Some Skirmish Game Rules for Playtesting

[Norse]

http://www.mediafire.com/?dvafq1c0vea11da

Hi all, the above is a pdf document of some rules I've been fiddling with that you may (or may not) be interested in.

Small alterations to the rules for playing skirmish games with a few models a side basically. The introduction explains it all, so I'll copy that in at the end of the post.

If you have any ideas, thoughts, considerations or abuse please feel free to share them. I'm especially interested in hearing if you've tried it out at all. Ideas for scenarios and things are especially welcome.

This is only the playtest document; eventually it will have pretty pictures of models and terrain and generally have a better layout. But I'm not going to put that work in until I've managed to test it some more. Eventually there will be more scenario ideas, and also rules for experience, between-battle events, campaigns, personal characteristics for roleplaying games and how to use developed characters in full battles.

The purpose of all this? To allow you to use the Kings of War system as a complete campaign that allows you to do anything you might want to in a club or home setting.



Introduction

This document is intended to be a set of simple modifications to the Kings of War rules enabling you to fight skirmish battles, and ultimately to be useful as a base for roleplaying campaigns.

These Skirmish Battles will be short games, designed to be played on small 2' by 2' boards with forces of no more than 100 (or occasionally 200) points, and where every figure is treated as an individual.

Why skirmish battles? Why not just play Kings of War?

Well, sometimes you don't have time for a full game of Kings of War. Skirmish battles play fast. Very fast. You could fit one in before or after an evenings full game if you want. They allow you to play a game if you don't yet have enough figures for a full battle. If you have some spare figures for another race you don't want to build a full army for, you can use them as a skirmish warband. Also, it means you can try out other races without committing to buying a full army. You can also spend time making a skirmish game look really good with it's tiny forces and small boards. Finally, you can also use them in a campaign game to represent small but important actions that could affect how the main games run; for example, ambushing supply trains, assassinating important characters, holding or destroying bridges, fords or ferries and so on. It’s a supplement, not a replacement.

Why not play Dwarf Kings Hold?

That’s a better question. Dwarf Kings Hold is an excellent game, and does what it does very well. But what it does is limited by the format of the game. The system doesn't tie in directly to Kings of War, and is all underground.

Note

I make no claims on copyright anywhere, and any terms are used without permission. I’ve put this document together to cement my own thoughts together, and to get other people discussing (and hopefully playing) the idea. I’m not charging for this, and you can’t play it without having access to the Kings of War rules or without spending money on someone’s models. So I don’t see as it can be a bad thing. If Mantic or River Horse don’t like this then I shall take it offline. I shall also take it offline if Mantic or River Horse ever publish a similar set of rules for Kings of War, or if future editions of Kings of War contain Skirmish rules; whether I like those rules or not. So please don’t hurt me. Okay?


Tl;dr? Free game supplement.

[Nathaniel]

Fabulous stuff!

For the potential attacks:

A speed up that makes things bloodier:

Round up to the nearest attack.  If you only have a potential you now have one attack.  If you have 1 attack and one potential, you now have two attacks.

A speed up that doesn't make things that much bloodier:

Round up to the nearest attack but increase your to melee (Me) and ranged (Ra) by one.  So an Orc Ax has 1 attack at Me 5+ instead of 4+.  A Greatax has 1 attack at 4+.  A Morax has two attacks at 3+, A Gore Rider has 2 attacks at 4+.  A Wraith has 1 attack at Me 5+.  And the mighty goblin rabble has an attack at Me 6+.

[Norse]

I sort of like the randomness of the potential attack, but I agree it could slow things down.

I didn't want to just round up because that can give some things too many attacks. I like your alternative however, that would speed things up without giving too much advantage. I shall try that and see if I can work out an easy way to write it on the statline. Possibly just a + or a * after the At rating.

[Nathaniel]

I just realized just how few things actually end up with fractional/potential attacks.  Unless someone loads up on them, the extra die roll here and there isn't going to be a speed issue.

[Norse]

Mostly its only cavalry, which there won't be much of in a skirmish game I reckon. Main slowdown would be for an Orc warband. But you need so many Ax models to make a warband that I think most will be made up of greatax and stuff instead.

[Nathaniel]

Do you think the Kings of War turn order is ideal for this game?  Just to keep the contained turns feel?

[Norse]

I think the kings of war turn order is less than ideal, and if I was building the system from the ground up I'd take a reaction based approach for a skirmish game like this. But to change the turn order would be too jarring I feel. I've tried to keep the changes as minor as possible, so that it feels as much like KoW as possible.

As an idea of what I would do were I to change it: The turns would be more fluid and action rather than phase based.  When you hold the initiative, you pick a model or a group of models within a few inches and choose an action for them (stand & shoot, move, move and attack etc). If you move into LoS with an enemy they have a chance to seize the initiative. If they do you stop there and the enemy takes their moves. Something like that. I can make it sound less clunky if I try.

[Baragash]

When DKH3 and 4 are out I'm just going to adapt DKH to being played on a board instead (eg the shooting rules will need adjusting).