"SAGA Age of Wolf -- Irish Champion" Topic

My gaming group is about to start the Age of Wolf campaign, but we have questions regarding the Irish Champion. Questions have been posted on the Studio Tomahawk English forum under the Age of Wolf queries subject since last month, but no reply still about how to deal with Irish Champion. As it stands, the Irish Champion is an immortal since the model is its own unit and the 1st casualty is ignore for Hearthguard class, the champion will never die.

Since Studio Tomahawk seems to not care about Age of Wolf support, I was wondering if anyone one or any group out there can suggest a good way to deal with the Irish Champion.

Our campaign season 1 is about to start this Saturday and I still do not have an answer/suggestion for my group. We have considered modifying the Warlord's casualty table.

Thanks in advance for any suggestion.

It's only the first casualty that's ignored. A unit can score more than one casualty in a round of combat.

I think that you might treat him like a warlord for casualties. But pretty much dead, captured or OK as the only possible results.

Cyrus, the Champion (Curadh) is a one-man unit…

Cyrus the Great, the Champion is a single model unit -- special Irish rule. So when calculating permanent removal, he will never get remove as he is the only 1 in the unit. He will be the only casualty from that unit in a battle and the first casualty is ignored for Hearthguard class.

Jefritout, that is what we(my gaming group) may have to do. Of course, a Champion will not likely be ransomed back because for 1 SAGA point, a 4 model Hearthguard unit may be purchased and 1 of the 4 models can get "promoted" again to Champion quality.

Ivan DBA, I will take a look at Cyrus and see how that is handled. Good point -- forgot about him.

Thank you everyone for the suggestions. I was getting a bit frustrated with the waiting… waiting…. and still no answer and our first campaign season starts in 2 days.

In thinking a bit more, the other negative side is the Champion never gets removed and the Irish player is stuck with 2 Champion units for the whole campaign on the roster and each requiring 1 point of Reputation and taking up the 12 unit number limit. Although they could be dismissed temporarily… but that is not the spirit of the game in my opinion. I can't imagine a Warlord dismissing his/her Champion.

Well, I guess we will have to make due.

Thanks again everyone.

I don't have Age of the Wolf yet. So for what it's worth, a warlord is also a one man unit. If a warlord suffers 2 "hits" by either missile fire or melee combat on that part of the turn he is eliminated as a "casualty", if he does not save. So he ignores the first casualty. If I inflict 3 "hits" by missile or melee on their respective phases he is also now the second "casualty", if he does not save. It would be that way with any other unit on the table, except that he got rid of the first "hit" for free.

Cyrus, Reader is talking about permanent losses from the warband for the campaign, not during each battle.

There are a couple of important questions that haven't been answered on the Studio Tomahawk forums. Very frustrating.

I was more than a little disappointed at how slim the book was for that price! I've been a firm defender of Studio Tomahawk and GB re: getting a good price for a good quality product, but this book is just ridiculously priced.

@jefritrout,
Thanks for the clarification!

Steve, perhaps Studio Tomahawk is too busy working on the Invasion supplement. For whatever the reason, they ought to put better effort into supporting what they just released -- The Age of the Wolf.

OneHuaiTicket, I totally agree that the Age of Wolf was POORLY edited, not to mention the multiple issues that have surfaced. Definitely not worth the price. Like you, I have been a defender of SAGA and have organized SAGA events at my FLGS. Very frustrating in deed. At this rate, I'm hesitant to purchase Invasion and will not be promoting it among my gaming group.

Cyrus the Great, the Age of Wolf has a procedure for handling casualty during the campaign.

There are 6 campaign seasons and you may be playing multiple games within a season -- not everyone will have the same number of games even. After each game, models are removed from your roster -- specifically, the unit they originally formed. Evaluations are made on unit level. For every 4 casualty models from a single unit, that unit is reduced by 1 model for the next game.

For the Hearthguard class, the 1st casualty is ignored. For example, if you fielded a unit of 8 Hearthguard and took 5 casualties from the last game, that unit will become a unit of 7 Hearthguard for the next game. Had this unit been a Warrior or Levy unit, the reduction would be 2 models instead of 1. For the next game, that Warrior/Levy unit would be 6 Warrior/Levy.

And that is where the trouble begins -- the Irish Champion is a single model unit, Hearthguard class.

This is my understanding of how permanent casualty removal for the campaign is handled. If I have misunderstood/misinterpreted the rule, please feel free to correct me and I will thank you.

Reader2,

Your interpretation of the campaign casualties is correct. Cyrus was actually using how casualties occurred during the battle.

You could always go for the simple – if he dies in the battle (hard enough to do with Blood of the Kings ability)then roll a die at the end 1 he's dead, 2 he misses the next fight due to injuries 3-6 he's fine. That's what I'm leaning towards. Nobody should be immortal.

"Nobody should be immortal." (Jefritrout)

But…but… "There can be only one" Yes, I had to go there. Darn, I don't have a Connor MacLeod jpeg or a good model to represent him to insert here. Oh well.

Thanks Jefritrout for the suggestions. I will have to talk to the Irish player what he wants to do and thinks is fair for everyone.

Now you've done it Jefritrout! I have to go and dig up my Scots to add to my painting pile.

Must complete Crusaders and Normans first… must complete Crusaders and Normans first….

@TMP Reader2,
Thanks for the explanation of the campaign. I have it on order. It looks like I will have some changes to make. Thanks for the advanced warning!!

No problem Cyrus the Great. I don't know where you are located, but if you're local to me, I don't mind lending you my book just so that you may read it before you purchase your own. That way, you can make your own judgement about the Age of Wolf.

I'm located in the Chicagoland area.

Thanks TMP Reader2, but like I said it's already on order and should be in my hands shortly. I guess for better or for worse!

Update. Someone in my group found a response in regards to Irish champion from another SAGA player -- essentially, play him as written. The answer is not from Studio Tomahawk official, just from another player that posted on ST forum.

So. The champion can not be eliminated from his 1 man unit. As stated before, he can be temporarily dismissed due to not enough Reputation. Being a small unit, he can be merged into a larger Hearthguard class unit. That is RAW.

Merging him is essentially demoting him -- perhaps he is no longer a Champion quality. Once merged, he loses his Champion abilities because he no longer obeys the Irish Champion special rule and acquires the same characteristics and weapon as the Hearthguard unit he merged into.

So, I guess we will play him as written.

Agree the book is thin but feel the campaign rules are well thought out… except for this point.
Agree with Jefritrout… roll for his fate. no one should be immortal.

Joe