Fantasy skirmish rules - a useful list

[Papabees]

I'm reasonably sure Freeblades has not been mentioned up  to now. So, by way of correction, I'd like to mention Freeblades:

https://www.dgsgames.com/

Comments invited.

A little late to the party but I have to second Freeblades. Great mechanics, lots of good minis, scales from RPG to coop to skirmish to campaign. The designers are great and the rulebook is available for $10 and then you get all the updates for free forever. Great company.

[garra]

Brutal Quest has just been released on wargame vault after a successful kickstarter.  It is from the same author that wrote Planet 28 as a sci-fi skirmish game.

[ced1106]

More for the sake of completeness, but Black List Game's Lasting Tales is a coop miniatures skirmish game, by the same designer as Elder Scrolls: Call to Arms. IMO, LT is more targeted towards boardgamers new to miniature games, as its AI and other mechanics are simplified, but nonetheless pretty thorough. Players start as 1st-level PC's and can play randomly generated scenarios to go up to 10th level. Demo game available on the BLG LT KS campaign page.

[blacksmith]

Released today, Warrior Heroes Adventures in Talomir from Two Hour Wargames. Specifically designed for solo gaming but also for co-op and vs opponent, it gives you a full immersion adventure skirmish campaign game with the latest THW mechanics.

https://www.twohourwargames.com/waheadinta.html

From the shop:
Warrior Heroes – Adventures in Talomir is a complete stand-alone fantasy immersion game. Players take on the role of an Adventurer be it Warrior, Thief, Magic User or more – you choose.

Through your decisions and exploits you will increase in abilities, fame, and fortune. Warrior Heroes – Adventures in Talomir is all about the Story, YOUR Story! It rewards you when you are successful and punishes you when you fail.

Combat is swift, deadly, and easily handled as is magic. We’ve done everything to make the game easy to play yet still challenging. Bookkeeping has been reduced to a minimum with the goal of getting players playing as quickly and as often as possible.

Added to this is a simple to use Campaign System that ties your adventures together that gives the who, what, and why of your games. Within minutes the mechanics will generate a complete adventure down to the motivation and actions of the enemy forces and all without a Games Master.

In Warrior Heroes – Adventures in Talomir everyone plays; you can play solo, cooperatively against the game, or competitively, head to head.

[6mmfan]

Reign in Hell. "Fast, brutal, demonic skirmish combat tabletop miniatures wargame" I dont know anything about these but they sound kind of fun.

[Bloggard]

Released today, Warrior Heroes Adventures in Talomir from Two Hour Wargames. Specifically designed for solo gaming but also for co-op and vs opponent, it gives you a full immersion adventure skirmish campaign game with the latest THW mechanics.

https://www.twohourwargames.com/waheadinta.html

From the shop:
Warrior Heroes – Adventures in Talomir is a complete stand-alone fantasy immersion game. Players take on the role of an Adventurer be it Warrior, Thief, Magic User or more – you choose.

Through your decisions and exploits you will increase in abilities, fame, and fortune. Warrior Heroes – Adventures in Talomir is all about the Story, YOUR Story! It rewards you when you are successful and punishes you when you fail.

Combat is swift, deadly, and easily handled as is magic. We’ve done everything to make the game easy to play yet still challenging. Bookkeeping has been reduced to a minimum with the goal of getting players playing as quickly and as often as possible.

Added to this is a simple to use Campaign System that ties your adventures together that gives the who, what, and why of your games. Within minutes the mechanics will generate a complete adventure down to the motivation and actions of the enemy forces and all without a Games Master.

In Warrior Heroes – Adventures in Talomir everyone plays; you can play solo, cooperatively against the game, or competitively, head to head.

looks / sounds interesting, but need to see a bit more detail on the product page before stumping up for the PDF

* - just to say I contacted them about this - and was emailed a TOC for the book as well as other rules that exemplify some of the more unusual mechanisms they use etc.

bought the book - looks very interesting. And the email support to queries etc is brilliant.

[Andrew_McGuire]

Reign in Hell. "Fast, brutal, demonic skirmish combat tabletop miniatures wargame" I dont know anything about these but they sound kind of fun.

