By the time we get around to running a Mirkwood campaign, the 5e version of the Mirkwood campaign should be out. The cover is very cool!
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Scylurus Sukuda – the Mongolian / Roman soldier
He left the legion to wander the new land of Redmark, bringing several soldiers with him as he sought independence and a new life.
The amassed group headed west and after some months of travel wound up collecting a sizable group of creatures of various races…though no human Gauls were allowed due to Scylurus’ intense hatred for that ethnicity.
The group arrived in what was, and likely still is, called the Badlands. They began to turn this area into their own sort of nomadic tract of land. They would hunt and herd what was available, as well as “help” travelers who got lost, as well as traders from various other lands that stumbled into the Badlands. Being in this area, as a de facto leader of the group, Scylurus became known as the Sand Master. This became a title that was passed down to each leader through the ages, rather than a single entity.
Because of this, and the very insular community inside the Badlands, many believe the Sand Master to be immortal and a master of disguise. Tales have been told of the Sand Master being a variety of races, sometimes mystic and sometimes a great warrior. Sometimes even diplomatic stories are told of the Sand Master, leading to a great mystery surrounding the titular character in the current age of Redmark.
So many wargames, so little time…
I visited Texas Toy Soldier, a hobby store in Carrolton dedicated to miniatures games. Great store! I was surprised to see such a huge section dedicated to a game called Kings of War.
I’ve heard of Kings of War, but had no idea it had such a following. Apparently, much like Warmachine rose in the wake of discontent with Warhammer, Kings of War arose in the wake of Warhammer Fantasy Battles dumping their line in 2015 in favor of a new product called ‘Age of Sigmar’ that is very, very different that its predecessor. It dumped factions and let many players cold (see this blog article discussion).
Anyway, looking through the Kings of War rulebook, about 35 pages are actually rules (and half of that is pictures), so it’s a pretty simple game, yet has high production values and a huge following. For tournament play, there are competitions across the region in DFW (April 28-29, 2018), Austin (June, 2018), Houston (Aug. 2017) and San Antonio (Nov., 2017).
They also released a Historical version of the game that has army lists for Byzantines, Crusaders, and all sorts of historical armies which would work well with Robert’s Byzantine and Crusader armies and his basing scheme.
Here’s a video review.
Anyway, it seems to fall between Neil Thomas’ One Hour Wargames and Mark Lewis’ Sword and Spear in terms of complexity. Definitely worth checking out, especially if you’re interested in tournament games. You can buy it off Amazon.
Also check out the online army builders for fantasy and historical.
Kings of War is an interesting fantasy wargame written by the authors of Warhammer. It is reported to be simpler and faster that Warhammer Fantasy. There is also a Kings of War tournament in November 2017 in San Antonio. Kings of War is a fast-play fantasy miniature game by Mantic Games which can play in an hour).
In addition to fighting fantasy battles, you can also do historical games, since they are simply a subset of the fantasy medieval battles.
Their quickstart rules are free.
They had a recent, fairly successful Kickstarter to fund the new edition.
Here are some reviews:
- http://www.talkwargaming.com/2014/12/editorial-5-reasons-to-play-kings-of-war.html
- 2nd edition Kings of War Review – Part 1
- http://cheaphammer.blogspot.com/2012/07/kings-of-war-report-review.html
- http://diehardgamefan.com/2015/07/22/tabletop-review-kings-of-war-second-edition-rulebook/
Although Warhammer and Warmachine have a sizable presence at conventions and local stores, interest in Historical Miniatures gaming is also fairly active, although typically seen at different venues.
I created a page which has an overview of the various groups and cons in the region which feature Historical Miniatures Wargames. Check it out!
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Dicehaven is an actual play podcast featuring various tabletop RPGs. We’re currently playing Imperium using the Traveller RPG (Mongoose 2nd Edition).
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