SAGA into Open Combat

Apologies for going a whole month without blogging. I have done my share of gaming and painting in the past month, but kid's birthdays, school sports and a return to running nearly eliminated my blog time. On the positive side, I can now build up a reserve of posts for times when I am crunched for time.

SAGA is my usual go-to historical skirmish game, but Open Combat is increasingly filling a niche: a quicker game, fewer figures, or games with newer players (like my young son).  SAGA is far quicker than most historical games, and its unit point system makes list building a matter of minutes.

On the other hand, Open Combat can be time consuming with its initial RPG-lite character creation, so I have been working on a few rules to convert SAGA figures into Open Combat.  As an “open” system, Open Combat can handle any self-imposed rules players choose to create.

First, to preserve SAGA’s units, the different quality troops will have assigned Fortitude and Renown points. These values will be apply across different factions. Warlords will not be assigned FOR points, as Warlords are meant to be more unique than other troops.

TROOP TYPE	Renown	Fortitude
Levy	12	2
Warrior	18	3
Hearthguard	24	4
Warlord	30	-

Norman Archer (Levy) 

SPD	ATK	DEF	FOR	MIN	WPN	Abilities
3	2	2	2	1	Bow	Aim

For Warriors, the points go up by 6, giving them a Renown of 18.

Norman Spearman (warrior)

SPD	ATK	DEF	FOR	MIN	WPN	Abilities
3	3	3	3	2	Spear, Shield	Resolute, Shield Bash

The Warrior with a crossbow makes a formidable Dark Ages sniper:

Norman Crossbow (warrior)

SPD	ATK	DEF	FOR	MIN	WPN	Abilities
4	4	2	3	2	Crossbow	Marksman, Aim

The classic Norman troop is the mounted cavalryman. The Warlord, center, is flanked by two knights.

Norman Knights

SPD	ATK	DEF	FOR	MIN	WPN	Abilities
7	4	4	4	2	Lance, Shield	Furious Assault

Warlord

SPD	ATK	DEF	FOR	MIN	WPN	Abilities
8	5	4	5	3	Sword, Shield	Furious Assault, Inspire, Intimidate

To set your points for a match, begin with 30 for the Warlord, and add multiples of 24 to make purchasing easier.  The warband above is worth 198 points; 30 for the Warlord, 48 for four levy, 72 for four warriors and 48 for two knights. Finally, this is not meant to go against the ethos of Open Combat or "fix" it, but more as a way to show its adaptability to a variety of settings.

Up next, creating some foes for the Normans.