SAGA Viking Age Skirmishes Update

Gripping Beast have just provided this update in their weekly newsletter:

Its a long running saga...

Final preparations are underway for the release of SAGA later this summer.

Not only do we have the rather lovely rule-book (that comes with four sturdy Battle Boards, one each for Vikings, Anglo-Danish, Welsh & Normans,) but we will also be releasing the relevant ranges in SAGA friendly formats. And then there are of course the special faction specific dice....

In SAGA, you muster your faithful retainers in easy steps, making several choices from four highly skilled hearthguard, eight stalwart warriors or twelve less-than-ferocious levy with each choice costing 1 point. Starter warbands are 4 points and the average is 6.

As you can see, the composition is pretty much up to you as Warlord and to make things even easier we will be sorting suitable models from our ranges into 1 point packs (eg 4 Hirdmen, 8 Bondi or 12 bowmen for the Vikings.) To get yourself up and running as soon as possible, we will also be putting together Starter Box Sets that contain a balanced 4 point warlord & warband plus all the appropriate weapons and shields AND a  Renedra plastic base for each of the figures.

We will also be releasing a SAGA Paint set that we have developed in conjunction with our chums at Army Painter. This set contains 10 specific paints which, when used in conjunction with Army Builder's Warpaints Starter Set, will give you all you need to paint your Dark Age figures with historically authentic pigments.

Pictured above, Lord S's 4 point Anglo-Danish Warband resplendent in their LBMS transfers and painted using the SAGA paint set.

To round it off we will be offering loads of discounted bundle deals but more of this in a special SAGA-tastic Newsletter coming shortly.....

but if you can't wait then keep an eye on Wargames Illustrated, WSS and Battlegames as they will all be running articles on SAGA in the coming issues. Also take a look at the Tomahawk Studios web-site, home of Alex Buchel who designed SAGA (don't worry, there is an English language option!) and go to his blog. We will also be contributing to the site soon.

SAGA Review

Like many of you, I have seen this new game advertised around the web and in magazines, and been envious of those who may have had a chance to play demo games

Gripping Beast has given us this update:
I know we've been a bit quiet about SAGA recently but that's because we've been really busy buffing and polishing it ready to go to the printers (which it should be doing in two weeks....)
In the last few weeks we've been pleased to play host to visits from Wargames Illustrated and WSS who came down (seperately!) to Beast Towers for a run through of SAGA. Both magazines will be running articles with pictures in either their next issues or the following ones.
Dan at WI enjoyed himself so much that he came back a week later with Rick Priestley and stayed two days: on day one we played the Battle Of Maldon using Rick's Hail Ceasar ruleset on our lovely board that some of you may have seen at Salute and on day two we introduced Rick to SAGA and played through a scenario specially written for a forthcoming WI issue. Make sure you check out Rick's thoughts on SAGA in WI shortly........
 
Those of you who have been to the shows this year may well have seen our SAGA Introduction participation game expertly run by chum Mike Hobbs ( a wholly owned subsidury of GB.) Mike has written a short overview of the game and posted it on his web-site

 Mike's article follows:

Over the last 6 months I’ve been playtesting a set of Dark Age wargames rules called ‘Saga’ and as the release date of the rules is getting nearer and nearer I thought I would do a review of the rules so you can get an idea what the game is all about.

Saga is a mid scale skirmish game set in Dark Age Britain and is written by Alex Buchel, Jean-Baptiste Folley of Tomahawk studios and Darren Harding and Andrew Sherwell both of Gripping Beast, so it has some pedigree.

The game itself requires about 40 figures aside and a 4ft x 3 ft table to play on with a normal game taking about an hour to play which makes it perfect for club nights.

So onto the mechanics, movement and combat are both nice and simple and dead easy to pick up, but the true beauty of the game lies in the battleboards each player has and it’s the use of the battleboard that will decide if a player is victorious or not.
In brief before the game starts each player will purchase a number of different types of warriors to create his or her warband and once purchased these warriors are split into units ready for the game.

For example you might buy 12 Hearthguards (these are the best kind of troop), 16 warriors (your bulk basic troops) and 12 levy (untrained peasants’) and from these figures you then form units. Each unit has between 4 and 12 figures in it of the same type, so following our example we could make this army

• 2 Hearthguard units (both 6 man strong)
• 2 Warrior units (1 x 10 man strong, 1 x 6 man strong)
• 1 levy unit (12 man strong)

On top of this you also have a single warlord figure who counts as a unit on his own.

