Home › Forums › News, Rumours & General Discussion › Saga Age of Magic: Gaming in the gaps – do you have any wild ideas for warbands?
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This topic contains 13 replies, has 6 voices, and was last updated by stubbybrush 3 years ago.
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October 3, 2021 at 9:31 am #1684232
So a thought about options to make other interesting Saga Age of Magic forces which would be able to cross pollenate figures from various ranges to make odds and ends allowing for gaming in the gaps to be more intriguing. Generally this would be an excuse to drag fantasy around and toss it about like an overzealous dog with its favorite stuffed toy before removing the squeaker because throwing money at sculptors and small companies of less viewed material could be interesting. Exploring more of the world’s mythologies is just something fun to do for shits and grins anyway. I’d say a good example of this would be Mythic Americas and how the Americas are getting featured for play these days.
The Golden Horde (The Horde): A force that features Mongolian helmeted goblins like those of old that GW put out as wolf riders. I think there might be more recent similar sculpts recently from a sculptor on myminifactory.com or cgtrader.com but I’d have to start digging again. Supplement with the ogre khans as a couple of creatures and you’re in business. Toss in a large Titan or Mobile War Machine like one of the magic powered mechanical monstrosities from the second Hellboy movie and you have the idea. Gripping Beast offers a camel riding drum player and that would be a figure that you’d never get to see enough of as part of a Hearthguard squad of bactrian (double hump camel) riders.
The Sons of Kali (Masters of the Underearth/The Great Kingdoms/Lords of the Wild): An Indian army that uses figures from the era of the Indian mutiny which could include firearms and cannons. As far as a monster option I’ve had one Harryhausen creation 3D sculpted; someone else could have another made as an addition to their own army. It might be a complete departure to just get a sculpt inspired by numerous depictions of Kali. Creature additions could be fearsome tigers or oversized cobras (do these count as two or four legs if they have none?). As a monster you could easily have an Asian elephant as a Titan or Behemoth as there are too many Carthaginian African elephants out there. Really, do you need any better reason to put a chunky elephant on the gaming table?
Army of the Phoenix Queen (The Great Kingdoms/The Otherworld): Use the newly announced figures that Gerry showed off of the Three Kingdoms era China and have it lead by a particular figure from Titan Forge under the Yokai heading. Tossing in katana/naginata, yari or tetsubo wielding bushi instead might be a good option. There are plenty of Asian dragons that could be used. Numerous oni can also be found on offer as creatures or potentially Hearthguard. Japan and China are well known mythologies to play with. With a little bit of sculpting, either 3D or by hand, one might be able to just get medieval Koryo (Koreans) played with assorted dokkaebi (Korean monsters: like the Japanese yokai/Chinese shen).
On Garuda’s Wings (The Great Kingdoms/The Otherworld/The Horde): A barebones idea born from doing reasearch into trying to find figures of Asian elephants. Really, who doesn’t want pachyderms parading on the table rofl-stomping your opponent to no end? I saw a page with either in either Khmer or Cambodian armor on elephant back. I remember seeing a webshop where there were also howdah with the option of adding riders to the sides armed with bows but I have yet to find it again. It could again be an interesting monster or chariot(?) option. The overall style of armor of SE Asia made it quite interesting when you consider all the ancient/medieval forces that historicals generally sell which have loads of metal. Those guys had distinct helmets and much lighter armor for the mobility/heat and resources available. As far as a monster I remember the garuda (search the interwebs for that) and Thai demons that could really add a different aesthetic to play. I don’t know anything other than that visually that could be added as options like creatures and the like.
The Hebrew Hammers (The Great Kingdoms/The Otherworld): As I tossed the Snag-A-Normie idea at Warren oh so long ago and I haven’t had any ‘normies’ around me I’ve been surprised to be around them through work. I have some friends who are Jewish and very happy to go on about their culture/heritage when we see each other. Considering the little I talk about my hobby I went on a thought experiment of how I might be able to make unwitting gamers out of them. With wit and cunning I must be crafty and lure them into our world that more games might be played.
Considering the many mentions of dropping to the 15mm scale, remembering Warren’s work on buying/rebasing Saga for larger looking forces, I thought that might be a way to go for ancient Israel. I was not let down to find some Maccabean Jews in 15mm. Now the only thing is to get appropriate elements of the supernatural (golems, angels … ???) in scale for the human force I can amass. If AD&D can have the spell ‘Sticks to Snakes’ then 15mm rabbi can be considered as sorcerers.
