SAGA!

SAGA!

If anyone has actually been reading this blog, it might seem that the only game I play is X Wing. This is not the case! I love X Wing and Star Wars in general, but have been playing wargames since 1994 and I was lining up my little Napoleonic soldier and making pew-pew noises long before that!

While I have models for a wide range of games, if I'm honest I really only play a handful of them. Most of the models sit in storage, hopeful of one day being the flavour of the month again. My current passion is SAGA, and now that I have a regular opponent I'm hopeful of it being one of my gaming mainstays since I absolutely love it. The game play is simple, the application of the different factions battle boards is complex without being complicated, the forces are small enough to be easy to prepare and reasonably priced, it plays on a small board (36" by 48") and it features Vikings, Saxons, Franks and other Dark Ages factions for which I have a passion.

Basically, SAGA is a dark ages skirmish game. It features anywhere from 25 to 73 figures (one of which will always be your Warlord) in units ranging from 4 to 12 models. Models for all factions are broken down into three broad types. Levies are your conscripted peasants, unwilling warriors forced to fight for their lord. Warriors are the men who form the backbone of your force, stern and determined men. Hearthguard are the born warriors who love to fight, the elite and highly trained core of a Warlords forces. These are your Viking Hirdmen or Saxon Thegns.

Each faction shares these three classes of warrior, but many have some small variation within them. For instance, the Welsh may take lots of javelins on their units, the Normans may mount their warriors and hearthguard on horses, the vikings can take one unit of hearthguard as berserkers, etc. Further flavour is given to each faction by their battle-boards.

Each faction has SAGA dice. These dice are rolled at the start of each turn, and may be placed on the corresponding box on their battle board. This gives a player a range of choices to make, varying from how many dice to roll (you get one dice for each unit, and two for your warlord to a maximum of 6 dice. Levy units don't generate dice) to where to place those dice after they're rolled. Activating a unit costs a dice, so you need to balance the cool abilities on your board with the need to activate your units at all. And each faction has wildly varying battle board abilities so, despite sharing common troop types, each faction plays very differently and in many cases each faction can be played in a variety of ways, depending on which types of builds you prefer and which battle board abilities you favour.

SAGA is not a dry historical simulation game. The game and it's effects are gamey, but never so much so that they break the theme. If you're looking for something historically accurate, this game is not for you. But if you're looking for a tight, fun skirmish wargame where your Vikings can plunder and pillage the Saxon lands, then SAGA is right up your alley.

And one of the things I love about SAGA as opposed to X Wing or Armada is that not only is it a much more traditional wargame (no faffing about with tokens and upgrade cards!) but I get the opportunity to make my own terrain and paint my own figures! Yes, I know I can do this with X Wing but there's much less motivation when all the bits are provided pre-painted with press-out terrain. I've been happily putting together all sorts of plastic soldiers and buildings and forests and stuff:

This church was built using plaster bricks made from Hirst Arts molds, with a roof made from cardboard tiles and mounted on an MDF base.

These four buildings form a village which was the scene of three battles last weekend, with my Vikings being victorious twice, but then get trounced in the third game by the Irish!. They're made from balsa wood for the frame and walls, with teddy-bear fur roofs and MDF bases.

The bases aren't finished, since I ran out of tufts and flowers and what-not, and they need some extra detail like spears leant against door frames, shields hung on walls, stacked firewood, etc, but they're finished enough to see some action on the table top.

And of course, there are the models themselves!

My Viking Warlord and his faithful banner bearer.

His loyal retainers, 8 Hearthguard.

And some frothing loonies, 4 Berserkers! I've decided to go with the 'warrior cult of Odin' interpretation, rather than naked lunatics with wolf-skin hats. These guys have an increased attacks value, but reduced armour.

Overall, I've gone for a darker palette with the Vikings to make them look more menacing. Their opponents, the valiant Anglo-Danes, have some brighter colours:

Here are my Anglo-Dane Warlord, and his noble Thegns.

The models are all plastic from Gripping Beast and the shields make use of transfers from Little Big Men Studios.