W*§ffi
SAGA created by Alex Buchel The Age of the Wolf campaign system by Warwick Kinrade Editing and iigging: Lord S
Prooí Reading: Duncan Macfar|ane
Photography: Wyn Rogers Original SACA Craphics: Fred Machu _ The Age of the wolf layouti wargames lllustrated
[email protected] Figures in photographs by cripping Beast DaVe áodley, ndey Burt, Tim Dagnall, Darren Harding, Figures painted by Artmaster Studio, M"att Bazley, Neil Bitten,
DarrenLinington,ColinPatten,DUncanPatten,WynRogers,MysticSpiralsandChrisStone Shield Transfers by LBMS
CustomTerrainbyWynRogers.AdditionalscenerybyGallia,CrandManner,Renedra&4croUnd Thanks to Andy FoX, Dan and lan at WI
SAGA:TheAgeoftheWolfispublishedby6rippingBeastLtdWithpermissionofStudioTomahawk
SARL. 11 Nouvelle cite, 67]80 Lingolsheim, France, SARL SAGA: Skirmishes in the Dark Ages is o Studio Tomahawk retrieval system ortranSmitted in any No 'Part ofthis Publi(ation may be reproduced, stored in a publisher, form or by any means without prior Written permission oí the First edition, 2o16
o GriPping Beast Ltd.
CONt]Cl,iCS Setting up an Age of the Wolf
campaign
Playing an Age of the Wolf campaign
ls, ,lÁ,
............... New scenarios ..........
The battles
.........
Page
5
""" Page t4 """, Page t8 """ Page z5
'Wake early if you want another man's lífe or land. There ís no lamb for the lazy wo/f, No battles are won in bed.' - the Havamal
;\ }j&,-,
Welcome to Age of the Wolf, a multi-player campaign system for use with the SACA Dark Age Skirmishes rules. This campaign is 'abstract', in the sense that it does not involve map movement, issuing orders, recordíng supply levels and other such details of an actual military campaign. lt is a svstem devised to allow players to create a narrative between linked games of SAGA, that will tell the story of the rise (and/or fall) of their warlord and the warband he leads. The aim of the campaign is to become the most powerful Warlord in the 'region'(not being any particular place or time) and thus, upon completion of the campaign, to be declared the new King. lt is a title that can only be won at the edge of a sword, At the heart of the campaign system is the SAGA game itself. This is not a campaign that can be won by clever strategies or manoeuvres with never a tabletop wargame being played. The point oí Age of the Wolf is to encourage games, and it rewards players that play more games over those that try and avoid battle. Staying at home, tending the sheep flocks will not win players any great wealth or renown and whílst your Warlord and his men might be safe(ish) and live to a ripe old age, no real king, warlord or hero of the Viking Age ever died peacefully in his bed. This campaign has been written to continue that tradition. This was an age when brave deeds, especiaIly those in battle, won fame, glory and riches. For a tabletop wargames campaign system this is perfect, because we want to play games with our miniatures and those that do so can expect to prosper (or die in the attempt), as the sagas
t"
&'
ffi*-pw
-
Pq(_d
i}i
.]
*a- {í,
*-, ,*
i€*"*,1
€:ai§
*,++-: a
..iá
tell us, This campaign can be played using any SAGA Dark Age force that is currently available in the rulebook or any of the three supplements: Northern Fury, The Raven's Shadow or Varjazi and Basileus. lf players aIready have at least a four point SACA force then they are ready to play. New players will need to choose a force, coIlect the miniatures and paint them. Although the campaign starts with a smalI four point SACA warband, this wilI grow as it progresses and its Warlord (that's you) gains extra land, wealth and reputation with which to build up his forces.
.,Ii é|;
Within you will find sections on how to set-up and organise the campaign, how to run the campaign turn, a pre-battle setup sequence and a post-battle sequence, which prepares your warband for its next encounter. The campaign can be played with a minimum of two players (it will work just fine, although all the battles will be between iust two sides) and has no maximum number of players - in theory. Large campaigns can be played between club members, but once you start to reach ten or more players, it is likely the campaign turns will slow down as players try to fit in all their games. An ideal-sized, interesting and diverse campaign would include from four to six players in total. So, that said, now it is time to sharpen your sword blade, don
your helm, heft your shield and go forth into the Age of the Wolf. May your Cods favour you and bring you victory!
.
,E@§=ffi*w"'*t
9.]i,;*§
!5@fi{§4t
i&#§
\W
]Ht\Y
]P,
]LA\)Y A\ CA\M[ ]PA\
]t
GN?
'A tale is but half told when only one mdn tells it.' - the Saga of Grettir the Strong Campaigns have a lot to offer over stand alone wargames, Whilst stand alone games are easy to organise, require only two people (generally) and can be an excellent evening's entertainment, a campaign creates an enjoyable on-going story and enhances the hobby by informing each player's decisions on new models to collect. lt helps provide a driving force behind painting new models (to get them ready for the next vital battle) and helps create memorable moments and talking points that will be the future memories of past games, ln a campaign, suddenly a win or loss can mean something beyond the moment, it has an effect which will be felt in future games. Throughout the course of a campaign, players will be§in to identify more strongly with their forces, The little
models get names and begin to develop their own little bit of gamíng history, This adds to the entertainment and the drama when the models are on the tabletop. No longer is that warlord iust any old Viking model, but he is now Jarl lngvar Redaxe, victor at the Battle of Guthrum's Ford, wounded taking the gates at Haethburh, hammer oí the lrish, a storied and feared warrior - and your opponents will know that too, Campaigns are also an excellent method íor bringing club players and wargaming groups together in a common cause,
D6
1-3
Anglo-Dane, Saxon, Era of Princes Rus
ffi
4-5
6
Viking, Jomsviking, Pagan Rus, Norse-Gael
tL flE *F
ffi
-il*
Suddenly they have something in common, they are collecting forces for the same games system, discussing the ins and outs of the rules or the related history, comparing painting techniques, etc. This sense of a common purpose is enjoyable in itself, but when added to the drama of a battle which has consequences, seeing your side win (or lose), then the whole wargaming hobby experience is enhanced, For many, including the author, playing in a good campaign is tabletop wargaming at its peak.
DlcE RoLLlNG coNVENT|oNs Throughout this book, various dice are referred to, A standard six-sidéd die is referred to as a D6. Occasionally a three-sided die is needed. This is a standard D6 roll, with the result halved and any factions rounded up. So, 1-2 = 1, 2-3 = z, 5-6 = 3, The campaign also uses SAGA dice. These are the dice used when playing the SAGA game, with each faction having its own set of symbols, Throughout this book, where SAGA dice are rolled, for consistency we have used the Anglo-Dane/Saxon
symbols:ffi
Any SAGA dice could be rolled in its place, to give the equivalent result, see the table below. The gods will obviously favour those that use their own faction's dice,
sAGA DlcE EqU|VALENcE TABLE Norman, Breton, Frank
rc rc ffi
Welsh, Strathclyde Welsh
tt
*
il*
Scots, lrish
#
ffi
hg.
q
Che (UoS Ca-paigrn "Better to fight and fall than to live wíthout hope" - from the Volsunga Saga
lf
]HI]E GA\I\\4[
]t
NG
G]KOIUI]P,
ln order to play the campaign, you will need a gaming group to play it with and these players need to commit to collecting, painting and playing with SAGA forces. Hopefully, many will already own them. Those that don't will have to do some initial work to get ready.
An Age of the Wolf campaign can include as many ptayers as you like, with a minimum of two and an ideat of four to six. More can be accommodated! Players can also join in mid-way through the campaign. Likewise, some players might wish to drop out (surely notl) and perhaps rejoin later. This is fine, the campaign system can easily cope With these eventuaIities and can continue with the other players largely unaffected.
WHAT YOU WILL NEED i, Each player wi|l need a four point SAGA warband choice. This is the minimum sized warband to start
of his with, but warbands will grow (and sometimes shrink) through the course of the campaign. lt is probably best if the players actually have slightly larger warbands than four points in their collection, to allow for expansion and some flexibility. Of course, players can let the campaign's story guide their extra units and painting, collecting new units as their Warlord recruits them. The maximum size for any warband in the campaign is twelve points. ii. ln addition to the models and the SAGA Dark Age Skirmishes rules, each p|ayer will need a copy of the faction rules and
Battle Board for his chosen faction. ldeally, each player will have a copy of this book. Although one copy per group is enough to run the campaign, players are going to need it during and after each game, so a few copies to share around wil| be helpful. The campaign rulebook does contain a
reference guide at the back, and for those that are confident of the campaign turn rules, this should be enough to keep
going with their campaign games.
well as their rules and Battle Boards, the players wilI need the SAGA dice for their faction, a vital part of the game. They'll aíso need measuring sticks and standard six-sided dice, the usual stuff needed for playing SAGA games, iii. As
iv. Along with the models, rule books and dice etc, the gaming group will need some mode| terrain. Each game is going to require itl lf the games are all being played at a single venue, Iike a gaming cIub, then obviously a |arger central reservoir of model terrain to draw upon makes life easy for everybody. Otherwise, the players will need to provide their own (ít is encouraged that they lend terrain around where possible).
v. Each player will also require a Campaign Roster. The roster is vital, as it tracks your Warlord and warband's progress through the campaign and includes all the important detai|s of
your warband, like unit strengths etc. Each player should have one roster, keep it safe and bríng it to every battle. The roster is included in this book and copies of the roster can be made
for personal use. l,:]t
i]:L]]:
i]í],,\l jllra,:.l l;i.: r,el:iL_lit
il
;:,,.,:rjll_:]*
,;i;
j-ili.]
