Saga questions

lenihan

Moderator
No, not the package holidays for over 50s, I mean the wargame. I'm thinking of trying out Saga, and I'm wondering if anybody here plays it and could answer a few questions about it.

I understand the oldhammer relevance of the game is limited, but I want to ask here because a) I want to get opinions on the rules and the way the game works from people who have a view of gaming roughly similar to mine (i.e. it's about fun and narrative, not tournament style nonsense), and b) because I see it as a good opportunity to build up multipurpose forces (like the Norse) than could then be used for 2nd/3rd edition warhammer games.

So if anybody plays it and can offer their opinions on it and answer some questions about how it works and what you need, I'd be grateful to hear from you.
 
I've had two battles I think so far. It's a good game, I think you probably need to play it a few times to get the hang of the activation system I don't see any reason why it couldn't be used for narrative type games, though it wouldn't necessarily be my first choice for these.
 
I play it, I love it
I know a lot of serious wargamers feel it's too 'gamey'
I think it's great for narrative driven games, they battleboards give a nice unique flavour to the factions and the rule-book scenarios themselves wouldn't be out of place as entries in the RoC narrative campaign generator
getting started is easy as a typical 4 point warband is only 25 figures (based whatever way you like)


The forces are pretty well balanced imho, and there's even some nice fantasy (mainly LOTR and asoiaf) boards out there

Elves
http://tabletopdeutschland.files.wordpress.com/2013/05/saga-hdr-elben.pdf
Gondor
http://tabletopdeutschland.files.wordpress.com/2012/04/saga-hdr-gondor1.pdf
Rohan
http://tabletopdeutschland.files.wordpress.com/2012/04/saga-hdr-rohan.pdf
Dwarfs
http://tabletopdeutschland.files.wordpress.com/2012/07/saga-hdr-zwerge.pdf
Mordor
http://tabletopdeutschland.files.wordpress.com/2012/06/saga-hdr-mordor.pdf
Moria
http://tabletopdeutschland.files.wordpress.com/2012/08/saga-hdr-goblins.pdf
Isengard
http://tabletopdeutschland.files.wordpress.com/2012/04/saga-hdr-isengard.pdf
 
Good to know Aiteal - I'm basically interested in what other games I might be able to play that would also feed into building armies for old school warhammer, and as Saga came up in conversation yesterday at the Cambridge Wargames club I was thinking maybe that would fit the bill, seeing as so many of the forces have oldhammer uses.

So 2 questions: 1) what are the startup costs - beyond the minis what else do you need to buy? I don't want to get into something that's going to divert much cash from my need for lead! and 2) so there are no particular rules to do with basing your minis? Nothing to stop me putting them on 20mm square bases that would also work in Warhammer?
 
lenihan":2dow4qoh said:
Good to know Aiteal - I'm basically interested in what other games I might be able to play that would also feed into building armies for old school warhammer, and as Saga came up in conversation yesterday at the Cambridge Wargames club I was thinking maybe that would fit the bill, seeing as so many of the forces have oldhammer uses.

So 2 questions: 1) what are the startup costs - beyond the minis what else do you need to buy? I don't want to get into something that's going to divert much cash from my need for lead! and 2) so there are no particular rules to do with basing your minis? Nothing to stop me putting them on 20mm square bases that would also work in Warhammer?
Click to expand...


well, the basic rulebook is really all you need for the game, which isn't cheap to be honest at 25quid, then you need buckets of D6's and I made my own saga dice with blank dice from ebay and round stickers, but the symbols on the official dice all correspond to numbers anyhow, so the official dice are not strictly needed, they do look nice however :)
the expansions really aint necessary, especially if you want to try the fantasy variants linked above

basing isn't a huge deal, I went for 25mm round bases on my minis purely for aesthetic reasons, but really as they tend to go about in skirmish formation only a real bad sportsman would try to get a small advantage with the base sizing differences (eligibility for combat is measured from the action, so in theory a 20mm base would give you an advantage if you jammed them in as close as possible)
 
I made my own Saga dice with wooden cubes and a pyro glyph pen.

It's not too expensive to try out, you can build a warband with only a few figures and as you say, they can easily be used for other stuff. My brothers saga warband is currently in a RoC campaign.
 
I play it quite a lot at my local club where most people have at least one warband. I really like it, the rules are simple enough to pick up quickly but complex enough to create some interesting tactics. Each of the Warbands is different enough to cater for a wide range of tactical tastes from the "get 'em lads" of the Vikings to the "sneaky, sneaky" of the Welsh and everything in between.

The scenarios cater for a wide range of situations and the specific 4 player scenario works very well for an evenings gaming. The game itself can be a bit "gamey" for some hard core historical gamers tastes but if you look beyond that, the battle board system is a fun element of the game and as much part of it as pushing the figures around the table.

The combat system does take a bit of getting used to, especially with the defence dice cancelling hits instead of the normal saving throws but it does open up enough options for the battle boards to develop for each faction.

Yes, the rule book at £25 is quite expensive but picking up some plastic historically means that the actual Warbands are quite cheap. You can make the dice quite easily by yourself, most of us at the club have.

Simply put, give it a go. You won't regret it.
 
My local group play SAGA all of the time and I must admit that I really enjoy playing. It feels less intensive than WFB and a game usually lasts less than 2 hours. Easy to learn, difficult to master is the phrase often used to describe it. The figures from Gripping Beast (and others) are excellent and the prices are nowhere near what GW charge.
 
One of my local clubs having been playing Saga for well over two years and its become a staple game if no one has planned anything else; even to the point of multi-player games if we have odd numbers or loose alliances and most of the other clubs have now picked it up as well and are catching up fast.

As for the game - the trick is knowing how to use the cards and planning your moves in advance with the dice you roll. IMO a good game for a pleasant evening gaming in good company. :grin: :grin: :grin:

Well worth the investment

Paul / Golgfag1
 
Ok, I think I'm sold. Will think about this more after Easter.

Damn you all for dragging me deeper into this wargaming malarky!
 
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