[Saga] Song of Swords - Kevään Saga-liiga

[DraSa]

Sorry for the delay!

Here is my war band.

Fearghas McEoghan (Warlord)
Toisech (Hearthguard)
Toisech (Hearthguard)
Soer-Chele (Warriors)
Soer-Chele (Warriors)
Soer-Chele (Warriors)
Doer-Chele (Levies)

I also have one question.
Can units equipped with javelins shoot after moving when activated with warlords “We Obey” ability?
It says in “We Obey” that you must chose Movement activation and cannot use this “free” activation to shoot, but javelin rules say that they may be used at the end of Movement activation.
So am I right and you can shoot with javelins with the “We Obey” ability?

[Gilaelin]

Unfortunately IRIAD has to drop out from the campaign as he has to go and defend his homeland. This means that his opponent will play against me this round and I will play one extra game each round so that everyone gets an opponent.

[Entrooppi]

First Round
Pagan Rus (Me) vs. Anglo-Danish (Toni "Mannine" Manninen)
The servants of White Christ have been crushed, we are victorious!

If I remember correctly, the points went 11-8 to me.

At first the christians tried to hide in woods and wait for my troops to come into firing range. One Warrior unit started to circle around. However, it was quickly pushed back with the others as the Warriors started to lose heart in the cold winds brought by true gods upon the fools. Pechenegs peppered the enemy with arrows and tried to lure them forward, which worked almost perfectly. The enemy charged from the woods, but they were too scattered.

All of my units survived the initial few rounds of melee and the line held. Counterattack by my Varjazis and Warriors saw the enemy Warlord cut down and his troops left in disarray. Even so, the fighting had been hard and my troops had suffered bitter losses. I was leading the game with only 1 and 1/3 points on my final round and managed to hammer the needed 1 and 2/3 points by charging the enemy Levy.

Very interesting game with lots of mistakes both tactical and rules-wise by both players. The fight was a close one and could easily have ended in a draw. In the end I think the most crucial point was that Mannine's army came to my troops unit by unit and some of them were left out of the fight. His dane axe armed Heathguard was stuck in the woods and the circling Warrior unit also never saw any fighting at all.

That said, I think there also were many tactically correct actions by both players and luck also played its part on my victory. I had great fun also, which might be even more important than winning...

Thanks to Mannine and line up the next fools to die!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PH3ENXlpN4w

[Stuka]

Petri "Stuka" Hyvärinen vs Sebastian "Gilaelin" Schiavone

Mutatawwi'a vs Normans
25 - 20

Game concentrated on learning the basics of the rules and a lots of fighting. At the end of the game there wasn't many warrior left on the battlefield.

[Varapalmus]

Panic.jpg.

I just realized that my list includes Levies. I don't know what brainfart has happened, but I didn't order any levies from the shop. Just warriors and hearthguard. So, uh, is it possible to change my list to include said warriors instead of those levies?

[Gilaelin]

Yes, I think it's okay. =)

[Varapalmus]

"Here I make my stand! So bring forth more of your fighting men and prepare for bitter bloodshed, as God himself watches over me! For His glory, I will not yield!"
-Quote attributed to Raghnall MacAsgail

Rubén "HeresyBrush" Torregrosa vs Jere "Varapalmus" Jukka
Norse-Gael vs. The Spanish
7-4, victory for the norse!


Well then. What happens when two units of hearthguard, a unit of warriors, and a warrior priest clash against a warlord, three units of mounted hearthguard and two units of mounted warriors?

Apparently, the answer is that the warrior priest slaughters everyone, and then takes the warlords head in duel. From the get-go, I assumed I would lose due to the speed the Spaniards had, but in the end luck was heavily on my side, as Raghnall took on most of Ruben's army in a massive melee by the sidelines of the battle, while his hearthguard died around him, and came ahead victorious, surviving three rolls on the defense die in the progress.

What was proven, was that the warrior priests abilities are very strong. What proved to be Ruben's downfall was the amount of fatigue his units took as other units died close to them or when combats happened, while I could just slowly heal myself through challenges and other abilities.

But, yeah, the dice were extremely lopsided to me in this match. Cheers for the good match, Ruben

[Thalmar]

Does the first round end on the 14th or this Saturday? The post is a tad contradictory. :p I had to leave Joensuu for the best part of last week, and we were unable to find the time to play the first round. We'll be playing the game this Thrusday (16th), hopefully this is ok. Sorry for the delay, it's totally my fault.

[Gilaelin]

Does the first round end on the 14th or this Saturday? The post is a tad contradictory. :p I had to leave Joensuu for the best part of last week, and we were unable to find the time to play the first round. We'll be playing the game this Thrusday (16th), hopefully this is ok. Sorry for the delay, it's totally my fault.

The round ends officially 14th of April but two days here or there do not matter if you have anyway already agreed to play your game that day. =)

[DraSa]

1. round:
Scots [DraSa] vs Irish [Thalmar]
15-9 for Scots

Highlanders and Irishmen clashed against each other. Fighting was fierce in most parts, when it finally started. Scotsmen gained the upper hand at left and right, and Irish scum were defeated.

