Song of Blades Campaign, Act 1

Greetings one and all. The last week has seen frenzied activity on the hobby front. In the last week my latest warband for A Song of Blades and Heroes has been finished as well as a spew of new scenery. as mentioned last time, it all has a bit of a Asian feel to it.

Today saw the first three games in our Song of Blades and Heroes campaign, taking place in the fictional Shinda Province. I wrote some fluff for the setting and the motivation of my force and emailed it to the players in the group.

The write up went a little something like this (any likeness to the Legend of the Five Rings setting are entirely meant to be a complement to the setting. Also no points for spotting the Kurusawa references) :

"The Senji Empire long abandoned their mainland provinces due to the rise of the Oni Clans from beyond the Warden Wall. The noble samurai of the Senji Imperial Army fell back abandoning village after village. Eventually they withdrew across the ocean to their island homelands. 

Senji Spearmen of the Akematsu Clan

Five centuries have passed. The Senji Empire is going through a time of testing. A season of fire and death. Clans have risen against the rule of the young Empress, yet untested in war or at court. Bandits roam the countryside preying on any who are too weak to defend themselves. Word at court is that the Shogun is plotting to take control of the Senji Empire himself. 

And amidst all of this the monks, shugenja and priests have all warned of dire portents. There is something stirring within the spirit haunted and ruin strewn bamboo forests of the abandoned Shinda province. Something sinister lurks, growing stronger in the darkness. Something from forgotten aeons when the stars were different. Something has awoken, and the Oni have heard its call. 

Akematsu Ichiro, Senji Kensai,
warband leader

The visions show a Hidden Fortress, in a chamber with a Throne of Blood stands an artefact that could mean the salvation or damnation of the Senji Empire. Maybe even the world. 

Warbands from various Gaijin nations have already descended upon the Shinda province. The Imperial Council and the Empress are too busy dealing with threats at home to send an army. They have sent a young samurai, the youngest Kensai to herald from the Himura clan school, yet untested by war and death. His name is Akamatsu Ichiro, and the fate of the Senji Empire is in his hands."

The response was good and all of the participants wrote up fluff for their warbands and their reasons for being in the Shinda Province. 

The warbands participating thus far are: a band of lost Norse demon-slaying Vikings and a cult of jungle gnomes who worship a giant turtle god (who get the prize for most original warband I have ever seen in anything, ever). 

Sanuske Hanso rallies the ashigaru spearmen
to come to his lord's aid.

After organising our warbands we decided on each player playing two games each, ensuring that they face both the other warbands in the campaign. We were all new to the system, but got a good grasp of the rules with only minimal checking in the book. 

Without further ado, a summary of the first campaign turn. 

Game 1: Akematsu Clan vs. Ulfgar's Raiders: 

The first game saw the warriors of the Senji Empire tackle the foreign menace of Ulfgar's Vikings. The game began with a mad dash to the bridge, the only crossing point over the stream bisecting the field of battle. Akematsu himself managed to cross the bridge, only to be promptly taken out of action by Ulfgar, who proved to be a superior fighter despite the young Kensai's expertise with the blade. 


The fighting over the bridge was fierce, and my lone surviving samurai, Ssanuske Hanso was left to hold the bridge until my archers could get their act together and rid me of the barbarians, who had begun to ford the stream in order to get at my less able fighters. 


It was after Ulfgar himself had matched blades with Hanso and half my warband lay strewn across the riverbanks that the kami smiled on the men of Senji. A lowly ashigaru archer took aim, and loosed an arrow that flew true, striking one of the foreign invaders in the throat. His death was so horrid, his death rattle so disturbing, that the enemy who had bunched up in order to cross the bridge, broke and fled the field. 


The day was saved, and post battle was still horrible with my exploration of the nearby jungle led to the men of Senji being ambushed by lizardfolk, two walking wounded and one dead ashigaru. Ulfgar's men fared little better with one of Ulfgar's champions falling into a pit trap and Ulfgar himself suffering permanent wounds.

