DeepWars: Blood Reef

Blood Reef is a supplement for DeepWars, a tabletop wargame where forces battle below the waves of a lost underground ocean beneath a frozen southern continent. Players command warbands of different troops and special personality characters to search for treasure, explore sunken ruins and recover ancient artifacts. Blood Reef introduces a new force to the battle, the Nereids of Blood Reef, ancient merfolk with an affinity for all creatures of the sea, and their devious Sea Goblin allies. Each of the main four forces also has new models added to their rosters to help recovers the treasures of the reef.

This book details the region of the Shadow Sea where Blood Reef is located, describing the new environments, wild sea creatures and scenery that can be found there. The reef itself surrounds the sunken city of Xibalba, Gateway to the Underworld. This coral-encrusted city was lost to the sea centuries ago after a massive earthquake. Many of the buildings are now submerged, but tall pyramids, towers and statues still jut from the shallow waters, inviting amphibious warbands to explore them and take control of the glittering artifacts hidden within the crumbling ruins.

The reef has grown with jagged spurs of coral separated by channels of sandy seafloor between them, creating natural corridors of deeper water that allow small craft and submersibles to explore the sunken city. This book has new rules for these small craft and submersibles, including rules for navigation, deployment, surface and underwater combat and boarding operations. Blood Reef is a dangerous place to explore however, and there are wild sea creatures much larger than any of these craft that can tear them into twisted wreckage.

DeepWars is required to use Blood Reef, The core rules are based upon the Song of Blades and Heroes (SOBH) game engine by Ganesha Games and are designed for fast and furious play with plenty of heroic action, arcane magic and advanced technology, all handled with a few rolls of 6-sided dice.

The rules have been designed for battle using 28 mm “heroic” scale miniatures, with one figure representing one character or creature. Miniatures are referred to as “models” in the rules, as some larger creatures may not quite be miniature in size. Typical round bases sizes are 30 mm for man-sized or smaller models, 40 mm for bigger models, such as large dive suits, and 50 mm for huge models. Some exceptionally large models, such as undersea vehicles and mechanical contracts, may be mounted on larger oval bases. The nominal ground scale is roughly 15 mm = 1 meter, so most man-sized models are approximately 30 mm tall.

Blood Reef game scenarios typically require more space than DeepWars games, with 60 cm by 90 cm (24 by 36 inches) a good size for skirmishes so that the reef and a section of sunken Xibalba can be laid out. Larger battles and campaigns should be played on maps of 90 cm by 120 cm (36 by 48 inches). Players can use smaller maps if they want, however, if they just want to skirmish on a particular part of the reef. Battles in Blood Reef take place in many possible environments, under the waves, at the surface and above the water. Gigantic prehistoric reptiles creature prowl the ruins above the waves, so landing parties should be cautious. Even the skies are dangerous for marine models coming to the sea surface, as flying dragons may swoop down to pluck prey from the water. The opportunity to have land and sea battle makes it possible to incorporate models and rules from our land-based game ShadowSea - Conquest of the Underground World into Blood Reef scenarios. The city of Xibalba is also rumored to be a gateway to deep caverns of the stygian realms as well, so players can even choose to incorporate monstrous stygian creatures into their adventures. However you choose to use this rulebook, AntiMatter Games sincerely hopes you enjoy Blood Reef as much as we have enjoyed making it.

—description from the publisher