Sotavasara.net

It is St. Brice's Day in year 1002 and King of England - Æthelred the Unready has grown to hate the Danes beyond any reason. His ancestors had paid a heavy price to win back the Danelaw from the Danish invaders, uniting the Saxon kingdoms under one crown. But Æthelred the Unready has troubles with holding that crown or the land that was won in the reconquest. For years the Dane vikings have raided and pillaged England while the king has not been able to defend his kin. No matter how many times the Saxons have fought bravely to defend their land against the vikings and no matter how many times king Æthelred has agreed to pay tribute to the Danish adventurers the peace never holds. The longships always come back. And now the shortsighted king has run out of options to defend his land and has thus decided to unleash his wrath on those Danes who he can lay his hands on. On 13th of November 1002 the king orders every Danish man in England to be slaughtered. Masses of Danish mercenaries, peasants and nobles who had settled to live in England under the English rule were butchered that day to please the king who was not able to crush his enemy honorable on the field of battle. But King Æthelred did not see nor understand what kind of twist of fate was born out of this wanton slaughter. For amidst the pile of bodies that was created where those of Pallig - ealdorman of Devonshire and his wife Gunhilde - daughter of legendary viking Harald Bluetooth and sister of Sweyn Forkbeard, the King of Denmark.

Mingled in grief the King of Denmark swears to revenge the death of his sister. But taking just revenge might just not be enough for Sweyn Forkbeard, for like his ancestors before him, he too desires the crown of England and the rich lands that sons of Ragnar Lothbrok once conquered for the Danish invaders. A war is coming to England. A war that will not be short, nor pleasant for either side. For the Saxons will not lose their land again for foreign invaders and for his part, King Sweyn is a ruthless and relentless man, who will not rest until the grudge has been settled.

It is time of chaos and strife that is soon to reign in England. But it is also time of opportunities and making of sagas of great heroes and conquerors. Now not only Saxons and Danes look how the coming war will play out, but Scots, Welsh, Irish, Normans and even slave traders and adventurers from the pagan south have sent their adventurers to make most of the conflict that is about to begin. Villages ripe to be pillaged, forts ready be stormed and hidden treasures to be found wait for brave, foolish and foolishly brave alike. And indeed, there is one treasure more valuable than most, one, that only few know of. For it is whispered throughout the kingdom that before his death ealdorman Pallig hid somewhere in the rolling hills of southern Devonshire a vast treasure of gold and silver that he had been given by his wife's brother Sweyn, and that only the most trusted members of his household, now all dead, knew where the treasure was hidden. And it is even said, that the treasure held not only worldly riches but also the head of Saint Petroc, a legendary relic that is believed to contain such a holy power that it can even resurrect men from death...

******

Welcome to this springs Saga league! You are all warmly welcomed to take part to this spring's most brutish and beardiest sword action! First of all, I apologize my rather crappy English - I hope you can get a drift of what I am writing about. I thought it would be polite to write in English if HeresyBrush will be attending.

Because Saga is somewhat new game for us all I believe it is best to keep things simple and not mingle any crazy scenarios or other homemade stuff into league this time. I think that because non of us has yet played trough even half of the scenarios available in two rulebooks, we have enough new things to play with even by using just the basic scenarios. That being said, if someone has cool ideas or feels that something needs to be added, please feel free to express your ideas!

I have not been game mastering a proper league for a while, but I believe it is custom here to give actual prizes for the winners. Thus, I would recommend that everybody attending would pay 5e and we would share the sum between three best warlords. If the sum is okay for everyone, I will go and live the registration list in Fantasiapelit and everyone can pay the registration fee in the shop (like with every other league held here). I can also ask if Fantasiapelit wants to sponsor our league with something, though I do not know if they have been sponsoring any leagues for a while? Correct me if I'm wrong.

There would be five rounds in the league, each with different scenario. A round would last two weeks, as it has been a custom here. A win gives 2 points for a winner, a draw 1 point for each player and a loss 0 points. Full painted warband would give at the end of last game of the last round.

