Swords and Shields

       A few months ago my grandsons, Jacob and Jamison, and I were playing with a pretty cool tic-tac-toe board themed appropriately for my wife's beach décor.

      After a few games, Jacob decided to try something different. He put the lighthouses on each corner, and the sailboats in between them. The object was to take turns moving one piece at a time until somebody could no longer make a move, trapping them. 

      Above - you will see the original game (with me being trapped (I'm the lighthouses)) and below is my very rough drawing of a medieval board game, named "Swords and Shields.

 

 

 

 

Look for the game to make its first appearance in book 3, "Revelation."

 

Backstory to the name, Swords and Shields:

 

Once Upon a time, my brother, David (readers will recognize him as I loosely based Darius off of him), my best friend, Willie (readers, may I present William from my series), and I created our own superheroes and supervillains.

 

David had a group of villains named Killer Clowns, who were like a gang of crazed Jokers. Willie had a villain, The Bull, who was like Spiderman's villain, The Rhino. He also had a hero named the Black Panther, pretty much like Marvel's Black Panther.

 

I had heroes named Leopard, my version of Spiderman; Green Tiger (Wolverine); Cardinal (Green Arrow); and The Hawk (Falcon). I needed a group of heroes to combat David's Clowns, so I came up with a group called Swords and Shields, in part due to my love of Captain America, and in part, my love of the movie "Jason and the Argonauts."

 

So when it came time to name my game I pulled out the old Sword and Shield name, dusted it off, and put it to good use.

 

- side note: Argos in my series "The Heart of Seras," is named for the Argonauts.