Song of Arthur and Merlin available on Dec.23rd

On Dec. 23rd, Song of Arthur and Merlin, the Arthurian sourcebook for Song of Blades and Heroes, will be available from our blog www.ganeshagames.blogspot.com as a $8 pdf.

It will also be available soon as a download from many online pdf retailers -- watch this space-- and as a printed book (37 black and white pages with color covers).

For those who do not have the basic books in the Song of Blades series, please take note that we'll offer all the books including SAM in a discount bundle on www.wargamevault.com

Here's what the back of the book says:

PULL THE SWORD FROM THE STONE AND BECOME KING OF THE BRITONS!

Song of Arthur and Merlin is the third expansion for the Song of Blades and Heroes miniatures rules, bringing the world’s most famous legendary king to your tabletop battles. 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 special scenarios and campaigns for Arthurian games and 11 new scenarios for all Song of Blades and Heroes games.

* 100 new rosters including famous knights of legend, magicians and creatures from British folklore, and the historical Britons and their Saxon, Pictish, and Irish enemies.

* 38 new special items from Arthurian legend.

* 19 Arthurian warband advances.

* New special rules and optional rules for playing games with larger warbands.

THE ORIGINAL SONG OF BLADES AND HEROES RULEBOOK IS REQUIRED TO PLAY THIS GAME. TO FULLY ENJOY THIS BOOK OWNERSHIP OF THE PREVIOUS SUPPLEMENTS SONG OF GOLD AND DARKNESS AND SONG OF WIND AND WATER IS RECOMMENDED

Song of Drums and Shakos napoleonic skirmish rules available from Ganesha Games

Song of Drums and Shakos, the fast play napoleonic skirmish rules based on the popular Song of Blades and Heroes system, are available as a $8 PDF or as a $14.99 printed book. To order the pdf, send a $8 paypal payment to andreasfiligoi@gmail.com or buy it direct from sites such as wargamesvault.com, sabersedge.com and others. The printed book is available on www.lulu.com/songofblades. More e-vendors will list it in the next few days.

- Three scenarios included
- Simple, elegant system where your tactical decisions matter
- Playable in any scale with single based models
- All major troop types represented: 160+ profiles (French, British, Prussian, Russian, and Austrian)
- Easy measuring system
- No bookkeeping
- Point system for building up your Squad
- Play with as little as 5-6 elite to 20 inexperienced soldiers in a standard game
- Playable on a small table (60×60 cm for 15mm)
- Simple yet subtle command system, with Officers and NCO
- Two or more players, 30-45 minutes for a full game
- Ideal introductory rule set to small actions in the Napoleonic Era.

ganesha games demoes Song of Drums and Shakos at dadi.com (Italy)

Ganesha Games will run demo games of the Song of Drums and Shakos Napoleonic skirmish rules at Dadi.com this coming weekend in Crema, Italy.

You'll find me at the Ganesha demo table to play or discuss any of our games. A few coilbound preview copies of SDS will be available.

'Metal, Magic and Lore' Now Available from Skirmisher

Skirmisher Publishing LLC has entered into an agreement with 5th Epoch to distribute its Metal, Magic and Lore role-playing game through its various sales outlets, including its online store and directly through its booth at game conventions.

Metal, Magic and Lore combines the classic elements of fantasy role-playing with a very realistic setting. Combining fast-paced combat and magic play with a setting rooted in historical realism, MML is proving an appeal to seasoned RPGers who crave a mood of an epic literary saga in their campaigns.

"This is truly a beautiful game and we are very pleased at the opportunity to sell it alongside our own products," said Michael J. Varhola, head of Skirmisher. "We identified this as the best new role-playing game released last year and being able to help get it into people's hands this year is very exciting for us."

Clerisy Releases 'Ghosthunting Virginia'

Ghosthunting Virginia (Clerisy Press, 2008), the latest book by Skirmisher Publishing LLC publisher Michael J. Varhola, has just been released nationwide, and the author and publisher are participating in all sorts of organizational events in support of it. For a constantly updated list of such events, to include book signings, podcasts, and radio shows, go to http://www.booktour.com/author/michael_j_varhola. For personal updates to the book, check out Varhola's TravelBlogue at http://varhola.blogspot.com.

