Close
Close
Advanced Search

Advanced Song of Blades and HeroesClick to magnify
Quick Preview
/gs_flipbook/flip.php?xml=/demo_xml/172401.xml&w=500&h=370

Advanced Song of Blades and Heroes

ADD TO WISHLIST >

ADVANCED SONG OF BLADES AND HEROES PDF

Advanced Song of Blades and Heroes is the updated incarnation of the award-winning Song of Blades miniatures system.

Play fantasy skirmishes in any scale, with any models you already own.

With an expanded magic system, an exciting turn sequence, a reaction system, an optional setting, weapon rules, an open-source point system, and combat mechanics that keep players involved at all times, there is no limit to the epic stories you can create.

88 full-color pages plus covers,PDF

The download includes a 77 page inksaving version with no illustrations and no blank pages, for those of you who want to print at home.

THIS IS A COMPLETE, STANDALONE GAME. NO OTHER PURCHASE IS NECESSARY.

EASY MEASURING: no counting inches or centimeters: SBH uses three measuring sticks to measure all distances;
FAST: A game lasts about 45 minutes. Play a mini campaign in a single evening;
INEXPENSIVE:5-10 models per player are needed;
CONVENIENT: a 3’x 3’ play area (for 28mm figures) is enough.
MULTI-SCALE: any single based miniature, in any scale;
Standard Six sided dice only;
READY TO PLAY: lots of profiles included, and you can create your own!
NO BOOK-KEEPING;
HIGH SOLO PLAYABILITY;
CAMPAIGN RULES: your warband grows more powerful after every battle.

pixel_trans.gif
pixel_trans.gif
 
 Customers Who Bought this Title also Purchased
pixel_trans.gif
pixel_trans.gif
Reviews (4)
Discussions (15)
Customer avatar
Aaronc C September 10, 2021 3:50 am UTC
PURCHASER
Hey Andrea I hope you're doing well. So I can't seem to find the headbutt trait in the core manual, and I was wondering if it was in one of the supplements instead?
Reply
Customer avatar
andrea S September 10, 2021 7:27 am UTC
PUBLISHER
I can't find it either, if it's not on any published profile, it must be a trait that was abandoned in playtest and we forgot to remove from the list. My memory of it is: upon entering a melee, the model can perform an attack at +1, but if the model rolls a 1 on this attack, it is knocked down (or worse, if the opponent rolls high enough to kill). Headbutt is considered a crushing attack (see Fragile trait).
Reply
Customer avatar
Aaronc C September 13, 2021 5:31 pm UTC
PURCHASER
Ah okay cool, thanks for the reply.
Customer avatar
Bruno J January 03, 2021 12:18 pm UTC
PURCHASER
Any news of french version ? I have heard she was in preparation years ago.

