New Game: Bronze Shield, Silver Coin

I'm happy to announce my first published wargame, Bronze Shield, Silver Coin, is now available for purchase on Wargame Vault in PDF or Paperback.

Pick it up at Wargame Vault

Bronze Shield, Silver Coin was started in 2023 when I was searching for an Ancients skirmish game to scratch a certain itch and couldn't find it. There aren't many games set in Ancient times that only utilize a couple sprues of models (most in fact are large army games) and I was also looking for a game that would let me use my imagination, let me carve out space for a couple characters and a warband that could adventure in the Ancient Mediterranean.

My main influences were the video game Assassin's Creed: Odyssey (still the most fleshed-out Ancient Greek video game experience ever made) and tabletop games like Frostgrave and Pulp Alley,  where the focus is on customizable characters.

I read a number of history books to gather information, the most impressive being the excellent Ghost on the Throne by James Romm, which covers the details of Alexander the Great's death and the start of the Successor period. This is one of my favorite periods in history for the rich characters, sudden betrayals, and shaky alliances. Historical persons like the Illyrian warrior woman Cynane and the ruthless bounty hunter Archias only confirmed that I wanted to make a game that focused not on the huge battles, but on the small campaigns and dirty deeds of the mercenary forces during the period.

The more I learned about the period, it was the frequent betrayals (such as when an entire army changed sides due to loyalty to Alexander's mother Olympias) that inspired the Intrigue system, which uses a deck of cards to represent bribery, shaken troops, and the fickle nature of the gods. This quickly became the "killer feature" of the game, setting it apart from other warband level skirmish games. The combination of the Intrigue system and the deep focus on maneuvering let me know that I was headed in the right direction. Games of Bronze Shield, Silver Coin are short, 6 turns, and each turn becomes a rich puzzle that both players are trying to solve. Should I bid for initiative? Which of the opponent's characters can I attempt to corrupt with the Intrigue cards? Where do I consolidate my power? When do I go for the objective?

I hope you will check out Bronze Shield, Silver Coin and enjoy it. The historical "fog" that separates us from the Ancient world gives us a great excuse to create characters and stories to inhabit it. I certainly already have ideas for places to take Bronze Shield next. A solo campaign based on Xenophon's Anabasis was pulled from the rulebook to continue development. I also have ideas for geographical expansions (such as 4th century BC Italy) or new eras (Trojan War anybody?).