Convention Report: Broadsword 3

May 6 (2017) marked a day that I was looking forward to for several months – the Broadsword 3 gaming convention in Hamilton (Ontario, Canada).

Just before the event, I was worried I wouldn’t be able to make it as we received tons of rain and several communities were subject to floods. The day came and I went anyhow. What a great time I had! Barnaby Ore, the convention organizer, did a really fine job at putting together an enjoyable event. Over 100 people made it out despite the rain and flooding in some regions.

Above is a Picture from my first Blood & Plunder game ever! I played this one at Broadsword 3 so continue reading to find out what I thought about the game and its miniatures.

Check out these other pictures from the event!

A game of the 30-years war using the Might of Arms Ruleset. I love the imagery of Pike and Shot armies.

There are some great paint jobs here. 🙂

A shot of the game in play from a little further away.

Team Yankee!!! I really like how dense the town is on one side of the mat versus the open ground on the other.

Team Yankee. The mayhem is underway!

Some British Team Yankee units. Very nice!

Here is a really well constructed compound for a 28mm Force on Force game in Modern Afghanistan. It looks great!

This table was called “Maul of America” using the 28mm Ambush Z rule set.

As with most of the local conventions, BattleTech also makes it out. I actually bought my copy of BattleTech because I played and liked the game at a local convention several years ago.

This is not Frostgrave, but rather a set up for the Hobbit. Looks nice. 🙂

Even Conan and some other board games made it out to this event!

So, what games did I play at Broadsword 3?

As soon as I arrived, I eagerly signed up for Gotham Nights, a Home-Brewed game by the guys from Six Squared Studios. Unfortunately, the guys were running late due to some localized flooding, so I was not able to play the game this time around.

Instead, I played DBA.

This is the table set up for Gotham Nights. Too bad I missed it this time. I could have signed up for the afternoon session, but I really wanted to try Blood & Plunder. Perhaps next time.

Above is a picture from the DBA game that I played at the event. I played the Spartans (closest to camera) and my opponent and demo-guide, Howard, played Greeks.

Blood & Plunder

Finally, I got to play Blood & Plunder by Firelock Games for my first time. This game I was very excited for and was very happy to see someone running it at a local convention.

This game is really gorgeous. Here there are two players on each ship trying to position for better firing angles (4 players total).

These ships are sloops, the smallest vessels in the game outside of a rowboat. Our host chose to use asymmetrical forces and despite one force being larger than the other, the game seemed balanced.

A look at the land portion of the same gaming table. The GMs made really good use of paper terrain. To me, it looks stunning at what would be a fairly affordable price.

That is one of the two sloops. In the distance, one can see the land where the other four player battle was taking place.

The models for this game just look so fantastic! Here we have the ship of myself and Dave loaded up with plenty of regular crewmembers.

Our opponents, Randall and Tom, crewed a ship with a “Legendary Captain” and all veterans.

Unfortunately, we did not make it all the way through the demo as we had to leave and prep for our own gaming table.

Blood & Plunder is a game that has captured my eye ever since it was first kickstarted and it was really nice to try it out. The game doesn’t appear to be too expensive to get into and I hear that Firelock will be taking it to Kickstarter again soon – perhaps there will be some further deals there. This is certainly a game that I would play and write about, if I were to own it. I think Blood & Plunder would make for some really sharp looking Blog Posts.

Check out how awesome those minis and ship look! Wow! This game looks fantastic.

Blood & Plunder looks fantastic.

As for my official opinion of how the game plays, I would have to play it a few more times and go through the rules before coming to a conclusion.

Wrapping it Up

After playing DBA and Blood & Plunder, I set up my own game of Frostgrave. This time, I ran the game on a 3.5′ by 5′ table rather than a 5′ by 5′ table like I did at Hotlead. There will be a Battle Report for this game in the future.

The Frostgrave Table that I ran.

Outside of playing fantastic games, I also visited the vendors. I bought some cool new fences from Six Squared Studios and a plethora of miniatures from RAFM.

Until next time, Happy Gaming Everybody!!!