Another SAGA AAR

After some time off my regular SAGA opponent and I reconvened, dusted off the battleboards and went at it once again. As we were coming back to it after quite a while and having played lots of other games between times we settled on a 4pt game to re-introduce ourselves to the mechanics.
I went with my usual 2 hearthguard, 2 ceorls set up and would be facing a single unit of knights and 3 of warriors, one armed with crossbows. Ulp! Again keeping things simple we went for the Clash of Warlords scenario - so it was kill or be killed with just six turns to get the job done.

Unfortunately the pictures I took are not very good. A combination of bright green table, energy saving bulbs and a not very good camera means they're all a little, well, green. Sorry about that.
But anyways, here they are, and I'll let them tell the story:

 The Normans are coming, rouse the Fyrd! Getwin calls out his men to defend their peaceful Saxon settlement.

 Over beyond the woods the mailed scions of Normandy are approaching.

 The Shieldwall is formed

 Though peppered by crossbows the Ceorls advance

 Fleetfooted knights and their Lord sweep round the side of the wood

 Whilst their fellows plod remorselessly onward

 The crossbowmen find themselves out of range

 Lord Jean rallies his men and they plunge forward into combat

 

 But come off worst and are forced back

 The Norman centre halts beside the wood

 And Getwin rallies his men behind the trees

 Jean urges his Normans forward

 Finally, as the battle nears it's end the rival warlords meet in hand to hand combat

 The game ended climactically on turn six when Jean launched himself at Getwin. The mighty Dux landed six wounds on the Saxon hero, but three saves and the proximity of some handy ablative hearthguard meant Getwin was bloodied but unbowed. In return Getwin managed but two wounds, however Jean failed to save either and victory was mine!

It was great getting back to SAGA. A few months of WAB and HC have given me a taste for big games but this was a great reminder of how much fun SAGA can be, and how challenging. We struggled to remember what to do for the first turn or two, but soon were back in the swing of it. Once again the Saxon ability to stop activations proved crucial (and pretty irritating I imagine), allowing me to control the flow of the game a bit. Also the Normans were very unlucky when they charged my hearthguard early on, inflicting only two wounds, both of which I saved and taking two casualties in return. With their hammer gone they were on the back foot from then on.