The reapers sang of war, war with the shining wing*

Starting positions. Vikings at bottom and Danes at top.

Had another game of Saga with Chris, using the "Feasting & Pillaging" scenario from the Book of Battles.  I ran my freshly painted Vikings, which are made up of two bags of Old Glory figures that I purchased five years ago for reasons now forgotten (Great Pagan Army for Dux Bellorum, maybe? I don't think I actually intended them for Saga).  

Chris' Danes.

I also went ahead and tried out a combination basing scheme of four figures to a single 50mm square base plus a bunch of individually-based figures on 25mm squares.  This allowed for faster movement like a tray, but without the weirdness of half-empty trays as casualties pile up.

Vikings.

I did better than my last outing, imposing on myself a "only two special abilities per turn" limit, which piled more dice onto basic movement/charging activations.  This allowed all units to be in good positions to potentially engage in melee.

Viking line.

Unfortunately I may still be thinking too much in terms of 1st edition scenarios.  I only briefly skimmed the scenario objectives and wrongly concluded that if I captured two objectives and got them off table that would be a victory.

The warbands close in on the objectives.

In actuality, getting an objective off table simply scored you 6 points.  Holding an objective on table by end of turn six scored you 3.  The rest of the points were awarded for "survival points" for figures still on table by turn six.

Vikings close to an objective.

Danish archers in cover.

Vagrant Warriors - these guys were brutally effective.

Accordingly, although I grabbed two objectives early on, then lost one but managed to recapture it, by about the top of turn four I had already lost entire unit of 12 warriors, my warlord was dead, and another unit of warriors was at about 50% and my hearthguard unit had lost two or three figures. My contrast I had eliminated the Danish hearthguard but little else.

Viking Hearthguard carrying off an objective.

Vagrant Warriors have an ability where if they enter a melee and burn an opponent's fatigue, they raise their armor by one and deplete the opponent's by one.  Chris managed to roll a lot of rare activation dice the second half the game and just piled activations onto the vagrants.

Viking Hearthguard carrying off an objective.

As a result, the Vagrants buzzsawed through the depleted unit of Viking warriors, reducing it to a single figure, and then on turn six moved three times consecutively to engage and destroy the Viking hearthguard unit for a fairly blow-out win in points (although by this point I had figured out that I had already lost regardless).

Danish vagrant warrior mercenaries on the move.

So lesson learned for me: read the scenario objectives.

A lone surviving Viking warrior, near end game.

Another lesson?  Shooting seems overly effective in second edition Saga.  A levy unit of 12 figures can throw 6 dice with a base to-hit of the target's armor value.  This would be target to-hit of 4+ for warriors and 5+ for hearthguard. Long experience with tinkering with Lion Rampant rules for my Italian Wars games led me to conclude that any shooting attack that can hit on a 4+ on a 1d6 is probably overpowered (if not outright game breaking).  So taking two points of Levy seems more a requirement than an option.

*Aneurin. Y Gododin. xvii.

Late Roman Battle with the Ancient Portable Wargame

I'm preparing for a map-based Italian Wars campaign to be remotely played with Jamie, using the French-Spanish "War for Naples" in southern Italy in 1501-1503 as the setting.  We wanted to look at the map and push counters around on it to make sure it would work reasonably well, and if we were going to be a video call, we may as well have a game, too, so I set up a Late Roman game using various bits and pieces of my battle generators.

Barbarians. Mostly Goths with a few Franks.

The Barbarians were the attackers and ended up deployed with all infantry in center, and their only cavalry unit on their right.  The Roman infantry was mostly deployed in center, but with a cavalry and infantry unit on each extreme flank as well.  Because the barbarians were lower on total Strength Points, they were upgraded with two additional light infantry archer units, which could be deployed further forward than the rest of the army.

The Roman left. The numbered papers give grid references for the remote player.

My first instinct was to class both the legions and the barbarians as simple heavy infantry but with a 2-grid ranged attack (javelins and other short distance weapons), with the legions perhaps elite instead of average.  Then I figured the legionaries suggested in the Developing the Portable Wargame ancients rules were fine as is (5 SP with ranged attack, but average).  I was less sure of the "Barbarian Tribesmen" stat line in DtPW, which seemed more appropriate for linebreaking Gauls or ancient Germans ambushing out of a forest, but then I figured the 3 SP, 3 movement, and +1 to attack if moving at least two squares in the charge move additions could also abstract a group that took courage in a first massed attack and but which could not hold up in an extended combat with a Roman line.  So, Legionaries and Barbarian Tribesmen as suggested in the book it was!  The Chance Cards used in the previous Belle Epoque game, as described at Grid Based Wargaming, were used again.

