"SAGA by gripping beast any good?" Topic

Hey all, just wondering what the overall opinion is on SAGA? Can anyone explain how the game is basically played? They mention battleboards but I can't figure out what they mean.

Ta da: link

Pics around that one also Saga related.

I've only had two games so far. A game where you have to learn your faction and have a plan I think.

sweet, I'm looking for a good dark ages skirmish rules set. Is there anything out there that isn't just historical but possibly mythical as well at the skirmish level for the dark ages?

Midpoint, how does the game play?

I've only played two games.
4-6 units, quantity inversely proportional to quality.
Quick game, lots of action/inter-action. Played in less than an hour.

Not one for the fetishistic tournament player. Playing well means knowing your board and combinations/sequences thereof.

what is the 'board' exactly?

You roll your dice. You assign dice to sections. You take the actions of those sections in the order you please or save them as responses to enemy action.

The symbols on the dice vary by faction, but there are 3 of one symbol, 2 of a second and 1 of the third. The rarer results are used for more powerful actions.

Best game I have bought and played for years and years (including those I have worked on/written). The game mechanics are simple. Unit generates attack dice, rolls them to hit using armour of target as target number. Then targets gets to roll to save (4+ or 5+ depending on shooting or melee and cover). BUT the whole thing revolves around the faction specific battle board. You get to roll a number of activation dice depending on units left. You use these to activate units and/or abilities. These abilities help you in melee, shooting, activation etc etc.
The battle board is where the tactics, fog of battle, national characteristics all rear their head.
Works brilliantly Only game ever I haven't found the need to 'tweak'.
Rich J

Since you asked, if you're looking for skirmish rules that combine historical and epic and mythical elements (optional, as you wish), you should look at the free rules Age of Blood. It also has the added benefit of incorporating a nice raiding/campaign game.

Cheers,

Christopher

I downloaded Age of Blood to check them out, so far they look interesting. SAGA also looks kind of interesting, the board concept intrigues me, anyone know if there are any batreps floating around for SAGA?

There are BatReps all over the place here, take your pick:

TMP link

I've only gotten to play once, but it was enough fun that the game's on my must-get list. Very clever system, and a tinkerer could easily make new factions (and battleboards, which are really just pretty lists of available special orders) for other time periods or genres. I know I've heard mention of samurai Saga homebrews, and doing fantasy (eg Conan) would be pretty simple too.

Here's a review I wrote before playing :

TMP link

I've now played twice and really enjoyed it. Can't wait to try some of the other factions out.

"sweet, I'm looking for a good dark ages skirmish rules set. Is there anything out there that isn't just historical but possibly mythical as well at the skirmish level for the dark ages?"

You could try 'a song of Arthur and Merlin'. I hunted around looking for a dark age skirmish set and finally settled on them. They include three versions of Arthur, Classical medieval, celtic legend and 'historical' Dark Age arthur. Its based on the Song of Blades engine which are simple but elegant and ensure that both players have an active role throughout the game. They are skirmish based and superb rules and you can get them as a cheap pdf.

The whole Song of Blades family are really underrated and recommended.

"Is there anything out there that isn't just historical but possibly mythical as well at the skirmish level for the dark ages?"

Foundry just released Greek mythology set, maybe reboot it for Norse?

Thumbs up

I use Strandhogg for fantasy skirmish, with some tweaks to the rules:

link

thanks for the help so far guys. I like Song of Blades, have several of the games he's put out but I need a change of pace!

Does anyone know if SAGA is available for purchase as a PDF?

No its not I am afraid.
I work for Ganesha so obviously like the SOBH/Flying Lead stable of games but SAGA lets one get heaps more figures down (my vikings warband is 53 figures) and the battleboard is pure gaming magic :)
I play SOBH/Yume no Bushi when I want more details for the characters but SAGA when I want a clash.

On their forum there are people toying with Samurai (me for instance) boards and even LOTR and Sci-fi.

Samurai would be awesome, it's two periods for skirmishing I'd really like to break into more deeply. I tend towards a more fantastical bent, it'd be nice to be able to play these games with mythical creatures and so on, on occasion anyway.

surferdude, do you have notes or something on your samurai mod?

You can download the battle boards from a link on the saga forum. In the lab section.

I love Saga. It is a very clever little game that has far more tactical depth and period flavour than might be apparent at first glance. For what it's worth, I have written up some of my thoughts on my humble blog:

link

Bear in mind I wrote this last October – I like Saga even more now.

Cheers,
Alan.

Theodosius, what is that miniature with the brian blessed reference? Who makes it, it looks pretty good.

Can Saga be modified for solo play? It appears to be a mix of Piquet Archeron, card poker and a miniatures game from the reviews ive read, which wouldnt transfer well to solo play? I use Piquet normaly as this transfers well to solo play.

On the other hand is SAGA suited to group play? More than two players and/or more than two factions?

How it adapts to other periods? I was thinking to use it for WotR and Reconquista.

I think Saga could work well for solo play as due to the dice rolling needed to activate units and abilities, nothing is certain so you can't plan against yourself.

And, most of our games are multi-player affairs, either 2 or 3 a side or a big mash up with 3 or 4 players – great for club play.

If you spend the time designing your own boards, Saga could be adapted for pretty much any period.

Hope this helps
Dave

thanks Dave! I think you guys have sold me on it so I'm ordering! Now the hunt for miniatures!

Thanks Dave! As Grabula I am also sold!

I don't think it would be a satisfying solo game as the big part of the fun/strategy is outwitting the opponent by using the board to set stuff up etc.

You can however adapt it for other periods I even have some modern afghan board where abilities trip IEDs , drones strikes etc.

Grabula – the Brian Blessed mini is from the Wagames Factory set of Viking Bondi.

I would agree that Saga won't work so well as a solo game. Part of the appeal are the mechanics that operate a bit like instants in a game like Magic the Gathering – your opponent launches a well prepared onslaught that you are able to completely negate as you have some dice still on your board. For example the Welsh, who are my favourite 'faction' have perfidious abilities that allow you to activate a unit and move out of the way of an attack during your opponent's turn. You will lose a lot of that depth playing it solo.

The game definitely lends itself to expansion into lots of other periods and settings – it all comes down to a designer identifying the 'essence' of a particular body of troops and translating that into specific 'Saga abilities'. However, one of the reasons the game works so well is that the different factions are really well balanced, as a result of a lot of play testing. So I would counsel lots of experimentation trying to get game balance right.

Cheers,
Alan.