Normans and Bretons: The Army List

This is part 1 of a series I'm planning about troop and equipment selection for the Age of Vikings factions.  Most of these are preliminary thoughts.  I don't have a lot of experience with SAGA yet even for the factions I want to play, and I'll probably never play some of them.  However, I have a lot of opinions and a blog, so I won't let that stop me from trying to give advice on all of them.

Normans and Bretons

Duke William going over his army list

The faction I want to start with is Normans, so that's who I'll talk about first.  The Norman battle board can be played using two factions: Normans or Bretons, depending on how your hearthguard are equipped.  Equipping your hearthguard with javelins makes your warband Breton, and prevents you from taking warriors armed with crossbows or levy armed with bows.  Giving your hearthguard horses or no special equipment means you're playing a Norman warband, and gives you more variety in your ranged weapons.  Though I haven't played many games yet, it seems like a significant enough difference that Normans and Bretons will play quite differently despite the fact that they use the same battle board.



Warlord

• No Equipment - Your battle board doesn't do much for melee foot units, including your warlord.  You could play a game focused on keeping the warlord safe and using We Obey on back line units, although you'll miss out on the flexibility of a mounted warlord.  This works best for Normans, who will at least have a few relatively static ranged units.
• Horse - Mounting up lets your warlord take advantage of the majority of the battle board, and gives them the speed to keep up with your other mounted units.  Being able to get a We Obey activation where you need it can open up a lot of offensive possibilities, and a mounted warlord will be able to charge in from a longer range.

Overall, I'd say the benefits of mounting your warlord far outweigh the drawbacks.  Just keep them near hearthguard, and be aware of enemy shooting.

• William the Conqueror - William's focus is on making the most of your advanced SAGA abilities, both by giving you an extra We Obey activation and by occasionally letting you keep dice on certain SAGA abilities.  He also hits harder in melee than a standard warlord, so consider using him aggressively if you have the dice and positioning to ensure that he lives.
• Morvan lez Briezh - Morvan is a skirmisher.  He gives your unmounted hearthguard and warriors the ability to take javelins, which opens up some very good possibilities for using terrain.  He also allows you to reposition terrain more often than usual in the Clash of Warlords scenario, which ensures that you'll be able to get your harassing units, both mounted and unmounted, into dangerous positions before fleeing to safety.  His stats encourage a skirmishing approach with him personally: 2 more ranged aggression and 2 less melee aggression compared to a standard warlord.  The frailty of being armed with javelins and mounted is offset by Resilience (2).  He should be mounted to take advantage of his shooting.

Both of the legendary warlords seem worthwhile and fun, depending on whether you'd prefer to hit-and-run around denser terrain or make use of the tricks of your battle board more frequently and reliably.  Neither is strictly better than a normal warlord; your warband will be quite frail, and it's well worth it to have a point's worth of extra bodies in many situations.  It is fun to use legendary characters, though, and both of these guys look like they do enough to compete.

Hearthguard

• No Equipment - The vast majority of your battle board will require your units to be either mounted or armed with ranged weapons (or both).  If you want infantry, warriors or swords for hire will serve you better.
• Horses - The argument for melee cavalry is expanding the ranged options for your warriors and levy.  Ultimately, there's a pretty good balance, and the cost seems worth it.  They'll also be tougher in melee than ranged hearthguard, which makes charging in with them more attractive.
• Horses, Javelins - Javelin-armed hearthguard are extremely good, even with the adjustments to javelins in the 2018 FAQ and Errata.  The firepower of a fast, elite unit backed by the options available on the Norman battle board can inflict a lot of damage and really get in your opponent's head.  They are definitely more powerful than melee cavalry, but at the cost of melee durability and variety in ranged infantry.

Hearthguard should be mounted if you take them at all, and you should probably field them in a unit of 8, with a war banner.  This will give you a strong unit to threaten and hammer your opponent.

Javelin-armed hearthguard will lead a dangerous hit-and-run army of Breton cavalry.  Since you can do so much with damage with the hearthguard, you'll likely activate them often, both on your turn and the opponent's when you can.  You'll use them aggressively all game, and their massive damage will both kill plenty of enemies and control your opponent's movement.   Don't let them be pinned down in melee until you're ready to strike at the opponent's toughest units, because they're quite fragile.

