"Interested new player confused about SAGA." Topic

I have never played SAGA, but my 200+ Dark Ages painted miniatures are very interested.

I am certain that this question has already been asked a 100 times on TMP, (version 1.0 or 2.0?) so I'm not going there.

What I would like explained in Layman's terms is, like SAGA 1.0 can SAGA 2.0 be played with just the purchase of the rulesset?

Nope from me as well. You also need the Age of Vikings book

Thank you John.

I'm assuming that Gripping Beast failed their, DON'T BE GREEDY DIE ROLL THEN?

GB have designed SAGA 2 to be non period specific and have planned supplements for different periods. There is a fair bit of value in the Vikings supplement though.

Gripping Beast has nothing to do with the rules except release figures that can be used for SAGA. Studio Tomahawk is responsible for the rules.

+1 Cyrus

Gripping Beast are merely a stockist. They do not write the rules or set the RRP.

Besides the rules are £10.00 GBP and rather than repeat in every period book (for which you would have to repeatedly pay for the same pages) they have done as a stand alone.

Good idea IMO.

If both the rule book and the army list books both cost £30.00 GBP – then, maybe, you could moan about the cost.

Yes, people spent hundreds of dollars on the army but complain about a $50 USD rule set.

I _can_ understand it though. "Back in the day" (ie: my youth) you would be lucky to play more than just once set for over a decade in your period of interest. Now the choice is mind-boggling and people have a tendency to try a set and them jump onto a new one to see what it is like. If you're going to try half-a-dozen rule sets at $50 USD each, that does add up. I sure would not be able to afford that when I was starting out.

On the other hand, authors should be paid for their work. The can't give it away. I remember an article by Jervis Johnson in Slingshot whan WH Ancients was just released, and he made an argument that authors and sculptors need to be paid a decent amount for their work so they can continue to produce things instead of just giving up.

Anyway, I paid the money.

Cheers,
JohnG

The Age Of…. books are slick hardbacks and also contain the battle boards. I don't think they're overpriced. £25.00 GBP-30 is typical for hardback rulebooks (Battle group, Black Powder, Bolt Action)

SAGA 2 is an excellent deal.

I am all done with people wingeing about the price of rulebooks, it amazes that some gamers do not appreciate the work put into a set of rules and the cost of small print runs.

The SAGA 2 rules and the first "Age of…" book is what you want to get. The Age of… books are excellent and worth the cost. They have a lot of good info in them (army lists, special characteristics, the battle boards for each faction). The latest supplement, Age of Battles, has a lot of scenarios and new rules ideas in it for larger battles. Go for it – the pain of purchasing is well rewarded and only hurts once.

Okay, I apologize to Gripping Beast for my misguided accusation.

I suppose Studio Tomahawk is allowed to follow the GW math model if they so choose. I don't care for it and will be spending my money elsewhere.

In fairness to Studio Tomahawk – all they make are rule books, so they have to make money some how….

Grunt1861 I think you are missing the point. Previously you had to buy the main rules and then a supplement if you weren't interested in Vikings.

Now they let you pick and choose the supplements with a cheaper hardback base ruleset. Much lower barrier to entry I think.

I will personally buy all of them as we love Saga in our club but I appreciate the ease new members can get into it.

The SAGA 2 rulebook is not hardback, but the "Age of…" books are hardback.

Grunt1861 – if the books are too rich for you then you could certainly get the v.1 books cheap now, the game isn't really much different and if you like it you could spring for v.2 without buying blind.

my only problem with the SAGA pricing model is that i will only ever build one army per period , but they want you to buy the full 'Age of' book and multiple battleboards for each period .
i would much prefer paying a decent price just for the info and battleboard for the faction i want to play . i would be perfectly happy paying $10 USD for a single faction compared to the $50 USDish for the book . that would actually make them a lot more money . and i don't need it hardbound so it should cost them less . however i totally refuse to buy their dice .

on the other hand SAGA is an excellent game , the battleboard makes you think entirely differently than any other rules i've seen , and locally it's always easy to get a game in .

And don't forget the dice sets……….