Jordan Carasa is a new writer for the Tapestry and wanted to chronicle his getting into the game!
Greetings Readers,
The concept of a Saga is an amazing thing. As a gamer, the thought of committing acts so great that generations from now, my name will be spoken with reverence is simply awe inspiring. Wikipedia defines a Saga
as
‘A
story about
ancient Scandinavian and Germanic history, about early Viking voyages, the battles
that took place during the voyages, about migration to Iceland and of feuds between
Icelandic families.’ Hearing the word,
Saga, puts an image of hardened warriors around a fire, telling their younger
kin stories about epic wars and glorious battle. I got into Gaming with Sci-fi
games and then was introduced to Flames of War.
Since then, I have gotten into more then my fair share of Sci-Fi, Steam
Punk, and Fantasy but, I had only ever gamed in World War II.
Back at Cold Wars in Lancaster, PA
I was walking by a booth and saw it: SAGA.
I told myself I didn’t need to get into another game but the seed was
planted and I was done at that point; I knew it was only a matter of time before I was painting new toy soldiers. Now, when I get into a game, I look at two things:
1. Rules- Is it fun
to play and is it easy to pick up. I have played the super complex games and now I just want to roll dice and have a good time.
2. Models-
Collecting, hobbying and painting are my bread and butter. I need to have fun putting together my band of brave warriors and epic heroes otherwise, they won't get past the primer stage and live in my closet from then on.
I didn’t have a lot of time
with the book but one thing that threw me off was how the points worked. It wasn’t until I was talking to Steven that
he broke it down simply for me. An
average game will be right around 6 points, keep that in mind. A player will start with a Warlord- He is
free since you must have one. Already, a
HUGE plus for the game, my ‘hero’ is free.
Then, a player can buy any of the following for 1 point each:
-4 Hearthguard (High End Troops)
-8 Warriors (Middle of the Road Troops)
-12 Levis
(Can you say, Dime a Dozen?!?)
That means
that a Warlord could have his best 24 Hearthguard at 6 points or 72 Levis in the same
list. My money would be somewhere in
between.
I started to do a bit of reading
online about the ‘Viking Age’ and have really started to like what I was
finding. After reading some blogs like
Scary Biscuit, WWPD and now The Tapestry, I am done. This is my second Historical Period so I was
nervous about how to start. I have seen
what Hollywood
has done with the ‘Viking Age’ but I didn’t know the true history. Like I said before, I had done some reading
and I was unsure who to pick. So, I went
back to what I used to tell people while working in a Hobby/Game store.
Pick
what you think looks cool. Tactics,
special rules, cool do-dahs mean nothing if you will not paint these models
up. Since I am involved in a Game and
Hobby- I need to start with what looks cool.
So, after looking over some models, I was torn between two warbands:
Viking and Normans. Based simply on the
models I can look at, I chose the Vikings.
So, over the coming months, I will be writing about building the models,
painting them and then actually playing with them.
Thanks for reading,
Jordan
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