Somerled's first feat. Or, the account of how Somerled lost his distinctive name and gained the generic one of Angus MacLorne.

So I fought my first two battles with the Saga ruleset today. A friend of mine brought the Northern Fury expansion and I ran my warband as a Scots army for the first battle. The scenario we rolled was Homeland, which had me pitted as the defender against a Norman lord taking his "rightful" lands granted by the recently installed King David of Scotland. Of course, he travelled a little too far outside of the king's jurisdiction high up into Inverness country. My warlord made his stand at the little village of Loch-na-Uig, with his faithful clansmen. It was a walled collection of low lying cottages surrounded by fields and forest.

The Normans being the attackers got the first turn and made it a devastating one. Mostly because we were all still learning the rules, so I lost an entire unit of Thanes (Scottish hearthguard) to a Norman cavalry charge. While they were behind a stone wall! Needless to say, the whole warband (mine) died to a man. In five turns. (This game is really short, and can be played in two hours or less.) The last two turns involved my warlord and three faithful warriors (Not Thanes.) holed up in a cottage being shot at by Norman peasants and foot soldiers. Two of the warriors died, at which point my warlord sallied out to the wall with the last clansman to fight off the Norman foot soldier's charge. After they both beat back the warrior unit, the warlord (now the last man standing) singlehandedly drives back the Norman lord and his two knights (Norman hearthguard.). At which point determined to go out covered in glory, the Scottish warlord charges over the wall and engages the Norman lord in single combat in the midst of his army. And he beats him back again! (He would have killed him outright had that pesky unit of Norman sergeants hadn't jumped in the way!) The last turn of course went to the Normans as my Scot went down bravely under a flurry of blows surrounded by the Norman warband (quite literally!). Och! It was a fight tae be proud of!

My second battle caused me to change the name of my Celtic warlord to something more generic as Somerled seemed to be unfitting for a warrior who DIED in every battle he fought, against Vikings. I think I shall call him...Lachlan...or perhaps Angus. Angus MacLorne. Son of the Royal Scottish House of Lorne MacErc and descendant of the High Kings of Ireland. He can also double as Oengus of Ireland, and Angwyn of Wales. Anyway, (Which could also work as a Welsh sounding name...Anywy...hmm...) The second battle involved the Escort scenario with my Celtic warband ending up in the escort, or defender, this time using the Welsh battle board. The Welsh being javeline heavy (compared to the Scots being spear oriented), I thought the added mobility would speed the escort of the holy relics of St. David off the table and into the safe confines of the nearby monestary. Unfortunately, Vikings are a lot tougher than I figured. And faster! (I used Holy Ground almost every turn to slow them down and keep them at javelin range.) Also, the Welsh have less armor which meant that they were crap in a stand up brall with Beserkers (I killed them all though saints be praised!). Needless to say Angwynn and his loyal warriors were beaten back into a hedgerow on the WRONG end of the table! My Welsh all died under a hail of Norse arrows and Bondi axes. It was not a good day to be a Celt. But that's why it's a learning scenario. ;) Better luck next time!

Angus MacLorne. Sheer badassery in a kilt.