Squad Games: A Military Fantasy LitRPG

Squad Games #1

by Jamie Edmundson, Lord Aetius

Battle Brothers meets Chronicles of the Black Company

Gal'azu. A new, unexplored world.

A fresh start. And a last chance.

Lothar 'Stiff' Sauer is a mercenary captain. Unfortunately, he has no mercenaries left. He never caught a break in the Old World. Maybe in Gal'azu, he'll finally achieve the success he craves.

But he soon finds out things aren't going to be easy. Starting at the bottom rung, he can only recruit the mercenaries no one else wants. The feckless; criminals, and noobs; the unhinged. Can Lothar build his squad into something to be proud of? Or will this be yet another, and final, failure?



Incorporating elements from tactical RPGs like mercenary management, squad tactics & turn-based combat, this series will appeal to LitRPG readers who appreciate strategic decision making with a grimdark style tone and setting.

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Reviews from Royal ★★★★★ "The plot unfolds episodically, with each mission adding more to the overarching themes of survival, honor, and betrayal in a world controlled by powerful factions. I appreciated the focus on loyalty, ambition, and moral ambiguity, which are key themes as the characters navigate the harsh realities of mercenary life."

★★★★★ "Squad Games is a tactical LitRPG novel that combines strategy, mercenary management and military narrative with a dark and detailed fantasy setting. The story follows Lothar 'Stiff' Sauer, a mercenary captain seeking to rebuild his company in a new and hostile world full of opportunities. With a focus on tactical combat, mission planning and character development, the novel offers an immersive experience for fans of the genre."

★★★★★ "I've never read a book that reminded me so much of my favorite game."

★★★★★ "The characters are fascinating and all interact in interesting ways. With a huge cast of mercenaries, pairing them up for adventures immediately creates all sorts of jokes, tension, and clashing personalities."

Genres: Litrpg

747 pages, Kindle Edition

Published June 16, 2026

About the author

Jamie has always loved a good story, whether real or imagined. He grew up in the south of England before moving to the north, where he worked as a history teacher. He still lives there with his wonderful family, but now spends his time writing, mainly about people hitting each other with swords.
You can connect with him at his website, jamieedmundson.com

Join his newsletter and download the short story collection, Mercs & Magi, for free: https://subscribe.jamieedmundson.com

Reviews

[André · Rating 4 out of 5]

I have read quite a few LitRPG-books lately, and of course most of them had some things in common, but I was actually surprised by just how diverse this genre is. Jamie Edmundson adds a (for me) new flavor to it with a stronger focus on the military/fighting side of roleplaying games. While Squad Games in general has an old school RPG-vibe with its quests, dungeon loots, rewards, stats, etc., it also had something of a tabletop-feel to it – think Hero Quest, maybe even Warhammer, etc. I definitely enjoyed that.

But let’s back up a bit: Lothar ‘Stiff’ Sauer is the main character in Squad Games. He is an ex-mercenary coming to the newly discovered lands of Gal’azu. He plans to start his own mercenary company, but soon has to realize that he is a little late to the game, because there already is a big mercenary crew – The Golden Blades – who don’t enjoy the competition. So, Lothar has to start with the crumbs the Golden Blades leave for him – both in regards to the people he can hire and the jobs he can take on. But ‘The Order of the Rotten Apples’ grows slowly, each new character (and each enemy) is introduced with their stat sheet – something that I personally liked, but that I could see irritating other readers. Luckily, you can easily skip the stat sheets if you are not interested. And with his first recruits Lothar starts taking on jobs, his squad slowly gets to level up, receives better gear, etc. A lot of the quests (naturally) involve fighting, and it’s here that the relation to RPGs is really obvious and stronger than in other litRPG-books: They fighting is done in turns, damage is done according to the stats, etc. The only thing missing are actual dice. But it’s brilliantly integrated into the narrative, and it does not impede the flow of the story at all.

There is a golden thread that is basically Lothar's story and POV, and then there are subplots for the different missions that are usually seen through the eyes of Lothar's growing team of mercenaries. The characters are not just flat archetypes, but interesting people with their own backstories and it was not difficult to root for (the majority of) them.

The story is rather fast-paced, like in a RPG it's one mission after another. Jamie Edmundson is a skilled writer, and it shows: Like I said, despite the stats and everything, the story flows smoothly and it was hard to stop reading. Edmundson also has a sense of humor that I enjoy. We get to explore the interesting world with its history, society and politics with Lothar and his crew, there are no huge info-dumps.

So, action: check. Character development: check. Humor: check. Good storyline: check. Squad Games is definitely a fun read, and an example for LitRPG done well. I hope this will turn into a series (as I think is planned), I for one would love to read more about The Order of the Rotten Apples.

