{"id":3849,"date":"2015-04-19T12:42:23","date_gmt":"2015-04-19T12:42:23","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/bucksurdu.com\/blog\/?p=3849"},"modified":"2015-04-19T12:42:23","modified_gmt":"2015-04-19T12:42:23","slug":"songs-of-blades-and-heroes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bucksurdu.com\/blog\/?p=3849","title":{"rendered":"Songs of Blades and Heroes"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"A<\/a>
A view of the scenario start<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

On the spur of the moment (almost), Rob, Chris, Greg, and I got together for an impromptu four-player game of Songs and Blades and Heroes<\/em>. \u00a0This was only my third game using these rules. \u00a0The activation mechanism is interesting. \u00a0As a four player game among buddies, where we can fill in the time between activations with kibitzing, the rules worked fine, but it seems that the rules work best with just two players.<\/p>\n

\"Greg's<\/a>
Greg's zombies advancing<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Chris and I were the good guys. \u00a0Greg and Rob played the bad guys. \u00a0Both sets of bad buys included a mix of skeletons, zombies, and a handful of special figures. \u00a0Greg had some kind of specter who looked like the Grim Reaper. \u00a0Rob had a sort of specter thingy that had a “terror” special ability.<\/p>\n

\"Chris<\/a>
Chris and I gang up on Rob<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

We didn’t take time to talk about our game plan, but it turned out that Chris and I both moved toward Rob’s force. \u00a0Since Greg’s forces were slow-moving, poor quality troops, he advanced slowly and didn’t get into the thick of the action until Chris and I had hammered Rob’s guys pretty hard.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\"My<\/a>
My human kills a skeleton<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Rob's<\/a>
Rob's spectre engages Chris and my forces, forcing many to flee in fear<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

When Rob hit 50%, his remaining forces had to make a morale check. \u00a0He did reasonably well, but a bunch of his folks ran off the table. \u00a0Then his specter got into the action, forcing a bunch of Chris’ guys and my guys to run away. \u00a0I think one of Chris’ guys ran off the table.<\/p>\n

\"Humans<\/a>
Humans and dwarfs engaged with zombies<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

This is where the final, big action took place. \u00a0The zombies moved slowly and didn’t activate too quickly, but they fought pretty well. \u00a0I lost a couple of guys in the final battle, but then Greg went over the 50% threshold and most of his remaining zombies ran off the table. \u00a0At that point we called the game.<\/p>\n

Combat in Songs of Blades and Heroes is conducted with an opposed die roll. \u00a0It’s pretty straight forward, except since I have only played a couple of times, sometimes it’s hard to remember what is a plus to the attacker and what is a minus to the defender. \u00a0Otherwise, there is nothing too novel about combat. \u00a0Where Songs is innovative is in the activation scheme. \u00a0The active player can choose to try for one, two, or three actions per figure. \u00a0He chooses a figure to activate and decides whether to roll one, two, or three dice, trying to tie or beat his quality number. \u00a0So why not always try for three activations? \u00a0If you ever fail two activations, your activation ends, and initiative passes to the enemy. \u00a0So, while three dice might get you more actions, it also increases your chance of the initiative shifting. \u00a0So why not always just roll one die? \u00a0That’s safe, but often you want to try to move and conduct combat (two actions), or conduct an aimed bow shot (two actions, where shooting without taking careful aim is just one action), etc.<\/p>\n

As mentioned earlier, I think it is a fun system for a two player game with just a handful of figures on each side. \u00a0I only had seven figures, for instance. \u00a0Games with just a few figures on each side seem to be in vogue these days.<\/p>\n

We had a good time. \u00a0This made my 25th game of the year, so I am well on my way to my 50-game goal.<\/p>\n