Saga 2nd: Age of Magic

After several disrupted weeks, my planned game of Saga 2nd Ed: Age of Magic finally arrived. During lockdown, I underwent temporary insanity and painted roughly 1000 points of Flesh Eater Courts. I'll never play AOS but don't mind the army as I have always enjoyed ghouls in horror or weird fiction. 

In this 8 points game, I played the special ghoul list from the Undead section of Age of Magic. It consisted of a warlord, a behemoth, 3 biped large humanoids, 3 flying large humanoids, two units of 12 warriors and 1 unit of 8 warriors. I was playing against the Lords of Under-earth and was concerned about their shooting units and access to magic - as I had none. 

The crypt in the above image was my undead special terrain giving me a restorative bonus to necromantic saga abilities. 

We planned a standard battle and alternated terrain choices. I was happy with the woods I placed on the table as it restricted deployment spaces for my opponent. 

My opponent, Nick, had come with the wrong figure cases so I substituted my dark age miniatures for dwarfs. Above is the entrance to his tunnel system. Warily, I deployed a unit near its exit but it would not be used in the game. 

Nick deployed his forces in depth but also placed two hearthguard units behind some woods. This would result in them marched around and through to reach the action. Ultimately, they were caught out of place. 

With the initial turn, I surged forward with everything trying to close the gap and lessen shooting options. Nick replied with several shots and, more tellingly, he opened a chasm with quite a few ghouls fell into. This only worried me more as - of this continued - it would reduced my units of warriors in each round. These troops were the backbone of my forces. 

And then we discovered how fantastic the necromantic battle board abilities are for restoring troops ... Ghouls thought lost leapt back into action and the tide of slavering cannibals surged on afresh. 

On my right, I threw out my small warrior unit to block Nick's warriors then pressed my monstrous creature forward. It shrugged of paltry shots from the levy. My flyers were centrally placed to threated the back line or flanks on either side of Nick's underground forces. 

In the middle of the above image, a 12 strong warrior unit plugged the gap in the trees meaning all fire was directed toward this. A well placed saga dice saw regeneration of these losses with little effort. 

My large humanoids stood menacing at the rear and left flank. They were waiting for the dwarfs flying war engine to come close. 

As the dwarf bowmen withdrew, my flyers pounced mauling the unit. They used their resistance to avoid losses stacking up fatigue. When attacked by hearthguard these fatigues were used by the enemy giving my forces the chance to do it all again. They annihilated the hearthguard for not losses but were then slain by a unit of 12 warriors but it took significant saga dice for this to occur. 

My other large unit double moved to catch the flying war machine and dismantled it for only fatigue point losses. The ghouls were looking unstoppable. 

Over on the right, the ghoulish behemoth had simply eaten some levy. The warrior unit used the Already Dead saga ability to hold off the dwarf warrior unit. This gave them resistance 4. The undead have 2 fantastic defensive abilities. 

The warriors were then another course for my ravenous behemoth. 

At this point we called it quits. The dwarfs had lost three units and had 3 more savaged. The ghouls had lost their flyers - at fearful cost to the enemy - both otherwise only had fatigues. The ghoul warlord and one 12 warrior unit was completely untouched. The undead seem extremely tough with a wonderful supporting cast of saga abilities perfectly suited to keep them in the fray and negating losses. I would love another game, but I might put a Great Kingdoms army on the table before I return with my Ghouls. 

 

Frostgrave Game 2

This week, after several players pulled out, Nick and I played Frostgrave. We hadn't read the rules in ages and I'd lost my warband - so I made it up from memory in 10 mins. I got a bit wrong and for the second time forgot items. 

We played the first scenario and this called for a magic fountain. My Splinted Fang witch cult faced off again Nick's Dwarf sigilists. I won initiative and bolted forward flinging my men forward with the leap spell. 

I soon threw a wall of fog in front of Nick's dwarf archer who had made some wicked shots. 

I tried to use my power of nature to block off avenues of movement to the treasures. I had a focus on three which I soon grabbed and began to drag away. 

I had won several of the first initiatives leading me to grab good positions. Nick was more circumspect and moved up in groups. Soon dice would swing in his direction and many good rolls sealed the game. 

My witch and apprentice also cast the mud spell on both sides of two treasure tokens. Things looked good but - tellingly - Nick's archer had badly wounded (8 and 10 health) my best fighters - a crusader and man-at-arms. He had climbed a wall section to continue his shooting. 

One snake cult thief climbed the tower to secure a treasure token I placed. It seemed thematic at the beginning of the game but I think it just used more movement. 

