Saga : Life in the Old Dog

It's been quite some time since I played Saga, but over the weekend I joined Matt in his gaming dungeon for a stroll down memory lane. All of our medieval gaming (and even some fantasy gaming) of late has been Lion Rampant, so it would be nice to go back to our roots. I broke out the vikings while Matt had his Normans champing at the bit, a classic Saga matchup. We mixed things up a little by borrowing a scenario from the Lion Rampant rules - each faction would gain a point by holding the cross in the centre of the battlefield at the start of their turn, first to five points would be the winner.

The vikings pushed forward, eager to defile the weak god symbol, but suffered early casualties from a massed Norman knight charge. No matter how many troops they threw at the cross, the Normans found it easy to repulse them with cavalry charges. Eventually, corpses littered the ground around the icon, from both sides. The knights had performed their duty to their god, laying down their lives to drive away the pagan invaders, with plenty of help from the crossbow bolt. Many a viking warrior would revel in Valhalla that night.

As with many games of Saga, it ended a bloodbath. Games can be very brutal, especially if the right combinations of Saga dice can be had. The vikings were always on the back foot, having no real answer to the knights or crossbows. The Normans had two units of troops that took no real part in the battle - they won with one hand tied behind their back. Nevertheless, an interesting return to the old game, maybe we will try out some more of the scenarios.