Saga – What to do with The Pagan Rus?

Two years ago, still figuring out how to play Saga in general, I had a “Big Plan” to paint up Pagan Rus and destroy all my opponents with this awesome war band. A few months after that, start of 2015, I had them all painted up with snow flocked bases and set about with my wintery domination. All I did was sit around and piss off my opponents and freeze up games. Either that or got crushed as I had no idea what to actually do with all the Saga board abilities.

Put them aside, got interested in Scots (which are much fun-er, at least with the one game I have played) and didn’t think about them much. Kind of sad as I really like the sculpts of the minis comprising my Pagan Rus (Old Glory Rus line of minis) and the overall aesthetic is my favorite one of all my Dark Age 28mm models.

Spencer’s Friday Night Game will be the new re-release of my Pagan Rus. Some experience under my belt, some thoughts and opinions developed, I think I can play them now without folding like a paper airplane or pissing off my gaming buddy and forcing the Most Boring Game Ever.

What will I do?

First, the list and deployment:
Warlord

Hearthguard x4, Hearthguard x4, Hearthguard x4, Hearthguard x4

Warrior x8, Warrior x8

Deployment:

2 Hearthguard units of 8 figures each (and banner per unit)

2 Warrior units of 8 figures each (maybe banners?)

Warlord right in the middle, Hearthguards up front

This allows me 6 Saga Dice, has my heavy hitters up front where they need to be, warriors in reserve to react/fill holes, and Warlord in range of all of them to use We Obey.  I plan to move them up to the fight/objective, engage (per scenario) immediately, and then get defensive.

Eight Hearthguards hit pretty hard at 16 attack dice. The banner takes it down to a serious 14 attack dice with some fatigue mitigation. My plan is to lay into the opponent’s lines and try to break the units apart, split them up, maybe even leave one cut off … like what the Finns did in WWII against Russian invaders (motti). If I’ve the dice I will use Standing Like Bears (C, UC discard attack dice for armor) and For the Kaghan! (C, UC, R add attack dice) boosting armor and keeping my dice up to 14. 

For defense I might use Cold Winds (UC, R if opponent is shoot-y in any way – fatigue for any 5s or 6s rolled in shooting).

For battle field control I have frozen (C cancel second activation of a unit) and, of course, Great Winter (C+C)…. which I hate to use. I have not seen the advantage yet. At the very beginning of your turn you play it (Orders phase) and it is in effect until the beginning of your next turn. All movement reduced to S, all shooting reduced to S.

I’d like to note that many PR players as well as the book with Pagan Rus rules explicitly state the Pagan Rus are a defensive faction. I’ve also seen that about Anglo Danes (who the Rus are compared to often). I think this is wrong. I plan to prove it to myself and then, via this blog, to you brave reader!

An after game report is coming as soon as I finish this game.

On The Bench September 2016

Developed a system that keeps me painting. No multi-tasking. I suck at it.

My usual technique of "not wasting paint" and having 2-3 projects in rotation always frustrated me. I'd miss steps and not realize it until after I was ahead a step or 2. I'd rush and take shortcuts. I'd make mistakes. I'd get frustrated and take a week or two long break; all the things that can happen has.

This summer I paired it down some. Right now it's the purest "new technique" so far though the draw to start something else is still there I have not done so.

On my list right now is my Scots Covenanters... I'm still plugging away at them like I have been all year. I'm down to the end now and looking forward to being done. Done are:
x24 Pike
x48 Musketeers
x12 Lancers
x2 Field Guns and crew
x1 Saker and crew
x2 Mounted Commanders

I'm naming them Earl of Louden's Regiment as I have the colors for that unit. Remaining to be painted:
x12 Lancers
x1 Saker
x12 Firelock Crew

I've started the Lancers last Sunday while listening to a football game on the radio. I like to do them in lots of 6 and I started with horses, or as was noted in the times - Scottish Nags.

Most of the games I will be playing with these is Warlord's Pike and Shotte. There's no figure removal so I based some double-y on 50mm X 50mm bases for ease of table manipulation. Last night (Wednesday night) I got the main coats of paint down and based them and gave the first coat of gloss. Tonight I matte and maybe flock if time allows. Saturday and Sunday I start and finish the riders. the following week I plan to do the same with the other 6 figures and I'll be done.

