The World of Saga

We're continuing our SAGA faction rundown this week, and taking a look at the factions described in the Viking Age supplement "The Raven's Shadow". With the exception of the Franks, these are all factions from the British Isles, focussing on the peoples of Northern Britain and Ireland. The Franks   A Frankish Warband The Franks were a confederation of Germanic tribes who would periodically raid the Roman province of Gaul from their lands along the Rhine river, even as others were offering their services as mercenaries to the very same Gaulish garrisons. After the Western Empire's fall, the Franks were...

SAGA has a huge variety of factions that reflect many different play-styles, tastes and levels of experience at the game. While not necessarily 100% historically accurate, these factions are closely modelled on some of the most important peoples, nations or groups of the Dark Ages. This is the first of a multi-part series of articles that looks at each of these factions in a bit more detail, both from a historical point of view as well as touching on gameplay rules and tactics. Part one covers the four factions included in the core rules, along with those from the Northern...

- by Simone Render The Dark Ages. The time of Ragnar Lodbrok, of King Arthur, of Charlemagne and his paladins. During this time Viking raiders ranged as far afield as Russia, Italy, even North America, while great Muslim armies established a Caliphate that stretched from modern-day Pakistan all the way to Spain. If the sagas are to be believed, Beowulf and heroes like him even slew monsters during this age. More properly the Early Medieval Period, the Dark Ages was the span of time from around the fall of the Western Roman Empire, in 476AD, until the Norman invasion of...

- by Simone Render The Dark Ages aren't as popular a setting as the High Middle Ages for movies and television, but with the surge in popularity around Vikings over the last ten years or so, there is much more available now than there has been in past decades. Shows like Vikings and the Last Kingdom, along with movies like Valhalla Rising and the 13th Warrior do a great job at giving context and texture to the period, even if they are sometimes not entirely historically accurate. Which is a point worth remembering - these are works of historical FICTION....

  - By Simone Render PLEASE NOTE: All prices quoted in this article are as at the time of publication. Actual prices of items available via Pandemonium Games' webstore may since have changed. Wargaming can be an expensive hobby, especially if you play games where great historical or fantasy armies clash, or if you field mechs, grav tanks and other futuristic weapons of war in some sci-fi epic. SAGA is different. It's a skirmish game with only a few dozen miniatures to a side, and instead of relying on hundreds of different creatures or vehicles, SAGA's variety and interest comes...