PHASE 1:

Deal each player 4 face down Fate cards
You may keep exactly 1 Land Trophy face up in front of you, discarding the rest
You may keep all Action cards
You must discard any Ares cards in exchange for 2 face down Warrior cards
You may discard any Fate cards in exchange for 2 face down Warrior cards

PHASE 2:

If either player has a face-up Land Trophy:

For every victory point on the face-up Land Trophy card, your opponent draws 1 Fate card
If you have more than 4 Action cards, select and discard excess
If you haven't already, you may keep exactly 1 Land Trophy face up in front of you, discarding the rest
You must discard any Ares cards in exchange for 1 face down Warrior card
You may discard any Fate cards in exchange for 1 face down Warrior card
If you kept a Land Trophy card in PHASE 2, repeat PHASE 2 for your opponent

PHASE 3:

Once finished, combine the discarded Fate cards with the Fate card draw pile and reshuffle
Deal each player 4 face down Warrior cards
If you have more than 4 Warrior cards, you may select any 4 as your starting hand
Excess Warrior cards form your initial reserve pile
Continue with the rest of the game as usual

As the number of Battlefields of Olympus owners grow, I thought it would be a good idea to get some feedback. I've created a couple of polls on BoardGameGeek. This is your chance to tell us how we can do things better.

Check it out here: http://www.boardgamegeek.com/thread/360371

More on the Campaign card: You can keep more than one face-up Campaign card in front of you, but you can only ever discard one at the end of battle (assuming you do not draw a Campaign card.) At the end of the game, all victory points from unfulfilled Campaign cards are subtracted from your total. Campaign objectives include: Most Woodland for 5 points, highest valued land for 3 points, most red symbols for 3 points, and most number of land cards for 5 points. Campaign cards reside in their own deck.

We are also investigating a new card type: Build Actions. For example, Roads, Towers and Barracks can be applied to land to increase the victory point value of the card. Each type will have a number of different values depending on the land they modify. These cards would be found in the standard Fate deck.

It should be noted that the addition victory points from either the Campaign cards or the Build Actions are applied at the end of the game and are not counted towards the 16 needed for the game end condition.

The expansion will also include a new set of Warrior illustrations and the card distribution will be slightly different from the base set of Warrior cards. Now each player will have their own set of Warrior cards to battle with.

Tomorrow, is the big day. After a year and a half of development, Battlefields of Olympus should finally be on a number of store shelves. As the weeks progress, we hope that number will grow. More news to come.

Battlefields of Olympus should be circling the globe as of tomorrow. We have orders coming in from as far away as Taiwan! A note to distributors and retailers, a carton contains 12 games. We can certainly take orders of any size, but multiples of 12 is easier. Please send inquiries to: contact@smartassgames.com

Now that our first game is shipping, we can spend a little more time developing games again. We are currently looking at or negotiating contracts for game designs by published authors. Two in particular have caught our attention. They are both very cool games. I hope to have more news on that when the time is right.

Also, we are still working out the design for a Battlefields of Olympus expansion. This will include rules for 4 players in a 2 versus 2 game. We are testing out new action cards like Conceal, Reinforce and the Oracle, and new Land Trophy cards like the Barracks and Harbor. Stay tuned.

Running a little behind schedule, Battlefields of Olympus is now ready to be shipped. We've set an official North American release date of November 12th.

We have been given great news today. Our manufacturer informed us this morning that our game will be ready this Friday. I will have more information soon.

We just returned from a whirlwind tour of Spiel'08. The people of Germany are so nice and we had a great time meeting everyone at the convention. Our fans are awesome! For those of you who couldn't find us during this event, CosimShip might have a copy or two available for purchase in Germany.

I would like to note that during the convention, a number of copies of Battlefields of Olympus went to special non-profit organizations and clubs. For example, our game will eventually end up in the Austrian Games Museum. I did not know such a thing existed until now. How cool is that! We were very happy to help out where possible.

As for comments, some have started to trickle in. If you can read Dutch, there is a short write-up on us and our game here: http://www.bloggen.be/speleninlille/archief.php?startaantal=10

As for our impending North American release, I will be on the phone with our manufacturer first thing tomorrow morning (pacific standard time) to find out what is happening with the balance of our shipment.

