When I got home from work this evening, issue 301 of Wargames Illustrated was waiting for me. The first thing I noticed was that the back cover was a Saga Battleboard for the Byzantines. Inside are the 4-page faction rules. A brief read-through of the abilities shows that the Byzantine units need to work very closely together. I'm guessing that these will be available as PDFs for downloads on the WI website in due course.
One thing that strikes me as being a little odd is that an empire which hired lots of mercenaries cannot include "Swords for hire" in their warbands.
I have just seen this on Meeples and Miniatures and all I can say is wow
ReplyDeleteByzantines? Oooh, that'll get me into SAGA, no doubt!
ReplyDeleteThanks for the heads up but I haven't even finished reading issue 300 yet!
ReplyDeleteSurely it MUST include a Varangian Guard :-)
ReplyDeleteI was reading this myself and yes you're right!
ReplyDeleteNot seen it yet, but that does sound strange though???
ReplyDelete@ PK - wow indeed. Now they just need to give them some suitably Eastern opponents
ReplyDelete@ Michael C - well, Saga is worth getting as a quick pick-up game for when your opponent is late arriving at the FLGS or club
@ Legatus - has anyone finished reading WI300 yet?
@ Paul - if you pay a point to take a Basileus as your warlord you can have Varangians and cataphracts. However, they are both pretty weak-sauce compared to normal Byzantines and the Basileus is very crummy compared to normal warlords.
@ Fran and Ray - presumably it's because none of the current "swords for hire" would have served with them historically?
It will likely get on the web before the magazine makes it all the way to Darwin, Oztralia. Odd that mercenary units are not part of the standard Byzantine force.
ReplyDeleteCheers
Odd indeed...virtually every army (ancient up until the early 20th century) hired in troops.
ReplyDeleteCheers
paul
Interesting, it would be a fun force to have.
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