Sultans of Severnia

Welcome miniature wargame lovers! The Sultans of Severnia are the collective group of game designers, software developers, and play-testers who are working together on Rhino Software's upcoming fantasy-themed miniature wargame, Sword of Severnia (TM) (SoS for short). During the years that development and play-testing have taken place on this project, this web site has served as one means for the Sultans to share project documents with each other, provide links to useful web sites for R&D purposes, report on the project's ongoing status, and so forth. Our main project site is And On the 7th Day they Created Severnia, but that one is a members-only blog site and not accessible to the general public. 

Please note that all information, product name references, graphics, and downloadable documents provided on this web site are the exclusive property of Rhino Software. Any reproduction, redistribution, retransmission, or resale of these files, without prior written consent from Rhino Software, is strictly prohibited. Thanks for your understanding and cooperation.

Last Updated: July 8, 2008
What's New: Project status has been updated.   

Severnia Project Status

I'm very tempted to remove this page of the website because it has, for all intents and purposes, been replaced by our very active project blog. But since the blog has restricted access, I would still like to have a spot for the general public to get an idea of what's going on with the fantasy wargame project. Perhaps we can devise a new site for that? Or maybe, Six Sided Rhinoceros can serve as the "public news site" for now? I'm leaning heavily towards the later of those two options.

Anyway, I wanted to share a few brief insights on the wargame project here.    

As of early JULY 2008, things are progressing nicely with Sword of Severnia. Playtesting is underway and will be going throughout the Summer/Fall. The only things left to complete rules-wise are:

Everything else has been completed and is just being fine-tuned as a result of playtesting. That means within 4 to 6 weeks, programming work should be able to start in earnest on the Troop Builder software. I'm starting to finally see the shining light of hope that this game will get finished and published!

Work on Battle HQ (the computer moderated battle software) will be pushed back until after the release of the Basic Version of the game (the Rulebook and bundled Troop Builder software). This seems like the smart thing to do, rather than release everything in one big mega-set. It enables us to get a good, well-designed core game out there, and then enhance it with cool, computer-moderated modules for those folks who want a Deluxe version. Baby steps... baby steps. 

Hopefully, we'll also be able to playtest the SOS rough-draft Campaign rules this Summer/Fall as well and polish them up for a Summer 2009 release. We shall see.

Until next time, let's make this happen!         

Design Documents & Project Papers

This section contains links to design documents, multimedia files, status reports, and other project papers and files that the Sultans of Severnia wish to share amongst themselves. Since much of this info is sensitive in nature and meant only for the eyes of project team members, only visitors entering a valid Username and Password will be permitted to download the files provided here.

To download a file simply click its highlighted link, then enter your Username and Password when prompted.

Listed in parentheses after each link is the type of file to be downloaded. Common file types include PDF for Adobe Acrobat files, XLS for Excel spreadsheets, DOC for Word documents, PSR for PowerBuilder reports, BMP/GIF/JPG for images, WAV for sounds, TXT for standard Text files, and ZIP for zipped archives.

Also shown at the end of each file description is a bracketed set of initials. This indicates who the creator of the given project file is. Creators include: [RS] = Rhino Software, [KS] = Kevin Sarnowski, [DG] = Dan Gilbert, [GK] = Geoff Kyper, [MH] = Mike Hughes, and [SS] = Steve Smith. Work created by others will be specially denoted.

General Project Documents: 

1. Phases (PDF) = Description of tasks to be accomplished in each of the project's major phases. [RS]
2. Task List (PDF) = Inventory of project tasks to be performed and what percentage of the overall project workload each task makes up. [RS]
3. Assignments (PDF) = Similar to the Task List except that the workload percentage shown for each task is further broken down by who is working on the task (lead, senior developers, juniors/playtesters). [RS]

Research Phase Documents:

Others to consider for the future: Fantasy Warriors, GASLIGHT, Ring of Rule (Zvezda), Warlord (Reaper),
    Field of Glory (Osprey), Fast Play Ancients (T. Gore), Ancients Rules (N. Thomas), Martian Empires,
    Bellicose, Milk & Cookies Rules (Surdu/Dean). 

More Gaming Goodness

1. Rants & Raves = The Sultans share their thoughts and ideas about fantasy wargaming, and rant & rave about the COLD project and their fellow game developers.
2. Wargames Research = A valuable collection of links to web sites pertaining to the miniature wargaming hobby. A terrific starting point for your game research!
3. Miniature Figures & Terrain = An assortment of links to miniature figure and model terrain manufacturers, painting & modeling tips, and places to shop for miniatures, wargames, and hobby supplies.
4. Game Conventions =  Links to game conventions across the United States.