I love this. It's easy to learn. It's quick to play. And it's completely insane.

A really, really beautiful art set. I do wish that at least some of the pictures had the character wearing more clothing, though. I can't really imagine anyone adventuring in anything this skimpy.

I've been looking for a long time for a good miniatures skirmish game that didn't require massive purchases or incredibly detailed rulebooks. Something like a combination miniatures game and board game -- easy to learn, quick to play, and accessible to anyone.

Song of Blades and Heroes has become the primary miniatures game played around here. The rules are detailed enough to feel realistic (particularly with regard to morale) but flow easily and smoothly. Troops are distinguished from one another primarily by their special abilities, and new troop types can be created or customized quickly.

The only minor problem is that the system doesn't scale up to full battles. The standard size for a side is about eight to ten models, which is itself nice, but you can't really get much above double that before the game gets unbalanced. This makes it hard to use some of the costlier monster troops.

It's also a little annoying that the new troop creation rules are provided in the Yahoo fan group. It's not very convenient. A .PDF download directly from Ganesha's website would be okay; having the rules directly in the rulebook would be ideal. The Yahoo group's troop cost calculator is also badly out of date, and is missing the special abilities from the supplement Song of the Splintered Lands.

All that aside, this is one of the best miniatures games I've ever played -- especially at this absurdly low price point. A brand-new player can learn it in a half-hour and then play a full, satisfying campaign in a single evening without skipping supper. That's just classic.

I consider this game to be one of DriveThruRPG's very few "must haves."

I'm not entirely sure I would call these sample Ironclaw characters; they're more just sample Ironclaw character SHEETS.

With a world as detailed and complex at this I would have expected full-page background histories and descriptions so you could really get a feel for what this world is like and how someone finds a life of adventure within it.

Oh well. At least it's free, and players can just grab these sheets to learn the system or GMs can use them as NPCs.

Note: A lot of these are iconic Ironclaw characters. I've actually got a miniature of Vesper tucked away somewhere, from back when the art was more Redwall and less Disney (though I note that I like the new artwork better!) Should you choose to play these characters, those miniatures may still be able to be found.

First off, cards on the table: I have been a Lone Wolf fan since grade school, which thanks to my cough advanced age means I was buying most of the Magnakai and later books brand-new off the shelf. I've also dropped a pretty penny importing as many of the post-#20 books from England and Canada as I could.

The world of Lone Wolf is a dark and haunted one, where the warrior-monks of the Kai and their Sommlending, Dwarven, and wizardly allies battle against the forces of the demonic Darklords of Helgedad. Even in "civilized" lands banditry and corruption are everywhere. Fortunately, the heroes have the powers of nature and magic on their side, as well as the wisdom and artifacts of the gods Kai and Ishir. It's kind of like gaming in Conan's Cimmeria -- if Conan was a Jedi.

I'd always found the game system in the Lone Wolf books very simple and satisfying. A simple d10 and a character sheet scribbled on a napkin could get you through any adventure. Eventually.

I was a little skeptical about "sizing up" such a simple system to tabletop RPG size. After all, I've seen TWERPS, and there really is only so detailed a game can be with just a couple of attributes and a small selection of powers.

I was thus very glad to see that the system isn't necessarily limited to what you found in the first few pages of a Lone Wolf novel. In addition to the standard "combatants roll off and add their Combat Skill, loser crosses off some Endurance" mechanic that defined the series, there are also Tests: a way for gamemasters to handle those situations where Lone Wolf is doing something dangerous that isn't combat-related.

The one complaint I have about the book is that it makes the default assumption that all player characters will be Kai Lords. This doesn't quite fit with the world ... Kai Lords are rare, nearly extinct even, and there are many other fascinating kinds of characters in the book. While Lone Wolf's allies don't tend to live long lives (except for his close friend Banedon) having the ability to play a Brother of the Crystal Star or a Dwarvish Gunner would really enhance this game. I hope there is a book released with information on other character possibilities for a more varied group. (Heck, the game mechanics for playing Grey Star-style wizards are already out there!)

Being a jerk I also have to point out that, while I'm happy to game in Magnamund, there is nothing inherently limiting this system to a single world. It's fast, flexible and easy to expand into other worlds, within the same universe of Aon or elsewhere.

An absolutely stunning set of artwork, some of my favorite of Sade's. This is definitely going to see some use!

Nothing much to say; it's a nice, simple piece of artwork of a young African-American (or just African) female fantasy or post-apoc warrior in reasonable clothing, armed with a hammer.

There aren't enough geomorphic tile sets of places characters would want to DEFEND as opposed to INVADE. This is especially unfortunate with miniatures games, where it's very likely that at least one player is "the bad guys." This may or may not rectify that depending on your campaign, but this is certainly a friendly-looking temple in general.

e-Adventure tile sets are a class act, and a staple around here for all kinds of miniatures gaming. This is a nice, cheap add-on to the excellent Sacred Temples set.

I did find assembling the tiles into a temple a little tricky. This is an add-on set for Sacred Temples, and neither set actually provides an example of a completed, sensible temple. Some trial and error is required, but once the tiles are printed and in hand you can puzzle through.

