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I've come across this title a couple of times before for skirmish and fantasy type gaming. Anyone have a good discussion or experience with these rules?

I'm interested, have more figures then I can shake a stick at, and getting ready to deficate my GW stocks and make room for more diversity in the board room.

How does it play as compared to Superfigs/ Dungeon Delves, etc?

Thanks in advance. Mainly looking for discussion of mechanics, playability, rules systems, and etc...

SoBH is an excellent rules set. It assumes a certain level of cooperation between players, as some abilities are quite over-powered, but the online support and additional modules are all really interesting.

R.

Great light ruleset. Incredibly fast playing too. I managed to play 4 games in a single night with my cousin, and neither of us had played before.
Because there are a lot of stats for a lot of creatures it's easy to use any existing fantasy miniature collection. There are a lot of additional sets you can buy, or themed versions (for example a post apocalyptic version).

I read a great campaign writeup a while back that used Song of Blades and Heroes. If you want an idea of how it runs I think reading through the 7 session reports is a good place to start:
http://chicagoskirmish.blogspot.ca/2012/06/song-of-blades-heroes-campaign-session.html

Bosky Beat me too it. (that's my club's campaign). Here's a link to a hub post that has links to each of the seven campaign session. http://chicagoskirmish.blogspot.ca/2012/06/summer-fantasy-campaign-song-of-blades.html
SBH is a really fun fast playing skirmish system that can make use of any figures you have. As precinctomega mentioned above, it is possible to break the unit creation mechanic, but in our campaign the only things we asked were for players to use the published army lists (SBH and all it's supplements have them) where possible, to use them as a guideline where not, and we limited the use of the "Savage" rule (either outlawed it or limited it to one per warband). That seemed to solve any min-max or WAAC'ish issues.

Coming from WHFB, you should know that it doesn't really do squad based combat, and it tops out at about 10-15 figs per side.
You can do more, but some minor mods are necessary.
http://chicagoskirmish.blogspot.com/2012/01/big-battles-in-song-of-blades-heroes.html

I've not played Delves or Supersystem, but I have played and enjoyed Blasters and Bulkheads, which also uses the "goalsystem" engine. SBH moves slightly faster, and has even fewer stats, but makes up for it with colorful special rules. The activation system is also very different, but it's unique activation mechanic also the signature of SBH and other games by Ganesha. As mentioend above SBH doesn't use squads (though leaders can "group activate" multiple figures together).

The Activation mechanic I mentioned above is what really sets it apart. Every time you activate a figure, you are gambling as you attempt 1, 2 or 3 actions, which are more or less risky based on the "quality" of the figure you are activating. 1 is always safe, 2 usually is, and 3 is risky. Two failures passes play to the other side, so you're constantly weighing doing more and more powerful actions and risking losing your turn, or playing it safe.

I highly recommend buying the basic "Song of Blades and Heroes" game first, as it has enough to keep you busy for quite a while. If you enjoy it the Supplements are great also. Each adds more force lists and special rules to the game for making your units more diverse, but they also add different dimensions to gameplay.

-Song of Deeds and Glory: Has a great campaign system
-Song of Gold and Darkness: adds rules for dungeon crawl games
-Song of Wind and Water: Weather and terrain rules

There are also two stand-alone games that are completely compatible with SBH and add additional aspects to the game. If one of these interests you, then you can start with it instead as each has all the basic SBH rules (though not quite the same selection of "special rules")
-Song of Arthur and Merlin- rules and force lists for 3 different types of the Arthur saga (high fantasy, hollywood, and historical dark ages)
-Song of the SPlintered lands- Sentient animals for those who like Redwall, Narnia, etc as well as some basic fortification rules.

Lastly, if you buy the PDF versions you get free updates whenever a new version comes out.
Sorry, got a bit carried away there, but as you can tell I'm a bit of a fan.

Haha I knew you'd get in here Eilif, so I thought I'd add my two cents before you totally swayed every reader to SBH.

Also I had a related question about getting free upgrades if you buy the PDF version. When the latest update came out I tried to use the contact email on Ganesha Games and passed along my old order number, but they never responded. How do you normally go about getting the new version?

I'd try them again. If they don't answer, contact Andrea through his "Song of Blades" Yahoo Group.
http://games.groups.yahoo.com/group/songofblades/
Usually he's quite quick to respond.

Thanks for the info.

I'll be getting in on some of this action, and seeing how we look with it.
The price is really good for the stuff in there, too.

I just got onto the Ganesh Games website to buy an e-copy. For me to create an account in order to buy an e-copy, they want my full name, mailing address, and my DOB?

Further to that, they want me to tick a box agreeing to this?

Once the information referred to in Article 13 of D. Decree Law 196/03, consent to the processing of personal data within the limits indicated in the information that claims to have received and read. By ticking the following boxes, freely expresses its consent to the use of your data for activities not closely related to contractual obligations, but would serve to improve and to learn about new products and services offered by the company responsible for data processing.

No. No fething way. I've got no problem paying for the rules to give them a try, but no way am I giving them that level of personal information and ticking that box. Now it seems if I'm not willing to sign my details away to some random stranger for the convenience of an eight-dollar purchase, I have to try and find a nebulous copy that someone else is willing to share.

It just boggles the mind.

If you don't want to give that info, just use WargamesVault.
http://www.wargamevault.com/product/58230/Song-of-Blades-and-Heroes?manufacturers_id=2502
They carry all the Ganesha Games products.

Alternatively, if you email Ganesha Games, you can probably work something out. Andrea (the writer) is really involved in keeping his customers happy.

I'll give emailing him a try. I wanted to go direct both to support the creator a little more, and also for the updates.

Either Ganesha's website or WargamesVault will both make sure you get the free edition updates. They both keep your product in a sort of account library and when a new version pops up you can just sign in and get it.

I've used both with success.

Really enjoyed reading those campaign reports guys, it certainly looks very varied!

Can I ask, how did you create the hexagonal-style campaign map you've used?

I think he made it form a free program avaialble online. I'll ask my buddy and get back to you. If I haven't posted a result in a couple of days feel free to remind me.

 Eilif wrote:
Either Ganesha's website or WargamesVault will both make sure you get the free edition updates. They both keep your product in a sort of account library and when a new version pops up you can just sign in and get it.

I've used both with success.

Ah okay. Someone said that buying from WGV meant no updates?

Misinformation. I've gotten several updates for Ganesha Products via WGV.


Automatically Appended Next Post:

 Pacific wrote:
Really enjoyed reading those campaign reports guys, it certainly looks very varied!

Can I ask, how did you create the hexagonal-style campaign map you've used?

My buddy says he used the free version of "Hexographer". I'm not sure how it works, but it's the second one he's done for the club.

http://www.hexographer.com/

Best of luck with your mapmaking!