Last night John and I played the opening battle in the 5 game SAGA campaign. I took Levy, 3 units of Warriors and 2 normal Hearthguard. John's Vikings were made up of 1 Levy (with Javelins, as he doesn't have any with bows), 3 Hearthguard, and 2 warriors.
We played Scenario 1, Clash of Warlords, where the objective is to kill the enemy Warlord, or failing that, score as many VP through killing figures as possible in the 6 turn limit.
My Danes in the bottom right corner.....
The 8 man Hearthguard was a rude shock for the Vikings...
After deployment, I went first and ran my 12 man warriors up to the narrow gap between the hut and woods, where they were duly harassed by javelins from the pesky Viking Levy that had taken up residency in the woods...
...bloody peasants....
Fortuitously, these peasants would be unable to score any damage on my Warriors for 3 turns, leaving that to the Norse Hearthguard later....
I charged my Warriors into the 8 man Norse Warriors in front of me, confident that weight of superior numbers would tell..however, the crushing weight of poor dice would see 5 of my brave lads slain for the loss of only 2 Vikings, and hence my Warriors disengaged in a hurry, trying to flee the Norse line...
Warriors forward!!
First engagement of the campaign!
...which could have gone better!
The Norse Hearthguard had other ideas, and with a cry charged forward with their Warlord to try and finish off the surviving Danish Warriors....Odin wasn't watching however, and only 3 more Warriors died, for the loss of 1 Hearthguard..the Warriors retreated further, bringing the Norse Hearthguard into a short charge range from their Danish counterparts....
Hearthguard vs Hearthguard.....
Flee you cowardly sons of Loki!!
Finally luck went my way, and with the help of my Warlord, my Hearthguard dispatched 3 of the Vikings for no loss to themselves....the two surviving Norse (and their cowardly Warlord) retreating back behind their line...to add further shame, the lowly Viking Levy managed to skewer two of the celebrating Hearthguard with their javelins, killing more than their well trained countrymen could in one hit...
By now it was Turn 4, and it was clear to us both that we weren't going to be able to safely trap and kill our opponents Warlord, without risking the loss of many Victory Points..both armies therefore regrouped, and looked for easy points kills....
Reforming the lines....
For me, this meant bringing my other 12 man warrior unit into action on my right flank, clearing out the pesky Viking Levy from the woods...all but one Levy perished from spears and The Push ability, which forces disengaging enemy to roll higher than their Armour to avoid being run over...
My Warriors then withdrew, but were not far enough away to avoid a desperate, Turn 6 dash by the other 6 man Viking Hearthguard, which despite Intimidation from the Danes, managed to reach within VS range of the Warriors and hence engage them in close combat...the ensuing battle saw 4 Danes and 1 Viking die, leaving the scores locked at 10 pts each......
The last desperate clash.....
The Warlords sounded the recall, and both Warbands retreated to their newly acquired lands, , a grim nod form each Warlord signifying their grading respect for the other...both sides would soon be engaged as they tried to cross the river bounding their lands...but thats for next time...
Great game with John, both sides evenly matched, and he made a fantastic last turn bid, from being one point down, to snatch the draw...
I think the Danes came out worse off in campaign terms, as I lost 15 warriors, of which 8 returned to duty, and 1 Hearthguard...this leaves a sizeable dent in my overall campaign force, whilst the Vikings have only lost 2 Hearthguard and a Warrior or two...Levies in our campaign regenerate 100%, and thats where John lost most of his points...Renewable Peasants :-)
I'll upload some shorter BATREPS from the other two campaign games this round once I get the reports in a week or so.