So here's what it looks this far:

******
Registration Fee
5e

The rules
We use the updated rules published in the Crescent & Cross supplement but warbands that were published in the original rulebook of course use the lists published in that book.

The Warbands
6 points warbands from any offical Saga supplement
No historical characters
Dogs of War and Swords for Hire can be used (even if they are named characters)

Post your warband list in this topic and I will update it into this post.

Wysiwyg
Anything that somewhat resembles the army you are playing is okay. LotR Rohan and Haradrim make good anglo-saxons/danes and muslims for example. On the other hand Space Marines of course are not okay. If a unit has special weapons (such as crossbows, heavy weapons or javelins) the miniatures should carry the appropriate weapons. Otherwise it does not matter if a hearthguard unit is equipped with swords or spears.

The Scenarios
I Champion of Gods (from C&C)
II Battle Twilight (from C&C)
III Sacred Ground (from the original rulebook)
IV The escort (from original rulebook)*
V God will recognize us (from C&C)

I am aware that not all of you own the original rulebook, but fear not: just contact me and I will send you a pdf version of it.
* Saga uses abstract line of sight-system so the baggage trains can be proxyed by using anything that has a base between 4cmX4cm and 5cmX10cm.

The Victory Conditions
Winning a scenario gives 3 points
A draw gives both players 2 point
A loss gives a player 0 points
If players are not able to play the round's game, they both receive 1 point

At the end of the last game of the last round, if your whole warband is painted and based, you will receive 2 points.

I will use a ladder-system when pairing opponents, so that players with most points go against each other and so on. Before the first round it is completely fine to throw challenges and make my job easier. :D

The Schedule
I propose that we start the league at Friday 31st of March, but we can postpone the beginning if someone has not yet received their miniatures. Of course, like before, I can lend my numerous warbands to use, if someone wants to try the game but does not own suitable miniatures. Also, post your lists and pay the registration fee at least five days before the beginning of the league, so that I can do the pairings without haste.

Every round lasts 14 days.

List of Players and Warbands

Sebastian "Gilaelin" Schiavone
Warband: Normans
Mounted Warlord: Baron Henry of Kaem
Mounted Hearthguard x2
Mounted Hearthguard x1 with banner
Mounted Warriors x1
Warriors with crossbows x1
Leavy x1

Rubén "HeresyBrush" Torregrosa
Warband: Spanish (Castellanos!)
Mounted Warlord: El Cid Campeador
Mounted Hearthguard x3
Mounted Warriors x2
Leavy with bows x1

Jere "Varapalmus" Jukka

Warband: Norse Gaels
Warrior Priest (Warlord)
Hearthguard + Banner x1
Hearthguard x1
Heathguard with Dane Axes x1
1x Warriors with Dane Axes x1
1x Warriors x1
1x Levy x1

Timo "Timmon"
Warband: Milites Christi [Order of the Broken Cross]

Warlord, mounted [Castellan Erhard Rhems]
Hearthguards, mounted
Hearthguards, mounted
Hearthguards, mounted
Warriors, mounted
Warriors, on foot
Warriors, with crossbows

Teemu "IRIAD" Salo
Warband: Anglo-danes
Warlord
Hearthguard x2
Hearthguard with dane axes x1
Warriors x2
Levies x1

Petri "Stuka" Hyvärinen
Warband: Mutatawwi'a
Warlord on foot
Hearthguards mounted on horses
Hearthguards mounted on camel
Warriors on foot
Warriors on foot
Warriors with bows
Warriors with bows

Toni "Mannine" Manninen

Warband: Anglo-Danish
Warlord with dane axe
Hearthguard with dane axes x1
Hearthguard x2
Warriors x2
Levy with bows x1

