Village Games' Blog - Fantasy Games

SINGING THE SONG...

nospam@example.com (Dan Hobot) — Sat, 06 Feb 2010 10:29:00 -0700

A while back I posted about the skirmish game Song of Blades and Heroes that a number of folks are playing at the shop. Unfortunately at the time I only had a couple of shots, and not much of the warbands being used. Well, here is an attempt to rectify that with some more shots.

The game is a fast-paced, enjoyable affair – so much so that they have even been able to recruit players that have never played miniatures games before! The guys have been running on ongoing campaign, tracking the successes of their warband as they increase in power. So far everyone seems to be having a great time – except for the occasional leader who suffers a grievous loss to his warband. J Oh well, in every battle, a little lead must fall…

Until next time…

I hope them lead medics are always handy!

Dan

INTO THE DEMON'S LAIR...

nospam@example.com (Dan Hobot) — Sun, 10 Jan 2010 00:43:00 -0700

In February the shop will be attending one of the largest conventions in the region (Con of the North) where we will be hosting an entire hall full of events throughout the con. One of the events that I personally will be running will be a fantasy dungeon crawl using the Melee Skirmish Cards on our 3-D dungeon terrain. In preparation for the event, I recently ran some playtests of the scenario at the shop.

It went very well, although it seemed to be skewed slightly against the heroes. Everybody had fun though, so it’s all good. I am going to make some revisions to the scenario and run it a couple of more times just to make sure everything is tight and ready to go.

Until next time…

Watch out for them demons!

Dan

PLAYING THEIR SONG...

nospam@example.com (Dan Hobot) — Thu, 07 Jan 2010 10:33:30 -0700

Recently a bunch of folks kicked off a campaign for the great fantasy skirmish game Song of Blades & Heroes. The group really prepared well for this by having group terrain making sessions, practice games with the new folks and allowing for new units (via player voting). On the first night of the campaign everybody went through their warbands and then the battles were on!

There is a storyline to the campaign, although I am not exactly sure what it is. It does influence the battlefields (and thus terrain) involved and I believe will affect the units allowed. In any events, everybody seemed to have a great time so I think they are off to a great start. I don’t know if they are taking any new players, but I know they are always willing to teach new players, so if you are interested stop by and check it out on Tuesday nights.

(Unfortunately I didn't get the best shots of their games as my regular camera wasn't working, but this will at least give you an idea.)

Until next time…

Happy Gaming to you and yours!

Dan

A WIZARDS DUEL...

nospam@example.com (Dan Hobot) — Mon, 10 Aug 2009 10:22:00 -0600

Around the shop lately we have been playtesting another variant of the Combat Cards – the Ancient/Medieval/Fantasy Skirmish cards (the ’Archaic Skirmish’ Combat Cards). These play along the same lines as the other versions – with players having the make choices about allocating card resources, only you are commanding individual warriors equipped with more archaic weapons this time.

These cards also incorporate magic into the game – though it is an optional feature of each card. If you would rather do some historical skirmishing (say a Roman raid on a barbarian village) then simply ignore the magic portion of the cards.

Another cool aspect about the Skirmish cards (both the modern and archaic skirmish ones) is the ability to incorporate any unit, or any miniature, you want. There is a simply one page reference chart that allows you to assign characteristics to each unit on a comparative basis. This means that literally you can use the cards for whatever period/genre you want – that flexibility is, to me, what makes any game high on my play list. If, as a player, I can dream up new scenarios or try new genres/periods without having to learn new rules, I am much more inclined to stick with a game and not get bored and drop it.

Anyways, the scenario we were running involved two groups of wizards - one good, one bad - and their entourages’ encountering each other in a dungeon. The objective was simply to try and wipe the other group out. In the two games that were played the ‘good’ wizards did end up winning, but how they got there were completely different paths.

In the first game – a boyfriend/girlfriend duel – the ‘good’ wizards (played by the female component of the duo) pretty much had their way from the word go. They could not be harmed and their magic was vicious. In the second game, the ‘good’ side took a serious beating before they finally made a comeback and knocked out all of the ‘bad’ wizards.

In the end, everyone seemed to have a great time. In fact, in the second game both players agreed they should call the game in 10 minutes so they could clean-up their stuff to go home. Forty minutes later they finally realized how much time had passed – after they had actually played the game out to its end. I guess you could say they were into it, eh?

If you are interested in trying these out, we are going to be running demos of both games (the Modern and Archaic skirmish) around the shop for the next several weeks, so watch the calendar and stop by to join in. You can either play with the figures provided, or bring your own and see how easy it is to stat out a unit.

Well, until next time…

Watch out for wizards with good lines-of-sight J!