You then work out the number of Saga dice you get to play with by counting up the number of units you have plus 2 for your warlord, oh I forgot to say that levy units don’t count in working out Saga dice. So again working through our example we would have 6 saga dice to play with, 2 for the Hearthguard units, 2 for the warriors and 2 for the warlord. It’s also worth noting that you dice total is worked out turn by turn so as you lose units the number of dice you get reduces.
I guess you need to know what these Saga dice do that makes then so important, well Saga dice are used with the battle boards to activate units during a turn and to give player some advantages during their and their opponents turn, so the more dice you get the more options you get. Oh these Saga dice are special as they have different symbols on each side instead of numbers, and the symbols match those on a battleboard. So each turn a player will roll his Saga dice and then place them on his battleboard and it’s that act that decides what he can do this turn
Here’s a pretty picture of a battleboard with some dice on it so you get the idea

Each battleboard is laid out the same, with the left hand column used to activate units and the center and right hand columns giving you abilities that can be used during the turn, each faction in the game has a different battleboard which play’s to their strengths and gives the game a really good feel.
When a unit is activated (by removing a dice from the battleboard) it can either move, rest or shoot a ranged weapon. Movement is done using movement sticks although a normal tape measure is acceptable, and a unit can be activated any number of times per turn, however if unit moves or fires more than once per turn the unit starts to collect fatigue points, I’ll come onto fatigue later.

Combat is also easy with each figure involved in the combat generating a number of attack dice which are rolled to generate hits, if you roll equal to or over your opponents armour value you score a hit which the opponent has to save. Any unsaved hits result in a figure being taken off, unless it’s your warlord as he needs 2 hits to be made against him in a single combat.
Right getting back to fatigue, fatigue is generated when a unit moves or shoots twice or more in a turn and also after melee, these fatigue counters will over time cause the unit to become exhausted which means they can’t move or fight. There are only 2 ways to get rid of fatigue that is by resting the unit or by your opponent using your fatigue, but why would he do that I hear you ask, well mainly because your fatigue can be used by your opponent to give him an advantage in melee, movement and shooting.
It’s a very simple but very subtle rule and really makes you think about what you are doing.

Well that’s a brief rundown of the rules, currently there are 4 factions included in the first book, which are Anglo Danish, Viking, Norman and Welsh. Each one has a different battleboard and will use different Saga dice which will be available separately, a sheet of the symbols that can be stuck onto normal d6 will be made available for download so you don’t have to buy the special dice if you don’t want to.
As I said at the beginning I’ve been playtesting the rules with members of the Penarth and District wargames club for the last 6 months as well as doing demos at various wargames events in the UK and I have to say it’s a real belter of a game, it’s fun, easy to pickup and really does reward good tactics.
Hopefully it’ll be on sale in July and from the feedback I’ve had I know it’ll be popular.

From Mike's blog here    Lots to look forward to then!

I also found some more SAGA Game writeups from an ongoing campaign here:
http://gwargamesp.18.forumer.com/index.php?showtopic=2337
http://gwargamesp.18.forumer.com/index.php?showtopic=2977
http://gwargamesp.18.forumer.com/index.php?showtopic=3619
http://gwargamesp.18.forumer.com/index.php?act=ST&f=6&t=3974
http://gwargamesp.18.forumer.com/index.php?showtopic=4924

We are still enjoing 'Age of Blood' but I'm sure I'll end up with a set of these too!

Platoon Forward Review

I got this book and have been reading it in detail over the last week, so I'm in a position now to share my thoughts on it.

Platoon Forward! is a supplement for platoon level and skirmish level gaming, though it can be applied to larger scaled campaigns with relative ease.  The book is well set out in full colour with good diagrams and clear explanations throughout.  The three sections (as detailed previously here:http://tasmancave.blogspot.com/2011/01/platoon-forward.html) are themselves independent but can be linked as desired. 

Section 1- Character Formation

A neat, quick and easy system involving a couple of tables to give depth to your platoon leadership characters and others as you need them.  This is done in a plot point style system, letting you use it as much as you want, as opposed to giving specific rules for the game table, though these could be generated very easily if you want them.  For example a "Fanatic" character wont be taking many prisoners, so don't assign him such tasks or they will be liquidated before they get delivered to the intelligence section and you wont get the VPs (He just hasn't been the same since his family died in that bombing raid... ) The tables themselves are generic, but they get the creative juices flowing and I already have plans to build more specific ones for my German forces.

Section 2 - Scenario Generation

Very slick, easy to use system which not only provides an individual scenario, but what comes before and after.  Very neat for a series of ongoing games in a particular sector, and each game has particular victory conditions that aren't just "kill them all".  The solitaire rules for setting up the enemy are also good - sensible but able to keep you guessing.  The scenarios also include support factors, such as armour, artillery etc.  I plan to keep the arty part secret and just roll it up when I call for it.  After all, I might have a battery in support of my patrol but I wont know they will definitely fire (they could be busy supporting another unit)when I ask them to....until I ask them to!

