SAGA

[Fenton]

Been looking at these rules for a while now and would love to give them a go, sadly 28mm is a bit outside my price range at the minute, and I think it might look pretty cool in 10mm, has anyone tried the rules yet before I make a final decison

[Luddite]

SAGA?

Do you mean the Saga version of the 'Medieval Warfare' rules (as opposed to the Foundry version)?

[GordonY]

I think Fenton means the Gripping Beast rules, Dark Age skirmish set.

From a (very) quick look I dont think 28mm is out of your price range mate, about a dozen or so a side, call it 1 box of plastic Vikings and another of plastic Saxons and you'd have more than enough.

Edit : Ooops, from a slightly longer look its about 40 figures a side, but I still think you'd get a decent game from 2 boxes of Gripping Beast plastics.

A bit more about the rules can be found here : http://tasmancave.blogspot.com/2011/06/saga-review.html

Gordon

[Leman]

No, he means the ones just produced by Gripping Beast specifically for the period 410 - 1066 AD (Stuff CE, western civilisation created AD and BC for our time reckoning based on the predominant culture of western civilisation i.e. Christianity. I see no reason to change this as the rest of the world has adopted the western calendar system. Incidentally, I'm an aetheist.
DP

[Luddite]

Ah, right.

Clarity in your posts please people...

And since CE/BCE has been in use since about 1615CE/AD (delete as apporpriate), i don't really see the problem.     Hehe...

Personally i use BC/AD in 'real life', but BCE/CE when i was producing academic work...

SAGA looks interesting though.  Dark Age skirmishing has always appealed, especially since an early Anglo-Saxon 'army' could be as little as 30-40 men!

[nikharwood]

Hmm - links to the other thread about expensive rules, doesn't it? £25 for 76 pages in softback? Presumably with postage on top?

Nah...I'll use LotR for Dark Age skirmishing if I ever want to...or Mordheim for that matter 

[nikharwood]

Oh look - it gets worse...you also "need...special Saga dice" at £12 [for 8 d6 with runes on]...my emphasis. Now I really don't think so!

[Gandalf]

I saw the SAGA rules being demonstrated at Partizan and they look quite good.  They may appear to be expensive on first inspection but they are quite innovative in the use of the SAGA dice to create strategic and tactical advantage against your opponent which adds a bit more depth to the game. Originality in the rules are what you pay 33 ¹/₃ pence a page for. You don't actually need the expensive dice if you're prepared to make do and improvise.
Generally, with a few exceptions like Foundry and GW, I think suppliers tend to under value wargaming products which is why it's a hobby for a lot of people rather than a living.

[Luddite]

'Undervalue'?

That's an interesting perspective...why do you say that?

[Gandalf]

'Undervalue'?

That's an interesting perspective...why do you say that?

To be commercially successful ie to make a living and have enough profit left to reinvest in the business, figure prices should be around those charged by GW/Foundry. The cost charged by small manufacturers does not fully compensate them for the time and effort taken to produce their figures. 

[NTM]

Looking at the charts in the latest WI it is perfectly possible to use normal dice rather than runes (in fact both options are quite clearly shown) and all this is coming from someone who hates non standard dice (i.e. anything that is not a normal D6)

[goat major]

i also watched these being played at Partizan and they did look good fun - unfortunately i didnt have time to play myself but i am quite tempted

Just to repeat some posts above - special dice are not needed at all. Basically for each nation you get one symbol on a 1-3, another symbol on a 4-5 and a 3rd symbol on a 6. The basic rulebook has a table which shows the distribution for each nation. The guy demonstrating at Partizan had himself just stuck sticky dots on normal D6s

[Luddite]

To be commercially successful ie to make a living and have enough profit left to reinvest in the business, figure prices should be around those charged by GW/Foundry. The cost charged by small manufacturers does not fully compensate them for the time and effort taken to produce their figures. 

Fair enough but i don't agree.

GW's figure prices are HUGELY overinflated, because they are now a global business with a large asset base to maintain (shops etc.) - that's why they charge £12 for a single figure worth £2.

Smaller companies (presumably) make money or they wouldn't continue in business.  Even the most committed hobby-caster isn't going to run at a loss, nor presumably at 'break-even' for too long.

Ultimately, our toys are worth what the market will bear and what people are willing to pay.

I just don't accept that 'figure prices should be around those charged by GW/Foundry'.  They shouldn't be, they don't need to be, and i suspect that large parts of the hobby would die off fairly sharply if they were.

[Nosher]

Just had a look at the saga forum (which is linked from the Gripping Beast website) and a couple of posters have asked about 15mm with the rules, the suggestion being that yes it does work with halved measurements.

I suppose it wouldn't be that different for 10mm, my only worry with doing this in 10mm would be representing hero figures?

[Hertsblue]

You're going to tell me next that these rules are only for the over-fifties.