Dusting Off A Song of Blades and Heroes

It’s been a long time since I posted twice on the same day, but it made sense to me to split the Armies for Kids post from the report on a recent game.

Our roleplaying group has been playing the current edition of RuneQuest for the last 18 months or so, and we have been considering the question of whether it might be time to switch things up a bit.  We know that we are looking for something with a tactical combat system that can resolve fights fairly quickly, and my list of possible candidates includes Tales of Blades and Heroes, which is based on the Song of Blades and Heroes fantasy skirmish rules.

Ultimately, I’d expect to run some sort of one-shot adventure with Tales before we make any final decision, but I thought that it might be a good idea to dust off Song to remind myself of the basic mechanics.  Therefore, I volunteered to run a game this past Monday. 

Battlefield overview; the objective was the town on the far right

Most of the action ended up centered on the bridge

I decided that I would use the 1/72 Portable Fantasy Game box for this one.  The backstory of the scenario, drawn from the campaign map, is that an orcish raiding part in boats landed on the west bank of the river and hurry inland to raid a small town.  I set up a simple mat, with the river on one edge, and the town in one of the far corners. Two warbands were organized for each side, of a notional 300 Song points. As things worked out, the orcs were having a terrible time with their activation rolls, and eventually the defenders of the town slew the orc’s troll and routed one of the orcish warbands, so we called it a day. 

As expected, it took a little while to become fluent with the rules again, but we eventually did, and things moved along more quickly.  I was reminded that one of the things I like about the rules is that you can read the situation from the board; you don’t have to remember anything about how you got to this point in previous turns (e.g. no need to remember that some figure ran on his previous activation and is therefore entitled to a dodge modifier).  I was also reminded of a recent discussion I was part of regarding points systems; while I used the game’s point system to speed up the set-up of this scenario, I will note that the orcs have a considerable losing streak against the humans.  This is attributable to the humans’ “quality” advantage (a game statistic that governs how successful a figure is in taking actions), and I would suggest that the point system does not accurately account for the difference (i.e., a balanced game would seem to require more points for the orcs than for the humans).

In the interest of getting home quickly I did not pack the game properly back into its box, so I finally got around to getting it all properly stowed away this morning. 

Handling the troops, I wondered just how long it had been since they had been on the table, and how long it had been since I had played Song.  I reviewed the game log and found that the 1/72 fantasy individuals hadn’t been out for a game since May 2023, when they were used for a test game of Knyghte, Pyke, and Sworde  while accompanying my wife to a singing competition.

The last time I had actually played Song of Blades and Heroes turned out to have been in December 2022, when I took the boxes on the road and staged a game at a friend’s house as a demo for his college-aged son.

It was nice to get the rules and figures back on the table.  It probably would make sense if I spent more time playing and painting fewer projects (i.e. gaming minimalism), but that is a post for another day…

Market Day at the Watchtower Inn (Solo battle report)

It was market day at the Watchtower Inn, in the Darmish borderlands near Wardenskeep.  

 However, unwelcome visitors were about to arrive.  Uccsai of Varkrek was leading a band of foragers far out beyond the fringes of the main Orcish army.  Attracted by the distant sounds of the market, and the smells of good cooking, he led his warriors toward a bridge.

The humans were watchful, though, in this uneasy border region, and from the top an an old tower visible across the river, a horn call sounded.  Not abandoned after all … Uccsai ordered the troop to forget about the bridge; the river looked shallow enough for safe crossing if they were quick about it.  His warriors were not.  Exhausted from the days’ march, they were slow in reaching the ford, and quickly fell in a line, as a few eager yopungsters, anxious to prove themselves, pressed ahead, while the rest lagged.

Meanwhile, at the Inn, the market goers quickly gathered inside the thick stone walls and prepared to defend themselves.  Happily for them a Darmish officer, Lieutenant Zanther, and his bodyguard of four soldiers was present today, looking to buy supplies.  He quickly took charge, sending the lightly equipped men of the local militia out to the hilltop to see what was happening.

One of the local militiamen reached the ford just as the first orc, one of the eager youngsters, was splashing across.

