Saga: What value a Warlord?

Gav, whose cricketing duties kept him away from the club(s) for much of the year, has been around again in the last few weeks, and we finally arranged a game, after a few near misses.

I picked Saga for relative simplicity and the lack of preparation.  We used two six point forces and ran the Warlord scenario.  The battlefield featured a small shack and some fields in the centre of the table with a couple of wooded areas either side.  I took the Normans whilst Gav led out the Vikings:

The Vikings were my older models, which allowed for the deployment of Levies with bows, and Berserkers.

My Normans favoured infantry over cavalry, with two units of Spearmen, some Crossbows, Levy Bowmen and some Cavalry because; well just because.

The Viking Warriors moved to tangle with the Normans in the centre, whilst the two Warlords kept their distance at either side of the battlefield.  Sadly for Gav, his warriors invariably came of the worst in these engagements.

 By the end of the game There was only a handful of Vikings left, after they had foolishly charged the Crossbowmen and allowed my warriors to get behind his lines, carving up his Levy.  Seeing the time to strike, my Warlord charged in to finish off the last of Gav's men.

At which point, with only his Warlord left, Gav decided he might as well try a death or glory charge.  I had reason to feel confident, trading off his fatigue to make me harder to hit.  But Gav was able to use skills from his battle board to up his number of attacks, and trade my fatigue to even the combat balance.  In the end he was luckier than I, scoring several hits to a couple from me, and where he saved one, I saved, none.

And so my Crossbowmen looked on in shock as our warlord fell, and Gav won the game!

Saga is the ideal figures game for the Thursday club, being fast to play, needing little space or time - both premiums at the club, and being easy to learn.  It was good to get another, slightly bigger game done - in an hour and a half including a run down of the rules - and it was great to play against Gav again.  I don't mind losing in those circumstances at all!