Magewinds

The Road to 2.0

2025-10-11T00:00:00+00:00

Well I missed my August 31st deadline for the Summer Update. Here’s why:

I was too busy with other stuff! Carving out time to work on the Summer Update was a challenge, and while I did succeed, I also made a fatal mistake…

Scope creep! I tried hard to stick to the plan, but in the end I gave up and accepted that what I really wanted to do was make the big overhauls to the game I’d been dreaming about for the past year+. I’ll talk about some of the – as yet, untested – large changes next, but obviously if you make changes to your core engine you will have to rebuild a lot of the rest of the vehicle too.

Ch-ch-ch-changes!

Attacks

In the current version of Magewinds certain attacks may have a split profile, meaning they have a Heavy or Light variant. The attacker chooses which version to use, places a card indicating their choice facedown in front of themselves, and then the defender declares whether they will Dodge, Deflect or do nothing. When making an attack with a split profile the attacker also has the option to Feint, to bait a reaction out of the defender and leaving them exposed. Then the attacker rolls a number of dice equal to the attack’s Power attribute, and any result less than or equal to the target number (Precision - Evasion) is a hit. The amount of damage dealt is equal to the number of hits minus the target’s Armour. Very simple and very easy to reason probabilities about. High-Power attacks tend to have less Precision, and therefore you’re making a tradeoff between guaranteeing hits and actually doing damage.

Now, I have some frustrations with this system that have only festered over the years.

One frustration is that attacks must be split into two categories: those with a split profile and those less interesting ones that don’t.

Another frustration is that because the outcome of attacks is easy to reason about probabilistically, the actual dice roll itself is not as exciting as it could be; you may roll a lot of dice for a powerful attack, but drama is modulated by the law of averages. Or the attack just auto-hits! Yawn.

The last and most important frustration I have is that it’s hard to extend – the design space feels so restrictive to me. Perhaps a better designer would have no difficulty adding things like good rules for critical hits, or attacks that have effects other than just damage, but I struggled terribly. So it was time to rethink the whole thing.

I knew I wanted to keep the attack and defence choice mechanic. That feels like a core part of Magewinds’ identity. But I needed to find a way to make it work for me and not against me when designing new fighter types that feel different from each other. After much head-scratching I had an epiphany: I could flip the choice on its head, and make the defender be the one who puts a card down.

I was never going to add more kinds of defence choice: Dodge, Deflect and do nothing are plenty, so the three cards should be used for them instead of attacks. This way means the attacker can have many more than three options to choose from, those options can be much more distinct from each other, and every attack can make use of the choice mechanic. Feint is now always an option, rather than only being available for split profile attacks.

I like this paradigm shift a lot, but we’ll have to see how it holds up in testing. I think the number of attacks available to choose from could become quite overwhelming for players, so I need to be careful not to add too many.

When looking at the dice mechanic, I also knew I wanted to keep Power, Precision, Armour, Evasion and Toughness working more or less the same. They’re simple. But I had to choose one to change, and I chose Power. It’s no longer how many dice you roll – you now always roll one die. Instead, Power is how hard the attack hits, if it hits. The amount of damage is still decreased by Armour in the same manner.

This turns the dice-rolling part of attacking into a fingernail-biting spike in tension rather than a moment of mathematics. It may still be possible for an attack to be so Precise as to auto-hit, but these can now be rare. A secondary benefit of doing things this way is that it’s easy to see how to add in critical hit rules, and use those to modulate any extra effects, like additional damage or Armour penetration, the attack has.

I’m happy with these changes, but I’ve yet to get them in front of people and see how fun they really are.

Overloaded Terms

I don’t like it when games overload words, and despite my efforts Magewinds is guilty of this sin, having Attack Actions and Attacks, a Movement attribute and Move action and movement as a general concept. With some carefully-chosen word replacements, I’ve pretty much gotten rid of the most obvious ambiguities. This makes me happy.

Unfortunately, when you rename things in the core rules, that is a breaking change that means you need to update everything else. Fortunately I was doing that already for the above attack system rewrite.

Timeline

I have rewritten the Core Rules. Consequently I’ve rewritten Tempest Crusaders, the fighter rules pack, and I am midway through rewriting Into the Tempest, the scenario pack. Nothing I’ve rewritten is final – I have a lot of testing ahead.

Looking forward, I’m reticent to set a date for anything – a lot of other things, many of them much more important than this, are happening in the next few months. All I need to do, however, is get together enough material to playtest with people again. Once that’s done the momentum will build on its own.

Thanks for reading!

Magewinds in 2025

2025-06-11T00:00:00+00:00

Hello. It’s been a while, but I’m finally setting aside some precious free time to make progress on my favourite personal project: Magewinds development!

My plan for the coming weeks is to work towards producing a reasonably chunky Summer Update, featuring rules updates and other nice things.

Rules Updates

Improvements to the Core Rules, disambiguating certain terms, overhauling how carriable objects work, and more.
Changes and additions to the Tempest Crusaders fighter pack, to rebalance existing fighter profiles and universal abilities and to add new ones, such as the Thief, Ranger and Alchemist.
Changes and additions to the Into the Tempest scenario pack, perhaps even breaking the 3 and 4 player scenarios out into their own separate pack.
Bringing the Ups and Downs optional module for vertical combat out of beta.
Same for the Neutral Fighters optional module.

To make these updates as good as possible, regular playtesting sessions will be starting up again soon. Please get in touch if you’d like to be involved!

Enbeautification

I’ll also be adding icons, diagrams and bits of art to generally spruce up the place. This work is long-overdue and definitely worth the effort – a good game is made by vibes as much as it is by rules.

Fighter Cards

If I have time, I’ll work on a way to condense fighter profiles into printable fighter cards, to be arrayed beside the battlefield for speedy reference and clutter-free damage tracking.

Timeline

I’m setting myself a provisional, arbitrary and achievable-sounding release date for the Summer Update of August 31st… just in time for Autumn 😎

Unless I’m particularly inspired to document my progress, the blog will, like normal, be quiet until then¹. Therefore I shall wish you, dear reader, a pleasant summer containing many days of sunshine and relaxation. Farewell!

Some Magewinds fighters I painted recently.

If you’d like to keep up with my goings-on and hobby adventures you can find me at my personal blog and on Bluesky. ↩

Magewinds Meetup Post-Mortem

2024-11-30T00:00:00+00:00

Three magi, meeting up. (Photo by Rich)

On Saturday 16th of November (two weeks ago) the first ever Magewinds Meetup was held at Knightly Gaming in Bathgate, Scotland. I think it was a success! 😤

An in-progress game of Treasure Dash. (Photo by Rich)

Eight of us gathered in the morning at the venue and got stuck right into playing games. Two of the attendees had never played before, and most of the rest hadn’t played in a very long time, but we all picked up steam quickly enough. In total 8 games were played that day, with two of them being 3 and 4 player games using the new rules for larger battles.