íli]l;tr'l: ii.;::t
..',,e
lili.t:,
]Flutlf IUI]R]E\WA\]R]B]A\N]D]D]EV]ElLo]P,N\4t]ENlt, Once a campaign is underlrlay, each player's warband will develop, gaining extra units, or extra men for those units it already has, as well as losíng men, slain in battles along the way. The warband may even lose its Warlord. This does not mean the warband is defunct, and the campaign allows players to continue as long as they wish.
§ti6ii *F
naúé.io prtviae ihe ;id;t'úies ia. úÉii. warband;. ln all cases it is assumed that the players will recycle, miniatures wherever possible, so if a unit loses 5 men, then gains 4 as new recruits, the same miniatures will be re-used. The same goes for the Warlord. lf he should be killed, then his brother, son, nephew or uncle takes over and continues the campaign, Players are free to replace the Warlord's miniature if they like, but it is not required, the same miniature can return (the family likeness is uncannyl). There will be times when a player's warband expands beyond his miniatures collection. Here he will either have to borrow miniatures from other players or add to his collection with new miniatures. Over the course of the campaign it is likely that the players will have to collect and paint new miniatures, but part of playing in the campaign is giving players the drive to finish units and add new units to old warbands. When the campaign is over, a|l the players will have excellent collections which they can then re-use (in re-runs of the campaign or stand alone games) to their hearts content. Players should take it as read that by agreeing to ioin a campaign, they are also agreeing to develop their SAGA warband as the campaign requires.
STEP ONE - A GATHERING OF WARLORDS The first part of playing an Age of the Wolf campaign is to gather the players. Once the p|ayers at your club or within
your circle of gaming opponents have agreed to play (see What You'll Need) then you have taken the first step.
STEP TWO
- EAST OR WEST
:wjll need
to
i.theiámpaign(
worth making a backup too) and they will need to bring ít along to each battle. a campaign so much as a lost roster, so it's
t. Warband Type: write in here what type of warband this is, such as Viking, Anglo-Dane, Norman, etc, z. Warlord Name: Your Warlord needs a name, of suitable style. Nameless men do not rise to become kings and emperors. So, give it a little thought and write your leader's name in here, be it lngvar Redaxe, Comte Rufus of Valeux, Athelstan the Bold or Prince Horlics of Novgorod. This man represents you throughout the campaign, he is your alterego (in miniature) so it's worth getting this right, you get the
picturel 3. Motivation: Write your Warlord's overall motivation here, See Motivation later for full details. 4. Traits: Write the Warlord's two starting Special Traits here. lf he gains any extra Special Traits during the campaign add them here too. See Special Traits later for full details.
Special Rules: These are any Special Rules the Warlord has. Remember all Warlords start with the Resilience, Determination, We Obey, Side by Side and Warlord's Pride Special Rules as described in the SAGA rulebook. Add them here along with a single randomly rolled new Special Rule. 5.
6. Land: Keep a score of the Warlord's Land here. AIl Warlords start the campaign with two Land. Land can never drop to less than one. lf it would, it remains at one.
Next, the players should decide whether the campaign will be set in the East or the west, This will dictate which warbands are available to the players, it has little further affect upon the rules, but hopefully will give the campaign a more historical feel. This should be dictated by the models the players have available and their terraín collections.
7. Wealth: Keep a score of the Warlord's Wealth here. All Warlords start the campaign with two Wealth. Wealth can never drop to less than one. lf it would, it remains at one.
STEPTHREE - CHOOSE WARBANDS
remains at one.
Each player should now choose whiéh faction their warband will belong to. Choices are restricted as fotlows: lf this will be a Western campaign, the players can choose from the following factions; Viking, Anglo-Dane, Norman, Welsh, Saxon, Breton, Jomsviking, Scots, Franks, lrish, NorseGael, Strathclyde Welsh. lf this will be an Eastern campaign, the players can choose
from the following factions: Viking, Norman, Jomsviking, Franks, Pagan Rus, Era of Princes Rus, Byzantine. Players are free to choose any warband faction they prefer, Multiple warbands oíthe same type can be used. These will obviously be local rivals. A campaign could be played with all the same type of warband, as a Viking or Norman (or anyone else) civil war.
Once players have chosen their warband factions, then they will be using them for the entire campaign. Players cannot switch factions during a campaign, although they may drop out of the campaign and return with a new starting warband of a different faction (not the same faction).
STEP FOUR - WARBAND ROSTER The warband roster is the heart of the Age of the Wolf campaign system. lt is here that all the information about
8. Reputation: Keep a score of the Warlord's Reputation here. All Warlords start the campaign with two Reputation. Reputation can never drop to less than one. lf it would, it 9. Power: This is the combined score of Land, Wealth, Reputation and the number of legal units the Warlord commands, as listed on the roster. So, to start with, a Warlord will have two Land, two Wealth, two Reputation and four units, so his Power is ten, See Power for full details later.
ío. Campaign Vi€tory Points: The ultimate arbiter of who wins the campaign. Campaign Victory Points are earned throughout the campaign, by winning battles, etc, At the end of the campaign, the Warlord with the most Campaign Victory points ís the winner. 1í. unit Rosters: write down here which units the warlord has in his warband, listing their unit type (Levy, Warrior or Hearthguard), size (number of men), number of attacks each, their armour versus melee attacks and missile attacks, and any special rules or special weapons the unit has, such as bows, or iavelins, or Dane axes. There are twelve spaces for units listed, no warband can grow to be larger than twelve units in total. A warband's minimum size is one unit.
Campaign Actions: Record here what action your warband will take in each campaign season, and against whom. See later for full details of Campaign Actions. 12.
ü-"=h sslf
]B }P'
ON
]E
óé,,,cffiififi
: \WA\]R]B]A\N lD ]DY]P
]E
As chosen by the pIayer, Viking, Welsh, Franks, Pagan Russ, etc.
sslf
]E
]P
lt- \WtO
: \WA\ ]R]LO]R]D'sS NA\IVI ]E
As chosen by the player. ss]f
]E
]P lf
]Ht ]R|]E ]E
:
N\4t
Oll
]t
VA\lf
]t
ON
ln Age of the Wolf, each Warlord has his own character, which is defined by his Motivation, his Traits and his Special Rules.
Motivation is what the Warlord desires most, be it Land, Wealth or Reputation. All Warlords will need to accrue some of each, but every Warlord has his own driving passion. lf the Warlord can gain more of his chosen prize than the other two, then he wilI gain bonus Campaign Victory Points as the campaign progresses. The player must choose one of the following motivations. lf he can't choose, then numbers are included so he mav roll a dice for it.
,,,É66ffi
what drives this greedy Warlord. Wealth is power, it buys Lands, buys armed men to fight for you and, if needs must, it pays off your enemies.
lf, during the post-battle sequence, the Warlord's Wealth score is greater than both his Land and Reputation scores, he gains a bonus Campaign Victory Point.
5-6 Skalds'song: EVen a great man may die, but his name may live on in the poems and stories of the Skalds, A feted name is what this Warlord desires, to be remembered as a great man, not for the Lands or Wealth he garnered, but for his epic deeds. lf, during the post-battle sequence, the Warlord's Reputation score is greater than boih his Wealth and Land scores, he gains a bonus Campaign Victory Point.
sslf 1E]P' ]FtOlUí]R!: lf ]R!A\]IlfsS
t-z King's Domain: The Warlord desires Land. All wealth flows from the ownership oí fertile lands, and surely no king can rule without the tribute and taxes which come írom great tracts of the best land}
Traits are the Warlord's unique characteristics, small special rules that affect either the campaign system or the tabletop game in some way. A Warlord might start the game with a treasure hoard and have extra Wealth, or be a talented swordsman, or have superior ability to command, or be an adventurous sailor, or believe he has been especiaIly fated by the 6ods (or 6od) for greatness, etc.
lf, during the post-battle sequence, the Warlord's Land score greater than both his Wealth and Reputation scores, he gains a bonus Campaign Victory Point.
Each Warlord starts the campaign with two Traits; roll them up randomly, A Warlord may gain new traits as the campaign advances, but he can never lose a Trait once he has it.
3-4 Dragon's Hoard: The Warlord desires Wealth. Cold, silver, jeweIs, plunder, slaves and treasure in all its forms are
A
is
warlord cannot have the same Trait twice. lf the random roll gives the same result, re-roll until you get a difierent Trait.
i
":.,. .::i
it.'
?i ..{
'_f
íi! ]},
.:\
:,:'
,
,:] ,t,
.*§&*
f
,]Wailordli',fiféfiöTEffi
-,ü
áíd:_úó diplom;t aith.e{
always suspicious of his rivals and tákes offense íáitoÓ easíly. The Warlord may never enter into any Alliances during the
campaign, even with a Warlord with the Noble Mien trait or with an oathsworn warlord.
1_3
4-5
6
Blood Feud
Landwaster
Fearsome
2
oathsworn
Far Traveller
Mighty
3
War-Toothed
Learn'd
Devout
4
Quarrelsome
God's Eve
Tro1l-hide
5
Golden Hoard
Noble Mien
Resolute
6
War Craftv
Hard Ruler
Choose
point oí Reputation rather than Wealth or Land,
A quarrelsome Warlord gains two Wealth from his opponent (if he has it) when ransoming back a captured Warlord, such is the hard bargain he drives.
