VAAJ~ ec B~Leus

A Sagc\ : SKiRmishes in the Oc\RK Ages supp{emeoc

Factions designed by : Ale x Buchel
Written by: Ale x Buchel and Andy " Lord S" Sherwell
Layout, cover and graphic design: Fred Machu
Pictures: Wyn Rogers

Figures painted by: Darren Harding, Wyn Rogers, Mystic Spirals, Adey Burt
Matt Bazley, Fred Machu and Artmaster Studios.
Scenery by: Wyn Rogers, Gripping Beast and Grand Manner
Thanks to Mike Hobbs and the lnner Sanctum for their help and play testing sessions.
Join the saga community and find our latests updates at http://studiotomahawk.freeforums.org/
Varjaz i & Basileus is published by Gripping Beast under license from Studio Tomahawk SARL, 11 Nouvelle Cité, 67380 Lingolsheim.
Saga, Skirmishes in the Dark Ages, Northern Fury, The Raven's Shadow and Varjazi & Basileus are © by Al ex Buchel and Studio Tomahawk.
ISBN : 978-2-9538053-5-2
No part of this publication m ay be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or any means without
the prior written permission of the publisher.
Printed in April2013 by l'lmprimerie Gantier (59582 MARLY)
© Studio Tomahawk 2013

lNbeX.
Faction: The Pagan Rus .................................................................................................................. Pages 3 to 6
Faction: The Rus Princes ............................................................................................................ Pages 7 to 10
Faction: The Byzantines ........................................................................................................... Pages 11 to 14
Swords For Hire: The Steppe Nomads .......................................................................................Page 15
 Lhe p(\gc\11 Rus

The Rus l<ingdom emerged in the m id-9th century, carved out by JFACTUON RUJLJE§
Norse traders and adventurers w ho had established settlements
along the main river routes and waterways into what is now Pagan Rus Warlords, Hearthguards and Warriors are not subject
northern modern Russia. to any special rule.
Pagan Rus Levies are armed with javelins.
The Rus ruled over the native Slavs and Finno-Ugarian subjects,
mixing their mythology, traditions and culture with their own. Unless otherwise specified, Pagan Rus may not include Swords
Russian chronicles na me their first l<ing as Ruril< w ho replaced the for Hire units.
Khazars as Lord of Kiev and founded a dyn asty that would rule
Russia until the later Middle Ages. HJEROJE§ OJF THJE VJ[JIONG AGJE
Your Warlord is an important noble likely to be a Norseman. He Sviatoslav 1of Kiev, Prince of Rus,
can be a local lord or even a warlike Khagan (a title derived from
the Khazars ).
Conqueror of the Khazars
Sviatoslav was born in the mid-9th century and was the son of lgor,
As was the tradition in the Norse culture, the lords and leaders
Prince of Kiev. As soon as he succeeded to the throne, he lool<ed
maintained a band of loyal followers and bodyguards. They were
east and south to expand the lands he had inherited from his
likely to be of pure Scandivanian blood and were either called
father. lnfluenced by Byzantine emissaries, his attention turned to
Varjazi (Varangians) or Druzhina. They fought on foot, in tight
the Khazar Khaganate in the Valga valley and the Pontic steppes.
shieldwall formations. These Varjazi form the Hearthguards at
In 965 AD Sviatoslav launched a lightening campaign and he
your disposal.
overthrew the rulers of Sarl<el and Kerch, two of the majar cities
Most troops fighting for the Rus warlords were Slavs or other of the Khazars, befo re destroying and burning the Khazar capital
natives. Armed with spear and shield, these troops usually made of Atil. In one year, Sviatoslav had fragmented a nation that ruled
up the militia defending Novgorod, Kiev or any other major trade the steppes for four centuries.
city. They are your Warriors.
After the Khazar, the Prince of Kiev turned to the west with the
The bow was not a favoured weapon of the early Rus, and was subjugation of Bulgaria as his objective. This threw the Rus in
restricted to hunting during direct confrontation with the Byzantines. The campaign
in the Ball<ans was not nearly as successful as the one
this period. From time to time, sorne scouts
in the steppes, and in 969 Sviatoslav had was forced
armed with javelins would join a warband
to negotiate with the Emperor and retire from Eastern
and be despatched in front of the battle line. These
Europe. On his way home, Pechenegs, most lil<ely in the
javelinmen form the Levy that your Warlord might muster.
pay of the Byzantines who feared this ambitious Prince,
ambushed him. lt is said that his sl<ull made a drinl<ing
chalice for the Pecheneg Khan.
Almost nothing /asted from his conquests, as he never took time
to consolidate them. His sons waged war against each other,
shattering what was the largest kingdom in Europe in the 10th Below yo u will find a description of the various abilities available
century. to the Pagan Rus player on their Battleboard. We will not deal
Hero of the Viking Age: Unlike other Heroes of the Viking Age, with the first column of abilities as they are similar to those used
Sviatoslav the Prince of Kiev only generates two Saga Dice at throughout Saga: the first three are intended to actívate the
the start of each of his turn. different classes of models of an Rus warband, while the last two
being the usual Activation Pool and the Combat Pool.
Pagan: Although his motherconverted to Christianity, Sviatoslav
remained Pagan, fearing that conversion might soften him and
lose the respect of his Varjazis. His determination to maintain For the Khagan!
his reputation had no equal. During any melee fought within M Used during step 3 of any melee
of Sviatoslav, any unit in his warband that doesn't score at least
This ability will be especially useful with your Varjazis or
one hit during step 4 takes one extra FATIGUE during step 7.
Warlord, or against an enemy with FATIGUE. When these dice
During any me lee fo ught within M[ of Sviatoslav, any unit in his are spent, you compare the Armour value of your target unit
warband that scores at least four hits during step 4 discards all with the Armour value of each enemy unit involved in this
FATIGUE at the end of step 7· Melee. lf your unit's Armour is superior to the Armour of all
the enemy units, then your unit gains 3 Attack Dice (5 if the
relevant dice was spent). With a good cost versus effectiveness
ratio, this ability will see frequent use.

