BIG Saga AoM

You wait ages for a Saga tournament and then two come along at once. This was the Bristol Independent Gaming Age of Magic tournament. I decided to bring my Elf Kingdoms warband as I've played them the most, and they're pretty easy to use. The format was to include legendary units and warbands, but I kept to my standard list. While struggling to decide which spells to use, I came up with the great idea of not fielding a Sorceror at all, and replacing it with my recently benched Dragon (Monster (Scourge (Flying))).

Warlord, Mounted

Scourge (Flying)

Captain, Mounted

Paladin, Flying Mount

8 Hearthguard Mounted

2*8 Warriors

2*12 Levy Bows

It's funny how different people suit different lists. I was talking to one of the Otherworlds players, and he was saying how he can't get any play out of his Kingdoms warband but is comfortable using Otherworlds, while I'm the exact opposite.

My first game was against Nathan's viking Horde. I lost my dragon pretty quickly in a fight over one of the objectives, but managed to fight back elsewhere, until it was just his archers left, which I retreated from, deciding that wading into the forest to get them would be more damaging to me. (I'm still haunted by the time I charged my 6 hearthguard into a wood, and they got massacred by a bunch of levy.) So, in the end this was a pretty clear victory. I was wondering about not including a Sorceror as Nathan's Sorceror had probably been his star player, but on balance the extra unit had probably earned its place, especially as it brings an extra Saga Dice.

The second game was against Vicky's Horde. I was mostly terrified of her two units of Berserkers, so I concentrated on getting my two units of levy to shoot them out of the game before they could reach me. I think only one other player fielded two levy shooting units. I feel that in AoM, with the extra points, and some decent buffs on some boards, and spells, that they're a pretty good choice. With the Berserkers gone and the War Chariots engaged I got another pretty clear victory.

My final game was against Ben's superb Jason and the Argonauts inspired Undead. I was really hoping to avoid these guys coz who likes playing against Undead? Fortunately I have had some experience of annoying people with my Undead army, so I had a decent idea of how to go about combating them.

Ben was annoyingly good at using his magic and my fatigue to thwart my plans, but my archers, again, did excellently early on, taking out his creatures, and I managed to chip away at the skeletons with the dragon. My dragon died early in every game, but I feel it was still very useful for weakening the opposition for the other units to mop up. So although it was torn to shreds by skeletons in the third turn, it managed to more than pay for itself.

Although this game felt like it was in the balance all the way through, my Paladin managed to pounce on and kill the enemy Necromancer towards the end, and I ended up with another pretty clear victory. To be fair, a major reason I won this one was some outstandingly good dice rolls at a couple of crucial moments.

My experiment of not fielding a Sorceror would have to be called a success. This is not because Sorcerors aren't worth the point cost in AoM, because the Sorcerors I played against more than paid for themselves and generally in other lists I find Sorcerors very useful, but because I've not been very effective at utilising Sorcerors with my Kingdoms list.

The best thing about the tournament, apart from the general chat and fair play, was some excellently themed and painted warbands, so I'll be looking forward to the next one, in October.

Special mention should go to Matt's sci-fi-style Kingdoms army. Although I don't play the game, I'm always impressed by the sorts of warbands that people create for HotT. Istm AoM is another game that can really suit the more creatively and abstractly themed bands.