Fantasy RPG/Warband/Skirmish type rules?

[TheBlackCrane]

Pondering new projects for the new year, one I'm quite keen to go into is some sort of fantasy skirmish/rpg type of game - largely because it will give me an excuse to buy various fantasy figures and spend time painting them without any pressing need to create specific forces...

Anyway, would anyone care to recommend suitable rules systems?
I know of Song of Blades and Heroes and am quite tempted, but if anybody can give me more information on the mechanisms and character/warband creation that would be handy.

Fantacide sounds interesting, although I'm not that keen on their starting warbands but I know it has a creation system, I just don't know whether it's actually available in the UK or where it's from and so forth, and the website I can find for it seems to want me to register in order to actually find out anything about the systems.

Mordheim I know is available to download, but I'm just not keen.

Any information on the above, or suggestions for others, would be much appreciated; looking for something with a decent flexibility in creating forces/characters, lends well to narrative/campaign...

Thanks!
Rob

[thebinmann]

I know Two Hour wargames (which is RPG, Skirmish and good for solo) do one that is well liked on LAF as is Skuldred

Easy to use all purpose and free is Savage Worlds from pinnacle.

Cheers

[Swiss Tony]

I would recommend Goalsystem Delves from Four Color Studios

 http://www.four-colorstudios.com/

Excellent as an RPG or skirmish system.

Cheers

Tony

[timlillig]

Song of Blades and Heroes characters use two statistics and a set of special rules.   The two statistics are combat and quality.  Quality is essentially how likely the figure is to activate and is also used in the morale system.  There are also about 40 special abilities in the main rules and about 100 total in all of the rulebooks.  For example, instead of having a movement statistic, there is a special rule for those creatures who move more or less than average.

As far as I know, Mordheim only has rules for humans and rat men.  So, if you want something to inspire you to paint fantasy figures, it is probably not a good choice.

[bugmans6x]

You could try Brink of Battle at www.brinkofbattle.com. They're done as a historical skirmish set but they have their Epic Heroes fantasy supplement for free on the website.

The rules are quite engaging and extremely customizable. The rules have been reviewed quite favorably in WSS and on Anatoli's website.

You won't be disappointed as the gameplay is very unique.


Charles

[mikedemana]

Song of Blades is a great skirmish system. We use it for games from Ancient to future Sci-Fi. There are various rules set to adapt it to each period, but in general, the rules work the same and are very playable. They would adapt well for a pseudo-RPG/skirmish game. One recommendation that I would make would be to give your "characters" the "Tough" special rule, and their hirelings and such be normal troops. That will make your characters more survivable.

The rules and various supplements are available inexpensively as PDF files. They have become a standard at our gaming table, being used for Dark Ages, post-apocalyptic, French & Indian War, horror, WW II, Star Wars, and of course, fantasy.

Feel free to post any specifics about the rules sets....I own a good chunk of them.

Mike Demana

[Black Sheep]

I've had good success with using Brink of Battle and just substituting in fantasy miniatures. It's a system designed for historical skirmish, but it lends itself very well to customization, plus they have their play test fantasy rules for free available on their website. The gameplay is fast and dynamic, only has three stats and is very easy to learn. Plus, it's designed to work in any time period, so if you wanted to play fantasy with black powder or, like, a Weird West type of setting, you just take the existing rules and plug in the fantasy play test stuff to the appropriate time period.

It also has a campaign system that's fairly simple, lends itself well to building a narrative. I've played several campaigns of it with my friends and it lends very well to building up flavor around competing forces, helping to set up a story as you go. Very cool stuff.

Highly recommended, obviously.

[MRex21]

I concur with the Brink of Battle mentions.  I recently picked up the historical game and the game mechanics are elegant and easy to learn.  The Epic Heroes supplement is free and the author is very accessible to players questions and comments.  Give it a look-see.

[Sangennaru]

i'd say Swords and Wizardry... apparently after the reaper kickstarter they released the full ediction for free on their website (http://www.swordsandwizardry.com/?page_id=18) and it's quite great!

Basically, it is the first ediction of D&D, but somehow i think it could be great for wargaming! ...and i'm gonna use it with my reaper orde coming to me on march!

