shoot with this activation. No unit gains FATIGUE for this activation.
Peasants Dice: 4 or 5 or 6 Activation Discard any die to activate a unit of Levies.	Terrified Dice: 1 or 2 or 3 PLUS 4 or 5 Activation Discard these dice. Activate a mounted unit. If that unit engages an enemy unit with this activation, this enemy unit immediately gains a FATIGUE.	Stamping Dice: 1 or 2 or 3 PLUS 1 or 2 or 3 Melee Discard these dice. If your engaged unit is mounted and is fighting a dismounted unit, immediately eliminate one enemy Warrior or two enemy Levies that are engaged in the melee.
Activation Pool Dice: 6 Orders Discard this die to roll two extra SAGA dice.	Crush Dice: 4 or 5 PLUS 6 Melee Discard these dice. If you inflict at least twice as many hits with your unit than it suffers in this melee, each hit it scored against an enemy unit becomes two hits.	Pursuit Dice: 6 Melee Discard this dice. If at the end of the melee the enemy unit(s) are forced to disengage, immediately activate for a movement one of your mounted units engaged this melee. This movement does not generate any FATIGUE.
Attack Pool Dice: any Orders Discard one die to gain one Attack Die (two Attack Die if the discarded die was a "6")	Gallop Dice: 1 or 2 or 3 PLUS 4 or 5 Activation Discard these dice. Activate a mounted unit for a movement. This movement gets an extra "S" movement distance and can be freely made through friendly models and units.	Dex Aïe Dice: 6 PLUS 6 Melee Discard these dice. Your Warlord gains five Attack Dice and may re-roll any failed to hit attack die. At the end of the melee, add three FATIGUE to your Warlord.

AAR: The Challenge - Normans v Anglo-Danes

This was a four-point grudge match....  "Baron Henri Deux surveyed the area, apart from some grain in the process of being harvested there was nothing to be said for this piece of land. In the distance he could see a band of men approaching on foot. So, this was to be the ground he would revenge himself on the Dane Warlord Meikson for the death of his Father. He and his men moved forward. Peasants scattered to the wind as the Norman horses trotted up to their fields.

The two mighty Warlords approached each other, leaving their forces behind. They nodded to each other then called Challenge. This would be to the death.... let battle commence!"

The mission was simple, get as many wounds on the enemy Warlord as possible. Kill him if you can. In an hour or so, one side should be victorious.

The forces line up - Anglo-Danes hugging the hedge....

Homeland AAR: Normans v Anglo-Danes

After his recent success near the Fjord, Baron Harry lacked the men to continue on toward the Anglo-Dane village and sack it. He turned and headed back to his camp to collect reinforcements. Sadly, he no longer had all his Knights to choose from and so chose from what forces he had available.

At the village, Meikson had received news of his fathers death at the hands of the Normans. Now being the new Warlord, he would not let his village be sacked. Hastily sending to his Uncle Alfarr for reinforcements, he then sent the peasants to the hills and waited for whatever men he could gather to his banner. Would they arrive before the Normans? One thing was sure, the Normans would pay dearly to take this village!

Note: in order to keep the narrative going, we decided to run a modified Homeland scenario. The Anglo-Danes were automatically the defenders with one point less than the Normans to reflect the situation and the Homeland rules on defending. As the Normans had recently lost so many Knights, we decided to run with 4 point forces (3 for the Danes) and making use of the troops leftover that were not used in the first game.

Special Rules: "War Banners" were used from the Raven's Shadow supplement. The optional rule on the second player having 3 Saga dice to start with was used (Raven's Shadow page 26).


Anglo-Dane Forces:
Meikson, eldest son of Meik (Warlord)
Hearthguard (8 with banner)
Hearthguard

Norman Forces:
Baron Harry the Youthful (Warlord)
Mounted Knights
Warriors (spear and shield)
Warriors (crossbows)
Levy (bows)

Deployment:

Normans prepare to sack the village.... maybe there is someone at home to defend it though?

Norman Crossbow Conversion - Part 2

Some time back I put an article together about converting plastic Norman infantry to be crossbowmen. You can find that article here.

Having recently completed my Norman army I wanted to finish off the crossbowmen modelling project with my end result. So, here are the long awaited crossbows....

On the command... fire.....

Clash of Warlords AAR: Normans v Anglo-Danes

As sunlight streamed over the hill, light glinted off the fast running but shallow river. The Dane Warlord surveyed the scene, knowing that the Normans would most likely cross at the ford in front of him then follow the road to his village. He and his grim faced Hearthguard were not about to let him sack their village. They were all prepared to die to stop the advance..... then the click of hooves and the glint of sunlight on armour. The Knights had arrived on the opposite side of the field.....

This was a four point Saga AAR to really get the feel of the rules. I had just finished 6 points each of Danes and Normans so we chose from what was available:

Anglo-Dane Forces:

Meik the Grim (Warlord)

Hearthguard

Hearthguard

Hearthguard

Hearthguard (Dane axes) 

Norman Forces:

Baron Harry the Youthful (Warlord)

Mounted Knights

Mounted Knights

Mounted Knights

Crossbow Warriors

Deployment:

Normans win the deployment roll but end up putting down their troops before the Anglo-Dane Hearthguard-only warband! Sometimes, it pays to be the best.

Clash of Warlords AAR: Fast and Furious!

On an ancient battlefield, the forces of Jhon the Dirty and Steveaux the Fluffy face off in a titanic struggle of might vs. tailored pants.  Clash of Warlords was the flavor of this Saga game.  We did a four point battle:

Viking Forces:

Jhon the Dirty

Hearthguard

Hearthguard

Bondi

Levy Archers

Norman Forces:

Steveaux the Finely Groomed

Mounted Knights

Mounted Warriors

Crossbow Warriors

Archer Warriors

The Vikings strategy:  Line up.  In a line.  The Normas hide in woods and generally prance about.