Virginia and the District of Columbia are fertile ground for serious and casual ghosthunters alike and have no shortage of venues for paranormal investigation -- if visitors know where to look. Varhola has spared no efforts to make Ghosthunting Virginia as useful a resource as possible for those interested in visiting haunted sites as he leads readers on a guided tour of the most haunted sites in the Old Dominion and the nation's capital. A great many of these sites have some connection to the Colonial era or to the Civil War, two defining elements in the history of the region. Battlefields, cemeteries, tunnels, caves, bridges, haunted highways, inns and taverns, lighthouses, theatres, haunted cities like historic Winchester, Colonial Williamsburg, and Washington, D.C, and all manner of other eerie locales can be found in this novel and informative travel guide! It’s also perfect late-night reading for anyone who loves a good ghost story.

Ghosthunting Virginia is available from a variety of sources, including Barnes & Noble, Borders, and Amazon.com. Signed and personalized copies of the book are available directly through Skirmisher's online store (http://skirmisher.cerizmo.com/items/2098-ghosthunting-virginia-signed-by-the-author).

Ganesha Games launches a small poetry competition...

I need a short fantasy poem ( the lyrics of a storyteller's song) to be used as the frontispiece of the SBH rpg "Tales of Blades and Heroes" to be published in 2009 (currently in playtest).

It should be in English, fitting on a 8,5 x 11 inches (letter-sized) single page, in rhyming verse. The poem should end with the words "Tales of Blades and Heroes". It should sound like sung by a storyteller in an inn or around a campfire on a battlefield.

The idea is to convey the various roles and types of heroes in a typical FRPG setting, the dangers, the idea of sticking together, dungeon delving, fighting shoulder to shoulder, using various skills, braving mortal danger -- you know what I'm talking about. A serious, epic, romantic approach will be preferred over a humorous one.

Deadline is 1st January 2009. The poem should be sent as email to andreasfiligoi@gmail.com or posted on the song of blades yahoo group

Winner receives credit, a free PDF copy of the rules and the original art of one of the plates used in the book (unframed but shipped to your door).

OneMonk and Ganesha Games team up

OneMonk, provider of fine paper miniatures, is teaming up with Ganesha Games. OneMonk will initially do a set of paper minis for Song of Arthur and Merlin, the Arthurian supplement for Song of Blades and Heroes. The minis will be available at the same time as the rulebook (December).

OneMonk will also do a small promo set that will be included with pdf downloads of SBH. The paper minis will have stats printed on their bases, and the measuring sticks will be included in the PDF. We are working out details so there's no date for this yet.

OneMonk can be reached at www.onemonk.com

Skirmisher Now on Lulu.com

Skirmisher Publishing LLC print format products are now available on Lulu.com, an online retailer that allows customers to both download publications in PDF format and to have them printed on demand in a variety of formats.

Some three dozens Skirmisher publications are currently listed on the company's page on Lulu.com, at http://stores.lulu.com/store.php?fAcctID=3171287, and all of these are available as downloads (a couple of them for free!). By the end of October, customers will also be able to order print editions of any of these publications that they would like to have in hardcopy format.

"This increased availability of Skirmisher products will go a long way both toward making them available to fans and customers, and to allowing them to obtain them in the formats that best serve their needs," said publisher Michael J. Varhola.

Keep your eye on Skirmisher' Lulu.com page, http://stores.lulu.com/store.php?fAcctID=3171287, for the new additions that will be posted there on a regular basis!

Ganesha Games: printed books prices will change

Lulu, the main print-on-demand provider used by Ganesha Games, is changing the way they price their print books. Smaller books will become cheaper and large books (like our books which are all A4 size) will become more expensive.