Life is hard in the borderlands, and the local warrior was able to hold his own against the orc.  As more orcs waded the stream, a couple of Zanther’s soldiers arrived.  Two orcs quickly fell, but a shudder of fear ran through the humans, for they could see that a troll was eyeing them from the far bank of the stream.

Hungry and tired, but still possessed of the ferocious tenacity of life that was the mark of their kind, the troll waded across the stream, to be met by three humans.  The troll fought hard, but the combined efforts of the humans were too much for it.  A ragged cheer rose from the human soldiers as they slew the troll.

Uccsai looked across the stream in dismay as the troll fell.  He suspected that the day was lost, but raised his mace of command to urge his straggling warriors to one final effort.  At that moment, a human militiaman took careful aim, and, as though from nowhere, an arrow pierced Uccsai’s throat, and his last command remained unspoken.  The surviving orcs fled the field, seeking only to return to the safety of the main army.

As the soldiers and local militia returned to the Inn, the grateful people came out to greet them with gifts of food and drink.

Gamemaster’s notes: My intention yesterday morning was simply to unload the Portable Fantasy game box, iron the groundcloth, and then pack everything away neatly, since the box was in a bit of disarray after the DBA extravaganza the other week.  However, there have been a couple of threads on various gaming fora this past week about scenery (and whether it should be a collaborative effort between players) and use of scenery in role playing games, so I decided that it wouldn’t take much longer to actually lay out a battlefield before sorting and storing.  With the previous Dragon Rampant game having produced a draw, I am considering this skirmish to be a tie-breaker, indicative of the overall situation in the province during this strategic turn in the campaign. I don’t ordinarily expect that man-to-man skirmishes will be reflected in the strategic map situation, but this one is an exception.

After that, I ended putting out some of the non-combatants for a couple of pictures, and then decided that I might as well use a couple of the prepared war band lists (for A Song of Blades and Heroes) that are in the box to stage a quick solo game.

My general experience with A Song of Blades and Heroes is that the point values given are a bit optimistic for troops with a quality of 4, as most of my orcs were.  I was surprised the last time I played with the rules to see an orc warband win.  This time was less surprising.  The orcs were having trouble activating, and ended up scattered and unsupported, and the humans just mowed right through them.  No human figure was killed during the game.  I haven’t played enough of this in recent years; it’s possible that there are tactics which would compensate, but I haven’t generally found them yet.  As with that game in march, the unpredictable shifts of initiative make this a pretty fair solo game out of the box.

Speaking of boxes, I did get everything cleaned up and neatly packed away in the travel boxes afterwards, so I’m ready with a pick-up game for the next convention or club night where one is needed.  I didn’t get as far as the next project, though, which was to unload the 1/72 group base figures and sort them into a couple of Dragon Rampant warbands, so that I can add one 6-liter box to the stack and be able to do a pick-up Dragon Rampant game as well.  Eventually, I’d like to have a selection of pre-printed and laminated warband sheets in the travel box, for improved readiness.

The Portable Fantasy Game/Campaign box

Earlier this week, Norm, over on his Battlefields and Warriors blog, posted an interesting look at his effort to put a whole wargaming project in a single box.  In a comment, I was going to post a link back to my blog, to a post I had done on the recent upgrade of the scenery in my Portable Fantasy Game/Campaign box.  I was a little surprised to find that I had never actually posted it.  Since I’m on a bit of a painting hiatus for a few more days, I thought it would be a good idea to post it now.   So, without further ado, here is what I should have posted back on the 29th of April:

I spent my extra time this morning (when I used to commute) doing one of the nagging little hobby tasks on my list: repacking the portable fantasy game.  This task became necessary last week when I received a package from my mother with new terrain pieces.

 

The original set-up started with a double-sided ground cloth and a group of double-sided hill/pillows (fabric over upholstery foam) done for me as a custom project by an Etsy craftsperson who was in college with my son:

 

 

What I got from my mother (whose main hobby is quilting) was the scenery bases.  Linear pieces are double-sided to serve as streams or roads.  The large irregular circle pieces are all backed with woods base material on one side, and brown, grey, or blue on the other side to designate rough ground, town areas, ponds, etc. as necessary.

