Part of my ongoing tactics series will be exploring the different faction battle boards as well as their combat options. Since I'm starting off by collecting Normans/Bretons, I'll talk about them first.
Abilities
Charge - This is a good ability for your mounted warriors, whose javelins will give them a bonus to all their attack dice. If you need to deal heavy damage, it's often worth using sending a smaller unit of warriors in for a sacrificial charge using this ability. They'll get badly hurt in the melee, and probably be too fatigued to retreat afterward, but if they hit a valuable target, it'll be worth the trade.
Generally, you won't want to use this on hearthguard, who generate enough dice on their own, and need to minimize casualties and keep their fatigue low. However, it might be worthwhile if you need some extra dice for an important melee late in the game.
Charge isn't one of your core abilities, but you'll probably use it once or twice per game. It can be decisive, especially if you need to use a small unit to deal a lot of damage to something more valuable, or make sure a flank is open to your other cavalry.
Wounded - A solid ability for any ranged unit, and one you should consider whenever you can spare an uncommon die. It's a good way to put fatigue on enemy units, either to soften them up for a charge, or to disrupt your opponent's next turn.
Wounded is a staple of your toolbox, and you'll use it every game, especially early on. You'll probably have the extra uncommon die fairly often, depending on whether you want to use Volley Fire or Retreat.
Envelopment - An extremely powerful ability, which should generally be your first use of a rare die every turn you have one, from turn one onward. The ability to reposition so drastically during your opponent's turn allows you to set up a while new strategy in the middle of your opponent's turn, and just having a die on Envelopement can get in your opponent's head and dictate their movements.
This ability is so versatile, it's impossible to go into all the ways it can be used. It will be one of the foundations of your strategy on any turn you can use it. If you chose to take a priest in your list, it will primarily be for the ability to use Envelopment on demand.
Superiority - Extra hits are always good, and Superiority is a good way to get them. The cutoff point for whether this will give you more hits than lowering the opponent's armor in melee on average is 12 attack dice. For the most part, this means your hearthguard will not be using this ability until they've taken some casualties. It's excellent for shooting activations and melees with smaller units, since it greatly increases their damage. It's also very easy to use, and you should reach for it any time your opponent has some fatigue built up.
Superiority, like Wounded, is a solid tool you'll use just about every game. With harassment as your main strategy for much of the game, the extra kills provided by abilities like superiority will be vital to clear out enemy units and ensure that retaliation is as weak as possible. You can even use both in two successive shooting activations.
Gallop - A good way to save a unit from a charge, or maneuver on your opponent's turn. It's easy to activate, and will both give you more flexibility on your turn and complicate your opponent's turn. You should use it every turn if your opponent is running infantry, since it will keep your units safer and dictate their actions.
Like Envelopment, Gallop is a core ability that you should use often. It isn't as good as Envelopment, and doesn't trigger as easily. Use it to pull back a unit of skirmishers you had to leave too close to the enemy, or keep it on your battle board to make it difficult or costly for the opponent to approach you. As with Envelopment, Gallop should also be used to set up your own attack on your next turn, and presents many possibilities, especially if you use it to activate a large unit of warriors or hearthguard.
Impact - An excellent ability. It activates a unit, gives a very powerful benefit during that activation, and can be used for either shooting or a charge. It's also fairly cheap for a multi-die ability. This ability is very solid with your mounted warriors, and downright terrifying with hearthguard.
This ability can demolish a unit, and should be one of the first tools you reach for when you need to. A javelin-armed unit can move up and throw for free, then throw extra accurately with Impact before retreating. Alternately, they can use Impact to follow their javelins with a devastating charge. Norman knights will use Impact as their main deterrent to enemies coming within a straight line and L of them.
You will likely use Impact a handful of times per game, but it will be on your mind and your opponent's throughout.
