"For those who have never played SAGA before, it's a ancientish/Dark Ageish/medievalish skirmishy set of rules. The game uses single figures, organized into units of three classes. Hearthguards, the good troops, get four figures for one point. Warriors are usually the worker bees and are eight figures for one point. Levies, everyone's favorite peasant types-typically missile troops-are twelve figures to a point. Armies aren't tiny, they usually figure in at 40-50 figures minimum. Because I like to have a large figure mix to choose from, my armies tend to be bigger, more in the 72 figure range. For game purposes, an army is a leader plus six points.
I like the game a lot. Every army comes with a battle board that contributes to the army's uniqueness. The rules themselves are good, but it requires good faith on the part of all the players, and a certain rigidity to the rules. It's seems a bit gamey at times, but for the most part avoids those Phil Barker moments in which the players spend 15 minutes trying to interpret the use of a comma. It's a difficult set of rules to just pick up and be good at. Because the different armies have different battleboards and hence characteristics, getting a new army is a little like learning to do long division all over again. But honestly it's a little bit like playing golf–anyone can hit one great shot, and maybe get them back out on the course again. If you just slaughtered your opponent's Viking berserkers, well, you could be a winner next time.
I have four armies, but for the most part I use two–the Irish and the Skraelings. They are two very similar armies, that mostly prosper when they can use terrain and shoot missiles. The Irish have their slingers and javelin chuckers. The Skraelings are bowmen and javelin dudes. The Irish are an "official" army from The Age of Vikings supplement. I've used them in a tournament. I like to say they are all sticks and stones. Levies and warriors, but they can also have horsemen and hearthguards. They can have heroes and Legendary Leaders that can balance them out a bit…"
A Gamer's Tales
Armand
puts the finishing touches on TMP's Principate army.