Two of Kara’s weird little guys. (Photo by Rich)

On Sunday the meetup continued, albeit with reduced numbers, and we had decided in advance to play some other games that day. In spite of the obstacles a further 3 games of Magewinds were played, and the experimental rules for 3-dimensional battlefields and neutral monsters got a runaround.

Banrax graciously tried out the rules for 3D battlefields with me. (Photo by Rachel)

Rich’s hedge wizard and his gnomish allies¹ face off against Ben’s warband. Meanwhile, a stray Dracolisk finds itself surrounded in dinner… (Photo by Rich)

I got a lot of useful feedback, from top-level first-impressions stuff, to pointing out confusing rules, to balance concerns. Most importantly, everyone had fun, which was a massive, massive relief after weeks of rushing to get ready and worrying about whether I might be wasting everyone’s time 😅

Gnome versus Dragon. (Photo by Rich)

Hedge wizard versus Dragon. (Photo by Rich)

A quick 6-slot game of Fragment Frenzy versus Stephen at the end of Saturday. (Photo by Rachel)

A huge, huge thankyou to all who attended (and to all who expressed a desire to attend but couldn’t make it) – I have come away from the experience feeling thoroughly validated and very excited to continue development of this wonderful little game ❤️

Who knows, perhaps there will be another Magewinds Meetup in the future…

My Cleric, Deadeye and Wizard battle Banrax’s fighters for control of the Hill. (Photo by Rachel)

The 3-player Treasure Clash game. Carnage! (Photo by Rachel)

The 4-player Battle Royale game! I was anxious the whole time that it might be horribly slow but they all seemed to be enjoying themselves. (Photo by Rachel)

3D prints of Warp Miniatures’ fantastic STLs. ↩

Ups, Downs and Neutral Fighters

2024-11-14T00:00:00+00:00

Just in time for the Meetup, I’ve published the first draft versions of two new experimental advanced rules modules.

The first, Ups and Downs, adds the third dimension to games of Magewinds.

The second, Neutral Fighters, allows you to bring chaotic roving monsters into your battles.

I was going to print them off, but realised they will likely go through so much revision that it would just be a waste of paper!

The Road to Magewinds Meetup, Part 7

2024-11-13T00:00:00+00:00

With only three sleeps remaining until the event, this will be the final Road to Magewinds Meetup post.

I’m about 75% ready. My jobs for this evening include more printing, some painting, and starting to get things packed up.

Oh, I also need to publish the experimental rules for neutral fighters and elevation on the website, and print them too.

Here’s some booklets I printed already:

I’m particularly pleased with the automatic page numbering on internal references:

If I’m being honest, I wish I felt a lot more ready and that a lot more people were coming – but, given how busy I am at work and socially, I really ought to be pleased with what I’ve accomplished, and I should (and do!) feel grateful that anyone is coming at all! My friends are amazing, and that they’d be willing to travel so far to play a silly game I designed is a massive privilege. Get you friends like mine, they are excellent.

The Road to Magewinds Meetup, Part 6

2024-10-27T00:00:00+00:00

My pre-Meetup rules updates are complete 😤

The Core Rules have been upgraded to support games with more than 2 players in v1.2.0. Many changes and small tweaks have been made to various fighter types in Tempest Crusaders v1.5.1. Into the Tempest has gained a new 3-4 player Battle Royale scenario, and numerous other improvements, in v1.4.0.

Check out the changes on the Rules page.

The work doesn’t end here, though – I need to come up with some special rules and narrative elements for the big day. It will also be an unmissable opportunity to try out rules for neutral fighters, such as monsters, and rules for playing on battlefields with verticality, so I should start writing those down too!

On top of all that, I should really do some painting… and making things like fighter card templates and other things to make playing the game easier… oof baboof 😮‍💨

3 weeks to go!

The Road to Magewinds Meetup, Part 5

2024-10-19T00:00:00+00:00

I’ve moved the scenario rules have been moved to the separate rules repo, and I’ve put in place for exporting them back to the website and into PDF format. This means my project of refactoring how I produce updates to the Magewinds rules is more-or-less complete and I can finally actually get on with doing the updates I want to do before the meetup! Before you ask, no, I haven’t just been doing this as a way to procrastinate…

The Road to Magewinds Meetup, Part 4

2024-10-18T00:00:00+00:00

Slowly, but steadily, progress is being made on my big rules-refactoring project. I now have the Tempest Crusaders fighter pack fully extracted from the website repo and added to the separate rules repo, and can generate a PDF as well as files in the format the website generator uses.

The final step in this process is to get the scenario rules moved over too. I’ve done this two times already, so hopefully this time it’ll be pretty straightforward…

The Road to Magewinds Meetup, Part 3

2024-10-10T00:00:00+00:00

Quick one today as I am quite behind where I hoped to be! – but I wanted to provide an update nonetheless.

This evening I hope to establish a process for producing printable assets for the Tempest Crusaders fighter pack and Into the Tempest scenario pack. I’m sure I won’t get it all done but if I can make a good start I’ll be very pleased with myself.

The Road to Magewinds Meetup, Part 2

2024-09-25T00:00:00+00:00

In my first post in this series I wrote about the work I was doing to make publishing rules updates easier. I am relieved to say I have completed the first major chunk of this work! 😤

There is now a shiny new PDF for the current version of the Core Rules (v1.1.2) available on the Rules page of the website (or just click here). It was generated using Pandoc and Weasyprint. Henceforth, when I want to produce a printable PDF of a version of the Core Rules I need only press a single button – previously I would have to separately maintain a Word document from which to generate a PDF, which was such a faff I only ever bothered once.

I think this will be a great workflow improvement for this game. (And for future projects!)

Please take a look at it if you have time and let me know if you spot any issues with it, or improvements that could be made. For example you might want the rules available in A4 rather than A5 booklet format, and I can certainly look into providing that as an alternative.

Next I need to figure out how to do more or less the same with Tempest Crusaders and Into the Tempest…

The Road to Magewinds Meetup, Part 1

2024-09-21T00:00:00+00:00

As I write this I am waiting for TeX Live to install. I have spent the last month or so of my limited Magewinds development time putting the Core Rules into one big Markdown document and figuring out how to get back from that to the format I build this website from (multiple Markdown documents, one per 2nd-level heading). Export to the website format is now working, thank goodness¹, so I can move onto phase 2: exporting the Core Rules to a printable format (PDF). That shall be done today, I hope.

