SAGA on a rainy Sunday

It's pouring outside and, as chance would have it, I just happened to finish basing and flocking my newly received 28mm Anglo-Saxons from Evil Bob's Painting Service. So, in short order, I set up a simple table with sparse terrain and got everything ready for a SAGA game.

SAGA, if you are not familiar with it, is a Dark Ages skirmish rules system that has since expanded from Dark Age Viking combat to the Crusades, King Arthur's wars, and beyond. It's fast, brutal, fun as hell, and easy to set up. My son and I battled it out with 6 "points" of forces each (about 40-50 figures per side). He took the Vikings and I took my newly based Saxons.

A unit of Saxon warriors awaits a Viking charge uphill

I stayed motionless on a hill and let him come to me. Taking full advantage of the defensive bonuses of the Saxon battle board (with less dice to have to activate units with), I stood like a wall as he led the attack with his hearthguard units (elite hirdmen). Rolling uncharacteristically poorly, my son bounced off my warrior units with heavy losses. As I counterattacked downhill, he knew he was in trouble. He did manage to eliminate one of my warrior units, but I had done so much damage that we called it by turn 6. It was an overwhelming Saxon victory (rare for me....he usually takes me out with his Vikings).

SAGA was perfect for a quick and easy game to pass the rainy day. We will be trying out the Anglo-Danish forces next.

Melee in SAGA

Viking hearthguard fighters strike Saxon warriors

A Saxon warlord takes on a fatigued Viking unit