celebrates the end of a long, long project.
Strategic Elite Fantasy Skirmish Game Announcement
We here at Strategic Elite are pleased to announce our latest miniatures skirmish wargame in our line of products, based on the Origins 2013-nominated Brink of Battle: Skirmish Gaming through the Ages system. After the success we had with Scrappers: Post-Apocalyptic Skirmish Wargames (published by our friends at Osprey Games), we decided to return to the fantasy genre and build upon the foundation laid by our Epic Heroes: Skirmish Gaming in the Realms of Fantasy expansion for Brink of Battle. This new game is called…
The Sword Marches – Metal Sword & Sorcery Skirmish Wargames
What do you mean by "Metal Sword & Sorcery"? The sword and sorcery subgenre of fantasy fiction was started by Robert E. Howard with his Conan stories. Fritz Leiber added his Lanhkmar books of Fafhrd and the Grey Mouser, and then Michael Moorcock's Elric and Karl Edward Wagner's Kane tales expanded the genre. And let's not forget about Clark Ashton Smith's monumental contribution to the list with his Zothique and Hyperborean stories. All of these authors inspired a special category of fantasy fiction, and when Frank Frazetta chimed in with his amazing artwork, a span of other great artists filled in the rest. And then Heavy Metal music found a kindred spirit… add it all up, and you have Metal Sword & Sorcery, a no-holds-barred setting of street-level heroes with mighty thews and sharp steel carving their way to victory over scheming wizards and otherworldly threats!
So What's the Game Like?
The Sword Marches is a narrative campaign skirmish game. Players build their warlords and embark on a journey through their alter-ego's chronicle. Leaning heavily on the sword and sorcery subgenre of fiction, these chronicles tell the tale of the humble beginnings and ultimate rise of the warlord and his retinue. Each player chooses from twelve warlord archetypes, seven factions, seven stronghold types, and then musters warriors from the Human, Demi-Human, and Supernatural Origin types to create a warband of 3 to 20 miniatures.
Players can either start small with the Upstart Chronicle Stage, or have more points and higher abilities from the Blooded or Legend Chronicle Stages representing the progress of the warlord's story in the game. Each Chronicle Stage has four adventures attached that reflect the growing power levels of each stage, and the complexity of scenarios as the warband progresses.
Warbands have a single warlord representing their player's alter-ego in the game. They add champions and warriors to their muster, and fight other warbands or encounter groups in each adventure scenario, earning treasure and experience as they go, which allows them to add more warriors and advance their profiles with new traits and higher ratings. Keeping with the Brink of Battle design philosophy, players will be able to use any models of their choosing, and have complete freedom to mix their warband up with any origin types they choose. If you want a Human Wizard that wears a helmet and commands a motley assortment of Demi-Humans and supernaturals, You can do it! Or, if army lists are your thing, you will be able to choose from some pre-packaged, turn-key warband designs to speed up preparation and play.
Global Playtest
Having participated in the global playtest of Wizards of the Coast's Dungeons & Dragons 5th edition, we see the value of crowd-sourced materials. So today, we are announcing the global playtest of The Sword Marches! Players will be able to download free playtest materials and give us feedback over the course of the next year. We are planning a Kickstarter campaign in the third quarter of 2019, with a target release date of Spring 2020.
We are giving players all of the core mechanics in the game for free playtesting, so you will have full access to how the revised Brink of Battle system will work in TSM. There will be a limited amount of Traits and Gear, and only two basic scenarios, called Adventures, to play initially. Once we've solidified the player base and are ready to advance the playtest, we will regularly release additional content for your games, and will do so up until it's time to wrap up and publish the books. Yes, we said books. There will be three books in the starter game: Warband Muster, Warlord Tactics, and Adventures Perilous. The first book has everything about the setting and how to build your chronicle and warband. The second is the actual game mechanics and rules of play. The third is the campaign book with twelve adventure scenarios, treasure, experience, trauma, and commerce sections. And also magic items… no, we didn't forget! We may have a single omnibus version and/or boxed set with the Kickstarter as well.
Our marketing strategy is to release the core books, and then follow up with the additional supplements over the course of a couple of years. Our goal is to provide full support to this setting and rules system, and build a premier player community in the process.
Building a TSM Community
One primary reason for building a large playtest community over the next year is to get feedback from our player base on the types of products, events and merchandise they want to see from Strategic Elite. We know there are many fantasy skirmish games to choose from, so we want to make sure that we are bringing 100% value to our players. We will ask for feedback on the types of artists you like, what type of miniatures and sculptors you may want to see, and establish organized-play events that are to the benefit of players and brick-and-mortar game retailers as well. We also want to see your warbands, and learn what metal you're listening to when you paint and play!
Product Inventory
Here's the list of supplements we plan to release after the core books reach the market. All names are subject to change, as well as the order of release:
- The Warden's Hall – Army list styled book that introduces new factions and rules, as well as a section of Ready-to-Play model profiles and warband builds.
- The Monsterium – Contains rules for War Beasts, Cavalry, and Flyers.
- Cults & Cabals – Adds Extraplanar entities, Paladins, Witch Hunters, Fellguard, and Scourges.
- The Warlord's Council – Almanac of additional Factions, Traits, Setting history, and Quests.
- Ultimate Thaumaturgy – The revised and updated Magic system from Epic Heroes for those wanting more robust Magic rules.
- The Old Kingdoms – Faction and Setting book for the City-States and Kingdoms outside of the Madlands that surround the Marches.
- The Sword Marches paperback fiction – Eight short stories.
- Campaign Books – These will be full Campaign Adventure Paths that will focus on one theme and add new adventures, encounter groups, treasures, and game mechanics that can be played in succession to complete the story.
- Against All Odds – Solo Campaign book that will take the player's warband from the Upstart Stage through to the Legend Stage of his Chronicle… if he survives!
- Band of Heroes – Fantasy RPG tabletop play using the TSM rules. Cooperative team play or GM versus players.
Depending on the demand, we may also have swag, miniatures, tokens, etc., that are part of the setting.
Sounds Great! What Next?
Over the next few days, we will be opening our TSM official Facebook group and setting up discussion threads in our favorite forums. We will also have The Sword Marches blog which will post all manner of updates, backstory, design philosophy, and FAQs. Finally, we will release the playtest docs for you to download and play!
So put on your black T-shirt, grab your Starmetal Axe, and come fight with us in…