Golden Hoard
This Warlord has already amassed a íabled treasure hoard of silver, gold, jewels and exotic treasures. The Warlord starts the game with +3 to his Wealth score.
Blood Feud
There is a long standing enmity from this Warlord towards another, for some past slight or injustice, perhaps between their fathers. The Warlord must pick one of his opponents in the campaign as the subiect of the feud. This can be any other
warlord involved. lf the War|ord personally kills this opponent in single combat, then he gains +3 Reputation for the deed and gains +t Campaign Victory Point. If any of his units kill the named Warlord, then he gains +t Reputation instead. A Warlord can win this bonus multiple times in the course of the campaign as the feud includes his enemy's close kin as well. The Warlord may never form an Alliance with the subject
The Warlord may never opt to pay Danegeld to avoid fighting a battle; he will always fight, lf he fails to play a game (and therefore has to pay Danegeld instead) he always loses one
of
the Blood Feud. lf a Warlord with a Blood Feud is killed, then his replacement will automatically get the same Blood Feud, as the feud is not yet finished. This is in addition to gaining a Blood Feud against the Warlord that killed your previous leader.
oathsworn
The wartord is oathsworn to one of the other warlords in the
campaign; they were raised together as foster brothers and know each other well.
The Warlord may never choose to camPaign against his oathsworn Warlord and in return that Warlord may never choose to Campaign against him. They may still Raid each other though (and no doubt deny it later).
lf one or the other oathsworn Warlords requests an Alliance, the.fequest cannot be refused, unless one of the Warlords has the Quarrelsome trait.
War-Toothed
This Warlord is already a storied veteran of many campaigns and wars, and is always aggressive and warlike in his actions, The Warlord always counts as the aggressor in any battles he fights, so can always set the game size, The Warlord may never choose to Deíend in two consecutive campaign turns. tf he does Defend for one turn then he must either Raid or Campaign in the next campaign turn. lf the Warlord is severety wounded in battle he does not have
to Defend in the next Campaigning Season, he may continue
as normal if he wishes. Mere wounds don't stop this Warlord.
War Crafty
This Warlord is a cunning tactician when deíending his own lands, often luring his enemies into prepared traps and ambushes.
When the Warlord chooses to Defend as his campaign action, he may always elect to play an Ambush scenario against an opponent instead of the usual scenario required. His warband is automaticatly the Ambusher in this scenario and the Warlord counts a5 the aggressor, so can set the game size. This Warlord also gains +1 to his dice roll when rolling to see which side wil! take the first turn in a scenario (when applicable).
Landwaster
This Warlord already possesses a feted War Banner, known and feared by his foes. The Warlord starts the campaign with +t Reputation.
A single unit on the Warlord's roster gains a War Banner, even though the Warlord doesn't have enough Reputation to earn one yet.
Far Traveller
This Warlord often travels far in search of fresh plunder and new, exotic lands. lnstead of rolling for Fate in the post-battle sequence, the Warlord may choose to Explore instead and roll on the Exploration table below, lf he so chooses, roll a 546A dice.
fi"ii6;á,JpétiÉ
réiillf insteae
Levy as new 'vo|unteer' The Warlord also gains an extra four season,.which he can campaign each of stai rec-ruits at the
FarWandering
.aJ io .n1l Levy unit on his roster, Alternatively, prefers, i"uy ,.y'ra.* a new unit if the Warlord
but no new lands are
found. The Warlord
gains one Reputation íor his journey.
Fearsome TheWarlordisknowntoshownomercyandleadsavicious and bloodthirsty band of tough warriors,
Heroic Journey,
two additional points The Warlord starts the campaign with (i.e. four!) Reputation
to distant lands. The Warlord gains one Wealth and one Reputation for his |ourney.
Epic Journey to
these new
of
in battle, roll twice on the lf an enemy Warlord becomes a casualty
result you prefer, WlnorO Casualty Table and apply whichever
neq
Mi§hty ir,iíwárrora', personal prowess
fruitful and strange lands where strange 6ods walk, The Warlord gains one Land, one Wealth and one Reputation for
H.L
in battle is well-known,
enemy on the t.rr, strong and quick, a very dangerous
battlefield. Attack, so six attacks ln battle, the Warlord has an additional be chosen as may Warlord This inrt".a Óf th" usual five, and God help his Champion in the Hazel Wands scenario, opponent!
a
Learn'd
literate), this Wir., .É""r, thoughtful (and maybe even
Devout
few mistakes, He Warlord always plans carefully and makes details, bureaucratic runs his domains with great aitention to but is no great warrior himself, scenario is to be The Warlord may always pick which
played
ih" wurrora it,.l"
_
be one of the scenarlos rather than roll iandomly, lt still must event, listed in the campaign are collected, men are His lands are well organised, taxes start of each trained and defences maintained, At the of the following: one choose the Warlord may
.;;p;;"
iurn
i.6ain one Wealth, or
unit on his roster, or ii. Recruit four Levy to add to any Levy unit on his roster, Warrior any to add to Warriors iii. Recruit two Attacks rather than the ln battle, the Warlord only has three special rule, nu.. He does not have the Warlord's Pride
uru.r
God's Eye
ii*".uurc
of his of Fate íavour this Warlord and the eyes
Gods (or God) are on him,
on the Fate table and chose The Warlord may always roll twice other is result is ignored, The *tlcr, ot tr,e twó results to use,
Noble Mien
rr,iiWurrorO is born of high blood and
a
well-respected,
natural leader of men, The
with an additional point The Warlord starts the campaign (i,e. three), Reputation
of
lfthisWarlordrequestsanAlliancewithanotherplayer,they is cannot refuse, unless the requested ally Quarrelsome,
Hard Ruler
fist and drives his rhis warlord rutes his lands with an iron to render him more harder, peasants and slaves to work ever His people live in warband, his in [Áut" and taxes, or fight fear of him.
1or.
to
personal advisor, Gods'l) advice through his close
onto the field of battle by The Warlord is always accompanied Seer (whichever is more or Sorcerer his own Priest, Shaman, to accompany appropriate). You'll need a suitable miniature always ,l[r. W.rrorO, and he always moves with the Warlord, so is mounted, is warlord lf the i;;.;;;fuihin vs of him,
the Priest.
any units within M of Once per game, at the start of a turn, this includes the Fatigue; of point t remove the Priest may warlord himself. result of Flood and The Warlord may always re-roll a Fate used, be Famine, The second result must is only removed The'priest'miniature cannot be attacked and removed, is warlord from the table when the
Troll,hide
by past battles and a This Warlord is big, tough, ugly, scarred very fearsome sight, instead of the usual lt takes two wounds to kill the warlord rule as normal, special Resilience the using one, this includes by one to,,!.!§e, lncrease the Warlord's starting Reputation
ResoIute
M range Warlord'We Obey'special rule works up to
instead of s.
aoJ'r
listens is close to his God (or Gods) and always
and refuses to This Warlord will never give in, never surrender samein his the ufr.no*luOg" when he i! beaten, and instills stonewall, men. righti-ng him is like fighting a is forced to lf any friendly unit within M of the Warlord a 1-2 the unit dice,_On a roll withdraw (after a melee) then to withdraw refuses unit the a Oá 3* *itr,O..*, u, normal, instead, withdraw must opponent and the
Choose ihe Warlord he wishes.
above Traits may freely choose any one of the
*,,
1l,
Wp,l
,€ sslf
]E
]P
]F
]I
V
]E
l
sS
]P ]E tC
lt
A\
]L
]RtlU ]L]E
Bravery
sS
All WarIords start with the following special rules, as detailed in the main SAGA rules: Resistance, Determination, We Obey, Side by Side, Warlord's Pride. ln addition to these five special rules, each new Warlord also gains one extra specíal rule, rolled for randomly on the Special Rules Table.
sPEclAL RULEs TABLE
The first Fatigue point that the Warlord should take each turn is ignored.
The Great As long as the Warlord is on the table, his warband can generate up to seven SAGA dice each turn instead of the usual limit of six. The Iimit of a maximum of eighi dice per turn remains as normal.
The Bastard lf the Warlord uses his We Obey special ruIe, he may activate S, but if he activates two units, neither of them will be able to engage in melee with this activation. Also, any unit activated by his We Obey rule may use this activation
two units within
to Shoot or Move (remember that usually you may only Move with the activation generated by the We Obey rule).
skilled warrior
1-3
4-5
6
l
son of odin
Hero of the Viking Age
Raider
2
Braverv
Hero of the Vikrng Age
Scout
J
The Great
Hero of the Viking Age
The Conqueror
4
The Bastard
Hero of the \riking Age
Great Ruler
5
skilled warrior
Hero of the Vikine Age
6
The Pennv
Hero of the Viking Age
Steel
Cannot Bite Inspiring Presence
The Warlord may, during the SAGA-abilities step of each melee, spend any SAGA die currently on his Battle Board in the Activations boxes (Levy, Warrior or Hearthguard) to gain one extra Attack die and one extra Defence die. He may do this as many times as he wants in a single melee though he remains limited to the usual Attack and Defence dice limits.
The Penny The Warlord is likely to have paid some of his enemy's retainers. During the first turn of the game, his opponent only rolls a third (round up) the number of 546,4 dice he is entitled to roll normally. In the second turn he only rolls half (rounded up) the number of SACA dice he is entitled to roll normally. Starting with the third turn, his opponent may roll his normal number of SAGA dice.
