Saga: Book of Battles Vorschau

Studio Tomahawk geben auf Facebook einen Einblick wie sich das Buch der Schlachten für Saga genauer zusammensetzt.

What is the “Book of Battles” ?

As we were preparing the second edition of the Saga rules, it quickly became apparent that we would lack space in the rulebook to give the scenarios the place they deserved. We wanted to offer the basic book at an unbeatable price, to make the heart of Saga’s mechanisms as accessible as possible. But this accessibility would necessarily have an impact on the pagination of the rules and after having already exceeded our initial objective of 48 pages by several pages, it was obvious that we would not have room for more than a single scenario.

„The Clash of Warlords“ would be in a way the „universal“ scenario of Saga, offering balanced games, based simply on the elimination of enemy troops. Through deployment zones and randomized special rules, we offered some variations, but they remained quite limited.

We knew we couldn’t be satisfied with a single scenario and quickly, the most exuberant players reminded us of our duty, sometimes with an enthusiasm that lurked towards aggressiveness!
Once the decision was taken, it remained to be decided how to fill this scenario book. There was no shortage of ideas, but as with Saga’s base book, we wanted to keep the supplement at an affordable price, which meant controlling the pagination and therefore, the content.

Like all popular miniature games, Saga reaches a fairly wide range of players. From competitive players, who are looking for balanced scenarios with new tactical challenges, to less invested players (the so-called casual players) who are looking for new game experiences, and are less concerned about the perfect balance of game situations. With the majority of players navigating between these two trends.

It was therefore important to propose a variety of scenarios sufficient to satisfy (if possible) all Saga players, depending on whether they expect traditional or more narrative scenarios. And that all these scenarios can be used in any Saga Universe, whether historical, fantasy or otherwise. This was not an easy task.

The Book of Battles is divided into 4 chapters, each with a different approach. Some chapters introduce new special rules, covering specific situations, terrain elements or components such as rivers, objective markers, reinforcements, etc. All are based on a new victory point system, divided into three parts: massacre points, survival points and conquest points. Generally, each scenario uses only one of these systems, but at least one scenario in the book combines them all.

The first part of the Book of Battles, the Skirmishes, is actually a scenario generator. It offers an alternative to Lthe Clash of Warlors, offering an infinitely higher number of variations. Thus, it proposes 6 different deployment methods, 6 ways to set the scenery, 6 different game durations, 6 special rules and 6 possible victory conditions.

The scenarios themselves will be a combination of one of these possibilities in each area. Thus, players will select one of the 6 methods of setting up the field, one of the 6 ways to deploy, etc…
The possible combinations are counted in thousands, and while some combinations are quite similar, others are radically different, ensuring an almost infinite replayability of the game. It is also a tool available to tournament organizers, who can use it to vary scenarios between rounds, by offering participants a predetermined combination for each game.

The Skirmishes propose several different ways to select the components of their own scenario, from the total randomized method, to a method where players can influence the different aspects of the scenario to try to find the situation that puts their gang to its advantage.

The second part, the Battles, proposes significantly more complex scenarios, introducing new rules. It is the part of the book that proposes the most different scenarios, with 10 of them, that will lead you to put your warband in the most atypical situations: splicing your warband with a river separating it in two, capturing loot in enemy territory, protecting a notable person from the enemy or ambushing a caravan. Many of these scenarios will require several games before they can be mastered, as they offer very different situations from your classic Saga games, playing on aspects that the simple elimination of enemy troops does not highlight: mobility, the ability to hold the ground, the hierarchy of priorities between combat and the pursuit of objectives, etc…

The third part, Legends, offers 4 scenarios that are radically different from anything we have published so far. Real little stories, with their share of surprises, uncontrollable events and reversals of situations. Of course, all these factors make them scenarios that do not necessarily seek to be balanced, but rather focus on telling a story. Thus, you will have to chase after a herd of cattle that has gone mad, loot or defend a hamlet and its inhabitants, fight an urban uprising or explore an hostile region. These scenarios introduce many new rules, random events and exotic situations. We had a lot of fun playing them, and hopefully you will too. And if you’re a competitive player, think of these games as a vacation!

The fourth part, the Mass Battles, offers the rules for multiplayer games, whether they are team games or „everyone for himself and God for on my side“. Three scenarios explore this rather delightful aspect of Saga, and will offer you different ways to share a game with 3 or 4 players.

Finally, the last chapter of the Book of Battles, the Sagas, offers a small bonus that we thought it would be interesting to include. He proposes an experience system for your Warlord. This is not strictly speaking a campaign system, but rather a way to track the progress of your heroic alter-ego from games to games. He will earn experience points, which you can spend to acquire skills in different areas. We have even integrated a handicap system if you play a Warlord benefiting from this system against a Warlord not taking advantage of it.

Another way to use this chapter is to allocate a number of experience points to each Warlord before the game, and let players customize their leader by buying skills from him. So Gutrag the Butcher can have the skills that earned him his nickname!

Here is the content of the Book of Battles which will be available at the end of November 2018. This was one of the most fun supplements we had to develop, despite the difficult task of removing a lot of material so that everything could fit into the 56 pages allocated!

Enjoy your battles, Brothers!

Quelle: Studio Tomahawk auf Facebook