The Great Winter

Used during your Orders Phase
Some play-testers felt that this ability actually characterizes
the Rus and so the ability was centra l to their tactics. This
ability simply limits the movement and shooting range of all
units on the board to §. Note that this does not constitute a
reduction of movement or shooting distance, as but rather
that it is rather a limitation imposed u pon these distances. This
has sorne importance when interacting with other abilities,
such as the Welsh Children of the Land ability. This al so means
that a unit moving in rough terrain would still move at S, as
this movement does not exceed the limitation created by The
Steppe mercenaries: During his campaigns, Sviatoslav made Great Winter. On the other hand, The Great Winter would de
great use of Oghuz and Pecheneg mercenaries. Hence, any facto make any ability that would increase the movement of a
warband led by him m ay include any number of Steppe Nomads troop useless.
Swords for Hire, as long as the number of these units does not
Obviously, warbands that rely on shooting and/or mounted
exceed the number of Varjazis units deployed on the table.
troops will hate this ability!
Conqueror: The Prince of Kiev was always on the move, never
giving any respite to his enemies. At the start of his turn, the
player controlling Sviatoslav m ay decide that his Warlord won't
generate any Saga dice. lf he chooses to do so, at the start of
an opposing player's next turn, he may designate up to two
units in that player's warband. These units will not generate
Saga Dice 2t the start of this turn.
Standing like Bears Frozen
Used during step 3 of any melee Used during an ene my Activation Phase
Standing like Bears is a good and cheap defensive ability that Frozen is a very useful ability against warbands that would
will prevent those using it from causing much damage, but make use of mu ltiple activations per turn. lt is used once an
should dramatically the number of hits they will take. When activation (that must be the second or subsequent activation
using it, you have the choice of either discarding 3 Attack Dice of the target unit) is declared but before it is resolved. lt
to increase your Armour value by one or to discard 8 Attack cancels the activation and the target unit cannot be activated
Dice to increase your Armour by two. Of course you can only aga in this turn.
discard dice yo u actually have!
Usually, yo u will not get to use Frozen, as the simple fact that it
This ability, combined with For the Khagan! or Bitting like is ready to use will prevent your opponent planning more than
Wolves can turn the tide of most melees. a single activation for each of his units.

Biting like Wolves Cold winds

Used during step 3) of any Melee Used during step 2 of an enemy shooting
This ability has two distinctive effects. Both are resolved at the This ability will turn shooting against the shooter. lt is used
end of the step 4 of the Me lee. during step 2 but its effects will be enforced during step 3· For
each die that rolls a 6 (that is, before any modifier is applied)
First, if all enemy units engaged in this Me lee have at least one
the shooti ng unit takes a FATIGU E. lf the relevant die is used to
FATIGUE, then your unit adds three extra hits to the hits scored .
pay for this ability, the ss rolled al so produce this effect. Nasty.
Secondly, if your unit did not suffer any hits during this step, it
adds a number of extra hits equal to its current Armour.

In both cases, the extra hits may be targeted against any enemy
unit involved in the Melee. And yes, it is possible to focus all
these hits on a single enemy unit, a Warlord for example. Bites
from Russian wolves are deadly indeed ......
Fear of the Dark Yo u resolve each of these Shootings one ata time, in any order
Used during your activation phase you want. During these Shootings you generate 6 Attack Dice,
but there is no shooting unit (your Warlord just indicates the
This one is a terrible ability that will dictate the deployment and epi centre of this madness, he is not the shooter), so any ability
movements of enemy units. When used, you must designate that requires a shooting unit or that affects it Shooting has no
an enemy unit that is more than Ml away from any unit (friends effect.
or foes). You simply give the target unit enough FATIGUES to
make it immediately exhausted. Soon, you will see the enemy Also, as your Warlord is within Ml of himself, he will be affected
deploy shoulder to shoulder, like a flock of sheep cornered by too!
wolves.
Barren Lands
Used either during your Orders Phase or during an enemy
Orders Phase
Barren Lands is a very focussed ability that targets mounted
troops. Once used, it reduces by one the Armour values of all
mounted troops against shooting and in melee for the whole
turn. Quite simple, but this will probably make the Byzantines,
Normans or Strathclyde Welsh think twice befare invading the
lands of the Rus ...

