The Zhodani Commando: 4pt mini "Clash of Warlords" Saga match part two of two

Well if you read part one of two of this title, then you know that this is the second match we played as we still had time before Mark had to dash off to work.

As you will note (in part one of this title) I mentioned it was a good idea to not only know your battle board, but your opponents as well, as this will help you make better decisions when it comes to planning. Well I will go a bit further by tweaking this a bit and also say it's a good idea to know your opponent as well (even if he's not your regular, scout out the other guys games when you have a chance). I mention this because we all are creatures of habit and sometimes we fall into this rut of playing the same way over and over again until finally we lose enough times we try changing things up. Since I was losing all the time it came naturally to me to try different things each game, but I knew Mark had victory blindness. I was going to use this to my advantage then!

We played the same scenario, keeping the same troops but allowed changing of formations. So here is how it went for our second game.

Order of Battle:

VIkings:
Warlord
Hirdmen (Huscarl) X4
Hirdmen (Huscarl) X4
Bondi (Warriors) X10
Bondi (Warriors) X6

Anglo-Danish
Warlord
Huscarls (Huscarl) X4
Ceorls (Warriors) X4
Ceorls (Warriors) X4
Ceorls (Warriors) X4
Ceorls (Warriors) X4
Gerburs (Levy) X12

Mark pretty much kept his troops the way they where with the exception of tossing over two Bondi from one unit to the other. So the Vikings had 6 Saga dice to start out with. I, dangerously, broke up my Ceorls into 4 man units. This gave me 7 Saga dice (only can roll 6) and my plan since he had no shooty troops was to make them fatigue bombs (using "Lords of Battle" & "Unforgiving"), but the Vikings have an ability called "Loki" that can make a unit of Warriors of 3 models or less disappear. Mark has only used this one on me once in all our games so I was counting on his "Victory Blindness"!

Mark had the first move of turn one and basically moved his formations up, which was okay with me as he got them in range of my Gerbur unit. He had also selected the ability "Odin" which causes an activated unit for shooting to change it to a move action. This is what I had counted on him to do (this is knowing your opponent bit).

My rolls for my move of turn one where pretty good having rolled a few helmets. I used those to keep rolling until I had a nice little pile of Horsey ones, three to be exact, and placed them all on the Gerbur activation spot. In Saga, as opposed to other rule systems, you only count the models in range not the whole unit just because one model is in range of the target. So I calmly, keeping my poker face on (which is always a stupid smile), stated I was going to shoot at his 10 man Bondi unit knowing only half my models where in range (okay here is where I have to start snickering, it was really hard not to do it in front of Mark). He fell for it! He used it and I promptly moved my unit just enough to have all my models in range. I announced I would shoot (fatigue taken after the shot is resolved), he failed to make the saves and lost two figures. Now with a fatigue on my Gerburs I activated them a second time and asked, "Mark would you like to take a fatigue off my unit to raise your armor value (with my stupid smile on my face)". He Said, "Yes Kevin I think I would".... again this is just what I hoped he would do. Four hits later ( plus failing to save any of them, rolled nothing better than a 3), that poor old Bondi unit had gone from 10 down to four figures in quite a hurry. Visions of Santa Claus coming down the chimney bringing me early Christmas presents where in my head when I announced my third and last activation for the Gerburs to shoot and again asked Mark if he would like to remove my fatigue to increase his armor and once more he agreed. This time I plebed on the dice but the damage was done, and not just to his unit, I'm pretty sure I'd gotten into his head;) Especially after I reminded him ya know all my figures weren't in range right? Also do you remember that Levy are exhausted after only two fatigue. I think that bit really got into his head;)

Poor ole Mark was pretty rift about those cold blooded uber sniper Gerburs, and ordered what was left of those bloodied Bondi into a headlong charge into my poor levy. I was able to weather the storm and saved all but two and gladly backed away, though Mark took no causalities in return.

On my part of turn 2 I again had some good rolls and got a few helmets which allowed me to set up one of my fatigue bomb Ceorls and move my Gerburs out of the way. I smacked into what was left of his 4 man Bondi and wiped them out losing only one of my warriors in return. Today was a good day to be an Anglo-Dane! I had set it up so I could move my fatigue bomb Ceorl unit out of his support range, though this gave me one more fatigue, it did make Mark have to spend two activations to reach them. I had also set up my board with the "Intimidation" which cancels one activation of your opponent. This I thought would help because Mark now only had 5 saga dice to roll with the loss of his Bondi.

At this point I am pretty sure Mark was a bit overcome with the loss of his ten man Bondi unit (or was it he was thinking it was almost time to go?). Again he had a really good Saga dice roll and able to use several of them on the ability to roll more. Here is his set up board before the start of turn 3.

Mark, I think, made a small mistake for he was too worried over my ability to cancel one of his activations and didn't set up his board for any abilities for the upcoming melee. I am sure he thought he could steam roll my Ceorls with his Hirdmen, but first he lined up his Bondi to charge into my Huscarl. With no offensive abiltities to add on, they were doomed before they started. He had to move twice to come into contact with my Huscarl and took a fatigue doing so. When his 6 man Bondi unit slammed home I used that fatigue to lower his armor value and though he took down two Huscarl, in return I caused 8 hits and he saved only two wiping out his unit. At this point Mark's morale was broken, but I am sure it was mostly he had to hurry up and go, and gave me the game. It would have been fun to see what he could have done with his Hirdmen and then my counter move, but I am pretty sure I had this one in the bag (but then I always think that;)).