Norman melee hearthguard will back up a combined force of javalin-armed cavalry and various ranged infantry.  You'll use these aggressively in the mid to late game, punishing enemy units who brave your archers or try to chase down your warriors, and you should use your shooting threat to direct vulnerable units into their path.  The more the battle of attrition wears on, the more work they'll be able to do safely, leveraging enemy fatigue and depletion to wipe out units with few losses.

Is there a reason to take hearthguard?

Yes, there are several SAGA abilities which favor taking a single, powerful unit.  Gallop allows one unit to escape enemy charges within M, so it minimizes the risk to a single unit of hearthguard.  Impact has greater, well, impact the more dice you roll, so hearthguard will get more out of it than warriors.  Finally, Pursuit gives you a charge which generates no fatigue.  Like impact, this will be more effective with a powerful unit capable of heavy damage on the charge.

That said, hearthguard aren't a requirement, and there's a lot you can accomplish by fielding more mounted warriors.  However, the warriors won't hit as hard as a single unit of 8+ hearthguard, so you lose some of the punch of your single-activation SAGA abilities if you skip hearthguard.

Warriors

• No Equipment - A few standard foot warriors aren't a bad choice in an army with a heavy reliance on cavalry and shooting for damage.  They can flush opposing units out of terrain, and absorb enemy charges better than most of your units by closing ranks.  However, they're not necessary, and the battle board does almost nothing for them.  You'll likely be better served by mercenary infantry.
• Horses, Javelins - These will be the core of your army whether you play Normans or Bretons.  They can deal a lot of damage, but they're fragile, so expect them to be chewed up badly if they're targeted by shooting or get into melee.  Bretons will probably field almost all mounted mounted warriors to harass and shoot.  Normans will take a wider variety of units, but these will still be the heart of the list.
• Crossbows - Normans can take a single unit of up to 8 warriors with crossbows.  They're at their best against heavier armor, and won't eat too deeply into your activation dice, since they can't be activated too often to shoot.  Like other infantry, they can also hold terrain, and they should.  Terrain will keep them safer against enemy units, and they'll occupy space the enemy could otherwise use for cover against your arrows and cavalry.  They're lightly armored in melee, but they can still be dangerous, especially if they're defending solid cover.

Your army will likely have 2-4 points of mounted warriors, depending on what else you have.  They'll be skirmishers, riding around terrain, throwing javelins, and using both multiple activations and activation/reactions to stay out of sight and make the enemy work hard to damage them.  Bretons will use them for most of their damage, supplementing the hearthguard and screening them.  Normans will use them to supplement their archers in dealing ranged damage and controlling enemy movement.

Normans may want to take a single point of crossbows to give them a little more ability to deal with terrain and a longer ranged punch.  I'm not a hundred percent sold on a point of crossbow warriors vs. mounted warriors, but they seem at least worth experimenting with.

Levy

• Javelins - Breton lists are restricted to javelin-armed levy, which are a decent alternative to warriors on foot for holding terrain.  They have higher numbers, and have good ranged damage.  They suffer a lot in melee, but if you stick to terrain, they'll either be relatively safe or slow down any opponent who deals with them.
• Bows - Norman lists can take levy armed with bows, and absolutely should.  One big unit of bow levy can use Volley Fire to terrorize the battlefield at extreme range, and wear the opponent down or drive them into corners where your skirmishing cavalry can attack and flee from line of sight more easily.

Overall, levy for Bretons is optional.  If you want infantry to occupy terrain, and like the firepower of javelins, these are a solid alternative to mercenary infantry.  You can also get by with a pure cavalry force.  Norman archers using Volley Fire is one of the main points in favor of giving up the firepower of javelin-armed hearthguard, however.  Whether you think crossbow warriors are worthwhile or not, one unit of 12 bow levy is an excellent investment.