Lauri "Entrooppi" Lattu
Pagan Rus
Hrafn "the Wanderer" Magnusson (Warlord)
Varjazi (Hearthguard)
Varjazi (Hearthguard)
Slav Militia (Warriors)
Slav Militia (Warriors)
Slav Militia (Warriors)
Pecheneg Mercenaries (Steppe Nomads Swords for Hire)

Riku "Thalmar" Lehtimäki
Irish
Fionnlagh Mac Conan (Mounted Warlord)
Fianna with Dane Axes (Hearthguard)
-2 upgraded to mounted Curaidh
Fianna with Dane Axes (Hearthguard)
Bonnachts (Warriors)
Bonnacths (Warriors)
Irish Wolfhounds (Warriors)
Kerns with Slings (Levies)

Joni" DraSa" Tanskanen
Warband: Scots
Fearghas McEoghan (Warlord)
Toisech (Hearthguard)
Toisech (Hearthguard)
Soer-Chele (Warriors)
Soer-Chele (Warriors)
Soer-Chele (Warriors)
Doer-Chele (Levies)

Ranking after V round:
Petri "Stuka" Hyvärinen 10
Joni" DraSa" Tanskanen 10
Lauri "Entrooppi" Lattu 9
Timo "Timmon" 7
Toni "Mannine" Manninen 7
Sebastian "Gilaelin" Schiavone 6
Jere "Varapalmus" Jukka 5
Rubén "HeresyBrush" Torregrosa 3
Riku "Thalmar" Lehtimäki 3
Thorfinn Shieldbreaker 2

This is excellent and pleasing. :)

Questions and a remark:

-Are C&C armies allowed? I presume so but want to make sure. :)
-Is it meant that the manover units are also decided & listed (as in list example) beforehand, as an exception to standard Saga rules which only madate that during deployment?
-How much wysiwyg are we requiring/hoping for? No wh40 proxies allowed I hope? But LotR humans might fit in?
-Id like the "game draw" to be a better result than "we could not agree on date -draw": So a win, 3 points, fought draw 2 points, caledars didnt match -draw 1 point, loss 0 points.

Br,
Timo

Timmon kirjoitti:This is excellent and pleasing. :)

Questions and a remark:

-Are C&C armies allowed? I presume so but want to make sure. :)

Yes, C&C armies are of course allowed, as are armies taken from any official Saga supplement.

-Is it meant that the manover units are also decided & listed (as in list example) beforehand, as an exception to standard Saga rules which only madate that during deployment?

Ah, I happened to skip that part somehow. In that case, you do not need to decide haw you split your warband into units. Thus, you can change the sizes of your units from game to game.

-How much wysiwyg are we requiring/hoping for? No wh40 proxies allowed I hope? But LotR humans might fit in?

I did not write about wysiwyg, because I kind of thought that it would not be necessary as we all have been playing in other leagues before. But maybe I should write up something. Apart from baggage train in scenario IV your warband should reflect somewhat properly the folk you are playing. For example LotR figures such as Rohan and Haradrim can well be used in this game. Of course, space marines are rather off-period in Saga.

-Id like the "game draw" to be a better result than "we could not agree on date -draw": So a win, 3 points, fought draw 2 points, caledars didnt match -draw 1 point, loss 0 points.

Good point! I think that it would be proper that players who actually play the game get more points from draw than those who do not play that round.

This gives me many pleasures.

Five euros sounds fine as an entry fee. The date is a bit early for me, since I would like to get my models, assemble them and have a few tryout matches before we begin. How about the Dogs of War, Priests, Bards and the like? Are they all allowed? I would vote for yes...

And some unnecessary hype about killing plastic/metal little men in the Dark Ages:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kfar4A3_Vto

I am so tempted to post some Amon Amarth also, but I will leave that for later. Consider me excited about this :D And count my in of course. With Pagan Rus or possibly Byzantines.

