SAGA AAR Game 1

Sorry everyone for the break in posting. A trip to the US to visit family for the first time in two years, then one to Wales for camping and hiking, plus a mad dash to finish painting units for this months club meet have kept me busy. On that note I did get to play three games of SAGA at our monthly meet today and will post each game separately.
All three games where fought between Anglo-Saxons (Painted and played by Gareth) and my Normans. We broke from the standard setup a bit in using 8pt armies as we wanted to use most of what we had.

Game 1: Clash Of Warlords

Anglo-Saxon composition:
Warlord
Ealdormen (Heathguards) 1 unit of 8 [2 of 4 = 2pts]
Thegns (Warriors) 2 units of 11, 1 of 10 [4 of 8 = 4pts]
Ceorls (Levies) 2 units of 12. 1 with bows, 1 with spears and shields [2 pts]

Norman composition:
Warlord, mounted
Knights (Heathguards) 2 units of 8, 1 mounted. 1 unit of 4 [5 of 4 = 5pts]
Sergeants (Warriors) 2 units of 8, 1 mounted [2pts]
Peasants (Levies) 1 unit of 12 with bows [1pt]

Set up:

 Battle takes place over a small farm and cross roads.

 Saxon right flank (my left)

 Saxon left flank (my right)

Saxon Warlord

 Norman left, mounted Sergeants and Foot Knights

 Norman middle: Peasant archers, mounted Knights

The Norman Right Flank consisted of a unit of Foot Knights and unit of Foot Sergeants. A tactical error on my part as it boxed my mounted Knights in and drove them into the farm.

 I started by moving my left flank forward to the road and woods.

 Next I moved the middle up with the Peasants heading for the wall.

 Right flank moving up.

 Saxons responded with a general advance as well.

 Once in cover of the wall my archers opened up, to little effect. 

 Saxons then moved into cover on the other end of the farm.

 Normans moving through the woods on the left.

 Ineffective archer fire.

 Slowly pushed my right flank up.

 My mounted Sergeants charged a unit of Thegns on the left and a draw of 5 casualties each meant I had to disengage. 

 The Saxon archers where picking off my foot Knights.

 The bloodied unit of Thegns slid to the side and a fresh unit smashed into my Sergeants killing them to a man.

 Saxon archers continue to pick off foot Knights.

 Tired of being picked off I charge my Foot Knights into the Saxon archers killing 3 and forcing them to disengage.

 casualties stacking on each side.

 A failed charge by my Warlord and mounted Knights against the Saxon Warlord and his personal unit of Ealdormen left my Warlord exposed and alone.

Not missing the opportunity the Saxon Warlord and Ealdormen charge my Warlord and cut him down, winning the game.

The game was great fun and both players first time playing. With set up it took us about 2 hours to play which was really fast.

The Normans can be strong when you get the right SAGA dice combos and the Attack Dice will stack up. However the Normans have no defensive abilities to help with there survival. Normally they would be able to kill enough of their opponent for it to not be a factor but not against the Anglo-Saxons.

The Anglo-Saxons get loads of benefits for units of 10+ figures, most of which increase their Defense Dice. The combination of large units and added Defense Dice give them a high level survivability with good lethality.

I really needed to change my strategy for the next game.