Summoner Wars by Plaid Hat Games
 

For anyone who has not already heard the news, truth is working on a new game to be released soon under his own brand.

Summoner Wars by Plaid Hat Games is nearing production and release.

Use this thread to discuss and ask questions to truth about the game.

truth..I wish you all the best with this game it sounds awesome.

Summoner Wars NEWS:
(this part posted and updated by Truth)

I will try to keep this first post as up to date as possible.

Fiction:

Mr. Bistro is our fiction writer and Plaid Hat Games and I am always proud of the stuff he churns out. You can read Bios (the ones for the Summoners are full little stories) in the factions section of the website.
Cave Goblins
Guild Dwarves
Phoenix Elves
Tundra Orcs
Mercenaries
Vanguards
Fallen Kingdom

We are also doing a series of fiction articles called the Almanac of Itharia.

Journal of Sirian Waters
http://www.plaidhatgames.com/images/sw/castle2.jpg

The City of Heap
http://www.plaidhatgames.com/images/sw/almanac_1.jpg
http://www.plaidhatgames.com/images/sw/almanac_3.jpg

Card Previews:

We've also done a number of Card Previews of upcoming stuff.

Fallen Kingdom

These guys are up for preorder now and will be going out to players in late July.

http://www.plaidhatgames.com/images/sw/cards/Dragos.gif
http://www.plaidhatgames.com/images/...bieWarrior.gif
http://www.plaidhatgames.com/images/sw/cards/Reaper.gif
http://www.plaidhatgames.com/images/sw/cards/Skhull.gif
http://www.plaidhatgames.com/images/...ds/ElutBal.gif
http://www.plaidhatgames.com/images/...etalarcher.gif
http://www.plaidhatgames.com/images/...s/rettalus.gif

Vanguards

These guys are available at the same time as the Fallen Kingdom

http://www.plaidhatgames.com/images/...ghtbringer.gif
http://www.plaidhatgames.com/images/.../archangel.gif
http://www.plaidhatgames.com/images/...dianknight.gif
http://www.plaidhatgames.com/images/...lLoveguard.gif
http://www.plaidhatgames.com/images/sw/cards/Priest.gif
http://www.plaidhatgames.com/images/...wartarcher.gif
http://www.plaidhatgames.com/images/...SeraEldwyn.gif

Reinforcements

We are going to have Reinforcement packs coming out around October and have begun previewing cards from the packs. These are going to be Commons and Champions that you can customize your decks with. Here are the few that we have previewed so far.

http://www.summonerwars.com/Reeker.jpg
http://www.summonerwars.com/beastrider.jpg
http://www.summonerwars.com/Bragg.jpg
http://www.summonerwars.com/Magos.jpg

http://images.boardgamegeek.com/images/pic756932_md.jpg

http://www.summonerwars.com/firebeast.jpg
http://www.summonerwars.com/fencer.jpg
http://www.summonerwars.com/speargrounder.jpg
http://www.summonerwars.com/ballista.jpg
http://www.summonerwars.com/grungor.jpg
http://www.summonerwars.com/Climber.jpg
http://www.summonerwars.com/Scagg.jpg
http://www.summonerwars.com/Charger.jpg
http://www.summonerwars.com/thwarter.jpg
http://www.summonerwars.com/Malevolence.jpg


Premium Board

If you are looking to upgrade from the paper mat to something nicer, we are offering a premium board. It is going to be available at the same time as the Fallen Kingdom and Vanguard Faction packs. http://www.plaidhatgames.com/product5.html

http://www.plaidhatgames.com/images/...oard_sized.jpg

Other Various Bits

I made an appearance on The Little Metal Dog Show, which is this interesting board game podcast where the host Michael Fox interviews various people from the Board Game industry. I talk about Summoner Wars and also reveal a little about a future project. http://littlemetaldog.wordpress.com/...how-episode-2/

I have revealed in various places that the next to factions coming out for Summoner Wars will be the Jungle Elves and the Cloaks. The Jungle Elves are a tribal faction of elves whose magic is cast in the form of hypnotic chant songs and who call upon the jungle animals to aid them in their battles. The Cloaks are a faction of rogues who rely on stealth and trickery as well as a rare firearms technology to wage battle. If all goes according to plan these will release in Faction Packs in Quarter 1 of 2011.