[Beba Andric · Rating 5 out of 5]

Hell this was a fun read! Jamie has taken different genres, put it in a shaker, shook it up, and produced the perfect martini! Add to that, his impressive prose and command of words, and I'm a glutton at a feast, gorging myself on every detail.

Lothar, aka Stiff, has a plan, he's recruiting mercs, except, he's a tad late to the party. Having barely stepped off the ship, he meets resistance, the knifey kind. So instead of getting juicy jobs and tough mercs, he's kind of relegated to collecting the scraps his 'competitors' leave, which suits him just fine. With such slim pickings indeed, and beggars can't be chooses attitude, he 'hires' a few hands and thus begins a collection of misfits as part of his new Order of the Rotten Apples Squad. And the games begin... Adding players, executing missions, eliminating the competition gaining a foothold, levelling up, tallying scores, turning profit is the backbone of this story. I really loved the business acumen of Stiff, he's one smart cookie. Fast paced, and despite the lengthy page count, a quick read, epically spun, with loads of action and oh so fun!

There is a vast cast, adding flavour to the read as I go along, each new player has a unique taste, texture and fullness, Wade Baron, Mila, Wilson, Femke, Mags, to name just a few. This book was very cleverly crafted, fantasy, combined with a military flair involving mercenaries, very easily crossing into the litRPG world, wrapped up like a burrito, it all hits the palette just right. I so enjoyed the snippets of missions, the logging in point form but with a vibrancy that only this author can create. I found myself keeping tabs too. And Jamie, once again, created characters that are morally grey, that "speak" to the heart. It's impossible not to like them, cheer for them. Mila is one of my favourites, she's unapologetically HER, no filter at all... They all have a rivalry going, but when it counts, they stick together like glue, supporting each other. It was a delight seeing their different personalities shine.

Underlying humour that's unexpected yet hard to ignore, is a definite trademark of this author, it seems like it comes out of nowhere, but this is the skillful manipulation of text and storytelling this author possesses. I mean, there's a certain scene, a battle scene no less, and there's a cow, a head... I'll let you ponder on that but I did snort laugh. Whilst I'm not a gammer, I'm surrounded by them, (my kids and grandkids) this read transported me right into one of their games. And the best part? I loved being a part of this author's "game". A lot. One of the reasons I love this author, and there are many, is he keeps everything tight, action filled with never a dull moment. And I sure as heck can't anticipate where he's taking the characters, or where they're leading him, but, buckle up folks, you're in for a ride!
“A true warrior makes a choice who and what he fights for,” I'm looking forward to more adventures with Lothar and crew.

[Lana · Rating 5 out of 5]

Lothar better known as Stiff, arrived in Gal'azu intending to start up his own mercenary company, however he found out that there already was such a company, the Golden Blades, and these were very well established and did not take kindly to competition. However Stiff was not deterred, he started out small, accepting the dregs the blades had refused, but his attitude towards his team whom he started to think of as family, soon started to turn the tables against the cruel and coldhearted brothers who ran the Golden Blades with a strong hand. His team grew by leaps and bounds, and through all the battles they fought and won, many a time through his cunning and strategic planning he even started to steal some of the Blades own team members. Obviously this did not go down well, so topping the list of jobs to undertake, Stiff included the death of the two Blair brothers. This is a different type of LitRPG from the books I have previously read, in that the battles are fought more as a game, the book is full of battles and adventures and great bantering and camaraderie between the team members of the Rotten Apples, which makes this a real fun read. I particularly liked the character of Twerk and his sense of humour, even if this is a bit sardonic. This first book is a great start to what I envisage to be a fun series.

[Laure · Rating 5 out of 5]

I wasn't sure what to expect.

I loved this story about a mercenary captain named Lothar "Stiff" Sauer who arrives in a new world, with no mercenaries hoping to start over and build company that will her will accomplish the success that has alluded him for years. Unfortunately, trained mercenaries are few and far between and he has to recruit from a pool of poorly trained, if they have any training at all, individuals who he will quickly discover do not work well with others.
The characters are a collection of disparate personalities that kept me fascinated throughout this book. Beautifull narrated and compelling characters that sometimes do no work will together. This is an epic military fantasy with a lot of violence and bloodshed, magic, a few laughs, and plenty of twists and turns in the plot that kept me on the edge of my seat and guessing. This is a must-read book by an author I adore, and I gladly recommend it to other readers.

I voluntarily reviewed a complimentary ARC proved by the author

[Marena]

Roll playing is just not for me so I can not fairly put a rating on this book.