Firelock Games

By Mitch Reed

With Firelock Games release of Blood & Crowns which covers the period of the Hundred Years War, gamers now have the third game in the franchise as it joins Blood & Valor (Great War), Blood & Steel (era of black powder), and the flagship game Blood & Plunder which covers the early colonial Americas.

Gamers who play all three already know that each of these games shares a DNA that once you learn to play one of them, you understand how the others work. This design fungibility is a huge benefit to gamers who like to play multiple periods without having to learn many different rulesets.

By Mitch Reed

I wish that my love of history was more well-rounded.

Blood & Crowns is a new skirmish game that covered the Hundred Years War. The kickstarter campaign is still waiting on production of the initial project, and should ship this spring (northern hemisphere).

My journey from never having an interest in this period to becoming excited about it is a wild story.

When it comes to certain periods of history I have little more than a rudimentary knowledge of what occurred and may be able to recognize a few battles, dates, and historical figures. When it comes to the history of the Hundred Years War, I know it lasted more than a century, and other than reading Shakespeare’s Henry V and John Keegan’s Illustrated Face of Battle, both of which I read back in High School, I know little about the conflict.

When I heard that Firelock Games was working on a new game called Blood & Crowns that covered this period, I did not list it as a “must buy”, however after seeing a draft of the rules and especially after my NoDiceNoGlory.com interview with Eric Hansen, the designer, I was hooked and now I have painted over 100 models to play this great game.

Today we have Eric Hansen the designer of Blood & Crowns, a new game about the 100-Years War from Firelock Games. We talk about the game and the work involved in the design process.

Join Glenn, Tom and new regular Garrett Swader as they discuss all news Blood and Plunder related. They are joined by guest start Niguel Vega for a supersized episode. The Crew discuss Historicon, Adepticon, and the summer of plunder’s action.

Find the Podcast Here!

By Erich Goebel

List building in Blood & Plunder (and any wargame) can be one of the most intimidating facets of learning a new game and delving into competitive and focused, serious play. Blood & Plunder also features over 100 different factions to play under seven umbrella nationalities with fantastic nuance and differences that give each a unique flavor to play and test. These numbers can be overwhelming, as one flips through the one core book and three expansion books available to compare list options.

Luckily, the online force builder tool is utterly amazing and is actually fun and convenient to use.

By Tom “Chairborne” Mullane

HMGS’s flagship convention, Historicon got underway this past week at the Lancaster County Convention Center and a number of No Dice No Glory writers and gamers were in attendance. Mitch Reed, Tom “Chairborne” Mullane, Matt Varnish, Scott Roach, Glenn Van Meter, and a whole host of other friends, podcasters, game designers, and friendly folks made the trip and had a blast.

Read on to get a peak at all the great games and goings on from the NDNG crew.

As the summer gets hotter, and June has given way to July, one of the East Coast’s premiere wargaming events is nearly upon us. Historicon! Hosted by HMGS is happening from Wednesday, July 19th through Sunday, July 23rd. A number of No Dice No Glory staff will be there playing games, running events, and buying way more minis than we could possibly paint in a lifetime.

Additionally, Glenn Van Meter and Tom Mullane will be running two tournaments for Blood and Plunder on Friday. Read on for more info!

By Mitch Reed

A common question from new Blood & Plunder players is about what ships they should collect to play in sea battles and the most common answer we have is “it depends.”

In playing with the ships in Blood & Plunder over the last few years the best advice I have is that you can go big or go small and a lot of that depends on the force you play and your personal playing style.

By Mitch Reed

When we think of the past we often tie the notable personalities of that period. In Blood & Plunder, the notables are at the forefront of the game.

Years ago one of the first things I noticed about B&P was that the characters, whether famous or infamous are a major part of the game. Every force needs a leader, so why not gamify some of the names we associate with the early colonial Americas?

This is part two of our coverage on War Stories from Firelock Games! In the last episode we rolled up our characters and today we expand the squad by adding the two Phil’s and the designer of War Stories, Gabe Garcia. We play a quick game and then give you our thoughts on this new WWII RPG.