Dark Days in Quarra, a Song of Blades Campaign. (8/8 A few more updates...)

[eilif]

Myself, PatrickWR, and 4 other members of the "Chicago Skirmish Wargames" club kicked off our summer Song of Blades and Heroes campaign last week.  PatrickWR just put up the first blog post.  Either he or I will be updating this topic every two weeks (our frequency of meeting) until the end of the campaign.  We're going to try and at least note the results of every battle played (about 6 each night). First night's report here:
http://chicagoskirmish.blogspot.com/2013/06/dark-days-of-qaarra-session-1-searching.html
A few pics of the action from the blog post.






It got off to a good start. Even though we are playing with 500 point warbands (300 is standard) the games went quickly, and even the two players who are relatively new (have only played a couple trial games) hand the rules down.  We learned some valuable lessons from last summer's campaign and some good preparation has been laid down in advance so I'm very excited to see where this year's campaign goes.

I'll post again soon with the guidelines and rules mods/clarifications that the club is using for this campaign.

[DeafNala]

LOOKIN' GOOD! I like the numbers & diversity of miniatures in play. Have FUN with the Campaign!

[PatrickWR]

Yes, this had all the makings of a great game night. 3 tables full of sweet terrain, painted miniatures everywhere, fun scenarios that weren't just meatgrinder/kill-em-all games. I'm looking forward to more!

[Vinlander]

Great looking campaign! I'll be following this with interest...

BTW, those mats are brilliant. where did you get them?

   

[obsidian3d]

Fantastic looking games!

[eilif]

The mat in the second picture is a zuzzy vinyl mat.

The other two mats belong to another player. They're just polarfleece in a tye-dyed pattern from a fabric store. I was skeptical at first, but it won me over. As well as the natural looking pattern,  it has a very nice 3d appearnce, but isn't so thick that miniatures can't stand up easily.  It's cheap too.

[Jevenkah]

Looks brilliant, fellows!  (I've only had a chance to skim the blog today; I appreciate the way you give a good feel for the game in a paragraph.)

As I've mentioned to PatrickWR, I'm struck by how fun the varied armies look together on the table top.

I'll be following with interest!

Jevenkah

[eilif]

Just wanted to link to the previous post that PatrickWR made (I probably shouldn't have started a new topic) about the campaign map and introduction.
http://leadadventureforum.com/index.php?topic=55114.0
You can read the background fluff for the campaign here:
http://chicagoskirmish.blogspot.com/p/dark-days-have-come-to-lands-of-qaarra.html
Here's the setting map. It's not a territory capture type of map, but it does let us determine:
1) Which scenario we will be playing. Roll on the right column and refer to the fan-supplement of Mordhiem and WHFB skirmish scenarios converted to SBH.
2) Where the battle is taking place.  Second Column. Doesn't affect the campaign, but it does help the narrative and gives good ideas for what kind of terrain to setup.


Those who are interested can find the free Scenario Supplement for SBH here:
 http://hour11gaming.blogspot.com/p/song-of-blades-heroes-stuff.html?m=1
Almost 80 scenarios for SBH. Very neatly presented and organized. A real treasure for any fantasy gaming fan!

[PatrickWR]

Hey guys, just wanted to chime in and say that we've played 4 sessions of the campaign so far. It's been a lot of fun, and we've had as many as six players participating at a time.

Session 4 - Raiding the Camp
Session 3 - Defense of Dustcrag Oasis
Session 2 - Reinforcements and Dark Rituals
Session 1 - Searching for Clues

And here are a few photo highlights from the last few games. Lots more at the links above!

[obsidian3d]

I'm envious that you can round up that many players. My group has evaporated completely in the past year.

[Vermis]

Great warbands, terrain, story, etc. etc. you guys have! The castle especially looks excellent.

[eilif]

Thanks Vermis,
     We have alot of fun.  The Castle is just a Mage Knight castle.  It comes prepainted and pretty cool.  It's on sale at Miniatures Market right now.  The only drawback is that all the walls have doors because the walls with no doors sold out years ago. Still, it's a pretty cool set.  After we got this one, two other club members bought one, so we've got enough to make a pretty huge layout.

Obsidian3d,
      Sorry to hear that.  We've been lucky enough to have a steady attendance of 4-6 at our every-other-week meetings for about 3 years now.  It helps that we mostly play small generic skirmish games so it doesn't take much cash or time for folks to prepare forces for the games we play.

[HereWego]

That's fantasy! Thanks for sharing 

[DeafNala]

I LOVE that last photo; the Bunny Swashbuckler vs the Mighty Mouse...an Epic Confrontation. GREAT STUFF!

[eilif]

I LOVE that last photo; the Bunny Swashbuckler vs the Mighty Mouse...an Epic Confrontation. GREAT STUFF!

Thanks!

They may be separated by scale, brand and 20+ years of age, but on the tables of Chicago Skirmish Wargames they can still get together and kill each other!

Heartwarming, really.