Hero of the Viking Age
The Warlord generates three
5464 dice each turn instead of
the usual two,
i;.
fé
:i]i
son of odin As a formidable warrior, the Warlord cancels the first two hits against him suffered in each melee or against each Shooting action (and not iust the first one as wíth other Warlords).
Raider The Warlord is infamous for his swift attacks. As long as the
Warlord is alive, all units in the warband can be activated with any SAGA dice, regardless of their class.
,,T?ié
they were Warriors.
The Conqueror During step 3) of any melee, any friendly units within M of the Warlord gain two extra attack dice if the Warlord himself is not engaged in melee,
Great Ruler As long as the Warlord is on the tabletop, he always rolls six SACA dice at the start of his turn, even if the number of SAGA díce actually generated by his warband is less.
UslNG HERoEs oF THE ylKlNG AGE lN THE AGEOFTHEWOLF Whilst we are busy creating our own heroes for the campaign, there are of course those historical figures that are already included in SAGA games, and it seems wrong to bar them from taking part. Heroes of the Viking Age may be chosen to lead the appropriate warband, used as described in the SAGA rulebook and supplements. They are all listed below with their own Motivation and Traits for use in the campaign. A p|ayer that chooses to start the campaign using a Hero of the Viking Age begins the campaign with a three point SACA force instead of a four point SAGA force. lf taken, the Heroes automatically start with the
following
noi'ba-éfif;:ffii
War[ord standard special rules except Resilience.':Ati of each of the Warlord's turns, all units in his warband (not including mercenaries) remove a Fatigue.
steel cannot Bite The Warlord has an armour of six, in melee and against shooting attacks. His armour may never be reduced to below five by any means (either by SAGA abilities, game effects or
anything else).
MORVAN LEZ BRE|ZH Motivation: King's Domains Traits: War Crafty, Resolute ALA|N BARBETORTE Motivation:5kald's
Song
Traits: Resolute, God's Eye
slGVALDl STRUT_HARALDSSoN
Motivation: Dragon's Hoard Traits: Far Traveller, Golden Hoard
VAGN AKESSON Motivation: Dragon's Hoard Traits: FarTraveller, God's Eye KENNETH MAC ALPIN Motivation: Skald's
Song
Traits: War Crafty, Hard Ruler
MAcBETH
Motivation: King's Domains Traits: Quarrelsome, Fearsome
Motivations and Traits, these cannot be changed. The Heroes do not get a random bonus special rule (they have their own already).
CHARLEMAGNE
HARALD HARDRADA Motívation: King's Domains Traits: Hard Ruler, Landwaster
Motivation: Skald's
RAGNAR LOTHBROK
Motivation: King's Domains Traits: Noble Mien, War Crafty
Motivation: Skald's
Song
Traits: Cod's Eye, Noble Mien
HARALD GODW|NSSON
Motivation: King's Domains Traitsl Resolute, Golden Hoard
CNUT THE GREAT
Motivation: King's Domains Traits: War-Toothed, Learn'd
W|LL|AM THE BASTARD
Motivation: King's Domains Traits: Quarrelsome, Hard Ruler
lvo TAlLLEFER Motivation: Skald's
Song
Traits: Mighty, Noble Mien
Motivation: King's Domains Traits: Learn'd, Noble Mien ROLAND THE BRAVE
ULF THE qUARRELSOME Motivation: Dragon's Hoard Traits; Quarrelsome, Blood Feud (choose one other Warlord)
BRODIR OF MAN Motivation: Dragon's Hoard Traits: Mighty, Troll hide
slGURD HLoDVlssoN Motivation: Skald's
ARTGAL
Song
Traits: Landwaster, God's Eye
Song
Traits: Resolute, War Criiftv,
Motivation: Dragon's Hoard Traits:War-Toothed, Quarrelsome
oWEN
GRUFFYD AP LLYWELLYN
sVlATosLAV loF KIEV
Motivation: Skald's
Song
Traits: War Crafty, Resolute
ATHELSTAN
Song
:,i,:,;;;
l
Motivation: King's Domains Traits: War-toothed, God's Eye Motivation: Skald's
Song
Traits: Noble Mien, Far Traveller
THE BA5lLEUs
AELFRED THE GREAT Motivation: Skald's
Traitsl Mighty, Resolute
BRAIN BoRU MAc CENNETIG
Motivation: Skald's
MAREDUDD AP OWAIN
Song
Traits: Learn'd, Devout
Motivation: King's Domains Traits: Noble Mien, Golden Hoard
Motivation: King's Domains Traits: Landwaster, Learn'd
HARALD HARDRADA (CAPTAIN oF THE VARANGIAN GUARD)
Motivation: Dragon's Hoard Traits: FarTravel|er, Hard Ruler
á
wExrrrm
A\}dD,
]K]E
lP,
{-nTAvr
]t
OD{
two Land, two Wealth and two Reputation unless the Warlord's Traits modify this. Write the appropriate number in the boxes on the Roster. Each Warlord starts with
EXAMPLE OF CREAT|NG A WARBAND, PART t Pete, Tom, Garry and Steve have decided they are going to play an Age of the Wolf campaign and that it will be set in the West. Pete chooses to play Vikings, Tom will be the lrish, Garry will be Normans whilst Steve will be welsh. Let's follow pete as he creates his warband, Pete fills in the roster with his Warband Type: Vikings and Warlord's Name: lngvar Redaxe. He chooses the motivation of Skald's Song, looking to make a big Reputation with hís Viking leader. Next, he rolls for lngvar's traits. He gets War Crafty and Hard Ruler, a tough man on his own turf. Then, he notes down the standard special rules and rolls for his extra one. He gets Raider. Next, Pete fills in the Land, Wealth and Reputation boxes, each with 2. Part 1 complete, he'll move on to recruiting the units of his warband.
sST]E]P sS ]EV]EN :
§S
]E
lL]E
Clt- lUtN lf ]t
ss
Each Warlord now selects his starting warband, spending four points on his SAGA warband as detailed in the main SAGA rulebook and supplements. The usuaI restrictions apply, as do any special rules about alternative equipment or mounted
units, etc.
i; #
or suppléments, then he can,oril.$ írom the 3A6A warband instead of the usuaí four, lris spend three points on Any unit special rutes that the Hero has, such as upgrading units or alternative weapons, can be used. At the start of the campaign, because of the restrictions of Land, Wealth and Reputation (see Managing the Roster later for íull details), most warbands start with no more than two units of each type; Levy, Warriors or Hearthguard. A Warlord's Traits may alter this.
write down the details of each unit on the roster. §STIE]P]E]trG]Htlf
:sSTA\]K]t]tNG]PO\W]E]R
To calculate a Warlord's Power add together the Land, Wealth and Reputation totals and then add on the number of legal units in his warband. So, for most, a Warlord starts the campaign with a Power of ten. This can be modified by some Traits, and Heroes of the Viking Age will start with nine Power (because they only have three units).
WARLORDS AND ATHELlNGS To start with, the campaign assumes each Warlord is a young, ambitious, up and coming leader, as yet not worthy
of any title or throne, but a prospect , . . perhaps. once a Warlord has reached a total of fifteen Power, he has become a genuine contender, a man with a worthy claim to the throne, an Atheling - somebody to take very seriously,
once a warlord has amassed fifteen power there are two advantages. First, he starts to gain bonus Campaign Victory Points, see 'to the Victor the Spoils' in the postbattle sequence, representin8 that he is now a prospect for u|timate power and will have other patrons and
backers behind him. Second, only AtheIings have any chance of ultimate victory. A player that has won lots of battles and gained extra Campaign Victory Points might be a worthy opponent on the battlefield, but he just isn't the stufi of kings, so can't win the ultimate prize without Land, Wealth and Reputation behind him,
for new players to join a ián All Warlords start with zero Campaign Victory Poínts. The roster is now complete, each Warlord has his forces and the campaign is ready to begin. Let the battles commencel
EXAMPLE OF CREAT|NG A WARBAND, PART z pete has finalised his warlord and now starts on his warband's units. He can have four units for lngvar Redaxe to lead, but no more than two of any one type. He opts for two units of eight Warriors each, a unit of four Hirdmen and a unit oí four Berserkers, and notes down their profiles on the roster. His longship filled, lngvar starts the campaign with ten Power and zero Campaign Victory Points. lngvar is now ready to begin his quest for glory in the name of Odin.
is already up and running. First they must create their Warlord
and starting four point warband using the campaign set up rules. Their warband will then join the fray at the start of the next campaigning season,
For each campaign season the new Warlord has missed, roll once on the Fate tab|e in the post-battle sequence and apply the result to the warband. This way new players won't be starting completely from scratch and their warbands will have had a few additions before starting. This should give them a better chance of a competing, although it is unlikely that a player that comes late to the campaign can triumph over those that have being playing from the start, but that should not stop players joining in for the fun, and it is an excellent way of learning how to play before the next campaign starts.
ai|4
:
-'
]
:.,:.{:-_:i.i]
;i],:ffi€
F&4€
a
:
I
The
(J..)oS carnpaűgrn
away f rom 'The foolísh man thínks he will tive forever if he keeps speí:i";, t h e if even u ce, gr ant hím a tr fi ghtiig; b ut ol d age w on' t
í,
'
_, '+,],*"
.,3g.,o,
1
i ,*r
:
.