Dan

MORE OF THE SONGS

nospam@example.com (Dan Hobot) — Wed, 25 Feb 2009 00:01:00 -0700

A bunch of the regulars at the shop have fallen in love with the Song of Blades and Heroes miniatures rules and have been tossing in a game or two whenever they can. These are some shots of their games, and of the work they are doing on their armies.

Getting copies of the rules is a little challenging, but it appears the effort is very much worth it. The rules are fast playing, easy to learn and produce a highly enjoyable game. And although I am by no means an expert in the rules, the flexibility of how units are constructed allows for infinite combinations and just about any figure to be incorporated into the game.

In some of the shots one of the regulars (Mike Z.) is converting some D&D pre-painted miniatures to new bases for the game. The others are shots of some games being played. You’ll notice that even though it is a fantasy set of skirmish rules, it is flexible enough to even incorporate muskets and stuff.

We are currently working to get more hard copies of the games in stock for folks. Hopefully, all will go well on that front and we have them fairly soon.

Until next time…

Beware of the friendly undead!

Dan

WARRING WITH THE MACHINE

nospam@example.com (Dan Hobot) — Fri, 12 Sep 2008 00:49:00 -0600

WARRING WITH THE MACHINE

Sundays have become quite the Warmachine day at the shop. On any given Sunday there can be as many as 8-10 players battling it out. I happened to be working a Sunday recently so I snapped some shots of the games in progress.

NASTY LOOKING...

NOTE THE GRENADIERS...

I have to admit, some of the miniatures and armies are pretty dog-gone impressive. The time and patience (and, I guess, love) that goes into them shows. It is well worth stopping in some Sunday to check them out. Or, if you dare, join in!

A MASSIVE SWIRLING MELEE

GROTESQUE DUDES WITH BARE BUTTS...HOW CAN YOU NOT INCLUDE THEM?

Well, until next time…

SOMETHING FROM SOMEONE'S NIGHTMARES...

Cheers!

Dan

A LITTLE SWORD & SORCERY

nospam@example.com (Dan Hobot) — Sat, 26 Jul 2008 00:09:00 -0600

BATTLING IN THE FANTASY REALMS

Recently I got chance to play a couple of skirmish games with fantasy figures. One was set in a dungeon, the other in jungle woodlands. The games were ones we just set up quick and dirty, but they turned out to be a ton of fun.

The terrain was the store’s dungeon tiles & terrain features set (all hand made) and stuff from the Heroscape game (which worked really well for this). We were using the Combat Cards – Fantasy Skirmish for both games. The miniatures were mostly D&D mini’s, but Chris did use some of his nicely painted undead.

MAN THIS CAMERA CAN TAKE SOME GREAT CLOSE-UPS...

All-in-all the games were a lot of fun. Not my best showing (1 win and 1 loss) but who cares, they were a lot of fun to play!

Well until next time…

Happy Gaming!

Dan

A FANTASY BRAWL

nospam@example.com (Dan Hobot) — Sun, 27 Apr 2008 00:47:00 -0600

A FANTASY BRAWL

The other day Aaron, Richard, Mark and I played a big Fantasy skirmish brawl using D&D Miniatures and the Combat Cards. It was a great game that went far to long (‘til 1:00 am on a work night!). The premise was something about rescuing/capturing prisoners being driven to a new home by some slave drivers. It really didn't matter as mayhem became the goal once battle was joined.

I grabbed a couple of shots while we were playing. The pictures don’t really do a good job of conveying the ebb and flow of the battle, nor the blood feuds that started to develop between some of the figures. Oh well, enjoy anyways…

Until next time – Happy Gaming!

Dan

The Time of Confrontation is Coming...

nospam@example.com (Dan Hobot) — Mon, 14 Apr 2008 00:14:00 -0600

We are starting to see more and more of Rackham’s Confrontation: Age of Ragnarok being played around the shop. It is really nice to see, as the game is the very enjoyable sword & sorcery based sister game to Rackham’s AT-43.

I have included a few shots from a demo game that was played at the shop the other night. You'll notice that some of the figures are the newly released prepainted ones, while others are nicely painted metals that had been previously issued. That is one of the best parts about the game, all of your old Confrontation figures are still usable in the new game.

Hopefully we will be seeing a lot more Confrontation battles in the near future! If you are interested in learning the game, or joining in with the regular players, check out the Events Calendar on our main page for scheduled events. Of course pick-up games are always welcome too!

Well, until next time…

Happy Gaming!

Dan

Swords and Sorcery Get Their Turn

nospam@example.com (Dan Hobot) — Sat, 12 Apr 2008 00:50:00 -0600

A FANTASY COME TRUE

As I have written about on more than a couple of occasions, we have been playing a lot of games with the Combat Cards: Skirmish^© for modern (anything with firearms, really) to sci-fi miniatures. Well recently I finally finished the Combat Cards: Fantasy^© (which also work for the Ancient and Medieval time periods as well) and we have started playtesting them at the shop.