"As I sense their steel,
As I see the mighty one,
As we all gather once again
the gods of war summon us...
summon us

North wind blows to our valley
men with ships, with swords, with honour

Their horses between flames,
their dogs eating enemy childs,
Our heavenly father, what is this mortality,
do you see my mortal agony

Look, I see the shield up high
this must be the sign from my lord
this can be my death - sentence
what a fine day to die

Taste of blood comes up high
Wind blows hard, our men fall...
one by one
This oath claims me
I must bleed for my generation

Strong is the enemy,
strong is my sword
the hammer is rising
I feel their cold steel

Now when I leave this world
I shall open the mighty oaken gate
and we all shall gather once again"

Entrooppi kirjoitti:The date is a bit early for me, since I would like to get my models, assemble them and have a few tryout matches before we begin.

Should we start a week later or maybe at the end of the month?

How about the Dogs of War, Priests, Bards and the like? Are they all allowed? I would vote for yes...

Yes, they all are allowed. =) I wrote specifically that Dogs of War and Swords for Hire are allowed but did not mention priests and banners etc as they are normal upgrade options anyway. But yes, they all are allowed.

Consider me excited about this :D And count my in of course. With Pagan Rus or possibly Byzantines.

Yahoo!

HI!

First and foremost, I appreciate so much you write in English here. Kiitos paljon!! :)

I liked very much SAGA after playing the demo the other day, so my wallet has suffered the consequences. I will play with Spanish (surprise!), or rather Castellanos because Spain didn't exist at that point. About the fee, I think 5€ is fine. So we will have extra motivation when playing.

If I'm right this should be my list:

Rubén Torregrosa
Warband: Spanish (Castellanos!)
Mounted Warlord: El Cid Campeador
Mounted Hearthguard x2
Mounted Warriors x2
Leavy with bows x1

BTW I looked dragged by the Amorphis song, so...holy land! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BOA_arcUgBU

Well, I'm in! I'm still trying to decide between Crusaders or Milites Christi though, but I'll be sure to decide by the end of the week. Maybe I should just buy the models for both...

HeresyBrush: I count that you have used only 5 points, so you still have one point to spend. =) Remember that the warlord is always free.

You can count me in with the Irish. :)

As my Irish warband is hanging around in the same limbo as Entrooppi's miniatures I, too, would appreciate a slightly later start date. Maybe at the end of the month? It would be great to have some time to test play the new warbands before deciding on a list for the league.

Primordial - Sons of the Morrigan

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sKkoLH12NOo

Shone the sunset red and solemn
Where we stood and observed
Down the corners of the column
Letter strokes of Ogham carved
'tis belike a burial pillar
Said he and those shallow lines
Hold some warriors name of valour
And will rightly show the signs

No one saw, how far I fell
And no one ever knew
That there was a heart of flesh
Deep within me
As it was, bled of the twisted horn
And the howling of the dogs
Raise on old Heroes lament
While the weeping of women
Still vexes my heart

If this is my Journey's End
Then cast me to the pyre
And if all that remains
Is a blackened heart
And the stench of death
Then know my spell is cast
And sing my song
With pride once more

Gilaelin kirjoitti:HeresyBrush: I count that you have used only 5 points, so you still have one point to spend. =) Remember that the warlord is always free.

Ups, you are right. Here it is:

Rubén Torregrosa
Warband: Spanish (Castellanos!)
Mounted Warlord: El Cid Campeador
Mounted Hearthguard x3
Mounted Warriors x2
Leavy with bows x1

I updated HeresyBrush's army list and changed the starting date to be 31st of March. Is that okay to everybody?

Gilaelin kirjoitti:I updated HeresyBrush's army list and changed the starting date to be 31st of March. Is that okay to everybody?

That sounds good.

HeresyBrush kirjoitti:HI!

First and foremost, I appreciate so much you write in English here. Kiitos paljon!! :)
– –
BTW I looked dragged by the Amorphis song, so...holy land! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BOA_arcUgBU

No problem, it's nice to get to use english instead of just reading it :)

Dragged? What do you mean? A bit too high-pitched music for me...

