Sellswords and Spellslingers First Game

I am a fan of the Song of...series of games, particularly the roll up to 3 dice mechanic that lets you gamble on the number of activations you can take. It makes for a tense, variable game and for me feels quite immersive at the skirmish levels the games model. I've enjoyed Song of Blades and Heroes with the gaming heir, ...of Drums and Shakos and ...of Muskets and Tomahawks with Steven and General Ballroom and Of Gods and Mortals with all of them and James too.
So when I heard that Andrea Sfiligoi the man behind the system had developed a solo/cooperative fantasy game I was intrigued and duly picked up a copy of Sellswords and Spellslingers for the princely sum of $8.

The game came as a PDF rulebook with several sets of cards to print out.

Unlike the Song of... games SS&SS uses D20 instead of D6 but the principle is the same - roll up to 3 dice, with 8 being a pass. Any fails mean you turn over an Event card - which can cause the enemy monsters to activate. There's a cool little AI to work the monsters and several scenarios.
Characters are made up from a list of traits and a few negatives if you choose.

So I created a party and they set off on their first adventure.

Imadriel Greenbriar - elf archer
Grumni Throngwang - dwarf fighter
Norbin Wensleydale - halfling thief
Zank Frappa - human hedge wizard

Barring their way (at least initially) would be 3 Orc Brutes and their smelly green troll chum.

All the party has to do is get from one side of the board to another. Simple.

First of all a failure by the halfling saw another Orc brute join the fray.

Then an event meant something shiny was spotted on a nearby rock.

 The party moved slowly forward.

The shiny thing proved to be a valuable necklace. A good start.
However the Orcs were closing in.
And the dwarf pulled out his chopper and got to work.

Eventually the chopped the beast down, but at some cost to his health.

Fortunately the wizard Frappa was nearby to lay healing hands on the wounded fighter.
Unfortunately he tripped over a root and fell over. Giving the nearest Orc an excuse to rush toward them.

However Wensleydale the thief proved deadly with his sling and dropped the brute.

As the wizard and dwarf caught up with the elf another Orc burst from the bushes and struck the wizard to the ground.

Dwarf and elf joined the fight and another Orc got involved. The party won the day but at the cost of being wounded.

The halfling helped the wizard to his feet, he was in bad shape and could only move slowly. The sound of fighting had drawn trolls to the area, things weren't going to plan.
At this point the halfling fell over.

Another Orc leaped from ambush and attacked Greenbriar.

Despite the arrival of the Dwarf the elf was hacked to the ground

The rampaging brute then hacked down the dwarf too.

Wensleydale was ambushed, but bravely fought off the brute and helped Greenbriar back to his feet.

Sadly Throngwang had slipped away to the halls of his ancestors.

At this point the nearest troll decided to get involved and raced over to attack the halfling.

Greenbriar killed the Orc he was fighting but Wensleydale was no match for the brutal troll.
Smashing the halfling to the ground the troll careered into the elf archer and killed him before catching the wizard too.

The inevitable death of the wizard followed and the party's dreams of wealth and adventure were over.

First game ends in Total Party Kill!

Despite the result it was good fun to play.

I think I was the terrible combination of cautious dice rolling mixed with getting distracted from the mission to leave the board. With the result that I bogged down in the middle of the board and eventually the monsters overwhelmed the party.

Never mind. I shall give it another go soon...