Greetings Warlords! Rodge here. Those may be familiar words if you’re a SAGA fan. If they don’t ring a bell, then all you need to know is I’ve been hosting SAGA THORSDAY – a show all about the game of SAGA – since its first edition, over nine years ago now! When inspiration strikes, I’ll contribute some of that knowledge to the fine folks at Goonhammer. My first post is on a subject near and dear to me, namely getting new players into the game!
Getting in those first couple of games with any new system can be daunting. I’ve introduced numerous players to SAGA over the years, and I found none of the official scenarios quite met our needs for the optimal learning experience. A first scenario should be straightforward and short, with a clear victory condition. At some point, I started running something simple with a single objective on the fly and have since codified it into a scenario I call First Fortune.
The scenario is designed for newcomers learning the ropes on their own or in a demo situation. As I’ve found out, though, it’s also great for veterans looking for a quick, casual, low-pressure game. I really can’t emphasize that second point strongly enough. This is our club’s go-to scenario whenever we’re not particularly inspired to dig into upcoming tournament packs or the Book of Battles!
The First Fortune PDF is available for download here -> First Fortune
Check it out! (I’ll also point out it would work for most any game, once the SAGA-specific elements are stripped out!)
I think the work speaks for itself, but I will summarize the scenario, elaborate on what makes it so beneficial for beginners, and provide some further suggestions on where to head next after you’ve played it a few times.
Getting Started
First up, although it says the scenario has been optimized for four point games, it plays perfectly fine with the standard six points for historical or eight points for Age of Magic.
Setting up the battlefield is as simple as placing an objective or marker in the exact center of the table and placing a woods S (or 4” in SAGA-Speak) directly to the left or right. Anyone familiar with SAGA knows that terrain setup is actually a core mechanic of the game. The back-and-forth placement and strategic positioning of terrain elements is an important skill SAGA players develop, but new players lack the full context for their decisions, and the entire game may be thrown off due to one errant placement.
First Fortune bypasses this aspect of the game for now and lets players focus on positioning units, using fatigue, and triggering SAGA abilities. That said, if you’ve already run through the scenario a few times or, especially if you’re playing a larger six or eight point game, you can switch back to the universal terrain method as outlined in the Book of Battles. The rest of the scenario will work fine, just don’t deploy or move any piece of terrain within S of the objective.
First Player
Once the table is set, both players roll a d6. Whoever rolls the highest is the first player. They deploy their entire warband, their opponent then does the same, and then the first player, naturally, kicks it off!
On their first turn, the first player starts the game with only three SAGA dice. The other five dice are set aside, so although a player could use Activation Pool if they rolled one or more rare symbols, their value is limited without the additional SAGA dice to play with.
A “zero turn” SAGA dice boon for the second player is not uncommon in many scenarios, but requires some additional clarification and increases the game length with an additional partial turn of sorts. The method outlined here lets players get into the action immediately.
Addressing the Downsides of a Smaller Game
If you’re playing a four point game, the Warlords generate two SAGA dice instead of one starting on turn two. Anytime you’re playing with four points, I recommend using this rule. In a small game, a warband may start with just four or five SAGA dice, and once a unit or two is depleted, they may already be down to two or three dice by turn three. If you have to use all your dice just to perform basic activations like resting, moving, charging, or shooting, this can really limit the SAGA fun – ie., using your Battle Board’s unique, advanced abilities! This additional die helps ensure players have at least a couple of dice to assign towards those.
Another factor in smaller games is luck. With fewer SAGA dice and fewer turns to roll them, the impact of a lucky roll is much larger. Therefore, in this scenario, if a player starts their turn with at least one figure touching the objective and they did not roll a Rare symbol on their SAGA dice, they can change one of their dice facings to show a Rare symbol (but if they do so, they cannot place the die on Activation Pool). This evens out the luck factor a bit, and the juiciest abilities on any Battle Board usually require a Rare, so this helps make sure a player gets to use them! This also provides some direction for players mid-game. If you’re not sure what to do, try and kick the enemy off the objective and get some of your own troops on it!
