"SAGA at the Challenge" Topic

The Dark Age skirmish game SAGA has grown massively in popularity and for first time ever it is being played at the BHGS Challenge competition between the 5th – 7th April 2013.

The SAGA event is open to players of all abilities, and on the 5th we will be running an afternoon of introductory and friendly games, ideal if you are interested in SAGA and want to find out what it's all about.

For more experienced players, the main tournament will take place over the weekend, with prizes on offer to each day's victorious warlords. Rules for the tournament can be found here. Friday will also be an opportunity to play in multiplayer games based on the two multiplayer scenarios (so if you come for the entire weekend, you will have the opportunity to play every official SAGA scenario in existence!). And on the Saturday evening in the ‘Free for all' there will be new scenarios to play and a brand new variant of the SAGA rules we have been developing especially for this event!

If you would like to register, please click here.

Alternatively if you have any questions or queries, please feel free to email me at tfrankland@gmail.com or to post your question on the SAGA forums.

Cheers,

Tom.

Interesting. If you don't mind, why are War Banners banned? I can understand banning Skraelings, but why are some heroes allowed (Jarl Sigvaldi) but not all?

Also, you indicate the supplements used and then allow Byzantines. If any faction would be dumped (other than Skraelings), I would have thought it would be them, as all people might not have collected that issue. Also, why are the Arabs not allowed? They appeared in the previous issue.

Just curious, not grousing. If I can get a tournament going here it would just be interesting what you might think are the pitfalls with allowing (or banning) the choices above.

Like the "bring 8 points, play 6 points" idea.

Thanks for asking Dale, I have the same questions as our group would like to host a tourney soon too.

@RazorMind – A possible tourney in Texas, eh? Whereabouts ya'll at?

Hi Dale, glad you ask!

In the case of heroes, we have allowed ‘swords for hire', but not ‘heroes of the Viking Age'. This is because the three sword for hire units available to players are relatively straightforward to use and do not significantly impact on game play. In contrast, some of the heroes can have a big impact on the game play and/or army composition, such as the Frankish hero Roland (who lets you ignore the scenario rules) or the Anglo-Saxon hero Athelstan (who allows you to restructure your warband in a way that was not allowed in the original rulebook).

The reason for allowing Byzantines but not Arabs is a simple one. The Byzantines are an official faction, whereas the Arabs are not. Skraelings are also an official faction, but their ability to come on from any board edge unbalances certain scenarios (such as battle at the ford).

In the case of warbanners, unfortunately there is a way to exploit them by having a certain warband set-up and then receiving the first turn. This will probably be addressed in an errata, but in the meantime we've decided to be cautious and restrict their use.

I'm happy to answer any more questions, I think it's great that there's increasing interest in hosting SAGA tournaments and if I can help out in any way then let me know.

Cheers,

Tom.

@Dale

i'll answer the ones i can
EDIT but Tom beat me to it :)

<why are War Banners banned?>

because they can be rather unbalancing
get 12 mounted jav heartguard (think breton)
start the game and pile all 6 dice on them (or more if you can reroll), jumpstart them with follow-me by the warlord
by the end of the turn they are back at there starting position with 2 fatigue but they peppered you with 44 javelins (M/S – S – R – S – R – S – M)
that can kill 2/3 warriors or 1/2 heartguard per round of shooting, so 8/12 dead warriors or 4/8 dead heartguard
have seen 12 Norman knights dead this way in bound 1, thats half your army gone and you still have to start the game

<I can understand banning Skraelings, but why are some heroes allowed (Jarl Sigvaldi) but not all?>

its only swords for hire, not heroes that are allowed

<Also, why are the Arabs not allowed? They appeared in the previous issue.>
they are not a legal (StudioTomahawk released) battle board

Alex (the other one)

Based on the reason you are banning the Skraeling, shouldn't Strathclyde be banned as well? They can come off of any table edge as well.

Hi nochules,

I just got asked almost the same question on the SAGA forums, so I'll pretty much repeat what I said there. While I agree that the Strathclyde Welsh have a similar ability, I feel it is riskier for them to put their units in reserve, and therefore that helps with balance.

Furthermore, while the Strathclyde Welsh's battleboard is clearly based around this one 'off-table' mechanic, the Skraelings board is a collection of weird and wonderful abilities. This leads to other problems. For example, a match-up with a Jomsviking player will leave the Skraelings with almost no abilities they can play, due to a lack of wrath.

I would have no problem with people bringing this faction to use on the Friday or Saturday evening. I just don't think they are well suited to being a tournament warband, they seem to me at least to be a fun faction designed for friendly games.

However, as this is now the second time this has come up, if there are lots of players who are desperate to play Skraelings at the Challenge, I could be convinced to remove the restriction :)

Cheers,

Tom.

I don't think they are unbalanced either way. First of all Pathfinders is an expensive ability. It requires three different dice to use. So there is no guarantee that they can wait until the last turn and then throw a unit on the board, because they might not have the right dice. Especially if you have killed some units and they are down a dice or two. If you don't want them to throw 6 warriors on to the table simply have your guys on their side of the river and make them spend those dice to kill your guys.

As for the Jomsvikings it is not as bad as it seems. The bread and butter of the Skraeling are their own abilities anyways. The fact that they can shrug off Northern Tempest due to their huge numbers and that they can Soul Eater the more effective Wrath abilities makes it a pretty close fight.

I won't be there so don't change the rules on my account, but I don't think banning them is the right call.

Interesting. Thanks for your feedback on this. I'll ask around to see what others think about allowing the Skraelings. It would certainly be nice to be able to offer all the official factions as options for the tournament.

Hi everyone,

It's now urgent that if you are planning on coming to this event you either sign up by clicking here: link and scrolling to the bottom, or by sending an email to tfrankland@gmail.com to let me know you definitely plan on coming. This is because we need to have a firm idea of numbers by the beginning of next week to continue with arrangements.

Cheers,

Tom.