official uk saga grand melee 2015

OFFICIAL UK SAGA
GRAND MELEE 2015
3rd & 4th October, Derby Worlds.
Thank you for registering for the Official UK SAGA
Grand Melee 2015. In this booklet you will find out how
the tournament will be organized and which scenarios
will be played, including the scoring system. We have
tried to make these things as easy to understand as
possible, but should you have any questions after
reading this pack, or if we have missed anything,
please feel free to drop us a line at grippingbeast@
btconnect.com and we will do our best to answer your
questions.
Registering.
The first thing you should do when you arrive at the venue
(Castle Donington International Exhibition Centre, DE74
2RP) is to sign-in with the over-all competition organisers
and then head to the SAGA registration desk. Waiting
for you there will be your tournament package including
your exclusive Grand Melee participant figure and fatigue
counters. To pick up your package you will need to swap it
for a copy of your completed Warband Roster Sheet for our
records (see section below on Warband Roster Sheets.)
Factions.
You can enter the UK GM with a six point warband from
any officially published faction i.e. anything in SAGA Dark
Age Skirmishes, Northern Fury, Raven’s Shadow, Varjazi
& Basileus or SAGA The Crescent & The Cross. You can
also use the Skraelings and the Steppe Tribes lists that
were published in Wargames Illustrated. All Heroes of
the Viking Age, Heroes of the Crusading Age, Swords for
Hire and Dogs of War may be used as per their rules. You
may not use the SAGA Revenants or the Arab lists from
Wargames Illustrated.
Please note, while this is the Official UK SAGA GM, you
are free to use figures from any manufacturer so long as
they are What You See Is What You Get (WYSIWYG) so
no Space Wolves pretending to be Vikings, no Riders Of
Rohan masquerading as Normans……. Furthermore, all
figures must be painted and appropriately based. They
don’t have to be ‘mini-Mona Lisas’ but any unpainted or
unbased figures will not be allowed. For consideration in
the Best Painted/ Modelled Warband category, you must
have painted the figures you are using yourself.
Warband Roster Sheet.
Each Warband Roster Sheet must contain the following
details: player name, faction, the points spend breakdown
and the Warband composition. By point spend breakdown
we mean, for example, 2 points Hearthguards, 2 points
Warriors, 2 points Levy. For Warband composition,
please indicate for each class of troops the number of
models fielded, and any equipment or special options
selected. These equipment/options are fixed for the whole
tournament. However, you may change the way you field
your troop types from game to game (e.g. you could field
eight Hearthguard models with the same equipment as two
units of four in the first game and as one unit of eight in the
next.)
Example: Your Norman Warband roster points spend
breakdown indicates that you have spent three points
on Warriors. Your Warband composition lists that out of
your 24 Norman Warriors, 10 will be mounted, 8 will have
crossbows and 6 do not have any option. You can still
organize the 10 mounted Warriors in two units at the start
of a game, it is not mandatory to field them in a single unit,
but they will always be mounted.
You will need further copies of this roster so that an
opponent may consult it at any time before, during or after
the game. Many people like to keep copies of Warband
rosters that they have played against so it might be an idea
to bring a few!
While we are at it, don’t forget:
•
your painted and based Warband
•
your dice, SAGA & D6 (if you are using homemade SAGA dice, please make sure the symbols are
completely obvious for your opponent. Any knock-off
SAGA dice will be ground under foot and the owner’s teeth
pulled.)
•
your completed roster sheets
•
your measuring sticks or rulers (if you are not
using Official SAGA Measuring Sticks, please check yours
against an official set (not the printed examples in the back
of the rulebooks as bizarrely there are two versions of
these).)
•
your fatigue tokens
•
your Dark Age rulebook and the supplement with
your faction in it, or The Crescent & The Cross, whichever
is appropriate
•
a pen and some paper (always handy)
Code Of Conduct.
This event is going to be a relaxed affair. Despite being
a competition, we expect the players to behave like
gentlemen and ladies, and the fun and pleasure of meeting
new opponents should be more important that winning your
match. We won’t allow any inappropriate behaviour and it
will be subject to severe sanction. You have been warned!
ADDITIONAL RULES FOR ALL SCENARIOS.
No SAGA Dice?
A player immediately loses the game if, at the start of their
turn, their warband does not generate any SAGA Dice. The
game ends immediately.
There will be judges at the event who will be on hand to
answer any rules questions. Their words are final. Even if
they are wrong.
Unless specifically over-ruled in this document or by the
judges on the day, the rules as defined in SAGA The
Crescent & The Cross rulebook (English language version)
will be used. This is effectively the same as SAGA Dark
Ages plus the errata but The Crescent & The Cross will be
taken as the definitive version of the rules.
Swiss.
After the first round, Swiss pairing format will be used
to determine opponents and pairings will be based on
result, however, players will meet each other only once,
regardless of relative rankings. A results slip will be
provided for both players to complete at the end of each
game.
First Round Parings.
For the first round, players will be paired randomly. Note
that, for the first round only and as far as possible, players
using warbands from SAGA The Crescent and The Cross
will be randomly paired with other players using warbands
from this book.
Scoring.