·'
Ragnar speaks ...
Russia is a terrible country. 1t is cold,
colder that our North, populated
with harsh people in an inhospitable
landscape. This is exactly what you
Endless Wastes will feel when facing the Pagan Rus.
Your movement will be limited, any
Used during your Activation Phase
mistake will be paid for dearly and
Another deadly ability if it is used with the right timing. Once once you finaffy manage to catch
used, it affects al! units on the table, including your own. All them, they've got more than a one trick to use.
units, except Warlords, must immediately eliminate one model
for each FATIGUE it has. Some of their abilities combine reaffy weff, and they
are usuaffy a quite a defensive warband, ready to
Combined with Fear of the Dark, the result on a Hearthguard
enemy unit can be devastating! exploit any of your weakness. The Great Winter wiff be
used almost every turn, especiaffy if their enemy fields
any mounted units, and they wiff make great efforts
Eastern Anger to split his an enemy warband, making it possible to
Used during your Activation Phase exploit their foe's Fear of the Dark.
You will not use Eastern Anger too often, but when
The other abifities focus on defending and counter·
used properly, the results can be devastating.
attacking. There are many combinations to explore,
When the dice are spent, you immediately resolve
but Standing like Bears with For the Khagan! is an
a Shooting against each unit within Ml of your
Warlord, including your own! Please note that obvious and very effective one.
despite being used during the Activation 1 might add that javelinmen, despite being
Phase, this does not constitute an activation brittle, are quite useful in a Pagan Rus
and may not be cancelled by any game effect
warband, as the reduction of shooting range
that cancels an activation.
has less impact on javelins than on bows. 1
hate writing that but overlooking these pet
slaves would be a mistake.
 Lhe Rus J)Rinces

In 988AD, Prince Vladimir the Great of Novgorod and Kiev Their equipment and training largely depended on the wealth
converted to Christianity. Although his conversion was to ensure of their city. Larger towns could provide reliable equipment to
his marriage to a Byzantium princess, this once proud and their mustered troops while poor or insignificant ones would
rampant Pagan embraced his new Christianity. He ruthlessly tore have to improvise with the available material. Tribal levies
down his kingdom's Pagan idols and sites of worship and built could join the urban militias, and these tribal Voi were known
many churches. Mass conversion of the Kievan Rus unsurprisingly as Smerds, meaning peasants. Their motivation and loyalty was
followed. not above question, obviously.

V/adimir and his family fought many campaigns against The militias fighting with spears and shields form the Warriors
Byzantium, Croats, Pechenegs as we/1 as his fellow Rus as he of your warband, while the ones that are equipped with bows
sought to make Kiev the pre-eminent city of the regían. are your Levies.

During this period, mounted followers of the Princes rep/aced

the Varjazis as the nucleus of Rus armies. Foot militias supported lFACTUON RUlUE§
the mounted elite, fighting in shieldwal/s or armed with bows.
Sorne Rus units may be fielded mounted. Mounted units are
Mounted archers, drawn from the ranks of the steppe nomads,
subject to the following special rules:
were a frequent sight in these armies, and were used even against
their fellows.
- The Movement of mounted units is increased to L but
Your Warlord is a Prince of a Russian city ora Voevodo (mi litary reduced to § when moving from, through, or into uneven
commander). He holds great power and maintains his own ground.
bodyguard of Druzhinas.
- Mounted units may never enter a building but they can
The Druzhinas formed the professional soldiers that made up engage in melee any unit occupying a building in the normal
the core of the standing armies of the Rus Princes. Druzhina manner.
means "fellowship" and its members are Drugs ( comrades)
- The Armour of mounted units is reduced by one when they
who shared an oath and were death-bound to their lord. With
are the target of a Shooting attack.
the flow of Scandinavian immigrants drying up and the mixing
of Norse and Russian blood, Druzhina are mainly of Slavic - Mounted units may never benefit from any kind of cover, in
origin, though foreigners could join them from time to time. me lee or shooting.
These Druzhinas are the Hearthguards of your warband.
Urban Militias were by far the most numerous component of
the Rus armies in our period. They had their own commanders.
Apart from the restrictions mentioned above, mounted units Black Hoods: The Black Hoods are subject to the rules of the
behave like ordinary units. lf a unit starts the game mounted, Steppe Nomads with the following changes and additional
it must remain mounted for the whole game and may never benefits:
dismount. - They count as Warriors rather than Levies.
Rus Warlords and Hearthguards are mounted. - They generate one Saga Die at the start of each turn.

Rus Warriors are not subject to any special rules. - They have an Armour of 4, reduced to 3 against
shooting (as usual for mounted units).
Rus Levies are armed with bows.
- They are considered as Druzhina for the sake
Unless otherwise specified, Rus warban ds of using Rus Saga abilities.
may include only Steppe Nomad Swords - They generate one Attack Die per mode/ in
for Hire units. melee. r
~

THUNDJER§
OJF THJE VJ[JKJNG AGJE

The Malaia Druzhina,

lron Fist of the Rus
Princes
The Druzhina were divided into
two classes: the Grid (Junior) Druzhinas
and the Malaia Druzhinas. The Malaia were
veterans of war, hardened by their conflict with the
steppe nomads, the Byzantines or rival cities. They were the best- §AGA AJ[:),][JUTJ[JE§ DJE§CRJ[JPlTJ[ON
equipped troops at the disposa/ of a Prince, and would follow
him un ti/ death, through years of success, i/1 fortune or failure. Below yo u wi/1 find a description of the various abilities available
to the Pagan Rus player on their battleboard. We wi/1 not dea/
Thunders of the Viking Age: You may upgrade a single unit of
with the first column of abilities as they are similar to those used
your Druzhina Hearthguards to Malaia Druzhina. This unit cannot
throughout Saga: the first three are intended to actívate the
exceed 8 models and this upgrade wi/1 cost yo u one point.
different classes of models of an Rus warband, while the last two
Veterans: A unit of Ma/aia Druzhina generates two Saga Dice at being the usual Activation Pool and the Combat Pool.
the start of each turn, rather than one like any other unit. They
are mounted, and equipped with bows. Due to their superior
training and experience, neither their mounted status nor bows
reduce their armour in any way. They ha vean Armour of 5 against
shooting and in melee, lil<e foot Hearthguards.
t lf this symbol appears in the ability description box,
it indicates that it only Dru zhina and the Warlord
may use it.

