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Pledge To By Fire & Sword For Historical Action
May 16, 2013 by brennon
By Fire & Sword is a game that we saw while at Salute 2013 and it immediately caught our eye. The company, Wargamer, are now in their final week of an awesome Kickstarter that has bust through its target easily.
Update: The folks from By Fire & Sword have now added a video to their Kickstarter page which you can check out above!
"The By Fire and Sword wargame is a comprehensive system including game rules, historical background for the forces of all the combatants, battle group creation rules and scenarios, but most of all a huge number of wargaming figures representing all the military formations of the warring parties. The rules system allows for the use of a variety of tactics, formations and ways of warfare used during the 17th century by all armies participating in the conflicts. We placed particular emphasis on the issue of command and control on the battlefield and its effectiveness in various armies. Depending on the experience of gamers and number of figures available, as well as time and space for the game, By Fire and Sword battles can be played on 2 different levels. The number and types units available to the player depend on the level chosen. Game at the Skirmish level can be completed in less than an hour. The Divisional level enables recreating larger battles. In the future we will add new rules enabling playing truly epic battles. We hope that the Kickstarter campaign will help us achieve this goal."
As you can see it's a wargame filled with loads of miniatures for the period on a grand 15mm scale. It also draws on armies from the continent that you wouldn't normally fight with. The pledge levels so far include miniatures and even terrain.
Above is a selection of their 15mm Big Terrain but they also have smaller pieces for barricades and walls too. You could have a nicely populated battlefield within no time.
What do you think of this period of history and especially gaming in it? Could By Fire & Sword be your first step into the world of historical warfare?
Check out the Kickstarter for more!
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Whilst the publications look nice and attractive, I can’t help but feel that this is quite expensive for a 15mm game. 2x skirmish armies + rule book and a few command figs (which would equate to a starter box of most other games) = $170!! as opposed to £70 RRP for a warmachine starter that is already established within the market, therefore little risk to customers.
Would have expected a Kick Starter such as this to be around 50% of this price tbh. Maybe others feel differently and don’t mind the cost etc, so I hope it does well for those involved in the KS.
Additionally, I was somewhat unsure what was contained within each boxed set and how many boxes would be needed to make a normal game force. This was important to me as the game could come expensive very quickly!
Mick
basically you need 9 boxes for a divisional lvl game which is a preety big army.so the cost would be about.£150. you cant get an army anywhere for that money nowadays. my Khador for instance for a flexible game stands me in about a grand.
Mick
The question is how many miniatures you get in Warmachine starter? In each
of our skirmish sets you get at least 33 mounted models (in some even
more) with all accessories (wire spears, banners, bases etc.). How many
pages Warmachine book have? Our 408, full color and hardback. I think that
such a comparison is not quite accurate. Our “skirmish” game is equivalent
of quite big battle in other games.
Prices on KS are reduced of course. It is not 50% – sorry but Your expected figure was a bit too low. Structure of production do not let us such a possibilities (all is cast in metal not
plastic).
Information what is included in each set is placed in updates on KS. Additionally, as to existing skirmish sets there are pictures on KS and our website as well. We’re also instantly answer any enquires that backers might have via comments and private messages.
How to expand skirmish game to full scale game – this is good point but not easy way to answer, as each army gives You different options to expand. It was answered in many comments to backers, will be also posted as update.
Regards
Konrad Sosiński
By Fire and Sword team
Thanks for the response @byfireandsword,
I was not trying to have a go at you matey. 🙂
With regards to warmachine miniatures, you don’t get as many, agreed, but they are a lot larger scale than the 15mm.. Perhaps the Flames of War starter box “Open Fire” is a better comparison and costs only $70. Although it is plastic, the initial cost of tooling would be far greater than the spin cast moulds.
Ref rule book: Yours does seem very nice, but if it is a skirmish game, would a mini rule book be better for transporting about? Again with the “Open FIre” boxed set you get 2x rulebooks (1 of which is a quick start guide)
Games of today seem to be more of an investment for both parties. For the creator, it is a sustainable business, for the gamer it is, am I going to be able to get other friends into this game? Future costings to play? transportable if needed? fun? in their genre of games?
