An Ode to Obscure Games: War of Ashes Shieldbash

 Hi!

In my ongoing trawl through the more eclectic games in my collection, I've selected War of Ashes Shieldbash by Zombiesmith!

Imagine a world inhabited by viking muppets that is facing its sun going out and the possible apocalypse. That's the background the world of War of Ashes!

It really reminds me of the classic Jim Henson Dark Crystal movie and Joshua Qualtieri has a background in the animation industry and it really shows with his absolutely beautiful illustrations that can be found throughout the book. 

Of my collection of obscure games, I do think that War of Ashes Shieldbash has such potential to be a genuine hit as it ticks so many boxes for me. Its a small scale skirmish in a facinating world that is richly imagined but leaves you with plenty of opportunity to explore new places and introduce new events or factions and units. It also has brilliantly characterful forces that while super stylised are still a pleasure to paint.

There are currently six factions in the game. 

The core race in the game are the Elvorix, the most civilised of the peoples who inhabit the islands kingdoms where much of the action takes place. 

The Vidaar are warlike cousins of the Elvorix but were fooled into invading a mythical island on the far side of the world by the Elvorix and spent hundreds of years seeking it out before heading back to wreak havoc on the sneaky Elvorix.

The True Atronians, a female force who have pretty much all the common sense in the setting and have members of several different races as part of their communities and see the fighting as a terrible waste and they seek to bring peace to the realm (by beating it into the heads of the stupid males if they have to!)

The Jaari are a militaristic race whose home island was devastated by a volcanic eruption and now seek a new homeland and have decided to take what they see as theirs.

The unending Kuld. Inhabitants of the frozen north, the Kuld seek only to eat and satisfy their hunger. These small creatures move en masse towards the south to both escape the encroaching cold but also to eat anything they encounter. 

The newest race to appear is the Ki-kak, small reptilian beings who seek vengeance upon the Vidaar who devastated their home on their fools errand. Now the apocalyptic weather changes has driven them from their home islands to seek new ones.

What I do like about the game is that there are no Evil force, each has its own motivations that at times can be good or bad but not mindlessly evil.

In the tradition of Leviathan I do like the fact that the game is set in apocalyptic times, the cause of which is hotly debated by the inhabitants of the world with most believing that the gods have taken the life giving heat from the sun due to an unfortunate incident involving drunken priests accidentally burning down the temple of Agaptus while trying to perform a sacrifice.

The setting revolves around the need to survive and hold the temperate lands that remain but also gives plenty of opportunities for exploring the frozen north and its ruins ala Frostgrave or seeking treasure, lost artefacts or possibly some way to appease the gods and get them to restart the sun in one of the many unexplored islands that can be discovered. Interestingly the inhabitants of the world are decidedly leery of dealing with the gods as while they tend to try to be helpful, they tend to cause mayhem and destruction to the poor mortals they see to aid but with the world slowly freezing, needs must!

Joshua has written a fantastic little game that has some really fascinating elements that make for an unpredictable but very enjoyable game as you an never be sure how many of your warriors will activate forcing you to really think carefully when they do. 

There's a really nice little range of figures available through Zombiesmith in the US but getting them in the UK can be quite difficult these days which is a real pity as they've got tons of character and charm.

I actually own a True Atronian warband and really need to finish painting it (they may make a bit of a cameo in my upcoming Leviathan game!) and have sculpted a few figures myself including a fair few Kuld.

The rulebook is available free from Zombiesmith and can be found HERE and Joshua is slowly releasing new sculpts. These are a slightly larger scale than the old ones and 3d sculpted rather than traditional but look lovely but to date these new figures only cover a couple of factions. As Zombiesmith is better known for its Quar range and its going through a big revamp at present it may be a while before we see the rest of the War of Ashes range getting done.

So if you're looking for a really quirky, characterful skirmish very unlike anything you've played before with a complete departure from the traditional fantasy races, its well worth checking out War of Ashes Shieldbash! (even looking through the rules again and putting together this article has me wanting to delve into my collection in rummage out the rest of my True Atronian figures and finally get them painted!)

Hopefully this post will at least tempt folks to take a peek at the rules and maybe even give them a bash!

Tomorrow will see another addition to the series but I must admit I've not chosen what I'm going to post about yet but we shall see what I can dig out!

In the meantime, All the best!

Richard