SBH-SOLO [Project update #1]

SBH-SOLO = Song of Blades and Heroes Solitaire

In other words, SBH-SOLO is the official name of the project that I have undertaken for this November as a part of the Solo Tabletop Gaming Appreciation Month, mentioned in an earlier post this week. I am about to create some kind of solitaire rules for the miniature skirmish wargame Song of Blades and Heroes.

This is the first post, showing the progress of the project. Not much details in this post. More details of the basic concept/idea/mechanics behind the solitaire rules will follow tomorrow or the day after tomorrow.

Anyway, here's a photo showing early play-testing. I don't even have "real" miniatures (have ordered online, not yet received), so I'm playing with small wooden cubes. Since my goal is play-testing and developing of the solitaire rules, this setup is good enough.

Fury in P500 at GMT Games

One of my all-time favourite two-player boardgames are Manoeuvre from GMT Games. It is a fast-playing wargame of the 19th century battlefield. I have mentioned it in an earlier post, that the Manoeuvre designer, Jeff Horger, is working on a fantasy version, based on Manoeuvre. I'm excited!

GMT Games has put it up for P500 pre-ordering at $45 (USD). So far 78 orders. Since I love Manoeuvre, I'm pretty sure that I will put in an order within a few days (just need to convince my wallet!). This is game I don't want to miss.

There is actually one thing about Manoeuvre that I'm not so fond of, and that are the map boards. The art/design of those are extremely dull. The box, the counters, the cards and the rule book, all have nice and good-looking art. But the map boards, they are really uninspiring and plain boring. I really hope GMT Games invest in a full makeover of those boards for Fury. Nevertheless, Fury will be a great game, I am sure! =)

Solo Tabletop Gaming Appreciation Month is here!

It is dark. It is rainly. It is cold. It is a typical November in Sweden.

And it is the Solo Tabletop Gaming Appreciation Month!

By an initiative by JF of the SoloNexus blog, this is an event dedicated to solitaire tabletop gaming. Any project related to solitaire tabletop gaming seems to be welcome, so I will join the force of solitaire gamers and contribute with the following project:

A solitaire plugin module for the fantasy skirmish minitaure wargame Song of Blades and Heroes. In other words, my goal this month is to create a set of rules, that (on a VERY basic level) mimics a human player, and could be used as an automated opponent when playing this game solitaire.

I will most likely not have a finished product by the end of the month, but my hope is to have something playable. A draft. I will continuously update this blog with the progress, and in the end of the month, the result.

Warhammer Invasion rushed to the market?

Bought the card game Warhammer Invasion a while back, but have not got the chance to sit down and try it. Two days ago I decided to read through the rules and learn it, so I could play it with a friend the upcoming weekend.

The reading started off quite good and I felt that I had a grip on most of the rules. Yesterday evening I figurered that I should set up the game on the table and try it out solo, just once before running it "live" with my friend. Then the bad feelings started to pop up...

While playing solo, I needed a few rule clarifications, so I went to BoardGameGeek and browsed through the game's rules forum for the answers. Hundreds of questions. Not a good sign. Then I went to Fantasy Flight Games' site and downloaded the official FAQ and errata document... then I went into shock... 18 pages of corrections and questions! Almost as many pages as in the rule book itself!

Okay, I will not give up on the game. I will plow through the FAQ/errata, together with some user-created turn sequence summaries that look nice. But I must say, I get the feeling that this game was rushed into release. I mean, so many questions, and so many printing errors. Okay, it is a big game, many hundreds of cards, so a certain amount errors is of course inevitable, but I do think this was in the upper edge...

A board for Song of Blades and Heroes

Have spent two evenings in creating a simple board for the miniature wargame Song of Blades and Heroes. Went amok with my water color on a large white paper, and created an abstract painting that could resemble (with quite a bit of imagination) some kind of grassy nature area. I attached the painting onto a piece of cardboard and then covered it all in transparent film (normally used for protecting books).

I made the board 60x60 cm, so that it is suiteable for 15 mm miniatures.

Speaking of miniatures... I have no 15 mm miniatures... To start with, I will just use small wooden markers or similar, to test the rule system. Then I will buy a few warbands from either Pendraken Miniatures or Magister Militum.

Shadow Era

Shadow Era is a pretty new digital Trading Card Game, available on many platforms, e.g. Android (which I use), iPhone, web (which I use), as downloadable/standalone game etc. It is similar to Magic the Gathering in play, maybe a little simplier (from what I have heard, have not played Magic myself).

You buy cards, construct your deck(s), play and win so called Shadow Crystals and Gold (so that you can buy even more cards) and so on. You don't have to buy cards with real-world dollars, but you could. And if you do, those cards are still cheap, comparing to physical products.

Nice graphics, smooth/quick gameplay, plenty of cards, ongoing development with more cards added regularly, possibility to play versus AI or real players, and best of all, you can play the game on the run, in your smartphone! I have been looking for such kind of game for a while to pop up on the Android Market, and now it is here!

Very nice game that I will continue to explore! Highly recommended if you like TCGs!

Song of Blades and Heroes

Bought Song of Blades and Heroes today - a set of rules for fantasy skirmish miniature wargaming. About 35 pages of easy-to-learn rules to be used with any kind of miniatures, e.g. paper miniatures, Lego figures etc. Will download or draw paper miniatures for a few races and try this out.

Need to try this on my own first, maybe develop a simple set of solitaire rules, so it will be easier to play on my own. Then try this with my gaming friends.

I have a half-painted Warhammer Fantasy Battle Chaos army deeply buried somewhere on the attic. I love the game, but I hate to paint. Or actually, I like to paint those miniatures, but I cannot spend the required time in doing so. Pity of course, since I really want to play the game, or at least some kind of miniature wargame. So that is why I started to look around for an alternative to Warhammer, and found Song of Blades and Heroes. Simple, quick and cheap!