::,,i,:ii ..,{,fl
i|]
Once all the players have completed their roster sheets, then the campaign is ready to begin in earnest,
T
]Ht
lE C
A\ \M lPA\
]t
rG
N
ss
]EA\SION
An Age of the Wolf Campaign is p|ayed over six campaign ,".ronr (an abstract measure, so the course of a campaign might equate to anything from one or two years to possibly a decade). Over the course of those six campaign seasons, ptayers will fight a variable number of 5A6A battles, Players might fight nó b"ttl", in some campaign seasons or three or
four in another. All the players should run through a campaign season, finish it, and then move on to the next season, lt is advisable to set players have a time limit on a season, being the time in which is up to the is, this long played. How games to get their 546A plajrers, based on how often the players meet to play, etc, L.rg", ...p"igns with more players will need longer than a one--player-against-another-player campaign, but a risk to any campaifin's p"rogress is not getting the games played, Should this Le i p.oUl"Í,, then seeihe Danegeld section for an
immediate solution.
For each campaign season work through the following steps,
SST]E ]P,
,-;,
roN ]E|
CA\I\\4[]PA\][
GN
A\CT ]ttoNss
At the start of each campaigning season, each player must pick a single Action from Raid, Campaign or Defend,
Raid
The player's warband will go raiding, seeking easy plunder and ioot, When a player chooses to Raid he must also choose a target for his raids - one of the other Warlords in the
campaign. the campaign season area of the roster he should write down Raid aná the enemy Warlord's name or faction he íntends to attack. e.g. Raid - Saxons. tn
Winning Raid battles gains a player extra Wealth, See the Spoils of Victory later for full details.
Campaign
a fult scale attack, an invasion oí an enemy Wartord's lands, seeking to capture new territory, When a ptayer chooses to Campaign, he must also choose a target for lris aggr,ession - one of the other Warlords in the
the Wariord will taunch
campaign. ln the campaign season area of the roster he should write down Campaign and the enemy Warlord's name or faction he
intends to attack, e.g. Campaign
-
Welsh,
Spoils of Victory lat€r
:at
Defend The Warlord wil| stay at home, guarding his own lands, building his forces and preparing his defences for the
inevitable attacks. When a player chooses to Defend, he does not have to píck a target. ln the campaign season area of the roster he shoutd write down Defend.
Winning Defensive battles gains a player extra Reputation. See the Spoils of Victory later for full details.
sslf ]E]P''']f
\WrOlCA\MI]PA\][GN]EV]ENlt'sS
After all the players have chosen their action and target, reveal and compare them to establish the campaign events this season. The campaign events are what is actually going to happen in the way of battles to fight and any other events.
the start of the:campaign sé*ióii#or*l'thli
The Warlord may also recruit once at the start of the campaign season, before any battle are fought. He may add eight Levy, four Warriors or two Hearthguard to one of his units, orthese may be recruited as an entirely new unit on the
roster. This recruitment may not take a unit over its maximum size of twelve men. lf it would, the unit size becomes twelve and any extra men are lost. The Warlord may attempt to form an Alliance with another Warlord for the next campaign season, see Allíances for full details.
B. Raid Scenario your Raiders have attacked the borders of the Defender's lands, seeking quick pIunder and slaves. Fight a SACA game with one of the following randomly determined scenarios. Roll the SACA dice when you meet up for the game.
To determine the campaign events, the players cross
reference their action (down) with their target's action (across) on the Campaign Events Table, to get an event letter, Do this for each player.
1-3
This letter then determines if there will be a battle and which scenario will be played when the two forces clash.
The Escort (see SAGA rulebook)
CAMPAlGN EVENTS TABLE Defend Raíd Campaign
Defend
Raid
Campaign
A
A
A
B
D
E
c
E
F
4-5
6
REsULTs
Harry and Burn
(see new scenaríos)
Sacred Ground
(see 546A rulebook)
A. Defence The Defender isn't attacking anybody. The Warlord is content to leave the others in peace for now. There wilI be diplomatic contact between the factions and increased trade.
"-r,§É'l.§.,,dry,,,ii.,lÍt.
{. .,,
{ffi
:'lát
his warband to defend his in open battle, Fight a invaders the meet and sett|ements with one of the following randomly determined inCR game, Roll the 5464 dice when you meet up for the
ihe oétenoer must muster
g.."
án áúsústÍ'iorttrem;'Fighta
áirvira'r,i;i:p7épái"á
:
one'of ihe following.randomly determined the game, icenarios. Roll the SAGA dice when you meet up for
gaú with
,."n.iior.
Homeland
1-3
Forest Road Ambush
1-3
(see new scenarios)
(see SAGA rulebook)
4-5
The Burh (see new scenarios)
sacred Ground
6
The Escort
+-5
(see SAGA rulebook)
6
(see SAGA rulebook)
Battle at the Ford
(see SAGA rulebook)
D. Encounter Scenario to face, Two warbands on the move accidentally come face of the one game with a SAGA Fight and battle must ensue. dice iotto*ing randomly determined scenarios, Roll the SAGA when you meet up for the game,
1-3
4-5
6
F.
Pitch Battle Scenario
full This is all out warl The two sides have mustered their a strength and will meet in a pitched open battle, Fight d€ t ermined randomly following sÁáe"g.*" with one of the ..un..Lr. Roll the SAGA dice when you meet up for the game,
The Hazel Wands
Scouts
1-3
(see new scenarios)
The Challenge
4,5
(see SAGA rulebook)
Battle at the Ford
6
(see SAGA rulebook)
(see new scenarios)
(see SAGA rulebook)
(see SAGA rulebook)
clash of warlords
sacred Ground
games, to the excitins bit, the battles, i,e, pIaying the once alt the players have a campaign Event result, move
first campaigning season of Pete, Tom, 6arry and Steve's campaign. Each writes down on their roster their action, Pete's Vikings will Raid Tom's lrish. Tom's lrish have chosen to Defend. Garry's Normans are Raiding Steve's Welsh, whilst Steve's Welsh are Campaigning It is the
against Tom's lrish.
Pete cross references his Raid against his target's Defence, to get result B, a Raid scenario. Tom is Defending and so always gets result A, Defence,
Carry's Raid vs Steve's Campaigning is result Ambush scenario,
E, an
Steve's Campaigning against Tom's Defence is result C, an lnvasion scenario. In this campaigning season, Pete will fight Tom in a Raid. Carry will fight Steve in an Ambush .nJsteu. will fight Tom in an lnvasion. ln those three battles, Pete and Carry fight once, whilst Tom's lrish and Steve's Welsh will fight twice. They now have to organise and play theír games,
A\]L]L]tA\NrC]EsS 'A man's back is vulnerable, unless he has a brother.'the Saga of Grettir the Strong An Alliance is when two Warlords agree to help each other out for one campaign season. At the start of a campaígn season, a Warlord that Defended in the previous campaigning season can request an Alliance with one other warlord. ri tnai Warlord agrees, then the two players are not allowed the Raid or Campaign against each other in the next campaign season. A Warlord is free to decline a request for an Alliance, except when asked by a Warlord with the Noble Mien trait or by a Warlord he is Oathsworn to, in which case he must agree. A
Blood Feud against or that has a etooJ enmity runs too deep for any alliances,
Alliance Bonus During the next campaign season, for any battle they must fight, the allied war|ords may include twá units of warriors or Hearthguard from their ally's roster on their own. They may not use Levy units (that would be an insult). These two units generate SAGA dice as normal for their type. The Warlord's roster counts these two units when setting the game size.
Restrictions on Land, Wealth and Reputation do not apply to allied units. lf either warband is engaged in any battles against an enemy force which is larger than his own, and wouljthus have to hire mercenaries, he can replace any mercenary unit with a unit of Warriors or Hearthguards chosen froó his allied Warlord's roster for free, instead of paying one Wealth. Again, Levy cannot be sent as allies. The allied units are chosen by the Warlord who will be playing the battle, from any units on his ally's roster, and he should borrow the models from his ally foi hís next!ame. These allies then fight as normal Warriors or Hearthluard on their own Batt|e board. The controlling layer will nóed both battle boards for the game. The alliance automatically ends at the end of the campaign season unless another one is requested (which means the Warlord has to have been Defending again). AlJiances are a way for weaker warbands to even-up the odds without the cost of paying for mercenaries. They are also a way players can join forces to attack a far stron§er warband. lf one player starts to become too strong and iúeems like he might run away with the campaig-n, then he should expect that the others players will stari}orming alliances to attack him - ít is a dangerous place to be, on to§ of a píle that everybody else wants to climb.
9
É;, r G,.-
1
'Courage is better than keenest steel'
- Sigurth, Fafnír's Saga
Each Warlord should now know who they will be fighting and the campaign result, which will generate them a scenario when it comes to battle, The players now have to organise playing those games, whenever they can. The battles can be played in any order. It is up to the players to sort this out between themselves. The campaign has no central referee, so players should organise to play when they meet up at club evenings/days or at another Íree, convenient time.
Beíore a battle, run through the following steps. sS]I']E]P'
ON]E: \W]HtA\lf
llO
]B]]RING
i.
