We've recently been playing a few games of Battlesystem, both the Skirmish and the mass battle versions. Just curious if anyone is still playing either of these systems or have fond memories of playing back in the day?
I've been thinking of using the Skirmish rules for some dungeon crawl games with our group. I think they would work pretty well, enough detail but not overly complicated.
Below is a battle report from our first venture back into the Skirmish system.
For a while now I have been wanting to try a game of AD&D Battlesystem Skirmish again, so on a recent impromptu game night I ran a scenario for Matt (Maniacus on LAF) & Darren. The following is a very quick, over simplified run down for those not familiar with Battlesystem Skirmish.
In Battlesystem Skirmish, each figure represents one monster or character. Number of figures in a scenario can range from a handful to several dozen. Typically each figure acts independently although there are rules for using units for larger battles.
The Battlesystem Skirmish mechanics are very similar to 2nd Edition AD&D (hereafter refered to as D&D for simplicity) using THAC0 and Armor Class, initiative rolls (each turn to determine who moves and fights in what order), plus many of the same combat modifiers from D&D. Instead of variable weapon damage, a character rolls X number of attack dice, with each successful attack dice roll doing 1 point of damage. Also rather than hit points, characters have X number of hits, roughly 1 hit per level depending on character class. When you lose all your hits, you are dead, or unconscious, or too badly injured to contribute to the fight. In Darren’s characters case, we like to think that they are dead.
Darren had provided me with a version of his old D&D character Leo so I could convert him into Battlesystem stats. I also converted two characters he recently rolled up for an upcoming (at some point possibly) experimental venture back into a D&D game. Darren didn’t have names for the two fresh characters so he dug into his bag of old dead character names and came up with Black Tom and Clarice. I then made two new Battlesystem Skirmish characters for Matt and the party was set with 5 members.
Matt:
Mithros, 3nd Level Dwarf Fighter, 3 hits
Karnak the Patient, 4th Level Human Mage, 2 hits
Spells: Magic Missile x2, Shield, Levitate, Web
Darren:
Leo, 3rd Level Human Fighter, 6 hits
Black Tom, 1st Level Fighter, 1 hit
Clarice, 1st Level Thief, 1 hit
The party was relaxing at the Inn of a small village, resting between adventures and trying to keep Clarice from stealing something from the wrong person, pissing them off and getting the party run out of town, again. As they discussed their possible next adventure, a member of the village council approached them. He noted that they looked like the adventuring type and the village was in need of such courageous individuals to help with a troubling problem.
For months villagers and travelers have been disappearing without a trace. No clues have been discovered as to what is causing the disappearances other than finding an occasional bone or two that have been gnawed clean of any flesh. Even the local Ranger has gone missing after he went to look into the matter further. The elder begs the party to help them and rid the area of whatever is behind the disappearances. The village doesn’t have much in the way of reward, but will give what they can should the party succeed. The party is also welcome to keep whatever treasure they may find along the way.
Being exactly the type of courageous individuals the village was looking for, the party accepted the plea for help. “Why not?" Said Leo, "To our death’s then.”
The party sets out in the direction of some nearby hills that the village elder described to them as the perfect place for some sort of creature to hide out in between attacks.
Wary of being ambushed, Leo leads the way as the party cautiously enters the badlands.
Before long, orcs ambush the party. Leaping up from behind positions in the rocks, the orcs pepper the party with arrows.
The party fires back, but fail to hit the orcs. Clarice takes aim with her sling at the orc ahead of the party. She has to shoot over the head of Karnak to get at the orc, but what are the odds of something going wrong?
Twhack! Karnak takes a sling bullet full force to the back of the brain pan as Clarice rolls a 1 (hits incidental target) in her attempt to hit the orc!
More orcs appear from amongst the rocks and move quickly towards the party.
Black Tom fells one of the orcs with a shot from his bow while Leo, Karnak and Mithros move forward to engage the advancing orcs.
Leo scrambles up the rocky cliff to face off against the orc archer.
Clarice moves forward in an attempt to get a better shot at one of the orc archers, but before she can ready her sling, the orc shoots her with an arrow and she crumples in the dirt. Black Tom runs to her rescue in an effort to bind her wounds and stop her from bleeding out, but he too falls victim to the orc’s deadly arrows.