Well, we are packing our bags for the 10 hour flight to Frankfurt tomorrow. I already have my copy of Battlefields of Olympus cracked open so that I can play on the airplane with my wife. As for Spiel, I am really looking forward to meeting everyone. I am also excited to see all the wonderful new games. In order to make room for all of the purchases I plan to make, I expect to have empty space in my luggage where Battlefields of Olympus once occupied.

Before I sign off, I would like to thank everyone that has supported us and has given us words of encouragement throughout this process. It has been extremely helpful.

If anyone would like to try out our game before buying, Battlefields of Olympus will be available to play for free through Spielezentrum and its "Spieliothek" in hall 5 at booth 35.

Our first small shipment of games has arrived today. Have a look in the Gallery section for more images. We are now ready for Essen next week.

We have been told by the manufacturer that we will have a limited number of games ready in time for Essen. A number of these copies have already been reserved, but we should have a small number of unclaimed ones on hand at the convention as well. The bulk of the shipment will be ready October 20th.

We finally got the latest revised proofs from the printer. Now we should be ready to push the button. Also, the optional rules have undergone a last minute revision and clean up. Both Grégory and E.Q. have been helping with the French translation. I can't thank them enough for their tireless support. Grégory has inspired the latest look of the new optional rule sheet.

Well, the printer ran into a color matching issue. This means, we expect to see another round of proofs for us to sign off on in a day or two. On the upside, we are trying to get the new optional rules added to the game box. If you want to check them out, you can find them here: Optional Rules (2.0mb PDF) Règles Optionnelles (2.0mb PDF)

We just got word from the printer today. Battlefields of Olympus should be ready in about 10 days!

I know there are a number of you anxiously waiting to hear that the game is available. Unfortunately we haven't heard anything from the printer yet. Hopefully we will have something to report on that soon.

Also, we would like to announce that Grégory Guazzelli (a.k.a. "Soft-bug") has incorporated the two new optional rules, FORTIFY and SACRIFICE, into the Battlefields of Olympus VASSAL game module. More information from Grégory can be found here on BoardGameGeek.

As for Spiel'08 in Essen come October, we have booked our tickets and secured a hotel room. I've started making appointments. If you would like to speak with me in person, please let me know and we can make arrangements. We will be there from the 22nd to the 27th.

And last but not least, I've started the ball rolling on the next installment of Battlefields of Olympus. We are in the planning stages but I've already got a number of new ideas to test out. We are also in the recruiting phase. I've asked another designer to work with me and have started looking at artist portfolios. If you are an artist or a designer and would like to make contributions to this expansion or other projects we have in the pipe, please drop us a line.

The proofs were signed off and returned to the printer yesterday. Except for a few minor color issues and a rule sheet alignment issue everything was perfect. That should be the final step before we have a final product!

On another note, here is a sneak peek at two new rules that may end up in an expansion. They are in the prototype stage. Since the rules do not require any new cards, they can easily work with the base game. The two rules are "Fortify" and "Sacrifice". Each is a single action that can be performed during a normal turn. Meaning, instead of your normal turn action, you may perform ONE of these new actions.

1) Fortify
Allows you to place a single face-up Warrior card on a won Land Trophy that does not have a Warrior on it already. You can place as many Warriors as you have in hand on different Land Trophies. This is an Action you choose instead of the regular turn Actions. Only one Warrior can be on any Land Trophy.

If your opponent wishes to battle for a won Land Trophy with a face-up Warrior card on it, he must BEAT the fortified warrior before the battle continues with Warrior cards from hand. A tie is not enough. The defending player may play Action cards to change the win condition on this card. After the battle ends, if the fortified Warrior was beaten, it is discarded.

The fortified Warrior can be swapped with a Warrior from hand, moved to hand, or moved to a different Land Trophy as a normal turn Action. But not during battle!

2) Sacrifice
Allows you to battle your opponent for one of his won Land Trophy cards. Select one of your own won Land Trophy cards to use in the sacrifice. If the battle ends in victory, take your opponent's Land Trophy card. At the end of battle, discard your sacrificed Land Trophy to the bottom of the Land pile.

NOTE: Any fortified Warrior on a land card used in a Sacrifice returns to hand. If you have more than 4 Warrior cards, the excess goes onto your reserve pile as usual.