lron Fist: The Malaia Druzhina unit benefits from the Warlord
Determination, as described page 37 of the Saga rulebook. lt al so
Princes of Winter
cancels the first hit suffered during each shooting or melee, in
Used during an opponent's Orders Phase
the same way as the Warlord Resilence rule (see Saga page 37).
Jt is w ell known that the main drawback of mounted models
When the last model of the Malaia Druzhina is removed as a casua/ty,
is their weakness against shooting. Princes of Winter offers a
al/ other units in their warband immediately take one FATIGUE,
cheap way of protecting your Druzhina, and to a lesser extent
in addition to any FATIGUE caused by the fact that the unit was
your Warlord, against ranged attacks. When this ability is used,
removed from the tab/e ( e.g. if it was eliminated in melee).
until the end of yo ur opponent's turn, your unit's Armour
The Chernye Klobuki, The Black Hoods against shooting is increased by t wo, to a maximum of 6.

The Chernye K/obuki (also spelled Chrrni Klobuki) were semi- This simply means that they wi ll have an Armour of 6, leaving
nomadic Turkish tribesmen of the Ros river basin who fought as them free to outmanoeuvre the enemy without getting too
mercenaries for the Rus Princes during the 11th and 12th century. anxious about those nasty shooters.
They were established south of Kiev in the north of the territories
of the Kipchaks. The tri be was made original/y of immigrants that
Grey Wolves
had fled their homeland when rival steppe tri bes invaded. Their
Used during your Orders Phase
characteristic feature was a black hood from which they derived
their na me. They were much wealthier than other tribes, hence Grey Wolves is a good and effective ability. lt will usually work
better equipped, and were highly va/ued as auxilia ríes. quite differently if your unit is attacking or if it is attacked.
Simply said, if none of the un its engaged in this melee has any
Thunders of the Viking Age: lf your warband includes a unit of
FATIGUE markers, then it wi ll give you 4 extra Attack Dice.
Steppe Nomads, you may upgrade this unit to Chernye Klobuki
for an ex tra one point.
lf your unit has FATIGUE, your opponent will have to make The Power of Blood
a difficult decision; either take off your FATIGUE to gain its Used either during step 3 of a melee or during step
benefits but giving you 4 extra Attack Dice, or leave you with 2 of an enemy's shooting.
the FATIGUE. In both cases, the Rus are winners!
The Power of Blood is a unique Saga ability that can change
the way a Melee or Shooting is done. lt may only be used
Under the Dark Skies by Hearthguards, fortunately. During the relevant step of
Used during step
2 of a Shooting the Shooting or the Melee, when this ability is used, you
must also discard between one and six Saga Dice from your
This ability is meant to disrupt an enemy's plans. Used during
Battleboard. These dice m ay come from any ability but the die
your Shooting, it will force the enemy to make a disengagement
discarded for paying for the Power of Blood does not count
movement if the target unit suffers at least one casualty.
toward that number.
This movement is made with the same constraints as a

disengagement movement in Melee (see Saga page 27) except For each die discarded in this way, you may designate one
that if it cannot be performed, the shooting unit does not have Hearthguard figure. This figure cannot be killed during this
to disengage instead. Melee or Shooting. "Cannot" is here an absolute: nothing
can override that effect. This effect also affects you in that
Useful to push back a vindictive enemy, orto push out of the way
you may not choose as casualties any models that cannot be
so me unit left near their Warlord to actas meat for a his Resilience.
killed as a result of this ability. So, if your unit is made of 6
models and you discarded four dice, the casualties suffered
The Power of Steel must first be selected from the two models that may be
Used during step 3) of any Melee killed before moving to the "immortal" ones that will simply
cancel the casualties.
The Power of Steel will punish those players who enjoy piling
up loads of Saga abilities and have in their hands a shedload of Of course, discarding 6 dice for a unit made of 6 models
Attack Dice. Simply said, it reduces the number of Attack Dice means that your unit will not take any casualties during this
the enemy has to the number of Attack Dice your own unit has. melee or shooting. Your opponent may still roll his Attack
lt prevents your unit gaining new Attack Dice during this Melee, Dice if he likes the sound of the cubes on the table or if any
but depriving an enemy his Attack Dice advantage is invaluable. other game effects depend on the number of hits scored.