Of course, after all that, the opposing force I’d need to get them would be the Romans (with their wine, aquaducts, sanitation, etc., etc., etc.) which would need distinct monsters/creatures as well. Overall, this is a long term plan and would be long in the making. I’ve realistically got too much other shit on my plate to do now before I go off on some damn fool crusade like that. As a “what if…?” concept its fun to wonder for a moment.
Are there any other ideas that you could add to make the world of Saga Age of Magic a more crazy place which could be interesting as a cohesive army?
October 3, 2021 at 10:17 am #1684248I don’t have any suggestions to make, but I want more subjects / requests like this. Anything to shake up the few remaining working brain cells.
If it was possible I’d give this 5 STARS.
October 9, 2021 at 6:02 am #1685499Not real sure how Saga Age of Magic works rule wise (and only the faintest idea of how Saga works) but I am always up for spitballing exotic fantasy army ideas, so going to anyways.(edit and its a long list)
A Medieval/Renaissance Philippians army with fantasy touches would be interesting and pretty wild given their folklore.
Eastern European or straight up Medieval/Renaissance Russian fantasy army could have a lot going for it, and would probably be easy to do with Saga.
I am surprised you didn’t add anything from the African content, does Age of Magic have detailed army that covers things like Zulus?
A Persian empire with Mythric/Zoroastrian mythic touches themed army would be pretty easy to do, since their are 2 plastic lines out for Persians right now in 28mm.
Oh, and then there is generic sea dwellers like fish men (don’t know what they would proxy as or if they already have an official list in AoM).
Also a
fewlot of details or branching options for one of your suggestionsFor Korean dokkaebi, you could probably take some bareheaded elf models (something dressed like GW WFB high and dark elves or similar) or human models that look like they could pass as Korean (Fireforge’s mongol infantry) and just add horns or a horn to their foreheads, maybe throw in a loin cloth and club oni model, and play them as something archery and spear heavy.
One could do a pure Chinese themed army, particularly once Wargames Atlantic releases their Warring states and Boxer sets but you could do Terracotta warriors, Wuxi, undead, etc. themes right now if you can get your hands on some of the right Watchful I Studio or other mini makers products (and there are some STLs flouting around too). (P.S.: What 3 Kingdoms minis was Gerry talking about/showing off?)
Same deal, if not more so with Japanese historic and folklore themes, you have a lot more army style ideas to draw from again instead of just the typical Japanese human/yokai army theme, you could do Japanese themed Ogres, Undead, Goblins, Orcs, Dwarf, elves,etc. army lists subbing in yokai critters for the the normal models from foot soldiers to war beasts in said lists (if there are any such lists in AoM since I have no clue, but rule does apple to other rulesets like KoW and Oathmark). One can even drag in mythic characters as Leader/warlord/heroes for some of these armies. Here are a few that would be my picks for leaders/heroes:
For an ogre themed list you have the oni and myth wise you have these guys as leader/hero/warlord theme options for them:
Ōtakemaru: This brute could be a fairly basic oni model, or you could use an undead oni model for his later transformation (and yes there are miniature options for that on the market).
Shuten dōji : An oni model with a big saki bottle and buddhist pray beads would probably do the trick for this fellow, if he is in the middle of drinking bonus points.
Kidōmaru: Shuten’s bastard son in the myths, I would use a Cow skull instead of a full cow disguise on an oni model.
Ibaraki dōji : Shuten’s lieutenant and in some myths, mostly where Ibaraki is female, his lover. Again you could use any oni model but I would go the female oni or kijo route and probably use ether the reaper model or, if I want to be a little risque (since she is a very bad girl you might), a certain Soda Pop miniatures’ Relic Knight’s model for her.
There are several undead army themes one could go with from the Japanese myths, but for the wasabi version of the classic skeleton army I recommend these 2 characters and this monster as must haves:
Taira no Masakado: Basically either a human samurai or a flouting head (not hard to do), I would use a flashy model that looks good painted if I where to do the human, head route box of samurai heads, taken care of , just add paint.
Takiyasha hime: Taira no Masakado’s avenging daughter and a powerful necromancer with a fondness for frogs in Japanese myth, probably she normally depicted as riding around on a giant frog which might be a good project, but if you want her for lore theme purposes could also just add some head candles to geisha model or better yet suitably dressed female magic user model.
