Knyghte, Pyke, And Sworde: A Semi-Professional Review

So! Ivan of Nordic Weasel Games offered up his game "Knyghte, Pyke, and Sworde" for review purposes. And while I was a little slow to get a game in, and even slower to post this after action review, I have finally managed to get it done. I played my first game of Knyghte, Pike, & Sword a couple of weeks ago. I think my play area might have been a little small for the game, I went with 24" by 24" but I think 36" by 36" will be better for the next game. It has some good systems to it, but I rather think it is better played head to head rather than solo. In this case, the Persians destroyed the Galatian melee guys to almost the last man, while a poorly-deployed unit of Galatian skirmishers turned out to be the game-winner in the last two turns. The "characters" are not super-powered. They are slightly better than the regular combatants. In the first part of the game, the Galatians got a LOT of good dice rolls, while the Persians rolled poorly a few times when it really mattered. Later, the dice rolling was more equal, but by then it was too late; the Persians had lost their combat units and were relying on their archers to stop the enemy. At the end, I decided there was no need to play out the last stand of two Persian archers.

Now, the pictures:

Here we are at the end of the first turn. Both sides are moving towards each other, but the Galatian slingers are sort of stuck without much to target.

After a few turns, we started having a lot of casualties. The Galatian hero wiped out the entire group of Persian spearmen after the slingers softened them up. The Persian cavalry has taken some casualties as well, but the Galatian spears are even more worse for wear.

Later, the persian scout killed the Galatian fighter, the two leaders are facing off after a unsuccessful exchange, the cavalry is gone, but the slingers are coming in fast to support the remains of the Galatian line.

This is where I called the game. The Galatian leader has dispatched both the Persian leader and scout, and the slingers are still at full strength coming in on the archers.

So, you know what? This is EXACTLY the game I have been looking for, for a very long time. I fully rate it as a 10/10 for two players. I wish it flowed a little better for solo play (what with the pandemic and social distancing and all that) but an important element of the game is activating so as to force your opponents into certain moves, almost bluffing, if you will. And that finesse is lost when playing with yourself.

I highly recommend this game if you and your buddies each have a dozen or so Ancient or Medieval miniatures that otherwise do not see much use. And the unit sizes are a good gaetway to larger games such as Dragon Rampant. And (yes, another "and") there is a fantasy supplement coming along soon, so for the roleplaying gamers out there who don't have an army of, say, elves, this lets you get in a wargame with what you have,

Knyghte, Pyke, and Sworde can be purchased here.