One of Ulfgar's horsemen tries to ride down
the were-turtle. 

Game 2: Ulfgar's Raiders vs. The Cult of the Crimson Turtle:   

The second game saw Ulfgar's battered men stumbling upon the Cult of the Crimson Turtle, made up of fanatical gnomes and... poisonous war turtles. The battle proved once again bloody, with Ulfgar nearly destroying the cult single handedly. Soon all that remained was the Crimson Wizard and four turtles performing history's slowest flanking manoeuvre.

It was as Ulfgar was about to trike down the cult's wizard that the most bizarre and amazing thing I have ever seen on the field of battle. As the wizard's lifeless corpse hit the ground it rose again and took on a horrid form. Unknown to the rest of us, the wizard was a were creature. And the wizard's animal form was... a turtle. A giant, Gamera-like turtle. Who proceeded to beat the life out of what remained of Ulfgar's men.

Even with earning the underdog bonus for loosing two games, Ulfgar received another crippling wound that may see his warband bowing out early from the campaign.

Game 3: Akematsu Clan vs. The Cult of the Crimson Turtle:
Being a man down and having witnessed the destructive potential of the wizard/were-turtle I was wary of facing the Cult. Unlike the previous pitched battle scenarios we played the Place of Power scenario. And lacking a wizard I was doubly worried about letting the wizard claim the magical statue in the middle of the table.

A tense melee breaks out with the Cults leaders. 

The opening moves went well with group actions getting my ashigaru archers to cover the approach to the place of power and Akematsu and the wounded Hanso ready to counter charge if need be.

Due to some poor activations the Crimson Wizard ended up making a rush for the sinister altar on his own. This was a crucial moment, as if I failed to drop the wizard, he would be on top of the place of power with his next move, and then all hell would break loose as his magic potential would be increased.

The ashigaru took aim and fired as a group. The first arrow dropped the wizard, and as the were-turtle rose in his stead it was promptly knocked off its feet by a second arrow, before a third arrow killed the monster before it could casue any more damage.

The ashigaru archers drop the were-turtle
with a deadly volley of arrows. 

despite loosing the were-turtle the Cult was still proving dangerous, with swift gnome troops outflanking my lines and the heavier gnome infantry occupying my better fighters. The game was still in the balance.

The fighting became bitter as the Cult made extensive use of the Poison ability to damage the quality of my fighters, making them less reactive and a liability, as I was risking turn overs if I failed too many activations with them. Akematsu Kensai dispatched the Cults leaders and proceeded to stomp on the Cult's turtles whilst on the other side of the shrine the archers became embroiled in a vicious fight with the leaping gnomes who were slowly poisoning their way through their ranks.

The archers fight to save their poisoned
comrade

In the end, with the gnomes eventually dead, the warband now consisting of turtles routed, leaving the field and the dark shrine in the hands of the men of Senji, who proceeded to cleanse it, and in so doing earning me another lizardman ambush. I managed to avoid any casualties so was in a good position for the next campaign turn. The Cult was left with only three living members (including one turtle) and so was in a bad position to carry on. 

With only one campaign turn played and two warbands looking at how to carry on, it proved just how bloody Song of Blades can be.

The biggest decision facing the Akematsu clan is what to spend our 30 gold coins on and how to spend our Campaign Points.

All in all the first turn has been a lot of fun, and it is a true testament to the brilliant nature of the mechanics that three newbies can pick up the rules and run a campaign in no time and have a brilliant time. The themes and narrative of the warbands have really made the campaign, and the were-turtle is a moment that will never leave me.

 The next campaign turn should happen in the next couple of weeks. I will keep you all updated on the warbands and scenery being made as well as a write up about how I went about making the scenery use for the campaign.

Next months hobby budget will go on more material to make some oriental buildings and ruins to help flesh out the Shinda Province as well as perhaps a custom written scenario. Oh and lots more samurai figures to paint.

