Ganesha Games: Fantasy

Song of Blades and Heroes
Nominee for the 2008 Origins Award “Best Miniature Rules”

Song of Blades and Heroes is an exciting set of fast play fantasy rules that can be played with your existing miniatures.
EASY: simple rules that you learn in one game;
EASY MEASURING: no counting inches or centimeters: SBH uses three measuring sticks to measure all distances;
FAST: A game lasts 30-45 minutes. Play a mini campaign in a single evening;
INEXPENSIVE:5-10 models per player are needed;
CONVENIENT: a 2’x 2’ play area is enough. Bring all your armies in a shoebox!
MULTI-SCALE: any single based miniature, in any scale;
HEX-FRIENDLY: play on hex grids if you prefer;
NO WEIRD DICE: standard six-sided dice only;
READY TO PLAY: 180+ monsters and heroes included, and you can create your own!
NO BOOK-KEEPING;
HIGH SOLO PLAYABILITY;
CAMPAIGN RULES: your warband grows more powerful after every battle;
Six scenarios included.

Song of Gold and Darkness
Treasure and danger await your heroes in the depths of the Earth. Will you dare enter the Dungeon? Song of Gold and Darkness is the first expansion for the Song of Blades and Heroes fantasy skirmish rules. It includes complete rules for dungeon adventuring such as:
Rules clarifications and expansions;
11 new Terrain types;
18 new Special rules for your models;
four new warband advances;
Necromancers, Sorcerers and Summoners;
rules for treasure, climbing, bashing down doors, lock picking, traps, light and darkness, movement and combat;
potions, magic clothes, magic weapons and jewelry;
four dungeon scenarios;
guidelines for solo dungeons;
rosters for 156 new monsters and warriors, including Dark Dwarves, Dark Elves, Hobgoblins, Snakemen, Giants, Angels, Demons, Were Creatures, and classic dungeon dwellers such as Brain Devourers, Eye Monsters and Gargoyles.

THIS IS A SUPPLEMENT. TO USE THIS BOOK YOU NEED SONG OF BLADES AND HEROES.

Song of Wind and Water
The second supplement for the Song of Blades and Heroes fantasy miniature rules, SWW brings the forces of Nature to your tabletop. With simple weather rules, new terrain types and special abilities, your battles will never look the same again.

New Terrain types: bogs, swamps, quicksand, desert, lakes, rivers, ruins, witch woods, thick vegetation, snow, bladegrass, sleepflowers, stickyweeds, suspended bridges and teleport fields.

6 Precursor Artifacts,
19 new abilities,
2 scenarios,
shieldwall and rally rules,
FAQ,
98 new profiles including Nymphs, Frogfolk, Apemen, Plant-Men, Desert Nomads, Dinosaurs, Orcs and Goblins,Manticores, Pegasi, Hydras, Sasquatch, Yeti, Griffins, Catoblepas, Cyclopses and Hippogryphs. NOTE THAT TO FULLY ENJOY THIS SUPPLEMENT OWNERSHIP OF SONG OF GOLD AND DARKNESS IS RECOMMENDED (there are a few references to rules published in SGD and not reprinted here)

Song of Deeds and Glory
Song of Deeds and Glory is an expansion for the popular Song of Blades and Heroes miniatures rules. It features all the rules and guidelines needed to run extended campaigns, taking warriors from green recruits to grizzled veterans. Now players can send their warbands on the path to conquest and carve out their own territories!
Territories: own land, defend it from usurpers, or launch raids on your neighbors
Scenarios: a multitude of new combat situations
The aftermath of battle: will your heroes live or be horribly crippled?
Exploration: find treasure and visit exotic, dangerous locales
Shopping: use your warband’s gold to purchase the finest gear or hire the services of experts
Development: watch your characters grow as they survive new battles.
Special rules: 15 exciting new powers such as Immortal, Enchanter, and Illusionist
Rosters: 36 new creatures
THIS BOOK USES MATERIALS FROM SONG OF GOLD AND DARKNESS AND SONG OF WIND AND WATER. YOU NEED THEM TO PLAY A FULL CAMPAIGN

PULL THE SWORD FROM THE STONE AND BECOME KING!
Song of Arthur and Merlin is a sourcebook for the Song of Blades and Heroes miniatures rules. Written by Arthurian expert Daniel Mersey, this book includes:
* Three versions of the Arthurian story: Hollywood’s knights in shining armor, the gritty hero of Welsh legend, and a historical world stripped of all magic and monsters.
* 6 scenarios and campaigns for Arthurian games and 11 new scenarios for all SBH games.
* 100 new rosters including knights, magicians and creatures from British folklore, historical Britons and their Saxon, Pictish, and Irish enemies.
* 38 new special items.
* 19 warband advances.
* New special rules, optional rules for larger warbands.
SONG OF BLADES AND HEROES REQUIRED TO PLAY. OWNERSHIP OF SONG OF GOLD AND DARKNESS AND SONG OF WIND AND WATER RECOMMENDED

SONG OF THE SPLINTERED LANDS is a stand-alone set of miniature rules based on and fully compatible with the Origins-nominated Song of Blades and Heroes fantasy miniature rules. The book includes:

Basic rules for activation, melee, ranged combat and Morale;
Campaign Rules for two different rebellion scenarios and for building and defending a “strategic hamlet” in disputed territory;
Fog of War with rules for variable strength warbands and variable missions with dummy markers and scouting;

Cultural Background for the Druid’s Wyldewood, the dwarves of Mountain Home, and the goblin races of Moonglade;

Fantasy Races including the Druid’s Children - talking and toolusing animal species including hares, hedgehogs, moles, shrews, squirrels, foxes, and others;

Rules for defensive works of wood and dirt including ditches, stockades, and log buildings;

And More!