At the end of all of this effort I shall be abe to update the rules in one place and automatically regenerate both the website and the PDF, which will be a great workflow improvement for Magewinds and for any future games I design.

Once this is done, I am planning to make some adjustments to the Core Rules, the fighter pack and the scenario pack, before locking them all down at the end of September. That way, any documents I print before the Meetup are not invalidated by last-minute work, and so that attendees can plan their warbands a bit without me pulling the rug out from underneath them!

The Meetup, by the way, is in November – please reach out to me if you’re interested in attending and you need the details.

…It’s still installing, how?

And I learned a lot along the way, which was secretly the purpose of the exercise 😉 ↩

Modelling Mages

2024-05-28T00:00:00+00:00

Three wizards by North Star Military Figures: a Stormwarden, a Sigilist and a Lich. Painted by me!

When approaching a miniatures-agnostic game it can be difficult to know how to start. What are the expectations? Where are the limits? The purpose of this post is to show new players how they could choose, build and paint models for Magewinds.

Firstly, what does “miniatures-agnostic” even really mean? It’s not as though this is a well-defined term. It could be anything from “There are official miniatures, but you’re permitted to use whichever models you like instead,” to, “Go wild, do whatever you want!”

Magewinds falls somewhere in between these poles: there are no official miniatures¹ but there are some requirements a model should meet. These are vague and flexible because Magewinds is not a particularly competitive game and (unless something insane happens) you are unlikely to be playing it at high-stakes wargaming tournaments. So it really comes down to what you and your fellow players are happy with. All I can do is suggest and nudge you in one direction because it happens to be what the game was designed around:

28mm-scale models, on 25mm circular bases.

Of those two requirements, clearly the base size and shape is the more important. Magewinds doesn’t have any rules like “true line-of-sight” (hiss!) that could confer an advantage or disadvantage to a taller- or shorter-than-expected model. But, being played on a small battlefield, Magewinds involves tight spaces, so a miniature’s base being thinner or wider than 25mm has an impact – for example, it’s easier to block an enemy’s fighter’s movement if you or they have a wider-than-normal base.

Magewinds also features small one-inch “step moves”, which are made a bit easier to eyeball if the miniature’s base is already roughly an inch in diameter.

Yet neither of these concerns really matter as long as you and your fellow players are happy to work around them, so do what you like!

Some Reaper Minis.

Race and Species

Fantasy miniatures tend to be designed to fit into one of the classic “races” like dwarfs, elves, orcs and so on. Magewinds doesn’t care about such things – pretty much everyone on the Continent is considered to be some kind of “human”, just variously mutated from some original standard form that no-one can remember – while the rules just treat everyone the same.

Fighter Types

When I am looking at minis, kits or bits and wondering if they will be suitable for Magewinds, my main concern, after scale and basing, is whether I can sell them as belonging to one of the available fighter types in the Tempest Crusaders fighter pack. For example, a Wizard should look bombastic and deadly, while a Seer should look mysterious and far-sighted.

Of course some fighter types are easier than others – it’s very easy to find or construct a model that looks like a Warrior, but it’s tricky to convey that a model is an Enchanter at first glance. For these harder classes, I recommend thinking about your character’s story and how you can tell it through modelling. Perhaps your Enchanter is a practical sort, who only carries a hammer and tongs and wears a blacksmith’s apron. Or perhaps they prefer to dazzle others, and wear a shimmering coat of many colours.

I wrote a Meet the Fighters article for each of the original wave of fighter types. Each article includes a short description of what that fighter type could look like. You might want to give them a read :wink:

Warband Theme

I tend to paint Magewinds fighters individually with little thought given to creating a cohesive warband from them other than a ragtag band of mercenaries. You might want to tie your models together more than that. Your miniatures could have travelled a long way from a distant land together, and so share the same cultural cues. Or they could all be members of the same military faction and therefore share a uniform.

Many petty kingdoms wage war with one another on the borders of Tempestia, while within the storm-warped land’s ever-changing borders, two main factions vie for power: the Zephyrites and the Revenants. The former seek to usher humankind into the Age of Magic by empowering the magewinds further, so that all the Continent’s people can use their strength. The latter – so called for the many undead or undying scions of the Ancient Empire in their ranks – wish to return the world to the Age of Sorcery and undo the damage that the magical Tempest has done.

The opposing viewpoints of these two mighty sides cannot be resolved any way other than blood. :crossed_swords:

Perhaps your warband is devoted to one of these factions. Perhaps, like many other Freeblade companies, it is allied to neither, fighting only for profit and self-preservation.

Fighters assembled from some of North Star’s modular plastic kits. Left: a Guardian put together from the Elf Infantry, Wizards and Knights kits. Centre: a Deadeye built from the Soldiers 2 kit. Right: a Warrior made from the Gnolls kit.

Options

There are lots of options available for where to get models for Magewinds. My first suggestion is North Star Military Figures, who produce a range of excellent metal characters and modular plastic kits for the games Frostgrave and Oathmark. Individual sprues from said kits can be easily found on eBay, althought North Star themselves sometimes run temporary single-sprue sales.

Another good option is Reaper Miniatures, who have many years’ worth of Dungeons and Dragons-compatible models to pick through. Their scale is inconsistent, but their quality and character is not ².

Finally, of course, there are Citadel Miniatures from Games Workshop. Modern Citadel sculpts tend to be a little too big for Magewinds (in my opinion (though this is not a big deal)), but I will happily assemble a warband from older Warhammer models.

Beyond those three options, there are many other sellers you can buy models and kits from. Kitbashing is your friend here. So is 3D printing, although I myself don’t have any experience with it. All I know is that there seem to be millions of STLs out there for every kind of mage and adventurer one could possibly imagine.

Now that just about wraps things up³. Go forth, and model! :muscle:

Three Citadel models. Left: a Dark Elf Sorceress. Centre: a Dark Elf Assassin. Right: a Mordheim Freeblade.

Although I dream there will be :pray: ↩
Black Lion Games, one of my local shops, has a whole wall of Reaper minis and I am quite incapable of walking past without popping in to browse and, inevitably, purchase one. ↩
Except I just realised I completely forgot to talk about painting :scream:… I guess that can be its own article! ↩

Magewinds Meetup Survey

2024-04-30T00:00:00+00:00

Do you, like me, wish to meet up in “real life” and play Magewinds? Well have I got the Google Form for you: click here to fill it out and help me get the ball rolling on a late-2024 all-singing all-dancing spell-slinging smashathon throwdown somewhere in the United Kingdom¹.

