Vikings battle for world supremacy

If you are a regular reader you will know that the scenes of old British generals re-enacting the battles of history on a number of movies over the years contributed to my interest in miniature gaming. As a kid the idea of playing with 'tin soldiers' was appealing, and the interest stuck.

And then I found SAGA from Studio Tomahawk.

"SAGA is a game in which you tell the tales of the mighty Warlords who fought for supremacy in England during the time of the Viking invasions.

SAGA offers you the chance to lead a warband of brave and dedicated retainers, to make your mark on the fledgling English nation. As a Warlord you will stand on the battlefield, facing another lord of battle: steel will clash, blood will spill, but at the end of the day,, only one will feast over the corpses of his foe while the other dines in the halls of his ancestors ... ," explained the rulebook.

"SAGA is actually the brainchild of Alex Buchel of Studio Tomahawk, a games design company based in France," added Andy Sherwell, Managing Director with Gripping Beast. "Alex is also a long time friend of Gripping Beast (GB) and our distributor in France and he is obsessed with the Viking Age as much as we are. Alex wanted to develop a warband based game that used lots of interesting and involving mechanics that was easy to learn yet tricky to master."

The era is rich with forces to draw from. The initial release of SAGA has rules for Anglo-Danes, Normans, Vikings and Welsh, but the game has grown quickly with Anglo-Saxons, Bretons, Scots, Norse-Gael, Irish, Franks and a few others joining the fray.

From a gaming perspective Vikings have always been a huge draw. In my little gaming circle three of four wanted the Viking force to start.

Now with SAGA it is less about recreating a particular battle from history, but to set up scenarios where forces based more closely to historic reality battle for victory.

Gripping Beast produces miniatures for each faction. There are differences, albeit more subtle than you would see in a fantasy or sci-fi game where imagination rules.

Here the miniatures are more accurate representations of warriors from the era. As a result most have the same basic kits, axes, spears and swords.

The battleboards are easily the most innovative aspect of SAGA, and the one which truly adds a tactical feel to the game. As a player you have different options each turn based on the battleboards, but not always the options you would ideally desire.

"At the start of your turn, take your SAGA dice and roll them. The number of SAGA dice to be rolled is equal to the number of units you have on the table, up to a maximum of six SAGA dice," detailed the rulebook. "After the dice are rolled, each one of them will show a symbol. These symbols will be used on your Battle Board to "pay" for the abilities that your Battle Board provides."

The dice of course add luck to the situation, but dealing with the unknown is also part of battle.

In this case the different abilities which exist on the battleboards help create the flavour of the different warbands, and also makes the player feel as though he is having to adapt and make decisions every turn because he must use those abilities the dice have provided access to.

SAGA also handles the idea of warrior fatigue in an interesting way.

"In SAGA we use Fatigue tokens (referred to simply as Fatigue) to represent the exhaustion suffered by the fighters as the battle wears on. These tokens not only represent the physical fatigue, but also the stress and nervous tension that you experience when your life is in the balance," details the rulebook.

"Fatigue has been in since the beginning," said Sherwell. "It is a fundamental aspect to the rules. The player that learns to manage his and the opponent's fatigue is well on the way to SAGA Enlightenment. That and understanding the battleboards."

The game is one which has found a broad and eager fan base, and with good reason. This game is easily top-five in miniature skirmish games played.

"We think the fact that every game of SAGA plays very differently with multiple decision points every turn is great - the game can support any level of play-style - and yet the rules are very clear and straight forward," said Sherwell.

"We have just had the First SAGA Grand Melee in Strasbourg, France at which there were 40 player with warbands from 15 of the 17 available represented. No two warbands were the same. Given that, plus the fact that there were five different first languages being spoken, there were almost no rules questions for the umpires and the results were very close indeed."

And for the growing fan base more is to come said Sherwell.

"We have a very busy schedule of things we are working on with Studio Tomahawk," said Sherwell. "To be released shortly we have a massive Great Hall that has been designed for us by 4Ground, a company who specialize in laser cut MDF. "That will be released alongside a SAGA booklet featuring rules for fighting inside huge buildings like the Great Hall as well as a number of Great Hall specific scenarios.

"There is also a book of many scenarios for SAGA that will be a free download with a larger campaign book being worked on."

And the era the game covers is changing too.

"The next major release will cover the Crusades and will come with a huge range of supporting figures," said Sherwell.

"Along side all this we continue to work on releasing all the Heroes featured in the rulebook and supplements.

"Also in the pipeline are a few, totally new, ideas but on those I am sworn to secrecy."

The battleboards and Fatigue rules are unique and work very well.

The historic aspect of the game is a good entry into more serious historic gaming.

In the end SAGA deserves the highest recommendation, a great mini game for anyone.

Check out the game at www.grippingbeast.com

If anyone is interested feel free to contact [email protected]