"Fatigue in SAGA - a Question" Topic

I've read reviews of SAGA with interest, and looked at the online reference sheet, but I don't have the actual rules. I have a question regarding spending enemy fatigue points:

In the reference sheet it says:

- In Melee, discard 1 enemy Fatigue to gain +1 armor
– In Melee, discard 1 enemy Fatigue for -1 enemy Unit's armor

Does this mean that if i spent a point of your fatigue to increase my units armor, you could immediately spend a point of my fatigue to decrease it again…. ?? or is there a rule disallowing this?

Yes, you can increase your unit's armor and then the opponent can use fatigue to decrease it immediately. Often times in Saga players just cancel out fatigue in combat. If your unit has 2 fatigue and mine has 3, then we each cancel out 2 (no real affect) and then my unit has one extra that you can still use to reduce my armor.

Really? … So a lot of the time both lots of fatigue aren't actually doing anything? It seems a waste of an interesting mechanic ….

You don't have to spend them. There are some warbands that may want to leave fatigue on the enemy units to exhaust them. If they are close to exhaustion, then I may let them burn my fatigue to lower my armor without wasting theirs.

So there is a bit more to fatigue than what I've gleaned from reviews, obviously …. can you explain further about leaving fatigue on enemy units? I was under the impression that my fatigue points simply became points for you to spend ….

The fatigue canceling each other out is only one of the possible combinations. Each player needs to decide if keeping their guys alive, killing the enemy or deferring for a later advantage is most important in any given melee, assuming there is not enough fatigue for everything. The attacker also has to anticipate how the defender is going to react, since the attacker has to spend fatigue first. So there is some important decision making.

I will also point out that if you are finding yourself doing a lot of fatigue trading then you are not doing everything you can to ensure you have a fatigue overmatch in combat. This is often one of the most cost effective ways to gain an advantage. Using one dice to rest your Anglo-Danes before attacking is better than spending two dice to use Shieldwall if you want to raise your armor, for example.

You can also use his fatigue to cut his movement in half, leaving his lads out in the middle of the field to be shot at by your archers, an option our group tends to forget.

But, yes, the use of fatigue in melee can cancel each other out.

Grelber

It can sometimes be better to leave the fatigue on. Levies become exhausted with only 2 fatigue, warriors with 3, and hearthguard (and warlords) with 4.
Exhausted units can only rest and are horribly disadvantaged in combat.
Fatigue can be 'spent' by the opponent to reduce movement, make shooting less effective, or in melee decrease enemy armour or increase your own armour. But of course doing that reduces the fatigue on the enemy.
So it's not always a simple decision whether to spend fatigue or not; some warbands (Anglo Danes are a prime example) work by exhausting their enemies.

Ah, I understand now – I didn't realise that fatigue I had accrued continued to affect my unit until you spent it – it all makes sense now

fatigue I had accrued continued to affect my unit until you spent it

Yes, it stays on the unit until spent, but unless there is so much fatigue that the unit is exhausted, it doesn't have any effect on the unit until the opponent spends it.

It actually provides an interesting decision point in the game.

Joe