The Saga of NagoyaHammer - A Saga Painting Log

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The Saga of NagoyaHammer - A Saga Painting Log

Post by Primarch » Mon Aug 17, 2020 10:20 pm

A few weeks back, I looked at a variety of fantasy wargames and gave my opinion about each of them. (Here, in case you missed it). The game that really stood out for me was Saga: Age of Magic, so much so that I went out and bought a copy. It helps that I already own the core Saga rulebook and scenario book that I'll need to fully make use of it.

Book in hand, I set about going through the large piles of fantasy minis in my hobby room to see if I could build any warbands for the game. As it transpires, I can! I've managed to grab enough bits and pieces to allow me to build several warbands in fact.

I also have the Age of Vikings and Age of Crusades supplements along with minis for appropriate warbands for those eras. So I guess I really need to do something with all these minis, which is why I've started this hobby log. My aim is to paint up units for each of the warbands as the mood takes me, bouncing between projects like a hobby butterfly with attention deficit disorder, until such time as something else distracts me even more.

As an introductory post, I guess it would be helpful for people to have a bit of background into the game itself and what it entails. Of course, rather than read through my gibberish, there are a few blogs, youtube videos and the like you can turn to instead. Otherwise, read on.

Saga is primarily a semi-historical (except for Age of Magic, obviously) skirmish game based around the idea of Lords/Jarls/Dukes etc leading their entourage against similar forces. These could represent raids, duels, ambushes and other small scale actions. A standard game is played on a 3' by 4' board and each side will have somewhere around 50 minis in play.

Saga units usually come in one of three varieties. Levies (untrained peasants), Warriors (trained soldiers) and Hearthguard (elite fighters). Age of Magic introduces a lot of new unit types such as Monsters and War Machines.

To differentiate between the two mobs of armoured warriors squaring off on the battlefield, each faction in the game has access to a Battle Board. Each faction's board has a set of unique abilities that the player can use to make his units behave differently from their opponent's. Each unit generates Saga Dice (you can just use d6 if you like), which are rolled at the start of your turn. These can be used to activate units OR activate faction abilities. Part of the game is managing your resources to get the most from your dice.

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Building a warband is very simple. Each warband starts with a Warlord for free and then has 6 points in an average game, (8 in Age of Magic), to spend on units. 1 point buys you 4 Hearthguards, 8 Warriors or 12 Levies. Before the game begins you can shuffle your models around a little so long as units have between 4 and 12 models, and are all of the same type.

Some factions have access to Mercenaries, Legendary Heroes (e.g William the Conqueror, Saladin, etc) and special equipment (banners etc).

So, my aim with this hobby log is to paint up additions for each of my forces in 1 point increments, slowly growing each warband to a playable level.
Painted Minis in 2014: 510, in 2015: 300, in 2016 :369, in 2019: 417, in 2020: 450

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Re: The Saga of NagoyaHammer - A Saga Painting Log

Post by Primarch » Mon Aug 17, 2020 10:29 pm

As I have just started painting up minis for this project, it will be a while before I have anything new to post. So, to whet your appetite, I thought I would revisit one of my completed Saga warbands.

Age of Vikings - Bretons

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Here we have my Warlord and two units of Hearthguard. Bretons use the Norman rules in the game, but while the Normans are the heavy cavalry specialists of the early 1000's AD, the Bretons are more lightly armed. The Normans like to ride down their foes with spears, but the Bretons prefer to shower their opponents with a volley of Javelins before scampering away out of reach.
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This unit of Warriors will be doing most of the work for the warband, with enough bodies to soak some damage if need be and plenty of long pointy sticks to throw at anyone who gets in range.
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While this unit of Warriors will be taking and holding ground, defending against enemy troops with their trusty spears.
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And if need be, this unit of javelin armed Levies will be acting as a speed bump to protect my units from any angry Vikings/Saxons etc who are looking for a little payback.
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The above represents 5 points, so to round off the force to 6 points, and provide a hard hitting infantry component, I added a unit of mercenary Vikings.
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These colourful looking chaps represent Jarl Sigvaldi and his Jomsvikings, a brotherhood of Viking warriors who would sell their services to the highest bidder.