Also, note that models that cannot be killed cannot be

sacrificed to save a Warlord making use of his Resilience
special rule. This cost the life of at least one proud Russian
Warlord during the playtest, so be careful!
Winds of Despair Bodyguard
Used during step 3 of a melee Used either during step 3 of a melee
Winds of Despair require that your unit wins this Melee This ability makes the coupling of Warlord and Druzhina
and forces the enemy to disengage to ha ve any effect. lt is extremely effective. lt is used during the step 3 of a
al so useless on units of more than 3 models or against Melee involving your Warlord. Until the end of this
a Warlord. But any other unit of 3 or less models is Melee, any time your Warlord takes off a nearby
simply eliminated instead of disengaging. lt might not friendly model to avoid being killed, you roll one
be very useful in the early turns, but can dramatically die. lf you roll less than the Armour (in melee) of
change the ti de of the game in the final stages. the sacrificed figure, it is not eliminated but the
original hit remains cancelled. So used in conjunction
with Druzhina, hits absorbed with Resilience will be cancelled
Parting Blow on roll of 4 or less. Of course, if the model to be sacrificed is
Used during your activation phase himself engaged in the me lee, the Armour val u e to consider is
A useful ability restricted to your Druzhina or your Warlord that its current value, that may have been modified by Saga abilities
will surprise an opponent or soften his unit before engaging or FATIGUE.
melee. When used, it leaves you the choice of activating your
unit for a Movement or for a Shooting. lf activated to move,
it will shoot as if equipped with javelins at the end of this
Movement (and that Movement may not be used to engage
melee). lf activated to shoot it will be considered as equipped
with bows for this Shooting.

In both cases this activation will not generate any FATIGUE,

making it useful after your unit has manoeuvred around the
enemy.

Hardened
Used during your Orders phase
Hardened is a very good ability that will dictate the way your
Saga Dice are used during this turn. When used, it will boost Ragnar speaks...
all Saga Dice spent from the Combat Pool that display either a
horse ora helmet. Both will grant you with an extra Attack and Do not think for a minute that
an extra Defence Die. So with Hardened triggered, any horse Christianity has softened in any way
discarded for the Combat pool will give you two Attack Dice our Rus. They emerged from their
and a Defence Dice or one Attack Dice and two Defence Dice. conversion tougher than ever, and
Note that if used during an enemy's Shooting, gaining Attack mounted on powerful horses.
Dice is rather useless! The warband is radical/y different
And if yo u use a helmet to pay for this ability, each time yo u use from their Pagan predecessor,
a horse or helmet Saga Die in the combat pool yo u will gain two relying on mobility and shooting
extra Attack Dice and two extra Defence Dice! to sea/ dominance on their enemies. By studying the
Battleboard you wi/1 have noticed that quite a lot
of abilities make them hard nuts to crack Between
The Long Dark
Prince of Winter that almost make their elite almost
Used during your Orders phase
invulnerable to shooting, the Power of Blood which
The Long Dark is an ability really different to the ones Saga prevents you from killing them and Bodyguard
players are used to dealing with. lt is used during your that ensures that the Druzhina wi/1 suffer loads of
Orders phase, and only if you have not used an Orders ability punishment for their Warlord, you should be ready
previously. When u sed, yo u must immediately discard all Saga to fight a long struggle against them. As a Rus, you
Dice from your Battleboard, which is a high price to pay. But
should ensure that your opponent pays the high price
during the forthcoming Activation Phase, all your Rus units
for any melee he engages. Using the aforementioned
will get any number of activations for free (but won't be
able to Rest however) and generate two extra Attack Dice
abilities should ensure that he wi/1 suffer the attrition
in Melee. At the end of the turn, each of your units receives much more than you do. Then, when weakened it wi/1
one FATIGUE that comes in addition to the FATIGUES gained be time to let The Long Dark fa// and deliver the killing
during the turn. blow. At least, that is the plan. And Rus have plenty
tricks in their pockets to ensure that everything wi/1
work according to the plan.
 •
• Lhe ByMIDtines

The Byzantine Empire came into being when the Roman Empire infantry formations. They were more often than not irregulars,
was split into two parts by Diocletian in 285. Following this great subjects of the Byzantines. These are the Levies of your warband.
leaders like Constantine and Justinian enabled the Empire to grow
lFACTJ[ON RUJLJE§
and become powerful. However, like a/1 Em pires it also went through
many upheavals and reversals of fortune until eventually it fe/1 Many Byzantine units may be fielded mounted. Mounted units
in1453. are subject to the following special rules:

For over 1000 years the Byzantines fought off many enemies,
including the Slavs, the Bulgars, the Rus and notably the armies - The Movement of a mounted unit is increased to JL but
of Islam from the East. The 4th Crusader army first breached the reduced to § when moving from, through, or into an
Harbour walls in 1204 but it was the Turks who finally tare down uneven ground.
the great walls and invaded the great city. Militarily the Byzantines - Mounted units may never enter a building, but they can
adopted the thematic system to protect their territories, dividing engage in melee any units occupying a building in the
the Empire into fortified provinces, the themes. Each theme was normal manner.
militarily and administratively independent and supplemented - The Armour of mounted unit is reduced by one when they
when needed by the central field army, the tagmata, based around are the target of a Shooting attack.
Constantinople, the cultural and economic centre of the Empire.
- Mounted units may never benefit from any kind of cover, in
The commander of a Theme was a Strategos, assisted in his duty melee or shooting.
by various ranks of officers, from the Comites to the Drungarios. lt
is likely that your Warlord is such an officer with a long service in Apart from the restrictions mentioned above, mounted units
the Byzantine army. behave like ordinary units. lf a unit starts the game mounted,
it must remain mounted for the whole game and may never
The cavalry was the most prestigious arm of the Byzantine army. dismount.
Their deployment and tactics were strictly organised and their
equipment provided by the central authority. lt consisted of a Byzantine Warlords and Hearthguards are mounted.
kontarion (a long spear about 10 feet long) ora bow, a sword, a Hearthguards may be equipped with bows, but due to their
shield, and a lamellar body protection. These Kavallaroi are the small shields and light body armour, their Armour in melee is
Hearthguards of your warband. reduced to 4·

