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Author Topic: A new guy looking for new Skirmish rules with a nice campaign system  (Read 9315 times)

Offline Gecko

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Hi,

I am looking for a "new" rulesystem to make use of the huge kind of different Fantasy miniatures I have collected over the years. I prefer small to medium scale Skirmish Systems and the game I played a lot and really enjoyed was Mortheim. even though it was really dependent on luck the campaign system was a great experience. It was just great to see how your group of little soldiers developed over time, got injuries and gathered experience to level up and lern new skills.

On the downside, the system has to be considered a closed system and is no longer available. That is why I am looking for something new. I allready found a few Fanatsy rulesystems but prior buying some rules I would really appretiate some advice about campaign systems and the opportunities to use these systems to create such a "Mortheim-like" gaming experience.

The ones I found are:

God of Battles
looks like a mass skirmisher. Maybe a good substitue for Warhammer kind of games? I only found the name and some battle reports, is there a review of the rules somewhere?

Fantasy Warriors
This link is all I found, but looks interesting enough to ask for more info

Brink of Battle
Would love to have a detailed review on this one.

warheim
Is it available in english? I olny found one website and if I remember correctly it was written completely in polish, nothing I can handle...

Open Combat
Another newcommer, as far as I can judge it. Any further info is appreciated.



Let me thank you for reading through this topic and helping me to pick the right set of rules for me with some pictures of the miniatures I used in Mortheim. They really deserve a new system to be used in  :D:














Offline Argonor

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Re: A new guy looking for new Skirmish rules with a nice campaign system
« Reply #1 on: December 04, 2014, 12:03:50 AM »
Hi

God of Battles is - as you are suggesting - a great substitute for Warhamster (take a look at my GoB thread for more on my take on the rules: http://leadadventureforum.com/index.php?topic=68878.0). It's a simple, fast system that plays equally well with a few units as with big armies. Skirmish? Not really, it IS a battle game, although the smallest recommended size is actually called 'Skirmish' level, at 24 pts, and usually 2-5 units per side.

I just skimmed the Fantasy Warriors rules yesterday, actually (promted to do so by Jevenkah's many posts about thet particular game), but I think they look a bit too old school for my taste. Too many stats, too much record-keeping.

Open Combat is fairly new, but one bloke brought it to a recent con here in DK, and there's a write-up here: http://codetroll.blogspot.dk/2014/11/open-combat-on-table.html

Brink of Battle - don't know it, but found this: http://wargamersworkbench.blogspot.dk/2013/01/brink-of-battle-after-action-reports.html
and this: http://infrequentwargamer.blogspot.dk/2012/07/brink-of-battle-playtest.html

Warheim? Don't know it, but it sounds like some stew of Warhamster and Mordheim??

You might consider Lion Rampant which handles small scale engagements well (and has a section on Fantasy, too, I think), but for Skirmish as in 'a group of individual wariors doing battle', I really don't know many Fantasy sets apart from Song of Blades (which I would like very much, if it weren't for my notoriously bad axctivation dice rolls).
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Offline Faust23

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Re: A new guy looking for new Skirmish rules with a nice campaign system
« Reply #2 on: December 04, 2014, 06:29:29 AM »

Brink of Battle
Would love to have a detailed review on this one.


Alex over at Anatoli's Game Room blog has the most comprehensive collections of reviews, battle reports, interviews, and info of Brink of Battle and its Fantasy supplement Epic Heroes.  You can start here http://anatolisgameroom.blogspot.com/2012/03/brink-of-battle-wargaming-through-ages.html

Noch Weiter!
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Author of the Origins Award 2013 Nominated Brink of Battle: Skirmish Gaming through the Ages; Epic Heroes: Skirmish Gaming in the Realms of Fantasy; and Scrappers: Post-Apocalyptic Skirmish Wargames published by Osprey Games

Offline maxxev

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Re: A new guy looking for new Skirmish rules with a nice campaign system
« Reply #3 on: December 04, 2014, 08:50:49 AM »
Warheim is only in Polish, thought I comment on QCs updates everytime asking for it to be in english lol.

