Wednesday 23 May 2018

Blood, Sweat & Horses - the demo

Hi all

this weekend I took my chariot based game to a board game convention being held in my local area.  It was a small one attended by less than 50 people and perfect for me to demo "equorum sudorem sanguinis" or Blood, Sweat & Horses.




With a minute flick of his wrist, Lucius Hamiltoni adjusted the reins gathered around his left arm.  His team of matched black horses responded instantly, whinnying softly as they drew to a halt in the hot sand of the arena.  Lucius licked at his dry lips, glancing left and right to take in his opponents in todays race, his free hand wiping nervous sweat down the stiff, red dyed leather armour that denoted his team colours.  On the far side stood Nigellus Manselii, born in the far province of Britannia, he had fought the chariot warriors of Cantia, Durolitum and even the legendary Iceni tribe, or so rumours said. His huge black moustaches contrasted starkly with the pristine white of his team banner as he stood proudly awaiting the start.  

Next to him was the highly animated Jensini Buttonia, his huge arms raised in tribute to Mars and Epona – the god of war and goddess of horses.  His powerful grey stallions stamped their plate-like hooves, snorting their disdain for the other horses in the arena, muscular flanks striped with green paint that denoted the team for which they raced. 

Lucius, his nerves already stretched taut with anticipation for the contest, almost jumped as the last of the racers edged their sleek machine alongside.  Drawn by slender Arabian mares, deceptively muscular despite their smaller stature, they were the perfect match for the enigmatic charioteer that drove them.  Alani Prostus stood not more than 5 pes tall, but her powerful presence seemed to dominate the field of contest.  The only female to have raced the Hippodrome, she had clawed, bitten and ground her chariot wheels across her enemies in order to gain a grudging respect among her male counterparts.  Swathed in a billowing azure cloak, flapping in the gentle breeze that stirred the sands of the arena, she proudly displayed the blue team colours ignoring the disdainful glares of the other teams.

The wall of noise from the enormous crowd died down to a muted roar as the diminutive figure of the Master of Ceremonies strode to the podium. Bernius Ecclestonium raised his hands to silence the crowd further, until an eerie near silence filled the arena.  With a piercing voice that reached the far corners of the Hippodrome, the Lord of the Arena spoke the words they all had been waiting to hear.

“Citizens of Rome, are you ready to be ENTERTAINED!!”

So I managed to snag some of the board-gamers for a couple of hours to try out the game and give me more feedback on how it plays.

my playtesters from left to right - Jess, Stephen and Hannah


We've played it with 6 and it's great fun and works really well. We need to play with fewer players just to see how the dynamic changes so we went with 4 (inc me).  This was also the first chance I would have to see the new cards on the board being used in anger......well fun anyway!

White (me) crashes through the spiked pit trap smashing my wheels and slowing my chariot down.

Jess plans her next turn and how to bugger my game up!
The game flowed really well, in my opinion and seemed to go back and forth with Hannah taking an early lead before a few bad cornering rolls slowed her right down. This allowed me to overtake her and slip into pole position. 


Jess, took umbrage at that and dropped a trip wire and an obstacle right in front of me which took me down the speed track and slowing me up.


Below you can see my player board, at this point I have had an activation card blanked due to the damage dealt by Jess's obstacle.



Eventually the damage took it's toll and I slowed to a crawl allowing Jess to streak pass me and win the game!

Curses, I can't even win a game I designed!


In a fit of sulks I challenged Jess and Hannah to a game of Great Western Trail....which Jess beat me at.....

a slightly meaty game
All in all the game has gone down really well and the game seems to be hitting the right notes with the board games community, I need to get more wargamers playing it in order to gauge their opinion.

hope you enjoy
dGG





26 comments:

  1. Looks like it went down well Andy, it's a curse mate designing a game and losing, I really feel your pain on that one

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    1. painful yes, but i'm glad it means someone else is enjoying the game!

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  2. Looks like its all come together to make an excellent game. It certainly looks the biz!

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  3. The game looks great and seems to play well too. How much feedback did you get that makes you want to tweak the game though ?
    The only change I'd suggest would be to have your chariot race couner-clockwise as they did (Iirc)

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    1. I've had loads of feedback and tried to balance the suggestions with the theme/feel of the game. In fact the rewrites have changed vast swathes of the game and have definitely made it more fun to play, less clunky and less downtime for the players when its not their go. Despite the healthy size of my ego (?!) I like to think I've put it to one side and approached this as balanced as I can. Tbf the game can run in either direction, the track is just my rendition and the printed track should be fairly neutral. Once I've got the rules a little tighter I will be looking for groups of boardgamers/wargamers to play them and try to break them so we can tighten it further.

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  4. Really well done Andy. So pleased to hear that it has gone well, it looks amazing!

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  5. This game looks amazing! Congratulations on all the work and effort you've put into it. It is certainly a game I'd love to play. I also liked the look of that "Great Western Trail" game.

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    1. thank you Bryan, Still a way to go with the game yet, more play testers to get to grips with it but hopefully soon I can get something finished, who knows if the print and play goes well then maybe a Kick Starter? lol

      GWT is a great game

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  6. I don't remember spiked pits and trip wires in the hippodrome from my school classical studies :-) ...

    Looks fantastic!

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    1. There has been a little artistic licence taken with the historical accuracy Hugh.... 😉

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  7. Looks like it all went really rather well, Andy.

    Cheers Roger.

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    1. It certainly did Roger, it does seem to be hitting the right notes

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  8. Looks good mate. Sounds like it was enjoyed by everyone who took part.

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  9. I honestly think your on a winner here Andy (and that's not meant as a wise crack at your own performance as a charioteer!).
    It LOOKS amazing from every angle - the track, markers, models cards etc, and SOUNDS terrific fun from the feedback you're getting so far.
    I can only congratulate you on what you've achieved so far and wish you all the very best as you take it over the final furlong :-)

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    1. Cheers Greg, hopefully in the next fortnight I can bring it to the point where I can release the game for other play testing.

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  10. The 3D aspect of the game looks very handsome and the cards take it to the next level, but as you said it's the rules that are going to make or break it.
    Good luck with the testing.

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    1. I can’t help it with the board and visual aspects, it’s the wargamer in me! But I am pleased with the response to the rules

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  11. Congrats on a successful demo Andy! The board looks absolutely brilliant :)

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  12. Looking very professional, Andy, and the fact that it went down well with people who've not experienced it before it always a good sign.

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    1. Thanks Jez, I hope so. The fact it’s gone down well with non Wargamers is hopeful too

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  13. Replies
    1. It’s shaping up to be! I’m bringing it to Broadside in June so if you’re going....

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