Swords for Hire

• Jarl Sigvaldi - Sigvaldi seems like he's pretty high maintenance, and you won't have the SAGA dice to spare making sure he won't betray you.  He's also fragile without an appropriate screen.
• Egil Skalagrimson - For the most part, you're trying not to get charged.  Normans aren't a faction that easily turn the tables on an attacking unit - they want to be the attackers.
• Gall Gaedhil - A very decent choice for flushing enemy units out of terrain.  They do a lot of damage, and their activations won't be a drain on your SAGA dice.  You can't support them by trying to soften up their targets on the same turn, but they don't need a lot of help there.
• Flemish Mercenaries - A defensive unit, and another solid choice.  They're very tough, and they're just as fast in terrain as out of it.  They're also a good screen for your cavalry out of terrain due to their heavy armor and Great Shields.
• Angry Monks - Your units which need the most fatigue mitigation are too fast to be tethered to the monks, and your opponent will likely try to attack them rather than let the monks give you saga dice and strip off fatigue.  Furthermore, they require uncommon and rare dice to activate.
• Vagrant Warriors - They seem like a decent choice, but perhaps not as good as Gall Gaedhil or Flemish Mercenaries.  Their fatigue mitigation is short ranged, but you're in control of it, so you'll be able to shift one fatigue a turn pretty reliably.  They're also reasonably good even with fatigue built up.  I'll need to try them to see if they compete.
• Scouts - They seem like a great unit for Normans/Bretons.  They're levy, but their first move is free, so they won't eat up your dice.  They treat uneven terrain as open, and more importantly, allow your cavalry to do so as well, letting you project that power into terrain.  Take them with javelins so they get a free shooting activation after their free move.  Their downside is that they're not as tough as mercenary warriors, so they can't clear terrain by themselves.
• Wandering Bard - Resilience (2) is tempting, and Normans do have reasons to charge the warlord into battle, but We Obey is too valuable to give up in my opinion.
• Priest - A priest is a decent option, though you're giving up durability and hitting power to take one.  However, giving yourself the option to use Envelopment every turn, or remove fatigue from one of your hard-working cavalry units seems like a worthwhile trade.  Just be aware that you'll feel your casualties all the more if you don't use those abilities well.
• Personal Champion - Overall, I'd say the Champion doesn't compete with a point of warriors.  Since your warlord can't take javelins, the Champion can't skirmish, and while they're tough, they're not as tough as warriors or hearthguard.

A single unit of Swords for Hire are a good choice if you want to compete in rough terrain.  They're generally superior to your standard warrior infantry, and won't be much of a drain on your resources.  My top picks are Gall Gaedhil, Flemish Mercenaries, or Scouts, depending what your play style is.  Scouts will skirmish with javelins and open up terrain to your cavalry, Gall Gaedhil will drive units out of terrain with heavy damage and free activations, and Flemish Mercenaries will be incredibly tough for their cost.  I'd take either an infantry unit or a priest, since the point of a priest is to get the most out of your cavalry.

With the models I'll have assembled soon, I can field the following list:

Norman Warband
Warlord with Horse (free)
8 Hearthguard with Horses (1 with War Banner) (2pts)
16 Warriors with Horses and Javelins (2pts)
8 Warriors with Crossbows (1pt)
12 Levy with Bows (1pt)

I'll probably field the hearthguard as a single unit of 8 to be my hammer.  I'll field the mounted warriors in either 2 or 3 units depending how many SAGA dice I want to throw and how much I want to use sacrificial charges.  The crossbows must be fielded as a single unit, and I want to field the levy as a single unit for the best possible Volley Fire activations.  That'll give me between 6 and 7 SAGA dice to start with.  As I pick up more models, I may replace the crossbow warriors with mercenaries, more mounted warriors, or a priest.  Once I pick up some more mounted warriors, I'll try running a Breton warband and see how I like it.

For this list, I'll deploy the levy far back, in a nice, open firing lane, and the crossbows further forward near some terrain they can enter.  The cavalry will likely start out either behind other units or behind terrain.  The warriors will ride around terrain pieces to throw their javelins before retreating.  The hearthguard will stay ready to retaliate against anything which gets to the warriors or levy, or charge in and break a flank after shooting has softened it up.