We will be at GenCon this year and will have some first looks of things at our booth. Our booth number is 1733. According to current layouts we are right in the vicinity of the always huge Wizards of the Coast booth. We will have a Tournament with prizes going on at GenCon as well. You can find more info about the Tournaments here: http://www.plaidhatgames.com/sum_for...read.php?t=307

Re: Summoner Wars by Plaid Hat Games
 

Is there a site for this game?

Re: Summoner Wars by Plaid Hat Games
 

Not yet but there will be one from what truth has said.

Re: Summoner Wars by Plaid Hat Games
 

Summoner Wars will rock your socks off! Seriously.

Re: Summoner Wars by Plaid Hat Games
 

Stop making me jealous Cav :-(

Re: Summoner Wars by Plaid Hat Games
 

I can't wait to see this game in action and in the production of games. But first things first - Wave 1, Wave 9, upcoming Heroscape sets... :o

Re: Summoner Wars by Plaid Hat Games
 

People who don't normally play this kind of game have watched it being played, and then wanted to play it.

That's how awesome Summoner Wars is. 8)

Jim

Re: Summoner Wars by Plaid Hat Games
 

Jim, it is uncool that you get to use the "cool" smiley with some authority as an insider with knowledge of the game.

(And since you don't know me, the statement above roughly translates as "I'm so freakin' jealous!") ;)



Arrrrgh! I hate you Gencon! You and your it's-late-night-so-hey-let's-try-out-my-new-game-I'm-developing-that-no-one-else-will-no-about-for-awhile-and-it's-like-HS-and-it's-so-freakin'-cool! atmosphere.


(Again, the above statement translates as jealousy, pure and simple) :p

Re: Summoner Wars by Plaid Hat Games
 

Will it be a TCG, or will it be like Heroscape. I can't afford anything random.

Re: Summoner Wars by Plaid Hat Games
 

truth said in the other thread that it would NOT be random.

EDIT: Here it is...

Re: Summoner Wars by Plaid Hat Games
 

I have noticed that a lot of us have popped up and post things that claim that Summoner Wars is awesome. We are all friends with Colby and obviously want his game to be a total success, but I don't want to appear like a shill. I'm going to tell you all a little about what a game of summoner wars is like without going into great detail:

First off, you will choose a faction to play. Unlike Heroscape there really is no mixing of factions, but there are a variety of units within your faction and mercenaries that can join any faction. You have certain restrictions you must follow when building your deck and these will contol a lot of your choices, but there is enough flexibilty to have your playstyle represented in your army choices.

The game is played on a grid with squares that are the size of a playing card. This is your battlefield. You summon unit cards (common warriors and champions)to the field from a random hand draw using a clever point mechanism that is based on destroying enemy units and/or seeding your summon points with sacraficial discards. You get to move a certain amount of cards on the battlefield each turn, and you can attack with a certain amount each turn.

During the game there are spells your summoner can cast to help his warriors in their fight. These prove to be quite effective. Each unit has a set of abilities that make them special in some way, so the dynamism here is noteworthy.

Players play until they destroy the opposing summoner which is a unit card that is on the battlefield. This usually takes about 30-45 minutes.

Each faction plays very differently, and there will be much room for expansions.

The game takes about 5 minutes to learn. Setup time is very short and clean-up time is equally easy.

There are rules included for 3 and 4 player games. I think these are fun too.

You will not hear me say anything bad about the game because I honestly don't have any gripes. I could swear Truth had guys like me in mind when he designed it. I would not turn down a game of summoner wars if offered, and it will be at all of my game nights.


So there you have it. I would be happy to answer any broad questions but I will not go into detail.

Re: Summoner Wars by Plaid Hat Games
 

Thanks for the comment!

I have one question I've been wondering about though.

For the playing mat, you said the squares would be playing card sized. But since the cards aren't square, the mat will be kinda off-kilter. I'm used to mats like in HeroClix, where it's perfectly square.

Will the rectangular squares act like square-squares, or are the squares actually square, and the cards fit into those squares even though they're a little small?




....I hope you know what I mean. That sounded really funny when I said it out loud to myself... :p

Re: Summoner Wars by Plaid Hat Games
 

I was wondering about that myself. Also, do you have a limited "deck" of units that you play? How many are in a deck, generally? HS card numbers, or MTG card numbers?