The bulk of the Byzantine army was made of professional soldiers, Byzantine Warriors may have bows or spears. Given their lack
fully equipped and well trained. They fought on foot, either with of protection, bow-armed Warriors ha ve an Armour value of 3·
spears and large shields- Kontaratoi; oras archers- Toxotai. These Spear-armed Warriors are not subject to any special rules.
are the Warriors of your Byzantine force. Byzantine Levies have javelins.

lt was a common practice to have sorne skirmishers ahead of the Byzantine warbands may never recruit Swords for Hire.
JH[JEROJE§ OJF lrHJE JB\YZA\NlrUNJE AGJE the Basileus takes a FATIGUE at the start of that Activation.
A Varangian unit that ends any Movement Activation more
The Warlord below may lead any Byzantine warband. Unlike than M away from the Basileus takes a FATIGU E at the end of
the usual Warlord, the Basileus costs 1pt, like the Heroes of the that Activation.
Viking Age. lf a scenario needs to determine how many victory
points the Basileus is worth, it is considered as a Warlord that is Kataphractoi: Kataphractoi were the heaviest cavalry
worth one extra victory point. employed by the Byzantines and rode armoured horses. Any
number of Hearthguards in a warband led by the Basileus
The Basileus may be upgraded to Kataphractoi. Kataphractoi have an
Armour of 6 (reduced to 5 when shot at as other mounted
The Basileus was the Byzantine Emperor. This name replaced
models). Kataphractoi units take one additional FATIGUE for
the Roman title of Augustus in 629, and was used from Justinian
every movement activation after the first (i.e. they take two
11 onward. The Emperor wears the colour purple that clearly
FATIGUES after their second movement and two FATIGUES
demonstrates his status as leader of the Eastern Roman Empire,
after their third movement).
and governs one of the most civilised Empire of his time.

Unlike other Heroes of the Viking Age, the Basileus represents Harald Hardrada,
al/ Byzantine Emperors that ruled the Eastern Empire from the Capta in of the Varangian Guard
7'h century up to the 11'h century and is designed to portray al/
Harald spent nearly ten years in the service of the Byzantine
Emperors from Justinian 11 up to Basil Bulgaroktonos.
emperors during which time his legendary leadership, loyalty,
Hero of the Byzantine Empire: As the most important character martial prowess and rugged good-looks ensured he quickly
of the East, the Basileus generates three SAGA dice at the start attained an enviable reputation. He led the Varangians on
of each turn, and not two as other Warlords. campaign throughout the Empire, serving as far afield as
Jerusalem and Sicily. He amassed great personal wealth through
The Emperor: The Basileus has an Armour value of 4 and only
battle-plunder and 'loyalty bonuses' from successive Emperors.
generates one Attack die in melee. He is also not subject to
Eventual/y imprisoned by Michael V, who was concerned by
the "Warlord's Pride" special rule. lf the Basileus is removed as
Harald's loyalty to the previous Emperor ( although other sources,
a casualty, the game ends immediately, and all other friendly
and no doubt Harald himself, would have it that it was because
Byzantine figures on the tab le are considered as having been
he spurned the advances of powerful Empress Zoe .. .) Harald
killed. The Basileus is always mounted, as you would expect as
escaped and fled back to Scandinavia where he used his riches to
the ruler of the East.
finance his reclaiming of the Norwegian throne.
Imperial Bodyguard: A warband that is led by the Basileus
Hero of the Viking Age: Unlike other Heroes of the Viking
may only field Hearthguards.
Age, Harald Hardrada on ly generates one Saga Die
Varangoi: Varangians were Norse or Anglo-Saxon at the start of each of his turn. He may, at the
mercenaries that served in the Emperor's Bodyguard . start of his turn, take one or two FATIGUE to
Any number of Hearthguards in a warband led by the generate a number of extra Saga Dice equal to
Basi leus may be upgraded to Varangians. Varangian the number of FATIGUES taken this way.
Hearthguards fight on foot and have a base Armour
Pagan: Despite being Captain of the Guard of
of 6; t hey may also be armed with Dane axes (see
Byzantium, Harald was a pagan, and was trained
rulebook page 43). A Varangian unit that starts any
in the Old Norse ways. The Saga Dice generated
Movement Activation more than M[ away from
by Harald are Runic Dice (also known as Viking Dice, see Saga STRATEGIKON
page 6) and may be used on the Viking Battleboard. Hence, Used during Step 3 of any Me lee
a warband led by Harald will use t w o Battleboards, one
Byzantine and one Viking. Strategikon is an ability that is real/y useful, but wi/1 necessit ate a
bit of planning and w i/1 usual/y be more frequently used w hen one
Saga Dice generated by Varangians may be either Runic or of your units are engaged in melee. W hen the dice are discarded,
Continental Dice (also know n as Norman Dice see Saga page you must designate a friendly unit that does not take part in th is
6 ), as chosen by their controlling pla yer at the start of each melee. The unit that uses Strategikon gains a number of Attack or
turn. Saga Dice generated by other units in Harald's w arband Defence Dice (ora mix of both) equal to half the number of dice
must be Continental Dice . generated by the models of the designated unit that are w ithin
Varangians: Any Hearthguard unit in Harald's w arband must § of your unit. So, for example, if you have three Hearthguard
fight on foot and may be equ ipped w ith Dane-a xes (see Saga models w ith in § of one or more of the models of your unit, you' /1
page 43). Thanks to their shiny equipment pa id for w ith the gain 3 d ice. The best use of this ability is w ith a deployment of
Byzantine gold, these Hearthguards have an Armour of 6, in t wo units one behind the other, w ith the frontal unit gaining dice
melee and against shooting. The number of Hearthguards for the presence of their comrades beh ind.
figures in Harald's w arband may not exceed the number of
models of other classes . A w arband led by Harald may never
SCOUTING
include any mounted model.
Used during your Activat ion Phase
Moving levy units is always a problem in any army, but by using
§AG A AJB\J[JUTJ[JE§ DJE§CRUJPlTJ[ON
one dice the Byzantine commander can activate t hree levy
units at once; these activations have the added benefit of not
IMPORTANT : You may have noticed that no Byzantine ab ility
generating fatigue . Usef ul if you've moved levy units up earlier in
starts w ith either " Discard this d ie" or " Discard these d ice" . We
the turn and yo u now want to m ove them out of danger la ter on,
have removed these sentences to have more space w ith in the
or if you want to concentrate fire from mult iple
ability boxes for their description. Th is does not mean that the
units onto an enemy
relevant dice are not discarded. Consider that each of the ability
start w ith the relevant sentence, and that the die or combination
of dice MUST be discarded in arder to use the ability. SUPPORT ARCHERS
The rules of the first column of Saga abilities are described page Used during step 3 of any Melee
so of the Saga rulebook.
A surpnsmg ability, Support Archers
al/ow s the Byzantine player to resolve a
MASSED ARCHERY Shooting during a melee. After the dice are
Used during your Activation Phase discarded, yo u must designate a bow-
armed friendly unit that is w ithin
This ability wi/1 help you mimic some of the actual tactics used
M[ of any unit in volved in this melee.
by the Byzantines and their bow men. This ability activates two
You immediately resolve a Shooting,
units (this may be any units, mounted or dismounted, levies,
w ith the designated unit as shooters,
Hearthguards or Warriors) and they are activated for Shooting.
and one of the enemy units engaged in
When this Shooting is resolved, during step 1, you may ignore
this melee as the target. This is resolved like a standard shooting
any friendly unit that would otherwise block the line of sight
sequence, with the notable exception that any of your units
between the shooters and their target. An ability clearly useful
engaged in this melee are ignored when it comes to determining
for units of bow-armed Warriors that would be deployed behind
the line of sight between the shooters and their target.
a screen of spearmen .
Note that the unit of " support archers" is not activated for a
shooting, and any ability that affects a Shooting Activation is of
no use. This shooting sequence, though inc/uded in the me lee, is a
separate sequence entirely; hence the casualties inflicted are not
added to the casualties taken during the me lee to determine who
wi/1 fa// back.

