Which fantasy skirmish games work best for 20 to 30 models a side?

[LORDofSTUFF]

And here I open myself up to the chasm of hatred...

Age of sigmar / Age of sigmar skirmish.

Kind of have to agree. As much as people rip on AoS it's a fairly good rules set for small pick up games like what you are suggesting.
Plus the army rules for all their old army books are still available to download for free and so are the core rules, so there's that going for it.

Though LOTR is also a very solid rules too.

[ecurtz]

I really like the Wrath of Kings rules, and they are available for free download. The downside is there are per-unit modifiers closely tied to the official factions, so you'd need to do a little work coming up with appropriate matches or custom stats for your particular troops.

[chamberlain]

There are also Goal System games with fantasy stuff.  Super System, for example, is a super hero game but you can build anything from fantasy for it and it'll work great.

It's meant for smaller model counts but has a "mooks" rule where you get multiple models as a single entry.  Largest game I've ever played had like 3 (maybe it was 2?) "heroes" and 30ish mooks on one side vs 4 heroes and 10 mooks.

http://www.wargamedownloads.com/cat.php?ItemSubcategory=38&pics=2
http://www.four-colorstudios.com/shop.html

[mdauben]

The one I always mention because I think its a bit under-appreciated is the Lord of the Rings Strategy Battle Game. If you can pick up one of the older rulebooks (particularly Return of the King edition) off of ebay or elsewhere, its well worth it.
I really enjoy the mechanics of the rules and, even though it doesn't explicitly have character generation, its very easy to figure out the points cost formula and customize the game. And besides, it has enough archetypes to make counts-as easy.
The game works well, in my opinion, up to around 30-40 miniatures a side.

I totally agree with affun.  LOTR is my "go to" choice for small scale fantasy games.  As he said, the only real drawback to using it as a generic rules set is the lack of unit and character creation rules.  At this point, though, there are so many characters, units and monsters to chose from its usually possible to find something that is a close approximation of what you want to portray.

One other thing to keep in mind, is that LOTR tends to be a... low magic system.  Not that magic and magic users are not important to winning games, but its generally as support (buffing and debuffing) rather than as directed attacks like lightning and fireballs.  

[Steelwraith]

Lord of the rings OR, And here I open myself up to the chasm of hatred...

Age of sigmar / Age of sigmar skirmish.

Easy rules, free profiles (and easy enough profiles to make your own).the core ruleset scales very well , you can play it using single figures rather than units.
Or you can use skirmish which allows you to add a little more depth and can handle warbands of up to about 40 figures.

The other advantage is that it's fairly cheap to get the books , existing unit profiles are free to mess around with and if you ever need an opponent it's easier to find someone that already knows it than it.

I have to agree with you on all points there. AoS is a fun system if you're not worried/care about rules-heavy games, and just want to push lead/pewter/plastic about the table.

[Hobby Services]

There are also Goal System games with fantasy stuff.  Super System, for example, is a super hero game but you can build anything from fantasy for it and it'll work great.

It's meant for smaller model counts but has a "mooks" rule where you get multiple models as a single entry.  Largest game I've ever played had like 3 (maybe it was 2?) "heroes" and 30ish mooks on one side vs 4 heroes and 10 mooks.

http://www.wargamedownloads.com/cat.php?ItemSubcategory=38&pics=2
http://www.four-colorstudios.com/shop.html

Recommendation seconded.  Underused and underappreciated game engine with excellent versatility.

[Warren Abox]

Bladestorm was built for 15-30 figures per side.  I never played it for a variety of reasons, but always wanted to.  It uses the same basic engine as the old Silent Death starship fighter combat game, which was a great game.  It's worth a look.
https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/12385/bladestorm

It's an older game, but  it had a second edition release sometime in the last few years.
http://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/195354/Bladestorm-Rulesbook-2nd-Edition

You can even download the quickstart rules from Wargames Vault:
http://www.wargamevault.com/product/155564/Bladestorm-QuickStart-Rules

[Hobgoblin]

Thanks, all, for all these suggestions. I dimly remember Bladestorm from its first release, though I don't think I ever played it. It had that "fantasy heartbreaker" aspect to it: a highly developed setting (river ogres with bird legs!) that ... didn't seem terribly compelling. That's nothing to do with the rules, of course. I think I may actually have the quick-start rules in PDF already.

I've been undertaking a slow re-read of Havoc, taking some notes to get a QRS together. I think the game may be every bit as good as Mayhem and Rogue Planet - but the 200-page rulebook does rather get in the way!

[markdienekes]

Frostgrave as two warbands?

[affun]

I'll echo everyone else and endorse the Lord of the Rings Strategy Battle Game. The Return of the King rulebook is available very inexpensively - it misses a few of the newer special rules added into the Hobbit rulebooks, but perfectly playable and many find it preferable (I find it plays a lot smoother). It also has a good number of profiles for playing around with.

Thanks for that link, I just snagged a copy since I seem to have misplaced my old one 

This thread has kinda prompted me to get back to this. I need to finish those swashbucklers I bought to play SBG with a while ago.

[Warren Abox]

Thanks, all, for all these suggestions. I dimly remember Bladestorm from its first release, though I don't think I ever played it. It had that "fantasy heartbreaker" aspect to it: a highly developed setting (river ogres with bird legs!) that ... didn't seem terribly compelling. That's nothing to do with the rules, of course. I think I may actually have the quick-start rules in PDF already.

That was part of my problem back in the day - couldn't separate the rules from the fluff. 

[ayak333]

Just bought a copy of the Return of the king strategy game because of this thread! 7USD on Amazon(including shipping)

[sonicReducer]

Great thread. I'm looking for something like this but for solo. Currently trying to decide if I should do smaller games at 28mm or go bigger games at 15mm or 10mm. Honestly can't decide

[Warren Abox]

Great thread. I'm looking for something like this but for solo. Currently trying to decide if I should do smaller games at 28mm or go bigger games at 15mm or 10mm. Honestly can't decide

Don't write off smaller games at 15mm.  If you're okay with movement trays, you can build a really nice collection of figures that will serve for both skirmish and big battles.