Alternative Victory Conditions for 4-player SOBAH Campaign

One of the problems we found with A Song of Blades and Heroes (SOBAH) is that the Victory Points were really dependant on killing other Player Characters. In fact, one player pointed out that it was to his advantage to completely ignore the scenario conditions in preference to killing as many other PCs as possible, because he would end up with at least twice as many VPs.

So, I decided to revamp the VP system and increase the VPs that the scenario objectives rewarded players.

Firstly, VPs from Kills: a player gets 2 VP for the FIRST kill from each opposing warband, regardless of points value.

VPs for Scenario Objectives: I am going to increase the number of VPs for succeeding in achieving the objectives and, with four players, add addition possibilities for gaining VPs. We will also be using a time limit for our games, usually about 2 hours.

For example, for the Treasure Hunt scenario in the rulebook, I would place 8 treasure tokens instead of 3. Four tokens are dummies, two are worth 2VPs and two are worth 5 VPs. Carrying a token off the table gains the full VPs, if a PC is carrying a token but still on table at the end of the game, they are worth 1VP.

In some games I’m going to add in Personal Objectives to gain 3 VPs (claim immediately that the task is fulfilled).

ACE	Assassinate Player 1’s leader
TWO	Assassinate Player 2’s leader
THREE	Assassinate Player 3’s leader
FOUR	Assassinate Player 4’s leader
FIVE	Your first melee attack must be by your leader.
SIX	Your leader must single-handedly kill at least one enemy model
SEVEN	A model must touch the table edge on either side of your deployment area (may be different models)
EIGHT	One model must touch the table edge opposite your deployment zone
NINE	Do not kill any members of Player 1’s warband
TEN	Do not kill any members of Player 2’s warband
JACK	Do not kill any members of Player 3’s warband
QUEEN	Do not kill any members of Player 4’s warband
KING	Keep your leader alive on the table until the end of the game

 

Occasionally I’ll also add secondary objectives with possibility of gaining a magic item or extra XP/VP.

For example, scatter 4 bodies around the table. PCs need to spend one action searching a body and draws a card.

Number Card	Nothing
JACK	Find a superior quality weapon: + 1 XP
QUEEN	Find some loot you can sell: +1 VP
KING	Find a valuable gemstone you can sell: +2 VP
ACE	Find a Magic Item

 

As an example of the revised VP system, here is the scenario from the last game I posted on the blog a couple of days ago.

 The Obelisk of Power

 Background

Four powerful wizards are vying to harness the magical energy from an ancient obelisk, that acts a conduit to another realm. Each wants to avoid a direct confrontation, so they have hired bands of mercenaries (the players) to harness the energy on their behalf. In order to harness the power of the obelisk, a Warband must control two of the command discs at the end of the game.

 Command Discs

To control a disc a character must spend an unengaged action standing on the disc. Control remains with the player until another player’s PC spends an unengaged action standing on the disc, when control passes to that player. Each time a disc is activated, all PCs on the disc are teleported.

When a character takes control of a disc, roll 1d6.

1-4 Counting clockwise, and treating the starting disc as 1, the character teleports to the appropriate disc.

5-6 Reroll:

 1-2. The character teleports to a random spot, Long distance away from the disc.

 3-4. The character teleports to a random spot, 2 x Long distance away from the disc.

 5-6. The character teleports off-table and cannot return this game.

If there are multiple PCs standing on on an a disc when it activates, all are teleported, roll for each PC separately.

The game ends after a pre-arranged time (we normally say 2 hours).

Victory Points

VPs for kills

2 VP if your Leader has taken control of a disc at any point

2 VP for controlling one disc at the end of the game

4 VP for controlling 2 or more discs at the end of the game

+1 bonus XP for first PC to stand on a disc

+1 bonus XP if controlling more discs than any other player.