Hopefully near me in Scotland, but I’ll go wherever the most interested people can attend. ↩

Dev Diary: The Warlock and the Minion, Part 1

2024-03-26T00:00:00+00:00

I am hoping that writing development blogs will help me keep up momentum on making changes and additions to Magewinds (like a kind of accountability thing) – so here is one, hopefully the first of many.

I’m currently focusing my very limited efforts on adding two new fighter types to the Tempest Crusaders fighter pack. The first of these, the Minion, is intended to be the worst, but most spam-able, fighter in the game. The second new fighter type, the Warlock, is all about making Minions better – and summoning new ones to join the fray.

I find that game design/development¹ is more like sculpting than architecture. You start with a block of rock and chip away to reveal the statue within. You may begin with a vision, but you find the real shape of the thing as you go.

This is how development of Magewinds has always gone. I start with an idea and iterate on it, playtesting as I go. Things always come up which I never thought of, and I must adjust the design to compensate for them.

I’ve had the idea for Warlocks and Minions kicking around in my head for years at this point² and it’s always had the same core conceits:

Minions are rubbish fighters, easy to kill and not much of threat.
Minions’ strength lies in that you can have a lot of them on the battlefield.
The Warlock buffs Minions, making them into an actual threat.
The Warlock summons new Minions to replace dead ones or further swell the ranks.
Despite these synergies, there should be reasons to take each fighter type on its own.

So, the playstyle they enable is about chaffing up the board and overwhelming the enemy with weight of numbers. Thematically, they’re a necromancer and his skeletal soldiers, or a demon-master and her impish summons.

Today I’ll talk about conceit number 1, which sounds simple but isn’t.

It’s easy to make Minions weak, but I must avoid making them too weak. If they’re too weak, the only impact they’ll have on the game is being in the way.

I started by having them be unable to perform an action if they have a single action counter. This was in part to avoid one player having far more activations than their opponent, but also made them unable to move as far, do as much damage or avoid as much damage as other fighters. Unfortunately, this made them weak in a way that was kind of un-fun, to me: Minions just didn’t get to impact the game very much. I tried mitigating this by giving the Warlock a spell to recover actions on Minions, but then they were merely ‘okay’ rather than an ‘actual threat’. I tried letting them make two actions, and I think it’s the way to go for now³.

Next, I think I’ll try making them a bit stronger and tougher, but to do this I need to make everyone else slightly better. In the game almost all fighter types have Evasion 0. This makes the Evasion attribute seem pointless, but it was an adjustment made to avoid having to always be doing a Precision – Evasion calculation when trying to hit an enemy. i.e. it was a choice made to speed the game up.

However, I want Minions to have Evasion 0, and for that to be a special thing. So, everyone else’s Evasion must go up by 1… and then probably the Precision of all their attacks must go up by 1, too…

I’ll report back on how it goes in the next development diary. Wish me luck!

As ever, if you are interested in getting involved in playtesting (whether on Tabletop Simulator or in meatspace) please get in touch :heart:

These two words don’t quite mean the same thing, but I’ll use them interchangeably here. ↩
Gosh, the amount of time I spent working on this game really fell off a cliff! ↩
I’m worried about players with multiple Minions having too much of an activation advantage, but until it comes up in playtesting I won’t act on it. ↩

Pre-RMRO Changes and Additions

2023-11-23T00:00:00+00:00

Hello!

I’m off to a meetup this weekend (a “RollModels Roll Out”, or “RMRO”), and have polished up some new rules to inflict upon people while there.

The Fighters of the Tempest fighter pack is now called Tempest Crusaders. It also has beta rules for two new fighters in it, the Warlock and the Minion. Minions are weak little fighters who can only do one action. The Warlock summons more Minions and makes them better.

Into the Tempest is now on v1.3.0 with the addition of our first 3-to-4 player scenario and some tweaks to Fragment Frenzy.

I’ve also updated the Core Rules to v1.1.1 with some very small wording tweaks (probably not worth it).

Hopefully I will get a chance to play the game a bit this weekend and see how things are.

Marching On

2023-03-30T00:00:00+00:00

Hello! It’s been a while, but I’m finally back. :triumph:

I have just pushed a few updates to the Core Rules (v1.1.0), the Fighters of the Tempest fighter pack (v1.1.0), and the Into the Tempest scenario pack (v1.0.1). Apart from one big addition, these are just small tweaks. Tightening the bolts, as it were, on the rickety contraption that is Magewinds. Changelists have been added so you can see what exactly changed without having to comb through the rules.

The aforementioned big addition is the Seer :eye:, a new fighter type who can:

Predict the future, and gain power from doing so
Give their allies a hefty buff
Strike with deadly precision (because they have good eyesight)

In our playtests, they’ve been a fun little addition to the game. The first of many. I hope you enjoy playing with them!

If you have feedback or questions, the best way to get them to me is Discord (on the official Magewinds Discord server) or on Twitter (by @ing or DMing me, or using the #Magewinds hashtag).

Meet the Enchanter

2023-01-09T00:00:00+00:00

“I let them believe otherwise, but really this warband wouldn’t last five minutes without me…”

In our final Meet the Fighters article¹, it’s the Enchanter’s time to shine.

Background

Enchanters are ubiquitous on the Continent. Wherever the magewinds blow, Enchanters ply their craft. Swords are kept sharp, knots are kept tied, coats are water-proofed and armour is made resistant to magical damage all by the power of enchantment – the binding of magic spells into mundane objects.

In the particularly dangerous region of Tempestia, it is very likely that every single piece of equipment a fighter carries has been worked upon by an Enchanter. Only a fool would venture into the Tempest without an aetheric shield, a symbolic compass and a self-drying towel – items only an Enchanter can provide. For a price.

It is uncommon, but some Enchanters practice their art even on the battlefield. There they augment their allies’ weapons, allow them to walk through walls, and are a force to be reckoned with themselves.

Appearance

Enchanters fall into two categories: practical, and fancy. The former wear aprons, carry tools and have little time for ostentatious ornamentation. The latter… well, see above.

Rules

The Enchanter gives your warband access to two very useful abilities: Armour-piercing attacks, and walking through walls. As such, they’re kind of a support/technical piece, but like most fighters they can make themselves useful in melee as well.

I won’t go into their attributes and their melee attack – they’re what you’re used to seeing at this point.

White-Hot Weapons, cast at the beginning of the Enchanter’s activation for a measly 1 Diamond, gives Armour-piercing attacks to all visible friendly fighters within a wide radius. This makes a huge difference! Suddenly Light Attacks become more damaging – able to damage even if the target Deflects (in most cases). Note that the Enchanter can make use of the spell’s effect themselves.

Phasewalk, for a Spade, allows its target to move through enemy fighters and obstacles, including when making a step move.

