Getting [Kick]Started with Blood & Crowns

Firelock Games has just launched the kickstarter for their latest game Blood & Crowns. Meeting their funding goal in an unprecedented 45 minutes, it is clear that this game is on its way to being Firelock’s next smash hit. With the campaign offering up digital copies of the rulebook and materials immediately upon completion, and hard copies of the book delivering by February 2024 – some players are wondering where to go next.

Jumping in to a new wargame, wargaming era, or the hobby in general can be a daunting task. There is so much stuff standing between that latest rulebook, and a gorgeous table filled with colorful miniatures and picture-perfect terrain. So for those who have taken up the gauntlet and decided to charge in to Blood & Crowns, allow this article to guide you in the right direction.

What is Blood & Crowns?

Blood & Crowns is a 28mm miniatures wargame set in Western Europe, during the late-medieval era of the 100 Years War. The rules are easily accessible and the gameplay is quick, as Crowns eschews the traditional focus on large battles of the period and instead recreates the vicious cycle of raids and counter-raids which became known in French as the Chevauchée. Within this context, players can fight their battles on land, at sea, or in seamless amphibious scenarios.

Using the Core rulebook, players can take the reigns of any of 5 kingdoms; England, Scotland, France, Spain, or the ‘Unaligned’ pirates, rogues and mercenaries. Each nation has its own selection of sub-factions representing different theaters or smaller time periods within the broader historical context. Additional nationalities and factions will be added in further expansions – this game has a huge scope for growth!

How Does the Game Play?

Blood & Crowns’ dedication to the chevauchée means that games are fast and brutal.

Games are played in 6 turns, usually lasting between 45-90 minutes. Scenarios are procedurally generated. Players roll to determine where they may deploy their units, and what their victory conditions will be.

The game’s core mechanics can be broadly defined as:

• Card-bid Initiative System – the 6 game turns are further divided into “rounds,” with each player activating a unit in each round. At the start of the round, players bid for initiative using a standard deck of playing cards. The player who wins the bid, chooses the order in which the players will activate their units for that round.
• Activate Units – the cards used for bidding also determine the number of actions your unit will receive, cross referencing the card’s suit, with the activated unit’s experience. Cards more likely to win the initiative bid grant fewer actions, forcing players to choose a strategy which prioritizes speed or quantity.
• Renown & Feats of Arms – Victory is determined by the amount of Renown each player has earned throughout the game. Scenarios will have their own ways to earn Renown, such as by burning (or defending) a critical building. Additionally, Renown can be earned through Feats of Arms – goals available to both players. Such Feats include the destruction of enemy forces, the capture of valuable enemy knights, and impressive displays of martial prowess such as the Glorious Charge.
• Fatigue – representing the variety of conditions which can impact a unit’s battlefield performance, Fatigue is streamlined catch-all rule for stress, morale, physical exhaustion, and the piling on of minor wounds. You can even Push your troops to act beyond their normal limits, also earning Fatigue. Rally actions allow you to remove Fatigue, and Inspiring leaders can aid in this effort. Managing Fatigue is crucial to victory.
• Legendary Armies – Players assemble forces of roughly 20-30 miniatures, led by a Commander and his Retinue. Forces are drawn from a common pool of units, representing the typical fighting men of the era; from noble Men at Arms and Esquires, to the lowly Footmen and Peasant Levies. Each unit has its own skills, equipment, and special rules. Units can vary in size, but the common size ranges from 3-8 for your heavily armored knights, and 4-12 for your more numerous footmen.
  Legendary heroes from history, such as ‘The Black Prince’ Edward of Woodstock and Joan D’Arc can also join your forces and lead them to victory. Each historical character has their own special rules and abilities to impact the game.

Multiple Ways to Play

Using the same core rulebook, Blood & Crowns can take place:

On Land – armored knights, underhanded bowmen, and ruthless mercenaries clash in the forests, hamlets, villages, and battlefields of Western Europe.

At Sea – Whether fighting from the deck of a might Cog or lowly Cockboat, players can enact daring feats of courage on the seas and waterways of the North Atlantic. The rules for shipborne fighting are the same as those used for fighting inside of buildings and fortifications, which is what makes this game so flexible.