Then all turned against me. Nick won combat after combat and not by a couple but almost each occasion 6-8 or more damage points smashed down on my cultists. Two of my figures were unharmed at the end of the game. He also made successful use of the Fool's Gold spell yanking the treasure from my grasp on no less than three occasions. 

Even when an armoured skeleton and ferocious snow ape arrived and attacked his men ... he took no damage and smashed them too! See the mid-left of the above image (I'd used a Reaper ogre to substitute for a Snow Ape.)

After securing, the treasures I used a fighting withdrawal to slow the Dwarfs while allowing me to get the treasures from the table. I decided not to drink from the fountain/well to reduce my risk and used mud, fog and leap to help. However, the early shots robbed me of the combat strength I needed to hold up his soldiers. Very high dice smashed me in initiative, shooting and combat. My spells failed while his Fool's Gold worked again and again. Frustrated, I just tried to run off the table but could have used more fog spells to block line of sight to protect me from spells. I guess I was just tired too and wanted the game to end. 

There it was a great start and a near certain victory led to defeat. To rub salt into the wound, I gained bugger all gold and truly useless spells while Nick gain a bucket load - enough to hire a barbarian giving him an additional specialist. I do like the game - we did quite a lot wrong making shooting and Fool's Gold FAR more effective that it should have been - but overall I left being quite frustrated by the game and couldn't escape thinking the huge variability of the opposed D20 system had just bent me over despite some good play. 

BLUCHER Napoleonic Battle Report

After three weeks away from games the phone rang hot with pleas for a return of Blucher. Our club finds Blucher near perfect for a weekday evening game. We can put of figures on the table giving everyone a consider force and the feeling of actually commanding thousands of soldiers desperately engaged in a distinctly Napoleonic themed battle. 

I put together two army listed to maximise units on the table as I expected four players. As it turns out, one decided not to play and another decided to not bring an army. Both sides used my figures - it would be 1813 French versus 1813 Prussians. Both sides were around 230 points. 

Above shows the centre of the battle where most of the action would take place. The game began with the Prussian player pushing his cavalry division hard down his left flank to try and pin the right flank of the French in place. For three turns he used his available MO points on completing this advance and used an infantry division on his right to seize a village (shown in above image top left.) 

The French did place some battalions into square which halted the Prussian cavalry. They unlimbered their horse battery and commenced fire attempting to whittle down the squares. And that's where the flank remained for 6 or more turns. 

The right side of the above image shows the Prussian flanking cavalry and the line of French squares. It also shows the French response. Forming two divisions into a block and tromping down the middle of the board. (Below shows the single Landwehr cavalry unit that advanced up onto the hill. Again, without infantry support, the cavalry halted. With only a single battery of guns whittling down 4 infantry brigades was going to take a long time. 

It took a little while to shake this attack into order but the French continually used the placement of their commander to energise this mass into forward motion throughout the middle of the game. Turn after turn the French chose to frugally spend MO then Napoleon would be sighted - emblazoning his troops with the energy to attack. 

And what a glorious mass of infantry this was ... 9 full brigades. 

The village (dimly seen at the centre top of the image) had been taken by landwehr but combined fire from two French batteries (include one heavy battery) had driven off artillery support from this flank of the Prussian army. It was a significant loss. 

The Prussians, having spent their MO points elsewhere, had what appeared to be a thin line. It contained 2 grenadiers, line infantry and landwehr. The Prussian heavy battery (bottom right of above image) had been poorly sighted in the shadow of a hill. This robbed it of any line of sight to bombard and limited its angle of cannister fire. 

The French smashed in. Often fighting two to one - or - if the odds were good - the French relied on their skirmishing to rob the elite Prussian grenadiers of vital elan. 

As their line wavered, a vital but hitherto inactive third of the Prussian infantry finally sprang to life. It now toiled in the afternoon heat to enforce the dark blue line. 

The French drums were pounded and brigade after brigade of Marie Louises were thrown in - this was not without loss - but each time elan was being drained from the Prussians. 

Unlike the Prussian cavalry, the French horse advanced then repeatedly charged the Prussian squares - who were first peppered with shot (see the horse battery on the hill in the rear.) Cuirassier and dragoon brigades smashed into the Prussians. None would result in the glorious sweeping away of the square as hoped - it would take three charges before the square could not longer stand. The flank lay open with only way other square beyond the village total unable to bar the egress of the cavalry. 

Looking from the Prussian right flank forward. The village was strongly held but that did not prevent the brigades to the left from being assaulted. Elan losses were racking up. The Prussian division holding their right flank had positioned their better line troops on the end of the line - facing a full French cavalry division. This left three landwehr along the line of the road. Also, as mentioned before, this part of the Prussian line had its artillery shot away early and three French batteries pounded the line as the French had advanced. 