Though Mordheim hasn't been supported by GW for years you might want to check out the following fan made supliments that have kept the game very much alive:

Biggest and most recent: Border town burning - Totaly new way for the players to progress through campaigns
Nemesis crown suplimentt: http://cianty.ashtonsanders.com/nc/
Pirates of Sartosa: https://sites.google.com/site/styroheim/sartosa

Plus of course the "Lustria", "Karak Azgal", "Khemri" and "Empire in flames" supliments

Also there are another two in the works at the moment is "The sealed city": http://sealedcity.blogspot.co.uk/
"Mutiney in Marienburg" - no website yet but info and some released files on Liber malefic blog

Offline commissarmoody

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Re: A new guy looking for new Skirmish rules with a nice campaign system
« Reply #4 on: December 04, 2014, 08:59:56 AM »
I am interested in the Marienbrug supplement
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Offline dijit

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Re: A new guy looking for new Skirmish rules with a nice campaign system
« Reply #5 on: December 04, 2014, 09:08:00 AM »
I've just started looking into Open Combat abd it looks pretty good so far. Some of the mechanics will feel familiar if you've played Bloodbowl. No campaign system as yet, but it seems work is progressing on that and adding a more advanced magic system. Seems a reasonable substitute for mordenheim.

Songs of Blades and Heroes, is another possible substitute for Mordenheim, though in my opinion it gets a little 'samey' after a while. Fine for one off games, but not something I'd want to play week in week out.

I've also played God of Battles a lot, you should find a few threads about it, both Argonor's, and Pheonikuz's (my regular opponent). It's a good system, though on the larger side of skirmish, you're looking at around 30-40 models. No campaign system though. Foundry seems to be dropping it slowly, which is a pity as it's pretty solid, and if there came some more army lists for it, it could really be something great.

Offline Nord

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Re: A new guy looking for new Skirmish rules with a nice campaign system
« Reply #6 on: December 04, 2014, 09:20:14 AM »
This has come up quite frequently in the recent past, I asked a similar question myself about small skirmish/medium battle games. As a result I tried Mayhem, Lord of the Rings Strategy Battle Game, and War of the Ring (better for bigger games). I also have a copy of Legions of Battle which looks very promising. These are not really skirmish games - though some use LotRSBG for this purpose, but worth looking at for the medium sized battles.

Games that have been mentioned as true skirmish games, though I have never played them and do not know if they have character development systems, which should not be a huge problem to devise yourself - if you were really stuck for ideas you could simply cut and paste from your old Mordheim set - include these

Song of Blades and Heroes and I think there's a dungeon/adventuring supplement
Pulp Alley (and the Lost Adventure supplement?) somebody mentioned to me would be easy to use as fantasy
Godslayer - got a copy of this, it's Mordheim sized bands, but not read it as yet, saving it for xmas  8)

More for you to research!

Offline Argonor

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Re: A new guy looking for new Skirmish rules with a nice campaign system
« Reply #7 on: December 04, 2014, 11:07:09 AM »
I forgot to ask:

When you say 'Campaign' - do you mean a system for individual stat progression, or are you thinking of map/resource management, or even both?

When talking skirmish, I would assume the former, but...  :)

Offline Veralius

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Re: A new guy looking for new Skirmish rules with a nice campaign system
« Reply #8 on: December 04, 2014, 12:40:29 PM »
Hi there,

I've faced similar problems reconciling my love of fantasy skirmish games with the 'death' of Mordheim.

As others have suggested, there's Song of Blades and Heroes. I find this a great little game for lighter style play (like at conventions and such), but doesn't have enough granularity to feel like a true skirmish game to me.

Brink of Battle is good, but again doesn't have much in the way of statlines. Most of the grit comes from special rules and equipment, but it does have the advantage of being flexible enough to cater for any time period and tech base. If you throw in the extra special rules from the Epic Heroes supplement then the possibilities quickly become endless. As I think somebody mentioned above, Anatoli wrote an excellent review of this game on his blog.

Have you considered the Lord of the Rings Strategy Battle Game, using the Battle Companies addon for the campaign rules? I've recently found this and find it a nice little system for skirmish to small-level engagements. As it's LOTR, most generic fantasy stuff fits in without to much adapting! I'm hoping to do a bit more with this game and my homebrew fantasy setting shortly.

Another wildcard could be Warband: Goalsystem Fantasy Skirmish, which you can read about here: http://leadadventureforum.com/index.php?topic=67791.0. I haven't played much using the playtest rules, but what I have tried has been an absolute blast! Cinematic action that doesn't get too bogged down, with a very detailed campaign system. Scott seems like a really nice guy as well!

Cheers,

Sam.

Offline Gecko

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Re: A new guy looking for new Skirmish rules with a nice campaign system
« Reply #9 on: December 04, 2014, 12:48:48 PM »
You all make me happy, I am glad to see so much reaction on my questions, thanks for your feedback  :).