[phreedh]

Song of Blades is my recommendation. It's cheap, accessible and above all easily customizable. It is, by far, the most accessible rule set I've ever played. I've looked at Broadsword Adventures, Mordheim, Savage Worlds, Warrior Heroes, Brink of Battle, Havoc, Skulldred and several others. For general skirmish I'd say Song of Blades fits my purposes best. Simple rules that still allow for fun games.

The only downside is, it doesn't really fit well for cavern crawls or pseudo rpg, where increases and boosts should come in small increments. If a character increases in level in Song of Blades, it increases quite a lot.

[Sangennaru]

True. It's pretty hard to have a fine caraterization of the character with only 2 values for description. You will have pretty dinamic actions, though!

[Paleskin]

SOBH is quick and easy to play,simple mechanics that work well on the tabletop.

Its not great for background fluff etc though so if its that you want maybe try something else?

[phreedh]

if anybody can give me more information on the mechanisms and character/warband creation that would be handy.

I missed that part...

Have a look at the "official" warband builder:
http://www.wombatzone.com/files/SBHform.html

Since the stat lines are rather abstract, you don't really need to differentiate between a model armed with a sword and one armed with a halberd. If someone is armed with a bow, you give them the Shooter ability. This doesn't have to be limited to bows though, it could just as well be an arquebus or flintlock pistol, natural attacks such as shooting quills or spitting fire; or just a monkey slinging poo.

There are a lot of profiles in the rule books. They are just guide lines and suggestions and not law. Feel free to create your own versions of minotaurs, skeletons or shitflinging primates. =)

When we play, I prepare scenarios or we pick out the models and discuss what stats they have and then calculate them in the builder. You can also have each player secretly build their own forces in the builder and just have each other approve the other's roster before the game.

[Sangennaru]

Ah, and there's the crappy rule of "combat" which is used for melee and ranged. So a strong archer is a strong fighter as well.
Of course it's possible to correct it giving a "ranged combat value" linked to the ability of ranged.... but still, some house rules are more than needed

If you want something a little more deeper you can really go with swords and wizardry. Just take a look. the 80's atmosphere is quite cute, and the rules are balanced and fast. You can level and wathever... and as long as you don't focus too much on a single character, you might have great results in a skirmish mode!

[Black Sheep]

Brink of Battle's campaign system does provide a bit of a slower progression, if that's what you're interested in. Your warriors get experience and your warband gets supply points; the first allows you to improve your individual existing models, the latter allows you to add new gear to your existing warriors or new models to the warband.

It does only have three stats, and from what it sounds like, is similar to SOBH in that it uses one stat for fighting, meaning an archer will be competent in close combat as well. However, with the way Traits change the character, I've never really felt that someone who is built for melee doesn't have an edge on someone built for archery once the fighting gets close, even if they have the same stat.

So to address the question about builds and warband composition...

There are three force types in Brink of Battle you can choose from (Horde, Standard, and Elite) which are each composed of three types of models (Commander, Veterans, and Troopers). Every force only has one Commander, but the key difference between each force type is both the number of Trooper- and Veteran-class models you can field and the ratio of points you can spend on them. Veterans have a higher stat potential and two trait slots where Troopers have a slightly lower stat potential and only one trait slot. With a Horde, you'll get a high ratio of Trooper models, with Standard, you get a good blend of Troopers and Veterans, and with Elite, you'll get mostly Veteran models with very few Troopers.

Each model has three stats, which you use for making whatever checks the game calls on you to make. They also have a number of Traits depending on their model type (see above), and those traits either modify their stats or give them special abilities. Finally, each model has a Gear loadout, which includes things like weapons and armor but also other types of utility items.

The system itself is very easy. It's based on a d10 and follows an alternating activation pattern, meaning I activate one guy and execute all his actions, then you do the same. The thing I really like about it, though, is the player who doesn't have initiative gets an ability called the Break which is an action interrupt you can play in response to your opponent declaring an action. Basically, one player can say "I am going to activate this model to shoot", and the player with Break can use it to act before that model and activate one of his own in response, doing anything from moving that model away so it is no longer a viable target to shooting back.

Very fun system, super flexible, has a lot about it I like that I haven't seen before. Just fast, easy, and a good campaign system.