We had a short pick-up game of SAGA - Age of Magic, which I consider vaguely themed as a prelude to a mate's upcoming multi-player battle between the Forces of Good and the Undead. My High Elves took on another mate's ghoul warband (plus skeletons). The purpose of the game was really just to better learn the relevant battleboards, and generally 'git gud' at SAGA.
Opening
A band of elves under a ranger captain were tracking a particularly clever and dangerous group of ghouls that had been preying upon the human settlements in the region. After many days of challenging pursuit of the evasive band of monsters across the rugged hill country, the elves finally caught up with their quarry in a heavy morning fog.
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| The Reavers' horn signals to the ranger band to form up. (Citadel Miniatures). |
Knowing the enemy were near, and discerning their direction, the elf troopers formed up in a semi-circular formation to pen up the expected ghoul charge. They anchored themselves in difficult terrain: a rocky area with a small crater and a wood, to slow any enemy charge.
In the darkness beyond the impenetrable mist, the gibbering and cackling of the approaching ghouls could be heard: the monstrous band had turned about to attack their pursuers. The elves waited, knocked their bows, and loaded up their battleboard with defensive Saga abilities (I was able to roll many phoenixes and decided not to move to attack, but rather let the enemy come to me).
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| The Ranger Captain (as the warlord) and elf sorcerer in the centre of the formation with bows left and right, spears in the middle and cavalry on the most open flank. (Citadel Miniatures and North Star). |
The Ghouls Emerge from the Fog
The gibbering began to turn to gurgling growls and almost-human teeth-gnashing outbursts as the horde approached. Suddenly, shrieking ghouls emerged from the mist and attacked. Leading them were a pair of gigantic ghouls later identified as ogre ghouls. This initial assault was beaten back with no losses to the elves, and the ogre ghouls were riddled with arrows. (All this due to a loaded battleboard and some incredible early luck with the attack and defence dice).
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| Ogre-ghouls lead the charge of the other ghouls in my opponent's warband, while his albino ghoul king looks on. |
As the fog lifted, the elf archers unleashed volleys of arrows and killed one of the ogre-ghouls. The elf sorcerer unleashed a lightning bolt (to little effect) but followed this up with spells to drive off and blind the ghouls. This worked to put more space between the elves and the charging ghouls, to give the elves more chances with their arrows. A necromancer approached the elf line, placing curses on them and raising some of the fallen ghouls, while the last ogre-ghoul attempted once more to break the line but fell to an elven sword.
As luck began to swing in favour of the ghouls, they were able to drive back the elves right-flank, killing several archers and threatening the elf sorcerer. Furthermore, a group of skeletal archers approached the elven cavalry and killed three of them with arrows - harrowing losses despite the elves' use of the 'Last Defence' Saga ability (I rolled a lot of 1s on saves).
Curses and spells of confusion were exchanged, but disaster once again struck the ghouls as their necromancer tried too hard with a curse and exploded in a shower of filth and dark, congealed blood. However, the elven archers had become primitives and could no longer benefit from advanced saga abilities.
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| The ghouls drive back the elven archers in the treeline, with curses on both units. |
The elven sorcerer again pushed back the attacking ghouls and the elven troops held their line. Shouting 'Banish Evil!' the elven spearmen charged out of their cratered rocky ground and attempted to drive the ghouls before them, but they were soundly beaten and fell back, having lost three elves for little result.
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| Elven archers hold the mysterious crater, while the spearmen prepare to charge downhill at the ghouls. |
At this point the battle ended, and the ghouls, having taken some critical losses, slunk away. They're still out there in the wilderness though, lurking. And the elves, despite having won a decisive victory and with all their units still intact, had suffered quite a few losses of their own.
Analysis
This was a good experience that taught me a lot about the relevant SAGA - Age of Magic battleboards, as well as helping to improve my familiarity with SAGA. Some radically bad dice rolls disadvantaged my opponent early on, though luck swung back a bit in the last two turns. With the loss of the ogre-ghouls and necromancer, and the game ending suddenly, the luck improvement came too late for the ghouls.
I ended up doing nothing with my Reaver light cavalry, and realise I should probably have manoeuvred with them to get them out of danger before the skeletons shot them. I should also have moved my warlord out further to defend the elf sorcerer, which, had the game lasted one more turn, could have caused his death.
The scenario (which was based on drawing five random cards) was supposed to encourage the elves to attack the ghouls early on, which perhaps I could have done. However, the Great Kingdoms battleboard is very strong in defence, and the fog would have hampered my shooting, potentially putting the whole elven ranger band in jeopardy.
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| The ranger captain exhorts his troopers (North Star miniatures - and yes, painting eyes is always a risk). |