Conclusion

Enchanters are an easy-to-use force-multiplier for your warband. Good to have!

Thanks for reading along with this series of articles. I’m not sure what will be posted next as it’s time for me to knuckle down and get to work on some updates for the game. If you’re interested in following the development of those updates more closely, or even getting involved in testing them, please join our Discord server.

For now, at least. Many more fighter types are planned, and each shall get their own article when they arrive. ↩

Meet the Witch

2023-01-02T00:00:00+00:00

“All shall love me and despair! …Actually, why not just despair?”

In this week’s Meet the Fighters article, we meet the charming Witch.

Background

Off the battlefield, Witches often take up the role of herbalists, healers and spiritual guides. Most people’s first encounter with a Witch is in a domestic or pastoral setting – the kind old lady or quiet, strong-willed young person who prescribes potions, cures sheep, or reads fortunes. Most people also severely underestimate the combat ability Witches can demonstrate when practicing the exact same skillset.

On the battlefield, few foes are more terrifying than a experienced Witch. Such a fighter can dominate any encounter, turning their enemies against each other, forcing bad luck upon them, and finishing them off with deadly poison.

Witches are feared and respected among the hosts of adventurers who venture into the Tempest. To have one on your side is a great boon. To go up against one is a curse.

Appearance

Witches present themselves in all manner of ways, from the hideous hag to the enrapturing mage-queen. Some Witches have even been known to change appearance regularly.

They often bear symbols associated with luck (such as horseshoes), hypnosis (such as spirals) and natural cycles (such as).

Despite all the feminine stereotypes, a Witch can be any gender.

Rules

The Witch has a normal core profile for a 2-Slot fighter, with Toughness 6 and Movement 5. Along with Armour 1, Deflect 2 and Dodge 4, they can survive combat well enough.

Their melee attack, Poison Tip has ordinary attributes but a special rule:

If this attack deals any damage, the target fighter is poisoned. A poisoned fighter takes one point of damage at the end of every action phase. They are no longer poisoned if they are healed.

The Witch is incentivised to go around hitting as many different enemies as possible, spreading poison around the opposing warband. 1 extra damage per round may not seem like much, but it adds up and eventually needs to be dealt with. If nothing else, Poison Tip gives the other player something extra to worry about if they want to get close to the Witch.

They have a spell, Hex, that can be cast at the end of their activation:

Choose a visible fighter. Until the end of the action phase, the target number for attacks made by that fighter cannot exceed 5, and they must re-roll all hits they score.

Costing only 1 Club, this is a great way to protect the Witch and their allies from counterattacks.

The Witch’s most powerful ability is Charm, requiring an action to use and appropriately costed at 1 Heart, 1 Spade and 1 Club (you might want to bring an Acolyte or two for this one):

Choose a visible enemy fighter. Secretly note down your choice. The next time that fighter is activated, interrupt and reveal that they were charmed. You control the charmed fighter for the duration of their activation. The charmed fighter may cast spells during that activation, but you must use your magic cards to do so.

Oh, you wanted to charge my fighter with your Warrior? That’s too bad. He’s going to charge your fighter, instead. :smiling_imp:

Tip: Charm persists across rounds.

Conclusion

The Witch is best summed up as a “control” fighter, whose abilities allow you to keep your opponent on the back foot and, most importantly, play horrible mind games.

Only one fighter type left to cover for next week’s article: the Enchanter!

Oh, and Happy New Year! :heart:

Meet the Acolyte

2022-12-26T00:00:00+00:00

“Devotion, above all else.”

Who are the mysterious figures walking in the shadows of great magi?

Background

Channelling magic from the winds is not easy, nor is it without risk. It takes its toll on the body and mind of the channeller. If handled carelessly, it can kill – or worse.

Sharing the magical load, then, can be wise. Magi can work as a group to channel and spread the danger across themselves, dividing it (but never eliminating it).

Enter the Acolytes. Apprentices, followers and cultists, they devote themselves to channelling magic for the benefit of others, allowing their allies to cast greater spells, or more of them.

Appearance

Acolytes generally want to blend into the background, taking care not to draw the enemy’s attention away from their more lavishly-dressed superiors. As such they tend to wear simple garb such as hooded, plainly-coloured cloaks and, sometimes, masks.

That is not to say that an Acolyte can’t dress bombastically – some very much do. After all, how can a dazzlingly-befitted mage make a strong impression if their followers are wearing nothing but grey cloth?

Rules

Acolyte Fighter Profile

Each Acolyte included in your warband (up to the limit of 2) increases your hand limit (the number of cards you may use to cast spells with) by 1. In battle being able to draw up to 7 cards makes for quite a strong advantage, enabling your difficult-to-cast spells and making it easier to deny your opponent’s.

Unfortunately, the price you pay for this advantage is that Acolytes are very weak and easily killed. At least they’re able to engage at a distance, projecting a little damage with their Spark spell attack.

Conclusion

Acolytes may not be able to put up much of a fight, but they serve a vital purpose in any magic-wielding warband, aiding their superiors in the channelling of magic.

Next week, we enter the final straight of the current Meet the Fighters run. It’s time to introduce the enrapturing Witch.

Meet the Militia

2022-12-19T00:00:00+00:00

“I don’t get paid enough for this…”

In this week’s Meet the Fighters article, we get down and dirty with the riff-raff: the humble Militia.

Background

Militia. These are the recruits, soldiers, thugs, hirelings and sidekicks who bulk out warbands venturing into Tempestia.

Usually under-experienced, under-equipped and under-appreciated, such fighters are often viewed by others as little more than human shields to be placed between the enemy and more important things.

They view themselves as underdogs, resented-but-necessary bodies, or down-on-their-luck lackeys on their way to better careers.

However you look at it, the life of a Militia is a hard one.

Appearance

Militia keep things simple and efficient, usually lacking the funding or social standing required to equip expensive or outlandish gear. They wear light-to-medium armour and may wield all manner of basic weaponry: swords, maces, spears, you name it.

Often enough, Militia end up being the pack mules of the group, so it is not uncommon for them to be laden down with baggage, bedding, accessories, pots and pans, and so on.

Rules

Link to Militia fighter profile.

All the fighters covered so far in this series have been 2-Slot fighters. Militia, due to being a bit less fearsome and a little more squishy, only take up 1 Slot in a warband. In addition, they have a Limit value of 2, meaning you can take 2 of them. In short, the advantage Militia give you is a numerical one.

Magewinds is a game with a tight activation economy built into it. It’s often a good idea to be able to move and attack with your strongest fighters as late in the round as possible. Having more fighters than your opponent allows you to play for time, because you have more activations to play through.

