The SAGA Continues…

It continues to be a hit-or-miss year of gaming for me. Since my last post, we’ve had a couple failed attempts at a Board Game Night. I had even unwrapped the shrink and learned the rules to Aladdin’s Dragons, a classic Euro game designed by Richard Breese which is over 20 years old, and had it all setup to play a 4-player game, only to have to cancel the game at the last minute. Gah!

Finally, last Sunday (June 23), my friend Kevin and I got together in my loft to play a game of SAGA. Kev’s hairy Vikings faced-off against my late Romans (a warband built from the SAGA: Age of Invasions book). We played the “Guard the Loot” scenario from the Book of Battles.

This was my first time playing the Romans. I was extremely happy to get the chance to dig into my Really Useful Box of painted Late Romans, grab a selection of colorful soldiers, and field a Roman warband. My 7-point force consisted of my Warlord, a unit of Hearthguard Cavalry, two 6-man units of Hearthguard infantry, a unit of standard Warriors, a unit of bow-armed Warriors, and a Bishop.

Having not previously played the Romans in SAGA, I didn’t know the intricacies of their battle-board. So, it was a lot of learning on the fly as our battle progressed, but that’s perfectly fine with me. The joy of discovery is always a fun part of wargaming.

In retrospect, the Romans have a very cool battle-board, with a nice balance of offensive & defensive abilities. The real trick to using it effectively is to smartly manage their Impetus, a mechanic that’s unique to the Romans. While I thought I did a decent job of managing Impetus for a first-timer, there are certainly things I would change and could do better. And I didn’t use my Bishop at all; definitely a wasted opportunity.

As we headed into the 5th turn of what can only be described as a slog, the fur-clad and fury-filled Vikings had the upper hand. At the start of the battle, the Vikings outnumbered the Romans by about 48 to 33, and we reached a point where the quality of my dark-age Italians had taken a real beating.

It was time to pull out the stops. I was able to put the Viking Warlord in a tricky position and then pounced on him with my Roman Warlord, riding in on his white horse chanting “death to the barbarians”. In one whirlwind round of violent combat, the Roman Warlord had slain his Viking counterpart, decorating the blood-soaked field with his entrails.

At that point, we called it. On a “who protected/gained the most Loot” basis, the Romans proved victorious. Victory was snatched from the jaws of defeat.

Despite the fact that games can drag on a bit too long, and the fickle rolls of the SAGA Dice can hamstring your opportunities to do impactful things at the worst possible moments, Kevin and I really do enjoy SAGA. We keep saying that we need to play it more often. Eventually, we want to try the Age of Magic supplement as well.

Oh and by the way…. before the Romans traveled back to their homeland to clean their wounds and recuperate, look who stopped by for a visit! Run!!!