If I understand you correctly, God of Battles is more a mass-skirmish system, still an interesting looking game but not what I am looking for right now.


Brink of Battle moved up on my imaginary purchase list. From what I have read so far it includes nearly everything I am looking for. Due to the fact Open Combat seems to be still under development, maybe it is better to wait until it can unfold its full potential...

@maxxev: these links are new to me, will check them out later, thank you for that input.

Songs of Blades and Heroes seems to be pretty widespread among fantasy skirmish players. What concerns me a little bit is the fact you only have two stats. Isn't that becoming a little bit to generic and "boring"?

Godslayer is a closed system and you will need the unit cards to play the game. I am out, because I am looking for a little bit more open/ generic system.


LotRSBG offers nice mechanics, sadly I was not able to pick up the rules and with the current price tags it is close to not affordable. Never heard of Mayhem but if these systems share the same kind of rules I have to check it out.

@Argonor: campaign for me mean that there should be some kind of progression for the armies in between the games. The games should be somehow connected to each other. Individual stat progression is the best kind of connection I can imagine  ;D. So your assumption was correct.

Offline Gecko

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Re: A new guy looking for new Skirmish rules with a nice campaign system
« Reply #10 on: December 04, 2014, 12:52:03 PM »
@veralius: nice input as well. So I am not alone with my "problem".

I have never heard of the Battle Companies addon. can you tell me where to find something about it?


Warband: Goalsystem Fantasy Skirmish is added to my list and will be researched later on  8)

Offline Treebeard

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Re: A new guy looking for new Skirmish rules with a nice campaign system
« Reply #11 on: December 04, 2014, 01:07:30 PM »
As mentionned by maxxev, Mordheim is not totally dead since there's a lot of fan made stuff all around the web.
I don't really understand the concept of "death" when it comes to a ruleset or game you like. It is not because it isn't supported anymore by a company or an author that the rules stop being good and playable. You seems, in your introduction post, to like Mordheim much. Just play the game you like.

Offline Veralius

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Re: A new guy looking for new Skirmish rules with a nice campaign system
« Reply #12 on: December 04, 2014, 01:16:37 PM »
Re: Battle Companies...An industrious chap at www.one-ring.co.uk took the original rules and spiffed them up quite a bit. They are available to download here: http://www.one-ring.co.uk/kb.php?a=259

It's quite a nice system, provided you liked the main SBG rules to begin with! I've been sitting on it for a while, waiting for a copy of the original SBG rulebook (not the Hobbit one) to pop up on eBay at a reasonable price. I recently got one for about £15, so it does happen!

Also, Nord mentioned Pulp Alley. This is more what I'd call "narrative-skirmish" in that it requires both parties wanting to create a fun story together, but it's a brilliant little game that works in any setting. There's a thriving community for it on the Pulp board in this very forum, and the creators have been a very visible presence there since the game's release. Definitely worth a look - I think there is a free, stripped-down version of the rules on Wargame Vault.

Right, I'd better get back to what I should be doing (working). Hope you find a system you like!

Cheers,

Veralius.

Offline phreedh

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Re: A new guy looking for new Skirmish rules with a nice campaign system
« Reply #13 on: December 04, 2014, 01:46:22 PM »
I've played a lot of Song of Blades. The problem with it isn't the lacking amount of stats, but the low granularity of the stats. Every improvement to a model's capability is a large improvement thus making it unsuited for campaign play. Another issue is that all models only have one hitpoint, so regardless of a model's status (hero or general mook) one hit will have them out of the game.

I'd look into Brink of Battle if I were you. Also, Two Hour Wargames' Swordplay which is very much a campaign driven affair. Open Combat doesn't look too shabby either.
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Offline Nikdo

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Re: A new guy looking for new Skirmish rules with a nice campaign system
« Reply #14 on: December 04, 2014, 03:10:55 PM »
I just wanted to mention another upcoming option.  Otherworld Miniatures has announced that they are running a Kickstarter next week for their Otherworld Skirmish game.  Not sure if it will meet all of your requirements but it is based on the popular 7TV system.

http://z9.invisionfree.com/Otherworld_Minis/index.php?showtopic=927&st=120

You'll have to go down a bit on the page to find the announcement.  The first post in the thread is a year or so old but describes what they are working on.
« Last Edit: December 04, 2014, 03:12:26 PM by Nikdo »

 

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