Steveaux, of the ambiguous gender sings and serenades his retinue.  How positively... womanly!

Comparing cavalry models -Normans v. Strathclyde

A little while back I think I posted that I had chosen to use Wargames Factory (WF) Ancient German Cavalry model to stand-in as mounted Strathclyde Welsh for a new 6 point Saga faction. This meant buying 4 packs of WF horses each with 12 models (plus another model from somewhere for the Warlord!)

A word to the wise - make sure you are happy with the scales of the models involved before buying....

comparing plastic model horses

Normans vs Vikings- Clash of Warlords!

Tom and I got a game of Saga in one night recently.  He brought his Vikings, and ran them in 1 big unit of 8 Hearthguard, and 2 units of 12 Bondi plus a 12 strong levy archer unit.  My Normans were my usual configuration of 2x4 mounted Hearthguard, 1x8 mounted hearthguard, 8 crossbows, and 12 archers.  The mission was Clash of Warlords.

Normans vs Byzantines in Clash of Warlords

The other night I went out to Ron Bingham's to play a game of Saga at his place.  Joining us were also J.D. and Malcolm.  These are all capital gents, who by the cruelty of Geography, I don't get the pleasure of gaming with all that often.  I was happy to roll dice with them!

Normans square off against the Byzantines

Normans vs Vikings: Clash of Warlords

Tom and I got in 2 games of Saga one night, this being the second.  With little time left, we decided to play the basic "Clash of Warlords".  We thought it would be neat to have a burning village in the center.  Why?  Cause some men just want to watch the miniature world burn.  Tom's warband consisted of one unit of 8 Hearthguard, 3 units of 8 warriors, and 1 unit of levy archers.  My list was one unit of 8 Knights, 2 units of 4 knights, one unit of Sergeants with Crossbows, and a unit of peasant archers.

Normans vs Vikings- The Challenge

Tom came by tonight for some games of Saga!  In our first game we played "The Challenge".  Tom's warband consisted of one unit of 8 Hearthguard, 3 units of 8 warriors, and 1 unit of levy archers.  My list was one unit of 8 Knights, 2 units of 4 knights, one unit of Sergeants with Crossbows, and a unit of peasant archers.

Norman Horse Cart

A while back, Jon did two pieces for our baggage train, and I promised to do the third.  I finally came through on that after picking up these pieces at Fall In!  The Norman Pony is by Gripping Beast- Joe "Wow" Mezz happened upon it at the Architects of War booth and knew I'd be happy with it!

Norman Crossbow Conversion - Part 1

Having decided to use plastics for my Anglo-Danish and Norman Saga armies I wanted to find a way of creating crossbowmen from the plastic kits. The kits I have are the Conquest Games (CG) Norman Knights and Norman Infantry boxes. Also, the Wargames Factory (WF) Saxon Thegns and Saxon Fyrd. There are very few missile weapons to be had in the kits, none in the Conquest Games kits. Definitely no crossbows!
Having scoured eBay a few times I came across some metal 28mm scale crossbows. Just what I needed.

Here is the completed conversion......

ready for action - after a coat of paint

Quick AAR: Blood in the Snow (6 point Clash of Warlords)

Jon and I had a little time to kill and decided to quickly throw down on a game of Saga.  We both used our standard 6 point lists: Vikings (6x Hearthguard, 6x Hearthguard, 4x Berserkers, 12 Levy Bowmen, 8 warriors) and Normans (8x Hearthguard, 4x Hearthguard, 4x Hearthguard, Crossbows, Levy Bowmen)

The board.  Vikings all in the North.  Normans: Levy Bowmen to the left, with Archers to their right.  On the other side of the pond is a big unit of Knights.  Warlord and Knights wait behind the ranged units.

Focus On .... Danish Axemen

The flavour in the Danish Faction comes from the ability to utilise the Dane Axe (aka the Broadaxe). Here are the rules from page 43 of the Main Rulebook.

"Anglo Danish Warlords have double handed axes."
"Anglo-Danish Hearthguard may be armed with double-handed Dane axes." 
"When engaged in melee, a unit with double handed Dane axes will not use its shields and so suffers a -1 penalty to its Armour value. Hence, if the unit an Armour of 5, it counts as having an armour of 4."
"Attack rolls made by a unit equipped with double handed Dane axes gets a +1 bonus. To hit an Armour 4 unit, you'll only need 3's. This makes them easier to hit in melee."

Dane Axe delivers a deadly blow in the Bayeux Tapestry

Norman Archers

At long last, I have a full 6 points of Normans!   It's only taken me how long?  Anyhow, as usual I'll mostly let the pictures do the talking here!  All of these are Gripping Beast metals.  Norman Archers I and II, with a Norman Unarmored Infantry Advancing blister thrown in for good measure... Actually Architects of War was sold out of all but the two Norman archer packs so I decided to just use the unarmored guys and gave them some spare bows I stole from Jon's plastic viking sprues.

Normans vs Welsh in Clash of Warlords

Thursday night at the NOVA Open, Alex brought his Welsh to face my Normans! We played Clash of Warlords. By this time, Tom and I were pretty deep into a bottle of rum, so I apologize if my images are a little blurry! We played at 5 points.

Normans vs Vikings in Homeland (5 Points)

With my recently completed 4Ground Games buildings, I knew it was time to try the "Home Land" scenario. Jon bid 4 to defend, and came up defending. I knew this was going to be a very tough one with my Normans since they aren't exactly good with buildings, but I was ready to give it a go!