Clash of Swords is not my first game.

My first game was called The Game and, though it had some of the elements of Clash of Swords, it was a much simpler approach. You'd set up 60 wooden blocks into a dungeon. An Encounter Token would go on each block and the miniatures would move around and hunt for the "Big Treasure". It was great fun for me and my friends when we were 12 years old but it wasn't Clash of Swords

Over the years, I used The Game as a model in developing more and more complex versions of what eventually became Clash of Swords. I am not finished with it. I suppose I never will be. But I have something now that is a complete game, playable, expandable, enjoyable.

Admittedly, the game is no longer the simple thing from which it was derived. Between the core rules and the 109 different skills, there's a whole lot to learn. But you don't need to learn it all at once. And there's a handy utility attached to this web site that will let you create and customize figures for play. Or you can just jump in with the Quick Mastery Figures provided in the rules.

Clash of Swords is infinitely expandable (and I'm working on expansions right now). It's the kind of game that only gets boring if you let it. Try it. You'll like it.

The best feature of Clash of Swords is that you get to customize your figures. That doesn't mean just weapons and armor and giving someone a magic spell. There are 81 different types of figures in the core game. Each figure has a certain number of skills it can learn and it's up to you to "train" the figure so that it will be proficient at the skills you think you'll need.

Figures are people, too. That means that, as they fight they get hurt. As they get hurt, they become less effective fighters. They lose their ability to move, defend, and perform skills as well. Injured figures are actually injured.

You don't have to choose which skills you want to give to your figures. They get them all. Unfortunately, they have to practice them in order to become good at them. Aside from the skills in which the figures are "trained", they start off at the minimum proficiency level. As they perform the skills, whether they succeed or fail, they become better at performing them.

When it's all added up, you have a pretty unique package that includes customization, control, and strategy. It's not about having an Ogre Barbarian. It's about having Monglor the scourge of the Ogre nation.