Thought Hammer has started taking pre-orders of Battlefields of Olympus. Check them out!

I just returned from GenCon Yesterday. I had a blast trying out all sorts of games and showing off Battlefields of Olympus to gamers at the convention. Next year, we need to get a booth! I will have more information on the convention experience in the coming days.

On another note, we just got the first proofs of the game back from the printer. They look excellent! This is the first time I've seen the rules printed out professionally. Wow! We should have some pictures on our site shortly.

As you may have noticed, we have started to pick up steam on the distribution and retail end of things. This should only continue to grow as we approach release. Remember, if you want to see our game in your local store, please let them know about us. Thank you for your support.

And finally, I've been playtesting two new rules that can be played with the Battlefields of Olympus starter deck, but will be officially included as part of an expansion at a later date. The rules are called: FORTIFY and SACRIFICE. They still need further testing, but the rules look really promising.

We haven't heard anything back about the solution to the rule format issue, so we can only assume everything is okay on the manufacturer's end. According to their turn around time, it will take 4 to 6 weeks to complete.

On another note, I had another chance to show off the game to the patrons of Drexoll Games. I played a few rounds against Darcy, the owner of this fine establishment. He kicked my butt the first game, as usually happens when I have to explain the rules. ;) I came back with a win in our second round. It was great to have spectators excitedly pointing out the various circumstances that typically occur during a game. One note though, if you are adding atmosphere by describing the battle scene, it isn't a "hail of archers rain down on your cavalry". That creates some rather silly imagery.

If anyone is interested in seeing the prototype deck, I will be at GenCon Indy from August 13th to August 15th. Also, I should have some printed copies by the time I head out to Essen in October.

And finally, for those eager to become the first on your block to get your hands on the game, the fine people at Boards & Bits have started taking pre-orders. For customers outside of North America, they are offering Battlefields of Olympus at a price you can't pass up!

Check it out here: Boards & Bits Pre-order.

We are still busy working out the issues with our rule sheet format. Hopefully this will be fixed soon. As I write this, I am downloading Cory's rule artwork and I will be passing it on to the printer shortly.

Yesterday I had the opportunity to participate in game night at Drexoll Games, located in downtown Vancouver, British Columbia. My intention was to show off our game and maybe play a few others I've had my eye on. For some reason, my presentation and explanation skills were at an all time low, but still, everyone seemed to catch on to Battlefields of Olympus despite myself. The game was well received and I have been asked to bring it out to game night again. Many thanks to Darcy and Tamara for putting on this event every Friday evening between 7 and 11pm.

Everything has been sent to the printer as of today. We have just been informed that there are a few somewhat minor format issues with the rule sheet files that need to be sorted out. We hope to have this corrected as soon as possible.

More on VASSAL: We would like to thank Grégory (aka Soft-bug) for creating the Battlefields of Olympus game module. With his valuable support, many people around the world now have the opportunity to play the game over the internet.

Over the weekend I had the chance to observe a few games between two players over VASSAL. It was very exciting to see. They were both following all the rules! :) Also, we would like to thank DarkSouL for giving us such a stellar review on BoardGameGeek. I hope that there are more players out there with the wargame bug that are willing to give the VASSAL version a try. DarkSouL is looking for a reason to sharpen his sword. Maybe you are a worthy opponent? If you keep a lookout, you may find Soft-bug or I looking for a challenge on the battlefield as well!

Battlefields of Olympus is now officially available on VASSAL for free! Simply download the VASSAL Game Engine, download the Battlefields of Olympus Game Module and Tutorial, and run the VASSAL game engine. Choose the "Play Module" option and then select the Battlefields_Olympus.mod file you already downloaded.

Since this is our first product, we are asking a lot of questions and taking things slowly. I know there are many out there anxiously waiting for the game to be ready. Thank you for your patience; we are working hard to get things moving.

If you are interested in ordering the game directly from us, please send an email to contact@smartassgames.com. We will let you know when the game becomes available. If you want to see Battlefields of Olympus at your friendly local game store, please let them know about us and our game. Thank you for your support.

I believe Battlefields of Olympus is done and ready for print. Like a NASA launch, it is the absence of failures that ultimately dictates whether the countdown proceeds. So far, all systems are go.