Leo and Mithros both take on the orcs in melee…
…and cut them down quickly.
Leo and Mithros continue to advance and engage more orcs.
Another orc appears on the large hill and lets out a savage battle cry. Or are his gutteral screams some sort of signal?
Karnak runs over to help out Black Tom and Clarice. (Well, mainly to help Black Tom, Clarice can suck it after hitting him in the back of the skull with a sling bullet.) Karnak blasts the orc archer off the rocks with a magic missile spell and then proceeds to bind Black Tom’s wounds so he will stop bleeding. If they get the chance later, (they didn't), the party could give him one of the healing potions the villagers provided and get him back in the fight.
Surging forward, Leo takes out another of the filthy orcs.
A ferocious roar from the hill top silences the battlefield, then the orc on the hill yells in triumph as a horrible troll appears in answer his call.
After taking a healing potion and gathering his courage, Leo stalks forward towards the troll as Karnak dithers over what spell to cast.
The troll quickly scales down the cliff and slams into Leo, wounding him easily and giving Leo second thoughts about going toe to toe with a troll. Karnak attempts to levitate the troll into the air so they can attack from beyond the trolls reach, but the troll shrugs off the spell and rips into Leo again.
Gaining courage from the rampaging troll, the orc on the hill charges down to get into the fight…
…only to be trapped hopelessly in a mass of sticky webs as Karnak catches both the orc and the troll in his web spell.
Meanwhile Mithros is having trouble putting away the remaining orc and has doubts as to whether he will be able to help out against the troll in time.
The webs are no match for the troll as he starts to tear his way through them. But remembering that trolls have a weakness against fire, Karnak throws a torch into the webs, instantly igniting them in a flash of searing flames.
The orc is killed by the ensuing fire and the troll takes damage he won’t be able to regenerate. But the troll is fearless and the ferocious monster prepares to charge Leo once again.
Mithros finally eliminates the last orc and turns to see the rest of his party in an life and death struggle with the troll. He runs to join the combat as fast as his dwarf legs will carry him.
Leo instructs Karnak to get behind him and away from the troll so that the mage has time to cast his shield spell on himself for protection.
Out of spells and bolstered by the protection of the shield spell, Karnak desperately moves in and lends his attacks against the troll. But with a lightning fast swipe of massive troll claws, Karnak is swatted down to the ground, never to rise again. (If only someone hadn’t damaged him previously, he would have survived the round.)
Mithos, seeing that Karnak is down and Leo is hard pressed against the troll, lets out a dwarven battle cry and charges the flank of the troll where his innate giant and troll fighting ability should help him greatly in the battle.
Unfortunately, it doesn’t and with barely a second thought, the troll slashes his filthy claws at Mithos, tearing his armor and slicing into his chest, the dwarven battle cry dies on his lips as he falls to the ground.
With his last breath, Mithos holds out the remaining healing potion for Leo, in the hope that the human can reach it and take it in time to at least save himself and avenge the rest of the party. But believing that the troll must be close to death, Leo chooses to attack the troll rather than take the healing potion from the dying dwarf. Bad choice. The troll lashes out and tears Leo’s head from his shoulders, the body of the human fighter stands ridged for a few seconds longer than slumps the ground next to his companions.
The troll feasted well for several days.
Well the party died horribly, but we had a good time. Clarice lived up to her past D&D reputation as being more of a danger to the party than to the monsters. Probably should have gone with an ogre rather than the troll, because the troll was a bit too tough for this group of characters. But I was excited to try the troll out because I always liked that miniature.
The Battlesystem Skirmish rules worked pretty well for a fast paced skirmish game, once we shook the rust off we were able to play through the turns at a good clip. I'm looking forward to trying out some dungeon crawling games using the Skirmish rules.
At the time of the game, other than a couple trolls painted back in the 80's, I didn't have any ready to go for the scenario. So I borrowed Mark's painted Ral Partha AD&D troll. Since then however I have been busy painting and/or repainting several new and old trolls so I have a nice sized pack of trolls for either Battlesystem game.
I think Leo is in trouble.
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April 20, 2024, 11:37:45 AM
January 24, 2008, 06:54:19 PM