Your model co|lection, as required by your Campaign Roster. íi. Your up to date Campaign Roster. iii. SAGA rulebook and supplements as required for the factions involved in the game, and SAGA dice. iv, Other gaming paraphernalia, like D6s, pencil and paper, measuring sticks or tape measure etc. v. Model terrain if required (usually the host or club provides this). vi. A sense of friendly, competitive (but not too competitive) fun. As always, this is a key ingredient for games of SAGA.
sslf ]E]P ]t'\WtOl: T]Ht ]p, ]R]E -- ]EA\lf
ll
]L
]E
§S
]E ]E
(qU
]E
N
C ]E
Before p|aying run through the following sequence to get everything in place for the game. i. Determine Games Size The players should decide on the size of this 5A6A battle, in points. lf both sides have the same number of points in their warbands, then the battle will be set at that points total, and both players will use their full warband. lf time is tight then, by mutual agreement, the players can reduce the game's points size, but only if they both agree. lf one player's warband is larger than the others, then the aggressor ín the campaign can set the points size for the
coming battle. The aggressor is determined by the Warlord's campaign action this season. A Warlord that is Campaigning is the aggressor over one that is Raiding or Defending. A Warlord that is Raiding is the aggressor over one that is Defending. lf both Warlords have the same campaign action, then roll a dice for who is the aggressor. The highest roll can pick the game's size, up to the maximum size of his warband.
ii. Hire Mercenaries (see Mercenaries) lt may happen that a game's size is set higher than a Warlord's warband current size, 50, for example, the aggressor sets the points size as six points, but his opponent only has a four point warband to command. In which case, the Warlord with the smaller warband may hire Mercenary units to make up the numbers and match his opponent's warband. See Hiring Mercenaries for full details of how this works, but suffá to say here, a player does not have to fight at a points disadvantage, he can always hire extra mercenary help to even-up the sides. A Warlord can choose not to hire mercenaries and fight the
game at a disadvantage, but things will look rather bIeak for him when it comes to the tabletop game, and this is not recommended. Fighting at a disadvantage is heroic, but probably doomed to failure.
Warbands may call on their partners in an Alliance for reínforcements (see Alliances above)
iii. Roll for the scenario
Now roll a SAGA dice to determine which scenario is being played. This will be one of three listed by the Campaign Event. All the usual deployment or speciaI rules apply as detailed in the scenario's description. iv. Set up Terrain Players may use any mutually agreeable method to set up the terrain. SAGA includes a system for placing terrain. Some scenarios will require extra terrain pieces to be added, like buitdings, a river or the gateway to a buhr, as detailed in the
scenario. v. Deploy Deploy forces as detailed in the scenario description.
Sevére W§und,:"':':' warlord's wounds were serious. He must choose to
The
Slt']E]P' ]FtOllL]t]K: TIHí]E ]P'
tOtss1['-1Bi7\'lrT ]L ]E
ss )E
t$Jt
lE
N
tC
lE
Defend as his next campaign action, to recuperate (note, the
After a battle, both players should run through the postbattle sequence, in each other's presence so that all rolls and changes are verified by an opponent.
war-Toothed trait overrides this requirement). ln addition, he loses one Attack dice for the rest of the campaign, suffering from his old injuries. This is cumulative, so each serious wound will result in the warlord losing one Attack dice, down to a minimum of one Attack dice. Even a crippled Warlord cannot be left with zero Attacksl
The post-battle sequence works out what just happened to your Warlord and his warband and gets them ready for their next battle. All changes should be clearly recorded on the campaign roster. Once the sequence is complete, your force is ready íor its next battle of this campaign season, or to start a new campaign season. i.
The Slain
-
the Warlord
There hasjust been a bloody battle, so some men are going to have been killed, whilst others were just injured. First deal with the Warlord himself. lf either (or both) Warlords were casualties in the battle, roll to find out what actually happened to them. ln all cases the player who won the battle should roll the 5464 dice on the appropriate Warlord casualty table.
Dead The Warlord has actually been slain in battle, see 'Death of a
warlord'for full details of how to handle this
Warlord Casualty Table
Captured The Warlord counts as Severely
Winning Warband
Wounded (above), but is also captured by his opponent, A ransom must be paid, so the warlord loses one wealth and his opponent gains one Wealth as the treasure is handed over. lf the opponent Warlord has the Blood Feud trait against a captured Warlord, count this result as Dead (above) instead, as revenge is taken in full and the prisoner is executed. Hurrah!
Minor Wound 1-3
A mere flesh wound, the Warlord is ok and will continue to fight on as normal.
The
4,5
Heroic wound warlord's wounds were
superficial, but his was a heroic combat and the tale of his bravery and injuries is told across the land, gain one Reputation. The Warlord may continue as normal.
Seriously Wounded
warlord's wounds were serious. He must choose to Defend as his next campaign action, to recuperated (note, the war-Toothed trait overrides this requirement). ln addition, he loses one Attack dice for the rest of the campaign, suffering from his old injuries. This is cumulative, so each serious wound will result in the warlord losing one Attack dice, down to a minimum of one Attack dice. Even a crippled Warlord cannot be left with zero Attacksl The
6
ii. The Slain, Unit Casualties
After resolving the slain Warlord, work out what happened to his men. For every four men in a unit removed as casualties in the battle, permanently remove one man as slain from the campaign roster. Round all factions up. So, if a unit lost between one and four men, one is lost permanently as dead, lf a unit lost between five and eight men, two are lost ${i!,qad, and so on.
Hearthguard Resilience: The men of Hearthguara uniir.." selected from the strongest, fittest men. Better equipped with superior armour, they are far more likely to survive the battle with wounds rather than be slain. The first model removed from the battle as a casualty in each Hearthguard unit is ignored when determining the Slain. So, if a Hearthguard unit lost one man, then it counts as having lost no men at all. lf it would have lost five men, then it only counts as losing four men.
'.|.:
.::
,:];]
,ii
a
i" §"
ExampIe It has been a hard f ght for Pete's Víkíngs,and his eight-man warrior unít lost six men. Hís twelve Levy lost four men, whílst his first Hearthguard unit of four men lost one man. Hís second Hearthguard unít of four Berserkers were wíped
out (unsurprisíngly). So, after his casualtíes, hisWarríor unit has lost two men, so is reduced to a six-man unít. Hís Levy are reduced by one man, to an eleven-man unit. Because of the Hearthguard survíval rule, hís first Hearthguard unít does not count a5losíng any men at all, so remaíns at four men strong. As they are also Hearthgurd, hís Berserkers count as losing three men, not four, and so are reduced by one permanent loss to a three-man berserker unit next time.
iii. The Spoils of Victory (To the victor the spoils...) The gains of a battle depend on the campaign action the victor chose at the start of the campaign season.
Defend. lf the victor chose to Defend then he has protected his lands from foreign invaders or raiders, making him much beloved of his people (the ruler's first task being to protect the borders of his own lands and his people). He gains one additional Reputation,
V. Recruitment Each Warlord may now recruit new troops to replace his battle losses. He may add either four Levy, two Warriors or
one Hearthguard to a single existing unit on his roster. These cannot form a new unit, they must be added to an existing unit. lf the Warlord spends one Wealth then he may double this number of recruits and gains eight Levy, four Warriors or two Hearthguards for a single existing unit on his roster.
Eligible Warlords may also purchase a War Banner.
vi. Fate The next part of the post-battle sequence is Fate. The Cods are fickle and the Warlord's fate is already written in the weave of the world, he cannot avoid it, for good or ill. RoIl a D6 and a 5464 dice and cross reference on the Fate table,
Fate Table
Raid. lf the victor chose to Raid then he has gained plunder and slaves to take home. He gains an additional Wea|th.
Campaign. lf the victor chose to Campaign then he has conquered new land íor his people to colonize and farm. He gains an additional Land. iv. Campaign Victory Points The winner of the battle automatically gains one Campaign Victory Point. ln addition, if either War|ord is an Atheling (has a Power of fifteen or greater), and his Motivation of Land, Wealth or Reputation is higher than (not equal to) the other two scores, then he gains another one Campaign Victory Point, regardless of whether he actually won or lost the battle.
1-3
4-5
6
1
Revolt!
Fame
Spy in EnemyCamp
2
Famine and Flood
Good
Upgrade ,
Marriage
L"ry
Good
Upgrade -
Harvest
LerT
Reinforcements 2D6Lel,ry
Upgrade -
2D6Lelry Reinforcements D6 Warriors
Reinforcements 2D6 Warriors
UpgradeWarriors
)
4
5
6
poor Harvest Reiníorcements
Warlord
Reinforcements
Experience
ID6 Hearthguard
Warriors
Choose
+.i#ifu.É{;ifaEiii*i ai"ii#.6ffi§]ɧ
thé War]ord'i r.ule (too much time away making wár). The Warlord reduces his Reputation by one point. Next campaign season the Warlord must choose to Defend regardless of any special rules (like War-toothed). Also, remove a D6 men from one Levy unit or a D3 men from one Warrior unit in the warband (Warlord's choice) as he executes the ringleaders and rabble-rousers.
Famine and Flood
The gods have not spared your people, it has been a harsh
winter of snows and flooding and famine now stalks the land. The Warlord reduces his Land by one point.
poor Harvest
The tax yield has been poorer than expected after a poor harvest. The Warlord reduces his wealth by one point.
Reinforcements
New recruits have been trained and can now ioin the warband, The randomly determined number of men given are added to already existing units of the given type. They can be alI placed in one unit, or spread through different units. Remember, the new recruits cannot take the unit over the maximum twelve men, if it would, then the extra recruits are lost. The new recruits are equipped as the unit they join. A|ternatively, new recruits can form their own new unit, as long as there are enough of them to fulfill the minimum unit size requirements, so two men for Hearthguards and four men for Warriors or Levy. The Warlord must have enough Land, Wealth or Reputation, whichever is required to allow the new unit to form.
