Two years of work, one dream, and our gift to the community: Calling the Banners is here
Dear friends and fellow hobbyists,
For over two years, we have been building something very special to us: a battle system forged through endless hours of playtesting, hard design work, and a deep love for classic wargames, rethought through a modern tactical lens.
Today, we are finally opening the gates.
Calling the Banners is not a game where the army list wins the battle before the first miniature is placed on the table. It is a game about friction, pressure, and decision-making under the uncertainty of combat.
At its core, three ideas define it:
Command is never fully under your control. Thanks to the random alternate activation, every turn is loaded with tension. You cannot take your next move for granted, and neither can your opponent.
Exhaustion takes its toll. The Fatigue system reflects both physical wear and the breaking of morale. Even the best unit on the table can be pushed beyond its limits, and a force that fights brilliantly early on may collapse before the battle is won.
The engine is universal. Although our heart belongs to fantasy, the rules were born as a universal battle system. The same core engine can command a Roman legion, an Early Modern tercio, or a formation of Elven spearmen with the exact same rigor. Strip away the magic, and what remains is a grounded, highly realistic historical ruleset.
What does "Alpha" mean?
What we are releasing today is the Alpha Rulebook: a fully playable version that already expresses our core philosophy, but now needs real tables, real players, and extreme pressure testing.
In short: it works, but now it needs to get its boots muddy.
We want you to play it, challenge it, push it to the limit, and help us discover where it needs to be sharpened.
Our commitment
Calling the Banners was born from the desire to create something of our own and share it openly with the community that supports us every day.
Because of that, the digital rulebook will always be free. You will always be able to download and play the core game at no cost.
In the future, once the system is fully mature and heavily playtested, we may release a physical edition with premium artwork and a deluxe presentation. But the digital rules will remain open and free forever.
What comes next?
This is only the beginning.
In the coming weeks and months, we will continue expanding the system with more test units, full fantasy army lists, and historical lists that take advantage of the same rules engine. Furthermore, starting next month, the gaming profiles for every new unit we release will be included directly in the downloadable file.
Now we need you
Your feedback is essential to this process. Play it. Break it. Tell us where it bleeds.
You can send us your impressions, battle reports, and suggestions to: 📧 community@lastsword.com
We have also opened a dedicated channel on our Discord to discuss tactics, rules, and feedback: 💬 Join the Calling the Banners channel
Download the rulebooks: 🇬🇧 English – Alpha Rulebook 1.0 🇪🇸 Castellano – Reglamento Alfa 1.0
(For now, we are sharing it directly with you here; later on, everything will be gathered on its own dedicated page on our website).
We cannot wait to see what you do with it on the tabletop.
Call the banners.
Oscar
Comments (4)
I’ve read through the book, and while I like a lot of what is there, there’s definitely some areas where it’s a bit unclear at the moment. In particular, formations and units are somewhat unspecific in how they are actually determined, beyond asking that units remain coherent, and have a clear front sides and rear. I’m not sure if our models are meant to be moving limited to orders where they are in base contact with one-another, or just more vaguely “nearby” each-other, and am doubly unclear how restrictive “nearby” would be if that is the case.
Yes, that’s a fair point — we were actually discussing this on Discord already, as it seems that part was lost in editing. We’ll be adding it properly in the next version to make it explicit. The intended rule is that formation is determined by the spacing between models: - up to 1 base width = Close Order - up to 2 base widths = Open Order - up to 4 base widths = Skirmishers So models don’t need to be in base contact, but they do need to stay within those spacing limits to maintain coherence and formation. That should make “nearby” much more concrete in practice.
Need a translation in french?
Thanks, Raphael. We may look into a French translation later on, but at this stage I mainly want to hear as many opinions as possible so I can make quick adjustments while things are still flexible. We’ll deal with translations a bit further down the line.