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Getting into this in a big way, I've bought 4 armies and a lot of terrain (not to mention the rules and special dice which I will admit are very expensive), all financed from the sale of two painted armies.

So here is the first army, The Normans:

Hey mate!

I'm really interested in starting up a small force in Saga. How does it play?

I have the rules and a couple sets of dice and am in the process of reorganizing some 15mm armies I use for Pig Wars. I need more archers....

The rules (which I have not played yet) seem like they will give a fun game which keeps both players involved.

By the way, great looking army. Your shields came out really nicely, as did the basing.

Jake

Great little game, lots of fun and very tactical, lots and lots to think about. The special dice idea is great and adds a really interesting dimension to it.

On the Saga forums, someone put together D6 versions of the boards, so entry into the system does not require special dice.

Jake

Wow looking great! I love the individual designs on the shields.

I have heard that this game is great fun to play, will be looking forward to more posts in this thread.

Fatigue markers done:



Starting the Anglo-Danes next.

Been busy Got lots done over the Christmas break but ran out of basing material.

So here are the Anglo Danes:





Added 4 more Hearthguard with Dane axes, will do the same for the non axe armed ones as well.

Those are really nice. Great job.

I played a game of Saga just before Christmas and it was a lot of fun. It has certainly inspired me to finish up some Welsh that I had bought long ago for WAB

Definitely getting into this, my favourite historical period. How much money does a basic playable force cost? Gripping beast models are beautiful but can be expensive.

Well if you hang on for a bit Gripping Beast will be bringing out plastic unarmoured types soon and Conquest games are bringing out plastic Norman infantry.

A force can be anywhere between 24 and 72 figures, the 72 figure force is six units of levy 12 strong and I don't see anyone playing that. About 45 figures would be average,

Avoid the Wargames factory plastics, they're only good for spare parts.

With a box of GB plastic Saxon Thegns and a box of Plastic Fyrd you'd have more then enough to do an army and then some, all for under £40.

It doesn’t have to be expensive, you could get all you need for a Viking force out of a single box of Gripping Beast plastic Vikings. So that’s £20 for the whole army. Less than the rule book!

As for that game itself, it’s excellent. Simple yet incredibly tactical. The best advice I can give is to learn not just your card, but all the other cards as well and learn the likely tricks and combos that your opponent is likely to come up with. I've bamboozled a few players who weren’t expecting me to disrupt their movement so much with my Welsh!

Oh and for goodness sake, never get into a straight fight with the Vikings. It’s a good way to loose and loose quickly!

How do the cards work? Is there an emphasis on individual combat or 'squad' based tactics etc.?

Well you roll dice depending on the number of units in your army and assign the results to your 'powers'. you can then use these powers at various points in the coming turn. The dice are D6 with 3 symbols in the place of numbers, though in the case of all factions 1 symbol = 1-3, the next = 4-5 and the third symbol = 6.

Each faction has their own set of individual powers reflect their style of fighting.

For example the Welsh (my faction) use guerilla tactics. So one of my powers can be used during the opponents movement phase to prevent him from activating one of his units. He can if he wants activate them a 2nd time, but activating units multiple times in the same turn causes 'fatigue' which hampers your ability to fight. Another of the Welsh skills is also activated in the opponents turn and allow me to move one of my units before he moves one of his. This means he can try to charge me and I can just run away.

Essentially the Welsh are all about disrupting movement and hit and run. All their troops are armed with Javelins as well.

Viking powers tend to allow them more dice to roll in combat and one allows them to fight another round of combat immediately after resolving one. This is great power if you manage to inflict damage on your opponent and have them at a disadvantage as you don't have to wait until the next turn to break them. They are a very 'in your face' faction that are all about fighting.

Here's 10 points of Welsh!





Vikings up next.

Very nice, what painting technique you use? Would love to see a battle report.

Pretty basic stuff really, Base coat, wash, highlight.

Not big on battle reports, but I'll see what I can do.........

Vikings done.

Really nice looking minis!

This game has taken off big time at my club and seems like a lot of fun to play, might have to start looking at getting into it!

Where can I get cool Viking Shield declas/transfers in the states? Thanks!

All mine are from LBMS, where you get them in the states, I have no idea, but I wouldn't of thought postage from Gripping Beast in the UK would be expensive, Its only sheets of paper.

DirtyJon wrote:Where can I get cool Viking Shield declas/transfers in the states? Thanks!

Architects of War has LBMS transfers

http://www.architectsofwar.com/LBMS.aspx

kenshin620 wrote:

DirtyJon wrote:Where can I get cool Viking Shield declas/transfers in the states? Thanks!

Architects of War has LBMS transfers

http://www.architectsofwar.com/LBMS.aspx

Thanks!

So here I am back where I started, the last unit, more Norman Warriors:



So thats me all finished Hope you all enjoyed it.

Fantastic. Solid work, great looking units.

Fantastic work, I've been looking at Saga as well and since a Warhammer Ancient Battles league is forming here, I'm building a Late Saxon Kingdoms & Viking style of force, which I hope to use the models for Saga as well.

I picked my stuff up from Wargames Factory's Hammer of the Gods line:
http://wargamesfactory.com/webstore/hammer-of-the-gods

At $20/box of 32 models, its a great deal, if you're buying more then you get a discount.

I'll be looking forward to seeing your progress!

I got some of my Vikings done:

Those look very cool, 1 point down, 5 to go


Automatically Appended Next Post:

Hmelrose wrote:Fantastic work, I've been looking at Saga as well and since a Warhammer Ancient Battles league is forming here, I'm building a Late Saxon Kingdoms & Viking style of force, which I hope to use the models for Saga as well.

I picked my stuff up from Wargames Factory's Hammer of the Gods line:
http://wargamesfactory.com/webstore/hammer-of-the-gods

At $20/box of 32 models, its a great deal, if you're buying more then you get a discount.

I'll be looking forward to seeing your progress!

To be completely honest I hate those WF one's, you generally get what you pay for in the hobby and I got a couple of boxes when I started and was massively disappointed. The detail is not crisp, the poses are just downright weird looking and the way the heads attach.......well.

I ended up using them for conversion parts and nothing else.

I would love to get into SAGA, the only problem being I cannot seem to find anyone with the book in stock!

Great miniatures by the way, nice instant 'pop' when you look at them rather than the dreary 'brown, brown and oh look, more brown' appearance that some post Roman armies can have, Hopefully when (if) I get the book I will do some Tanatus Saxons and look at converting it across to Heroic Bronze Age greek play (Hector, Achilles etc) if the system proves to be flexible enough. Please keep with the regular updates, it helps motivate others like me I am sure