 

A Song Of Blades And Heroes Campaign

 We recently decided to scrap our SOBAH campaign and start over, with a new system for scoring victory points. The existing system in the game was fine for 2-player games, but was not really working with 4 players. So I sat down and devised new VP system and started writing scenarios for games with multiple players.

We played our first game with the new system and everyone was very happy with it. It was quite a close game, with Fortune's Wheel revolving rapidly until the final few minutes, when Mark's Dwarves raced ahead in VPs.

We are playing 4 warbands, Gnolls (me), Undead (Henry), Cat Folk (Colin) and Dwarves (Mark). The scenario revolved around harnessing a source of mystical energy, by controlling four magic circles set in the ground. Unfortunately a side effect of activating a circle was to be teleported to another circle or randomly around the table (or even off of it!).

Here are a few pictures from the game.

One of Mark's mounted Dwarves claims a circle early, whilst the Cat Folk gang up on a couple of Dwarves.

On the other side of the table the Gnolls grab two circles...

...whilst their "pet" ogre faces down the undead.

Where did all those Cat Folk go? The Dwarf leader rolled 6-1 in a combat, inflicting a gruesome kill on a kitty. Most of the rest of the Cats failed their morale test and ran back in horror towards their base edge.

The Gnolls reclaim one of the circles they had activated earlier, only for the Undead to steal control from them. For most of the game, control of the circles revolved rapidly amongst the players.

A target rich environment! The cat archer can't decide whether to shoot the Dwarf Leader or one of the Gnolls (she missed anyway!).

The ogre and a Dwarf battle over control of a circle.

The end result was an overwhelming victory for the Dwarfs, who managed to snaffle 3 of the 4 circles in the last few minutes of the game. My biggest problem was that I rolled badly on teleportation and lost half my warband off the table and out of the game!

Painting in June

 I feel like I've been busy in June, but not much painting to show for it. But I did get quite a lot of rebasing done, which took up a lot of the time.

I finally finished the grand rebasing of my 28mm Late Roman and Foes collection, with some Frankish cavalry.

And some Roman horse archers. I painted up the last 3 miniatures for these that had been festering in the PILE OF SHAME since I bought them over a decade ago!

I also re-based and touched up a load of 12mm plastics for my GNW winter campaign, these are the Russians and...

...these are the Swedes. I have a load more infantry done for both sides, but I will need to paint some more cavalry.

Proper painting now, a Sasquatch which is a repainted Heroclix model.

A Deathgrasp, from the Zombicide Undead or Alive set.

The Plymouth Hound, from the same set.

5-way Fight with Song of Blades and Heroes - Chaos!

 I got a bunch of my gaming buddies over for an afternoon to try out Ganesha Games' Song of Blades and Heroes fantasy rules. These have been around for many years now but, although I've played several different rules that use the SOBAH mechanisms (Fear and Faith, Mutants and Death Ray Guns etc), I'd never played the original set before now. 

A couple of the players hadn't met each other before, so I thought this was a good opportunity to do some networking and introduce them. A put together a selection of 300 point warbands and allowed everyone to pick which one they wanted to use.

Kirstie chose Orcs, Mark Dwarves, Ross Wood Elves, I took Lizardmen and Ian had a mixed group of adventurers (based on our Sellswords party from pre-covid campaigning).

I stole borrowed the idea for this scenario from an absolutely superb mini campaign I had found through the Lead Adventure Forum https://necedemalis.org/hunt-for-the-barrowland-act-one/

My take on this for SOBAH is below.

CURSE OF THE BARROWLANDS

The skalds speak of the lost barrows of Sianwon in hushed tones, speaking of a kingdom long thought lost to myth. Some believe it was the place where the dream of undeath was first discovered, for from its, now-buried, sepulchres and tombs the dead first emerged to walk the earth again. Others say it is a place cursed by demons. Either way the legendary treasures rumoured to be buried there have enticed many an adventurer to risk life and soul to explore the grassy mounds. Few have returned to tell of what they found there. 

