Hello and welcome to my first battle report!
I hope I´ll be able to get more games in this year than last (which was a bit of a dry spell for me in terms of Saga) and plan to document them here. Most of them will likely be my Sassanids, digital on TTS for now and irl once they are table ready.
Today´s opponent was my good friend Pyrrhos, known in the Saga community for his excellent models and historically accurate kitbashes. He decided to field the Franks from Age of Invasions today and ran the following list:
Warlord on foot
2 Points of Hearthguard (deployed as a single unit)
3 Points of Warriors
1 Point of Deserters mercenaries
Meanwhile my Sassanid force consisted of:
Warlord on horse, Cataphract
Personal Champion on horse, Cataphract
1,5 Points of Warriors (as a single unit with composite bows)
1 Elephant
2.5 points of Levy (2x9 with bows and 1x12 without special equipment)
In terms of scenario, we decided to give the new tournament booklet a go and started with "Clash of Warbands". I am not going to go into detail on the new terrain and deployment rules, but they felt very balanced and created a table that was more "balanced". The usual "terrain tactics" a lot of players used to employ will definitely be harder to pull off.
The final table setup can be seen here:
As the starting player, Pyrrhos began deploying one of his units and we went back and forth until all our models had been placed. The Franks focussed all of their units on my right flank, seeking to make best use of "The Frankish People" and achieve a breakthrough. His hearthguard and warlord were kept behind the lines to protect them from enemy fire until they were ready to unleash their melee prowess.
Ion the other hand kept many units in reserve to react to Pyrrhos´ movements and draw him into a crossfire. My elephant as my primary shock unit was placed closest to the enemy lines to stop the barbarians from pushing through too quickly. The levy with bows were set up near terrain so that they would be able to anchor my lines and focus fire on the enemy deserters, which were poised to move into solid cover. In reserve were my horse archers and spear levy, ready to react to the Frankish advance and stem the tide where needed.
The initiative went to the Franks and they wasted no time to advance in full force. Their mercenary allies set up in a good defensive position while their warriors pushed forward with the elites right behind them.
In my first turn, I loaded up my board and set out to do what Sassanids do best: Turn their enemies into Porcupines. I activated "Volley Fire", greatly increasing the range of my horse archers. To protect them from enemy fire, I had deployed them outside of L so they had to advance to bring their bows to bear.
Using the full might of the Sassanid board, I unleashed a deadly salvo, taking out half a unit of warriors before retreating to safe distance. To stall the Frankish advance and buy me more time to whittle them down with arrow fire, my elephant bravely (and foolishly) advanced on the enemy line. The crew fired arrows as they went and then the beast charged the weakened unit. Due to unlucky rolls, only one warrior died, leaving elephant exposed and exhausted. "Inexorable Advance" managed to take out a model from a different unit but that was all I could do for the turn.
In their second turn Pyrrhos struck back and struck back hard. "Second Wind" let me remove a fatigue from my elephant but that didn´t save it from a being worn down by the unit of warriors in the woods before it was taken down by the enemy warlord. The war beast and its crew gave a good account of themselves though, fighting ferociously against the enemy warlord and forcing Pyrrhos to remove two of his hearthguards to not exhaust him.
I also learned the painful lesson that my precious horse archers weren´t quite as safe as I´d thought as the red unit rushed towards them before using "Ban" to charge and annihilate them, trading only four of theirs for 9 enemy skulls. The unit would probably have been wiped completely if not for my timely use of "Defensive Posture".
After the rude wakeup call, it was clear to me that I had to take back the initiative and hit the Franks hard. I did just that, sending my personal champion in to clean up the overextended warriors and he did just that, taking only a single hit in the process. Next, I moved my warlord over to command my archers into action. After a good round of shooting, they managed to wipe out the remaining members of the green unit, inflicting fatigue on almost all of Pyrrhos´ units and exhausting his warlord.
I also advanced my remaining horse archers to get them outside of M from my table edge as the scenario couts any units within that distance as destroyed. I also topped up my champion so he would be ready for action.
Pyrrhos 4th turn was rather uneventful as he was running low on dice and preparing his next strike. He simply advanced his deserters into position and put his warlord safely in cover while the remainder of his army shuffled up.
Having an inkling of what was about to happen and running low on dice myself, I spent my 5th turn pulling back my levy, firing as they went. and stocked my board with as many defensive abilities as I could. I also rested the horse archers since I had a die left over.
In his 5th and potentially last turn, the Franks pushed one last time with everything they had. Although drawn back, his hearthguard still managed to reach my archers and killed 4 of them, although if my dice hadn´t been on fire a lot more of them could have died. His deserters also pushed forward and charged my spearmen. Through some unlucky rolling, three of them died and only took 3 levy with them.
My turn consisted of largely moving units outside of M, hoping that the game would end there. My champion also counter charged the deserters, pushing them back and slaying 3.
Pyrrhos had the honour of the rolling for the third turn and rolled a 5, giving him another chance to score kills. He did just that, wiping out the remaining 5 archers.
Having the advantage of the last move, I rushed my champion and warlord into battle. The former eliminated the remaining deserters while the latter took a crack at the Frankish leader. Unfortunately, he did not succeed, merely exhausting his opponent.
The final score of this very bloody game was 21 - 16.
Thanks to Pyrrhos for an excellent game and thank you for reading this post.
May the Rares be with you!
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