In all the game was basically learning the rules and how our battle boards worked. It was fun though :)

[Gilaelin]

Hurray! The first round completed! And almost in time! In the battle between Timmon's Christian knights and Thorfinn's vikings the Danes where crushed mercilessly today. Not a good day for pagan invaders indeed. On the other hand the Mutatawia and eastern pagans have been victorious against English and Norman Christians. And at the same time knights from Castellano struggle to get a foothold in a eastern shores of England where Norse Gael seem to have triumphed. And yet from the north are arriving the Scots who have valiantly fought their way trough another Irish warband.

Let's start the second round.

Round II
18.4.2015-2.5.2015

Scenario: Battle Twilight (from C&C)

Lauri "Entrooppi" Lattu vs Timo "Timmon"
Sebastian "Gilaelin" Schiavone (Bonus Game) vs Toni "Mannine" Manninen
Petri "Stuka" Hyvärinen vs Jere "Varapalmus" Jukka
Rubén "HeresyBrush" Torregrosa vs Joni" DraSa" Tanskanen
Sebastian "Gilaelin" Schiavone vs Riku "Thalmar" Lehtimäki

[Gilaelin]

Round II
Normans vs Irish
Victory for Normans

At the time of evenfall two warbands stumbled upon each other in the hills of Devonshire, where according to the rumours the treasure would be hidden. First it seemed like this would be a quick confrontation where other side would be swifly driven from the area. Alas, that was not how the battle played out. When darkness fell all strategy and tactic was abandoned and the battle changed into bloody chaos where no-one knew where either the enemy or the allies where. The Normans charged deep into the valley between rocky hills and woods, led by Baron Henry himself, butchering and riding down all Irishmen standing in open with no protection. Yet most of the celts managed run into the woods where they ambushed and killed many knights who foolishly tried to pursue them into dark forest. When the dawn at last came, the field was full of dead knights and Irishmen alike. The Normans could not drive the enemy out from their forest camps but in the end they dominated the hills and the open field. Thus the day was won by the knights who indeed had paid a heavy price for their victory.

Thanks for the game once more Thalmar. That was bizzare and fun. =)

How about rest of you?

[Varapalmus]

"Dufan? Is that you? Where'd you find a funny hat like that?
-The last words of Tormod, a MacAsgail sentry.

Round 2
Petri "Stuka" Hyvärinen vs Jere "Varapalmus" Jukka
Mutatawwi'a vs. Norse-Gaels

Draw!

Chaos, chaos everywhere. The scenario certainly ensured that neither player had a perfect idea of what we were doing, and then we went and forgot the most important rule of the scenario, the unit resurrection. At least we remembered it in the last turn :D

The first two rounds saw my Hearthguard and Warlord die off, but the rest of the Norse managed to hold half the table, while the muslims held the other, and neither side could make the other budge. Thus, in the end of the fourth round, the game was over, and the score was 8-8. Not a lot else to say about the match! Both sides destroyed a few units on the others controlled sides, but neither could take control of them. At least I got to try out the Doom Axe squad.

[Entrooppi]

Second Round
Pagan Rus (Me) vs. Milites Christi (Timo "Timmon" Immonen)
Curse those cowardly dogs.

The points went 6-3 to Timmon.

We deployed somewhat on our own table edges, some christians infiltrated my side of the table and I deployed some troops near them, ready to drive them off. My whole deployment was a mistake born of not understanding the scenario well. And of the fact that the Knights stole the initiative from my well prepared assault and charged the Pechenegs, with understandable results. Another unit of Knights assaulted one unit of my Slavs, but the brave men of Rus stood like bears, taking only one casualty. I counter-charged the six Knights which had destroyed Pechenegs with four Varjazis and the christian dogs were crushed without a single casualty. Alas, it was to no avail as they returned to the game in the next round.

After that we quickly saw what was coming when after the first round the points were 1-3 and I had little possibility of reaching enough table quarters with my foot troops. And my only cavalry unit was devastated and unable to be recycled since they are Dogs of War. Timmon rode his cavalry around with impunity and took three more points in the second round. My only unit that got to assaulting any enemies were the Varjazis, which charged the other Knights too ending in mutual destruction with one man left in both units.

I disliked the scenario and it was a really anticlimatic "battle". Or as Timmon said it, cavalry parade. If I had deployed all my troops near the center of the table, I might have had a chance. But I didn't. The biggest thing about the scenario was the ending method. It ended after round two, with just a few blows exchanged and a dozen guys dead. I had no chance to play against Timmon after the deployment was made. I was too far away I had his cavalry too fast, even if I did slow them down by magically summoning winter storms upon the battlefield. If the game had lasted longer, I might have had a chance to do something.

But in actuality, it was again a learning experience. I learned some rules and an important part of the game: some scenarios (at least with some armies) are really board-gamey, where you should not concentrate on fighting but on scoring. This is of course true for all miniature games with objective-based scenarios, but here it was really essential.

[Mannine]

Round 2
Toni "Mannine" Manninen vs Sebastian "Gilaelin Schiavone
Anglo-Danish vs Vikings

Victory for the Anglo-Danish!

