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Here's a recent game of SAGA I had with another Dark Ages enthusiast at a FLGS:

In an attempt to gathering support for SAGA, Alex and I sallied forth back out to 7th Dimension Games and struck swords in a demo game. Ken and Brian, our willing audience, only mildly chaffed at their restraints as we played. Bumping our forces up to 6 points, I once again led my Vikings against Alex's stout Anglo-Danes. (BTW, listening to Wardruna's 'Yggdrasil' really helps to set the mood)

Vikings:
Warlord
Hearthguard - Berserkers
Hearthguard
Hearthguard
Warriors
Warriors
Levy - Bows

Anglo-Danes:
Warlord - Dane Axe
Hearthguard - Dane Axes
Hearthguard - Dane Axes
Warriors
Warriors
Warriors
Levy - Bows

We decided on playing Clash of Warlord again, as it's a relatively straightforward affair - either kill the enemy Warlord, or have the most victory points (by killing models) by the end of turn 6.

Terrain generation saw Alex place a steep hill in the middle of the table, and since the table was a little narrower than normal, I was able to put a forest to the left of the hill. Much to my own detriment, as I was to discover.



I deployed my Vikings as a line, left to right: Warriors, Levy, Warriors, Berserkers, and the combined Hearthguard. I placed my Warlord behind the Berserkers (another mistake. I've really got to stop doing this. The Warlord is too important to get stuck behind other units like this.

Alex deployed in a staggered line, looking to use the Uneven terrain of the Forest and Steep Hill to protect his flank. Left to right you can see: Levy, combined Hearthguard, Warlord, combined Warriors, combined Warriors.





As my line advanced, Alex pulled his Warriors back and moved the Levy up. I had originally planned to use the Berserkers to make meat confetti out of Alex's Levy. Unfortunately, I allowed Alex, Ken, and Brian to taunt me, and with my blood boiling I sent the Berserkers after the opposing Warlord. Alex had his Battleboard prepped, though, and demonstrated just how well the Anglo-Danes can receive an attack. As the dust settled, all four of the battle-raging Hearthguard lay dead at the feet of the untouched Anglo-Dane leader. Damn!

(As a side note, Alex and I kept forgetting to lower the armor of the Anglo-Danish Warlord and Hearthguard equipped with Dane Axes. D'oh! Live and learn).



Just to show that the Danes were no slouches on the offensive, Alex charged his Warlord and a unit of Warriors into my big Hearthguard unit. Using a bit of fatigue and fighting defensively, I tried to keep my best fighters alive, but the Fates must have been laughing in the roots of Yggdrasil as half of them were cut down.



Trying to get my momentum back, I showed Alex that imitation is the greatest form of flattery, throwing my Warlord and remaining Hearthguard into the fight. After buckets of dice settled onto the table, Alex passed the 10 wounds I had managed to score back onto the Warriors behind his Warlord.

After pulling his remaining Warriors back (keeping them in the game and retaining a SAGA die from them), Alex brought his Hearthguard up. My own Hearthguard fell under the heavy blows of their axes.



I still had some fight in me, so my Warlord called the nearby Warrior unit into the fight. I can't remember exactly which Battleboard abilities I used, but you can see just how the melee went down...



My Warriors and Warlord focus their attacks on the enemy Hearthguard, and wiped them out! It was a bitter victory, with the near lost of the Warrior unit.



Realizing just how alone my Warlord looked, I started to bring the Warriors on the extreme left over. I had abandoned my Levy, who had made poor going over the half-movement Steep Hill.

Unfortunately, Alex wasn't going to give me that chance, and his Warlord charged his counterpart with the unit of Warriors in tow. My Warlord was quickly hacked to pieces, and Alex claimed victory.

Ken and Brian seemed to be impressed, and both expressed interest in picking up the rules at the very least. So, demo successful, it would seem! As for the game itself, in addition to the mistake made in remembering the armor of the Dane-Axe Hearthguard and Warlord, Alex and I thought that the Warlord could activate a unit within M, when the distance was actually S. Whoops! We'll be sure to remember that next time.

It was a great game, and kudos to Alex for setting the demo up. With the absolutely massive Dark Ages collection Alex has, playing with different forces shouldn't be a problem.

If you're interested in seeing more SAGA stuff, check out the link to my blog in my signature!

Nice report! I was just checking out your blog and saw that you got introduced to the game at Gamer's World in Dublin! That used to be my FLGS, and after reading about Saga here, I picked up the rules there during the summer when I was home on my holidays.

Haven't had a chance to play it yet, but your report certainly makes it sound really fun!

Very nice report indeed, always a pleasure to read such reports as this. Also I agree with the Wardruna choice of music, although maybe Amon Amarth would work too?

 Da Boss wrote:
Nice report! I was just checking out your blog and saw that you got introduced to the game at Gamer's World in Dublin! That used to be my FLGS, and after reading about Saga here, I picked up the rules there during the summer when I was home on my holidays.

Haven't had a chance to play it yet, but your report certainly makes it sound really fun!

What a coincidence! Yeah, Gamers World was an awesome store - I wish I had taken some pictures of the place to do a review on my blog, but the thought only crossed my mind after I had left Ireland.

 Trondheim wrote:
Very nice report indeed, always a pleasure to read such reports as this. Also I agree with the Wardruna choice of music, although maybe Amon Amarth would work too?

Thanks! And I checked Amon Amarth out and, well, whoof. Not so much a fan of that kind of music. The only kind of growl-singing I can stand is Finntroll, and that's because it's all in Swedish!

I enjoyed your write up - thanks

Hehe np praise when praise due! And well tastes may vary in the regards to music I suppose

I really like the look of this game. Is it easy to get into?

 ExNoctemNacimur wrote:
I really like the look of this game. Is it easy to get into?

Sorry for not getting back to ya, Ex!

I would say the game's fairly easy to get into. What you'll definitely need in the main rulebook, which gives you the Battleboards for Vikings, Anglo-Danes, Normans and Welsh.

You can make Saga dice yourself by ordering black dice and printing out the decals that Studio Tomahawk made free to download on their forum.

If you can get one or more other people interested, definitely check out this awesome blog post from The Tapestry about getting into Saga cheaply by using the plastic Gripping Beast boxsets.

Don't worry about it! The Dark Ages have been my favourite historical period after Europe before Roman Dominance, so I've loved the look of the game. Thanks for the tips!

Game looks very underwhelming