Incidentally, thanks for your great works.
Reply
Customer avatar
andrea S January 03, 2021 4:59 pm UTC
PUBLISHER
I didn't hear anymore from the person who was doing the translation, it was 3 years ago.
Customer avatar
Robert S December 10, 2019 9:34 am UTC
PURCHASER
I really enjoy the game, as do my children. Is there anywhere one can find a single, printable master list of the traits, spells, etc. from all products in this line with descriptions? I would be willing to pay for it, of course. It is just difficult to have them spread across multiple alphabetized lists, rather than combined.
Reply
Customer avatar
andrea S December 10, 2019 12:38 pm UTC
PUBLISHER
Sorry it doesn’t exist. Basically printing such a list would just mean reprinting 80% of the content of the books. The warband builder on www.ganeshagames.net has them all alphabetized and color coded so you can mouse over them and the builder should show you from which book they come
Reply
Customer avatar
Robert S December 10, 2019 10:57 pm UTC
PURCHASER
Alright. Thanks for the quick response.
Customer avatar
Robert Harbo S October 25, 2019 3:29 pm UTC
PURCHASER
I am looking for the other implementations of Advanced Song of Blades and Heroes, but can’t seem to find them here. Are they down by mistake?
Reply
Customer avatar
Brian S October 25, 2019 4:47 pm UTC
Try looking on the sister site Wargame Vault. It has more there.
Reply
Customer avatar
Robert Harbo S October 25, 2019 5:14 pm UTC
PURCHASER
Thank you! I don’t know why I didn’t think of that :)
Customer avatar
Courtney H August 29, 2019 10:24 pm UTC
PURCHASER
The game descriptions says, "MULTI-SCALE: any single based miniature, in any scale." This might sound like a weird question, but would this rule set work with figures as big as 1.5" to 3" bases? I'm talking about the size of Skylanders toy-to-life action figures.
Reply
Customer avatar
andrea S August 30, 2019 12:43 pm UTC
PUBLISHER
As long as both players use the same scale, yes. I have seen it played with SCHLIEB and PAPO figures, I do not know if it is the same scale as your toys. You will need a comparatively larger table and terrain of course, but there is no reason why the rules would not work provided you have enough space and figures (think 5 to 15 figures per player depending on figure type, expect to use 10-12 goblins versus 5-8 elves for example)
Reply
Customer avatar
Courtney H August 30, 2019 5:04 pm UTC
PURCHASER
Thank you Andrea. I can't wait to use your rules.
Customer avatar
Jaime P March 18, 2019 10:26 pm UTC
PURCHASER
Has anyone considered making form fillable PDF cards for this game? So that when you make custom characters, you can just print them out and have them on the table. I think that would be awesome. Also, talent cards is on my wishlist. I though about making my own, but that would be a daunting task
Customer avatar
David M March 03, 2019 3:25 pm UTC
PURCHASER
Hey guys, I just picked up this PDF and I must say it is phenomenal!!! This is my first venture into miniature wargaming in general! I've always been put off by the "cost of entry" into some of the games of this style that are out there.

I have a quick question for anyone willing to answer it. What supplements in this line would you say to get if one wanted more ready made profiles? Is there any one supplement that you value above the rest as far as profiles are concerned? I am loving what is in this book and I am eager to start collecting what is out there. Just looking to get some more profiles to play with for starters! Thanks guys!
Reply
Customer avatar
andrea S March 03, 2019 3:58 pm UTC
PUBLISHER
From a purely numerical point of view, Fighting Fungi (that is actually a version of the same rules published one year earlier as a kickstarter) has a ton of profiles, but they are mostly for fungus people (if you are interested in the official miniatures, you can find them on Alternative Armies under ganesha games fantasy miniatures). Axe and Brimstone is a campaign and has stats for halflings and demon dwarves. Hammer and Forge has stats for four different dwarven clans and a ton of new rules for new weapons like ball ancd chain, firearms, runestones etc. It is really up to you. We are going to publish a short supplement about chaos forces in the next couple of months, unfortunately it is not ready yet so I cannot give a better estimated date of publication.
Reply
Customer avatar
andrea S March 03, 2019 3:59 pm UTC
PUBLISHER
make sure you do not purchase Song of Gold and Darkness or Song of Wind and Water, though about 90% compatible, they are for the older, simpler "Song of Blades and Heroes" revised edition, not for the Advanced version of the rules.
Reply
Customer avatar
David M March 03, 2019 7:41 pm UTC
PURCHASER
Thank you so much Andrea! Your game is amazing! Seriously, I just got it yesterday and was playing it today! I'm glad that my first delve into tabletop war gaming was with one of your designs! I'm looking forward to reading some more of your work in this area of gaming. I picked up Flying Lead yesterday also and I already know that I'm in for a treat!

Thank you also for the heads up about Song of Gold and Darkness and Song of Wind and Water. I will check out those other books your mentioned. Thank you for your time!
Customer avatar
Jaime P February 19, 2019 4:01 pm UTC
PURCHASER
i got in a few games of this over the weekend and loving it so far. But, the buddy I played with is good at figuring out ultimate "builds" and smoked me all three times we played. So, this leads me to a question-