For example, your Militia can advance early, get in the way, and draw attacks from enemies. Meanwhile your Warrior hangs back, ready to charge when the enemy fighters are out of actions, and vulnerable.

In scenarios with objectives that must be captured, Militia give you the advantage in numbers needed to win out. In scenarios with carriable objects such as treasure, Militia make good caddies – or caddy-protectors.

Conclusion

We all need grunts.

Next week, we take a look at the Militia’s magical counterpart.

Meet the Deadeye

2022-12-12T00:00:00+00:00

“Which one should I shoot first?”

This week (after a slight delay – sorry!) we set our sights on the sniper hidden in the trees: the murderous Deadeye.

Background

Traditional marksmanship is certainly not what it used to be. These days, it is almost considered a low art in comparison to the ways of Wizards and other masters of destructive magic.

Yet it is not so: in truth there has never been a better time to be a crack shot with a long-range weapon. Such a sharpshooter is usually referred to as a “Deadeye”.

Wherever there is a fireball-spewing Wizard, a Deadeye can put an end to their mayhem. Wherever there is a rampaging Warrior, a Deadeye can snipe them before they even charge.

And always from a safe distance, with very little mess, for a quite affordable fee.

Tales of duelling snipers are the stuff of romantic legend on the borders of Tempestia. Who are these mysterious far-seeing killers? What led them into conflict with each other? And which of them will emerge victorious?

Appearance

Anything is a deadly projectile if you can fling it fast and accurate enough. As such, there are few assumptions one can make about the armament of a Deadeye. From the most arcane, inscrutable hand-cannon imaginable, to the humble slingshot, no ranged weapon should be underestimated when placed in the hands of such a sharpshooter. What may seem like the least-threatening shortbow in the world can, with the right attunement and a skilled marksman’s aim, take an unwary foe’s head clean off.

Some Deadeyes do not need a typical projectile weapon at all. Such magi are able to use channelling devices like staves, wands and magic amplifiers to hurl objects at unstoppable speeds exactly where they need to go.

Deadeyes tend to be lightly armoured, in both physical and thaumaturgical terms, so as to have some protection from retaliation, but not so much as to impede their ability to rush to a vantage point or, more importantly, run away.

Rules

The Deadeye is a simple fighter type with no magical abilities and one straightforward job: hang back and eliminate the enemy, from far enough away that they can’t do anything about it.

At Toughness 5, they are a little bit easier to kill than most 2-Slot fighters. However, they have a few good options for dealing with enemies before (and indeed after) they enter threat range.

First of all, they have the Quick Shot missile attack:

Range	Power	Precision
2 - 9	4	4

This ain’t much to write home about, but sometimes it gets the goods. The Deadeye shines when they take the time to Take Aim:

Place a marker on a visible point within 10”. In this fighter’s next activation, they may make an Aimed Shot attack on a fighter within 2” of the marker. Remove the marker at the end of that activation.

Aimed Shot has a longer range (+3) than the Quick Shot attack, and is more powerful (+2) and more precise (+1). The aim marker can also be used to frighten enemies out of entering an area. And it persists into the next round!

Finally, when things get tough and the enemy closes the distance, the Deadeye has a perfectly serviceable melee attack.

Conclusion

The Deadeye is a good inclusion in most warbands. It can sometimes be tricky to get them into position, but when they arrive they become a threat that has to be dealt with.

Next time on Meet the Fighters we’ll go back to basics and meet the humblest figher of all: the Militia.

Meet the Guardian

2022-11-28T00:00:00+00:00

“Danger up ahead. You might want to get behind me…”

Grab your shield, your helmet, and your heaviest armour: it’s time to learn about the stalwart Guardian.

Background

With threats around every corner, you’re always going to want someone tough in front of you when venturing into the Tempest, and that is exactly what a Guardian provides. Adorned with heavy armour, a glowing shield and the confident swagger only a peerless defender can have, a Guardian strides forward into danger without hesitation.

Appearance

For Guardians, armour will never go out of fashion – but it will always be in a state of evolution as it adapts to the ever-changing nature of warfare on the Continent. Heavy metals come and go in response to sharp, slashing weapons. Flame-proofing enchantments rise and fall in popularity along with the fire-based attacks they protect against. And so on.

The point is, the way “heavy” armour looks can be very different from one fighter to the next.

Guardians take up all manner of melee weapons, but often prefer spears and staves.

Guardians almost unanimously equip shields. In fact, a Guardian’s shield is usually their most prized possession. With it, they channel magic as well as protect themselves and their allies from harm.

Rules

The Guardian is tough. Real tough. At Toughness 7 with Armour 2, they can laugh off most attacks without even needing to use their Deflect bonus of 2 – which brings them up to a rock-solid Armour 4!

They pay for this toughness in mobility, however. Movement 4 won’t get them anywhere in a hurry, and Dodge 2 won’t help against any but the most innaccurate attacks.

Getting your Guardian into the right position is important for making good use of their abilities: Defend and Ward.

Defend is pretty simple – you just have to understand how lines of attack (18.1) work.

This fighter’s base is treated as being 2” wide for the purposes of determining lines of attack on friendly fighters.

This means that the Guardian is effectively twice as wide as other fighters, letting them get in the way of attacks on their allies easily. Said allies, meanwhile, can shoot past their Guardian friend with impunity.

Ward: Planting their shield in the ground and channelling forth the Wind of Death, the Guardian provides a bubble of protection to their allies – for as long as they remain still.

Until this fighter’s next Action, visible other friendly fighters within 2” are treated as being in cover (Core Rules, 18.2) when attacked.

Conclusion

The Guardian is an invaluable tool in any scenario that requires defending a position or object, or is just a great way to generally improve your warband’s survival chances!

Next week, we have a particularly keen-eyed fighter in our sights…

Meet the Cleric

2022-11-21T00:00:00+00:00

“Just a moment and you’ll be all better – hold still, please!”

This week, helping is healing, as we turn our attention to the Cleric.

Background

In the world of Magewinds, the term “Cleric” is not a mark of religion but of skill. To be a Cleric is to be well versed in the craft of healing by magical means – that is, the guiding of the Wind of Life to where it is most needed, to staunch bleeding, knit together wounds and mend broken bones, far faster than nature can do on its own.

There are no religions or deities of any sort that we would recognise on the Continent. Faith – in so far as it even exists – is not focused upon the abstract or immaterial, but instead upon the definitively real.

This is all to say: throw away any preconceived notions acquired from other settings (including the real world) about what a “Cleric” should be. In Magewinds, a Cleric is a healer.

In Tempestia, Clerics find themselves in high demand. It is rare to see a warband venturing into the Tempest without one, for their hasty healing powers quite often mean the difference between life and death.

