Lead Adventure Forum
Miniatures Adventure => Fantasy Adventures => Topic started by: Striga86 on January 25, 2020, 12:52:10 PM
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Hi everyone!
I you guys to share with me some of your collective wisdom:) I'm looking for a skirmish wargame with rpg elements that preferably works with dungeon crawls. I have a ton of random monster minis and it sucks to see them gathering dust. I know of Rangers of the Shadow Deep and other similar games (Frostrgrave etc.), but it doesn't allow me to use half of my collection so it's a no-go. I'm also not good with designing custom profiles. Maybe there's a less known game that I've missed? Or maybe there's a way to use some pen&paper rpgs as wargames? I'd greatly appreciate your thoughts:)
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Take a look at the sticky thread above for a discussion on a range of skirmish rules. It may be of help.
https://leadadventureforum.com/index.php?topic=116288.0
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I know of Rangers of the Shadow Deep and other similar games (Frostrgrave etc.), but it doesn't allow me to use half of my collection so it's a no-go.
Why are they not allowed? I'm playing RoSD w a Norse theme, and using the minis I want, and plugging them into the profiles from the game. If I want really specific things out of them, I'll jigger the stats, but otherwise gnolls = trolls, spiders- wolves, whatever...
Those are FG and RoSD are two very fun games, and I'd hate to have you miss them because they "require" certain minis. What are you looking to use, minis-wise?
Otherworld Skirmish is fun, as is 7th Voyage.
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I know of Rangers of the Shadow Deep and other similar games (Frostrgrave etc.), but it doesn't allow me to use half of my collection so it's a no-go. I'm also not good with designing custom profiles. Maybe there's a less known game that I've missed?
What exactly in the rules of Shadow Deep and other similar games Frostrgrave prevent you from using any miniatures you want? Both games are not miniature specific. Nothing stops you from using Orcs as your war band. Also, you are talking about 6 in a warband and you can proxy any monsters you want.
There is very little to designing a custom profile. You can literally pick stats at random to start and upgrade as you go along.
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Our most recent RPG campaign uses (mostly) Savage Worlds for the role-playing, but for the combat we are using almost straight-up Mordheim. Still my favorite fantasy skirmish rules (we are using a different initiative system rather than Mordheims IGOUGO system).
-Michael
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Why are they not allowed? I'm playing RoSD w a Norse theme, and using the minis I want, and plugging them into the profiles from the game. If I want really specific things out of them, I'll jigger the stats, but otherwise gnolls = trolls, spiders- wolves, whatever...
Those are FG and RoSD are two very fun games, and I'd hate to have you miss them because they "require" certain minis. What are you looking to use, minis-wise?
Otherworld Skirmish is fun, as is 7th Voyage.
Because for example if I put kobolds or goblins on the table I'd like some rules to make them unique and not just 'count as gnolls':) I haven't heard of 7th Voyage, I will check it out. I'm waiting to see what will 2nd edition of Frostgrave bring, maybe then I'll jump on board:)
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... (we are using a different initiative system rather than Mordheims IGOUGO system).
As my group are huge Mordheim rules fans too, would you care to share your revised approach to initiative?
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Song of Blades and Heroes and its various supplements will give you all you need.
Deceptively simple system for activation and plenty of pre-designed monsters (with the option of creating your own if you ever decide to give that a go).
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It may not be dungeon oriented enough for your purposes, but The Lord of the Rings Strategy Battle Game is an awfully tight system, and it would be easy to stat up most monsters in your collection, I should think.
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Hi everyone!
I you guys to share with me some of your collective wisdom:) I'm looking for a skirmish wargame with rpg elements that preferably works with dungeon crawls. I have a ton of random monster minis and it sucks to see them gathering dust. I know of Rangers of the Shadow Deep and other similar games (Frostrgrave etc.), but it doesn't allow me to use half of my collection so it's a no-go. I'm also not good with designing custom profiles. Maybe there's a less known game that I've missed? Or maybe there's a way to use some pen&paper rpgs as wargames? I'd greatly appreciate your thoughts:)
Sounds familiar to me ;). I have the very same problem and are always looking for "that" game.
But I don't think it will ever exist in this form. My current solution is to split the games into skirmish and rpg. If I want to smash heads than I play some good old skirmish games like middle earth sbg, song of blades and heroes, frostgrave, otherworld fantasy skirmish etc.
And for my rpg desires I use dungeon crawl classics, white box fantastical medival adventure game, basic fantasy, the black hack etc.
Some games you can look into, where you can lvl up (only some lvls and thats it, but better than nothing) is Dungones and Dragons adventure boardgame series, widower's wood or undercity from privateer press or maybe the new lotr boardgame journeys in middle earth.
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Song of Blades and Heroes and its various supplements will give you all you need.
Deceptively simple system for activation and plenty of pre-designed monsters (with the option of creating your own if you ever decide to give that a go).
A good suggestion. I also like 2 Hour Dungeon Crawl from Two Hour Wargames.
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Surprised no one has mentioned the excellent Sellswords & Spellslingers. For co-op/solo play, it’s my fave system for skirmish battles.
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How about the early warhammers?
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Song of Blades... could be what you're looking for.
