Wednesday, August 2, 2023

Late Romans vs. Picts SAGA Gameday

My Late Romans faced my buddy's Picts today. We played a scenario where I captured 2 of the 3 victory tokens early in the game. However, I only realized later that the units with the tokens had their movement reduced to Short. Also, the two cavalry units which held them also suffered Fatigue after each movement. The Picts' Attacotti Warrior unit destroyed all 3 of my Hearthguard units - with combined special abilities they had 20 Attack dice and were allowed to re-roll all misses! To be fair, they only get this many dice when they attack, but my attacks were not sufficient to stop them first. I found the Roman's Battle Board pretty good - was able to use the Scuta Reaction ability to re-roll the number of defense dice up to the current Impetus value +1. The Signa Activation is also good with being able to remove up to 2 Fatigues for up to 2 units. I failed to use Ardour in Melee which is also good - reduce Impetus by 1 and gain Attack and Defense dice equal to Impetus +1. I like the Late Roman's abilities and found the use of Impetus pretty straight foward. Plan to play them again in the future.  Here are some pics with Picts in some.

Roman deployment - they got to go first.
Picts initial deployment. They have abilities to move through woods without penalty.
Late Roman Warrior units - one mounted with composite bows (they were one of the units that captured a victory token). 
Foot and mounted Hearthguard units. Next time, I may increase them to either 6 or 8-figure units.
The Cataphract Hearthguard unit - already capturing a victory token and getting a Fatigue for movement. The Warlord behind them, and a Warrior unit with bows to their flank. The bowmen did well in decimating one of the Picts' Hearthguard units.
The Roman mounted Warriors with a victory token early on - prior to them being killed by the Attacotti Warriors.
Attacotti Warriors attacking the Cataphracts - who have been slowed to their already slow Medium movement to Short. They were also destroyed in subsequent attacks by the Attacotti - who also ended up killing the Roman Warlord.
Even though the Romans lost, it was still an enjoyable game and a lot was learned about the Picts' special abilities. Several of my buddies have Pict warbands, so will likely be facing them again in the future. Thanks for stopping by and hope you enjoyed the post.

16 comments:

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    1. Thank you very much, Michal! There were four other SAGA games going on at the same time. Quite a nice game day. Warmest regards, Dean

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  2. Lovely looking Saga game Dean, the Attacotti sound pretty cheesy!

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    1. Thanks, Mike. Well, I think the rules are you can only upgrade one 8-figure Warrior unit to Attacotti - and it costs another point. If they are attacked first, then they don't get their super abilities. I just didn't have a chance to attack them first. Warmest regards, Dean

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  3. Lovely looking figures and game Dean and as long as you had fun, the result doesn't matter too much!

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    1. Thanks a lot, Keith. Yes, the group that regularly meets for SAGA are a great bunch of guys. Also, each time I play I learn more - as they are pretty experienced players already. Kindest regards, Dean

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    1. Thank you very much, Matt! Best regards, Dean

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    1. Thank you, Peter! It's a popular faction/warband with the group. Me - I like more structured troops like the Romans. Warmest regards, Dean

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  6. Excellent looking game, great looking armies whatever the result!
    Best Iain

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    1. Thanks again for the kind words, Iain. Warm regards, Dean

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    1. Thanks, Richard. Learning the rules more and more. Warmest regards, Dean

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  8. Great looking game Dean. An interesting outcome and looks like there are more to the Picts than meets the eye.

    Cheers, Ross

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    1. Thanks, Ross! Yes, they don't look very intimidating at first - no real heavily armed/armored troops. They make up for it with stealth, manueverability, and frenzied attacks. Kindest regards, Dean

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