KONTOS
Used during your Activation Phase
The most expensive ability of the Byzantine Battleboard, Kontos
is also a deadly one! lt activates one of your mounted units
(that is not equipped with bows) for a Movement. lf with this
movement, your unit engages an enemy unit, you immediately
ro/1 one die for each of your model that is in base-to-ba se contact COMMON EFFORTS
with an enemy model. For each die that scores a 4 or more, you Used during your O rders Phase or during any e nemy's Orders
wi/1 gain one extra hit during the forthcoming melee. These Phase
hits are added to the hits you score during step 4 of the me/ee.
With a good sized unit of eight Hearthguards, you can expect a This is a cheap but potentially very useful ability. You may use it
bloodbath for your opponent! during your Orders Phase or during any opponent's one. Choose
one of your units, take up to two FATIGUES from that unit and
place them on any friendly unit with in §. Non e of these units may
WITHDRAWAL be le vies.
Used du ri ng step 3 of the M elee.
Of course, the FATIGUES are not discarded or taken-off, but
Apparently, W ithdra w al doesn't loo k /ike a very useful ab ility. But removing t w o FATIGUES from you r Heart hguards and put them
a clase study wi/1 reveal that it is actually rea/ly pow erful when on that four mode/ strong Warrior unit remains inva/uab/e.
used properly. When the die is discarded, yo u designate a friendly
unit of mounted mode/s engaged in th is melee. During step 8
your unit w i/1 disengage, even if the opponent was also forced BASILEUS
to disengage dueto the me lee outcome. lf both the attacker and Used during your Activation Phase
the defender have to disengage, the attacker mo ves first. Also, Th is is an ab ility that demonstrates the highly organized military
the movement of th is d isengagement move is JL, rather than the structure of the Byzantines. When these d ice are discarded,
usual § . you may des ignate any number of units, a/1 with in lL of you r
You can see t wo different uses f or th is ability. lf you expect to Warlord. A/1 these un its are activated, and these activat ions wi /1
lose the melee, it means that the increase of movemen t of t he not generate any FATIGUE w hen resolved. lmmediately after the
disengagement w i/1 bring your un it far aw ay f rom the enemy into units have been designated, but befare their Activations are
a safer position. lf you pla n to win that melee, the fact that you reso lved, place on your Warlord a number of FATIGUES equal to
w i/1 disengage at a long distance w i/1 bring your unit far aw ay the number of units that benefited from th is ability. This ability is
from any enemy counter-attack in his o wn turn. Do not over/ook best kept to unleash the decisive blow to the enemy!
this ability; it is one of the most useful on the who/e Byzantine
Battleboard!

