(Commercial) Kingdom Versus Horde: 10mm Fantasy Skirmish

[Dauntless]

Kingdom Versus Horde: 10mm Fantasy Skirmish

This new rulebook is available as a 'pay-what-you-want' download on Wargame Vault.

https://www.wargamevault.com/product/496926/Kingdom-Versus-Horde-10mm-Fantasy-Skirmish



Kingdom Versus Horde is a 10mm skirmish game designed for round-bases. Each base represents ten or so warriors, three or so ogre-sized creatures or one gargantuan creature / war-engine. A player's army will consist of roughly 10-30 bases, depending on the size of the battle. Combat is resolved using the D6 and all measurements are in inches. The recommended table size is 36"x36", but players can do as they will.

The game uses an initiative activation system - units activate according to archetype in the following order: Heroes, Flyers, Cavalry, Infantry, Artillery, Behemoths. Starting with the player who has 'Advantage', players alternate activating one unit per turn, until all units of an archetype have had their turn. They then move on to the next archetype.

Activated units can take up to two actions, in any order, or in multiples of two. These actions are 'Move' and 'Shoot' (i.e. a unit may double 'Move', double 'Shoot', 'Move' and 'Shoot' or 'Shoot' and 'Move'.)

Combat is resolved with two dice rolls (roll to-hit, roll to-wound) and melee combat is simultaneous.

Players build their armies using 'army points'. There are few restrictions to army builds and players may ignore them if they both agree.

Magick spells in the core book are limited to 'Summoning' spells (but there are appendix rules for adding extra magick). 'Mage' bases have magickal attacks and high resistance.

The game is designed to take no more than one hour to play, with minimal book keeping or rulebook checking!

Book contents and extras -

- Two types of 'Solo Play' - 'roll for each' AI unit and 'general AI' strategy.

- Rules for siege warfare.

- Six strategic scenarios.

- Quick reference guide outlining all major rules (cheat sheet of doom)

 -Eight army lists: The Kingdoms of the North / East / South and West, the Elves of Eldanaith, the Demons of the Underworld, the Dead Realms of Tuonasta and the Horde itself!

- The book of lore offers an introduction to the world of Erydus, covering the history of the shadow wars, the realms and religions of the world. The Lost Wolves Saga is a campaign setting at the dusk of the Third Shadow.



The terrible Horde itself...



Ambush! Giant spiders attack a unit of heavy foot.



The East-Lords thunder into battle to crush the Shadow underhoof...

[fred]

Sounds interesting - and some great photos!

I assume base size and shape isn’t critical - I have loads of 10mm on 40mm square bases?

I assume that you haven’t found the shoot shoot option too powerful? Lots of rules which allow two activations, don’t allow double shooting. 

[Dauntless]

Hey Fred,

The round bases thing is mostly aesthetic and partially pragmatic. Bases get no bonuses for flanking / rear attacks - so round bases make sense. Cavalry on rectangular bases might get an uncosted advantage - no problem if both sides have them!

Really the goal of this project was to get people using round bases for smaller scale 10mm battles. But I did a bit of rectangular playtesting - its not bad, but feels a touch weird. Square will be better than rectangular!

Don't worry about double shooting! Missile attacks tend to have one less skill and one less strength than melee attacks. So an average archer base hits on '2' or less and wounds heavy troops on a '1'. Against targets in cover they are hitting on 1s! You can screen with heavy troops against the worst of archery, or use terrain to mess them up. Elite archers cost a lot and can be countered by Flyers or Cavalry who can get the drop on them. Magick missiles and artillery are deadly against heavy armour, but if they are not supported they will quickly get taken out as a high priority target. In other words, even the most powerful shooting units require support to be effective - which means inflexible shieldwall formations which cost yet more points. Only 50% of a player's bases may consist of missile troops.

Every game I've played has been decided in melee combat (melee troops fight in two 'ranks' so they get plenty of attacks). Archery plays a supporting role, picking off vulnerable units and the like. It is wise to move those archers to capture objectives, clear up LoS, etc, so it's quite rare to double 'shoot' for the whole of an activation.

Finally, most of the scenarios require players to take and hold objectives, move across the board, capture territory, etc. Victory conditions which favour melee troops. An army of elite elvish bow-masters with no armour would be screwed in most set ups!

[fred]

Good to hear! I’d invested six quid in the rules anyway.

I’m impressed with how many figures you got on a 20mm base, would have guessed they were quite a bit bigger based on the number of figures.

Given the move distances are quite generous, I don’t think my bigger 40mm square bases will be a big problem, but I think WM 40x20mm bases will likely work fine too. I’ve got far too many figures based this way to think about other basing options.

I think scenario objectives are a good counter to the gun-line style of army in any era.

[Kikuchiyo]

Certainly looks cool

[Polkovnik]

It seems strange calling it a skirmish games when it doesn't fit what I would think of as the normal "definition" of a skirmish game - low number of troops on each side, individual basing and individual figures can operate independently.
Also it seems strange to base a set of rules around a basing convention that (as far as I'm aware) no-one else is likely to use.

[Dauntless]

It seems strange calling it a skirmish games when it doesn't fit what I would think of as the normal "definition" of a skirmish game - low number of troops on each side, individual basing and individual figures can operate independently.
Also it seems strange to base a set of rules around a basing convention that (as far as I'm aware) no-one else is likely to use.

I hear you, but I called it a 'skirmish' game because of the relatively low base count (you can play with 10 bases), the relatively low number of warriors on the field (you could potentially count models as 1-for-1) and because it doesn't take forever to play. By contrast I've played 28mm skirmish with nigh a hundred goblins on the field! Definitions are not always ideal.

I put a few pics up of my round based 10mms and got more positive feedback than I've ever had on any post in 15+ years of online posting. It's also the main thing that makes the game stand out, so I see the novelty as more of a pro than a con. People can still use their rectangular / square bases if they want 

[Kikuchiyo]

Anyone tried this game out?