20th April - 19th April Saga Game Vs The Wife & The Youngest

While I'm saving to build a few gaming tables for downstairs The Wife and I decided to invest in a couple of collapsible ones to fill the area for the time being. So we figured what better way to break them in but a family game of Saga. The Youngest was keen, but The Eldest was tired from her science club ball the night before so opt'd to have a bit of a nap instead.

I'd setup for a crossing the ford scenario so kept the table as it was but I ended up playing all seven points of my current Viking options vs the combine eight points of The Wife's Anglo-Danish and The Youngest's allied Irish warband.

Luckily I won deployment and took the side of the table with a nice open center for my thrall archers. I chose to just try to hold the bridge and The Youngest's Irish while attempting to break through The Wife's Anglo-Danish. This led to my Warchief and the bulk of my Hearthguard to hold the bridge with a warrior unit to soften the job. Over at the ford the Beserkers would be attempting to punch through the enemies line re-enforced with two groups of warriors. The Thralls would be sending fire as needed to assist either side.

The Youngest won initiative followed by The Wife, leaving me to act last. The first turn saw us all jockeying for position. Although I did push my warriors forward on the bridge early to try to thin out the Irish slightly. Over on the ford The Wife had moved a unit of her hearthguard up to challenge the ford, screened by some warriors on their flank. I managed to pick off two of the warriors with my thralls, then proceeded to throw the beserkers at her hearthguard losing two of the savage warriors but cutting her unit down amidst the shallow water.

The Wife then threw her warriors at the beserkers but they managed to repel them. The Irish hearthguard then smashed into my warriors on the bridge decimating them. I pulled them back and moved my first hearthguard unit up and pushed them back off the bridge. But the next turn saw them felled to the man by Irish javelins. 

After expecting the beserkers to fall in the previous turn they performed above expectations felling a few more Anglo-Danish souls before finally succumbing to the Danish axes of The Wife's second hearthguard unit although they managed to take down one final man with them.

The Youngest wisely decided it was time to re-enforce The Wife's now tattered position as I begun to send my warriors pushing my advantage. The warriors held the ford pushing back unit after unit of enemy fighting men (and dogs). The final two men of the unit finally stepped back, opening the way for the final full strength unit of warriors to push forward were they then felled the remnants of The Wife's hearthguard. Meanwhile on the bridge she tried to push through my hearthguard but their iron resolve and fierce nature meant they not only held their position while felling two of the Irish fighting men but did so without losing a man.

The final turn saw The Youngest unable to push past the iron willed Vikings on the bridge. The Wife was unable to do much over on the ford. My final turn saw The Wife make a mistake and cancel my thrall's activation, which then free'd me up to wipe The Youngest's last remaining war dogs. And with my final activation of the game managed to get three warriors across the table which gave me the game if only just.

We all had a great time and now we've got the tables downstairs we're intending to get some more games in. No more having to clear off the table for dinner each night :).