SAGA Speculation

The release of Raven's Shadow in late November brings the addition of four more factions to the SAGA game: Hiberno-Norse, Franks, Strathclyde Welsh and the Irish.  As with the first expansion, this second expansion is mostly a variation on the original factions.  If you have one or two different warbands, there's at least one warband in this new release that can allow you to use another battleboard.

Where else can SAGA go from here?  Based on hints from Studio Tomahawk, and references in some recent podcast interviews with Meeples and Miniatures and Historical Wargaming, plans are in place to add factions multiple times a year for the next three years.  

1) Back in Time.  Given the popularity of Dux Bellorum and Dux Britannarium, a SAGA Arthurian expansion would be very successful   This could include four to six new factions (Romano-British, Saxon invaders, Picts, Early Irish and Early Welsh) plus some very interesting hero characters. With the amount of Arthurian miniatures people are picking up right now, adding a third game can get more use out of the same figures.

2) Moving East. The official release of the Byzantine battle board, and the non-official Arab release offers promise of SAGA staying in the ninth and through eleventh centuries, but with a move to the east.  Even if Vikings are the glue that hold SAGA together, their eastern journeys bring in the Rus as a new factions along with the Byzantines, Bulgars and possibly a steppe faction.  The Byzantines connect to Italo-Normans, Lombards and possibly the Seljuk Turks.  

3) Reconquista and First Crusade. I seem to recall an interview with Alex where he mentioned that El Cid era Christians and Moors were a part of their plans.  The Spanish theater alone could provide four or more factions from among the Christian kingdoms of the North and the Taifa kingdoms along with the Almoravids.  A Crusades supplement that focuses on the early Crusades could include the Crusaders, Turk/Abbasid, Armenians and Fatimids.     

Worth noting is that Gripping Beast, Studio Tomahawk's miniature partner, already has lines of miniatures for the Spanish, Moors, Rus, Slavs, Early Crusaders and Arthurians.

I'm excited about the future of SAGA and Dark Age skirmishing in general. This speculation has also inspired me to put together another custom battleboard, one still in the tenth and eleventh centuries, but much further afield than Europe and not likely to be officially released.  More later...