Otherwise, Ares by Majestic XII is a nice generalist fantasy skirmish. It has a point system to build your own troops plus ready-made army lists for the most common fantasy races.
https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/16768/ARES-Expanded-Rulebook?affiliate_id=125748
Demo vesrion available on Mj12 website: http://www.mj12games.com/ares/aresdemo.pdf
More specifically dungeon-themed, the first two that come to mind are:
Dungeon Scum by Nordic Weasel (got this one, yet to give it a read).
https://www.wargamevault.com/product/192168/Dungeon-Scum?affiliate_id=125748
2 Hour Dungeon Crawl by THW. Not a fan of their system, but I'm aware many others appreciate them.
https://www.wargamevault.com/product/148237/2-Hour-Dungeon-Crawl?affiliate_id=125748
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+1 for (the unfortunately titled) Dungeon Scum.
only had a light peruse so far, but like the mechanics - their lightness and potential ease of customisation etc.
** having read a little more deeply - I do indeed like some of the mechanics: but I think the lightness of the framework has to be stressed. Many will customise the rules (the combat seems too quick and simple to me - and the group morale element is an odd choice that needs more 'crunch' I think).
Going to continue to read through and see how the extra published rules and items (there's an 'addditional' rules supplement and 2 'scummer' magazines) play with them.
I do like the tone and approach a lot - remains to be seen if the 'RPG' element seems to work or not.
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As others have said, Song of Blades is great and has all the standard monsters covered (though kobolds were omitted from the rule book and can be had as a free download from the Ganesha site). You could also combine it with the same author's Four Against Darkness if you wanted a procedurally generated dungeon.
From the RPG side, you could look at "micro-games" like Microlite20 (free on DriveThruRPG), Searchers of the Unknown (https://i.4pcdn.org/tg/1368480942868.pdf) and Into the Odd (there's a free edition of the rules). Those all have ultra-stripped-down rules that enable them to play very quickly.
Of the three, Into the Odd is probably the least wargame-like (it has no "to hit" rolls, only damage), but it does have a brilliant hit-points system. Once you're out of hit points, you take damage from Strength - and you have to roll under your remaining STR on a D20 to avoid incapacitation each time you lose STR points.
That's important, I think, because one of the big gaps to bridge between RPGs and skirmish wargames is the survivability of PCs. If you want more of an RPG feel to a game, the PCs will probably have to have a bit of "plot armour". One way to achieve that would be to give all characters HP (generally in a fairly low quantity, e.g. 1d6) but allow a few select "PCs" to have an Into the Odd-style STR save as well. So you can have a high degree of risk in the old-school style, but also have a higher chance of survival for the PCs. There would be no guarantees, of course: even a STR 18 barbarian can still fail his saving through once his HP have been whittled down.
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Nice thinking Hobgoblin, I use to give my players "hero points" which did much the same thing.
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Citizen Sade: "As my group are huge Mordheim rules fans too, would you care to share your revised approach to initiative? "
PM sent so as not to clutter the thread.
-Michael
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From the RPG side, you could look at "micro-games" like Microlite20 (free on DriveThruRPG), Searchers of the Unknown (https://i.4pcdn.org/tg/1368480942868.pdf) and Into the Odd (there's a free edition of the rules). Those all have ultra-stripped-down rules that enable them to play very quickly.
thanks very much for the 'Unknown' link - I've only recently become aware of all this OSR stuff, and that's a nice resource!
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Battle Companies really helps the Middle Earth SBG rules get into the realm of RPG lite with nice mechanics on progression, equipment and character fatality risk.
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Battle Companies really helps the Middle Earth SBG rules get into the realm of RPG lite with nice mechanics on progression, equipment and character fatality risk.
I've read good things of Battle Companies, and was very interested. Unfortunately GW sells the rules as a supplement to the standard rules, not as a stand alone rulebook. So I found the entry cost too high and passed over.
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I am playing Rangers of shadow deep, solo at the mo. It is a terrific game, and I have used a range of cheap minis for the monsters. Mostly reaper, copplestone and northstar, spiders and wolves. I swapped orcs for gnolls and just used the stats for the gnolls! No problemo! I have combined metal and frostgrave plastics for my warband. I am going for a Dark ages, Viking vibe. I down loaded free buildings and printed them out, glued to cardboard or foamboard, they look great. The rock formations are just layers of broken polysteyrine with a bit of shaping. I love the campaign setting and the rpg elements... developing the warband from one scenario to the next. Joseph A Mc Cullough is my hero.
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Fistful of Lead Core.. The author is coming out with a proper dungeon supplement in the future, but with the core rules and Wasteland Warriors, you have all you need for dungeon bashing.
Lots of good stuff in the system.. you can shape your game by editing or creating new 'traits' and with what happens when a joker (we also use Aces as triggering cards) is used for activation (trigger wandering monsters or force a roll on a list of events).
We have used it for Conan and StarWars "rpg lite" gaming and are also doing 17th century horror in the new world and Cyberpunk in the near future. Very versatile system.
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Fistful of Lead Core.. The author is coming out with a proper dungeon supplement in the future, but with the core rules and Wasteland Warriors, you have all you need for dungeon bashing.
IIRC the plan is to release a historical book and then a fantasy expansion for it