Objective: To search the barrows and find as much treasure as possible.

Searching a Barrow: Once in contact with the entrance, it takes two consecutive activations to search a barrow, roll 1d6 (a barrow will only contain 1 treasure).

1= Creeping Terror, the model flees one full move away from the barrow.

2-3= Dust and Ashes, nothing but you can try again in another turn.

4-5=, a 1 or 2 value chest.

6= Ancestral Treasure, Either a 3 Loot chest of gold or a relic* (players choice).

*A magical item, counts as 2 Loot, but does not slow the bearer.

Eternal Guardians: Each time a barrow is searched roll 1d6

1-2 Nothing happens

3-5 A barrow guardian awakes, place 1 next to the entrance.

6 Two barrow guardians.

 Name                                  Q C PTS TRAITS

BARROW GUARDIAN 3+ 3 36 Undead

  Carrying a treasure chest reduces the models speed by one band (Medium becomes short etc).

Ross got off to a quick start, advancing his elves across the table.

Kirstie's orcs were a bit more reticent, we said they were paddling and building sand castles on the riverbank.

Most of Ian's adventurers rushed up to the river, but the wizard and dwarf lagged behind.

My Lizardmen also spread themselves out as they advanced. mark's dwarves hardly seemed to move at all (I know they have only a short move, but even so!).

Ross' fast moving elves were the first to get into contact with a barrow.

Ignoring the two laggards at the back, Ian waded across the river, towards the nearest barrow.

Getting there ahead of my lizardmen.

The two parties clashed in a brief, inconclusive skirmish. Then Mark's dwarves attacked Ian from behind and my lizardmen took the opportunity to move on to another barrow.

As the elves had looted one barrow, after dealing with an irate guardian, and were moving on to a second, Kirstie decided to ignore the barrow and cross the river to cut off the elves' retreat. Let the elves do the hard work and mug them on the way home!

Things were getting nasty between Ian and Mark's warbands as my lizardmen quietly moved away and looted the next barrow, which didn't have any nasty surprises!

Eddie the wizard got halfway a cross the river, when the dwarf archer started shooting at him. The couple exchanged arrows and fore bolts for the next couple of turns, with inflicting serious damage.

After a few turns of combat both warbands had lost 3 of their number, both were now at half strength!

Having looted two barrows, the elves decided to head for home, only to find the orcs blocking their way.

If that wasn't bad enough, my lizardmen can charging up from the other side.

Deciding that arrows were not working, a dwarf rushed towards the wizard, intending to try splitting his head with an axe. Eddie concentrated and froze the dwarf on the spot, halting his advance (deciding that fire bolts hadn't worked, Ian decided to try a Transfix spell, which had the desired effect).

As the elves dropped under the combined assault, an orc grabbed one of the looted treasures, whilst a lizardman grabbed the other. Having lost two of their number, the lizardmen now retreated with their treasures, pursued by the orcs. Two acted as rear-guard, while the third carried off the loot.

Back in the river Eddie the wizard took careful aim and loosed a fire bolt, killing the transfixed dwarf.

Now, with only 1 character left each, Mark and Ian made a truce. With the orcs acting as a distraction, they would gang up on my treasure carrying lizardman and rob him!

Having lost a couple of orcs to my lizardmen, Kirstie decided to call off the chase an loot the final two barrows instead. The first they entered had shiny things inside, but also a guardian, which promptly laid out the first orc to rashly enter. However they ganged up on it and despatched the undead creature.

Whilst the orcs were now off looting, the other two lizardmen were able to come to their fellow's aid made short work of the two would-be robbers.

After a lot of fun, laughter and banter, aided by beer & snacks, the final result.

Ian TPK (Total Party Kill)

Mark TPK

Ross TPK

Me 4 Loot Points

Kirstie 6 Loot points

I will be trying another multi-player game of SOBAH next week, with different players. My intention is to run a campaign next year for a group of 4 of us who get together regularly once a month.