Volley Fire - This can only be used by Norman levy armed with bows, but it's extremely powerful. If you're playing Normans instead of Bretons, you should take a unit of levy just to activate them with this once per turn. They'll be able to reach the whole battlefield if positioned well, and will both deal good damage and help you control your opponent's movement.
This is a primary tool for Norman warbands. It's just as cheap as activating levy normally, so you'll use it once per turn unless the target is within L. Get used to its enormous threat range, and get used to pairing your archers' line of sight with the threat ranges of your skirmishing cavalry to dictate enemy movement and pick apart enemy units. Volley fire is also the primary threat that will force the enemy onto your hearthguard's lances.
Pursuit - A powerful ability which should mainly be used with hearthguard. Since the charge from Pursuit doesn't generate fatigue, it's the best way to charge after repositioning a cavalry unit. It also gives you some extra attack dice, which is excellent. The only drawback is that it costs a rare die, so you'll sometimes have to choose between a charge with Pursuit or using Envelopment. Envelopment is usually the better call, but sometimes you can do a lot of damage with Pursuit, so it's worth considering.
Much like Impact, this is an ability which you won't use too often, but which will have a great effect when you do use it. It's a great way for your hearthguard to get into melee from a long way off, and you'll likely do that once or twice per game. It can be worth it to activate warriors with Pursuit, especially if you rolled 2 rares for the turn.
Retreat - A decent defensive ability, it's a little better than the Combat Bonus when used against enemy cavalry or with friendly infantry. If your cavalry is fighting infantry, it's very strong. It is always worth considering when you're either charging into melee or leaving a unit vulnerable to an enemy charge, especially for your fragile mounted skirmishers who are easily hit.
Retreat is one of several good supplemental abilities which use an uncommon die. It's the best way to gain defense dice on the Norman battle board, so you'll use it fairly often, probably several times per game.
Dex Aie - A powerful ability, but costly, both in terms of SAGA dice and risk to your warlord. It is an activation, however, so you can both charge in and enjoy the benefits. Your warlord hits a lot harder and becomes a lot tougher for the duration of the melee, and since the charge doesn't generate fatigue, they can strike from very far off and take full advantage of having Resilience (2). After the charge, you might be able to activate them again to retreat.
You won't use Dex Aie every game, but it's powerful, and you should keep it in mind. Your warlord can inflict serious damage from a long way off. Either have a plan for keeping them safe or expect to lose them in return though. It's less risky to use later in the game, when retaliation will be lighter.
Overview
Most of your SAGA abilities give you extra damage at range or with charging cavalry. In my post on Norman and Breton list building, I mentioned a skirmishing strategy which will keep your javelin-armed cavalry as healthy and dangerous as possible throughout the game, and the battle board both reinforces this and makes it necessary.
For all the ways you have to boost your cavalry's damage, only Retreat and the Combat Bonus actually give you defense dice, and Retreat only works in melee. This means that in general, your cavalry will be quite vulnerable. The only way to make sure they don't get torn apart is to make sure the opponent can't attack them. You'll probably end up activating most of your javelin-armed units twice on your own turn: once to ride into range and throw javelins, and once to ride out of range or line of sight of retaliation. Your best defensive abilities, Envelopment and Gallop, give you more flexibility in your retreat by letting your respond to your opponent's attempts to pin you down on their own turn, while setting up for your next skirmishing attack.
Your army will work best if you can make the opponent try to chase and react to you with slower units. Infantry will build up a fair amount of fatigue just getting to grips with you, and you can use that to crush them with your retaliation, or use Gallop and Envelopment to move most of your army to a whole new position for them to try to attack. To ensure that your maneuverability can dominate the field, you must make a priority of destroying enemy units which can limit or compete with it: enemy ranged units and cavalry. Your toughest fights will be against opponents who can use these units to deny you your advantage, and those who can use terrain to keep themselves safe from both shooting and cavalry charges.
Those are my thoughts on the Norman battle board. We'll see how they hold up on the table.
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