The rules state that only half of your personality points can be spent on a warband. Can all of these points be put into ONE personality, or is there a limit per miniature?
Reply
Customer avatar
andrea S February 19, 2019 4:09 pm UTC
PUBLISHER
There is no limit but I am curious about your friend's builds. If he wins because of the models, the models are obviously unbalanced/abusive. The idea of the point system is to create variant profiles with different weapons etc not builds to win the game. Characters should be like the ones that are in the book.
Reply
Customer avatar
andrea S February 19, 2019 6:34 pm UTC
PUBLISHER
https://lookaside.fbsbx.com/file/Chromeknights-guide-to-song-of-blades-and-heroes-profiles.pdf?token=AWy4y9V2JcPSq8ETkB7SWRzzQBHW52TfhoermCoxDCFhVSsplRdPqWN8FtOT-1DC5C5RGwg1p436DeKGiVaMZ__7_bnOzrk9yoins5jhwy4Pc2wt3Jd-5-rnOZThUCDdOxaUbBXaZmrhIa6JTfgrXbv7 I hope the link gets through, this is a fan-made PDF with some interesting considerations about creating new characters in Song of Blades. It's for the revised SOBH but the reasoning applies to ASOBH as well. It's from our Facebook group so I do not know if you can access it if you are not on facebook.
Reply
Customer avatar
Jaime P February 19, 2019 8:46 pm UTC
PURCHASER
He built a 200 point personality. The first few things I can remember that made it a real challenge was that he had fly, assassin and hunter of the dead and I was playing undead. Basically, if he hit, chances were that any of my models would be put "out of action".
Reply
Customer avatar
andrea S February 19, 2019 9:06 pm UTC
PUBLISHER
The character is illegal. Assassin and Hunter of the dead are two instances of the same ability and should not be taken together.
Assassin does not work against undead and it is limited to C2.
Hunter of the dead works only against undead and is limited to maximum of C2.

You should create your warbands in secret, and not reveal your type of models until the game begins. You could create two separate warbands and decide what to play at the last moment for example, to make sure the opponent does not design a counter for your every trait.
Reply
Customer avatar
Jaime P February 19, 2019 9:18 pm UTC
PURCHASER
Me personally, I just think that there should be a cap on how many points can go into one personality.
Reply
Customer avatar
Jaime P February 19, 2019 9:35 pm UTC
PURCHASER
I'm not on Facebook anymore. Is there somewhere else I can get the text?
Reply
Customer avatar
andrea S February 19, 2019 9:36 pm UTC
PUBLISHER
on the Song of blades yahoo group, or drop me an email at andreasfiligoi@gmail.com and I'll send it.
Reply
Customer avatar
andrea S February 19, 2019 9:45 pm UTC
PUBLISHER
that would make dragons and high-end sorcerers unplayable.
Reply
Customer avatar
Jaime P February 20, 2019 9:43 pm UTC
PURCHASER
True
Customer avatar
Jaime P February 11, 2019 3:41 pm UTC
PURCHASER
So, I am currently reading the rules and am very much so looking forward to playing this. But, I'm not sure why talent costs aren't listed in the book, unless I missed it. Is there an offline talent cost sheet somewhere that can be downloaded for reference?
Reply
Customer avatar
andrea S February 11, 2019 4:12 pm UTC
PUBLISHER
they are on my site www.ganeshagames.net where you can also find an army builder (that also works offline) the trait costs are listed in parentheses on the builder. you can also download a PDF with a list of the point costs (I will add this to the download here)
Reply
Customer avatar
Jaime P February 11, 2019 5:33 pm UTC
PURCHASER
Awesome. Thank you!
Reply
Customer avatar
andrea S February 11, 2019 5:35 pm UTC
PUBLISHER
I have added to the download here. The pdf was done later and we just did not think of including here, thank you for the heads up.
Reply
Customer avatar
Jaime P February 14, 2019 8:18 pm UTC
PURCHASER
Sorry, but another question- It says "high solo playability" but I didn't see any rules in there for solo play. Is there a document somewhere that shows these rules? I think they would be great so that I can learn how to use an AI for monsters and such.
Reply
Customer avatar
andrea S February 14, 2019 8:38 pm UTC
PUBLISHER
Hi, the way I play it solo is simply to create two warbands that could beat each other, or to design a few (let's say 6) warbands as opponents to my own warband, and then randomize who is fighting who. Then I play "two-handed", that is, I play both sides to the best of my ability. The game is simple once you know the ropes and there are almost no "secret choices" so you can play solo. If you look in the files section of the Song of Blades Facebook group, there are fan-made AI rules. If you are really interested in an AI system and a game that was designed for Solo play (or coop play) from the ground up, please check my Sellswords and Spellslingers (that uses a deck of custom cards as AI and event generator).
Reply
Customer avatar
Jaime P February 14, 2019 8:48 pm UTC
PURCHASER
Sweet. Thank you for the quick response!
Reply
Customer avatar
andrea S February 15, 2019 12:22 am UTC
PUBLISHER
one thing you may want to use is a marker to remember whose turn it is, as you may get lost with Reactions and Activations. I just put a glass stone counter on the acting warband and switch it when a Turn Over happens.
Customer avatar
Brian S November 20, 2016 5:03 am UTC
Can existing games like Flashing Steel use the ASBH rules fairly easy? Can SBH supplements be used with ASBH ?
Reply
Customer avatar
andrea S November 21, 2016 10:10 am UTC
PUBLISHER
Flashing Steel is its own game; a new edition will come soon (it's done, we are pagesetting it) and it will include some changes from ASOBH. Remember if you purchased the first edition FS here, you will receive the new PDF for free. Re: supplements. Some info from the supplements is reprinted in ASOBH, some will not work, so there is no clear cut answer: I'd say "no" just to avoid disappointment, but ASOBH is an evolution of Revised and the core rules are very similar if not identical, so most of the published material will work with minimal adjustments.
Customer avatar
Chris M June 01, 2016 9:43 pm UTC
I'm trying to decide whether to switch over from regular SBH to advanced, but based on the Amazon preview the movement section of the book is confusing to say the least, and this is from someone who is already familiar with the basic SBH rules.

