Wooden Oaths
Image excitement and mystery of a going into battle with one allie, gaining three more, but in the end fighting against your previous partners in battle. This battle report is on a four-player scenario called Wooden Oaths. Wooden Oaths is a four-player scenario with the game beginning with two pairs of allies fighting together. However, at the each of turns 1 through 4, a player can switch allies. At the end of each turn players pick either a red card or a black card and all flip them over at the same revealing the new alliances. In this game, I at some point I was allies with all of the players.
Set Up
This game was played with Mike, Mark, Nick and Patrick. Mike fielded the Vikings with one unit of bow Levis, one unit of Berserkers, 2 units of 8 warriors, and one unit of four Hearthguards. He also had a priest and a warlord. Mark deployed the Scots with 2 units of 12 Levi, 2 units of 4 hearthguards, 2 units of 8 warriors, a priest, a bard and a warlord. Nick arranged the Anglo Danes with 2 units of 4 Hearthguards, 2 units of 8 warriors and 1 unit of 8 Hearthguards. I fielded the awesome Byzantine with 2 units of 8 Bow Warriors, 2 units of Spear Warriors, 1 units of 8 Calvary (spears) and 1 unit of the Steppe Nomads.
The beginning pairs of allies were the father and son duo of Mike with the Vikings and Nick with the Anglo Danes. They were the red team. Mark and I paired up the Scots and Byzantines. We were the black team. I though the Scots and Byzantines would be a good pair since both are defensive in nature, but function differently. I had deployed a heavy amount of archery and a large Calvary unit, were as Mark was heavy with speared warriors and Levis with bows. The Danes and Vikings work differently. The Danes are always burdening you with fatigue and chop you up with axes. The Viking rush in and kill in great numbers. Mike and Nick are a tough pair, they have gone to tournaments together and chopped up the competition.
The board was a 4’x6’ with 3 buildings, a hill, several forests and some fenced pens. Mike used a new roll out map that felt like a mouse pad. He got a little ribbing for having a mouse pad this big. Mike and Nick set up on the West side of the board and Mark and I set up on the East side of the board. Mark set up most of his units to rush into buildings, but had some Scots on the rock hill. I set up my units in the traditional groups of spearmen with bowmen behind. Mike set his Levi close to a large building with other units around them. Nick set his Anglo Danes to rush two building as well.
Turn One
It was randomly determined who would go first by drawing cards. I was the Ace of Clubs. Mike drew the first card, not the Ace of Clubs. The Scots moved first. The Scots moved a group of warriors into a fenced pen and positioned a group of Levis behind them. He did not go into the tower, but advanced some other units. The Ace of Clubs was next.
The Byzantines made the first attack, an assault with the Steppe Nomads on the Viking Levi. With the extra movement, they could reach the Levi and hopefully reduce the shooting ability of the Levi before they reached the building. The Steppes shot and hit twice! And the Vikings cancelled both. They shot again and hit 2 more! And the Vikings cancelled. The Steppes, deep into enemy territory, retreated with their tails tucked between the horse’s legs.
The ruthless Anglo Danes moved next. He added fatigue to 3 of the Scots units. He moved a unit of warriors into a building and a unit of 4 Hearthguards with Dane axes into another building. He also moved 2 units of warriors forward. He had a lot of saga dice to use.
The Vikings moved the Levi into the building and brought the warriors and hearthguards around the building to guard the outside.
Overall, there was not a lot of action on this turn. Mark asked if I wanted to stay together for the rest of the game, and I said sure. I though we would work together well. The cards were revealed and the teams stayed the same.
Turn 2
Turn 2 took a turn for the worse. The Danes went first with a strong push against the Scots. The Danes moved into contact with the Scots and engaged in melee. Nick used Lord of Battle and Unforgiving; this reduced the armor of the Scots. The Scot retaliated with “Give Ground” and “Wood and Steel”, and “Counter Attack”. The Danes scored 6 hits and the Scots 4 hits. The Danes saved 1 so they lost 5 figures and the Scots save 4 and lost 2 figures. The Scots are hard to beat when they defend. However, the scot unit was exhausted with 4 fatigues.
The Viking advanced again on their turn. They moved all their units forward and toward the Scots. The unit of Berserkers moved forward as well. They were tucked way behind all the units in a forest. This positioning would become a problem later in the game since it took too long to get them into position. When the Vikings finished, there was no blood bath from them yet.
Byzantines activated next. Since it looked as if the Vikings were heading to the Scots to do some serious damage, I tried to stem the advance by hit and run tactics with the Steppe Nomads. I had to keep my distance from the building with the Viking bow Levi or suffer 6 shots at my units. But the Steppe could advance without a counter attack. I moved them into range of the Viking warriors and shot, 2 hits and 2 cancelled. I activated them again with Scouting, 2 hits and only one cancelled, first blood on the Vikings. The steppes retreated over the hill and towards the Scots in anticipation of needing to support the Scots.
