After having bought Saga: Age of Magic and the Book of Battles at Salute, UndeadHighElf and I got two games in. With it being our first games of Saga, we skipped magic and war machines and played a standard Clash of Warlords, followed by Prized Possessions.
Pitching my Night Goblins against Dwarfs, I got trashed twice. The main setback in the first battle came early when my two trolls were beaten back by a handful of hand gunners defending a wall, neutralising my main strike force. In game two, I managed to destroy two of the three artillery pieces the stunties were trying to deliver to the local Elector Count, but the casualties suffered in doing so proved too high a prize to pay.
We really enjoyed the system and both left with plenty of plans for future Saga forces. With these Night Goblins being my first warband specifically built for Saga (I have a separate army for Warhammer Fantasy Battle), I have since expanded them using some spare models.
I painted up Gobbla and Gnasher and two Squig Herder teams which I can now use either as a unit of Hearthguard (potentially with heavy weapons) or Berserkers in a Horde force.
In order to have a standard bearer for both of my Warrior units, I painted up a classic Kev Adams sculpt. Finally, the archers were strengthened to a full Levy band of twelve, using plastic models I didn’t have a use for previously.
The Lost and the Damned 
All very nice indeed! Glad you enjoyed your games!
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Thanks! It is an easy system to get into but should offer enough variety, especially now with the Book of Battles.
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Those look great! Are the Oldhammer herders on 32 or 40mm bases?
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Cheers! They are on 30mm bases (non-GW).
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Very nice indeed – love an old school Night Gobbo and you’ve done a lovely job with these :-)
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Thank you, always fun to work on these little gits. I’ll have to get back to my 8th Edition full army at some point.
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I’d love to hear more of your thoughts on the new SAGA. I’m holding off buying, but only because I can’t currently buy everything at once due to the dice being out of stock everywhere.
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With the dice being hard to come by at times and pricey, I ordered fifty blanks instead which I will mark up as and when needed. Since I am mostly supplying all figures and materials when we play here it would effectively be necessary to have two sets of every type of dice just to play S:AoM and I don’t fancy paying more for dice than for armies at this stage.
The game is tactical whereas WFB is strategic one could say I guess. It is light in terms of army composition with a focus on more elite/heroic units, however less in terms of their capabilities but more in terms of likelihood of them being able to take more actions. In terms of survivability, everyone is fragile and needs to be used carefully.
S:AoM has a lot more complexity in terms of unit types over the historical game, with creatures, monsters, war machines etc, while keeping these all usable without complicated special rules. In addition, there are alternative army lists to theme forces even more and Legendary units like mammoths (or giant spiders, giants etc.) with howdahs for Hordes. So the nominally 6 army lists are really at least three times as many and every force can be played in multiple ways, using entirely different sets of abilities thematically (for example, dwarfs work well as Great Kingdom, Lords of the Underearth (with or without Dwarfs of the Silver Heights alternative army selection) or even Horde with Berserkers if built around a Troll Slayer cult.
In summary, I would recommend just diving in, anyone with a Warhammer army or two will be able to use them in Saga in many ways instantly and start playing right away. The basic concepts are easy to understand and the complexity can be learned as you play since it largely comes from the ability boards which can easily be explored even during the first fight.
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Great description, and just what I was hoping the game would be like, thanks!
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A fantastic bunch of gitz! Those goblins have such lively little faces and you’ve done a wonderful job with them.
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Thank you, that is why I always loved them. Kev Adams IS the Goblin Master.
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Very cool
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Thank you :)
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So cool! Great write-up man!
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Cheers, glad you enjoyed the update and peek into my Saga, which so far is less than heroic. But everybody knows that there is always more goblins where they came from!
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I am currently prepping various greenskins for SAGA AoM and I am dying to give it a go.
The rules mechanics strike me as genuinely fun and straightforward, but the proof is in the playing.
I’ll be watching with interest :)
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Looking forward to seeing your warbands! I’m pretty sure the system will be to your liking.
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Me too :)
I have mates that regularly speak about how good the system is, but the historical aspect didn’t grab me the same way. The fantasy version is much more my thing.
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The initial historical period for Saga I am not that interested in, but I took note when they released a list for the Huns. Now I have some forces from Warhammer Historical days to use in Saga, alas they are still quite far off in terms of being fully painted. Saga: Imperial Rome and Bronze Age would also be interesting…
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For sure. The possibility of Norse, Roman, Greek or Celtic forces, with the optional addition of mythical elements also appeals.
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Great stuff mate – I love the flesh tone on those gobbos, and the squigs are just fantastic!
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Thanks, I think that skin tone works particularly well against the black cloaks, as does the deep red. Long may my Rotting Flesh paint pot last!
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Great work. I’m adapting my Moonclan to use for AoM as well. I was thinking about how to use the squig lancers and your Hearthguard idea makes sense. I’ll be able to field every faction except the Wild with existing Fantasy or Saga armies (with the odd edition of a dragon or two).
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Thanks! Squig lancers would be the equivalent of household knights I guess, so it makes them a good fit I agree. I see my squigs as the warlord’s pet/guard/attack dogs, and with the herders coming two to a base and wielding a massive poker, they look suitably threatening too. After sorting out some basic forces I am looking forward to using some long neglected monsters as well.
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I figured that they’re not big enough to count as ‘cavalry’ per se, so they just are based as infantry. The 2 attack dice comes from the squig and the rider together.
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I think squids with their erratic movement can work well both as infantry and cavalry – maybe even winged since they can jump like fleas! That’s the beauty of the Saga system I found so far, it is open enough to just enjoy yourself with your collection and story telling.
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I can confirm what you say about just diving in, most Warhammer armies can easily be used for SAGA AoM and you can make your own dice. I have played a number of game of it since November 2019 and really enjoy the game. I have been thinking of trying a campaign with it..
https://lordofwesternkeep.blogspot.com/2019/11/saga-age-of-magic-halloween-battle.html
https://lordofwesternkeep.blogspot.com/2020/02/saga-age-of-magic-battle-royale-23.html#more
https://lordofwesternkeep.blogspot.com/2020/03/saga-age-of-magic-clash-of-warlords.html
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These goblins look ace, can I get your recipe for the skintone, please?
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Thank you! Sure – the base colour is Loren Forest, with a wash of Athonian Camoshade on top. Then I applied highlights with Elysian Green, followed by Rotting Flesh (very old pot, not sure if it is still in the range). Final highlight on knuckles, nose etc. with a thinned down white. All Citadel paints.
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