Who Are the Vikings?
The Vikings were Scandinavian people who are famous for raiding (via longboat over the sea), pirating, trading, settling, and hiring out as mercenaries all over Europe and some parts of Asia, but mainly in Britain. The period of around 800-1066 is often called the Viking Age because they played a large part in molding the history of Europe, either directly through conquest and raiding, or through trade, diplomacy and migration. Viking raiders settled in many places, then adapted their cultures to fit in and live with the people they ruled or lived beside.
Vikings are well-known for their religion – most folks are familiar with Odin, Valhalla, Thor, Loki, Yggdrasil, etc. It was all transmitted orally rather than via text, so much of it has had to be extrapolated from inscriptions and runes that were newer than the Norse religion. This is especially hard because Scandinavia was turned Christian during and after the Viking age ended.
Vikings in media are often portrayed as battle-hardened, bloodthirsty, Odin-crazed berserkers who have no concept of pain. More recent shows like Vikings do show that they were also farmers and settlers – rarely were they professional soldiers.
Editors note: It’s SAGA Summer! Enjoy our coverage during the raiding season as we take a look at the factions, miniatures, and everything else you need to get started playing SAGA and earning massacre points.
Why Play Vikings?
The Vikings are the archetypal SAGA Age of Vikings (AoV) warband. Many players will start in SAGA playing as Vikings with their Ragnar Lothbrok or Lagertha mini as their Warlord (I did!). Why play them? You love being aggressive, you love the Old Norse religion, you love Ragnarök.
Plastic Viking minis are easy to find from major companies, and their pewter companions are one of the minis that basically every historical manufacturer makes. There is a massive variety of minis to choose from to play Vikings.
If you’re looking for horses, heavy weapons, or an elite build this isn’t the place. Vikings are very basic in terms of unit equipment.
How They Play
Vikings are all about 100% aggression. They have few truly defensive abilities, with the exception being Odin, which helps preserve your units against shooting.
Almost every other ability adds attack dice, or makes your attack better. Two abilities actually lower your armor (Ragnarök reduces melee armor for every unit on the board!). You’re not bringing a tough warband – and I feel that ‘glass cannon’ gets heavily overused in wargaming – but if there is one in SAGA, Vikings have to be it.
Viking warbands are fairly simple – they have almost no equipment options that differentiate them from others. Warlords, Hearthguards, and Warriors all have regular shield and spear/sword/axe. Levies can choose from bows or javelins. The only difference you have is the choice of one Hearthguard unit becoming Berserkers – they double their attacks in melee but lower their Armor to three vs shooting/melee. Again – glass cannon!
If you’re here to paint up an elite warband of hearthguard with some sweet berserkers who are pissed off and not caring a bit about their own personal safety – back up a bit. Vikings are very much rewarded for bringing Warriors, because a lot of their abilities rely on gaining attack power at the expense of decreasing survivability – or even sacrificing their own, as in the case of Valhalla. Here’s an example: you’ve just started a melee, so you first add up your Combat Pool, taking X dice for each fighter, based on their status – one for warriors, two for hearthguard. So eight dice for a unit of eight warriors, eight for a unit of four hearthguard. Then you remove 1-3 models to gain three extra attack dice per guy. Removing two warriors gives you an additional six dice, so 14 total, with six left to take hits. Removing two hearthguard gives you an additional six dice, so 14 total, with two left to take hits. This means Warriors can soak up the extra casualties and still have models left over to fight or hold objectives!
If you’re able to get Ragnarök (in the AdeptiCon SAGA Hall I’ve been told in the past you have to yell it out in a mean voice!) off then it’s even better, as you can charge for free activations and Valhalla becomes basic (meaning you can do it more than once!). Hordes of Viking warriors running all over sacrificing their bodies to Odin and the corpse hall punching well above their own weight. They don’t care about the -1 armor because they were going to die anyway.
With three different fatigue removing abilities, the Vikings really want to be moving upfield and using multiple activations to try and remove enemy models and gain objectives. Keep your warriors in a loose formation with your Warlord in the middle at least within M and you can remove a fatigue off of each with Njord. The only downside is it takes a rare icon, which makes it a tough choice, and also that it applies to all units(!), both yours and your enemy!
You can also load yourself up with some Fatigue, charge into a key enemy unit with some Warriors, and then dare them to use your Fatigue or their own SAGA abilities if you have Loki queued up. I find myself using this a lot; it’s a great counter and makes the enemy feel bad for doing their own stuff. It’s another good way of shooting off a suicide charge with some Warriors.
None of what we’ve talked about here really has mentioned Levy, and there’s a reason for that. There just isn’t a whole lot of support for them on the battle board. Bows are welcome, and screening out your hyper-fragile armor three Berserkers is welcome, but they don’t have a ton of utility here otherwise.
Where Do I Begin?
- Viking Warlord
- 1 pt hearthguard (x4)
- 1 pt berserker hearthguard (x4)
- 1 pt warriors (x8)
- 1 pt warriors (x8)
- 1 pt warriors (x8)
- 1 pt levy with javelins (x12)
For me this is a great place to start, and exactly how I started playing six point games. It gives you a bodyguard for your Warlord in the shield/axe hearthguard and three units of warriors to play around with in Valhalla charges and hopefully a lucky Ragnarök. The levy are here simply to screen the berserkers from being shot off the board (enemies can’t trace LOS through a unit).
Vikings are the classic SAGA warband a place many players will start. Minis are widely available and many are full of the most character you’ll see on a SAGA board. The warband plays aggressively – just like what you’ll see on TV and in video games. If this is how you want to play, get out there and start your own personal Ragnarök!
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