Joe Moore's Angry Pagan Rus Army!!!

By Joe Moore and Eric Lauterbach

After getting thrashed several times by Joe Moore's beautiful Rus Army I took some pics to show the SAGA crowd his great work.   I think I am total of 0-4 verse these guys but it has been a pleasure to watch his great looking troops work their Rus winter magic on my forces.  The army if you have never played it or against it makes your head spin with a what???  Eastern Anger can get real ugly when your whole army is close to the Rus Warlord.  What ever you do stay away from horses when you play against this army they are seriously hard on them.  So lets take a look at Joe's work.

Defeating the Pagan Rus

by Mike Wood

Here's a look at the abilities that make Pagan Rus hard to deal with and how you might stop them or at least neutralise their strengths in your  Saga games.

There has been some discussion on the forums about the abilities that Pagan Rus have and how they seem more akin to a form of fantasy "ice magic" than to real life. Each Saga faction is built around the tactics and flavour of the places, culture and time that they were found in. As a result, each faction is very unique (so far) and the Pagan Rus are no different in that respect. They can be seen as very defensive in their abilities. I have read that the "Byzantines had the measure of the Pagan Rus". If so, how? Here is a look at the Strengths and any Weaknesses of the Pagan Rus and how to work around them in battle!

Swords for Hire: Steppe Nomads

The recent Saga supplement Varjazi & Basileus contains an interesting little unit available to some of the factions.These Steppe Nomads are an upgrade that can add some flexibility.

Steppe Nomads - Swords for Hire (Copyright GB)

Steppe Nomads were tribes of peoples moving across Eastern Europe and Central Asia. Their skills and abilities with bows and horses along with a cruel nature made them ideal mercenaries for various armies, including the Rus and the Byzantines.

Focus On: Pagan Russ

I was fortunate to get a copy of the latest SAGA supplement: Variazi & Basileus. I'd like to have a closer look at the Pagan Rus from a stricly gaming perspective. I won't go to deep into the history because, frankly (no pun on powerful French kingdoms intended) I don't know much about these people or their story. So I'll leave you in the capable hands of fellow Sagamites, the internet, and books to help fill you in there.

In the meantime, fellow blogger Dux Homunculorum has done a great job reviewing the Pagan Rus and some of the other new factions in the game. If you don't follow his site already, you should!

Let's look at their abilities. I've paraphrased them to avoid tedious copying, but let me know if I've misinterpreted anything!