Saga Tips V – What You Got

Been awhile, since last year I believe. Last I wrote about was a 12 figure Hearthguard aka “Deathstar” aka “Panzer” et al. I don’t like those nicknames much so I will use a very vanilla “x12 HG” when I refer to it from now on. I still promote it and find that it still covers most of your bases most of the time. Rarely, is it not useful. Not a total game winner either but it’s a good start.

I like to stay away from Saga Board Abilities for the most part. Many reasons why. All of them are different and, honestly, I don’t know the best combos or contingencies. I have some favorites for the factions I play (Viking and Norman being my main ones now). One thing I have discovered is Saga Board abilities do not come up all the time.

Actually, this factor is what gave me an epiphany: What can my units do WITHOUT using the Saga Board? Let’s take a look at that and keep it in the most vanilla of terms.

Warlords have an armor of 5 (6 in shooting), generate 5 attack dice, and generate 3 Saga Dice. They also get some special abilities like Determination (free activation), Resilience (take more hits), We Obey and Side By Side. They activate on any Saga Dice and their exhaustion threshold is 4.

Hearthguards have an armor of 5, generate 2 attack dice per figure (1 per figure for shooting), generate a Saga Die per unit, activate on any Saga Dice, and their exhaustion threshold is 4.

Warriors have an armor of 4, generate an attack die per figure (1 for 2 figures shooting), generate a Saga Die per unit, activate on common and rare Saga Dice. Exhaustion threshold is 3 fatigues.

Levy, blessed Levy, have an armor of 3, generate 1 attack die per 3 figures (1 per 2 figures for shooting), do not generate a Saga die, and are exhausted after 2 fatigues. They activate on uncommon and rare Saga Dice.

All move Medium on foot or Long mounted.

With that unpacked above you can see why a x12 HG unit is effective. Activate on any dice and attack, at full strength, with 24 attack dice, and pretty resilient against exhaustion. This is even before you get into any kind of Saga Board abilities:

…24 attack dice, armor 5
Even if you lose a few in a prior melee or add a banner you still have a punch with them.

x8 Warrior units are still nothing to sneeze at too. Even better if you combine a few for x10 or x12 units. 

Levy? Well… many think they are weak and they kind of are. That said they may be your only ranged unit and that means they have a large area of influence. We all hate losing just 1 Hearthguard to a volley of Levy sling stones. Doing that still costs Saga Dice they don’t generate so my favorite thing to do with Levy is position them as a speed bump and resource-suck for my opponents. The main thing they’ve got going is there are x12 figures so they stick around much longer than their attacks and defense portrays. Deploy them as a screen, and when your opponent runs into them generate the 4 attack dice and burn 2 for a defense dice. Seems minuscule but you’ll be amazed.

Now, I’m not anti-Saga Board. I just look at those for what they really are – the flavor of your War Band. All of them have all kinds of cool abilities and many stack and one of the draws to this game is the “build” of some kind of multi-layered ability combo. Almost all strategy guides I see on the net are based off this train of thought. It’s very important to understand and figure out what your board can do and when. I just don’t like to see other players (including myself) shut down by a bad die roll. Sometimes those dice just don’t come up, even the common ones.

Thing is, even bad die rolls get you activations for your Hearthguard and Warlord. Plus you get a free one with your Warlord (and another unit can go with it) on top of that – no special board abilities needed.

What this boils down to is playing with what you have all the time. Cool board abilities and killer combos are just dessert. Too many times I’ve had plans crumble due to bad Saga Dice rolls and the lack of needed board abilities and I have seen others flounder and not enjoy the game when their dice don’t come up with the needed combos either. When you can play the ability as an added bonus to your already existing plan, that’s when your board will shine. For example:

Viking x12 HG engages an opponent. With banner it generates 22 attack dice. That’s good right there; that will wreck most other units on its own. Good chance this will destroy a lesser unit, almost 100% chance it will win and force a disengagement (there is minutiae there to deal with) unless that opponent unit has some board abilities up… taking opponent resources and making them play your game. Adding any Viking board abilities (my favorites being Frigg and Ullr*) just makes the good chance better.

*Frigg burns a fatigue for an attack die

*Ullr allows missed attack dice to be rerolled

All this said, or typed, I want it understood that I am no pro-level tournament player or anything like that. I’m still in my infancy in Historical Wargaming. I know that wins and skill in gaming are not the focus of this hobby. I do this, figure out a game, to be better at it as that is fun for me. Nothing pushes me from a game faster than not understanding it or really sucking at it and getting frustrated that it’s not “working”.

I hope I was helpful.

In Service-

-Gabe “Fat-Rollo” Martin