WarIord Experience
Hard experience in the arts of war are teaching your Warlord many new lessons. Your Warlord immediately gains a new special rule or a new trait, chose which, Roll a random new special rule on the Special Rule table or a random new trait on the Traits table and it applies from now on.
Fame The Warlord's name and word of his deeds are travelling
further afield. Cain one Reputation.
Good Marriage
By a good marriage (it is what daughters and nieces are forl) you have secured new lands for your domain. Gain one Land.
Good Harvest
The tax yield has been greater than expected after a good
harvest. Gain one Wealth.
Spy in Enemy Camp
You have a paid informer in the enemy camp, and before your next battle he will provide you with a lot of useful information about your foe. Pay one Wealth at the start of the game and you may choose the scenario to be played, and choose whether to deploy first or second and automatically get the first turn in the game. lf the Wealth isn't paid, then none of the above apply.
on,they are treated asvváiriors, with théíinó'rmaf' value and attacks, etc. lf the unit has missile weapons then they are replaced with the warband's standard warrior weapons. lf the warband had any special options for its warriors, then these may be taken. The Warlord must have enough Wealth to allow a new Warrior unit, otherwise the upgrade is lost.
Upgrade - Warriors
A single unit of Warriors can be upgraded to Hearthguards. From now on they are treated as Hearthguard, with their normal armour value and attacks, etc. lf the unit was mounted then it remains mounted. lf the unit was on foot then it remains on foot, unless the warband's Hearthguard are always mounted, in which case they also become mounted, lf the warband had any special options for its Hearthguard, then these may be taken, The Warlord must have enough Reputation to allow the new Hearthguard unit, otherwise the upgrade is lost.
Choose
The Warlord may select any of the above results as his Fate
this time.
vii. Merge Units
Any units which have fallen to below four men may be merged with another unit of the same type (Levy, Warrior or Hearthguard). See Managing the Campaign Roster - Merging units for full details of this.
After merging any units and updating the campaign rosters of both players they are now ready for their next battle. lf all the battles from this campaign season have been resolved, then the campaign season ends. Start again at the beginning of the next campaigning season, or, if this was the last campaign season, then resolve the End Times,
WAR BANNERs Once a Warlord becomes an Atheling, (so has reached fifteen Power) he may claim his own War Banner, to announce his presence on the battlefield. ln order to include a War Banner, the Warlord must reduce his Wealth by one, but in return he gains one to his Reputation.
'il .
,
:a':
The War Banner must be assigned to a unit of Warriors that is at least eight strong, or a unit of Hearthguard=*,,,. that is at least six strong. Note it down on the rost€#: ]::.,
the warlord's roster does not have such a unit then he cannot yet claim a War Banner.
a_
Once assigned, the War Banner acts as per the normal rules (as described in The Roven's Shadaw).lt must be represented on the tabletop with an appropriate model.
war Banner can never be lost in battle and can be reassigned to any other eligib|e unit on the roster during the post-battle sequence. A warband can only ever have one War Banner. The
.
ilcy'mi,are than:óie min in the samé stoick, and never break the peace whích good men and true make between thee and others,' -
from the Saga of Burnt Njal
lt is a hard and dangerous life leading warbands on raids and into battle, and not every Warlord will survive the Age of the Wolf alive, but in these violent days few kings ever died peacefully ín their homes. The death of the Warlord is not the end of the campaign of a player's faction. lf a Warlord dies the player has two choices. He may choose to disband the current warband and rejoin the campaign as a new warband chosen from a different faction. Note, he cannot reioin as the same faction, so if your AngloDanish Warlord is killed, you can't quit and return as a new Anglo-Danish faction, but it could be any other faction (see, joining mid-campaign). Or, as a second option, the player may replace his lost Warlord with an heir and continue with the same faction. His heir (son, nephew, brother, cousin, etc) is a new man. So, replace the
old Warlord's motivation with a new randomly determined motivation. Replace the old warlord's two traits with two new randomly generated traits, and replace the old Warlord's special rule with a new randomly determined special rule. Also, give the Warlord a new name. ln addition, if the player so wishes, the new heir taking over the warband automatically gets the Blood Feud trait against the Warlord responsible for the death of the previous leader. This is an extra, third trait in addition to his randomly rolled traits. After all, a slayíng demands vengeance. As a new starting Warlord, the heir is not the man his predecessor was (yet!). Reduce the current Land, Wealth and Reputation ratings by one, but this cannot reduce the score
ll€Yy:!tqalu}g9*],Y::.§,:a_i§.Ea§-.=rj:::.:.:
1:i.i,:,::]:".-:'.:-::.::.:]:.,j:..__ji:j..,:.j..:,-
Once the roster is amended and the new Warlord ís in place, the player can now continue in the campaign as normal. A Warlord may be killed multiple times in a campaign and the player continue to fight on with the same faction, as new leaders emerge.
lB}lUnYING ]LA\N]D A wealthy Warlord seeking new land can simple buy it. During the Spoils of Victory part of the post-battle sequence a Warlord may chose to reduce his Wealth score by two to increase his Land score by one, A Warlord may not do this more than once in each post-battle sequence, so he can't spend four Wealth to buy two Lands at
one time. This is worth doing because Wealth is a lot easier to come by and lose in the game than Land. Some Warlords with the King's Domains motivation want extra Land and extra Land allows extra Levy, which can be quickly built up if your warband looks weak in manpower. Also, the Warlord with most land at the end of the campaign will gain bonus Campaign Victory Points.
IDA\N]EG]E]L]D (or the alternative to not playing your campaign battle) One reason why wargames campaigns often fail is because the players just don't get their games played, Time to p|ay is often tight, and thus the actual playing of a game can become a problem, then the whole campaign stalls and the other players can't carry on, and interest wanes, and the campaign flounders and peters outl (Bitter experience is talking here). Not so in Age of the Wolf. Danegeld, or paying an opponent not to have to fight him, is a well honoured tradition in the dark ages and throughout early medieval warfare. Sometimes, if you give the enemy silver, they are happy to iust leave you alone (for a bit), lf a player can't play a game ín time, or if he feels his warband can't compete (even with additional mercenaries) because it's too small, or he hasn't got any Wealth left to hire mercenaries anyway, then he can opt (or be forced to by the other campaign players bored of waiting for him and eager to press on) give his opponent one point of Land, Wealth or Reputation, chosen by his opponent. ln return, the battle does not have to be fought. lt is called a draw and both sides' warbands return home. Do not run through the post-battle sequence for either side.
Note, players should not use the Danegeld rule as a way of avoiding playing games... that would defeat the object of playing the campaign (the point being to played linked 5464 games, not to not play games), But, if a player or his opponent feels that he can't get his campaign game in a reasonable timescale (like the next couple of weeks), then in order for the campaign to keep going, he can opt to pay up instead, There might also be situations were one side's forces.just can't match the other, and it is acceptable then to pay up the Danegeld and miss out the battle. !5;.{,1;t '"
lf he is faced with.a laiger fórce; the War|ord with the smallér warband can make up the numbers by hiring mercenaries. He may hire as many units of mercenaries as required to make up the difference in force point sizes. So, if the larger warband has six points, and the smaller four, he may hire up to two units of mercenaries to match force sizes. Hiring Mercenaries costs one Wealth, regardless of how many points of mercenaries are needed, Each mercenary unit hired consists of eight Warriors on foot with standard armaments (spears, shields, swords), These Warriors have no special rules, do not benefit from the hiring faction's special rules on Warriors, such as any alternative equipment, and act exactly like a standard unit of Warriors when given actions from the Battle Board.
Any appropriate foot models you have available can be used as mercenaries, be they Vikings, lrish, Normans, Franks, Welsh, whatever (these itinerant, lordless warriors could be from
MANAG,NG THE CAMPA|GN ROSTER At the heart of the campaign is the roster. lt records all the information you will need for each SAGA game the campaign generates for you. lt is important that the roster is kept up to date and clear, lt is not a secret document, any players involved in the campaign can see another player's roster if they like. Changes to the roster should only ever be made when another player is present, generally before a game has staried or after a game has been completed (see pre-battle and post-battle sequences). This is for transparency, so that alI the players can trust their opponents' rosters, and
honour between fellow warriors demands everything is kept above board.
Maximum Sized Units: No unit can be larger than twelve
men for any reason. Once chosen for tabletop game units or the same type with the same armament can be combined to form larger units in action, but on the roster once a unit reaches twelve men, it cannot be given any extra recruits,
Minimum Unit Sizes: ln standard SAGA games the minimum size of any unit is four men. ln the campaign this has to be dealt with slightly differently, as casualties and reinforcements are sometimes going to break the minimum
The mercenaries are only a temporary unit, so do not include them on the campaign roster. Do not roll for casua|ties amongst the mercenaries, as they will only fight in this one battle anyway. Each time mercenaries are hired they are assumed to be a new unit, even if you are using the same models,
lnstead of hiring standard foot warriors, Pagan Rus, Rus Princes and Byzantine warbands can hire Steppe Nomad mercenaries instead. These mercenary units are eight mounted Levy, as detailed intheVarjazi andBasileus supplement (page t5). Alternatively, for one point, Jarl Sigvaldi and the Jomsvikings can be hired. These cost an additional point of Wealth (so two Wealth even if you are iust hiring them) and use the full rules detailed in the SAGA rulebook. ln order to use the Jomsviking mercenaries you'll need a model for Jarl Sigvaldi and three models for his Jomsviking band.
and therefore the Warlord's Power, if it has at least two men. A Hearthguard unit with.iust two or three men can still be fielded in a SAGA game.