FRIENDLY SHIELDS
Used during step 3 of the M elee.

Friend/y Sh ields is another c/early defensive abilit y. The die is

discarded during step 3 of the melee, but the abilit y won't have
any effect until step 6. When yo u cometo step 6, yo u m ay cancel
each casualty sustained by removing a friendly non-levy figure
that is within § of the unit that benefited from the ability. De
facto, it means that yo u trade the casualties suffered by your unit
with models taken from a friendl y un it. Very interesting if you
remove Warriors to avoid /osing your precious Hearthguards!

MUTUAL SUPPORT
Used during the enemy's Activat ion Phase
Ragnar speaks ...
This ability is u sed in reaction toan enemy Movement Activation.
The Byzantines /ove come on the
As soon asan enemy unit is activated for a movement w ithin .M[
battlefie/d dressed in proper uniforms,
of one of your bow-armed units, yo u discard the relevant die. For
with each soldier aware of his role and
this movement, the activated enemy units may not engage in his task in the organisation of the force
melee any of your bow-armed unit if he could engage a unit not and their general shouting orders that
equipped with bows with this movement. How do es it work? lt is are instantly fol/owed. Quite boring...
quite easy. Befare your opponent moves his figures, check if he We/1, the Byzantine player cou/d make
would be able to engage a unit that is no t equ ipped with bows a worse use of his time than studying
(respecting a/1 the rules for engaging an enemy and movi ng). the Strategikon to /earn the proper
lf that is the case, then any movement that w ould end with an employment of his troops, as the Battleboard
engagement of any of your bow-armed un its is forbidden for the is al/ about unit cooperation. A lone Byzantine unit is a help/ess
(and /ost) one. They shine when they support each other, as
activated unit. Note that the restriction also may apply to you
most of their Saga abilities demonstrate. Deployment is the
as the Byzantine player. For example, if you have a spear armed
key here, and ensuring at al/ times the battle line is drawn
unit anda bow armed one in the same building, and you use this according to the plan is vital if yo u want to be successful. They
ability, you won't be able to designate the bow-armed unit as the are quite difficult and tricky to use, but very rewarding if you
unit acting as defender as this wou/d make the engagement of /ike proper combat manoeuvres, the inter-arm approach and
the building impossible. al/ these things that 1never learnt.
 ¡:óR hiRe •• Lhe Steppe Nomads

Eastern Euro pe and the endless Steppes of the Central Asia were (reduced to 3 dueto being mounted). They are worth Y, victory
the homeland of a large number of Steppe nomads tri bes such as point per model, like Warriors .
the Avars, the Magyars or the Pechenegs.
Horsemen: Steppe Nomads are born in their saddles. When they
On a regular basis, these tribes would sweep across Europe or move as part of a movement activation (and do not engage
against the Rus, plundering and pillaging befare retiring safely melee) their movement benefits from a S distance bonus, for a
into their homelands. movement of IL(or M)+§. This bonus is never affected by terrain
or any FATIGUE spent.
They were valued as mercenaries, joining Rus and Byzantines as
auxiliaries, and were famous for their accuracy as archers, their lf the Nomads decide during the step 2 of the melee to reduce
maneuverability and their cruelty. their number of Attack Dice to gain Defence Dice, they must
discard ALL their Attack Dice to gain one Defence Die per Attack
Swords for Hire: The Steppe Nomads may be
Die discarded ( and not half the number of Attack Dice discarded
included in any Pagan Rus, Rus Princes or
as it is usually the case) .
Byzantine Warband (that are not led by the
Basileus or Ha raid Hardrada) for one point. Short bow: Steppe Nomads are equipped with deadly short
bows. These short bows count as javelins (see Saga page 23), with
Nomads: The Steppe Nomads are made
the exception that the Shooting may be performed either befare
of 8 mounted models that count as
or after the movement. The Nomads may not engage any enemy
Levies. As Levies, they do not generate
unit if they shot during their Movement activation.
any Saga dice, but may be activated or
benefit from any eligible Saga abilities on Eagle Eye: When shooting, the Steppe Nomads automatically
your Battleboard. They have an Armour benefit from a +1 modifier to their Attack Dice rolls.
of 3 in melee, 4 against Shooting
Varjazi & Basileus isa full colourmini supplement
for the SAGA rules and is the last one to cover
the factions of the Viking Age.
Contained within are all the rules and
background for three new factions, one of
which, the Byzantines, has already been the
subject of a article in a Wargames lllustrated
magazine. The other two are the Rus Pagan
and their successors, the Era of The Princes
Rus. Also included are a new Swords For Hire
unit, the dreaded Steppe Nomads, who can be
in the pay of all three of these factions, and a
new He ro Of The Viking Age for the Byzantines,
Harald Hardradda, Captain Of The Varangian
Guard.
We wanted to end this cycle with a bang so it
is presented in a card folder to hold your SAGA
Viking Age collection.
This full-colour folder can accommodate
your Battleboard collection, Rulebook and a
supplement.

Varjazi & Basileus also contains 3 Battleboards which can not be

sold separately. Varjazi & Basileus is not a complete rule-set as
you will also need the SAGA Rulebook.