Sitrep (Saga): Forest Road Ambush

Norse Gaels taking a leisurely stroll in the woods.

The Age of the Wolf saga supplement seems to have revitalised the saga players in my area with me included. Recently I got in my third game and scenario from the new campaign supplement. Sascha came calling, this time I was Norse Gaels and my Welsh were moonlighting as Scots.  The Scots in Saga are a defensive/counterattack team. Before picking sides I setup for a forest road ambush battle. We played the mission twice with the Scots ambushing the Gaels then the Gaels ambushing the Scots. I think we may have messed up the deployment but it affect both sides evenly.

 While the sneaky Scots get ready for an ambush

The initial deployment

Strangely we found the ambush scenario was harder for the attacker than the defender. Since the defender gets an auto win if his warlord leaves the table the attacker needs to split his army to cover both exits. This means the defender gets to see which forces go where and push towards the weak link. In the Scots ambush of the Gaels the Scots got and initial bad roll and could not get their blocking units in place quickly.  While the Gaels got a luck roll and activated most of their force with the warlord making break for it away from the Scottish warlords and his hearthgaurd.

Gael warriors clash with their Scottish counterparts to keep the path open for their warlord to escape

While the Gael warlord makes a break for it

In the end the Scot just could not shut down the exit in time and the Gael warlord escaped for the win.  The game was a bit anti climatic asking the counter-attacking Scots to attack and motivating the defender to just bugger off with his warlord did not make for a very fulfilling game. Maybe if the attacker had cavalry it would have been better but if the defender had cavalry it would have been a very brief game.

Slightly dissatisfied we changed roles with Scots being ambushed by the Gaels.  This was much better game with the Scots getting to play their strength has the Gaels advance desperately trying to shut down the escape routes for the Scottish Warlord

Scot getting to ambush. This time the Gales were able to shut down an escape route early in the game 

But the other route stayed open

The Gaels quickly shut down one escape route but the other stayed open.  The Gaels hit hard loosing two hearthguard units in the process but the stubborn Scots could not be shifted.  In the end the Gael's Warlord had lead his warriors into the Scottish centre to try to save the day. He cut his way through the Scottish hearthgaurd before challenging and slaying the Scottish warlord in single combat. It was a high risk play since if it did not work the warlord would end his turn surrounded by Scots but it paid off in the end and made for a much more satisfying game.

All the Gael Hearthgaurd trying to break the Scots line

In the end the Gaels warlord has to fight his way through the Scottish Hearthgaurd to slay their warlord

That is all for now thanks for stopping by