Bladestorm
Looks like 2025 is going to be the year we do a deep dive into a forgotten game.
Thirty-five years ago the little game company that could, Iron Crown Enterprises, threw its hat into the miniature wargaming ring. They had staged a bit of a coup a decade earlier by securing the rights to a fantasy property you may have heard of by a man named J.R.R. Tolkien, for which they had produced a steady-stream of successful products. Their own RPG you’ve heard of, Rolemaster, was set in a propriety world known as Shadow World, which never achieved the same level of fame. A year later, they launched another hit, this time a space fighter combat game called Silent Death, that your host fell in love with. The mechanics were simple, and the game sped along at a furious clip. To this day, I maintain it’s the best hex-and-miniature space dogfighting game on the market.
Your ‘umble host tinkered with reskinning Silent Death as a fantasy skirmish game, not comprehending that the red box shown above had already done the heavy lifting in that regard. In the age of Warhammer boxed sets, a weird little box with a weird little setting didn’t appeal, even if the official Grenadier miniature line that accompanied the game offered a nice little alternative to the GeeDubs model of constant FOMO and planned obsolescence. Eventually life and the hobby moved on, and Bladestorm disappeared even from the discount shelf.
Until this year.
For just thirty-five dollars including shipping, I managed to get my hands on a shrink-wrapped boxed set, and satisfy my curiosity about how well the game works. Or doesn’t. Maybe that’s why it languished and never quite developed even the sort of cult following that would have left a trail of Usenet groups, WebRings, and Yahoo Groups littering the ruins of the early web. Or maybe it did, and it’s just too hipster obscure for a relative normie like me to know where to find them.
Which is fine. It means I get to discover the game for myself.
The game is set on Folenn, a smallish continent way out in the ocean and separated from the rest of the Shadow World by more than just the miles. It’s a post-apocalyptic sort of Skull Island, protected from discovery by huge and unpredictable storms of discarded weapons that rage in a ring around the continent, and sweep in to hone in on any significantly large enough conflict. This limits battles, and conveniently enough games, to a couple score men (or figures) on a side. Any bigger than that and the bladestorms sweep in and go full cuisinart on both sides. These are the remnants of ancient defensive magics wielded by the former rulers of Folenn, who were overthrown in an apocalyptic battle and now cling to the bare remnants of their power, seeking a return to their former glory. Their old magics used to power magic gates on the surface of Folenn as well, but those are mostly broken now, replaced by portals in the deep caverns from which hellish beasts slip into the world.
It’s a pretty miserable place to call home, but it’s also a place of fabulous wealth. Fountains of gems and streets paved with jewels lie just around the corner, veritable fantasy El Dorado’s protected from plundering by the disintegrating magics of the place. Still, avarice summons the bold, and over time the old races – dwarves and elves and goblins – have been joined by a dozen or so human kingdoms that cling to the coast, making small strikes against their neighbors and quick forays into the mountains of the Folenn Spikes to see what wealth they can rip from the land and still return safely home.
It’s a very pulpy and inspired setting that constantly stumbles in the matter of presentation. The descriptions of the human kingdoms, called Holds, begins with a geography lesson then segues into internal politics, with only passing mentions of “these guys are slavers” or “the shark guys”, you really have to dig out the secrets of the world. There are hidden kingdoms, refugee settlements, continent-spanning highway mazes, and flying-sea-turtle riding vampires called Hue Eaters who…raid and stuff? It’s hard to tell what they want other than the usual moustache-twirling evil that drives tabletop skirmishes.
The world is a little too big, and the details a little too encyclopedic to really capture the imagination. You can work with it, but you’re going to have to do some work. Contrast with the 800-pound gorilla whose factions are all three word evocations of theme:
- wild nature elves
- Britain but Marianists
- desert undead wizards
The factions in Bladestorm just don’t grab you by the collar and make you pay attention. There are some interesting tidbits, but little connective tissue. Maybe the miniatures provided some of the flavor missing in the books? Hard to say, and at this late stage I can only judge based on the merits of the product at hand.
While the setting presents a weakness, the mechanics present a strength. One die roll for both to-hit and damage? Armor that both makes it harder to be hit and damage soaking? Leaders that can influence melee attacks AND/OR missile attacks AND/OR defense AND/OR morale? Units that can change between rank-and-flank and skirmish order, and even split into multiple units on a dime? There’s a lot of good stuff in here.
But I haven’t played enough games to talk at length about what works and what doesn’t. Over the coming year, though, I plan to.
Stay tuned…