Aaron and Todd had the honor of playing the first playtest the other day. Unfortunately I was really busy helping customers the whole time, so I didn’t get much of a chance to observe them play (I have since had that opportunity for some other games). Based on their feeback though, they felt it played just like the other skirmish cards – fast paced, lots of twists and turns, easy to understand and engrossing to play. Sounded like a positive start to me!

The beauty of the cards is they allow players to use any figures they want - Aaron was using D&D prepainted mini’s while Todd was using his Warhammer Fantasy figures. I did mange to get a few shots of the game (as you can see) which was played on some of the shop’s dungeon terrain.

We are going to be playing a lot of this at the shop in the coming weeks I suspect, so if you would like to try it out and let us know what you think, keep an eye to the Events calendar and drop on by!

Until next time….

Happy Gaming!

Dan

The Warmachine Battles Continue

nospam@example.com (Dan Hobot) — Sat, 26 Jan 2008 00:26:00 -0700

RAMPING UP TO A NEW LEAGUE

The Warmachine League in the shop is coming to a close, with a new league to be started again right after that. The league players come up regularly every other weekend to get their games in, chat about tactics and swap painting tips. They are great group, and always appear to be having a lot of fun.

I snapped a couple of pics of their latest battles, just ‘cause they have some cool looking armies. PS: They are always looking for additional league members if you are interested. J Look for the Warmachine section of the Forums to let them know.

Until next time…

Dan

It's Not Dead Yet

nospam@example.com (Dan Hobot) — Sun, 23 Dec 2007 01:33:00 -0700

NEW HORDES’ STRONGHOLDS

In my never ending attempt to get our HOTTS (Hordes of the Things) campaign off the ground, I recently finished up a couple of new strongholds for my armies. The one on the right is a classic “cavern” motif (complete with an element of flyers soaring over), while the one on the left is the more ominous magical “fog cloud” for an arriving enemy army.

Hordes' Strongholds

I now have ten complete armies for use in the campaign, some of which I may even be willing to share with some newbies who would like to try the campaign. Hopefully we will be able to have a campaign day in January for this.

Well, until the next army is completed…er, next time…

Cheers & Happy Holidays!

Dan

The Warmachine League

nospam@example.com (Dan Hobot) — Mon, 03 Dec 2007 13:00:00 -0700

THE HORDES ARE A COMIN’…

A couple of Saturdays ago we had a bunch of Warmachine and Hordes games going on at the shop in conjunction with the Warmachine League. There were some really nice looking armies on the tables.

I think you can find the results of the games on the Warmachine League thread on the Forums. In the meantime here are some of the pictures I took that day. I have a bunch more to post real soon.

Until next time…

Cheers!

Dan

Into Middle Earth

nospam@example.com (Dan Hobot) — Mon, 19 Nov 2007 17:07:39 -0700

GANDALF RIDES AGAIN

Recently some of the Lord of the Rings (LoTR) miniatures players staged a pretty sizeable battle in Middle Earth at the shop. Besides Cave Trolls, Elves and Southlings, none other than Gandalf the White made an appearance!

The Battle in All Its Glory

The game took the better part of a night, and from the sounds of player groans and moans, was very much a seesaw affair. The LoTR rules are very popular at the shop – with the numbers growing all of the time.

Gandalf Leads the Charge

The LoTR players usually play on Tuesdays or Saturdays, although any day of the week appears to be fair game. It would be great if a specific night could become the designated LoTR night so all the diverse players could hook up for games. Maybe even a league? Any volunteers?

Until next time…

Cheers!

Dan

D&D Miniatures - Adventuring Style

nospam@example.com (Dan Hobot) — Mon, 02 Jul 2007 23:39:00 -0600

D&D MINIATURES � ADVENTURING WE WILL A GO

Recently my partner Carl set up & ran a really neat variant game for D&D miniatures. The premise was that the warbands brought to the game had to first find the clues to the whereabouts of the dungeon entrance, and then mount their expedition into the dungeon levels to find the lost artifact.

Using our 3-D terrain, Carl set up three tables � the first was the outdoor environment above the dungeons. The second was the first layer of the dungeon, and the third table was the final level of the dungeon.

I wasn�t able to stick around and find out how it all went (hint: one of the participants could regail us with tales of the exploits in the forums � pretty please! ) but I did get some pictures of everything as it all got started:

The Outdoor Environs

Some of the Dungeon Levels

The Fighting Heats Up...

Until next time�

Cheers!

Dan