Appearance

Many Clerics wear white robes and other symbols of purity, but just because one is a healer does not mean one must dress like a nurse. Other Clerics adorn themselves in the symbols of life: red fabrics, heart-shaped jewellery, or glimmering blue teardrop diamonds.

Clerics can be sinister in appearance, too. After all, the very Wind of Life that helps living things grow and heal can also bring about their demise.

Clerics generally prefer blunt weapons and practical, lightweight armour.

Here’s a dark elf priestess by Reaper Miniatures that I painted recently, I think she’ll make an excellent, if rather edgy, Cleric :grin:

Rules

Rules-wise, the main event on the Cleric’s fighter profile is the Heal spell:

Cast this spell at the end of this fighter’s activation. Target a visible fighter within 5”. They heal one point of damage per Heart spent.

After every one of their activations, they have the opportunity to quickly dish out some healing. If the winds are favourable, then over the course of the game this can amount to a huge amount of damage removal, turning the fight against the Cleric’s warband an uphill battle. As such taking out the Cleric becomes a top priority!

The Revive spell is a bit more situational, allowing the Cleric to bring a key fighter back from the dead:

Choose a friendly fighter that has been taken out of action. Deploy them within 1” of this fighter. Give them damage equal to their Toughness, minus 1. If they were taken out of action in the current action phase, give them a double action counter. Otherwise, give them a single action counter.

Revive is hard to use correctly, but in certain situations can be a game-winning move.

The Cleric is an average melee combatant with access to a special non-lethal missile attack spell called Push:

Range	Power	Precision
5	6	5

This attack does not deal damage. Instead, after any knockback, move the target directly away from this fighter by 1” per point of damage that would have been dealt.

This is quite a technical ability that can be used in ways other than just to keep enemies away. It can be used to move friendly fighters into combat, or even push treasure.

Conclusion

The Cleric shapes the battle around them with their healing prowess. Allies love them, enemies hate them, and I rate them.

This week, we found out how to mitigate harm. Next week, we find out how to prevent it entirely…

Meet the Warrior

2022-11-14T00:00:00+00:00

“Into the fray!”

In this week’s Meet the Fighters article, we discuss the fearsome Warrior!

Background

The Tempest has many horrors to offer those who dare venture into it. In spite of all of them, one of the scariest things to be found therein is still, quite simply, someone rushing at you with a very big sword.

Some things never change.

In an age of high magic, to specialise in the low arts of slashing, smashing and bashing is quite a remarkable path. Warriors are generally regarded with a mix of skepticism, distrust and outright fear by their more magically-inclined peers. What madness would drive a person to hurl themselves headlong into combat?

Those who make friends with a Warrior know better, at least. It is not madness or stupidity that drives the martially inclined into battle¹ with the likes of Wizards and Witches, but bravery.

A Warrior is no brute who forswears the magical crafts altogether - they are just as much of a magi as anyone else is these days.

As such, a Warrior makes for a very good ally indeed.

Appearance

I somehow forgot to add an appearance section to last week’s article so have added it in post - why not go back and check it out?

Warriors are as diverse in their appearances as all the cultures of the Continent, wielding all manner of weapons from hefty hammers to slick swords, as likely to be adorned in armour of enchanted silk as in plate mail.

When choosing a model for your Warrior, there really aren’t many limitations beyond “Do they look like they mean up-close-and-personal business?”

Rules

At Toughness 7, Warriors are a little tougher than your ordinary fighter, but only by one point. They can hit a little harder in melee, too, when making a Heavy Attack.

What makes Warriors stand out from the pack is their unique Charge ability:

When this fighter finishes a Move Action which they started 1” or more away from any enemy fighters, this fighter may immediately make a free melee Attack Action. In that Attack Action, they may not make a step move and must choose the Heavy Attack profile.

In Magewinds, you normally have to wait a turn before attacking the enemy you just rushed up to, but the Warrior gets to do so immediately. Not only that: they get to do it for free!

There is one major drawback: it has to be a Heavy Attack, making it easy to Dodge. This means you might want to wait until your target is out of actions before charging in. Or, less deviously, Charge can be a good way to force a Reaction out of a target early in the round - because they’re definitely going to want to avoid a Power 7 attack - and put your opponent on the back foot.

Tip: Combine Charge with the Haste universal spell to give the Warrior a truly terrifying 9” threat range.

Conclusion

Simple, reliable and impossible to avoid dealing with, the Warrior is a fighter I expect to see in a lot of warbands².

Not in all cases, anyway. ↩
Possibly too many warbands? We’ll have to wait and see. ↩

Meet the Wizard

2022-11-07T00:00:00+00:00

“I hold the storm itself in the palm of my hand. Are you sure you want to get in my way?”

Welcome to the first in a series of articles called Meet the Fighters, in which we, well, meet the fighters. In this installment, we learn the ways of the Wizard!

Background

In Tempestia, “Wizard” is a catch-all term for magi who specialise in one simple area of expertise: destruction.

Off the battlefield, they may be scholars of eclectic things – arcane or mundane, dangerous or peaceful – but on it, they are single-minded in their focus on devastation. They channel the wind of light into deadly beams of superheated air, blistering blasts of fire, and blinding bolts of electricity, dazzling, burning and obliterating their foes.

A well-trained Wizard is the sort of thing anyone venturing into the Tempest should want to have on their side – and very much not want to have on the enemy’s side – so they are always in high demand.

Appearance

Wizardry is practiced all across the Continent and has no one way of looking. Some cast fireballs, while others throw frost. Some dress drably, while others dazzle in cloaks of shimmering silver. Some strike their enemies with crystal-tipped staves, while others wade into combat with dual-wielded battleaxes. Some are women, some are men, and many more are neither.

Simply put, a Wizard in the world of Magewinds need not conform to the fantasy stereotype of an old man with a beard, robe and pointy hat. They can look precisely how they mean to!

The harmful nature of the energies channelled by Wizards make protective gear particularly relevant. It is not uncommon to see a Wizard sporting magic-amplifying flame-proof gauntlets, or adorned with electricity-conducting pylons.

Whatever model you choose to represent your Wizard, make sure they look dangerous.

Rules

In game, Wizards have the standard set of attributes befitting an elite fighter:

Toughness	Movement
6	5

Armour	Deflect	Evasion	Dodge
1	2	0	4

With Toughness 6 and Armour 1¹, they are able to tank a few hits before being taken out of action, and with Deflect 2 and Dodge 4, incoming attacks can be negated entirely – if the right defence choices are made, that is. Meanwhile, Movement 5 means the Wizard is able to get across the battlefield (and into range of juicy targets) without difficulty.