Gashadokuro: a giant skeleton monster Takiyasha hime summoned, more of a big monster unite but I added him cause he is related to the other 2. There are a couple of options for this out on the market one could use or convert to use for this easily (Zenit miniatures has one for kensi I believe and Reaper still has their giant Skeleton which is begging for this).
Sea dwellers are a pretty big thing in Japanese myth, and most obey the Sea Dragon Emperor/King Ryūgū-jō (I have no article for him which is why his name is not blue). For a basic army theme I would use mostly samurai and ashigura human models (maybe a fishy head swaps here or there) with some full fishmen thrown in all with bows and spears and a big sea monster (recommend a shark, but one could also have a dragon) and play them as elves (again I don’t know how Saga AoM works), for Ryūgū-jō himself either the monster model (dragon form) or some sorta of human sized character mini would do, maybe a dragon man in samurai apparel would be best if you can find one.
For most other forces again a lot you could do, but for yokai in general I recommend going with a list that allows you to make a full on 100 demon night parade, and at the head of that as a warlord you are probably going to want a Nurarihyon who is the leader of all the Yokai. A decent warlike Nurarihyon mini could probably be made simply by adding some green stuff to the back of the head of one of those “western goblins in Samurai cosplay” that keep getting made and sold as bakemo and yokai (they are not that). You might also want to add in Yuki onna as a spell caster/hero, and again not that hard to add since she can be done as a blue and white paint job to any female mini with some frost/snow elements added, you could even go more “girl power” and use a female samurai or ninja instead of the traditional kimono wearing one.
October 9, 2021 at 6:42 am #1685504Great additions to the thread. I’ve thought about Africa but its just a matter of narrowing down the area and really digging into the myths. I haven’t set my head to it as I think most minis lines you’d end up with would lack great distinctions. As far as cultural dress there are distinctions visually but medieval (?) Sub-Saharan Africa just doesn’t have a history of armor that would lend a distinct look that separated one people from another very well.
Looking at the Japanese information I’m struck in the same way as when I first watched the film “The Mikado”. The listing that would be best in AoM for the forces would be The Otherworld. Its a catch all monstrous/mythical/eldritch supernatural force but you can probably take your oni army and say they are Lords of the Wild as they live in the cursed corners of the earth or perhaps The Horde from the sheer desire to spread far and wide from escaping the underworld. For the mechanics of Saga it pretty much runs light with minor variations between stereotypes of armies. There are no set armies for races as to allow for being miniatures agnostic. That being said, the Age of Magic book actually features various oni in the photos used for The Otherworld section as to show that its not all Eurocentric mythology minis.
Thinking back to the Slavic/Eastern European mythology there might be space for people who wanted to jump into something along the lines of The Witcher.
When you wrote “Philippians” did you mean the Philippines? That opens up Tagalog, Cebuano and Ilocano major language resources as well as a slough of smaller dialects to try and draw from depending on what island you’re on. It reminds me of the Netlfix series that just came out not long ago (terrible animation imo) that could be a jumping off point for monsters.
October 10, 2021 at 2:30 am #1685571Decided to look up what the factions/play styles where for AoM and found the blackshawgaming and Harold’s Revenge blogs, so now I have a mildly better idea what you are going for based on the names and what they where doing army wise (‘The Otherworld’ (demons), ‘Masters of the Underearth’, ‘The Horde’, ‘The Lords of the Wild’, ‘The Undead Legions’ and ‘The Great Kingdoms’ (medieval society)).
Yeah, I meant Philippines as in the Filipino, Moro,etc. in the Archipelagos. Very colorful area historically, I think Old Glory has stuff for the early Spanish incursions/colonization of the area if you want to do ‘Great Kingdoms’. From what little I know about their folklore monsters, if one can get the models for it you might be able to do ‘The Otherworld’, ‘The Undead Legions’, and ‘The Lords of the Wild’.
There is actually a little history of armor Africa, admittedly mostly in the North, but there are some uniquely African examples. Perhaps the most well know being from Southern Nigeria region in the form of the Benin Empire, and there are some 3D print greenskin minis based of them.
If I where doing an Eastern European themed fantasy army for AoM, personally I would focus on Russia folklore and either do Vladimir’s knights of the Golden Table or Marya Morevna themed ‘Great Kingdoms’ with force which would be easy, though you could also probably do a ‘The Horde’ force for some of the baddies at least (maybe even goodies).
