Sword & Spear Fantasy at Phalanx

[Polkovnik]

I put on a game of Sword & Spear Fantasy at the Phalanx show in St. Helens (UK)  last weekend.
The game was medieval humans (Men of the West) versus orcs and goblins. It was a big game with over 40 units in total. It was good to get some figures on the table that haven’t been used for a long time (or ever in some cases, not by me in any case). They are mainly old GW figures that I’ve been spending a lot of time tidying up, dipping and rebasing over the last few weeks.
Here are some photos of the game. The lighting is a bit strange at the venue, so the colours look a bit strange, especially on the last few photos.


































 

[The Dozing Dragon]

Looks great!

[olyreed]

When are the rules available?

[manic _miner]

 It did look like a very nice game.

 I asked about the Temple ruins at the show and it might have been you i spoke to about them.They are very well built pieces.Would have loved to watch and find-out more about the game but only had a few spare moments to look around as i was trading on the day.

[Vermis]

Can't think of many better uses for old Warhammer minis. Looks like a proper setup for a scrap.

I've been meaning to get the original historical rules for ages, but a cutback in my historical gaming made them keep slipping from my mind. What are the S&S fantasy rules? A fan supplement like Shadow Storm for Hail Caesar? A new print book? Something in between?

[Polkovnik]

I asked about the Temple ruins at the show and it might have been you i spoke to about them.They are very well built pieces.

Thanks. Yes, the temple is scratch built from foamboard / styrofoam, with the addition of a few hirst arts pillars I bought off ebay.
I built it as part of my Frostgrave terrain - you can see more of it here:
http://leadadventureforum.com/index.php?topic=80666.0

[Polkovnik]

When are the rules available?

I completed the writing last week and sent it to the publisher. It will now need the layout, artwork and photography all doing, then printing. I've no idea how long that will all take, but I'm hoping it will be a couple of months.   

[Polkovnik]

I've been meaning to get the original historical rules for ages, but a cutback in my historical gaming made them keep slipping from my mind. What are the S&S fantasy rules? A fan supplement like Shadow Storm for Hail Caesar? A new print book? Something in between?

It will be a completely new print book.

[deathjester25]

Sounds interesting. I guess since I don't play historicals I'm not familiar with sword and spear. Would you be able to give a quick rundown of what it brings to the table compared to WFB or kings of war?

[Polkovnik]

Sounds interesting. I guess since I don't play historicals I'm not familiar with sword and spear. Would you be able to give a quick rundown of what it brings to the table compared to WFB or kings of war?

It's completely different to those games. It's a big battle game where one unit represents hundreds or even thousands of combatants. It is unit based with no figure removal and rather than being IGOUGO it has an integrated turn sequence with lots of decisions to be made and both players involved at all times.

From the introduction in the rulebook:
"There is a clever and innovative system for activating units that creates interesting and challenging decisions, keeps both players involved at all times and has a lot of depth and subtlety. Each turn is split into phases, where players each receive a number of action dice; these dice are rolled and then used to activate units. The number shown on each dice determines which units it can activate (with better quality units being easier to activate), what the unit can do when activated, and also determine the activation sequence. Certain dice also give bonuses to combat, movement distance or shooting range. "  

You can read reviews of the ancient and medival rules here:
http://polkovnik.moonfruit.com/sword-spear-reviews/4586094213

[Polkovnik]

Duplicate post.

[deathjester25]

Just read the reviews and it does seem interesting. What size are the unit bases/stands? Will the fantasy version feature army lists or does it include a point system to build what you want?

[Bunny]

Really looking forward to this as I love the historical game and have a heap....thousands of 15mm fantasy ready to take to the table.....

[Polkovnik]

Just read the reviews and it does seem interesting. What size are the unit bases/stands? Will the fantasy version feature army lists or does it include a point system to build what you want?

Units can be any frontage, as long as both players have the same frontage. We normally use 120mm frontage units in 28mm and 80mm frontage in 40mm. All measurements are in Distance Units, with 1 DU being half the frontage of a unit. For example, a unit of heavy foot moves 2 DU and the range for longbow is 5 DU.

There are no set army lists. There is a points system so you can design your units as you like, and have whatever units you like making up your army, and there is an army builder spreadsheet available to download. There is a section in the rules giving advice about troop classifications (i.e. what type of unit should be classed as each unit type) and I will provide suggested armies in the army builder spreadsheet that players can use as they are or modify as they see fit.