 

 

The scenery package also includes a bag of small stones for scatter decoration and to marks fords or whatever, and lichen to enhance the appearance of stream banks, woods bases, or to serve as hedges as needed.

 

 

There is room in the box for about 10 trees, mounted on steel washers to engage with rare earth magnets placed under the scenery bases to give them a little stability...

 

 

There are also a half dozen plastic rocks, which are very light, and also nest for travel.

 

 

...and a couple of stone heads, because I don’t seem to be able to have fantasy scenery without stone heads.

 

A few old resin low walls, nicely sized for 1/72 scale figures, have been repurposed for this.

 

 

And, to keep things light, there is a collection of card model buildings (all Dave Graffam models printed at 75% of base size):

 

 

As I noted above, I expect to carry one or more supplemental figure boxes for a trip to a convention, but there are two boxes internal to the main storage box:

 

 

Since this is intended to be a ready-to-go gaming kit, there are rules, and a set of laminated orders of battle and quick reference sheets:

 

 

And a set of dice, markers for various games, tape measures, rulers, and measuring sticks:

 

 

Once it was all laid out and trimmed of extra rules, handouts, etc., it was time to pack it back up.

 

 

Buildings, troop boxes, and trees form the lowest layer, with small bits like tape measures and dice forming the next layer.

 

On top of that go one layer of hills, the rules, the ground cloth, and the other two hills.  Happily, the hills are fairly compressible.  Everything is stacked to avoid compressing the buildings at the one end:

 

 

And finally, to prove that it can be done, the lid goes on:

 

 

The lid has a thin steel sheet with a dungeon floor pattern attached above it, so that a dungeon environment can be deployed in a pinch.

 

And, there we are, ready to head to a convention...if there were such a thing right now.

November Painting Summary

 

This is just a quick place holder.  November saw some painting done, though n ot what I expected, nor as much as I wanted.  I ended up working on a few things for the Portable Fantasy Game in addition to the Libyan chariot previously shown.  The Reaper “Sir Forscale” in the back row is not new this month; he’s just in for scale, as usual.

The fantasy campaign setting needs armies of orcs and elves, so I started by finishing up a couple of orc warrior samples from Caesar Miniatures.  The elves may get the tree things (more Reaper “Saprolings”) as reinforcements.  

Other than that, the merchant on the mule is from a Strelets Crusader transport set, and a Celtic Warrior Queen extra is doing new duty as a green-haiored dryad.  It’s time to put on a game featuring some of these things...

1/72 Fantasy — Some Recent Painting

Time got away from me a bit in February.  After painting 40+ old Minifig Mythical Earth figures and most of a DBA army of 1/72 scale Bronze Age Libyans in January, I had intended to finish up the Libyans, relax a bit by painting a few 1/72 scale fantasy things for the Portable Fantasy Game/Campaign, and go on to some 40mm French Revolution.  Unfortunately, I got as far as “relax a bit”, and suddenly ran out of month.

For the Portable Fantasy Campaign (PFC), I most recently completed the army of the Cold Islanders, and can generally make do for the two basically medieval armies.  I resolved to work on bringing the Orcs up to strength, so naturally ended up painting elves instead...

The PFC is being built to use Hordes of the Things as the mass battle rules.  I am a little short on the more fantastic elements in plastic, so when I painted on of these Reaper Bones “saproling” figures the other month, I got the idea that it would be nice to do a pair of them with a Caesar elf sorceress as a Beasts stand.  The saprolings drybrush easily, and the sorceress is in a pose that invites a little freehand on her dress.  My son Norman and I had come up (at his inspiration) with a set of “seasonal” elf units, the Springblossom, Summerbough, Autumnleaf, and Winterbranch Guards, so I painted her with a design suggesting that she’s attached to the Springblossom Guards. 

Elvish Beasts stand

Two tree creatures and a sorceress of the Springblossom Guard

I have the saprolings on hand to do one more stand, and would expect to vary the sorceress’s attire to one of the other seasons, probably the Autumnleaf Guards.

