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Summoner Wars by Plaid Hat Games

Onacara

Onacara

has been BANNED
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.

truth said:
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)
Phoenix_Elves_Maelena.jpg

Phoenix_Elves_Archer.jpg
Click to expand...

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
castle2.jpg


The City of Heap
almanac_1.jpg

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.

Dragos.gif

ZombieWarrior.gif

Reaper.gif

Skhull.gif

ElutBal.gif

skeletalarcher.gif

rettalus.gif


Vanguards

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

kalonlightbringer.gif

archangel.gif

guardianknight.gif

RaechelLoveguard.gif

Priest.gif

stalwartarcher.gif

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.

Reeker.jpg

beastrider.jpg

Bragg.jpg

Magos.jpg


pic756932_md.jpg


firebeast.jpg

fencer.jpg

speargrounder.jpg

ballista.jpg

grungor.jpg

Climber.jpg

Scagg.jpg

Charger.jpg

thwarter.jpg

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

SW_Premium_board_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/2010/05/15/the-little-metal-dog-show-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_forums/showthread.php?t=307
 
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... :eek:
 
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
 
Jim said:
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
Click to expand...

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
 
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.
 
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
 
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?
 
Lord Pyre said:
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
Click to expand...
The spaces on the battlefield are rectangular. Notice in the picture above that the cards are viewed landscape style rather than portrait style.
 
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.
 
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.
 
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!
 
GromBloodboy said:
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.
Click to expand...
This game does not play like MTG. It plays much more tactical. It really feels like a miniature game, but with cards.
 
Fuzzie Fuzz said:
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?
Click to expand...


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.
 
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.
 
Grungebob said:
GromBloodboy said:
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.
Click to expand...
This game does not play like MTG. It plays much more tactical. It really feels like a miniature game, but with cards.
Click to expand...


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