After finding out what the “factions” where, while you are right about the oni, to be honest ‘The Undead Legions’ and ‘Great Kingdoms’ (humans) would probably be the easiest and fastest ones to do out of Japanese folk lore with whats available mini wise on the market right now.
Also given the sandbox like quality of them all, while ‘The Otherworld’ makes the most sense description wise for yokai in general, you could probably field a Night Parade themed force as any of the 6 mentioned pretty easily except maybe (and that’s a big maybe) ‘Masters of the Underearth’ and still make sense theme and playwise since yokai very in myth from being horror monster to parodies of feudal life (sometimes with the same monsters). Likewise a lot of forces from Japanese myths are pretty much just parallels the humanity, the Sea Dragon Emperor’s legions for example would probably work best with a ‘Great Kingdoms’ list. If one has sculpting talent, Yokai.com likely has something one could use as inspiration to fill in that “punch/needed” unite on the roster
October 14, 2021 at 2:26 am #1686564So I fell down a rabbit hole on the African issue of weaponry/armor and found a reasonably priced hardcover copy of “African Arms and Armour ” (ISBN 978-1560983170)
I also stepped sideways (not like that Werewolf players for WoD) and found a forum dedicated to weaponry that really might help for building realism into your fantasy. There was quite a bit to look at and just oggle with curiosity.
Ethnographic Weapons – Ethnographic Arms & Armour (vikingsword.com)
Dream Warriors (Lords of the Wild/The Horde?) An Australian aborigine collection of figures that add in bunyips, yowwie and muldjewankg as monsters. I had little idea before but there might be potential there.
Thinking about islands, instead of the latest and greatest releases of cow elves could there be re-use of the sea elves for a force based on Northern Europe? Considering there are also selkies and such to bring into play it doesn’t seem so unreasonable to refashion that kind of sea related stuff.
On that note I found Signum Games made this
October 14, 2021 at 10:38 am #1686640“fell down a rabbit hole” Dude, you dived in there, head first, knowing very well: “It’s a calculated risk but boy am I bad at maths” 😉
October 14, 2021 at 4:46 pm #1686721Well, laa-dee-daah Mr. Professional Computer guru. I don’t have a background in statistics. Give me proofs or some Boolean logic and I’m ok. As far as the research I think that this is a good way to balance out the austerity of the Anti Shiny Syndrome, balance to the Force and all.
November 8, 2021 at 1:29 pm #1692136This isn’t quite dead yet.
I found wondrous minis for Indonesian flair for great AoM gaming. I also remembered a video segment from a film I watched long ago.
https://www.myminifactory.com/object/3d-print-006-indonesian-myth-rangda-side-minis-188314
https://www.myminifactory.com/object/3d-print-006-indonesian-myth-barong-minis-188312
November 8, 2021 at 1:32 pm #1692139November 10, 2021 at 9:59 pm #1693052November 11, 2021 at 12:44 am #1693058@torros -facepalm- I think I might need more than that in thinking you might’ve been serious for a second.
On another note I think that a drunkard force might be an option. I considered the “Closing Time” box set from Wyrd for 2nd ed. Malifaux and supplementing with more Moon Shinobi, some tanuki and Fermented River Monks. Its all a laugh really and would never be possible to field for lack of model poses. I remember the Nightmare Whiskey Golem which could be used as the monster addition (if you ever could find one). All the boozy goodness that includes a gremlin getting plastered beneath the booze powered behemoth “Whiskey Rage!”.
November 11, 2021 at 11:42 am #1693148I bought Saga Age of Magic a couple of years ago and although I haven’t actually started anything yet, my intention was to build warbands themed on the factions in the Elderscrolls series of games. I think you can actually do a relatively good job of building most factions using historical miniatures in “true” 28mm scale. And with many manufacturers of historical miniatures also producing fantasy ranges alongside their historical ranges, you can even make some of the non-human races. The only faction I can’t currently find any solid miniatures range for would be the khajeet cat people. Cat people miniatures do exist but they never seem to capture the essence of the Elder Scrolls.
As a system I think it has so much potential because of the sheer flexibility that having no fixed factions gives you.
November 11, 2021 at 12:04 pm #1693158It might seem a bit obvious, but have you tried looking for D&D Tabaxi figures ?
I have seen them on ETSY if that is any help.
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