Roman center.

As you can maybe surmise from the photos, my continued slide towards larger infantry units continues, with the heavy infantry for both sides being increased to six 40mm square stands of three figures each (so 18 figures/unit) rather than the intended four stands (12 figs/unit).   Cavalry has oddly shrunk to five figures per unit, and the light infantry units are just three stands (9 figures/unit).  Jamie had chosen to be the barbarians, so I played the Romans.  

After the Roman cavalry on Roman left has been destroyed.

I pulled my infantry on the flanks in towards the middle, and sent my cavalry on the left forward to disperse the light infantry skirmishers.  Although I drove a unit back several squares, the cavalry lost two out of three SP in the process, and on his turn Jamie was able to destroy that unit. 

The Barbarian infantry prepares for a mass charge.

Because the destroyed cavalry was opposite the lone Gothic cavalry squadron, the barbarians now sent said Gothic cav around the Roman flank, with three full units of light archers getting a lot of 6s on their hit rolls and knocking off an SP here and there on the left flank of the Roman infantry line.

Roman legionaries in line.

Then, a familiar disaster. The Roman general's unit takes a hit and rolls a "6" indicating that he has been slain.  Because he counts as 6 SP lost towards the Romans' exhaustion point, what was a even game at 3 or 4 SP lost per side now suddenly has the Romans on the brink of exhaustion.

Goths slowly advancing into charge range. Last known photograph of Roman leader before he was slain by a Goth arrow or spear.

The Romans were in a decent enough position, with a well formed line, but really at this point the Goths could just hang back and let their longer range archers continue to chip away at the Romans, with no fear of counterattack.

Goths in close combat with legions.

And that is exactly what Jamie did, although he did line up his big infantry charge, it was never necessary as the archers, with the help of a few javelin attacks by the heavy infantry and cavalry, were able to push the Romans past 50% lost SP quite easily.

Corner of the Roman "L", with 4 lost SP markers on it.

After the game, Jamie felt that the Goths ending up with four light infantry archer units was too much for the Romans to handle. I said it was my own fault for not sending both cavalry units out on each flank to harass the skirmishers (I only sent one and when that one failed I held the other back).  My decision to deny the entire left flank to a single Gothic cavalry unit was an over-reaction - I should have kept advancing on his heavy infantry with the entirety of the legionaries). We both agreed that the dead commander counting as 6 SP for calculation of exhaustion was too much. I was willing to keep the notational value of 6 SP but only have the commander slain on double 6s on 2d6 instead of a single 6. I think we have agreed to keep it to the 6 on a 1d6 test, but with a notational value of 1.

End of game or close thereto.  The legionaries on the corner will break with loss of their fifth SP, which combined with earlier loss of the cavalry unit and lost SP up and down the line, will push them past 50% lost. 

As always, the real solution for a better game might be more miniatures - I still want to paint up more Late Romans and play Roman vs. Usurper Roman games (each with Barbarian allies - this seems to be the most common historical occurrence), and I have Alan horse archers to paint up that would add another layer to the troop dynamics.  I'm also eyeing a pack of Byzantine arcubalistarii, which would add some fun visual variation, and could be fielded as "close order archers" for the Romans.  The same Old Glory line also has a mixed skirmisher pack of staff slingers and javelins which could give the Romans some additional unique skirmish units.

Belle Epoque Battle Maker

Having now played two games of the shiny toy soldier variety, featuring a French army of the Third Republic against a British army one of Guard, Line, and Volunteer Rifle units, a rudimentary but satisfactory "Belle Epoque" battle-maker toolkit has emerged.  This toolkit is based on and evolved from my earlier Italian Wars and English Civil War battle-makers.  

Because warfare by the later 19th century had become very non-linear (in the old Napoleonic sense) and very infantry- and artillery-centric (cavalry falling to the wayside as scouts, despite much wishful thinking to the contrary), both the terrain-tiles and the random deployment components needed to change.  Variation in deployment thus becomes more central, while force composition becomes less dynamic/variable (forces are mainly infantry and artillery, with small variations for elite status).