Since we started this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N03FOe9PcYo

"See them gathered on the plains now
See an army strong and vast
As long as one of us remains here
None of them will ever pass

Here they come so raise the shields high
Like wolves they show their teeth
None of us will ever yield now
To the scavengers beneath..."

And Gilaelin, you can mark me down as Pagan Rus.

I just keep bouncing back and forth. Welp, mark me down with Norse-Gaels. I mean, combat, acceptable shooting and CHALLENGES.

As enticing as bringing down the wrath of god via crusaders of milites christi is, I just can't NOT play the army whose main mechanic is dueling.

Now I'll just need to figure out a list.

Milites Christi. Deus Vult!

I'll ponder on the list composition a while longer.

Timo

Sure, I'm in. 5 euros is good.

Teemu Salo
Warband: Anglo-Danish
Warlord with dane axe
6x Hearthguard with dane axes
6x Hearthguard
8x Warriors
8x Warriors
12x Levy with bows

Hi guys!

This weekend I was at Nopat & Takktiikka's place in Helsinki taking part in their Second Crusade Saga campaign with my Normans. It was nice to get to play the game with people who have been playing the game for a while and are familiar with rules. Rather expectionaly my Normans dominated the day and won all three games I played there. :D The most important thing was though, that I as a beginner got to learn more about the game. Here's few notions that I made:

Deployment of the scenery
This far we have just agreed to place the terrain features on to table together. Yet, unlike with for example WH/40k the deployment of the scenery is an important part of strategical play in Saga that gives a whole new dimension for the game. Of course, as part of the main rules, we are using the rules of terrain deployment in our campaign. I just wanted to stress it out here, because in many other games people do not use the written rules for the terrain deployment.

The hills
Considering the scenery we have at Fantasiapelit, I think we are going to see a lot of hills in our games. In Saga hills are either open terrain that blocks the line of sight or uneaven terrain that blocks the line of sight but give no bonuses for units within the terrain feature, unlike (also much used terrain features in Fantasiapelit ) houses and forests. I propose, if its okay for you, that we use house rules for the hills that give miniatures on them ability to see across other units not standing on hills. This way hils do not become just tarpits that block los and that everyone always want to avoid. We have impossible terrain for that task. What do you think?

I am going to take the entree list to Fantasiapelit Wednesday, so stay tuned. =)

Gilaelin kirjoitti: The hills
Considering the scenery we have at Fantasiapelit, I think we are going to see a lot of hills in our games. In Saga hills are either open terrain that blocks the line of sight or uneaven terrain that blocks the line of sight but give no bonuses for units within the terrain feature, unlike (also much used terrain features in Fantasiapelit ) houses and forests. I propose, if its okay for you, that we use house rules for the hills that give miniatures on them ability to see across other units not standing on hills. This way hils do not become just tarpits that block los and that everyone always want to avoid. We have impossible terrain for that task. What do you think?

I for one like this idea, although my army doesn't.

Entrooppi kirjoitti:

Gilaelin kirjoitti: The hills
Considering the scenery we have at Fantasiapelit, I think we are going to see a lot of hills in our games. In Saga hills are either open terrain that blocks the line of sight or uneaven terrain that blocks the line of sight but give no bonuses for units within the terrain feature, unlike (also much used terrain features in Fantasiapelit ) houses and forests. I propose, if its okay for you, that we use house rules for the hills that give miniatures on them ability to see across other units not standing on hills. This way hils do not become just tarpits that block los and that everyone always want to avoid. We have impossible terrain for that task. What do you think?

I for one like this idea, although my army doesn't.

+1 It's fine for me. I think that this way to use the hills is more real.

By the way, my Spanish warband has arrived!!!! However, the miniatures don't have spears :( Do you know where can I buy some of them?

HeresyBrush: How many spears do you need? I happen to have somewhat 40 leftover metal spears on my desk. I can give you the spears you need. =)

Hi,

Seems like I don't have time to drop by in Fantasiapelit today to leave the entree list there, but I promise it will be there by tomorrow afternoon. =)