Ref info in you comments and updates. There is a lot to trawl in order to find basic information imho. As a new customer, I would like contents of what I get for my money to be clearly displayed. in both image and written so all is clear. This would also reduce email traffic to individuals all asking the same questions.
Mike
Those are good points. Please note however that Battlefront made his plastic Open Fire after approx 10 years on market. As I can see they give good
examples. So, please give us some time on market and we can talk then…
Again about level of the game – our skirmish level is fully playable game, it’s not few minis per side but full battle groups (few companie strong) per side. It is not something entirely basic. Entire rulebook is required then. Nevertheless, you have right small version of rulebook without huge part with army lists would be handy. Such a book would be probably released in the future. Battlefront made his small of the rules version just recently.
Currently we have strong base of players in Poland where game were released in 2011. Also on KS we have more than 250 backers already. So it seems that investment is not as big. However you may have own opinion on that matter.
Future costs of the game for full scale game could be compared to FOW. However only if you want to field really huge armies. Otherwise costs are smaller.
Basic information on KS are placed on main page and FAQ. It seems to be common solution during other KS campaigns.
Regard
Konrad Sosiński
By Fire and Sword team
This is a fantastic looking wargame. The rulebook is lavishly illustrated, professionally presented, and large enough to beat your opponents to death with. The range of models which go along with the game are also some of the best 15mm scale models I have seen.
The cost for getting into this game, considering the number of models you get, the quality of the publication, and the additional materials is very generous for such a new company. I must also say that the rules themselves are full of very clever, rationale, and intuitive ideas. They reflect the historical period and flavour in an intelligent way, and present many fresh ideas in the wargaming market.
I especially like the way the game caters for battles in which all sides are not created equal. This is definitely a game worth investing in if you like the period, historical wargaming, or strategy games which genuinely require you to formulate a workable battle plan.
The period in which the game is set is also rich and characterful. It’s great to see a comparatively unknown conflict (outside of central and eastern Europe) get this kind of treatment in such a sophisticated and attractive game.
They are certainly getting more of my money.
Having been fortunate enough to have a copy of the book – it is every bit as lovely as it looks. I strongly recommend it!
Have to agree that the book looks nice mate. Not a huge book fan myself as I am dyslexic, but for those fluffers out there, they Re in for a treat it lookz like. I am more of a model man myself… hehe. Quite litrally, ask Justing or Mike. 😉
Mick
Will you be playing or is the book just eye candy?
I play everything, which in terms means that I play very little.
I can relate to that.
My brother in-law loves this scale for games! I better tell him about this ASAP!
This Chap is a great fan of the game, but I think he still gives good and concise reasons for why he finds it so good;
http://anatolisgameroom.blogspot.com/2013/05/by-fire-sword-kickstarter-4-days-left.html
For those that interested how to expand basic Skirmish set into strong division (and to see what cost is involved) we just posted update with some examples on KS:
http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1729776659/by-fire-and-sword-historical-tabletop-wargame/posts/482762
Regard
Konrad Sosiński
By Fire and Sword team
you got to be a proper historical wargamer to appreciate this game. I have painted one of the boxes which sell for 15 bucks. the figs are metal you get metal bases ( unheard of ) you get any additional stuff such as spears flaggs etc in really good packaging.the book which i have thanks to TTN. and you certainly get bang for your buck. 400 pages of first class info. also the box sets fit in with the unit sizes in the rules so unlike lot of manufacturers you dont get lots of useless stuff left over. we will be playing it at TTN soon as we get out kickstarter stuff some time in June. also people who buy in at officer rank which is $170. get lots of freebies. really looking forward to playing this an if you at TTn in the future look us up. we starting to learn the rules at the skirmish lvl but will be playing division lvl games by the autumn. I also play warmachine so dont tell me its cheaper cos its not,
If you’re simply looking for some good historical game that gives you models, rules, and bang for your buck there are certainly better alternatives out there, but BF&S has found a niche within the rich and relatively unexplored setting of Poland and eastern Europe. If you’re concerned about the game flopping, it’s been going strong in Poland for a few years now, with good support, regular releases and tournaments, so there’s little chance of failure now. Even if the English version goes under for some reason, you can just get translated updates and stuff.