That missing third of the Prussians - dare I say almost their missing 9th legion - emerged from the shade of the woods and struggled into position. In the chaos of battle several messengers were either shot or lost at this point - in game terms this means the Prussians had short on MO in vital moments leaving troops inactive. 

At close quarters, French skirmish fire and musketry volleys were brutal especially as, after a loss or two, the Prussians were pushing single brigades forward to be shot or charged by 2 or three French in return. Four wounded Prussian brigades now struggled to form and hold a coherent line against twice their number of French. Napoleon's fresh recruits poured into the gaps. 

And then it was 10 o'clock and time for all good wargaming boys - who work long hours the next day - to begin packing up the miniatures and get ready for sleep. We all had a great time. The French players were jubilant - but we had started that way - but a clear winner had not been determined by the rules. 

The post-match meeting of the minds came to the conclusion the Prussian left flank was completing weakened and compromised - especially as those French horse chose to ride around a helpless Prussian square and place themselves behind the enemy. Perhaps as many as 4 Prussian brigades looked like being cut off from retreat with around 3 already dispersed and 2 more mauled of elan. The French had lost 2 brigades of foot and 5 more showed wounds of honour from bayonet and musket ball. 

In retrospect ... I put too many troops on the table - maybe would have been better if the final player had joined in? OR There could have been a little less terrain to enable less congestion. Also, we only rolled 2 dice for MO and perhaps should have gone to 3. But, I don't mind difficult command choices as it forces players to assess where the husband their resources. In any game, players who can best utilise their pieces rise - as it should be. 

A really fun game with the right sprinkle of rules. 

(And nice to see over 1000 infantry, over 60 artillery men and 100 cavalry on the table - all painted by me!) 

 

Frostgrave

This week's games saw a belated beginning to Frostgrave - a game I have looked longingly at for some time. My good friend, Nick, and I embarked on a first game. We played a basic game rather than a scenario and tried to grab as many of the 5 treasure tokens as we could. 

Nick has been busy printing, purchasing and painting a range of terrain suitable for fantasy skirmish. I mixed in a little of my own considerable collection. Nick's use of Renedra fences as walkways worked very well and I think they look better than my coffee stirrer and match stick scratch builds. 

I used a witch with a mix of movement and blocking spells (like mud and fog) with some spells to bolster my minions too. To represent these forces I used my Splintered Fang. Nick used his 3D printed Dwarfs to represent his warband led by a sigilist. He also chose many manipulative rather than directly offensive spells. 

I began by leaping my man-at-arms forward to block a treasure token on Nick's side of the table then ran forward to secure it with my treasure hunter. In the meantime, I used by thugs and thieves to secure objectives on my side (within the watch tower below). Also a ran my crusader forward to fend off any attacks on the central treasure token.

Above shows my strategy to protect my men and slow the Dwarf advance by channeling my witch apprentice powers to turn the earth to mud. I would later shield this side of the table further with a wall of fog. 

Nick's Dwarfs pass the 'Tree of Woe' and rush forward. My man-at-arms is just visible ready to fend off assault while my other men run off with the treasure. 

Nick was able to open a hole in a stone wall to allow a soldier to clamber through and prevent my escape with a treasure token. This was, not the first, but a tangible sign of impending doom for my witch's cult. A mass of 1's rolled - probably more than 12 on the night - sapping my strength through spell failure and leading to disastrous combat results. My men regularly took 5, 6 or even 7 hits in combat. I lost two treasure tokens I had taken control over - one to a well used Fool's Gold spell (very Dwarfy spell I must add) - and barely got another two to the board edge. 

However, due to repeated combat losses, all of my men had many wounds and were locked in combat that they just couldn't escape from. I wasn't winning and Nick simply held me in combat by refusing to push me back. He just held me there as I lost fight after fight. 

And then ... monsters came on. Directly in my path of escape 2 armoured skeletons marched. Again, I lost many fights and my wizards failed spells to bolster strength. By now my wizard had but 4 health left and my apprentice but 1. While the young witch escaped, the witch was shot then hacked down. 

All evening, I think I won two combats ... and one was against a skeleton. With my wizard dead my warband collapsed at the end of the first game. Not a good start. 