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The spaces on the battlefield are rectangular. Notice in the picture above that the cards are viewed landscape style rather than portrait style.

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This is what I was thinking about. It also has room for new maps that have terrain blockage. It is almost MtG with battles that are now strategially fought out.

Re: Summoner Wars by Plaid Hat Games
 

They are card shaped squares, so they are rectangular. This may seem odd since most games have standard symmetrical spaces. But trust me it doesn't create any awkwardness at all.

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Yeah, I knew it really wouldn't affect gameplay at all, but I didn't know how it'd look, or if it would be harder to see line of sight or whatever.


But it still sounds great! Thanks for the answer!

Re: Summoner Wars by Plaid Hat Games
 

This game does not play like MTG. It plays much more tactical. It really feels like a miniature game, but with cards.

Re: Summoner Wars by Plaid Hat Games
 

I'm not sure what you mean by HS card numbers or MtG card numbers, but there are 35 cards in a deck. 1 Summoner, 3 champions, 18 common units, 9 Event Cards, and 3 wall cards.

Re: Summoner Wars by Plaid Hat Games
 

I can see its relations to Heroscape, such as wound markers. I know it is not like MtG in that it is turned based, but more like instead of a war, it is one attack phase of MtG. You are the general in the fight of the cards.

Re: Summoner Wars by Plaid Hat Games
 

This part is probably what excites me the most. I TRIED to get into the Pokemon card game, which I assume plays like quite a few card games out there. I truthfully(No pun intended) could not STAND the blind purchase model! I guess that I will just have to wait and see if I will have enough extra funds to get into this game!

Re: Summoner Wars by Plaid Hat Games
 

Sounds like we'll have something else to do at TempleCon next year. :thumbsup:

Re: Summoner Wars by Plaid Hat Games
 

Is this going to premiere at Gencon?

Re: Summoner Wars by Plaid Hat Games
 

It plays with elements of a miniature game like Heroscape where you've got special abilities and are rolling dice to attack and are moving around a board, but its got a lot of card game things going on too, like deck building and hand management. Its also got a distinct tactical element to it that holds a vague similarity to games like chess where tactical maneuvering is very important.

A good game is really about two very key things. The first is letting the player make fun choices that affect the outcome of the game in their favor. You'll find that Summoner Wars has a lot of very cool game choices that will constantly have you thinking on your toes and trying to outsmart your opponent. The second key, at least for the kinds of games that I like, is creating an immersive theme that sparks players imagination. I think you'll find that Summoner Wars has plenty of that as well (with plenty of help from a very talented artist). Its standard fare, everything we love about the fantasy genre, a world full of history and culture and variety and interesting characters. But its not lacking for originality either, you'll find plenty of interesting twists on old favorites and all kinds of new stories I've been brewing up to tell through this game.

Re: Summoner Wars by Plaid Hat Games
 

Any chance of a demo one night at GENCON after the Heroscape events are done for the day?

WotC won't complain too much if we throw all the Maple Story junk on the floor for an hour or so and use their table.

Re: Summoner Wars by Plaid Hat Games
 

I really hope so. But I make no promises. So much relies on things outside myself. Like the graphic design getting done in time, the business building aspects falling into place in time, the production in China going forward in time, the slow boat from China getting here in time. There are just so many variables that its hard to say whether it will all come together in time.

Re: Summoner Wars by Plaid Hat Games
 

I do hope so. What are your plans for retailing? Is it big stores are the little FLGS?

Re: Summoner Wars by Plaid Hat Games
 

Is it similar to BattleGround Fantasy Warfare. From what little I know about Summoner Wars there looks to be a some similarities. I was really looking into BattleGround, but if this is similar, I may just wait to try it out instead. :)

Re: Summoner Wars by Plaid Hat Games
 

There have been comparisons, but there are major differences.

1-Battlegrounds is played on an open table using a measuring device for movement, SW is played on a grid

2-SW feels more like a chess match than Battlegrounds

3- In SW What happens on your turn has a lot to do with your hand of cards, and tricks can be conceived based upon what you do with your deck. There is no comparison in Battlegrounds

4- The objective of SW is to defeat your opponent's Summoner. He could be winning the war, but if you somehow get his King so to speak, the victory is yours.