But who were the Bretons?
The Bretons hail from Brittany on the North West coast of France. However, their origins actually lie further afield. During the dark ages, around 500-600 AD, waves of Saxons began migrating from Germany to Britain. The locals, feeling that their were far too many Europeans coming to their fair country decided that enough was enough. It was time to exit Britain, a Brexit if you will. So, these intrepid souls set out from the shores of Britain and crossed over to Armorica, which they quickly renamed Brittany. Quite what the local population made of all this is not clear. There had already been an early settlement in the area by Britons following the withdrawal of the last Roman forces from Britain. Romano-British troops had left along with the Romans and were stationed in Armorica. Following the break up of the old Roman Empire, they had put down roots and formed their own communities.
The Bretons came into conflict with their neighbours to the east, the Normans and adopted similar styles in terms of arms and armour, (whether or not they really did prefer to fight with javelins, I'm not sure, but that is how Saga depicts them). By the time of the Battle of Hastings, there wouldn't have been much to differentiate between the two. Bretons formed the largest non-Norman contingent in Williams army at Hastings and went on to help him conquer England. Interestingly, the Royal House of Stuart (originally Clan Stewart) had Breton origins. 9 Stewart monarchs ruled Scotland from 1371 to 1603, ending with Mary, Queen of Scots. Following the union of England and Scotland, James VI of Scotland became James I of England and Ireland. Stuarts ruled the United Kingdom until the title passed to the House of Hanover in 1714.
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Re: The Saga of NagoyaHammer - A Saga Painting Log

Post by kojibear » Wed Aug 19, 2020 9:49 am

Having built my own Viking army for Saga - with Ragnar Lodbrok as the leader no less :D - and played a few games, it is lots of fun.

The next mission will be to try the fantasy version of the game. I already have a 'Lion Elves' warband I actually built and painted for Dragon Rampant, which you may have read in the thread Prim mentioned that discussed the different fantasy miniatures games out there. So, I have a 'wild' faction ready to go.

But the great thing about Saga is that they encourage you to use whatever miniatures you like! Great! I have lots of Reaper Bones and games workshop miniatures in the closet that can be brought to life and put on the table top.

So, I think I shall try to put together an 'Otherworld' snake demon-esque warband - basically the inspiration will be the Yuan Ti from DnD.

Let's see how it goes!

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Re: The Saga of NagoyaHammer - A Saga Painting Log

Post by Primarch » Wed Aug 19, 2020 11:23 pm

Hmm, it looks like I have a partner in crime for this little project. Hopefully Koji will grace us with pictures of his warband as he gets stuff built and painted.

But what's with this "Wild" and "Otherworld" stuff he mentioned?

Age of Magic doesn't have racial (e.g. Elf, Orc) or national (e.g. Viking, Norman) style army lists commonly found in most wargames. Instead it has 6 Archetypes, each of which has it's own playstyle, Battle Board and unique units. The archetypes are:

The Great Kingdoms
This archetype is based around heroes inspiring the rank and file. They can take flying mounts like a Pegasus or Griffin, and their unique unit is monster-slaying Paladins. The Kingdoms have a fairly balanced set of offensive and defensive abilities, allowing for a mix of playstyles.
In Warhammer terms, they resemble The Empire, Brettonia and High Elves.

The Lords of the Wild
As the name implies, this warband focuses on nature. They can take two large monsters and any number of creatures (Ogre sized infantry, bears, tigers, pterodactyls etc). They are also the only faction with the option for ranged weapons on their Hearthguard. They do trade off the option to take warmachines though. Their Battle Board allows them to interact with terrain, and has a few ranged abilities too.
Wood Elves, Beastmen and Lizardmen can all find a new home here.

The Masters of the Underearth
The Masters armylist has access to some technical weapons of war. Two warmachines per warband, firearms for warriors, and weapons teams as a unique unit mean that they are quite capable of forming a solid gunline. Sadly they can only take a single unit of creatures and a single monster. The Masters special rules allows them to improve their defence and wear down enemy units until they can be overwhelmed.
For WFB armies, Dwarves and Skaven can fit neatly into this archetype, some Goblin armies too.

The Horde
The Horde is all about fast offence. They can take a lot of cavalry or infantry with heavy weapons. Chariots are their unique units and they can take several units of lsrge creatures if they want. They may take a single monster and a single warmachine too, so they don't have to sacrifice anything. Their abilities focus on moving quickly and hitting hard when they do get into melee.
Orcs, Ogres and Warriors of Chaos should be a good match for this warband.

The Undead Legions
Of all the archetypes, this one seems like the most obvious as to which models to take. They have access to all of the basic unit types, though their Levies are replaced by Zombies (or Mindless as they are called in AoM). Undead also have the option to switch out their melee focused Warlord for a Necromancer. The Legions play the long game on the table. Attrition of enemy units and replenishing your own is their key to victory.
If it isn't amazingly clear which WFB armies you can repurpose for this archetype, I don't know what to say.