For those of you familiar with VASSAL, a fan has gone ahead and built a Battlefields of Olympus game module (see image below). I've tried it out a few times and it seems to work great. It is still in beta and will be released as soon as the author feels it is ready.

VASSAL game module by softbug

On another note, we have gotten a lot of great advice from a couple of distributors recently. Most notably from Lion Rampant Imports and Alliance Game Distributors. We are using all of their valuable information as we move forward into the next phase of production. I can't thank them enough for their support.

French rule sheet revisions are complete. As long as there are no errors with this version, we should be done.

French Rules (3.8Mb PDF)

We are putting the final touches on the French translation after proofing over the past weekend. Hopefully within the week we will have everything sent off to the printer. Keep your fingers crossed.

The English rule sheet and quick reference guide PDF files have been updated. There are a few font mistakes here and there that Cory should have sorted out very soon. The French rule sheet is still being put together. It will be proofed before the week is out. After that we should be in good shape to go to the printers. I would like to give my personal thanks to E.Q. and Cory for all of their support through this tedious process. It has been a great learning experience for everyone.

We are still polishing up the rules a little bit more, and adding some battle examples to help clarify the battle mechanic. It's getting closer to being finished, but there is always room for improvement. On another note, we have been talking to a distributor about getting Battlefields of Olympus into the retail pipeline. I hope to have more information on that soon. We are also working out the final details about what will ultimately end up in the box with the manufacturer.

As for other projects in the works: I am slowly working out the details for an expansion to Battlefields of Olympus. Once the existing game has shipped, I will have more time to spend on it. Also, I've recently begun a fresh new project. It is being designed for players 8 and up, and will have some cooperative elements, but it will not be a cooperative game strictly speaking. Players take on character roles and have secret goals to achieve in an over the top, twisted world. It should be silly and is meant to be a family game that plays in under an hour.

Latest revision of the English rule sheet and quick reference guide are virtually done. Thanks Cory! As for the new rule I briefly mentioned last week, there are a number of issues that would need to be resolved and then explained in detail on the rule sheet. We felt strongly about not making the rules any more complicated than they need to be this time around, so it won't be going in. Maybe the sacrifice rule will find its way into an expansion. With the rules updated, we hope to have the playtesting wrapped up over the next few weeks. If all goes well, we should be just about ready for print. Keep your fingers crossed!

English Rules (3.8mb PDF)
English/French Quick Reference Guide (3.2mb PDF)

Nickie finished up the minor tweaks to the box back this evening (see image below). I think that's it for the box. As for the rule sheet, E.Q., our tireless volunteer French translator, has been helping us reorganize the rules. We might even have enough room to carry the diagrams on the French rule sheet now! Cory is busy updating the rule layout and we may have a new version of a PDF shortly. With the new layout, the blind playtesting phase will continue. On a final note, we are currently testing out a last minute gameplay idea. In a nut shell, it's a new rule that allows a player to sacrifice (discard) one of his land cards in favor of battling for a land card owned by his opponent. We will know in a few days whether the idea really has potential. My gut feeling says it does, but we need to be sure nothing quirky pops up. More on that later.

After receiving some helpful feedback, the rule sheet is undergoing more revisions. The latest version can be found here: Battlefields of Olympus Rules.

There are still a few minor tweaks that need to be done to the box back, but overall we are happy with the new look. Also, due to the initial feedback we are getting with the latest version of the rule sheet, we are taking a closer look at the way the information is presented. Being concise is important, but if no one reads those rules, they might as well be poorly written and vague. In order to make more room on the sheet for better organization we have decided to remove the 3 and 4 player rules. Those rules will remain available online, but they will not be shipped with the game.

Box cover and back with new title and barcode. Thanks Nickie!

Added a FAQ compiled from playtesters.

Lots of news to report. Firstly, our game now has a barcode.

Granted, a barcode is not the most interesting piece of news, but hey, it means we are one step closer to being finished right?

Also, you may have noticed the recent changes to the game title logo on our website. With the new title logo and our very own product barcode in hand, we should see the final box art over the coming days.

And lastly, the Battlefields of Olympus™ rules and quick reference guide are now available right here on our website. While they may still undergo some changes with the next playtesting wave, we feel they are close enough to being final to share them with you. You can find the PDF files under the rules preview link on our products page. For your convenience, they have been included here.