Until next time,

-Banchou Badger

A Musical Interlude

I am taking a brief break from painting Napoleonics, mainly because soon I will be cross eyed from painting all the white belts and straps, and soon all of my vision will be tinted red. I was planning to make this another Wargaming on a Budget post but it has become more of a compilation of my various thoughts on Ganesha Games' unique little game, Song of Blades and Heroes.

Sir Tristan, out to earn his spurs. 

Why did I choose Song of Blades? To be perfectly honest the first thing that caught my attention was the title. The rather poetic title, Song of Blades and Heroes, reminded me of the heroic tales of my boyhood. I have long professed my love of skirmish level games, but always thought that games such as Mordheim was always too limited in scope.

Men-At-arms engage a rampaging troll

I decided to take a chance and bought a pdf copy from Wargames Vault and began reading. I was extremely impressed with it on the whole. Although I was used to glossy finishes as found in GWs products, this little black and white little indy title had a nostalgic charm about it, and the art work reminded me of old style rpg rulebooks like the first edition of Warhammer Fantasy Role Play. 


The System itself was radical to my mind. A wargame that functions with only two stats... Range sticks in three sizes rather than measuring tape? It all sounded crazy. After reading the rules for a second time cover to cover I realised more and more that these rules were the rules I always wanted to write. It had all the elements that my ideal skirmish game would have. This is a game not tied to setting or miniature line, where the players are free to create their own setting, factions and troops, with simple, quick mechanics and a simple yet involving campaign system.

Sir Tristan leads his Men-At-Arms through
ancient ruins

I soon ended up buying all of the expansion books that were not setting specific. And my creative juices were in overflow. My only problem seemed to be focusing one one idea for a warband.

I managed to capture the thrill of a new system, of a new game, without having to shell out on new models. I found myself scouring old cases and bits boxes rescuing old miniatures that had not seen use in years or projects that were never finished. I ended up digging out old models from Rackham, Reaper and even old Games Workshop  models.

For my first warband, I decided to go 'old school'. One of my earliest ever miniature armies was a Britonian Army for Warhammer 5th edition. I opted for Bretonians back then because I always had a fascination with medieval knights (my earliest memory is seeing Ivanhoe as a child). So I dug out a bunch of the old men-at-arms from the days when Bretonia was full of heroic, chivalrous knights (as opposed to snobbish peasant abusers that they are now) and began rebasing them.

Classic Bretonian Men-At-Arms, rebased and repainted 

As I was working on the army list, a simple narrative began to form itself. It was liberating to build a force not constrained by someone else's setting or army list. Here I was free to build my own narrative. So the rather cliched knight errant Sir Tristan and his band of retainers were born.

For the leader, Sir Tristan, I decided on a Confrontation Paladin of Alahel with a head swap. The warband was shaping up, with a leader and some archers and men-at-arms. I decided to fill the roster with slightly more unique models. I added a Reaper Dwarf fihter of some description, and thus Sir Tristan's old drill master and sometime bodyguard Baradan Stonefist was born. Creating the warband has been a joy. So much so that I am now working on four additional warbands, all based on rescued old models. I have even began planning multiple versions of Sir Tristan depending on how he progresses in future campaigns.

Baradan Stonefist

I managed to get 9 models painted in a couple of afternoons. Considering these were all painted in Non Metallic Metals (NMM) I was rather pleased with myself. It was a nice change of pace to work on someting that wasn't painted as part of a batch of 30 odd.

With Sir Tristan and his retinue complete, work has already begun on a band of orc raiders (including the troll picture above) as well as more scenery and some treasure/loot counters. Most of the scenery will be GW with the occasional treasure chest looted from Hero Quest.

In other news, I am looking into the possibility of self publishing some miniature rules online (through Wargames Vault for examplle) however this is still a long way off, as none of my rules are in the play test stages yet.

Until next time I leave you with some images of Sir Tristan and his warriors.

-Banchou Badger