The Age of Chivalry is the latest expansion for SAGA. I’ve been excited for it to come out. I am a regular SAGA player, so the mechanics-building a warband, the mechanics, the SAGA board are familiar. More than anything, I was anxious to see how it all played out in a period I’m pretty familiar with.
On Wednesday I played my English against my friend Kurt’s French. In AoC the entire English command is dismounted. Dismounted hearthguard (knights/men-at-arms), longbowmen are warriors, not levies, and there can be a unit of spear/polearmed, sword wielding warriors. A warrior unit may also be mounted.
On the surface, the longbowmen seem uninpiring. They are some variable off of eight figures only half of whom can shoot. However, the bowmen at the heart of any Hundred Years War English army is strengthened by a host of SAGA abilities that boost their range (at the expense of damage), increase their damage at shorter ranges and even increase their melee abilities if they charge (as they often did.)
The fighting ability of hearthguards are also improved by a variety of other SAGA abilities. However to use those, the board requires units to stick together. Many abilities may only be triggered by the proximity of other English units (within S). That’s a mistake I made that cost me a unit in my game with Kurt.
A quick recounting of the game is this: I chose three four-figure hearthguard units and three warrior units numbering 9, 9, 6. That allowed me to boost my fire by one figure each turn. Kurt chose three mounted hearthguard of four figures, two foot hearthguard of four figures, and a levy crossbow unit of 12 figures.
We played a simple “kill the warlord” scenario. In choosing terrain, I chose the ruins to anchor my left flank and a field to anchor my right. In the ruin I put a 9 figure archer unit and a MAA unit, in the center two MAA units flanking my six figure archer unit, and in the field my final 9 figure archers.
Kurt placed a hill and two woods to try and screen his advance from bow fire , knowing I was not likely to come and get him. I did open fire on turn one at the 2L range allowed by the SAGA ability “Loose!” It’s a -1 to hit, but it also forced Kurt to play “Full Harness” allowing his units Resilience 2 which change hits to fatigue, but also slowed his movement to M. It wasn’t very effective though it did give him something to think about.
Kurt’s pictures of the French advance as it unfolded. They had quite a ways to march, mostly under fire. The last image shows one of the mounted hearthguard unit depleted.
By the end of turn four, things got interesting. Kurt was within 12″ and there would be no more -1 die rolls. Bow fire eliminated one of the mounted units. On Turn 5, with his dismounted units trailing behind, Kurt launched his leader at my archer unit in the field, and his hearthguard at one of my hearthguard units. The leader defeated my archers, but they still stuck around, with the leader taking two fatigues, plus one for the melee. The hearthguard vs. hearthguard battle was worse for the French, losing three figures, while my unit suffered no loss.
I followed up Kurt’s attack with two of my own, finishing off two wounded mounted units. But I also moved one of my hearthguard units beyond support. Kurt finished the game by killing that unit off. I did little in turn 6.
The French finished pretty badly mauled. But it was a pretty difficult first game, with the English in a pretty strong defensive position and having to march across the table under the threat of fire. I thought Kurt did a pretty good job, but there were definitely lessons learned. The English hearthguard give as good as they get, even against cavalry. The archers are warriors and get to melee with all their figures, rolling as many dice as a hearthguard unit before looking at SAGA boards and fatigue.
For the English I learned a few things. I don’t need to play “Grueling Advance” until the French get closer. That allows me to set up stakes or other obstructions that give fatigue to attackers. I was using it most turns. Pour dice into the Combat Bonus for archers for the first couple of turns. They aren’t rolling that many dice, so give ’em more for Loose! Don’t allow yourself to spread out. Many SAGA abilities only apply to units within S of other units, especially for melee. I haven’t quite figured out a plan for taking the English on offensive.
I felt the game a relatively interesting feel for the period. If I have a complaint it is that as a skirmish, the English would likely have had some mounted units. It felt like we were trying to fight Crecy, or Poitiers, or Agincourt-relatively large battles, while the endless actions in Gascony over the course of the Hundred Years War, were small encounters with mixed mounted and dismounted troops. Really, my only complaint.