The Otherworld
Have you ever wanted to summon a 12' tall fiend, wreathed in fire, to decimate your enemies? Do gibbering hordes of sanity-warping monstrosities get you all excited? If so, then the Otherworld is the faction to look at. Otherworld provides the option to field 3 giant monsters, flying infantry and ferocious Hunters that will rend opposing troops to shreds. In exchange, they lack warmachines and ranged weapons of any kind except breath weapons. Their Battle Board gives Otherworld a bunch of melee offensive and defensive buffs, and a few other shenanigans to help them get stuck in.
Daemons are the clear fit for Otherworld, though any army that wants to field a lot of BIG beasties would be able to figure something out.

Each Archetype also has options for Legendary units and sub-lists to focus on one particular aspect of the warband. The writers freely acknowledge that they couldn't include rules for every fantasy model out there and suggest that players remain flexible in their approach to the warbands. For example, if you wanted to port an old Tomb Kings army over to AoM, you'd need to figure out a way to add light chariots to the Undead Legions list. The examples I've given above are just that, examples. There are no hard and fast definitions of what must go in each warband, and model wise, anything goes. Heck, you could probably use Tyranids for an Otherworld warband and have no issues with it...

And that's about it for now. Hopefully I'll have some modelling/painting progress to show off soon.
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Re: The Saga of NagoyaHammer - A Saga Painting Log

Post by Primarch » Sun Aug 23, 2020 10:24 pm

Over the weekend I finished up a group of 4 Norman Hearthguard.
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As I mentioned in the first post, Saga units are usually ranked as Levies, Warriors or Hearthguard.
Levies can be bought at a rate of 12 models for 1 Point. In combat they roll 1 attack die per 2 models, (or 1 per 3 if shooting).
Warriors are 8 models for 1 Point and roll 1 attack die each, (1 per 2 models when shooting).
Hearthguard are the most expensive, being only 4 models for 1 Point. However they roll 2 attack dice each in combat, (1 each when shooting).
As you can see, the hitting power of a unit of Hearthguard is quite considerable, being double that of a similarly sized unit of Warriors and 4 times better than Levies. However, their elite nature and high cost means that the loss of even a couple of figures dilutes their strength considerably. Knowing when to commit these valuable troops is an important factor in winning the game.

Next up on the painting workbench: Something for the fantasy fans, followed by more Normans.
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Re: The Saga of NagoyaHammer - A Saga Painting Log

Post by Primarch » Mon Aug 31, 2020 10:19 pm

As promised, some Fantasy figures.
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These 8 Elven types are Warriors (1 point's worth)for my Lords of the Wild warband.
Normally a unit of Warriors should all have the same type of weapon (melee or ranged), and these fellows obviously don't. I'm planning to do a somewhat irregular scheme for this warband, so rather than painting all the members of a unit in the same colours, I'm painting them in batches and varying the palette between them. This makes it easier to do a bunch of minis in one go and still finish off with an irregular looking force.

Next up, something for the Normans, more Age of Magic, and then maybe some terrain.
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Re: The Saga of NagoyaHammer - A Saga Painting Log

Post by Primarch » Thu Sep 10, 2020 11:33 pm

The latest addition to my growing Norman Warband is William the Conqueror.

Born out of wedlock to the otherwise heirless Duke of Normandy, William was originally known as William the Bastard. When his father died, William became the duke at the age of 7 in 1035. Having finally consolidated his rule of Normandy by 1060, he was one of three claimants to the English throne held at the time by Edward the Confessor, (a distant cousin), who had promised William the throne upon his death.

Unfortunately Edward had also suggested that Harald Hadrada of Norway also had a legitimate claim to the throne (through a promise by his predecessor) and had nominated Harold Godwinson as his successor on his deathbed. With two other powerful rivals vying for the crown, William had no choice but to raise an army and attempt to take the crown by force.

The Battle of Hastings in October 1066 is marked as a major turning point in British history, with William defeating Harold. (who had defeated Hadrada a few weeks previously at Stamford), but it was not the end of the campaign. Though William was crowned in London on Christmas Day 1066, the conquest of England and Wales took until 1072 to complete. As ruler of England and Normandy, William ruled both as separate entities, making no effort to consolidate his empire.

The Norman Conquest brought about a great many changes at the upper levels of society as the ruling classes were replaced by Norman nobility, but the serfs remained as an Anglo-saxon majority. William introduced the Norman language to the British Isles, which had a huge impact on the evolution of the English language. He also had the Domesday Book compiled, a survey and record of every piece of land in England and Wales.