I.  FORCE COMPOSITION

Each side rolls on the following tables to generate the forces for the game.  Obviously, these are constrained by the figures you have available put on the table. Currently I cannot run the large battles (not enough artillery crew, would have to stretch infantry to capacity).  But generally speaking, the idea is to figure out what is the largest duplicate armies you could table for each side (x), then create a dice system that will randomize out x-1 and x-2.  After the main feature, perhaps, is to determine the presence of elite units. This is done by counting a certain number of units as regular, then counting one as elite, then starting over. The number of regular units counted is determined by a 1d3+1. For example, if you have five infantry, and you roll 1d3+1 for a result of 2, then 2 of your 5 infantry will be regular, then 1 elite, then 2 more regular.  If you had eight infantry and rolled a 2, you would end up with 6 regular and 2 elite (2-1-2-1).

SMALL BATTLE:

French: 
1d3+3 infantry (then roll a 1d3+1, with the result being x - after x regular infantry, then 1 elite. Example: you roll 1d3+3 and get a total of 5 infantry. Then you roll 1d3+1 for a result of 2.  2 of your 5 infantry will be regular, then 1 elite, then 2 more regular. For ease of reference the French player designates his zouaves as the elites)
1d3-2 machine guns
1d3-2 artillery

British:
1d3+3 infantry (then roll a 1d3+1, with the result being x - after x regular infantry, then 1 elite)
1d3-2 machine guns
1d3-2 artillery

Notes: The concept is 4-6 infantry per side (with at least one veteran/elite unit) possibly supported by a machine gun or an artillery piece. Elite troops could be better trained, veterans, or especially well led units.  French could use zouaves and/or chasseurs alpin for easy-to-recognize elites. British could use Guard or Highland units.

MEDIUM BATTLE:

French: 
1d3+5 infantry (roll a 1d3+1, with the result being x - after x regular infantry, then 1 elite)
1d3-1 machine guns
1d3-1 artillery

British:
1d3+5 infantry 
1d3-1 machine guns
1d3-1 artillery

Notes: Presumption is 6-8 infantry per side (with 1-2 veteran/elite units) with up to 2 machine guns and/or artillery in support.

LARGE/FINAL BATTLE:

French: 
1d3+7 infantry 
1d3 machine guns
1d3 artillery

British:

1d3+7 infantry 
1d3 machine guns
1d3 artillery

Notes:  8-10 infantry units per side (with 2-3 veteran/elite units) with a minimum of 1 machine gun and 1 artillery in support.

II. TERRAIN

I created a entirely new set of terrain cards. Unlike the set I use for games ranging anywhen from the Punic Wars up to the English Civil War, one corner of a given terrain feature (a hill, a wood, or a building) always touches the center of the area in question. There are no blank, open field squares. 

All 12 of the Belle Epoque terrain tiles.

The tiles are shuffled and then one at a time is turned over from the top of the deck to create the board.  There are several variations on how one could lay out the tiles to generate a board.  Up until now I have laid out four in a 2-2 pattern such as pictured below, where the top and bottom edges would be the sides of the table from which each side would deploy.  This works fine for earlier periods but as the games played thus far have revealed, this set up creates a "cone of fire" in the center which artillery can dominate.

A 2x2 terrain map.

One alternative to deal four tiles but do a 1-2-1 arrangement, as pictured below. This would a require slightly different deployment system, however.

1-2-1 arrangement.

Another alternative would be a 1-2-2 arrangement.  For this you deal out a 1-2-1, then roll a dice for the left and right sides.  The higher flank is given an additional card, such as below. For this the 2-2 tile arrangement deployment method could still be used the and the lone terrain piece on the left would be unoccupied at the beginning of the game.

1-2-2 arrangement.

III. DEPLOYMENT:

This is a little tricky to convey, so bear with me.  Armies in this period have evolved away from the old infantry-cavalry-artillery trifecta, and more exclusively towards (lots and lots of) infantry and (lots of) artillery.  So the style of deployment chart from the Italian Wars campaign system is irrelevant, since we're not talking about medieval set-piece battles, where all we have to determine is the rough composition of a van, middle, and rear guard (left flank-center-right flank).  And with the increasing lethality of rifles and artillery, its rather dishonest to deploy anything in an open field at the beginning of the game.  

Battles are also becoming larger, so having all units on the table at the start is also a rather glaring untruth that miniature games enforce for the convenience of having all the toys on the table at the start. Per Moltke, enveloping attacks have become more formidable than attempting to pierce an enemy's front, while at same time increases in firepower reduced the risk to the defender in splitting its forces and increases in the size of armies made outflanking maneuvers more practical.