The Scot countered with Reach and sent javelins towards the Danes. A second attempted was foiled with Intimidation. In all the Scots did not have good Saga dice on this turn and was not able to make a serious counter move to the Danes. The Danes had better position and the Scots found that their Levis were not in a good spot to fend off the attacks with bows. This would take another turn to correct.
Turn two saw the first causalities of the game, but more important the formation of the epicenter of the battle. Everything pointed to the battlefront being the North end of the board between the Danes and Scot. The Danes has serious advantage with two buildings being occupied. And with the Vikings moving to reinforce, the Scot were in serious trouble. The only advantage we had against the Danes and Viking was the deployment of the Viking Berserkers and Levi. Both would be slowed down by their position.
Turn 3
A hiccup, a wrinkle or turn of events did not reflect what would happen next. A “Major upheaval” would be more like it. We each selected a card, red or black, and revealed the card at the same time to determine the alliances. Shock was the only way to describes Mike’s face when the cards revealed an alliance between the Danes, Scots and Byzantine! Three against one! After a long Viking berating of the disloyal Danes, Mike decided he needed some luck and fetched his Viking Pagan symbol, which he would need against 3 opponents. Needless to say, there was a lot of ribbing about how sons desert their dads, but dads are always faithful.
Anglo Danes
The Danes got first move. “Trapped” place fatigue on the Viking HG, warlord and warrior (2). The Danes then moved the hearthguard unit with Dane axes behind the warlord and advance both the warlord and the priest towards the Vikings.
Scots
The Scots needed to remove some fatigue, so Mark rested his warrior unit. The Scots consolidated by moving the hearthguards to the Levis. He moved the other Levi forward towards the Vikings. He further consolidated his units by moving the other unit of warriors towards the warlord.
The Byzantines used this turn to accomplish two things, reposition the batons closer to the Scots and draw more Viking blood. The spear warriors (1) shifted to the north and moved next to the Scots on the Rock. The warlord activated the warrior bow unit (1) and moved them behind the spear unit for support. I had the rare dice on the ability Kontos from the last turn. I got a good roll of saga dice and was able to place a helm on Kontos to complete the ability and place a helm on Withdraw. With both of these abilities, I charged the Viking warriors. I had 5 hits with 3 cancels the Vikings had 2 hits with 2 cancels. Killed two Vikings. I retreated to the hill, joining the Scots and Byzantine warriors.
The Viking seeing a major assault on the horizon began retreating. The warriors moved behind the building as well as the second unit of warriors and warlord. The question now was, “what would the Vikings do now?”
Turn 4
If turn 3 created an upheaval that rocked the game and sealed the end of the Vikings, turn 4 was the upheaval of the upheaval. It was time to reveal the team cards again, would someone change? The game allows for 3 against one, but if everyone reveals the same color cards, the game becomes all against all. Each player selected a card and we revealed the cards at the same time. I played the black card again. Mike turned over a black card as well! Would the game become a free for all? Red! Both the Danes and Scot revealed red cards. The once enemies became allies, the Byzantine and the Viking would battle the Scots and the Danes! This was actually historically accurate since the Vikings served with the Byzantines.
The beginning of the turn did not go well for the Vikings and Byzantine. The Danes would strike first. Trapped was applied to the Vikings and the Byzantine. Fatigue was placed on the Viking warriors (2), Byzantine warrior (1) and Byzantine bow warrior (1). The Danes then moved out of the far north building and sent the warlord and warriors south toward the Vikings.
Again bad luck for the Vikings and Byzantine, the Scots struck next. The Scots moved the warriors (1) to attack the Byzantine bow warriors. This move was a good idea since the bow warriors are less able during melee. However, I had Stratigekon and support archers on the battle board. With this the unit had 12 hit dice plus an archer attack before melee. This encounter ended with 3 losses for the Byzantine, but three losses for the Scots.
The Byzantine took the next turn and countered the Scots with the Steppe Nomads assaulting the Scot warriors (1). The Scots had 5 warriors, but the Steppes killed 2. The Byzantine spear warriors (1) then moved in and finished off the Scots warriors. I sent the second Baton of warriors towards the building with the Vikings Levi. I was planning on drawing the Danes and Scots into bow range of the Viking Levi.
The Vikings also assaulted but directed their actions on the building with the hearthguard holding Dane axes. The Vikings attack with something like 21 hit dice and it seems the doom of the Danes. Bad rolls on the Vikings and sheer luck of the Danes results in only two kills on the Dane unit! Unbelievable. I empathized with Mike for the bad luck rolling dice, I am famous for it.