The Red Witch and retinue, part I

...and the other side

In a recent roleplaying game, we were up against a broom-riding witch, and I tried my hand at a little bit of greenstuff work, changing the staff on a Caesar Adventurers female magic user to a rather rustic broom.  It came out usable, and I painted her in a red/black color scheme.  To use her in a game, I felt like she should have a guard/retinue, so I picked a few figures for that, a Caesar Adventurers rogue, a trio of Accurate men-at-arms and a knight, and a Caesar archer.  I did them in the same red/black theme, and gave all the shields a matching household badge design. (Per pale, sable and gules, a crescent argent...)

Two Accurate figures and a Caesar archer on the right

I recently received a box of Strelets Roman Transport figures, intending to use the pack mules as part of my baggage train.  However, my eye was also drawn to these two figures.

I’m not sure how Roman they look, but they do look like they will do double duty as a possible rogue and mage, to add some variation to the PFC’s player character collection.  Since they are for a fantasy purpose, I didn’t worry too much about whether the colors were achievable with historical vegetable dyes, the sort of thought process that most people somehow manage to avoid getting wrapped up with...

I’ve been to two conventions in the past two weekends, with one more to come, but that’s a topic for a different post.  I’m working on finishing up a stand of Sea People blades for my Bronze Age Libyans as well, which will also be for a different post.

A few 1/72 plastic NPCs

Continuing with the Portable Fantasy Game, I finished off a few more figures this week. The second figure from the left is, of course, from the Airfix Robin Hood set; the remainder are all from Linear-B's Age of Tudors box of civilians.  When you are looking around for fantasy/medieval civilians in 1/72, you have to be open to what you can find...so fashion in my fantasy world is going to be very flexible.

The Portable Fantasy Game

I have had a little time for painting this past week, and worked on some 1/72 scale plastic figures for the Portable Fantasy Game.  I decided to pull out all of the already-completed individually based figures, and do a quick visual inventory.  Here's an overview of the 112 figures completed so far.

Individually based figures for the Portable Fantasy Game, as of 3 February 2019

For scenario planning purposes, I took closer shots of them in groups.

Non-human monsters

The monsters are a mixed bag; there are a few Reaper Bones (downscaled, as it were), a few figures from Age of Mythology sprues, and a demon from a Dante boardgame of some sort.

Mounted humans (Strelets and an Airfix Maid Marian)

There will probably be a few more mounted humans before this is "done".

The Adventurers (Caesar Miniatures)

I noticed after I took the picture that two Caesar adventurers are hanging out with the elves today.

A merry group of men from the Airfix Robin Hood set

One of the unfinished figures is another Robin Hood fellow; I expect to have a full set of the poses (and perhaps a few duplicates) before calling this group done.  They hold up pretty well, for figures sculpted over 50 years ago.

Elves (Caesar Miniatures)

The archer lady in green near the center and the Legolas look-alike, second from the left in the front, are the wanderers from the Adventurers.  I have a standard bearer for the elves on my painting desk.

Undead (Caesar)

While I'd be happy for more skeletons, the Caesar set has only five poses, so I started with two of each.  There's a necromancer in the set that I haven't painted yet; I pulled one out and cleaned him up.

Fantastical men of the Western Isles (Red Box Irish)

The Red Box Wars of the Roses Irish look pretty fantastical to me, especially that gallowglass leader on the left end of the front row.

Some NPCs (Mostly Linear B Tudors)

Plastic civilians aren't too common in 1/72, but I've painted a few.  Strelets has more, in their transport sets, which will be added eventually.

Some drafted historical medievals (Accurate and Strelets)

Back in the day, fantasy figures were usually supplemented by historicals...

Mystics? (and a dog)

The blue wizard is a Hat Celtic command set Druid.

Goblins and Orcs (Caesar)

More Orcs and Wargs (Dark Alliance)

I've got plenty of additional orcs, between the two boxes that Caesar now makes and the many that Dark Alliance has produced.