I'll have to reformat the books to 8,5 x 11 and have them perfect-bound as the staplebound option now becomes more expensive. I think this has to do with the way they purchase paper (basically a staplebound A4 book is composed of A3 sheets folded in half with staples across the fold)

Having the books in 8,5 x 11 will also make it easier for me to find another source of print on demand should I decide to move my business off Lulu.

The coilbound option will be at least $2+ more expensive, so if you really want an A4 staplebound book or a coilbound book, I suggest you order it now from www.lulu.com/songofblades. The new prices will be effective on October 28th. Remember that Lulu takes around a week to fulfill an order.

Ganesha's profit on the books will remain the same, barring minimal adjustments based on the euro/dollar exchange rates used by lulu. The new prices will reflect only differences in printing costs.

This will also affect the process of doing a compilation/hardcover of the three basic books as requested by a few customers.

Thanks. Sorry for the hassle but we live in a ever-changing world.
Andrea

Song of Wind and Water is available

Song of Wind and Water, the second supplement for the Song of Blades and Heroes fantasy miniature rules, brings the forces of Nature to your tabletop. With simple weather rules, new terrain types and special abilities, your battles will nevel look the same again.

New Terrain: 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.

32 pages, pdf available as emailware sending a $8 paypal payment to andreasfiligoi@gmail.com

Printed book available on http://lulu.com/songofblades
read the first review on http://boromirandkermit.wordpress.com/

FREE HACK Issue One is available

The first issue of FREE HACK, a webzine focusing on Ganesha Games products, is available as a free download from http://www.lulu.com/songofblades

Soon it will be available also from www.wargamedownloads.com

Ganesha Games to publish Free Hack ezine

Ganesha Games is putting together FREE HACK, a free pdf webzine about its games. The first issue will be available for download from www.lulu.com/songofblades on September 10th, 2008. The second issue should be available by December 10th.
First issue will focus almost entirely on Song of Blades and Heroes, with more than 20 pages of FAQs, variant rules and a scenario. Sneak peeks from upcoming products are included.

Miniature manufacturers, websites and shops can get a FREE advert on issue one by sending their A4 or half-page ad artwork to andreasfiligoi@gmail.com. Advertising on future issues will be $5 per half page. Please send the artwork no later than September 8th.

Ganesha to publish Song of Arthur and Merlin

The Once and Future King comes to Song of Blades*

Arthurian author/wargamer Daniel Mersey (who, among other things, collaborated on the Warhammer Age of Arthur book and wrote the Glutter of Ravens rules) and Ganesha Games have agreed on publishing a Song of Arthur and Merlin supplement for Song of Blades and Heroes. Daniel has already written an outline of the book which has been greenlighted. For more about Daniel, visit http://www.freewebs.com/merseybooks/

The book will feature three playable versions of the Arthurian myth: a Dark Age historical Arthur, the Arthur of Welsh myth, and the Arthur of Hollywood. The major characters, magic items and creatures will all be featured. The book will be about 40 pages, illustrated by Andrea Sfiligoi (who will also act as rules supervisor) and will likely be on sale as a pdf for $9 and as a print-on-demand book through www.lulu.com/songofblades.
Note that this will be an official Song of Blades supplement, not a stand alone book... Ideally this should be in the e-shops for Christmas.

Ganesha Games demos at Origins 2008

Just a quick note to confirm that I'll be running demos of Song of Blades and Heroes and its post-apocalyptic cousin Mutants and Death Ray Guns at Origins Game Fair 2008 (June 25th-28th, Columbus, OH). Look for our demo table in the Miniature Hall. The demos will run every day.

Even if you don't have time to play (an average game is just 40 minutes), I'll have a few SBH bookmarks to give away (they are not just bookmarks, they are used as measuring sticks in the game).
See you there!

http://ganeshagames.blogspot.com

SBH nominated at Origins!

Ganesha Games is pleased to announce that the "Song of Blades and Heroes" fast play fantasy skirmish rules have been nominated as Best Miniature Game at the Origins Game fair.