Wizards also have access to a perfectly ordinary² melee attack:

Range	Light Attack	Heavy Attack
1 - 9	Power: 3, Precision: 9	Power: 6, Precision: 4

The Light Attack is nearly impossible to Dodge, but easy to Deflect, while the Heavy Attack is hard to Deflect but easy to Dodge. Balanced!

The Wizard’s special abilities come in the form of two missile spell attacks - Zap and Blast.

Zap is like bringing a gun to a butterknife-fight. Unless your target gets out of the way, they are toast:

Range	Power	Precision
1 - 9	7	4

It does, however, require a Diamond and a Spade to cast, so you’re not always going to be able to get it off!

Blast, meanwhile, is like bringing a flamethrower to a butterknife-fight:

Range	Power	Precision
5	4	4

After making this attack, make it again against all fighters within 1” of the original target. Resolve the additional attacks in the order of your choosing.

If your opponent bunches up their fighters (and you’re able to channel 2 Diamonds), this is the perfect way to punish them for their poor decision by dishing out damage to multiple targets at once³.

Conclusion

And there we have it! In summary, the Wizard is a perfectly capable melee combatant who doubles as short-range artillery – provided you can meet their expensive spell costs.

Don’t worry if your chosen Wizard model doesn’t look particularly well-armoured - not all protection is obvious to the naked eye. In Magewinds, armour can just as easily take the form of a well-enchanted cloth cape as it can a suit of plate mail. ↩
You’ll be seeing a lot of this attack profile as it’s shared by a number of fighter profiles. ↩
Blast is one of the abilities that went through the most iteration during playtesting. It started off working a bit like a grenade, with a delayed explosion, but eventually I streamlined it down to this. I think it might still raise a few confusing rules questions so I’m interested to see how people play with it in the real world - please get in touch if you have questions or comments about it! ↩

Roadmap

2022-10-22T00:00:00+00:00

What’s next for Magewinds?

Magewinds is not “finished” and nor will it ever be! While the game feels complete in its current form, there are always going to be improvements to make. This article is about my ambitions for the next six months or so.

Visual Design

In the immediate term, James is working on the number one thing that is missing from Magewinds at present - visual flair! I’m talking logos, icons, font choices, page layouts - things that seem like wizardry to me, but which James is very good at. I mean, look at this:

A non-final title logo that blew my socks off. I still cannot find my socks. :scream:

All the work he’s doing currently is going into PDF-format rules. While the web rules have turned out rather nicely (if I do say so myself), PDFs have some advantages over the web format, mainly being easier to download and print. They are going to look fully sick!

In the background of that, I’ll be adding some more illustrations, including diagrams, to the rules, and incorporating some of what James cooks up into the website.

Game Design

There’s still a lot I still wanna do with Magewinds. It’s a very flexible game system with a lot of possibility space to explore as a designer, so over the coming year (and, hopefully, beyond!) you can expect to see a number of updates which will expand on what experiences the game can offer its players.

New Fighters

In no particular order, I’m hoping to add the following new fighter profiles to the Fighters of the Tempest pack:

Alchemist :tropical_drink:
Animal :dog:
Assassin :knife:
Druid :evergreen_tree:
Duellist :crossed_swords:
Mesmer :performing_arts:
Minion :imp:
Ranger :bow_and_arrow:
Seer :eye:
Thief :gem:
Warlock :skull:

Each of these will greatly expand the variety of warbands that players can assemble. I’m very excited about them all! :grin:

Most of these won’t make it in in the next six months, I reckon, as there’s a lot of prototyping and playtesting to do for each of them.

New Scenarios

Also in the pipe are more scenarios for the Into the Tempest pack. It’s always nice to have more scenarios to choose from when setting up a battle, and there’s lots of potential for weird and wonderful missions to challenge players with.

New Ways to Play

These additions will provide optional ways to expand Magewinds. I have the following vague ideas planned:

Rules for a campaign/progression system. This will sit on top of the Fighters of the Tempest pack and add ways to level up your fighters after they take part in battles.
Rules for larger battlefields.
Rules for verticality i.e. climbing up stuff and standing on top of things.
Rules for larger fighters and, more generally, having a bit more control over a fighter’s attributes by giving them special traits.
Rules for playing on a grid, be it square- or hex-based.

Expect maybe one of the above within the next six months, as I’ll be focusing on the new fighters and scenarios and other work.

Playtesting

If you’re interested in helping playtest any of the things above please join the Discord server and ask there to join the playtesting group. I always need more brave testers!

Patches

Of course, there will also be patches for the rules that already exist. As more people play the game and discover things that are unclear - or even broken - that could do with a bit of clarification or a rewrite. So expect the odd patch or two, at occasional intervals - I’ll post about such updates here and make a big noise about it whenever there is one so nobody misses it.

As ever, if you have questions about the game or any feedback, please get in touch with me on Twitter or via Discord (you can find me on the official Magewinds server or directly message me at rachel#8465)¹. :point_right:

Tabletop Simulator

During development I created a Tabletop Simulator mod (if that’s the correct term?) to make remote playtesting easy. It’s very rough, so not something I’d generally release, but I’m sure with a few licks of paint and a bit of attention it can be made available to all on the Steam Workshop. Watch this space!

Blog

I’m beginning to write a “Meet the Fighters” series on this blog with one entry for each of the profiles in Fighters of the Tempest. This should be a good way to provide some background, flavour and player guidance to the roster, which at present it is sorely lacking. We can also explore the setting of Magewinds a little while we’re at it.

As mentioned above, there will also be posts about updates.

Did you know there’s an RSS feed?

Conclusions

Oh no! There is so much work to do! :sweat_smile: I’d better get to it…

May the Tempest be kind!

I really should get around to setting up an email address, too. ↩

Welcome

2022-10-12T00:00:00+00:00

Welcome to Tempestia.

It is said that Tempestia is where the source of all magic was located, safe in the heartlands of the Ancient Empire.

When the source was shattered, the storm of magic that broke out and ravaged the Continent was most violent here. Indeed, this is one of the few places that the Tempest rages still.

An uncertain length of time has passed since the Empire fell. Now the region attracts to it all manner of adventurers, willing to brave the ongoing storm for riches, glory or ideology…

Magewinds is about those people.

–

Magewinds is a small-scale miniature-agnostic skirmish wargame in which you will lead a warband of fighters into the perilous Tempest, there to do battle with enemy warbands with unique magic and combat systems.

Will you master the Winds of Magic and lead your fighters to victory? Or will they join the countless ranks of those who have been lost in the storm?

If this sounds like your kind of thing, grab your miniatures, dice and measuring tools and head over to the rules section of this very website! There you will find everything you need to embark on your journeys across Tempestia and beyond.

May the Winds be ever in your favour!