The Fungus Cave is a bit of a specialized setting. I'm not sure I'd want to use too many of these tiles -- splashing a few into an ordinary cave is probably better than creating an entire fungus-filled cavern.

That said, as usual, e-Adventure tiles are a miniatures game staple around here, allowing for very rapid creation of intricate battlefields. They're pricey (well, not this set, but the others) but VERY worth it.

As noted, this set is a bit more specialized, but (1) it's free and (2) you know what you're getting from the cover, so if you don't have a use for this set in particular there are plenty of others to choose from.

A beautiful model that looks great on the table and works in a wide variety of genres -- this could be a major destination for fantasy characters or a small-town church in the modern era. The roof assembly is a little tricky but nothing majorly hard.

I do advise deciding whether you're going to use the Chapel Interior before you begin assembly. It's very hard to change your mind partway through.

What you see is what you get: gridded geomorphic tiles designed to create uncountable numbers of different volcanic cave complexes. These tiles fit together terrifically with other e-Adventure sets to produce larger and/or more varied boards.

These are a miniatures gaming mainstay at our place: instant battlefield, just alternate placing tiles till the table's full enough, pick an edge and rush in. They could also be used by a gamemaster to create and then lay out a cavern complex.

The price point is slightly high, but it's worth it.

I'm frequently not that crazy about Dakkar's art, but this paper miniatures set manages to be sexy without being exploitative or obnoxious. You get a very wide variety of female characters in modern, fantasy, or sci-fi clothing with action-movie gear. While not everyone would want to send their character into battle in a bikini, there are more than enough characters in sexy-but-sensible outfits to use.

The figures are just a shade too small to really be 25mm -- the total height is right, but to look OK with 25mm terrain and miniatures it's the PICTURE that should be 25mm and not the cardboard. The characters are noticeably too small unless you're using ALL Dakkar miniatures.

On the flip side, the character portraits are detailed enough (and the resolution enormous enough) that you could conceivably zoom in and print out just a single character to use as a portrait on your character sheet.

If the figures were just SLIGHTLY bigger and the product was split up between multiple pages by genre (modern on page 1, fantasy on page 2, etc.) I'd have given this product five stars without reservation.

This is going to be a fantastic introductory RPG that can keep players entertained for a long time ... when it's finished.

First, the good. The system calls for a LOT of dice, but these days I expect a GM to have access to an app or device for dice-rolling. 11d6 isn't nearly as irritating to roll when you just punch two numbers into your iPhone. Everything is quick and easy to learn, not to mention appropriate for all ages. T&T is (and always has been) the second-best introduction to roleplaying I've ever seen.

The SR system deserves a mention, too. Virtually every action in the game other than combat uses the same mechanic. Once you know how to fight and know how to make a Saving Roll you're ready to play.

The first problem I noticed was the editing. Proofreading is desperately needed -- among these books there are missing paragraphs, repeated sentences and LOTS of grammatical errors. Not small ones. Big ones.

The writing could use some tuning up as well. While I realize T&T is to some extent a humorous game and not an immersive experience, the phrasing is frequently very modern and casual. And there's no reason this HAS to be a funny game; the materials are here to run a serious campaign. The asides from the author are distracting and unnecessary, and some of the pop culture references may be legally actionable! (Note to all game designers: Disney movies are the LAST things you should be quoting if you want to avoid being sued. Their lawyers are fanatics.)

I will note that there is no excuse for the stupid spell names. I mean, really now. "Take That You Fiend"? "That's a Natty Beard"? It's a T&T tradition, yes, but ... looking at the other REALLY classic funny games like TOON and Paranoia you'll see that the humor is situational, not in puns in the game material itself. (And when Paranoia started leaning on puns and internal jokes the game line died.) At least the charm spell has been renamed to Spirit Mastery. winces in recollection of its previous name

Lastly there are just small omissions that are sort of painful. There's a long list of Kindred for players to choose from -- that's good! -- but most of them aren't described and there isn't enough information about the ones that are. There's no information about different equipment for different Kindred, which is okay for most but ... if a fairy loses her weapon can the human fighter just pass her his spare human-size sword? The "TARO" rule is repeatedly stressed but nowhere could I find a place where it was spelled out (I figured it out, but I'm an experienced gamer).

The tokens are a very nice addition but I'm not sure what they're for. T&T combat is too abstract to use miniatures. The tokens are also very difficult to cut out without a black circle or other guide around the image. (I'd almost rather print and cut out the circular images around the pictures in the monster books.)

All told ... this is a really great GAME that I heartily recommend. I'm a lot more hesitant to recommend the BOOK. Maybe 8th edition (or 7.6th?) can answer some of these problems and give us a more polished product.

The Engle Matrix game itself is absolutely brilliant.

I'm not 100% sure that a comic actually WAS the best way to convey this. I ended up having a lot of questions that were resolved after 2-3 more readthroughs ... an example of a complete play session, rather than just vignettes, would have answered them much more quickly.

A fast-food restaurant is almost a must for modern gaming, and this is a great one. All the little details you need are there. This is more likely to be the scene of a fight between street-level characters, not big-time superheroes, and it's nice to see that catered to.

As much as I love the McDoom's artwork, I'd still definitely be choosing to use the less-jokey alternate art.