So, something with a little more complexity is required. My solution is a deployment mechanic that reacts to the terrain tile mechanic.   

FIRST, determine forward and flank deployments of infantry..

Attacker deploys 1 infantry unit on, and up to 1 additional infantry unit behind, a single terrain piece (dice to determine which one).  Defender deploys 2 infantry units on, and up to 1 additional infantry unit behind, on each of two terrain pieces on their side of the board.

Attacker deploys 1-3 infantry units off table on right or left table edge on their half of board. These infantry have been deployed in a Flanking Position. These may come on board any turn the attacker desires.

SECOND, deploy remaining infantry after above instructions have been exhausted... (probably larger games only)

Attacker deploys 1-3 (so 1d3) of remaining infantry units along back line starting with spaces that are directly to the rear of terrain features (infantry on back line are "Main Line Position"), and any remaining units off-table to rear edge (the "Reserve Position"). Roll 1d6+1 for each off table Reserve Position infantry unit each turn, if the result is equal to or less than current turn number (so turn 2, 3, or 4), then this unit is available to come-on table that turn. 

Defender deploys 1-2 (1d3-1) of remaining infantry units along back line ("Main Line Position"), and the rest off-table in Reserve Position in same manner as Attacker.

THIRD, artillery is placed...

The first gun for the defender is placed with the Main Line.  The second and any further additional guns (if available) for defender is placed in Reserve Position.  The first gun for the attacker is placed in the Flank Position. The second gun for the Attacker is place in the Main Line and any further additional guns (if available) for attacker are placed the Reserve Position.  

FOURTH, the general(s) are placed...

The general(s) are placed at center position of Main Line, and may start game with a unit in that space. 

RESERVE POSITION TROOPS

Reserve Position troops are troops still on the way to the battle field when the game starts. Roll 1d6+1 for each off table infantry unit - this is the turn (so turn 2, 3, or 4) that this unit is available to come-on table.  Player is not required to bring units on table on the turn first allowed to do so. However, an army's Exhaustion Point is determined only by units on table and not reserve or flank units, so holding back reserves too long is risky!

FLANK POSITION TROOPS

Flank Position troops may come on board at anytime. Like Reserve Troops, if they are not on table they do not count towards that army's Exhaustion Point.

Optional: Smaller force may buy earthworks to make up difference in SP values (1 grid face @ 1 SP per).  Attacker then moves first as the game truly begins.

IV. CHANCE CARDS

I made two sets of chance cards using those described at Grid Based Wargaming But Not Always.   These are fifteen cards as follows (you can see the effects of each in the photo):

Ammo Shortage x2

Rally x2

Initiative x2

Loss of Nerve x2

Confusion x2

No Event x5

V.  VICTORY AND DEFEAT

I like the system from the Portable Pike & Shot Wargame best: when a side reaches 1/3rd lost SP, it is exhausted and cannot advance or move towards the enemy any more, nor follow-up into a vacated square as a result of close combat.  When a side reaches 1/2 lost SP, it is broken the game is over.

The trick, therefore, is to assume that your army will become exhausted, and to plan accordingly so that when it is exhausted it can continue to fight effectively through ranged attacks so that it may still win the day.

Thou hast become a meal for ravens*

I met Chris for a game of Saga on Thursday, running my 42-warrior mob using the Viking board against his Danes.  The Danes somehow shrugging 12 hits off into 2 casualties didn't help for sure.

Viking hiking in the wood.

Looking towards Danish lines.

12-fig Viking warrior unit with banner fights 6-pack of Danish hearthguards.

Viking chief killed by remaining Danish hearthguard.

Situation at time of Viking chief's demise. Majority of viking warband is now too far to rear to be effective.

Danes do some mopping up.

Saga is a weird set of rules. Possibly silly, even. Still, I guess its as entertaining or serious as you make it. The trap, such as it were, is that it is very easy to too overthink it and take it too serious. There should be a cap on the number of dice you can put on special abilities; force more basic activations/attacks and less stacked bonuses/special conditions.  This is why Welsh and Irish were always so effective and fun - with javelin throws being free with movement activations, you get to be dynamic and move around a lot and possibly have every unit make an attack every turn. With the shieldwall type warbands you probably make one attack per turn with tons of bonuses, and a lot of units end up just standing around.

*Aneurin. Y Gododin. I.