When William died, he left England to his son William (known as William the Second thereafter) and Normandy to his other son Robert.

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And in Saga terms:

Each warband is led by a Warlord, which is the role this mini is to fill. Warlords have a bunch of abilities and enough attacks to make even the strongest unit reconsider a charge. For special rules, Warlords can activate once per turn for free, rather than needing to use a Saga die from their Battle Board. They can also activate one friendly unit nearby for free, making them very efficient when considering how to use the Battle Board.

However, a Warlord must always try to charge an enemy Warlord if it is in a position to do so. A wily opponent may well set things up to lure you into a trap.

Unlike other games, Warlords don't get any bonus wounds or hit points compared to the troops under their command. Being the boss doesn't make you less mortal. One successful wounding attack and down you go. Losing the Warlord doesn't necessarily cost you the game, but it's never a good situation. Luckily Warlords have a couple of tricks up their sleeve to mitigate some of the attacks against them. If there are Hearthguard nearby, they can act as human shields for their boss, allowing the Warlord to pass hits on to them. This can be an expensive tactic as Hearthguard are usually the best troops you have available. Warlords also have a rule called Resilience. This is meant to represent the superior training and equipment used by the nobility compared to the regular peasants and plebs. For each hit taken, the Warlord may cancel it out by taking a Fatigue token. In the short term, this allows the Warlord to avoid damage, but Fatigue can be used by your opponent in later combats to reduce the Warlord's charge distance, make him easier to hit or prevent him from causing damage. A weak Warlord is better than a dead one, but it does mean that you need to be careful about committing him at the right time and choosing the best way of reducing damage when you do so.
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Re: The Saga of NagoyaHammer - A Saga Painting Log

Post by Primarch » Mon Sep 14, 2020 11:03 pm

Over the last few days I managed to get some more Norman Hearthguard painted up for Age of Vikings. I'll have to double check, but these should put me over my target for a starter level warband.
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I also painted a Dwarf mage for Age of Magic. I know Dwarves aren't traditionally big on using magic in most settings, but I'm sure if you told one, "Well, Elves can do it." they'd be an arch-mage in no time.
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Magic in Age of Magic comes in 6 different flavours: Light, Energy, Earth, Death, Time and Metal, which each have 6 spells available. Each archetype can access two of the schools of magic. Masters of the Underearth (the archetype which the Dwarven mage above will be joining) has access to Time and Metal, for example.

Each wizard chooses 3 spells from the 12 their faction can access at the start of the game. If you have more than one spellcasting type, you cannot duplicate any spells. I guess this is to stop players potentially spamming one particular effect.

During each turn players get 1 Spellcasting die + 1 additional die per wizard in their warband. Saga dice can be traded in at 1 Saga die for 2 Spellcasting die if you wish. You are limited to 6 Spellcasting dice per turn though.

Casting spells doesn't need any Saga dice and doesn't require the wizard to 'activate'. This means that enemy abilities that trigger on an activation can't be used to avoid the spell or perform some other shenanigans. On the other hand spells cannot be used when another unit is active. You need to cast spells between unit activations.

To cast spells simply roll 1 or more Spellcasting dice (Spells require either 1 or 2 dice minimum depending on the spell, but you can roll more if you want). Each spell has a Minimum, Optimum and Maximum effect, each requiring certain results on the die/dice. Minimum effects can be cast using any roll. As the name implies, they aren't particularly powerful. Optimum effects are more powerful but require certain scores to cast. The Maximum effect usually needs a roll of a 6 or double 6 in some cases. The results of spells cast at this level tend to be devastating if used correctly, but also have some negative impact on the wizard. Any spell cast at Maximum requires a roll on the Abuse of Power table. This can lead to the wizard losing spells, gaining fatigue or simply exploding in spectacular fashion.

For example:
The spell Bolt from the domain of Energy let's you target an enemy unit within 12" and roll two Attack dice.
The minimum result, cast on any Spellcasting die result let's you score a hit on any Attack die that exceeds the target's armour.
The optimum result requires a Spellcasting die showing a 4 or a 5, but let's you cause hits by equalling the target's armour.
The maximum result requires a 6 on the Spellcasting die, but you hit on 3+ with the Attack dice. Should you roll one or more 6's on the Attack dice you generate an extra hit.
Given that Hearthguard and Warlords are capable of having an Armour score of 6 in some situations, being able to kill them on a 3+ with no saving throws may well be worth the risk to your mage. Of course, if you are targeting Levies, the minimum effect is probably good enough.
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Re: The Saga of NagoyaHammer - A Saga Painting Log

