Saga, Age of the Vikings

saga v2: Getting started with the Christi Milites

May 16, 2018

The Christi Militaries


Photos by awesome  Russell Helms

This emblematic faction of the Age of the Crusades will allow you to play the famous Templars and other military orders
 installed in the Holy Land or in the Iberian Peninsula.


Equipments

For those who have known the Christi Milites in V1, the equipment has not changed. Your Lords and Guards must be
mounted. Your Warriors have more choices, as they can ght on foot, mounted or be equipped with crossbows. However, you
cannot have more models with crossbows than Guards. The faction still does not have access to the Levies: only the best join
its ranks.

The Milites Christi board

The board no longer has the Piety system (that's it) and will require more skill than the previous one, since it will no longer be
enough to spend a few Saga dice in the rst and second turns (for the most greedy) to bene t of nagging abilities.

Since the faction does not need an ability to activate Levies, it bene ts from a special basic ability called Prayer . Usable in
melee or re / reaction, each die you discard from the ability automatically cancels a hit before rolling the defense dice, two
hits if you discard a rare die. It is a central capacity of the board for this faction which will generally nd itself outnumbered
and will therefore be more susceptible to attrition than populous armies. In addition, some advanced abilities make it easier
to use this ability or even change how it works.

For example, Knee to the Ground is an Orders ability that allows you to place three available Saga dice (therefore dice that
you did not roll) on the Oration ability . If you trigger the ability with a rare die, you also place it on Prayer. In return, you will
not be able to activate your units for a charge during your turn, but you will have well stocked your board. And that won't stop
you from ring a few crossbow bolts while the rest of your army is standing rm for the enemy.
To ll your board, you can otherwise use Martyrs in melee or in re / reaction to place as many dice as losses suffered on the
Oration ability. In general, one avoids hoping for the destruction of one's own Guard units, for fear of bringing misfortune and
unlucky dice rolls to the unit, but you can very well send a few Warriors into battle who will die as martyrs and allow the
Guards to survive or strike hard afterwards.

The other key ability on the board that is based on Prayer is Divine Assistance , which allows you in melee to discard all of the
Prayer dice to in ict one hit per discarded die. I think the effect of the ability speaks for itself ...

The rest of the board has a lot of melee abilities. You will nd offensive abilities, sometimes reserved for Guards and Heroes.
Some have bonuses when your unit has fewer miniatures than the opposing unit. The board therefore requires careful
consideration of your army composition and the constitution of units. After a few games, your opponent will probably also
pay attention to their own squad composition, for example to avoid taking too much advantage of Lord's Harvests , a melee
ability that gives you so many dice. attack than units in the opposing band, with a maximum of 6 dice.

You can also pose a dilemma for your opponent while awaiting charges with Lions at War , an activation / reaction ability that
gives 4 bonus attack dice to a unit targeted by a charge. Sometimes the best defense is offense. Otherwise, The Spilled
Blood , melee ability, will prevent him from increasing his armor value until the end of the ght. It is also formidable in attack
to make sure that the adversary does not exploit your fatigue to put up his armor, when you target for example a Lord or
Guards.

Compose your band

Given the limited choice of equipment and the orientation of the board, you won't have too much trouble nding the base of
your army.

To constitute a 4-point band, you can opt for balance, with 2 points of Guards and 2 points of Warriors. A crossbow unit is
always useful to titillate players who like to stay at the bottom, and at worst it will be an easily expendable unit to monetize
the Martyrs ability. The other point of Warriors can be mounted or on foot depending on the circumstances, and especially
depending on the number of decorations present on the table and the gang you are facing. For example, if your opponent is
playing Pagan Peoples (ok, it's not history, but it's codex!), You can be sure to see some rugged terrain ourishing on the table
in which he will be happy to place his units. Your warriors on foot will be able to go and face these disbelievers in the scenery
without suffering penalties from the cavalry. On the other hand, if you are facing bands of horsemen, you may prefer to take
advantage of the mobility of Mounted Warriors. The best is therefore to have both options to be able to adapt.

To go to 6 points, the most obvious choice is to recruit 2 additional Guard points, for a total of 4 Guard points and 2 Warrior
points. It's up to you to distribute your Guards as you prefer: two units of 8 Guards, two units of 6 Guards and one of 4 to
multiply the threats, it all depends on whether you prefer to handle small or large units. Smaller size units, more sensitive to
the slightest loss, allow you to multiply threats, while larger units will have a better lifespan, but make your movements more
predictable.

If you feel more comfortable with a larger band, take 3 points of Guards and 3 points of Warriors instead. You can then make
two units of 6 Guards, a good compromise between size and power, and distribute your Warriors as you wish. Keeping three
units will allow you to generate your 6 Saga dice.

Legends
Milites Christi have a legendary Lord and Unity.

Raymond du Puy , Grand Master of the Order of Hospitallers, is a lord with normal characteristics. Its rst power is very
interesting and makes up for the point it costs you a little. Once per melee, if your unit is located within C of Raymond, it can
trigger the Prayer ability without discarding any dice to negate 2 hits. Bourrin is not it? Do you feel the trap? The downside is
that every time you use this power, Raymond du Puy must suffer fatigue. Obviously, you cannot use it again once your Lord is
exhausted. You have to think carefully about how to use this power, but it can save your day and save you valuable Saga dice.

Its other power prevents your opponent from triggering Activation / Reaction abilities and exploiting the fatigue of a unit
activated with the We Are Here rule . Some factions might hate it!

Second legend, they return, all beautiful brand new, and always in fun mode, the founders of the Order of the Temple, alias the
Poor Knights of Christ and the Temple of Solomon . This unit of 8 Guards will cost you 2 points and replace your Lord. Also,
you will not be able to recruit other Guards into your party. These ghters have the Resistance (1) and Determination rule.
They have two powers, one which allows them to gain as many bonus attack dice as the number of dice placed on Oraison
during each melee, and another which allows them to remove fatigue each time they are 'activate for a charge. And they're
worth a lot of kill points (13 when fully destroyed). Admittedly, these aren't budding Terminators, but they promise a lot of fun.

In summary
The forces of the faction:

Good offensive and defensive skills

Like to detonate Levy units (Deus vult!)

The unique Prayer ability which allows you to limit breakage or strike hard

The weak spots :

Faction sensitive to attrition due to the absence of Levies and the predominance of Guards

Little choice of equipment

This faction is quite greedy in Saga dice, requires good management of the dice pool

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Tags: Age of the Crusades Saga v2 tomahawk studio

Julie and Fab

Fan of Saga .... it's over there!

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