Oldschool skirmish gaming rules?

ogryn

Member
I am looking for a skirmish game that i can use with my chaos empire and greenskin models of old. I want a skirmish game for single models. I want to use all the cool models Knightmare games has been making in their kickstarters.
Song of blades just does not have enough crunch or fit. Not sure i dig strongswords order thing.
I am leaning towards modifying mordheim for one off games. It has the flavor of Warhammer and i can modify all the crazy chaos i want.
Age of sigmar skirmish is an idea too. Skirmish 3rd wfb? mixing in some 40k?
Has anybody been using anything else?
 
Very good question and something I have been trying to work out myself over the past seven years.

My goal has been to try and find a universal rules system that covers any kind of setting -- historical, fantasy, future/sci-fi or mythological.

I have experimented with several books (not to an exhaustive degree, but enough to gain an idea of what I like and don't like), including Song of Blades & Heroes, which I always found lacking crunch as you say.

In the end, I have decided to go with Rogue Trader as the universal platform and just import creature profiles from Fantasy Battle/Fantasy Role Play, which combined provide an extensive list of options covering more or less everything.
 

Fimm McCool

Member
What are the kind of criteria for the game you are looking for? For instance, do you want an advancement/campaign system? Do you want diverse scenarios or just combat situations? Do you want random rolling or tactical gameplay? Lots of customisation and charts or very simple?
 

Zhu Bajie

Member
I do Warhammer Fantasy Battles 2nd Edition mixed with Rogue Trader (3rd edition was published after Rogue Trader and isn't quite 100% compatible, whereas WFB2 is). This has a lot more flexibility and tools to play with rather than being restricted to certain warbands like Mordheim, and has more of an open world old-school feeling. But it's not quite an an out-of-the-box solution so be prepared to tinker.

I think where WFB2/RT falls down in the single model area is that a sword is a sword is a sword, whether it's Short or a Broadsword, and that's not really a satisfying level of detail for single model campaigning. Really I think you're getting into RPG territory, for oldschool flavour then1st Edition Advanced Dungeons & Dragons can't be beat, but I've never played D&D as a tabletop game.

For more old school flavour, you could try Laserburn / Confrontation but ignore the high-tech stuff.
 
Zhu Bajie":1pjpt4dw said:
(3rd edition was published after Rogue Trader and isn't quite 100% compatible, whereas WFB2 is).

What about 3E is not 100% compatible with RT?

Zhu Bajie":1pjpt4dw said:
I think you're getting into RPG territory, for oldschool flavour then 1st Edition Advanced Dungeons & Dragons can't be beat, but I've never played D&D as a tabletop game.

I have experience playing Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay as a skirmish game and it works really well.
 
Stormbringer":1pwe61of said:
I have experience playing Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay as a skirmish game and it works really well.

Yeah, we used to wargame out battle encounters in WFRP campaigns. Worked really well, apart from the fact that if you were just starting out there was a good chance your entire party would get mauled by a couple of stray dogs. ;)
 

ogryn

Member
I do not need a campaign system. Just fun one off games with lots of cool models and creatures. Skulldred has peaked my interest but that game will never see light of day unfortunely. Dragon rampant has a few weird things to it that keep it from being a favorite of mine, plus having to build units. Frostgrave is a thought(not as easy to build what you want). I do not mind modifying rules as needed i just need a base with good content.

I kind of like the idea of rogue trader and wfb mixed.
Can you go into more detail about why 2nd is better then 3rd wfb?
Do you skirmish it all of small squad everything?
 

Jonas

Member
I am currently playing AoS with old-school models.

I think it will be perfect for skirmish with Knightmare miniatures.

If you disregard the bonkus background, the rules are actually quite good, easy and adapt well with most Warhammer related models.

Right now I am building a 50 point skirmish Tzeentch warband, it has 1 Chaos Lord, 2 Chaos Warriors, 2 Chaos Marauders, 1 Minotaur, 1 Beastigor, 1 Pink Horror and 2 Blue Horrors. I have yet to try it out in combat, but it is giving an easy example of a warbands size.
 

Fimm McCool

Member
Check out my skirmish rules (free) at oakbound.co.uk/systemmech If they spark interest there's a rulebook with a whole lot more detail in and easy to customise for your own stuff. Same rules apply to any setting, with a few different actions and flavours. There's a warband list booklet coming out soon and a campaign book for more RPG adventures. It's a diceless system, so not to everyone's taste, but very strategic and heavily rooted in characters.
 

Zhu Bajie

Member
Stormbringer":sn0fsl5w said:
Zhu Bajie":sn0fsl5w said:
(3rd edition was published after Rogue Trader and isn't quite 100% compatible, whereas WFB2 is).

What about 3E is not 100% compatible with RT?

Off the top of my head, PVs of weapons. IIRC crossbows have exactly the same PV in WFB2 and WH40K:RT, but they are more expensive than a bolt-gun in WFB3. I think some of the ranges are different as well. The way Ld and the other Personal Characteristics of leaders modify troops in their units is different.

ogryn":sn0fsl5w said:
I kind of like the idea of rogue trader and wfb mixed.
Can you go into more detail about why 2nd is better then 3rd wfb?
Do you skirmish it all of small squad everything?

WFB2 is better organised than WFB3, it's easier to find what you're looking for. It has less cruft for skirmishing - you don't need the manoeuvres and unit formations (or painting and modelling guide). To be honest all you really need from WFB over and above RT is different creatures like the Undead and the expanded spell lists, which are compiled here (see Oldhammer Stats for the monsters and Spells for the erm... spells) :

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/ ... sp=sharing

Both single figures acting independently and groups using skirmish formation (i.e. within 2" of each other) work fine.
 
Zhu Bajie":2nm137w3 said:
To be honest all you really need from WFB over and above RT is different creatures like the Undead and the expanded spell lists

Exactly this. Rogue Trader as the core ruleset, WFB2E, WFB3E and WFRP for an expanded bestiary.

WFRP's bestiary features a number of creatures that WFB does not, but these need to be reversed-engineered out of the D100/percentile system to be compatible (thankfully this is easy to do using the guide on page 213).

WFB3E also features some other monsters that were introduced in that version that are found in neither WFB2E or WFRP, such as (from memory) the Cockatrice, Gorgon, Chaos Centaur, Ki-Rin etc.
 
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