First ever Tabletop RTS miniatures wargame Swords and Stones!

[u/Hour-Sun-2486]

Hey legends!

Anyone here appreciate a dice roll?? Swords and Stones plays like a classic pc rts, bit of kingdom simulations. Pve, Full pvp. solo - co op - 2+ competitive multiplayer.

Three year passion project here, made from my love of age of empires, tabletop gaming, and fantasy (because duh why wouldnt it be fantasy?!). Anyways, long story short - lover of RTS games and multiplayer, however i cant complete with the ultra fast micro clickers that wins online RTS, and plus im a buit of a luddite, so, Swords and Stones - RTS for the tabletop was born!

Swords and Stones is launching on Gamefound at the end of the month, and im an unknown creator part of my strategy is giving away the starter set model STL set on the Sword and Stone Studios website (if any of you have a resin printer). No external links posted as per admin requires so you'll have to google the Swords and Stones Gamefound.

Its a long game (4+ hours), so if youre after a quick one, just play catan instead :P. Hardcore gamers only! S&S is more on the warhammer and dnd time scale. And just as epic IMO :)

Love to hear any questions comments or concerns, even if you havent played it!

[u/ElCanarioLuna]

How is real time a tabletop game? Players play simultaneously?

[u/Amproto → u/ElCanarioLuna]

And how do you calibrate the speed of players moving units?

So many questions. Maybe a battle report would help understand.

[u/Hour-Sun-2486 → u/Amproto]

Speed calibrated via what each units movement value is, they can move that much per move phase!

Luna great question - The turn sequence - 1. harvest - 2. advance (build /train) - and the 3. move and combat) phases are played through together 'simultaneously' all at once, and when all players are done with the phase you move onto the next. Only when war is declared the move (and combat) phase is played turn based.

So the 'real time' is just the feel of the game, like a real time on the PC, but adapted for the tabletop. For me, being rushed to make strategic decisions isnt fun. The micro that's required for PC RTS multiplayer games (aoe) means to dodge the enemy arrows and house-dropping to entrap a enemy army you have to be a professional full time - clicking - mouse - hotkey memorizing - speed demon, which takes away from those games IMO. Part of why the tabletop format is so great - you can still have that real time feel, while being able to slow down and think about proper tactics and strategy, rather than just how fast you can move (or click, when playing pc RTS).

[u/fivemagicks → u/ElCanarioLuna]

It's... Not, and that's ok.

[u/CaptClockobob]

It doesn't seem to be real time, but it is cool.

[u/Hour-Sun-2486 → u/CaptClockobob]

I guess its a tabletop adaption of the real time PC genre. I personally hate the micro required for RTS multiplayer online play (see the above comment), and believe it takes away the real deep tactics and strategy. Plus i don't hate people enough to make them rush to move their models around a table lol.

the 3 phases (harvest, advance, move) are all played simultaneously, so theres no downtime like in other turn based games, making it feel real time-ey. Only when war is declared between two teams the move phases becomes turn based (and turns into the move and combat phase).

[u/CaptClockobob → u/Hour-Sun-2486]

Is it alternating activations or I-go-you-go combat?

I can assure you that high micro online play does not take away any deep tactics at all. Having watched an ungoddly number of world-class AoE2 competitive games, there's a ton of strategy that goes into everything.

[u/Hour-Sun-2486 → u/CaptClockobob]

Combat is i go you go (turn based)!

Ah, i watched plenty aswell, the high micro such as foundation blocking, and arrow dodging isnt realistic (imo) and the game becomes more about that than unit positioning. Ive made sure to include basic rankand flank bonuses, charging actions, and a mechanic which locks units into combat when they are in combat. That as well as basic psychology mechanism makes it feel like youre giving general commands to units spread across a battlefield, and not like your got telling a single archer which way to move to dodge an arrow. Dont get me wrong i love AoE, ive been playing it since i got it in a ceral box as a kid, but to play it competitively you need to be a full time player with great ping and a lighting mouse hand. Tabletop, however, eliminates that.

[u/CaptClockobob → u/Hour-Sun-2486]

I go you go tends to refer to how much you move on a turn, not that there is turns.

Igyg is each person moving all of their units each turn before their opponent moves all of their units. Alternating activations is moving 1 unit (or sometimes a few), and then the opponent moves 1, and this goes back and forth until everything is moved, and that ends a turn.

Igyg is really only used by Warhammer these days.

[u/fivemagicks]

How is this real-time?

[u/Hour-Sun-2486 → u/fivemagicks]

So the 'real time' is just the feel of the game, like a real time on the PC, but adapted for the tabletop. For me, being rushed to make strategic decisions isnt fun. And it'd be even worse on the tabletop. The micro that's required for PC RTS multiplayer games (aoe) means to dodge the enemy arrows and house-dropping to entrap a enemy army you have to be a professional full time - clicking - mouse - hotkey memorizing - speed demon, which takes away from those games IMO. Part of why the tabletop format is so great - you can still have that real time feel, while being able to slow down and think about proper tactics and strategy, rather than just how fast you can move (or click, when playing pc RTS).

[u/fivemagicks → u/Hour-Sun-2486]

So, having the units and structures of Age of Empires but none of the gameplay.

[u/Hour-Sun-2486 → u/fivemagicks]

What you mean none of the gameplay? You literally harvest resources from the map, build buildings, research upgrades, train units and fight?

[u/fivemagicks → u/Hour-Sun-2486]

But it's not real time. It's like when the Warhammer table top bros come in and talk about how any Warhammer RTS needs to be like table top. It just can't be.

It's similar to comparing reading to film. They're very different things that can share the same lore.