Band of Blades - An Introduction
Welcome to Band of Blades, my most ambitious solo RPG undertaking. This will be a huge campaign, going over about 12 sessions (which will be several posts each), that may take most, if not all, of 2024 to play through. First off, what is Band of Blades?
Band of Blades is a dark military fantasy game about a mercenary legion escaping the clutches of an undead army, led by the Cinder King. I’ll be playing all aspects of the legion, the commander, the quartermaster, the spymaster, etc.
Not only will I play those leader-type roles, but I’ll also be playing the normal soldiers who are sent out on missions to rescue civilians, secure supplies, or punch back at the undead army.
The whole goal of the game isn’t to defeat the Undead Army but to get the legion back to the final location, Skydagger Keep. The hope is the legion can make a stand there and hold out against the horde.
On top of this, the legion has a Chosen riding with them, a divinely empowered hero that will help the legion get to Skydagger Keep. But, there are also two Broken, formerly Chosen but taken by the Cinder King and turned against the free peoples of the Eastern Kingdoms.
From the synopsis, you’ll see there is a lot going on in this campaign. To be honest, it’s a bit intimidating. Normally it’s a group effort to keep track of everything like unit morale, supply, next missions, and so forth. I think it can be done solo, but it will be advanced.
Scope
Now this campaign won’t take over the blog. I want to play other games between sessions of Band of Blades and I’ll take some breaks here and there. My goal is to complete a session a month, which should (opportune word, should) have me finishing up by the end of 2024.
What is in a session? A complete play loop of the game. A mission where a squad gets deployed, and then a campaign phase where the legion leadership makes difficult choices about where to go next.
The missions will be played out more or less like the normal Actual Plays I do. The campaign phase I’ll make interesting with the legion’s leadership arguing about the best ways forward. I’ll try to keep bookkeeping to a minimum, but I know some of you like that jazz, so it won’t be omitted fully. Finally, I’ll likely be using other tools to help organise the information.
AI Art (I know some people have issues with this, but it’s helpful for Solo RPGs) will be used to help visualise some aspects of the story.
I’ll be using paper character sheets for the game, I find them easier to use when playing than swapping between digital things.
And I think that is it! I’m ready to start I believe.
Inspiration
Clearly, this game is inspired by The Black Company by Glenn Cook. One of my favourite books (see the literal name for my blog and design studio). I’m so excited to be playing in a similar world.
The Beginning
I am the Lorekeeper of the Legion. It is an august and respected position. Or so they say. It often feels like a retirement plan for an old soldier who can’t swing a sword but can swing a quill. The Legion has existed for generations and always there was a Lorekeeper, recording their deeds, defeats, and victories. I think I will be the last, the one to record its death…
The battle of Ettenmark Fields was the typical mission the Legion does. Desperate, promising to be bloody, but well paid and necessary. The full weight of the Eastern Kingdoms was marching west to battle the Cinderking. He’d already Broken several of the Chosen, something that had never happened before.
It was beautiful. The strength of the Eastern Kings, and our glorious Legion at the head, all in black. We formed our line, muskets protected by pike, cavalry on the flanks, siege engines in the rear. Then the undead came. Thousands of them. We poured thousands of rounds of black shot into them but it barely slowed them.
Then we saw the horrors. Gross monstrosities created in mimicry of the living. On the left flank shambling corpses were led by creatures stitched together from the still writhing dead. That line broke in panic, I cannot blame them.
On the right, a giant in black armour lead a cavalry charge of pure obsidian armoured knights. Flowing into the gap were hundreds of undead, with armour and blades welded directly to their bodies. That flank broke also.
We stood in the centre still pushing back against the horde. Then ‘he’ came. The Cinderking himself. The Legion routed. What else could we do? Hundreds of brothers and sisters fell. Only back at our field camp did we organise a defence and only because Shreya, a Chosen, appeared.
If you’ve never seen Shreya, she is hard to describe. Beautiful but hard to look at. Distracted, as if she is walking in another world already.
She held back the horde, just long enough for us to organise and start our march out. The Commander ordered a headcount as we marched out of there. The Legion was made up of four full-strength companies, now those companies are little more than squads.
We forced marched through the night and all the next day. The Marshall wouldn’t let us rest for a second. We could hear the undead just behind us. Shreya marched with us. Beautiful and silent.
Time for me to put down the quill. I see the Hozelbruckle Bridge in the distance, and the mighty broad Tigeria River it spans over. I pray we can rest, I am tired of marching. Luckily I’ve learned how to write and march.
Game Notes: Game notes will be in bold. They are out-of-story comments on the mechanics, story background, action roles, or other things I want to draw attention to. I’ve selected Shreya as my Chosen. She is blessed by her goddess of mercy. Her focus is a rational, military campaign. She will favor the legion if they undertake MERCY missions.
