[OSR] I think OSR can be used as a skirmish system + a Battle Report

[Aesthete]

I've been noodling around with the notion that OSR (so basically, old school B/X or BECMI type D&D) can serve as a very credible basis for a miniature skirmish game. In weaker moments, I even theorize that it wouldn't be too far fetched to use a version of the rules to run an early-WFB-style rank and file miniature battle game.

The appeal is obvious (to me) - namely that you could run regular RPG sessions, break out the minis to resolve combat in a satisfying way (that may bring more mini gamers into your social circle), and when the narrative called for it have some big old miniature battles.

It's totally a thing I want, so I'll continue thinking it's a good idea and probably (maybe) work on the idea, and perhaps even post updates in this thread.

I'm curious to think if any of you fine folks think it might work, or if you're aware of anyone who's pulled something like that off - and if so, how successful they've been.

[Aesthete]

As for the battle report...

This past Saturday, I ran a first spontaneous test of the OSR-as-skirmish-game idea.

In another first, it was also the first time my (six-year-old) son played a miniature wargame. It went pretty well.

Skirmish at the Old Stable

"Did you see that sorcerous warrior taking shelter near the old stable?"

"Yes, he was covered in blood."

"And there were Elves with him. At least two of them!"

The farmers did not normally traffic with the allegedly cursed warriors of the Wizard Empire, and even less with self-evidently dangerous folks like Elves.

"They must be up to something... something not good. What should we do?"

"I say we burn the stable! Then they'll go away!"



The full (but still pretty lightweight) battle report can be found here.

[102-year-old-man]

thank you for your report! As an RPG player I was always wondering if we could just use our RPG rules for some skirmishing

[Ethelred the Almost Ready]

Thanks for the report.  It's great that your son and wife will play wargames (no luck with my family).
I did have to search to find out what OSR was!
I loved your pictures on the character sheets to help identify which figure was which - I will be stealing this idea.
I got rid of all my D&D books years ago, but found I still had ICE (Arms Law, Claw Law) hidden at the bottom of a cupboard.  I might just need to give this a try.

[Aesthete]

thank you for your report! As an RPG player I was always wondering if we could just use our RPG rules for some skirmishing

Glad you liked the report ^_^

Given D&D's provenance - Chainmail was essentially a skirmish game - it seems pretty reasonable to me

[Aesthete]

Thanks for the report.  It's great that your son and wife will play wargames (no luck with my family).
I did have to search to find out what OSR was!
I loved your pictures on the character sheets to help identify which figure was which - I will be stealing this idea.
I got rid of all my D&D books years ago, but found I still had ICE (Arms Law, Claw Law) hidden at the bottom of a cupboard.  I might just need to give this a try.

Well, my wife hasn't signed up for wargames yet, just D&D and possibly other RPGs. This, however, is part of my scheme to inveigle her. As for my son, at six years old I'm still pretty cool in his eyes. The question is whether it'll be cool to play with dad's nerdy toys when he becomes a teenager.

The pictures thing... yeah, I realized that the colour matching for the spear and shield guys was much easier than writing things down. As for the Chaos warrior and the Elves, my son is working on his reading taking on words such as "bed" and "cat" and "icecream"... so I thought visual identification would make for a smoother gameplay experience.

Sounds fun to dig into ICE as well. My current working approach is to simplify things as much as possible, because I want to be able to scale to a reasonable number of models on the table without it feeling tedious and slow. So there's going to be an interesting tension between the needs of the it's-an-RPG-and-it's-my-character where more widgets generate interesting decisions and it's-a-miniatures-game where too many widgets can quickly get too dense and complex (especially for newcomers).

Re: "I got rid of my D&D books" - the good thing about the OSR thing is that there are  a bunch of versions of the rules out there as cheap PDFs of pretty much each edition, and some of them are even free. So it could be pretty low cost to get into the tinkering if you ever get the urge.

[Hobgoblin]

Interesting thread!

One old-school game that is also a top-notch skirmish game is The Fantasy Trip. It was built around the excellent skirmish boardgame Melee. The only problem is the need for hexes (though there are workarounds).

Some of the very stripped-down OSR games might work well. Into the Odd has one of the best takes on hit points that I've seen (the link is to the free version without all the great background stuff and scenarios), and Searchers of the Unknown has a very elegant and simple combat system.

Have you seen Delta's The Book of War (link in the sidebar)? It's an OSR/D&D-based mass combat system. I haven't yet played it, but it looks pretty decent.

[Slorm]

I have been looking for something like that, finally I think that Rangers of the Shadow Deep could help you. If you are looking for a light OSR I can recommend you Microlite D20.

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