Amphibious – Although there are no specific Amphibious Scenarios, the rules used at sea for crewing and handling your ships are equally suited to getting those ships ashore and disgorging their violent cargoes of ironclad men.

A flexible and approachable system makes any of these settings equally viable. Additionally, players are welcome to invent their own scenarios to represent any of the myriad historical battles and ballads of old.

How Much Does It Cost?

How much do you want to spend? Firelock Games is currently running a Kickstarter campaign for the game, where a digital copy of the rulebook, unit deck, and tokens can all be had for a meagre $25. The hardcover rulebook is $45, and physical copies of everything can be had for $99 US.

All physical products are backed by digital copies, meaning that if you back the Kickstarter you will be able to start playing as soon as it concludes. Physical product is expected to be delivered in February of 2024 for those who pledge at that level.

In addition to the rulebook, you’ll also need

• Deck of Playing Cards
• 10-sided Dice (a handful)
• Measuring Device, in inches
• Status Markers of some kind
• Miniatures
• Terrain

The spurius cads among us might get by with a few poker chips for markers, and a deck of standard playing cards to handle activations. Of course Firelock does offer nicer sets of tokens as either punch-card or dice, and branded activation decks with the Initiative values printed directly on them.

The game does use a handful of 10-sided dice (D10s), but these can be found relatively cheaply at most game stores that supply D&D and other RPG players.

There are also optional extras, such as the Unit Stat Cards, which make the quick reference of your units’ skills and abilities that little bit faster.

All of this can be had for no more than $100, and from that point, you’re looking at the cost of miniatures and terrain; which can vary wildly. We’ll explore this further, below.

The Miniatures

There is no “official” line of miniatures for Blood & Crowns. This means that you can choose to use whatever 28mm miniatures you like (or are available to you)

Dead Man’s Chest will do a deep-dive on miniature suppliers as the Kickstarter progresses. At present, one of the best deals you can get will likely be the Agincourt (AO) range from Perry Miniatures. This range encompasses all that can be said to be “typical” of wargaming miniatures, and also covers all your bases for unit options.

Speaking of bases – basing in this game is somewhat flexible. Infantry should be mounted on 20-25mm round or square bases. Cavalry are mounted on 25x50mm rectangle or “pill” bases.
The preference is for the smaller dimensions, but players who have existing collections will not be required to rebase (many of the models in the rulebook photos are on 25mm squares)

Here is a list of some useful miniatures suppliers

• Perry Miniatures, Agincourt range – an excellent line containing both plastic and metal offerings. This is enough to cover virtually every unit in the game.
• Gripping Beast / Front Rank Miniatures – single metal minis, units, & characters
• Crusader Miniatures – a small but very affordable selection
• 1st Corps – vast selection of metals. Also offer flags and transfers for heraldry
• Claymore Castings – beautifully detailed line of 100 Years War figures
• Foundry Miniatures – also sculpted by the Perry Bros, these are an old standby
• Casting Room Miniatures – old but gold! Includes civilians and fun characters
• Black Tree Designs – shipping from the US or UK
• Antediluvian Miniatures – small but excellent range for Scottish Independence
• eBob Miniatures – another great range for Scottish wars
• Reconquer Designs / Blitzkrieg Miniatures – possibly the most complete range of Spanish models, albeit slightly early for the period. Reconquer supplies the STL files for 3d printing, but Blitzkrieg is licensed to sell printed copies.

Firelock has also stated that they will be offering .STL files of specific, “hard-to-find” units at a later time. These are not part of the current Kickstarter, and it’s unspecified which units will receive files for printing. In either case, these will still not be “official” models, and players are free to use whatever suitable minis they find.

Ships

Blood & Crowns is the second offering from Firelock which uses ships as a core element of gameplay. In Blood & Plunder, the ships are the only models which must be “official” for balanced gameplay. Deck shape determines how many models a ship can hold, where weapons are placed, and how the ship will handle when using the movement rules.

While Blood & Crowns uses the same basic seaborne rules as Plunder, the design is committed to remaining miniatures agnostic, and this is extended to include the ships themselves.

There are several great options for 3d printed ships and boats, and you can find MDF vessels from producers such as Sarissa Precision.

