Saga CincyCon battle report

My lords, my ladies, and everybody else here not sitting on a cushion! [My favorite movie quote from “A Knights Tale”]

CincyCon has come and gone and I believe the Saga tournament was a success. We had 12 openings and 6 showed up, but had a pre register showed up it would have made it 7 and I could have played to make it a nice 8 player tourney. But in the end I was happy for my first running of a tournament to be free to answer questions.

As mentioned this was my first running of a tournament and I am far from being an expert at the rules system but felt experienced enough at it to be able to be a fair umpire if needed. At first I didn’t know what to do with myself as I was excited about it all (and really wanted to play and my ADD was running rampant) so the first round was me learning not to bother the players UNLESS they actually had a problem. As the tournament wore on I figured it out and learned to stay out of their way unless called upon.

There were 3 rounds played, and the ones played where:

“Fight for Control” a battle from the “Random Saga Battles” (version 3.0) by Ray Trochim. This one has you playing for 3 objectives, the one controlling the most at the end of the battle winning the game, otherwise a draw. The game could end at the end of turn 5 on a 5 or 6, but I modified it to absolutely end at the end of 6 for time reasons.

“Clash of Warlords” from the Saga rulebook.

Finally the last round would have been “Assault at Dawn” from the C&C book but due too time constraints (two of the players had to be on the road by a certain time) I changed it at the last minute to “The Warlords” from the “Random Saga Battles” (version 3.0) by Ray Trochim. This one is played like “Clash of Warlords” but with a very important twist. Two objective markers are placed within L of each other at exactly the center of the table and beginning on turn 3 each player at the start of his turn has to check to see if his Warlord is within M of one of the objectives or loses the game.

The Warlords and their followers where:

Jeff and his Normans
Brain and his Vikings
Skip and his Spanish
Dennis and the infamous Scotts
Rob and his Normans
Mark and his Vikings

The action was hot and heavy throughout, and four players where still in it to win during round 3. Skip (Spanish Player) could have seized the day and only needed a win to be the only 3 – 0 player in the tournament but was facing a very good Norman player in Jeff and like an expert swordsmen he made a rapier like move that caught Skip by surprise and took out his Warlord thus ending his chance for Victory, and that on turn 2 no less! Great move Jeff, well played!

Now Jeff was in the driver’s seat depending on what happened between Mark and Brain (both our Viking players). Jeff needed Mark to win to have same record but needed Mark to win quick to keep his slaughter point level down (that was the tie breaker). Brain just needed a win to take it all and would finish 2 – 0 – 1.

What happened in that final game was exactly what you would expect between two hot headed Viking Warlords, they gladly embraced in the kiss of death sending their troops forward with shouts of no prisoners! Jeff's chance of tournament champion faded away as the Viking players ground each other down to dust. Going the distance and both having only a handful of troops left on the table. When it came down to a final count Brain just edged out Mark and became CincyCon Tournament Champion.

So the final standings went like this:

1. Brain Vikings 2 – 0 – 1 with 47 slaughter points
2. Jeff Normans 2 – 1 – 0 with 44 slaughter points
3. Skip Spanish 2 – 1 – 0 with 31 slaughter points
4. Dennis Scots 1 – 1 – 1 with 33 slaughter points 
5. Mark Vikings 1 – 2 – 0 with 54 slaughter points and from this day forward will be known as Mark the Merciless! 
6. ….and finally poor Rob, who not only lost every game but lost both his warm up games to Mark and myself on Friday. He had a good plan but the dice Gods did not look favorably on him. Rob Normans 0 – 0 – 3 with 30 slaughter points

I might point out that Rob not only drove with Mark to this lovely convention, but then had to drive him home and listen to Mark yack in his ear the whole way about how he lost EVERY game, like he would forget it somehow;)

Prizes where provided by my group with 1st place getting a Welsh 4 point army from Gripping Beast, 2nd place got Welsh hearthguard from Gripping Beast, and third place ( which would have went to Skip but we provided the prizes so he abstained) actually went to the 4th place finisher who got the Saga Expansion “Varjazi & Basileus”.

Gripping Beast themselves provided some cool swag for the group, a baggie with a random soldier from their line in it as well as a cool pin button with symbols from the game or the name gripping beast or name Saga. Thank you Gripping Beast!

Skip (being a handy guy with saws and wood) made a special measuring axe that had all the measurements that where needed for the game. It’s really cool, and it’s really handy. One stick to rule them all as someone once said. He made enough for all the players to have a little more swag. He Also made our Saga banner for all to see. The gaming boards where made by Mark and myself just weeks before the Convention and they worked out really well.

In the end Skip, Mark, and Rob should get special mention for without them I never would have been able to pull this tournament off. So thanks guys.

Here is a photo-op of the group at the finish of the tournament and I would like to thank them all for participating and their gamesmanship.

[Standing from left to right Skip, Jeff, Brain, Rob (the Godless), Dennis, and Mark (the Merciless), sitting would be yours truly]

[...and the guys that made it happen.]

Finally some action shots of round one.

[Skip and Mark]

 [Brain and Jeff]

 [Dennis and the headless Rob, sorry about that Rob]

Well that's it, and if you like what you see come on out next year to CincyCon it's the best time I've had at a convention in quite a while. Very well run show, friendly staff, and the ladies in the kitchen where awesome!

Cheers

Kevin