Winning the Game
Determining the winner is dead simple. If at the end of turn four (or turn five if playing a larger game), one player has a figure touching and their opponent does not, they win! If both players are touching or neither player has a figure in base, then it is a draw. This avoids messy massacre or survival point calculations, and it is always clear to both players exactly what they need to do to win the game!
Demo Tips
If you’re running this scenario as a demo, I will offer three additional tips. (For two new players figuring out the rules together, though, feel free to implement these for a better play experience!)
- Do not mention Maneuvers. Although this is a critical concept in the game of SAGA, it always seems to confuse newer players. Just encourage the player(s) to deploy right on the L deployment line and get on with it! With the central objective as the focus of the game, it’s likely a legal Maneuver won’t really accomplish much. Just skip it for now!
- Plan for a “re-rack” from the outset. Let the player(s) know you’re only going to play half the game to start with. At the end of turn two, move all the figures back to their starting position and restart the game. This takes pressure off their initial decision-making and lets them experiment a bit while they try to understand the flow of the game. It’s also pretty darn likely that one of the players makes a significant blunder on the first or second turn. Recovering from a heavy blow is tougher with smaller warbands, so the rest of the demo might be a foregone conclusion. If that happens, they can learn from their mistake and try to do better on the re-rack!
- If the game involves an experienced player paired up against a newer one (i.e., you’re playing in the demo yourself!), then consider setting up a mirror match. There are pros and cons to this, but if you can get your hands on a second Battle Board, I think the pros outweigh the cons. The new player does not have to consider two Battle Boards’ worth of information, they can just concentrate on one. In addition, there is usually a combo element to SAGA abilities, so when the experienced player pulls off a sweet one-two combo, the new player gets the satisfaction of pulling the exact same moves back at them next turn!
Where to Next?
I recommend keeping this scenario to hand as it’s always fun, but eventually every new SAGA player must leave the nest! If you’re looking for additional scenarios, the options are split between Official and Unofficial Sources.
Official Sources
- The Book of Battles is the obvious first step. It has 10 standard scenarios, 3 multiplayer scenarios (for more than three or four player games), 4 rules-heavy legendary scenarios, and a scenario generator called the Battle of Heroes. Among the 10 standard scenarios, Feasting and Pillaging, Ambush, and Desecration are good places to start. Check out A Tale of Challenges, A Change of Plans, and Old Feud after that. The remaining four standard scenarios can be a bit wonky, so I recommend the Battle of Heroes scenario generator after that.
- The Age of Invasions book includes four scenarios. Fight around the Fire and especially The Frozen River are really good fun!
- Studio Tomahawk released a tournament packet on their website that includes five scenarios. Some of these tinker with established scenarios from the Book of Battles, and each is quite fun, even if they are a little more complicated than the prior scenarios mentioned.
- The SAGA Rulebook includes a scenario called Clash of Warlords with three deployment options and six special rule variants. This adds up to 21 different possibilities and, if both players are of like mind, this can be a fun scenario. If one player is playing a defensive warband, however, or otherwise prefers not to engage, the scenario does not prevent someone from huddling their figures in a corner to ensure a victory or a draw. (boo!) For that reason, the scenario actually in the rulebook is (ironically?) on the bottom of my list for official recommendations.
Unofficial Sources
- Many tournament organizers have tweaked existing scenarios on their own or come up with new ones. The fine folks running Grand Melee Poland, in particular, have developed quite a few new and balanced scenarios. The best place to find these is the #tournament-packets section under Saga Files and Resources on the SAGA THORSDAY Discord. Folks play these scenarios just as much, if not more, than the official ones, so make sure you check them out! My favorites from this bunch are the many variations of Sacred Ground, King of the Hill, and New Feud.
Have you played First Fortune yet, or do you have a favorite scenario that didn’t get mentioned? Let us know by commenting below or email us at contact@goonhammer.com. Want articles like this linked in your inbox every Monday morning? Sign up for our newsletter. And don’t forget that you can support us on Patreon for backer rewards like early video content, Administratum access, an ad-free experience on our website and more.