Rules in English (PDF) Règle en français (PDF)
Quick Reference Guide / Aide de jeu (PDF)

If you have any comments or suggestions with regard to the readability of the rules or guide, we can certainly use the constructive feedback.

Ryan he has been busy updating the artwork to reflect the new name (see the new card backs below). Also, Cory is hard at work changing the rule sheet and quick reference guide. The box art changes are soon to come.

Lawyers have given us the green light to use: Battlefields of Olympus™. Ryan Slemko (somewhere on the east coast) will be working on a revised title logo and we hope to have something soon. With our game name issues put behind us, we can now concentrate on finishing Battlefields of Olympus™. The final candidates of the English rule sheet and quick reference guide are done. Cory is still busy with the French version. Everything still needs to be proofed and put through another round of blind playtesting before we can safely say they are ready for the printers. Both the rule sheets and reference guide will be made available on our website once the new game title is completed.

Due to trademark issues, until further notice, we have chosen: Battlefields of Olympus™

Added a gameplay example for those interested in learning more of how OLYMPUS™ works. A link to it can be found on our Products page. On another note, the rule sheet and quick reference guide are nearly done. We are that much closer to going to print! We are also considering using: OLYMPUS: Battle for the Gods™ as the full title for our game. We are waiting to see if trademark lawyers will give us a green light to use this name.

We have decided to change our card game name to OLYMPUS™. We will be updating our site to reflect this in the coming weeks.

We decided to do another prototype run of the cards using Allegra Print and Imaging here in beautiful British Columbia, Canada. I just got my hands on them today. They look great! We will be doing more playtesting to solidify the final Warrior card distribution, and to confirm that the latest revisions actually improve readability for first time players. Keep an eye out for new photos on our website. Also, our volunteer translator "E.Q." has been very busy transcribing our website text to French. Our Products page now has a description of Battle for Olympus™ in French. Thanks E.Q.!

We just received a first draft of the rule sheet layout provided by Cory Lake. It looks pretty good, but it still needs an infusion of the latest game component art. Hopefully we will be able to upload the PDF version of the rules soon. On another note, we have enlisted the help of a fan to assist us with the translation of our website to French. More on that in the days to come.

Some webpage reorganization had to be done today. We had to make room for Battle for Olympus™ GAME RULES. Feedback is always welcome.

As promised, here are the latest Action card revisions and everything else!

Action Card

Ares Card

Land Trophy Card Examples

I've been told that I will be seeing the first pass of the rule sheet and quick reference guide layout tomorrow. Stay tuned!

The game rules have undergone another round of rule revision ping pong. I think we are approaching a final version. We've also simplified the Action card rule text so that it will fit nicely on the cards, and to help improve general readability. Here is a sneak peek.

Ambush!
Battle for the top Land Trophy card. Opponent plays first Warrior card, OR cancels Ambush.

Elite
Converts a tie between two Warrior cards into a win, OR cancels Elite. Defeats Skirmish.

Flank
Converts any losing or tying Warrior card into a win, OR cancels Flank. Defeats Elite and Skirmish.

Raid!
Battle for a single Land Trophy card possessed by opponent.

Rally
Discard Warrior cards from hand and draw the same number from the Warrior deck.

Scout
Opponent must reveal all Warrior cards in hand until discarded.

Skirmish
Exchange your top played Warrior card for another from hand.

Surround
Cancels opponent’s Surround. Defeats Flank, Elite, Skirmish and Ambush.

Cancel: some Action cards cancel other Action cards. Canceled cards are immediately removed from play, along with the card that cancelled it.

Defeat: some Action cards defeat other Action cards. Defeating a card means two things. First, it voids the effect of the card it is defeating. Second, it prevents your opponent from retaliating with any other Action cards that are defeated by your active card.

Our graphic designer is working madly on the remaining card revisions and some box art changes. Hopefully there will be something to show soon.

Nicole Maas finished up the Warrior card revisions today! If you will notice, Spearmen and Swordsmen are the weaker units, and Archers and Heavy Infantry are now the strongest. We've also toned down the smaller symbols on the left to help make the cards more readable.

Here is the final card back art...

