Summoner Wars by Plaid Hat Games

[Onacara]

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.

Originally Posted by truth

Yeah guys, I just haven't been able to work the podcast into my schedule. I'm working with Wizards on something for heroscape, I'm working with Hasbro on a big project, and I'm in the midst of starting my own game company. Expect to see a new game coming from me very soon in that regard. So I'm not just goofing around. We have a podcast recorded. But our plan is to start a new format complete with its own domain. That requires some graphic work to launch in a way that comes off as professional and I've got hextr1p all tied up working on graphic design for that aforementioned game of mine.

Here is an exclusive sneek peek of Plaid Hat Game's launch game. Its an expandable tactical combat card game called Summoner Wars.

Here are two cards from one of the 4 factions that will be available at launch:

(Click to enlarge)

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


The City of Heap



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.









Vanguards

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









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.




















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



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

[Mutt Lo]

Is there a site for this game?

[Onacara]

Originally Posted by Mutt Lo

Is there a site for this game?

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

[Cavalier]

Summoner Wars will rock your socks off! Seriously.

[Onacara]

Originally Posted by Cavalier

Summoner Wars will rock your socks off! Seriously.

Stop making me jealous Cav

[Cleon]

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...

[Jim]

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.

Jim

[rym]

Originally Posted by Jim

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.

Jim

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)

[GromBloodboy]

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

[EternalThanos86]

Originally Posted by GromBloodboy

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

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

EDIT: Here it is...

Originally Posted by truth

It won't be blind purchase. You'll know exactly what cards you are buying everytime you make a purchase. I'm a strong believer in that model.

[Grungebob]

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.

[Lord Pyre]

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...