Merging Units:
Units on the roster can be merged to form should be done after rolling for the Fate in the post-battle sequence. lfa unit has less than four men, it can be combined with another unit of the same type. The smaller unit will lose any alternative weapons or special rules and gains any alternative weapons or special rutes from the new parent unit. Merging just adds new men to a unit, at the cost of reducing the overall size of the warband. a single larger unit. This
ExampIe A Normdn Warband has two units of Warríors, one is nine mounted men, the other has fallen to just three crossbow, equipped men on foot. TheWarlord decídes to merge the units, dísbandíng the three-man crossbow unit. These troops are removed from the roster and the three extra men are added to the mounted Warríors, becoming a maxímum-sized twelve-man unít, The crossbows are lost, but the warriors now,count as mounted and armed as the unit they ioined, ,',,
tltegal Rosters: As
unit can consist of between one and twelve men.
Warlord's Lands, Wealth and Reputation change throughout the campaign seasons, it is possible for his roster to become illegal, so, for example a. Warlord may lose Land and find than he now has too ..=9#i Levy units on his roster for the Land he possessed. _= _, -.].
lf a Warrior or Levy unit has less than four men, so isn't a legal tabletop unit, then it does not count towards a Warlord's power for total units, and cannot be included in a battle, unless it is combined with another similar unit.
lf this occurs the Warlord must temporarily dismiss one of the offending units. The unit he dismisses will be the smallest one, in number of men. lf he has more than one unit with the same number of men, he may choose which one to dismiss,
four-man rule. On the campaign roster there is no minimum unit size; any
The unit remains on the roster as it can be reinforced with new recruits to again become a legal unit.
Hearthguard Minimum: Hearthguards are the elite of the warband, the Warlord's personal bodyguards. The minimum size for the Hearthguard unit is two men. A unit of Hearthguards still counts towards the warband's overall size,
a
A dismíssed unit is not [ost, just sent home for a while. : Mark it with a * on the roster. when the warlord's fortunes change and his Land, Wealth or Reputation rise again, he will automatically get the unit back; remove the *. A dismissed unit does not count towards a warlord's power total and cannot be selected in battles.
,
*
-;;
l,
ffifl]l|i]
l,
§S''i=-'*+]':_'t
_4,+
=_,:
_*J§
::+_i:
i-
]f
lHt
lE lEN
lDt ll]t
]tVt
]EsS
'Luck ís one thing, brave deeds another' -
Grettir's Saga
Once the final campaign season (season six) has been completed, then the Age oí the Wolí is over.., almost. First award the End Times bonus Campaign Victory Poínts, as
follows:
The Widest Lands: The Warlord with the highest Land score gains two extra Campaign Victory Points. ln the event of a tie, all the Warlords with the joint highest Land score gain one extra Campaign Victory Point,
The Greatest Hoard: The Warlord with the highest Wealth
score gains two extra Campaígn Victory Points. ln the event of a tie, all the Warlords with the joint highest Wealth score gain one extra Campaign Victory Point.
Warrior of Renown:
The Warlord with the highest Reputation score gains two extra Campaign Victory Points. ln the event of a tie, all the Warlords with the joint highest Reputation score gain one extra Campaign Victory Point.
Respected throughout the Kingdoms: The Warlord with the highest Powef score gains two extra Campaign Victory Points. ln the event of a tie, all the Warlords with the joint highest Power score gain one extra Campaign Victory Point.
ll, t
,r4 í,:..
Now see which Atheling Warlord (so, with a Power of at least fifteen) has the most Campaign Victory Points. Warlords with a Power of less than fifteen aren't considered worthy to rule yet. Only Warlords with over fifteen Power are possible ruIers. The Warlord with a Power of fifteen or more, and the highest Campaign Victory Points total is the winner and becomes the new king ,.. all kneel before himl ]E xr.
t,en.,d[ -ölL§\ [lnL,p,
rt
]hL,e,C,ar
tnnt lD,at ii,p, tnr
The Age of the Wolf campaign is set at six campaign seasons, as this gives all players enough time to fight battles and develop their warbands, and still puts the climax of the campaign within reasonably easy reach, so players can see when it will all finish. Of course, should all the players agree, (and maybe they're having such a good time they don't want to stopl) then an Age of the WoIf campaign can be extended with extra campaígn seasons; seven, eight, nine seasons will all be playable, and sometimes with lots of players, players might wish to have more games again5t those opponents they haven't yet faced. Be wary of making the campaign too long though, it is better for pIayers to have an achievable end point to aim for rather than be overly ambitious and not finish at all,
|onesc Road ArnOush A warband's route into the enemy's lands leads through the forested wilderness, a deserted place, only home to wolves, crows and malign spirits, but where cunning enemies could easily be hidden, lying in wait, ready to spring their trap....
]LA\YOlutlt This game is played on a 48" by 36" table. Running across the centre of the table, from one table edge to another is a narrow road, trail or track. lt
should be no wider than s in width. Players then take it in turns, starting with the ambusher, to place D6+z pieces of terrain. Players may choose each piece of terrain to be a wood, rocky ground, an elevation, a steep elevation or a marsh. The terrain is placed on either side of the road, and some part of each piece must be within ]L of the road itself.
'"i;t"o *= .
N\4tA\lP,
*'-*ó{l"**;
)6"
48"
]D]E]P,]LOYN\4t]ENT The síde being ambushed must deploy aIl of its forces first, as the enemy has been watching them and already knows their order of march. The ambushed player must place all his men on the road, facing in a single direction (he can choose either board edge). He places his first, vanguard unit, anywhere on the road, but not within ]L of the table edge. This can be any unit the player wishes. All his other units must then be deployed one after
the other, behind the vanguard and also on the road, facing the same direction, but again, not with tr, oí either table edge. Once all hiirnits are on the road, one after the other, he may then place his Warlord in the centre of the column, between the front and back models. The ambusher then deploys his forces. They may be placed anywhere on the table in terrain (they are hiding) on either side of the road, but not with ]L of any enemy unit. Alternatively a unít may be placed out of line of sight of the enemy (so for example, behind a hill or wood). Once all the ambusher's units are on the table, place the ambusher's Warlord anywhere on the table, but in terrain. The ambushers always get first turn.
§s
]P lE
c
]t
A\
]L
]RIUUL
]E §\
ln this scenario the side being ambushed have been taken by surprise and aren't well prepared for battle. ln the first turn
they only roll half (round fractions up) of the SAGA dice they would normally roll, From turn 2 they can roll their normal number of SAGA dice.
]L]ENGflnHI CI]F GAi\\4t]E The game lasts for 7 complete furns.
V n C ]rO ]R)Y C ON
]D
]t
T tON ]t
sS
At the end of the game add up victory points, In addition, the ambushed player gets bonus victory points for models that escaped from any table edge. The bonus score added to the ambushed side's total is equal to the model's victory points as if üey had been killed. So, 1 VP per Hearthguard that escaped, 1 VP for every 2 Warriors or 4 Levy that escape. If the ambushed player manage§ to move his War]ord
offany table
edge he escapes the ambush and automatically wins the game.
önd Bunn A marauding warband have swiftly fallen upon an enemy village, bringing fire, axe and sword. They come to wreak carnage upon the common folk and drive them out, burning their homes and fields. The local warlord must quickly respond with his own forces ánd fight to defend the common peasantry, or see his fértile lands laid waste...
]Ll\)YCIlut1l This game is played on a 48ll by 36" table. ln the centre of the table lay out a small village of three buildings (one of these can be a large building). All the buildings must be Within ]L of the centre of the table, Next, add three crop fields, these should be placed with L of one of
the buildings, Other terrain can then be p|aced as normaI, but may not be placed within lt- of any fields or buildings already on the table.
48"
]DlElP,]LOYivltlENll The defender deploys a unit first. He places a single unit of Levy or Warriors with of any of the buildings. ^\4i
Next, the attacker deploys his WarIord within ]L of his table edge. The defender then deploys his Warlord within r- of his table edge, folIowed by his remaining Levy units. The attacker then deploys aIl his Levy and Warrior units within lr of his table edge. The defender then deploys his Warriors and Hearthguard units Within ]L of his table edge. Finally, the attacker deploys his Hearthguard units within his table edge.
r of
The attacker then takes the first turn. sS
]P ]E
C ]I A\ ]L
]F§Ut ]L
chase away the locals. He can burn a field or building when any of his units are in base contact with it (or in a field) and take a Rest action. As well as resolving the Rest action as normal, the unit attempts to start a fire. Roll a D6, on a 3+, place a ball of smoke (cotton wool) on the field or building as it catches and starts the burn. on a l or z the fire hasn't taken hold yet and the unit must try again on another activation. Once lit a fire cannot be put out during the game.
]L]ENG]|
The attacker has come to burn the buildings and fields and
: 3;. .;4
".**:*§...ls;es!^\_{
GA\N\4[]E
The game last 7 turns.
V I CTO]R)Y C ON]D lt 1l jI tON
sS
lf the attacker manages to set fire to all the buildings and fields then he automatically wins, regardless of victory points.
-' -**-:is'