e.g. the whole paragraph under "The movement of non-flying mounted models is reduced for rough terrain" doesn't seem to belong where it is and is very confusing - why wouldn't mounted models have their speed reduced, is there some implied exception here? And why isn't this mentioned under the earlier section on rough movement. And why is this all in the same paragraph with stuff about flying through heavy woods?

Later under jumping down, "four-legged animals automatically pass the Q test..." What Q test? Based on the original SBH rules, I suspect this belongs in the section about horizontal jumping above.

This makes me worry about the quality of the book as a whole. Has/will any of this be fixed up in the PDF?...See more
Reply
Customer avatar
andrea S June 02, 2016 9:38 am UTC
PUBLISHER
Movement rules are the same as in the Revised set.
The sentence on non-flying mounted model is just a statement of the obvious because for some readers it was not obvious.

The jumping down Q test is the falling damage Q test. When you jump down, you make a falling damage test if the height is more than the model's height.

The PDF is the same as the printed book, and it has been reviewed by 4 different proofreaders and editors.
Reply
Customer avatar
Chris M June 02, 2016 3:05 pm UTC
The movement rules I saw in the preview are definitely not the same as in the 5.0 Song of Blade and Heroes rule I have. A couple differences I saw:

1) In 5.0, when passing through difficult ground, a Short Move model needs 2 actions. in Advanced, it is unaffected.
2) In 5.0, crossing a linear obstacle is exactly like difficult ground (go down one movement category, if Short Move 2 actions are required). In Advanced it requires 2 actions for anyone, regardless of speed, but you can take a single-die Q check to cross in one action (fail and you fall).

Are they intended to be the same?
Reply
Customer avatar
andrea S June 02, 2016 3:20 pm UTC
PUBLISHER
sorry I was not clear. I meant "movement rules in the case listed". At least they are the rules we were using. Going from Revised to Advanced was a gradual process, as some rules were changed over time.
2 actions for Short movement was seen as too much of a penalty.
Reply
Customer avatar
Chris M June 02, 2016 5:11 pm UTC
So if the Q test is the falling Q test 4-legged animals can jump down an infinite distance without being hurt? This doesn't make any sense to me, nor is it in the 5.0 rules. I think the "four-legged animals automatically pass the Q test..." sentence is supposed to be under the horizontal jumping rules, which is where it is in 5.0.

