SAGA battle

Slight change of pace...

Having seen many postive reviews of SAGA and a number of battle reports, i thought i'd give them a go using my late medievcal figures. I found the battle boards from a SAGA forum and made a french and english force for the hundred years war.

I ran a little playtest to see how the rules worked with 3 points a side. This ran well so i dived into a 4 point game with terrain and a full table.

The english had two units of warriors with bows, one unit of warriors and a unit of hearthguard, as well as the warlord. They deployed in a defensive formation, with archers on the flanks and a solid core of combat troops.

The French force contained three units of hearthguard, two mounted, and a unit of warriors. They planned to hook around the english left and roll them up.



Valmont overlooks his force as ordinannce pikemen march into position.

Nobles form two lines to shatter the weak english. The richly painted nobles shove their way to the front rank.

The English commander helpfully shows his men where the french are.

The nobles canter off through the village and past the toll house.

Using an ability to shoot further, the archers kill two knights with accurate fire. The french charge in nevertheless, only to be unhorsed and cut down.

On the right, the foot knights attack the archers. Bow fire causes not casualties and the charge goes in. The shields represent fatigue.

Another unit of mounted knights charges the archers while the pikemen face the massed english infantry.

Combat on the right flank!

The poor archers are ridden down...

...but the foot knights are driven back with casualties!

In the centre, bill meets pike and a bloody melee evolves.

Seeing his archers fall, the english warlord steps forward and kill three knights. The last one pulls away, crying 'that's what you get for not being painted!'

the pikemen are decimated and the french warlord makes a last bid to evade defeat. The french battleboard piled with abilities.

Pour la France! he cries, his mighty steed crushing a soldier. He gets 7 attacks, will it be enough?

Valmont hits five times, the bill men three, all he needs to do is make two saves...

Despite the warriors being all but cut down, the brave valmont is unhorsed and butchered, despite the orders from the knights to keep him alive (three hits, three fails!).

Impressions? Fun, i love the battle boards even when solo! The game has flavour and each faction definatly has it's own style. The only problem is, do i play this or LOTR? I think both, SAGA for 'big' battles, and LOTR for small bashes, sieges or when lots of heroes are involved.

Now i need to paint more cavalry, since the french can have all hearthguard and warriors mounted. Maybe an all mounted warband in the future?