Section 3 -Events

This is probably the most subjective part of the book, and it involves all the post mission stuff that happens: Interactions with other figures, reinforcement and support etc.  The book lays down some rules for working out what happens, but it is very narrative based and you'll need to develop it yourself, based on how each game goes.  Then again, no prescriptive system will meet everyone's needs and this instead gives you a framework to apply to any situation.  Its free flowing and with only a little imagination really required on your part (think back to Commando comics, Cross of Iron and all those Sven Hassel books!)

General
There are a few minor typos or errors but they don't detract from the document.  I really like the inclusion of a series of short letters from a German NCO to his brother, which neatly give the rules context.  Admittedly, there is nothing in here that I couldn't have developed for myself, but the point is even after years of thinking about it, Joe has and I haven't!  The only thing that comes to mind as missing from a character and story perspective is some sort of system for achievements and medals.

Overall: 
easy to read & great value for money.  I wish I had it 20 years ago!  Give it a whirl, for the price you've not got much to loose and based on my reading, everything to gain.

Platoon Forward!

This will be released by Too Fat Lardies in the next day or so, and I'm going to snatch it up!

Essentially its a campaign system which inroduces both characterisation to your leader figures, a scenario generation system and an events generator.  Its tailored for WW2 but appears relatively generic so it can be easily adapted to almost setting.

Read an interview with the author at the Too Fat Lardies Blog here:

Victory by any Means!

I've been eyeing these rules off for a long, long time - who doesnt love a good SF campaign after all?

Well they happen to be 50% off this weekend at wargamedownloads so I couldnt help myself....

...in fact I bought four of the books in the end.  Having an initial flick through now and love what I'm seeing!

http://www.wargamedownloads.com/search_results.php?searchterm=vbam&pics=2&era=&player=&free=2&action=Search

For more info on the VBAM system check out the publisher's blog here:
http://blog.vbamgames.com/

or their forums here:
http://forums.vbamgames.com/index.php

Firestorm Armada

I must admit I was excited about this last year, waned with the initial delays, moved onto other stuff with more delays and then forgot all about it. But now its out!

http://www.spartangames.co.uk/firestorm_armada.htm

Yesterday I heard the D6G review of this game, very similar to Uncharted Seas it would seem. Simultaneously (in fact, while listening to said D6G episode) I found my stash of Starship minis and space terrain from my Full Thrust and BFG days. I'm gonna have to at least get the rulebook it would seem...Maelstrom Games stock it too!

Crossfire II?

TMP has an interesting article today about a second edition of Crossfire in development.
http://theminiaturespage.com/news/62867/

I thought these were an innovative rules set and I liked the ebb and flow they developed through the action-reaction system. Unfortunately, whle they were good for company sized infantry combat, I found they didn't work so well with supporting arms armour, arty, air support).

I'm looking forward to checking out Crossfire II in due course.

Land Ironclads Goes to Print!!!

...this had better not be an April fool's joke! From TMP:

Land Ironclads - Wessex Games' game of Victorian Science Fiction ground combat - has gone to print. A companion set to our popular Aeronef VSF flyer rules, Land Ironclads is not only a complete stand-alone game allowing gamers to fight games between armies including mighty landships, devilish mechanical contraptions and brave red-coated infantry, but is also fully compatible with Aeronef itself allowing combined air-land games to be played in a seamless fashion. Inspired by the worlds of Griffiths, Le Queux, Robida, Wells and Verne, Land Ironclads comes complete with a detailed geo-political timeline from 1854 to 1901, a military overview (with unit organisation details) covering Great Britain, France, Germany, Russia, Austro-Hungary, Italy, Turkey, Spain and the Martian invader, statistics for over 200 different types of vehicle and troop types, a points system to allow you to create your own designs and five introductory scenarios set during the Great War of 1899-1901 and the Martian Invasion of 1901. The rules, which can be used for straight C19th historical battles, also include rules for land ironclads, supply, ruses, ambushes, espionage, sabotage, flying craft, underground burrowers, chemical warfare and the dreaded Martian invader. Brigade Models are producing a range of (rather superb) miniatures to support the game in the same scale as Aeronef models (2mm), but the rules can be played with any scale miniatures up to and including 15mm (in fact, with the standard 40mm unit frontage, you probably could well go larger). Land Ironclads will be a 48-page (including full-colour cover) A4 rulebook. We are hoping that Land Ironclads will be available to purchase at Salute from the Brigade Models stand on 19th April.




The discerning Gentlemen can tell that this is quality work by the embossed claim that: "Land Ironclads is a set of Victorian science fiction armoured warfare warfare rules written by Matthew Hartley , Steve Blease, Paul and David Crook inspired by the period fiction of H.G.Wells, George Griffiths and Albert Robida." Huzzah!