An executive decision was made today to classify Battle for Olympus™ as a 2 player game with 3 and 4 player optional rules. The main reasoning behind this is that the game was originally designed with 2 players in mind and the 3 and 4 player version plays very differently.

On another note, I've just read through and edited a revised draft of the game rules provided by Tyler Sigman. We are slowly moving toward a final version of the text. We also have someone working out the layout and graphic design of the rule sheet and quick reference guide, both of which will be in full color. Stay tuned for more information on that.

And lastly, the Warrior card revision work should be in full swing this weekend, or so I'm lead to believe. We should see something soon.

Thanks to Ryan Slemko, we now have our final box art and near final card back artwork.

Like all military plans that don't survive first contact with the enemy, so goes the first draft of our game rules. After the latest wave of testing, we have discovered several ways to improve both the game mechanics and the way in which we convey the rules to players. We are gathering the results from our testers now and preparing to make the final draft of Battle for Olympus™. As soon as the rules are completed, we will post a version on our website.

More on the design changes:
In our earliest design, using home printed Avery business cards, the game involved military units with different strengths and distributions. It was abandoned for a technical issue and the units eventually ended up being uniform. After our April 2nd playtest session, a designer by the name of Tyler Sigman found the magic strength combination that avoided the earlier technical issue and brought life back to the old design. For very good reasons, the various military units (warriors) will have differing strengths and distributions in the warrior deck. This will add another level of strategy to the game without adding more complexity to the basic mechanics.

There will also be some visual changes to both the card backs and warrior faces. Many of our testers expressed some confusion with reading the symbols on the warrior faces. The graphic design is getting a facelift and we will hopefully have something to show soon.

On the business side, we are working toward getting CE approval and our very own universal product barcode.

Lots of great feedback from tonight's 2 and 4 player test. Here are some of the design suggestions from testers so far:

1. Make smaller warrior card symbols on the left below the main symbol made translucent/faded.
2. "WARRIOR" text on Warrior card backs.
3. "FATE" text on Fate card backs.
4. Non-uniform distribution of warrior card types.
Propose: 6 Cavalry, 8 Swordsmen, 10 Pikemen, 12 Archers, and 14 Heavy Infantry.
5. Possible removal of the "first player to 16 points wins" rule.
6. Include a secondary rule sheet with diagram of game card piles and order of play. Front in English and back in French.

Preparing for an important playtest session tomorrow evening. A chance for expert eyes to evaluate the mechanics of the game.

On another note, I thought it would be good to explain how the Warrior cards are used in battle:

Matching Warrior Card Symbols
When placed head to head, if one of two symbols at the top right corner of a Warrior card matches your opponent’s larger Warrior card symbol, the Warrior card with the matching symbol on the right is the winning card. Two identical Warrior cards is a tie.

In the example above, the Heavy Infantry wins against Archers because the Heavy Infantry card has a green arrow "fletching" symbol that matches the larger version of the same symbol found on the Archers card.

Game Overview added to Technical Description.

Successful preliminary testing of 3 and 4 player games. For clarity, Battle cards are now "Warrior" cards and Battle Actions are now simply "Actions".

Here is a glimpse of the new 3 and 4 player rules (in rough):

3 AND 4 PLAYER GAME RULES
a.        Each player starts with 4 face down Warrior cards on their Warrior Card Reserve Pile.
b.        Player’s turns always proceed in a clockwise direction regardless of who wins battles.
c.        When a player declares BATTLE, the chosen opponent is the person to the left of the attacking player. If that opponent declines, the next person, in a clockwise direction, is chosen as an opponent. If a BATTLE is accepted by an opponent, it is played out as usual. If all players decline and there is no BATTLE, the attacker automatically receives the top most Land Trophy card but NOT a face down Warrior card. His turn ends.
d.        The player of the Ambush Action selects which player must play a Warrior card first. The affected player cannot decline the battle.
e.        The player of the Scout Action must declare which player must show his Warrior cards.
f.         When not participating in BATTLE, players may trade Action, Warrior and Land Trophy cards.

Also, in other news, here is a sneak peak at the box cover art:

Added a Technical Description of the game.

Added 3-4 player game rules for playtesting.

We are about to begin blind playtesting with a number of volunteers.

Smartass Games webpage goes live!

First draft of the Battle for Olympus™ cards are done.

Smartass Games is born.