The two Broken are Render and Blighter. Render is a hulking black armoured beast of a man with a smouldering hand print on his face (courtesy of the Cinderking). His strategies are the brute force of war and smashing his opponents. Blighter is a slender woman in a dark cloak. She commands alchemy and uses it to create monstrous parodies of the living and chemical weapons.
—
The First Mission
The Squad - The Silver Stags - 5 Recruits
Specialists - Anikaich - Officer, Arun Pakshi - Heavy, Blue Striking Iron - Sniper, Riya Arani Medic
Mission Type - Assault
Goal - Demolish the bridge over the Tigeria to slow the Cinderking’s army
Enemy Broken (this determines what types of enemies I face) - Render
Point of View - Anikaich officer of Zemyati heritage
--
The rear guard trudges over the bridge. Finally, we’ve made it out of the worst of it. Or at least that’s the hope. If we can only make it to the fortified camps, we might be able to rest a bit. I see the marshall riding hell to leather at me. Goddamnit looks like we have just a bit more to give.
“Anikaich, well done leading the rear guard. The Silver Stags continue to prove their worth. But we need more from you. That bridge needs to be destroyed.”
I look back at the bridge. Already the horde has made it to the far bank and will be over it in a minute. The bridge is good solid Bartan construction, stone and thick.
“Sir, destroy it with what?”
The Marshall smiles at my question. It’s rare and always scary. “The quartermaster has lent me a few barrels of black powder. Enough to send that bridge straight to hell and any undead with it. Blow that bridge Lieutenant, or we won’t be able to catch our breath. That’s an order.”
The Marshall and his horse go thundering off into the distance. I look at my squad. The Silver Stags are known as the legion's rear guard. When all is lost we stand in the breach and hold the line. At least we used to. We held the line at Ettenmark, and we were shattered. The squad is now stragglers I picked up from the retreating armies and the specialists the Marshall gave me to keep up our rear guard action.
I’m so tired…
I organise the five recruits, I barely know their names but they are already legionnaires in my book, and the three other specialists.
“Alright soldiers. The Marshall says this bridge has got to go. As you can see, our ‘friends’ have already started to cross. We need to smash our way through, set charges under the bridge, and get the hell out before they detonate. Any questions?”
“But sir… We can barely raise our muskets and pikes. How are we supposed to charge into the undead and hold them back?” A reasonable question from the recruit who asked it.
Action Roll - Alikaich - Marshall the troops - Risky / Standard Effect
1 dice and 1 from assistance from Arun Pakshi (Heavy - Adds 1 stress) - Highest Dice - a 6!
Arun steps forward, hefting his heavy shield and the two-handed Warhammer he wields in one hand. He’s ready to return to the fight and the recruits see it.
“You’ll go back because you have to, because I order it and because the Legion will die if you don’t. You may be a legionnaire for only a few days but you are one now. Now I expect you do to your part!
The recruits take up their weapons and start getting into tactical formation.
“Blue Striking, get up somewhere and cover our ass.” The Panyar sniper nods and heads to find an elevated position.
Arun will lead the assault. The big Bartan wouldn’t be anywhere else. Riya will follow us in the assault, there to treat any wounded. Just then a cart appears and several quartermaster laborers unload several barrels of black shot before taking off. The undead continue to pour onto the bridge.
I pull out my spyglass, a gift from the Commander himself if you can believe it. When he gave it to me he told me, “Nothing is more valuable than information, son.” That’s a lesson I put to the test right now.
Action Roll - Alikaich - Gather information using Scout - Controlled / Great Effect (using the spyglass)
1 Die - Highest Dice - a 4. OK Alikaich see most things but it isn’t all great news
What does LT Alikaich see? I’ll roll a fortune roll with 3 dice. If highest is a 1-3 the undead are simple mindless troops, a 4-5 and it’s led by an Elite, a 6 there are more elites and reinforcements coming soon. A critical (two 6s) and there will be two elites on the bridge. The highest is a 6. Alikaich doesn’t see the reinforcements so I’ll start a Reinforcement clock with 6 ticks.
Hmmm, it doesn’t look good. Looks to be an Oak Knight leading a squad of Gaunt arm storming the bridge. That’s on top of the undead already streaming across, they look to be Hounds. Great.
“Alright, listen up soldiers. Here’s the plan. Arun, your upfront to smash through. Rookies, you are on the Heavy’s flanks. Keep the undead off him. I’ll be bringing up the rear with Riya. We got the explosives. Blue Strikering is keeping an eye on us and will help with any big threats. Questions? No. Let’s go."
--
That’s it for the introduction. We’ve already started the first mission so be sure to check in soon as the mission progresses! I hope you like this first dip into the world of Band of Blades.
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