Turn 5
No more drama with teams changing, we are set and the battle will unfold.
The Byzantine needed to remove fatigue seeing the Danes drooling to use the fatigue against them. I remove fatigue from 1st Baton unit, freeing them for more battles with the Scots. I move 2nd Baton closer to the building and remove fatigue from the Calvary unit. I then move the Calvary unit near the building and somewhat behind the 2nd baton. My plan is to bait the Danes into attacking the 2nd baton and following up with a Kontos charge. Plans don’t always work.
The Danes used trapped on the Byzantine Calvary, warriors spear (2) and the Steppe Nomads. They move into position to strike on the next turn.
The Scot prepare for battle on the next turn. They remove fatigue and reposition, as did the Vikings.
Turn 6
This the final turn and things are close, but the Viking/Byzantines are in the lead and only need to prevent losses. The Danes are in position to strike near the building of the Viking stronghold. The Scots have an opportunity to take out the Steppe Nomads or the Steppe will get a good shot at the Scots, depending on who goes first. The outcome seems to hinge on the first strike. Could we retreat and maintain the lead or would we fight the last turn.
Mike turned the first card to see who would go first. Luck continued to rain down on one faction…Danes again! The Danes had been lucky the whole game and it continued. The Danes attacked the Byzantine warriors as I hoped. They took a beating but survived as a unit. But that was not enough. The Danes went after the Byzantine Calvary. The Calvary unit was 8 strong and had 16 hit dice even without abilities. It did not seem like and easy target to gain VP points, yet the Danes pressed the unit. The Byzantine had a great roll, 10 hits out of 16 dice. The Danes had 9 hits and could reroll failed cancels. After rolling defense dice, the Danes cancelled 7 hits and the Byzantine cancelled 3. One lone surviving Calvary figure retreated after the battle. The Dane unit only lost two and was still strong. The Danes finished their turn with that and all eyes turned to Mike to see who would go next.
Mike turned over the Scots…lucky…or maybe a stacked deck? The obvious target again was the Byzantines, aka me. The Scots battle board did not have a lot of dice this turn. Their first move sent a unit of Levi shooting at the Steppe Nomads. They have an armor class of 3 against shooting. Six shots resulted in 2 kills. Now down to six figures, the onslaught came from the Hearthguard unit with the Reach ability. They struck with 2 hits and the Byzantine cancelled both hits. This left the Byzantine with 2 figures in the warrior unit, 5 units in the warrior bow unit and 6 units figures in the Steppe Nomads that were in range and could inflict damage. There was also the 2nd warrior unit, but it would need to activate twice to reach the Danes. However the counter attack would have to wait, Mike turned over the Viking card.
The Viking Levi in the building struck first. Almost everyone forgot about them and now the Danes were in range. Arrows flew resulting in 5 hits, but luck of the Dane cancelled 3, so two Dane warriors left the table. Mike activated his unit to move in, but the Danes cancelled the unit. Mike had a good saga dice roll and had more up his sleeve. He moved his warrior unit toward the Danes Hearthguard unit. He also engaged his warlord and used we obey to engage in melee. He attacked with 21 hit dice. The affect of his roll was immediately obvious with the pronouncement of a “butt load of hits” or 15 to be exact. Amazingly there were still Danes standing and many Vikings missing at the end of the melee. The final score was close, maybe only a VP point or two difference between the opponents. Mike made a final attack on some Dane warriors, yet the score was even. The Danes luck was still holding.
Byzantines final turn. Mike and I needed some kills on the Scots and Dane, but without losing figures in the process. I first looked into assaulting with the 2nd unit of warriors, but there wasn’t’ any support for them we could suffer losses and it would take extra saga and place a fatigue on the unit. Archery would be a better fit. I rolled the saga dice. Not one, but two rare dice came up as well as some helms. Massed Archery would be the attack. I also had the ability to attack with the Steppe Nomads. This would allow one common and one rare dice in the combat pool with one left over in the warrior’s activation.
I started with massed archery. I had one unit of 8 bow warriors and another of 5 within range of the Dane unit. I rolled several hits, however the luck of the Dane was still able to cancel all the hits. The next assault came from the Steppe Nomads. I activated them and they moved into position and shot a volley of 6 arrows at the five Danes. The Danes luck finally ran out, the Steppe Nomads killed all five Danes. I had one more warrior activation on the board. Mike saw an opportunity to seal the deal. The Danes priest was within bow range of the five bow warriors. I rolled two hits, and the Danes did not cancel any. Down went the priest and victory to the Vikings and Byzantine.