Hordini wrote:Awesome! Great to see some more medieval stuff on Dakka. What is Saga like? Is it primarily a warband/skirmish level game or can you scale it up for larger forces?
Other than Deadzone, Saga is the first game in several years I've been instantly excited about after seeing a game. It's a Dark Ages Skirmish game based around a very simple game mechanic (roll
D6 "Sage Dice", use results to either "activate" a unit or perform a special action) but still has a lot of tactical depth. The system is model and terrain light, unlike the majority of games in the period, making it really economical. Two 6pt armies plus the rulebook have only run me $200.
Army building is simple. Choose a point value for the battle (3-4 for a quick game, 6 for a larger standard game). Other than the Warlord, each "base unit" always costs 1 point which will buy you either 4 Hearthguard (Veterans), 8 Warriors (Troops), or 12 Levy (Rookies). All these units have the same basic mechanic/armor/weapons no matter the faction - Hearthguard generate 1 Saga Dice and have 5 Armor (5+ to hit), Warriors generate 1 Saga Dice and have 4 Armor (4+ to hit), and Levies generate no Saga Dice and have 3 Armor. Depending on the faction you choose, these units can be "upgraded" with different weapons and some can be mounted depending on faction, but usually this also has a downgrade as well.
For example, the Norman Cavalry pictured above was purchased as a Hearthguard unit. Mounting them turns them into cavalry, giving them a longer move (12" vs. the usual 6" of foot infantry) HOWEVER, their Armor value vs. Shooting attacks is reduced by 1. So, if an enemy unit shoots at them, instead of having to roll 5s, they would need 4s. They also slow down in area terrain. In the blog post, there's a unit of Crossbowmen. They are purchased as one unit of 8 Warriors and "upgraded" with crossbows. Crossbows reduce the Armor value of an enemy unit by 1 (due to the crossbows' power) , however it also reduces the armor value of the Crossbowmen by 1 (due to the ponderous nature of reloading a crossbow).
Another cool component is Fatigue. Units may be activated any number of times using the Saga Dice (or with one of the Warlord's special abilities) HOWEVER, every activation after the first gives the unit a Fatigue token. This token may be "spent" by an opponent to reduce the unit's to Hit ability, increase their own armor, etc. Some factions can even use Fatigue to automatically remove a certain number of models from the unit or to slow that unit down (my Norman cavalry have been burned repeatedly by these abilities). Every unit can only have a certain number of Fatigue before it MUST Rest - basically an activation spent doing nothing - and this must be the first activation the unit does on its turn. Some Special abilities and the "War Banner" can bend this rule though.
Every faction also has a specific "Battle Board", where you put the Saga Dice to either activate units or use special abilities. The Normans' special abilities focus on shooting and cavalry special abilities. Vikings focus on melee and fatigue special abilities. Welsh/Irish focus on hit and run tactics and using area terrain. Every faction is different.