We take the opportunity to thank all the loyal fans, editors, translators, webmasters, reviewers, distributors, manufacturers, retailers, websites, playtesters and last but not least members of the songofblades yahoo group who contributed to build a positive buzz about the game.


Andrea

Ganesha Games has just published Mutants and Death Ray Guns, a fast-paced, skirmish level, post-holocaust, science fantasy miniature system for two or more players, based on the popular Song of Blades and Heroes mechanics.


After 200 years of war with nuclear and biochemical weapons, new races compete for supremacy over a scorched Earth. Pit your band of after-the-bomb desperadoes, mutant humanoids, sentient plants, robots, androids, hyper-evolved animals and zombie-like Wretched against the dangers of a wasted world. Face irradiated terrain, contagious diseases, aggressive life forms and malfunctioning equipment. Collect artifacts, find food, fight over scarce pools of uncontaminated water, and save your resources, because in the harsh post-apocalypse world every energy cell, every ration and every drop of water means the difference between life and death.

Have you got what it takes to survive?

Designed for fast-play, you can finish a battle in 30-45 minutes; play a mini-campaign in one evening!
Play with any single-based miniature, in any scale.
Inexpensive and Convenient: play with as little as four miniatures per player. The game requires little space -- a 2'x2' table is enough!
Uses three sticks for easy measurement of movement and ranges.
Includes five factions: Humans, Androids, Mutants, Robots, Mutated Plants, Mutated Animals, and the disease-ridden Wretched!
40 pre-generated characters and six scenarios included.
Complete rules for physical and mental mutations, power armor, high-tech weapons and psionic powers!
Campaign Rules: your characters become better fighters, gain new mutations and equipment after every battle.
Also includes a list of manufacturers of suitable miniatures.
Note: this is a complete, stand alone product. Purchase of Song of Blades and Heroes is not necessary.

The game can be purchased as a pdf
(send $8 Paypal payment to andreasfiligoi@gmail.com) or as a printed book on www.lulu.com/songofblades

ganesha games on sale on wargaming online

Ganesha Games announces that beginning today (Feb. 20th), the PDF version of Song of Blades and Heroes and its first supplement, Song of Gold and Darkness are on sale on Wargaming Online site, Mongoose's e-store.

This should bring further exposure to the rules (already on sale on key20.com, wargamesdownloads.com, arima.it and lulu.com/songofblades, and as emailware by the author).

On another note, Ganesha Games' "Mutants and Death Ray Guns" post holocaust science fantasy rules are in advanced playtest and should see the light of the day at the end of March. Soon after the core rules, Ganesha has announced "Assault on Neo Tokyo" , a sourcebook for MDRGs based on Kremlin Miniatures' 15mm sci-fantasy miniature line.

Skirmisher to Publish 'Quactica' Miniatures Rules

Skirmisher Publishing LLC is pleased to announce that it will be publishing Quactica: Battles for the Soul of Middle Aesopia, a set of miniature wargaming rules by veteran game designer and miniature sculptor Steve Lortz. The rules are currently scheduled for release shortly after the New Year.

Set in a world inhabited by various races of anthropomorphic animals, the Quactica rules tie in with a beautiful line of miniatures scultped by Lortz and produced by Lance & Laser. Some of the compelling races battling for their place in the world of Middle Aesopia include usually-good Ducks, Dwargs, and Mice, and typically bad Porks, Ratmen, and Warthogs (the latter sometimes known as Hogres).

Depicted here is a provisional cover for the Quactica rules book, which includes an original image by Marty Edwards that has been colorized by artist Sharon Daugherty.

Anyone interested in playtesting the Quactica rules while they are in production -- and receiving thanks for their efforts in the published edition of the book -- should contact the company at littlewars@skirmisher.com. To comment on this article or the game it is about, go to its section on the Skirmisher Forum.

French version of Song of Blades available

Ganesha Games just published a French version language of the Song of blades and Heroes rules. It is available for $4 as emailware from http://songofblades.blogspot.com or as printed book from www.lulu.com/songofblades
A Spanish language version is forthcoming.