SAGA: Age of Hannibal

[Koyote 1,675]

No official announcement yet, but according to Rodge from SAGA Thorsday, the Age of Hannibal will be the next faction book.

LINKY

And yes, it will include rules  for elephants.

 

[Koyote 1,675]

Looky what Studio Tomahawk posted on it's Facebook page.

 

[Ish 5,756]

[SigurdBC 188]

YES! May the thunderous charge of the elephant herald the coming of one of the greatest generals of the Ancient Times. Hannibal Barca!!! Those models look awesome. 

[A Lot of Gaul 0]

Not to be confused with the army-level ruleset Age of Hannibal, written by Greg Wagman and published in 2018 by Little Wars TV: http://www.littlewarstv.com/age-of-hannibal.html . 😉

[Ish 5,756]

I wonder how broad of a net they’ll cast for the time period covered by Age of Hannibal. Obviously, with the man’s name in the title, they’re going to have to cover the man’s most famous exploits during the Second Punic War (218-201 BCE) and might push it a bit to cover his earlier conquest of Hispania (c. 220 BCE) or the later Seleucid War (192–188 BCE)...

But I’d really love to be able to collect a force representing Yehudah ha-Makabi (a.k.a. Judah Maccabee) and the Maccabean Revolt (167–160 BCE). Because Hanukkah deserves a war game, dagnabbit.

[Koyote 1,675]

I finally broke down and ordered Age of Hannibal.

It has rules for elephants, sarissas (i.e. pikes), flaming pigs, new types of chariots, and optional rules for very large scale battles (12+ points per side. There are only 6 factions, but still there's enough variation and rules for optional builds to keep it interesting. 

Age of Hannibal includes optional rules for Ruses, which allow you to personalize your warband by modifying its composition and/or granting specific advantages or chances to deal treacherous blows to your enemies.

I've read online that Age of Hannibal is the first book in a series of 3 books for the Ancient World. I've also heard that the 4 new sets of dice released with AoH will be used in all 3 of the Ancient World books.

 

I LOVE the fact that Victrix has most of the kits you'll need to play any of the Age of Hannibal factions.

https://www.victrixlimited.com/collections/ancients

 

I think I will start with the Iberian faction.  It's peculiar rules and battle board will make it a tricky faction to master.  They are also one of the only factions that cannot take elephants. 😞

If I don't like the Iberian's play style or if I simply want to give elephants a try, it will be easy to switch them to Carthaginians. 

The Age of Hannibal rules for the Carthaginians incorporate the fact that the Carthaginians always used a large number of mercenaries in their land armies. They do this by dividing units into Citizen (Carthaginian) and Contingent (non-Carthaginian) units.  Even their battleboard has rules addressing these two components.

After conquering Iberia, the Carthaginian armies in Europe included large numbers of Iberian mercenaries, so switching my Iberians to Carthaginians will, at minimum, require me to change my Warlord and HG for Carthaginians.  The rest can remain Iberian models.

[Ish 5,756]

Who are the factions covered in Hannibal?

 

[Koyote 1,675]

21 hours ago, Ish said:

Who are the factions covered in Hannibal?

 

Republic of Rome -Can be led by a Consul or Tribune. The Consul is a standard warlord.  The Tribune is charismatic politico, not an experienced general.  His aggression is only 2.  He doesn't have the Pride rule.  His Bodyguard range is 6", but when the Tribune is eliminated, all friendly units gain one fatigue.  His We Obey rule allows him to activate 2 units within 4".  HG and warriors initially deployed in units of 8 models with no equipment option are considered "Maniples".  Certain advanced abilities give extra bonuses to Maniples. This faction can field elephants.

Graeculi (Greeks) -3 different varieties (Epirote, Syracusan, or Italiotes), each of which has its own rules for warband composition.  Graeculi have rules for phalanxes and make the most use of sarissas.  The Syracusan Warlord has an ability called Tyrant, that permits it to, once per turn, perform a rest activation that grants a friendly unit within 4" Resilience (1).  If the Tyrant is eliminated, all friendly units gain 1 fatigue.  The Epirote can field elephants..

Iberians -Have only one defensive ability, so they have to rely on maneuvering and terrain.  Don't have the Activation Pool basic ability.  Instead they have the Guerrilla ability and Guerrilla makers.  Each time the Iberian player’s opponent resolves an activation with one of their units, the Iberian player can spend 2 Guerrilla markers to activate an Iberian unit. The Iberian player gains Guerrilla markers by using advanced abilities. No elephants and no chariots. 

Gauls -Many of the Gaul's advanced abilities can be boosted by adding a Fervour token to a unit. You don't have to earn Fervour tokens, you simply add them to a unit when you elect to boost an ability.  Once a unit has three Fervour tokens on it cannot use any advanced abilities, so you have to be judicious in your use of them and find ways to remove them from your units.  Chariots but no elephants.

Carthaginians -Your Warlord, HG, warriors (with no equipment), chariots, and elephants are Citizens.  You can also field warriors (which can have no equipment, bows, or mounted) as Contingent. Levy are neither. Many of the advanced abilities have different effects, depending upon whether a unit is Citizen or Contingent.  Carthaginians can field heavy chariots or elephants, but not both.

Numidians - Have no Hearthguard.  Historically, the Numidians relied on mercenaries to serve as their shock troops.   The lack of HG is balanced by being able to recruit lots  of elephants. They are a force reliant on cavalry and shooting.

[Koyote 1,675]

The mercenary units:

• Cretan Archers
• Tarentine Cavalry
• Balearic Slingers
• Mercenary Hoplites
• Ligurians
• Psioli
• Samnites
• Thueophoroi

Aside form Legandary Warlords (2 per faction), the only Legendary Unit is the War Pigs.

"Also called hogs of war, flaming pigs were used by several belligerents in the Ancient period, primarily to scare elephants.  Covered in wooden spikes and pitch, oil or tar, they were set alight and guided as much as possible in the direction of the enemy.  The Romans used them even before the Punic Wars, during Pyrrhus' Italian epic."

It's a Mercenary Levy unit comprised of one pig-keeper and 8 pigs (Armor 3/3 Aggression 1/3).  Unit's move is never reduced by terrain.

Once per turn it can be activated to make a free, range 6" shooting attack that generates no fatigue.  Remove 2 pigs from the unit. You roll no dice. Instead, if the target is infantry it suffers 1 automatic hit, if mounted 2 automatic hits, if elephant 3 automatic hits.  Target also suffers a fatigue.

Poor piggies.

[Koyote 1,675]

I noticed a paragraph that I missed during my first read through. It states that the other two supplements for the SAGA Universes of Antiquity series will be Age of Alexander and Age of the Caesars. It also states that all the factions in Universes of Antiquity "can battle each other without any concerns over balance".

Studio Tomahawk's plan for a 3-Book Universes of Antiquity series may explain why Age of Hannibal as only 6 factions when, excluding Age of Magic, the previously published supplements (Universes) each have 10+ factions.

[Koyote 1,675]

 

[Koyote 1,675]

https://www.facebook.com/groups/1512883212323934/permalink/2936196379992603/

That's a lot of Sarrisas!  Love the pics the author posted.