Hobby Tools

With miniatures on the way (or on the print bed) you may need to pick up some hobby tools. Whether you need glue, clippers, primer, paint, varnish, or brushes there’s only once place that DMC recommends: The Army Painter

Army Painter provides quality tools and paints for every aspect of the hobby, and has several bundles designed to get new folks into the hobby quickly. Even for seasoned veterans, Army Painter stays at the sharp intersection of cost and quality.

The Terrain

Collecting terrain for Blood & Crowns can be as easy or as intensive as you like. Some players prefer to craft as much of their terrain as possible; experiencing this as another aspect of the hobby or as an entire hobby of its own. Other players will 3d print their terrain, or purchase resin or mdf kits in varying states of completion.

The best thing about Crowns terrain is that “broadly Western European” is as acceptable for terrain as it is for a DNA result. Fantasy games like Warhammer and Dungeons & Dragons will use many of the same thatched cottages, timber-framing, and stone walls as historical wargames do. If you don’t already have a collection of terrain, there are some great locations where you can find some

• Footsore Miniatures – a line of 3d printed terrain from Warhost
• Sarissa Precision – the destination for quality MDF terrain kits
• War World Games – a line of 3d printed and MDF terrain, available pre-painted
• Noble Knight Games – a large variety, including several defunct lines

Those who prefer to craft their terrain can check out an article right here on DMC for some tips and tricks, but also, the awesome work going on at The Plunder Den on YouTube.

Optional Extras

In addition to your rulebook, rulers, dice, miniatures, and terrain, you might also want add a little “bling” to your collection.

Even the lowest tier of the Kickstarter includes PDF copies of the tokens, activation deck (playing cards with actions marked) and unit status cards. You can print these and mount them however you like, but there are always options for physical versions.

• Activation Decks – a standard deck of 52 playing cards. These are identical to the Blood & Plunder activation decks, which you can reuse or collect to differentiate your cards from everyone else. The English deck with its Cross of St. George, and the Unaligned deck with its lion rampant would both fit nicely with the aesthetics of Blood & Crowns
• Unit Cards – these are handy cards which take the unit and character stats from the Core Rulebook, and present them on individual reference cards. I find these indispensable when teaching new players the game. They’re a popular and much-sought-after inclusion for Blood & Plunder players, and I expect that Crowns will be the same. While these are available as printable PDFs, having sturdy playing-card quality versions has a certain je ne sais quois, to use a Norman expression.
• Status Tokens – also available as pdfs, physical backers can get heavy punchboard versions. I would keep an eye on frequent Firelock collaborators The Phalanx Consortium to offer some sturdy laser-etched MDF options in the coming months.
• Fatigue Marker Dice – these 6-sided dice notate the effects of Fatigue, and are used across all of the ‘Blood &’ titles. Curiously, they’re not part of this Kickstarter, despite being perfect for the game. You can pick up a set of them here
• Deluxe Template Set – a set of laser-etched wooden templates. Like the Fatigue Dice, these were originally for Blood & Plunder but will prove handy for fighting n the high seas of Blood & Crown with a turning gauge and wind marker. The set also includes objective markers. Grab it here
• Favor Tokens – If the object of your desire doesn’t appreciate you taking their wimple, kerchief, or girdle in to battle with you, then you might seek out 3 other tokens to use for marking Favor. Treasure coins are popular with the Plunder players. The folks over at Medieval Collectibles have a royal ransom of replica coins for purchase, if you choose to go that route.
• Army Storage & Transport – if you need to get your troops from place to place, you’ll need something to keep them safe from road bumps and overhead storage compartments. Here at DMC, we really like Feldherr’s storage system, using half-size and full-size trays, with a variety of bags, boxes, and cases to stow them in. Grab our favorite transport option here

Join the Community!

Firelock Games is enjoyed by one of the most welcoming and positive gaming communities on the internet – and I don’t just say that because I’m part of it. From the owners, to the game designers and down to the customers, it is clear that there is a genuine passion for the wargaming hobby.

DMC will continue to cover Blood & Crowns as the kickstarter charges headlong towards completion. In the meantime, I urge you to check out the game on social media – meet the community, check out some awesome hobbying, and get live updates as things unfold.

• Firelock Games Facebook page
• Blood & Crowns official Facebook group
• Firelock Games Community Discord

So what are you waiting for? The gauntlet has been thrown!