..My english isn't very good but I'll try to open the game to you a bit.


The scenario was about holding the corners of the board and gather victory points in such a way. The game was quite short but there was this one epic fight. :D

I didn't really know how to deploy wisely for this kind of scenario so I tried to answer Gilaelin's decisions and prepared to be attacked from my rear or flank. My foreboding turned out to be well founded when the 4 most fearsome Viking Heartguard fighters emerged on my right flank. With the heavy axes they were ready to strike on my Warrior unit at the first chance given.

Vikings got to start the first round, as I had feared, and there they were coming! Heedless of their own life Viking Heartguard charged on, slaughtering as many of my Warriors as they possibly could. Their axes hacked about 5 times faster than my Warriors' spears, and dices, (a lot of dices), were rolling.
The battle seemed hopeless for my Warriors, but with a great bit of luck they managed to stand their ground "Hard As Iron" and won the fight with the one last man standing!

The main strength of the Viking forces were a good distance away at their "own" side of the board, and part of it scattered, so I decided to group my Anglo-Danish band near the middle forest. I kept hindering Viking Warlord's movement by "Intimidating" him and eventually won the game by rushing to take their lands with my troops.


Thanks for the game Gilaelin! Good game!

[Thalmar]

I will (unfortunately) not be in Joensuu 3.-10.5., as I am travelling to Scotland to scout new battlegrounds and empty Scottish whisky reserves. Apologies in advance for my next opponent, I will not be able to play the next round before the 11th.

[Gilaelin]

HeresyBrush and DraSa: have you played your game?

[HeresyBrush]

Hi!

Sorry! it was my task to post it here the results but I have been a bit busy :D

DraSa (Scots) vs HeresyBrush (Spanish): DRAW

Both of us forgot to bring the rule book, so following the feedback provided by other players here in the forum we "designed" the scenario to play it. After getting home I checked the original rules and our "home rules" were very similar. However, It could be nice to write also here in the league post the basic rules of the scenarios just in case someone forgets to take the rulebook (like us :D).

The game lasted 6 turns and DraSa managed to kill three of my units and my poor Warlord (he deserves the moral victory for this! :P), however in between I could keep control my two quarters. I only killed a small levie unit and plenty of random guys, but no more complete units! Otherwise, the game was so fun and I learnt a bit more how to play SAGA :D

[Gilaelin]

However, It could be nice to write also here in the league post the basic rules of the scenarios just in case someone forgets to take the rulebook (like us :D).

Good point! I shall post the rules of the scenario here sometime tomorrow. Also not, that the this scenario is from the original rulebook which I can send you in a digital format if you do not have it.

Round III
Scenario: Sacred Ground (From the original Rulebook)

Pairings:
Timo "Timmon" vs Petri "Stuka" Hyvärinen
Jere "Varapalmus" Jukka vs Joni" DraSa" Tanskanen
Lauri "Entrooppi" Lattu vs Sebastian "Gilaelin" Schiavone
Rubén "HeresyBrush" Torregrosa vs Toni "Mannine" Manninen
Riku "Thalmar" Lehtimäki vs Thorfinn Shieldbraker (as in me as your npc opponent)

I have also updated the current ranking of the players into the first post. As the hour is rather late, I would not be suprised if I have calculated something wrong. I double checked points of each player though. But still, feel free to check that your points are calculated right.

[Entrooppi]

Third Round
Pagan Rus (Me) vs. Normans (Sebastian "Gilaelin" Schiavone)
Victory for sons of the North!

The points went 90-35 to me.

We placed a hill on the centre of the table, as required by the scenario. Sebastian then placed a hill on the centre line, on my left side and declared it non-rough terrain. I placed a wood on my side, near my deployment zone. I deployed the Warlord, both units of Varjazis and a unit of Warriors to the wood. The Normans rode and sprinted forward on the first turn, capturing both hills. I just concentrated my units around the forest, except the Pechenegs who made a small foray to harass the enemy Sergeants with their bows, killing two. After the first turn the points were 15-16 to me. And then the winter came. Staying true to my Karelian heritage, I hid in the woods and waited for the enemy to tire in the biting winds and high snows.

Sebastian was forced to leave the hills, as the Great Winter denied his shooting, limiting it to S range and I was getting slightly more points than him. I continued to pepper his cavalry with the Pechenegs while letting Grandfather Winter practically wage my war for me. Mostly the Normans died to Rus ability Endless Wastes, which kills a model from every unit for each Fatigue the unit has. Most of my troops hid in the woods and made the Knights charging there impractical and generated points for me. I was also able to keep them from coming too fast with Frozen, which stops a unit from Activating more than once in the round.

Good game but a bit of the same problem I had on the last round, except this time it worked for me. Sebastian made an error in the deployment, which forced him to come to me. And I was hidden in the forest, mostly protected from shooting by my Battle Board abilities. If Sebastian had placed a larger piece of terrain near his side of the table, the game might have been very different. The scenario was also quite good for me, as it enabled a real Slavonic style of warfare of hiding, using all my anti-cavalry and anti-shooting abilities and just waiting for the enemy to die on their own.