u/Hexwerksstudios

▲ 5 r/PillageWargame+2 crossposts

PLAYTESTERS WANTED Oaths & Banners — Dark Age Skirmish Wargame

PLAYTESTERS WANTED Oaths & Banners — Dark Age Skirmish Wargame

I’m looking for a few serious external playtesters for Oaths & Banners, a Dark Age tabletop skirmish game currently in active development through Hexwerks Studios.

The game focuses on:

* shieldwalls

* collapsing nerve

* small battlefield parties

* command pressure

* brutal local melees

* Vikings, Saxons, Normans, and Irish warbands

Core mechanics include:

* alternating party activations

* Courage & Wavering systems

* Shieldwall mechanics

* combined melees

* scenario-driven battles

* campaign-style household warbands

Gameplay is designed around:

“holding ground, preserving nerve, seizing momentum, and deciding when the raid matters more than the clash.”

Current playtest focus:

* onboarding clarity

* combat flow

* warband construction

* scenario balance

* Shieldwall interactions

* overall battlefield feel

The game is:

* miniature agnostic

* designed primarily for 28mm

* inspired by gritty Dark Age warfare rather than high fantasy superheroes

If you like games such as:

* Saga

* Lion Rampant

* Ravenfeast

* Mordheim

* older Warhammer skirmish/campaign systems

…you’ll probably feel right at home here.

I’m specifically looking for people willing to:

* actually get games on the table

* provide honest criticism

* test edge cases

* break rules interactions

* report usability issues

Not just:

“Looks cool.”

Comment or DM if interested and I’ll get you the current playtest packet.

reddit.com
u/Hexwerksstudios — 20 hours ago
▲ 40 r/PillageWargame+2 crossposts

Few more filthy Norse bastards added to the warband.

Look like they’ve spent the last six months sleeping in mud, drinking ditch water, and arguing over who gets the first axe swing.

Exactly how I wanted them.

u/Hexwerksstudios — 20 hours ago
▲ 45 r/TrenchCrusade+2 crossposts

Something old and hungry is stalking the ruins.

WIP on this nightmare creature tonight. Trying to lean hard into that grimdark, post-Ragnarok feel with this one.

Pretty happy with how twisted it’s turning out so far.

u/Hexwerksstudios — 3 days ago
▲ 76 r/PillageWargame+3 crossposts

Three men who look like they’ve survived shipwrecks, winter starvation, and at least two murders apiece.

Exactly the kind of people you do not want stepping off a longship onto your shore.

Norse warband coming together for Oaths & Banners. Axes, mail, bad intentions, and absolutely no interest in diplomacy.

u/Hexwerksstudios — 7 days ago
▲ 69 r/PillageWargame+3 crossposts

Still a WIP, but I’m really happy with how the face and beard are turning out so far. Trying to keep these guys looking rough, weathered, and mean instead of clean fantasy heroes.

Also getting more comfortable with the Two Thin Coats paints every model I finish.

u/Hexwerksstudios — 8 days ago
▲ 152 r/PillageWargame+3 crossposts

This is exactly the kind of mess I wanted — shieldwall holding, axes coming in, and somebody about to have a real bad afternoon.

The playtest packet is getting close.

u/Hexwerksstudios — 10 days ago
▲ 112 r/PillageWargame+3 crossposts

Leaning hard into that Dark Age feel—muddy tones, worn iron, no clean finishes. These guys shouldn’t look pretty… they should look like they just stepped off a longship.

More coming soon.

u/Hexwerksstudios — 11 days ago
▲ 133 r/PillageWargame+3 crossposts

Finally got around to testing some Two Thin Coats paints tonight.

Still very WIP, but the chainmail actually reads like chainmail now and the skin went on way smoother than what I’m used to.

Still need to finish shields and bases.

If you’ve used TTC, what paints/washes are worth picking up?

u/Hexwerksstudios — 14 days ago
▲ 82 r/PillageWargame+2 crossposts

They came in hard—Norman shields up, blades out, thinking they’d crack the line like they had a hundred others. But this wasn’t some levy mob. This was Godwinson’s house. Men who knew exactly what was coming and stepped forward anyway.

Shield met shield. Axes came down. Spears punched through gaps that weren’t there a heartbeat before.

No clean lines. No orders left to give.

Just mud, iron, and the sound of two warbands trying to erase each other.

That banner’s still standing… for now.

u/Hexwerksstudios — 18 days ago
▲ 4 r/PillageWargame+1 crossposts

I’ve got the Oaths & Banners warband builder up and running, and I’m looking for a few volunteers willing to beat it up a little.

The goal is simple: build a Dark Age warband, see if the options make sense, and tell me where it breaks, feels confusing, or spits out something weird.

I especially need feedback on:

•	Whether the builder is easy to use

•	If the warbands feel thematic

•	If the points/options seem obviously busted

•	Whether the printed/exported warband sheet is actually useful at the table

•	Any bugs, typos, missing options, or “why the hell does it do that?” moments

This is for Oaths & Banners, my Dark Age skirmish game about rough little warbands, shieldwalls, banners, oaths, and men making bad decisions with sharp objects.

If anyone wants to test it, I’d really appreciate it. Build something nasty, break it if you can, and let me know what you think.

u/Hexwerksstudios — 21 days ago

Been getting more of the table built out and finally stopped to take a few pictures. It’s starting to look a lot more like the Dark Age battlefield I’ve had in my head the whole time instead of just random terrain and scattered minis.

Still a lot to do, but seeing the church, walls, trees, and warbands all together like this has me pretty fired up about it. Feels like the whole thing is finally starting to come together.

Would love to hear what people think.

u/Hexwerksstudios — 25 days ago

Working on a little pig pen / muddy sty terrain piece for the table. Still very much a WIP, but it’s starting to come together. Need to clean some things up, keep working on the pigs, and finish the edges, but I’m liking the look of it so far.

Little terrain bits like this do a lot to make the table feel more alive.

u/Hexwerksstudios — 26 days ago

These new pines are going to make Oaths & Banners feel even nastier—tighter lanes, harder choices, and a battlefield with some real bite.

Starting to look like a proper war zone now.

#OathsAndBanners #HexwerksStudios #WargameTerrain #HistoricalWargaming #3DPrinting #MiniaturePainting

u/Hexwerksstudios — 28 days ago

Got it on the table today and it instantly made the battlefield feel like a real raid target instead of just open ground.

Definitely thinking this needs a full churchyard scenario next.

Defend it, burn it, or loot the relics?

u/Hexwerksstudios — 1 month ago