SAGA: Sacred ground battle against Norse-Gaels

In the latest round of the SAGA league, my Anglo-Danes took on Matt's Norse-Gaels.  It was a chance for payback after the havoc these guys wreaked on Sunday, when five Dane-Axe wielding maniacs brought down nine of my warriors, dooming me effort to defeat Dave's Vikings.

 

The scenario was "Sacred Ground," which awards victory points for holding the terrain features in the center of the table, in this case two hills and a wood.  

My plan was to plant my Huscarls on the left-hand hill, and then use my levy and warriors to contest the center hill.  I decided to concede the woods, since my archers would be ineffective there.

 

 

I got the first turn, and rushed my Huscarls to take the left-hand hill.

 

 

My Warlord and big unit of twelve Warriors seized the middle hill on the second turn... looking good!

 

Unfortunately, Matt's Warlord and Hearthguard promptly swept my Warriors off the center hill, and then took out my Warlord.  This battle was off to rough start.

However, my archers then brought down three of the Hearthguard, and my warriors rallied to finish them off.

 

Over on the left, my Huscarls were camped out on the other hill for two whole turns, which allowed me to rack up twenty-four victory points.  Matt threw a unit of twelve Warriors at them, amped up with the usual array of nefarious Norse-Gael SAGA abilities.  I took a chance and had the Huscarls fight back aggressively, rather than focusing on defense (which is to say, they rolled all 24 attach dice, rather than converting half their attacks to defense dice).
 

 

The Result: Twelve Warriors and nine Huscarls down, in a single round of combat.  The hill was dubbed "The Hill of Slaughter" for the rest of the game...

 

Back in the center, a back-and-forth struggle ensued between my Warriors, and Matt's forces.

I wiped out one unit of warriors . . . but more were lurking in the background.

 

More Norse-Gaels attempted to take the Hill of Slaughter, but were repulsed by the Huscarls, for the loss of another veteran fighter.

In the center, my Warriors were overwhelmed by a combined charge from the Norse-Gael Warlord and his henchmen--but one doughty Warrior escaped, thanks to some miraculous saving throws.

 

 

The archers moved up to take their turn on the Hill of Slaughter, and assisted the Huscarls in wiping out the left-most unit of Norse-Gaels.

 

The archers soon learned why the left-hand hill had earned such an ominous name, as eleven of them were cut down by the rampaging pagan Warlord and his Dane-Axe wielding lackeys.  In the background, you can see where Matt was busily painting reinforcements during my turns...

While Matt was finishing off the defenders on the Hill of Slaughter, my reserve unit of Warriors, and a last survivor from the first Warrior unit, re-occupied the central hill.

 

 

The raging Warlord ran back to the central hill, easily defeating the lone Warrior--but by then, he was exhausted (hence the four red fatigue tokens), and his enfeebled efforts against the reserve warriors were for nought.

Eight rounds having passed, the game was over.  Those four dudes were my last survivors, out of a once-mighty warband of forty-one men.  However, the final score was 41-23 in favor of the Anglo-Danes, because in all hurly-burly, I managed to keep more figures on the hills than the pagans did.  Godemitte!!!

Still shamefully lurking in the background was another unit of Norse-Gael Warriors.  If they had moved up earlier, they could have occupied the empty woods, which would have resulted in a closer score... but thankfully they never stirred.  There will be no place in Valhalla for those laggards!

I'm now 3-1 in our League, and looking forward to taking revenge on Dave next week...