I really did enjoy the game despite my sheer inability to win any combat at all or profit from the really good positions I had gained in the early game. I was a total disaster really. Many soldiers died or were wounded too. The rules seems very good although I must say being helplessly locked in combat once engagement had occurred did - and does - seem quite restrictive. Just running in and pinning the enemy - and keep pinning them (without even fighting) if initiative is won - seems a bit easy to achieve in an otherwise very thoughtful game. Some sort of mechanic to leave combat, even at a risk, would be a good addition by providing an additional decision for players to make. 

 

ADLG Gauls against Pyrrhus

 

The following post details two games of ADLG. 

The first was my Pyrrhic army against Ian's Gauls. His choice was quite surprising as he'd long talked about Gauls but for 2 or more years had only ever taken an all elite German army. 

His Gallic army had 6 bases of cavalry and 2 of light horse giving him a strong mounted arm. Otherwise he took the maximum amount of light infantry (slingers and javelins) then the remainder in heavy sword impetuous ord. 

My army consisted of 8 pike - 4 ord + 4 mediocre - and this was the backbone of my force. I had never used mediocre pike and wanted to try this out. Elsewhere my cavalry and light infantry forces were outnumbered but my elite xystophoroi had the edge on his cav. 

Ian oddly deployed his cavalry in a terrain restricted area in three lines. This completely reduced their effect for the game. My lower numbers of cavalry could fend them off in limited space. 

Meanwhile on the open flank, a largely unsupported block of Gallic sword were monstered by a wall of pikes who bore the initial charge then began to grind them to pieces. No Gauls would escape annihilation on this flank. 

My ace was my third command containing light horse, light foot and Samnite medium sword. The light cav with javelin drove away his light troops then the 3 bases of Samnites drove straight up the middle with only 1 peeling off the support my cavalry. 

Three bases of Gallic MC were kept completely at bay by a single base of xystophoroi blocking a gap. 

My cavalry would hold the line (my elite heavy spear died in two rounds to cavalry in a show of lucky dice rolling) allowing the Samnites and pikes to do their job. The cavalry would strike back after early losses to take a Gallic general and a couple of HC bases. Ian never managed to untangle the long conga line of forces he has wedged between marsh and two woods.

And what was the Samnite job? They run up the guts, killed all the light foot, flanked some Gallic heavy sword then sacked the camp. Game over ... Pyrrhus wins. 

The second game saw my flowering of my new love affair with mediocre pike. I played Ptolemaic against the Gauls once more. This time I had 6 bases of mediocre pike and 2 ords. My cavalry was about the same but I employed a death star of an elephant and thracians. 

Tonight was also a game of bluff. My use of terrain and medium troops had led my opponent to believe he knew my army composition. Ian had learnt than medium foot are just wonderful so employed a command of mediums. I just stacked heavy foot, decent cavalry, some 2 bases of light cav + 2 LI then a death star and a single base of peltast medium spear (to engage in light terrain or stab cavalry.) We then fought on a plain with limited terrain giving my heavies decent operating space. 

My far right command looked like it had bitten off more Gallic medium sword bases than it could handle but I managed to move some of my CinC's command over to threaten. The elite impact HC were imposing enough to convince both the light foot and medium sword than emerging from the rough ground to support the combats was a bad idea. 

With my 8 strong pike command spread across open ground - against a smaller group of elite heavy sword - I had some imitation legionary foot left often and a base of medium spear peltasts. These gladly advanced onto the medium cav ord in the centre. 

Note, this could never had happened if the Gauls had not chosen to retreat their cavalry when confronted with an earlier Ptolemaic charge. The extra turn allowed me to funnel solid heavy infantry into the fray with cavalry and to bolster my smaller elephant command with flanking cavalry support. 

My pike block took a beating in the initial phases of combat - Ian's dice always run hot, its not speculation just fact - before my overlaps began to count and 2 timely rallies held the line. From this point, despite losing 2 bases of pike, I ground through the Gallic line. 

One base of pike ordinary even broke away slamming into the heavy cavalry. This did not end well for the Gallic nobility. 

Threatened by xystophoroi in the open, the medium Gallic foot did not emerge together rather were slowly fed into the death star. I've never really seen elephants do anything good but tonight my jumbo stomped two Gallic bases into powder. Again, early hot rolls by the Gauls were eventually counteracted by overlaps and positioning of the general. 

The game was really over with the Gauls faced with a continuous line of strong melee troops. My light cav with javelins had again done a sterling job of driving away light troops, the pike had simply worn down then crushed their opponents over time and a smattering of other infantry had started to kill Gallic cavalry. 

With the elephant stomping on heads and thracians cutting into medium Gauls the damage was done. Keeping Gallic troops at bay with unfavourable match ups and draining their command points with 'hail Mary' rally rolls put the nail in the coffin. 

This time ... big Ptolemaic win.