5- SW plays in a shorter more well defined amount of time due to the deck acting as a convenient limiter to the game length

They are both affordable, I would buy both, but if I had to choose one or the other I would choose SW

Re: Summoner Wars by Plaid Hat Games
 

What can I do to convince my FLGS to carry SW?

Re: Summoner Wars by Plaid Hat Games
 

Do what we did in the BS announcement thread. Throw molotov cocktails.

On a real subject, I would suggest that you get into the game if by internet shopping or other methods, demonstrate it to the store owner, then spend a day or two once a month demoing it for any body that comes in to learn how to play. Once sales pick up you would have a rapid community there.

Re: Summoner Wars by Plaid Hat Games
 

OR..just demo it at GenCon and watch the orders fly in.

Re: Summoner Wars by Plaid Hat Games
 

When it becomes available at the distributor, bring it to the attention of your FLGS. ask to special order the starter. Play the game in the store (SW is the kind of game you can play at a library, coffee shop etc). But you're one of us. Colby cherishes this community, and takes none of this for granted. All of you will be fully aware of evrything you'll need to get the game, where to get it etc. I think Colby's track record speaks for itself when it comes to putting community first.

Re: Summoner Wars by Plaid Hat Games
 

You got to make sure it is highly public. Truth, do have any plans for any kind of demo space there?

Re: Summoner Wars by Plaid Hat Games
 

This will be a hobby game, but even some of those that are successful enough make the leap to the big box stores... very rare but it happens and one can dream.

I'll be going through a distributor when the game releases to get it into FLGS and online hobby game stores. You'll also be able to buy it straight from me at GenCon or on my website. Buying it from me makes me the most money, but supporting it at your FLGS is important too.

I will be demoing this at a Summoner Wars booth on the show floor at the first GenCon that it is out for. Hopefully that is this GenCon. If it is not this GenCon I'll still try to have something there to demo to the interested heroscapers. If that is the case I'll bring it down to the heroscape tournaments and set up a few demos for you guys.

When it releases I'll also be sending out demo copies to some of the top hobby game retailers. The top 50 or the top 100, I haven't decided yet.

Re: Summoner Wars by Plaid Hat Games
 

I'm hoping to make it visible enough at the game store that it generates more sales, but if I can direct people to the website (like if I mention it in conversation) then I'll do that.

Re: Summoner Wars by Plaid Hat Games
 

What really stuck out for me in the game is that it has some mechanics similar to other games most of us have played, yet it blends them into a very nice tapestry. You will feel elements of magic, Scape, Dreamblade, Battleground, Chess, Stratego and a multitude of other games. I also love the simplicity of the game...very easy to pick up...yet great depth to keep a player interested for a very long time. Being a non blind purchase as well this game is a no-brainer.

If you think about it, it truly is a wonder this game has not been made before. Truth has taken all of the things we talk about on a daily basis about what we like and don't like and applied that to his game. So in a way for all of you guys who have not had a chance to play this yet I think you can take comfort in the fact that you likely had something to do with this game. These forums serve as a great soundboard to find out what people truly like and dislike...I don't know if a designer could have a more powerful tool at his disposal.

Re: Summoner Wars by Plaid Hat Games
 

You mean I'm going to be able to buy Summoner Wars? :woot:

Re: Summoner Wars by Plaid Hat Games
 

I don't know if this questions will be something that you need to keep secret for now, but if not, could you let us know a bit about the units?

The cards I've seen have both been from an elf faction. Do the other factions stay within a fantasy theme of similar genres, or do they cover a wider range, like heroscape, including robots and samurai.

I've never played a card game before, but if I can convince at least one other person in my group to try it, I'll give pick this up.

Re: Summoner Wars by Plaid Hat Games
 

See this game does rock...it lead to a Nether sighting.

Re: Summoner Wars by Plaid Hat Games
 

This is what truth said. Still very vauge, though.

Re: Summoner Wars by Plaid Hat Games
 

One more question -

Will there be knights? 8)

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Exact thought I had. 8)

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Agreed8)!

Re: Summoner Wars by Plaid Hat Games
 

yes

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I'm sold!!

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I sure wish that the ****** faction would be released soon too, I sure did love to play that army, with all of the ******s and the s******* **c****. What a great set.

I am really excited, and I can't wait to plop down ... wait... what is the retail price point expectation?

Re: Summoner Wars by Plaid Hat Games
 

potty word filter working overtime!