Post by YellowStreak » Tue Sep 15, 2020 11:19 pm

Primarch wrote:
Mon Sep 14, 2020 11:03 pm
I also painted a Dwarf mage for Age of Magic. I know Dwarves aren't traditionally big on using magic in most settings, but I'm sure if you told one, "Well, Elves can do it." they'd be an arch-mage in no time.
:lol: :lol: :lol:

Nice work Prim, you're in a painting frenzy!
So many games, so little time....
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Re: The Saga of NagoyaHammer - A Saga Painting Log

Post by Primarch » Thu Oct 08, 2020 11:55 am

Saga, Age of Magic doesn't have it's own setting or background. (The historical versions are obviously somewhat based in reality, or at least realistic conjectures about history). For some people, this may be a bit of a turn off, after all, if you don't have any background, how can you choose your army? However, it does allow you to be creative in making your own backstory and let's you imagine what your army should look like and how it should operate in the game. You don't need to worry about working your force in to the epic 3000 year history of the game, nor feel constrained by "the lore".

All of that is a roundabout way of saying, 'I wrote some background for my dwarves, please turn away now if poorly written fluff isn't your thing.' :lol:

The king and his standard bearers.
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The leader of my Saga force is King Storri Dimrond IV, ruler of the Kingdom of Dar'nok. Known to many by his nickname of The Young Boar (though at roughly 350 years old the adjective perhaps no longer applies), his father was the legendary King Dimrond III, The Old Boar. The nickname comes from the family traits of toughness, determination and power, or so the Dimrond retainers say. Their detractors would point to a certain level of bullheadedness and a tendency to direct, often violent, action when confronted by any problems.
While the monarchy of Dar'nok is largely hereditary, the King ultimately rules at the pleasure of the various Thanes, Guild Masters, Forge Lords and Mine Overseers. It is not unheard of for the King to be deposed should they fail to fulfill their duties or find too many of the nobility of the kingdom arrayed against them. A complex web of politics and power runs between every member of the higher levels of society and King Dimrond must balance it carefully to maintain his position.
To that end, the King is accompanied by two senior members of his household guard at all times. As well as acting as bodyguards and standard bearers, the guard are expected to offer advice and to curtail King Dimrond's tendency to let his temper get the better of his judgement. Through sound tactical suggestions on the battlefield and persuading the King to rethink his initial reactions in council, the two Royal Guards help ensure the King remains on his throne.

(In game terms, the extra models on the base have no function, but decorative command bases look better than some solitary hero standing on his lonesome IMHO).

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The Iron Corps are an elite fighting force within the Kingdom of Dar'nok. Wearing some of the most finely crafted armour and wielding heavy warhammers and maces, the Corps have defended the Kingdom for centuries. With the masks on their helms down, they march into battle with silent, steadfast determination. Many a foe has been brought down by the crushing blows of their weapons, and seemingly impregnable defences have been reduced to rubble by their advance.
Unlike the Royal Guard or the well funded Guilders, the Iron Corps do not seek glory or riches for their work. From their initial recruitment they are taught to put the Corps first. All aspirants are welcomed to the Corps, whether noble born or from the working classes. Sons and daughters of Corps members are treated the same as any other aspirant. During their training, all aspirants wear identical face-covering hoods and floor length robes. They are trained, drilled and then put through a rigourous series of tests and trials. Only once they have proven their worth are they allowed to remove their hoods and reclaim their identities.
On the battlefield they fight under the same anonymous style. Each warrior is allowed a little leeway to decorate their helms to ensure that ranks are clearly understood, but each of them marches with their visors down. The motto of the Iron Corps is simply 'The Corps, First!'. This speaks to the ideal that individuals do not seek glory for themselves, but for the Corps as a whole. It also points to the tendency for the Corps to volunteer for the most dangerous position on the battlefield, leading a charge into a breach or fighting a rearguard when necessary. The Corps sees it's role as being the defenders of the people of the kingdom. If an Iron Corpsman should die so that another dwarf should live, it is not a death to lament.
As an elite fighting force within the kingdom, the Corps are entitled to a seat on the King's council. Politics ill-suits the attitude of the Corps, so their seat always remains empty except for a ceremonial helm placed on the table before the chair. Once the call to arms is sounded, the leadership of the Corps join the war council, giving advice on strategy, logistics and tactics as required.

(In Saga terms, the Iron Corps are Hearthguard equipped with heavy weapons).
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