Reply
Customer avatar
andrea S November 21, 2016 10:12 am UTC
PUBLISHER
ok yes, I see the mistake. The idea is that horses can automatically pass horizontal jumps.
Customer avatar
Jonathan C April 09, 2016 5:12 pm UTC
Does this include any material from the supplements of the prior edition (Wind & Water, Deeds & Glory, etc.)?
Reply
Customer avatar
andrea S June 02, 2016 9:39 am UTC
PUBLISHER
not exactly. Special rules and some terrain rules yes, but not all, for space reasons.
Reply
Customer avatar
joshua O August 06, 2016 3:44 am UTC
PURCHASER
Does it contain the rules that let me advance characters and design scenarios, or do I still need to buy those supplements?
Reply
Customer avatar
andrea S November 21, 2016 10:14 am UTC
PUBLISHER
Advance characters: yes, there is a small set of advancement rules that are generic, and then more specific racially-themed advancements are in the supplements (there are examples in ASOBH and they are all very similar, so you can easily make your own). There are no special rules to create scenarios, I do not understand the question :-) Scenarios are created by narrative, common sense, and use of the point system if needed.
Customer avatar
Joshua L March 23, 2016 2:15 am UTC
So if I buy ASBH instead of Fightin' Fungi am I missing out on the abiliity to have lists of mushroom men? To start my ASBH collection is it better to buy Fightin' Fungi or this book?
Reply
Customer avatar
andrea S June 02, 2016 9:42 am UTC
PUBLISHER
if you want to play with fungi, I'd buy Fightin Fungi as they have a few specific special rules and spells not repeated here. Also soon Fightin Fungi will include a free PDF supplement that repeats the special rules that are not in Fightin Fungi, as this was promised during the FF funding campaign but I never managed to do this.
Customer avatar
Colbert R February 03, 2016 8:14 pm UTC
Does the game require much/any terrain?
Reply
Customer avatar
andrea S February 05, 2016 10:26 pm UTC
PUBLISHER
Just like any skirmish game. A standard game is on a 3x3 table with 3-6 scenic items. Think a hill, copse of trees, maybe some ruins or a patch of some unusual terrain. It is as terrain heavy as you want to make it.
Customer avatar
Simon H February 01, 2016 9:15 pm UTC
Will there be an updated version of Tales of Blades and Heroes to go with this? How do the two relate currently?
Reply
Customer avatar
andrea S February 05, 2016 10:32 pm UTC
PUBLISHER
Tales is a rpg system. There are many similarities (the core activation and combat system is roughly the same, and converting characters is not difficult). No for the moment Tales will not be updated, most people who played it say that it has the "right" complexity level or their needs. I'm going to publish more material for Tales, especially game world sourcebooks now that we are spending so much work on detailing and mapping the game world Norindaal. If you are curious about the world, check out theNorindaal wiki on
https://sites.google.com/site/norindaal/
Browse Categories
$ to $
 Follow Your Favorites!
NotificationsSign in to get custom notifications of new products!















Product Information
Platinum seller
Author(s)
Artist(s)
Pages
88
File Size:
16.65 MB
Format
Original electronic Click for more information
Scanned image
These products were created by scanning an original printed edition. Most older books are in scanned image format because original digital layout files never existed or were no longer available from the publisher.

For PDF download editions, each page has been run through Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software to attempt to decipher the printed text. The result of this OCR process is placed invisibly behind the picture of each scanned page, to allow for text searching. However, any text in a given book set on a graphical background or in handwritten fonts would most likely not be picked up by the OCR software, and is therefore not searchable. Also, a few larger books may be resampled to fit into the system, and may not have this searchable text background.

For printed books, we have performed high-resolution scans of an original hardcopy of the book. We essentially digitally re-master the book. Unfortunately, the resulting quality of these books is not as high. It's the problem of making a copy of a copy. The text is fine for reading, but illustration work starts to run dark, pixellating and/or losing shades of grey. Moiré patterns may develop in photos. We mark clearly which print titles come from scanned image books so that you can make an informed purchase decision about the quality of what you will receive.
pixel_trans.gif
Original electronic format
These ebooks were created from the original electronic layout files, and therefore are fully text searchable. Also, their file size tends to be smaller than scanned image books. Most newer books are in the original electronic format. Both download and print editions of such books should be high quality.
File Information
Watermarked PDF Click for more information
Watermarked PDF

These PDF files are digitally watermarked to signify that you are the owner. A small message is added to the bottom of each page of the PDF containing your name and the order number of your purchase.

Warning: If any files bearing your information are found being distributed illegally, then your account will be suspended and legal action may be taken against you.

Here is a sample of a page from a watermarked title:

File Last Updated:
February 11, 2019
This title was added to our catalog on January 30, 2016.