The title, as well as the word ‘demonic’ is something of a clue to the milieu and focus of these rules, which is about conflict between cabals of demons in hell (because, one assumes, what else is there to do?)

There is quite a bit of coverage on YouTube, particularly on the channels of the two creators, Adam Loper (Tabletop Minions) and Vince Venturella (Warhammer Weekly).

[amunptah]

I’ve just released my free fantasy skirmish rules here. They are based on Ravenfeast from Little Wars, but cater to generic fantasy. Use any miniatures you like, easy to understand roll under stat mechanics, and incorporate some RPG elements too if you like. Can scale up to larger games with umpires if desired.
https://drive.google.com/file/d/12l3B29EH_d8ULQ2sowOIyFXQqNmsHJcp/view?usp=sharing

[Bloggard]

excellent - like those a lot Amunptah - thanks for putting them up for download.

[MaaX]

My current go-to for fantasy skirmish is en-garde with Medieval armor/weapons and the fantasy add-on. 

[Elbows]

I may have something to add here in a month or so...been working on a little fun violent skirmish game for me and my buddies to replace Mordheim, and it's...working out pretty well.  Stay tuned! 

[Cat]

Melee and Wizard are stand-alone skirmish games that are the starting blocks of The Fantasy Trip RPG.  They work excellently for arena combat and general skirmish games.
http://www.warehouse23.com/products?taxons%5B%5D=558399705-sb

[Psychopomp]

Released today, Warrior Heroes Adventures in Talomir from Two Hour Wargames. Specifically designed for solo gaming but also for co-op and vs opponent, it gives you a full immersion adventure skirmish campaign game with the latest THW mechanics.

https://www.twohourwargames.com/waheadinta.html

From the shop:
Warrior Heroes – Adventures in Talomir is a complete stand-alone fantasy immersion game. Players take on the role of an Adventurer be it Warrior, Thief, Magic User or more – you choose.

Through your decisions and exploits you will increase in abilities, fame, and fortune. Warrior Heroes – Adventures in Talomir is all about the Story, YOUR Story! It rewards you when you are successful and punishes you when you fail.

Combat is swift, deadly, and easily handled as is magic. We’ve done everything to make the game easy to play yet still challenging. Bookkeeping has been reduced to a minimum with the goal of getting players playing as quickly and as often as possible.

Added to this is a simple to use Campaign System that ties your adventures together that gives the who, what, and why of your games. Within minutes the mechanics will generate a complete adventure down to the motivation and actions of the enemy forces and all without a Games Master.

In Warrior Heroes – Adventures in Talomir everyone plays; you can play solo, cooperatively against the game, or competitively, head to head.

Like everything Two Hour Wargames, the blog and forums mention everything about the game except what's different from the last, similar release and why you should bother upgrading.

I've got Warrior Heroes: Legends, why do I need this?

[NotifyGrout]

Two that I did not see on my go-through of this topic:

1) Test of Honour is technically a fantasy skirmish game; the author describes it as more like playing a skirmish based on samurai movies rather than historical battles.

2) The Red Book of the Elf King is an interesting one from Rick Priestley. Takes place in a fae realm known as Eas, where immortal Elven hosts are in endless conflict. Force selection is as simple as choosing a Circle, then picking the Thane's Glamours (spells). All models have a ranged attack as well as melee ability, but each Circle is better at some things than others. The total model count is 19- one Thane, plus 3 units of 6 soldiers each.

Also note that a streamlined version that uses seven models per side, called Elf King Red, is a free download from Lucid Eye's website.

[blacksmith]

Like everything Two Hour Wargames, the blog and forums mention everything about the game except what's different from the last, similar release and why you should bother upgrading.

I've got Warrior Heroes: Legends, why do I need this?

You can perfectly stay with Legends. WHAT is just the newest version. It's got smoother mechanics, changes in reaction and combat, new magic parts, the possibility to roam across all Talomir, etc; 111 pages in total. If you ask me I think it is worthy to upgrade.
BTW, if you ask for differences between them in their blog and forum, I'm completely sure you'll be anwered in short.
Cheers,