Unless specifically mentioned in the additional scenario
notes below, the scoring is carried out as per the scenario
descriptions in the relevant rulebook. However, any
player who scores at least 8 more Victory Points than
his opponent has won a Crushing Victory and will earn 6
points for the Match rather than the usual 5 points.
Prizes.
We will be awarding prizes for First Place, Second Place,
Third Place, Last Place, and Best Painted/Modelled
Warband. Each scenario will also have a spot prize that will
be announced at the start of each round. We will also be
running the Second Annual Face Of SAGA, a competition
for the Most Impressive Facial Hair.
As a bonus, the massive prize stash of GB goodies has
been supplemented by our good friends The Dice Bag
Lady and 4Ground.
Placing Scenery.
The tables at the GM will be 48” x 48” with space either
side for your Battle Board, dice and assorted gubbins.
Scenery will be provided at each table, players will perform
scenery bids as normal. Terrain will be selected from the
pieces available, usually between 7-10 varied pieces.
These will be placed according to the terrain rules on
pages 106 - 107 of The Crescent & The Cross rulebook.
In some cases, the scenario in play may modify the terrain
placement rules. If both players agree, a judge may place
their terrain for them.
The Scenarios.
Please note, timings for each round will be provided on the
day once we have sussed out some local logistics (such
as length of queues for food and coffee!) Out of respect to
your opponent and other players in the tournament, please
try and finish your games within time. Also, be aware that
Ragnar does not approve of deliberate draws…..
Game 1 - Saturday Morning - Clash Of Warlords
(Butcher’s Version)
This is the Clash of Warlords from the SAGA Dark Age
rulebook. However, only models eliminated during a Melee
(from step 0 to step 8) count as eliminated for Victory
Points. Other models do NOT count. Set the models
eliminated outside a Melee sequence apart, to avoid
counting them for VPs.
Game 2 - Saturday Afternoon - Homeland
From SAGA Dark Age. As per Rulebook, no GM changes.
Game 3 - Saturday Afternoon - Battle Twilight
From SAGA The Crescent & The Cross. As per Rulebook,
no GM changes.
Game 4 - Sunday Morning - The Challenge
From SAGA Dark Ages with modifications as listed below:
Layout: No piece of scenery may be placed within S of the
centre of the table.
Length of Game: The game lasts for 6 rounds.
Deployment: Each player sets aside their Warlord, they are
not deployed at this point.
Starting with the player who placed the first piece of
scenery, each player deploys at least half the models in his
Warband (complete units) within M of his table edge. Each
player then deploys the rest of their models, in the same
order.
Randomly determine who goes first. The player going first
then places his Warlord within S of the centre of the table.
His opponent then places his Warlord within S of the centre
of the table, and more than VS away from the enemy
Warlord.
nor suffer any effect that would result in them being
sacrificed, killed or removed from the game. No opponent
may play any ability, nor use any special rule, which would
kill, sacrifice or remove your Warlord from the game, even
if that ability or special rule is subject to a choice on the
behalf of the targeted Warlord.
The area that extends within S of the centre of the table
is called the Challenge Ground. This area is impassable
to all models other than Warlords. The area outside the
Challenge Ground is impassable to Warlords, so they will
remain within the Challenge Ground throughout the game
and other units will not enter.
Warlord Special Rules: Warlords fighting within the
Challenge Ground are subject to the following special
rules:
• Warlords do not benefit from their “We Obey”, “Side by
Side” or “Resistance” special rules.
• Warlords may not shoot at, nor be shot at by, units
outside the Challenge Ground.
• If the Warlord unit consists of more than one model (as
is the case with some Heroes,) they are all deployed in
the Challenge Ground.
• Any special rule that would force another unit to be
deployed within “X” of their Warlord is ignored entirely.
• Warlords are immune to an opponent’s SAGA abilities.
They may never be targeted by SAGA abilities and
ignore all effects of such when played by an opponent.
An opponent may play abilities to gain the benefits
(such as extra attack dice, etc) but may not play those
that affect the enemy Warlord (such as reducing his
dice pool or armour value, etc). Abilities that affect
multiple units may still be played but they just don’t
affect the Warlord.
• Simply consider that the battle field and the Challenge
Ground are two separate game areas, sharing only the
SAGA dice.
• Each time a Warlord takes a hit or game effect that
should eliminate him, the player who inflicted that hit or
triggered that effect gains a Might Token. At the end of
the game, each Might Token is worth 1 VP.
Game 5 -Sunday Afternoon - God Will Recognise His
From SAGA The Crescent & The Cross. As per Rulebook,
no GM changes.
What happens if I forget to bring something crucial?
We won’t be bringing the Trade Stand to the GM so if you
have forgotten your dice, snapped a measuring stick or left
your rulebook on top of the car as you set off (it happened
last year!) then you can always stop off at The Dice Bag
Lady stall in the Trade hall. She is 100% Ragnar Approved.
Victory Conditions: At the end of the 6th round, each
player totals their Slaughtering Victory points, and adds the
bonuses described below. If a player has scored at least 2
VPs more than their opponent, then they have won.
Special Rules: In this scenario, Warlords cannot be killed,
Ragnar says, “Good Luck & if in doubt, CHARGE!”