SAGA: Aetius & Arthur – new rules for the Late Roman period

[Mad Doc Morris]

While Gripping Beast is preparing the ground with their latest plastic set, Studio Tomahawk have announced SAGA: Invasions [edit: changed to SAGA: Aetius & Arthur] on their blog (original post here).

Hello, Happy Easter.

The lack of new publications of the previous months was due to the intense activity in theTomahawk tipee, devoted to a new and important chapter in the history of Saga.

With The Crescent & The Cross we have explored the destinies of the Crusaders sailing to the Holy Land and the fight of their Muslim enemies, determined to fight with bravery the western invaders. With the new Saga book, we will go back in time, and look at the very beginning of the Dark Ages.

Imagine 6 new factions, depicting the Britons, The Saxon Invaders, the Romans, the Huns, the Goths and the Picts. To lead them into battle, larger than life characters as Aetius, Attila, Arthur or Vortigern. A time when the Roman frontiers were hammered by the flow of barbaric invaders. A time when the civilisation of the past was abour to be superceded by a new one.

New factions, new mercenaries to join your warband, a campaign system and a large figure range are all planned.
The last round of intensive playtest have been done some days ago by our devoted beta-testers. They tried to break the Battleboards, find any loophole in the 6 new scenarios and played the campaign, defending a border garrison against the barbarians.  

Saga : Invasions has now entered the next step, its production.

When will it be released are you asking? Not before the end of the year. It is in the hands of the gods now...

8-)

Admittedly, I'm no great fan of SAGA, yet I'm a sucker for all things (Late) Roman, so possibly will give it a try. However, I find the mix of armies involved quite random. The differentiation of 'factions', in particular for the British Isles, is highly artificial anyway. But, seriously, when did Britons, Picts and Saxons encounter Huns or Goths? Not to mention that the Huns arriving in the West were pretty much an Ostrogothic force…
Well, well, wait and see.

[moiterei_1984]

Looks like this'll be the typical anglo-centric world view again. Nothing wrong with catering for the bigger audience but as the Doc already pointed out it's a rather odd mix. Would have preferred to have Romans, Vandals, Goths, Huns, Franks and maybe even Sassanids for a main book. One could have dealt with the island in a supplement well enough. That said I'll still have a look and if it's just to see if one can turn those island dweller batteboards into proper mainland european germanic tribes 

[delbruck]

Nice to see Late Romans & all, but very disappointed that we don't have any Sassanids.

I wonder if this means GB plans to do plastic Huns?

[Sir_Theo]

 With Huns and Goths featuring it's not particularly Anglo centric? Maybe there will be expansions to come?

[ayak333]

I can't wait for this set! It's difficult getting the non Saga Gripping Beast ranges here in the States, so when this comes out, more GB figures will likely be available here! I think it possible there will be further supplements that include franks and Sassanids, maybe some alemmanni and Vandals as well. I can not freakin wait!

[DivisMal]

I must add to what has been said so far. This is a rather odd collection of "factions", that would have better split into different volumes. And it's a shame, there is no near eastern army featured!

[LeadAsbestos]

Personally, I'll be playing Britain only, so to hell with the other factions! 

[moiterei_1984]

With Huns and Goths featuring it's not particularly Anglo centric? Maybe there will be expansions to come?

Ah well, but with Picts, Britons and Saxons (the latter probably designed to represent the ones fighting in Britain) it's already half the factions which didn't play any part at all in the events that occured in mainland europe. And that's where the bulk of the empire was, I was led to believe;)

[guitarheroandy]

Truth to tell, I've been waiting for this since Saga first came out. Slightly odd mix of factions, perhaps, but I'll still give it a look when it comes out. Might even get me playing more regularly...

[v_lazy_dragon]

Definitely looking forward to this. Any idea if it is an expansion of the standard Saga rules or a stand alone book (which I believe Cross and Crescent was?)

Agreed on the strange mix of factions - I  guess one could proxy 'Anglo-saxons' as continental Saxons, and (Romano-)Britons as continental post-Roman states... but it still seems strange. I'm with the general consensus that I would have preferred a greater focus on the continent in this book and a seperate volume dealing with Britain later...

[Mad Doc Morris]

Any idea if it is an expansion of the standard Saga rules or a stand alone book (which I believe Cross and Crescent was?)

Crescent & Cross is a standalone product indeed, and seemingly Invasions will be as well.

Agreed on the strange mix of factions - I  guess one could proxy 'Anglo-saxons' as continental Saxons, and (Romano-)Britons as continental post-Roman states

Unfortunately, there were no continental Saxons. But there's certainly potential for a count-as approach. Like said, there's actually very little evidence to tell those 'factions' apart anyway.

[area23]

Judging from archeological evidence most late roman era germanic tribes looked much the same apart from small decorations with the most elaborate jewelry and weapons probably only available to warlords and their followers. With late romans, saxons, huns and goths covered you can probably create any contemporary warband west of Adrianople. Apart from Franks perhaps who are supposed to have had funny haircuts.

[AWu]

Lack of Sassanians is a let down.. But I still hope for them in expansion

Brittaniocentrism is a thing I got used to in wargaming..
I am no surprised that there is no Slavic faction but 6 (?) British

So I expected it being Britain only, so Huns and Goths are both welcome surprises!!

[Legiox217]

This looks awesome. I see it says "not before the end of this year." That sounds like too long considering it's already done and about to be in production. Perhaps something was lost in translation ? I suppose early next year wouldn't be TOO far away, but I guess I'm just too excited I'm being hopeful.

[Whitwort Stormbringer]

Hmm, interesting.  I don't own Crescent & Cross yet, and would probably prioritize that, but I might be tempted enough to get this down the road. The Anglocentrism doesn't really bother me, especially since the first SAGA book seemed to lean heavily on a period of cultural upheaval and invasions in the British Isles as well.  Takes a similar theme, which suits the scale of warband-level conflict in SAGA well, and just steps back several centuries.

I wouldn't be surprise if more continental and near-Eastern factions showed up in books down the road.