Kid friendly, this is a great game system for father/son (or parent/child) gaming.

Song of Fur and Buttons

Fight for Queen, Country, and Honey!
Song of Fur and Buttons is a campaign sourcebook for the Origins-nominated Song of Blades and Heroes miniature rules. The book follows the exploits of three adventurous teddy bears, Sir Maurice Fursworth, Sir William Cuddlesbury and Sir Uppity Paws. Fight and race Dinosaurs, form alliances with the Kermitians, swashbuckle with pirate teddies and fight against the evil Picnic Bear / Terrashell armies, in a quest to save your friends.
Twelve very unique and challenging scenarios to play through, all of which can be replayed with your own figures.
Great for parent/child gaming, or for big kids with big imaginations, Song of Fur and Buttons is an engaging, interactive bedtime story.
Song of Blades and Heroes is required to play this game. Ownership of Song of Gold and Darkness and Song of Wind and Water is recommended.

About Our Rules

In tabletop wargames, players create battles using model soldiers (also called “miniatures”) on model terrain. Wargames use various tools such as measuring sticks, dice, cards and counters.

Our rules are SIMPLE and FUN: they are easy-to-learn (children 8+ can play), fast (one game in one hour), require only 5 to 15 minis per player, and can be played in very little space (a 3’ by 3’ table is enough).

Our rules can be purchased in PDF or Print. Buy directly from us or from our licensed vendors and keep the receipt: you are entitled to free lifetime updates.

Song of Blades and Heroes

Song of Blades and Heroes is a set of fantasy wargame rules designed to be fun, fast, and simple to learn. Simple enough that 8-olders can play it, yet retaining enough tactical complexity to keep experienced gamers interested. It can be purchased in PDF for $5 or as a printed book for $12 . In 2008, the game was nominated for the Origins Award as “Best Miniature Rules”.

What’s the Size of the Typical SBH Battle?

Song of Blades and Heroes is a skirmish game, meaning that every figure in the game is singly-based (glued on a small coin or a cardboard square) and represents a single man or monster. A typical battle requires 4 to 15 models per player on a 3’x3’ (if using 28mm figures) table.

What Miniatures Should I use?

SBH can be played with miniatures in any scale, although 15mm and 28mm are the most commonly used. The rules are not tied to any product line by a miniature manufacturer: players are encouraged to play with any miniatures they have, on any flat surface (a square 2x2’ area is recommended for 15mm; 3x3’ for 25/28mm). It requires three regular six sided dice.

Inches or Cm?

Song of Blades and Heroes doesn’t use Imperial or Metric measurements. All measurements are taken with three measuring sticks (one short, one medium and one long) that the players make out of wood laths, drinking straws or cardboard strips. All moves and ranges in the game use these three sticks.

What Races/Monsters Can I Play?

More than 180 typical fantasy creatures are already described in the book. Players may create the game stats of their models through a point system, using free software available on the Song of Blades yahoo group.

How do the rules work?

Every model is described by two numbers, a Quality and a Combat score. The Quality score is a number that represents the morale and the ability of a single creature to take the initiative. It is the number to be rolled on a die to have the model perform an action. Players alternate in activating models from their warbands. The models are activated one at a time. The player can opt to roll one, two or three dice versus the model’s Quality. Every successful roll entitles the player to make one action, such as an attack or a move. If two or more failures are rolled, play passes to the opponent.

Special Rules

Every model may have special rules that describe what he can do. For example, models with the Stealth rule cannot be hit by ranged attacks as long as they stay adjacent to game terrain pieces; models with the Magic-User rule can cast spells, and so on.

Combat

Hand-to-hand combat is resolved by having adjacent models roll a die and add their Combat score to the result. The results are compared. Every combatant may knock down the opponent, kill him, force him to recoil or even score a gruesome kill (a violent death that forces friends of the killed model to pass a morale test or abandon the battlefield).

Ranged combat is resolved with the same mechanics, but the die rolls are adjusted by factors such as cover and distance between shooter and target.

Magic

Magic-using models can use their power to hinder an opponent or attack in ranged combat. The magic system is expanded in the game’s supplements.

Experience

The models in a warband may become more powerful as play progresses, gaining combat experience, magic items and new abilities. As a typical game is concluded in less than one hour, the campaign rules allow players to recreate a short campaign (3 to 5 battles) in a single evening of play.

Read a Review of SBH by the WargameGuru