Building a Irish Saga Army Part 1
I have been playing Saga for a number of years on and off, mainly using left over 28mmm Vikings from my DBM days. The Viking warband never really grabbed me, probably because it was chosen for me because of the existing figures I had.
While these figures look great I have stopped using the Viking warband and of recent times have started using the Viking figures as proxy Irish and really like the way that they play. As a result I have started looking at figures to build an Irish war band with Irish figures.
Let’s start with the warlord.
I generally use my warlord as a fighting machine which with the Irish you can make almost invulnerable with the “Blood of Kings” saga ability.
In the end I decided to use the High King Brian Boruma mac Cennetig. I have no rationale for this other than being an old codger myself I like the idea of the warband being led by a dottery old 88 year old who was killed by his fleeing enemy because he just couldn’t get out of their way!
The old Brian Boruma mac Cennetig is far from the peak of health and should avoid close combat at all, but his presence inspires all Irish units, enabling them to reduce fatigue. In addition unlike other Heroes of the Viking Age he does not cost you anything.
The decision means you are trading a fighting warlord for one that is more defensive in nature.
Having made the decision to go with the High king, how then should I depict him? The easy answer would be to just use one of my existing Warlord types but the whole purpose was to build an Irish army using Irish figures. I also wanted a figure that would depict the Old Boru. Two suppliers have a seated Brian Boru, Footsore Miniatures and Gripping Beast.
Crusader miniatures also have a Brian Boru mounted and on foot.
I preferred the look of the Gripping Beast figure, but because it was going to be the only figure I ordered from North Star I went for the Footsore Miniatures version. The three figure pack will allow me to complete a nice scenic base befitting the High King.
Should I decide to use a more aggressive warlord down the track, the model could be used to depict his son, ……………..
With the Warlord decided upon for no points cost yet what was next?
By using High King Brian Boruma mac Cennetig I could also take Ulf the Quarrelsome, his avenging brother. He is a souped up Curaidh with 6 attacks and armour 6. Who better to avenge the death of the High King?
Virtually any Hearthguard figure could be used for Ulf. Eventually I chose The Footsore Ulf figure.
As my final character I chose a warrior priest, because what quarrelsome Irish contingent should be without one?
There is any amount of 28mm warrior priests on the fantasy and historical figure market. I already had several but they were in appropriate “unit sizes” that I did not want to break up. I liked the Foot Sore miniatures one because he looked suitably Irish (you can tell by the shamrocks under his cassock!) so that was ordered.
For a warband list that did not include Ulf the Quarrelsome I would substitute him for 2 Curaidh and do away with the Warrior priest. To maintain the warband narrative I could still use these two figures and their names as standard Curaidh or I could use two other figures. The Footsore champions are excellent and I decided to have the choice of both options..
I now have two special characters and a warrior priest for 2 pts or a special character and two Curaidh for zero points. In order to be able to take the two Curaidh I need two units of Fianna.
Irish mounted Fianna only receive the minus 1 on armour for being mounted as they are assumed to be the best equipped (see FAQ). Their foot cousins also receive a minus 1 because of the scarcity of armour available in Ireland.
I chose two units of four mounted combined into a unit of six with two dismounted Curaidh, or one of four if Ulf and the warrior priest are being fielded.
Crusader miniatures make two packs of mounted Irish Nobles. I have chosen one of each.
The Irish warband can have a devastating shooting phase if the right saga abilities can be employed together. The added advantage is both their Fianna and Bonnacht’s can move and shoot with javelins.
In order to use these benefits I chose two units of Bonnachts. Crusader Miniatures have a unit command (4 figures) of which I purchased two and a unit of Irish unarmoured warriors (8 figures). This gave me two units of eight complete with command figures just in case down the track I wanted to use the Banner Rules.
Finally for my last choice you cannot have an Irish army without Irish Wolfhounds. There are a number of these figures on the market but I decided on the Crusader Irish Wolfhound pack but I may substitute the handlers supplied for the Frost Grave handler I already have.
So what did I finally end up with?
6 Point Warband
Brian Boru
Ulf the Quarrelsome
Warrior priest
1 X 4 Mounted Fianna
2 X 8 Bonnachts
1 X 8 Wolfhounds
4 Point Warband
Brian Boru
2 only Curaidh
1 X 6 Mounted Fianna (2 units combined)
1 X 8 Bonnachts
1 X 8 Wolfhounds
I also wanted a bit of variety and have also allowed for a “no name” warlord and a unit of 4 Fianna on foot. The Crusader Warlords and Leader pack will do nicely and enable me to build the Fianna on foot as well.
This should give me all the variety I require. With the composition of the army and the figures chosen I now just have to decide how I am using them. I will have plenty of time to think about this while I am waiting for the figures to arrive.
Part 2 will deal with the tactics I plan on using, although as Helmuth von Moltke said,
“No Battle Plan Survives Contact with the Enemy”.
Good luck and happy gaming David S.
