"Small Skirmish" Topic

Hi,
what about a Skirmish with a bunch of miniatures per player and a small tabletop (2'x 2' – 3'x 3')?
WWII, Modern, SCI-FI.

Thanks

Roby

What about it?

If you are loooking for rule recommendations I'd suggest Tomorrow's War.

Yes.
Set of rules.

Angel Barracks has a free set of SF skirmish rules which could as well be used for moderns. You have to stat your own figs for most things but it is pretty easy.

angelbarracks.co.uk/rules.html

Force on Force or Skirmish Sangin for modern, Tomorrow's War for near future.

Flying Lead is my pick! Tomorrows War is cool but a bit too complicated for my tastes.

I like Force on Force.

NUTS!

I'll advertise myself a bit.
I do a few games that were written for a small force and a small table.

FiveCore is only 5 bucks, it plays super fast and there's a bunch of expansion stuff if you get into it more hardcore.
Very quick to play, somewhat unpredictable turn sequence and easily adapted to campaigns.

link

Here's a batrep from a guy playing it.

If you want scifi gaming in the style of Traveller and Laserburn, we have that covered as well.

link

A sample AAR here:
link

Typical game is 5-8 figures on each side, on a battle area between 2x2 and 3x3 feet. Five Parsecs is a full blown campaign with encounter tables, random events and a really fun character creation option.
You do need a copy of the FiveCore rules to play it, but there's a bundle available.

Okay, that's enough pimping for the day :)

Force on Force/AmbushAlley, designed for 2'x2' tabletops.

Here are one played last Saturday (Congo, 2013)

Faustnik

ALso, since noone has talked about mini's much yet, 15mm works super well on that size of table.

Even a modest sized table still looks pretty big and movement feels significant. You can put a mechanized platoon on a 3x3 foot table and still not feel shoulder by shoulder.

Chain Reaction – It's a free intro to Two Hour Wargames. It gives you a free look at the Reaction System where your troops balance trying to stay alive with completing their mission. You can choose what to do, but they follow a Reaction Test based on the situations you put them in. Kind of like real life. If you like total control of your figures then this isn't for you.

If you do like it, then THW has games for all the periods you mentioned. Here's some examples.

YouTube link

YouTube link

They cover NUTS but show the Reaction System.

Chain Reaction Link

link

There are lots of games out there, you'll find something that works for you.

Faustnik pt – Beautiful terrain board!

Faistnik very nice indeed – is that 28mm?

How many minis per player? 10-20? Infinity. Rules are free to download.

30-100 or so? Ambush Alley/Force on Force/Tomorrow's War.

Infinity is sufficiently detail-oriented on the different minis that I would not want to play the Infinity rules with 15mm minis (models can have several different close combat weapons, and they matter). That said, playing in the Infinity universe with 15mm minis and rules other than Infinity is I something I've been trying to work out for several years now.

jgibbons

Nope, 20mm

all of the above stuff is great, I'd like to throw Iron Ivan's Point Blank into the mix, its a great ruleset for squad level actions.

Faustnik pt: agreed with the others: a smashing bit of games terrain. Great attention to detail, even down to the roof of the dirty van.

Well done!

John T

Love that board, takes me right back to Musanze, Rwanda.

My top rules for the periods, scale, and table asked about are Force on Force, Two Hour Wargames, and Iron Ivan. 15mm figures based on pennies. A 3' square table can feel huge, especially if you put down lots of terrain. Crowded terrain and short lines of sight are essential to a good skirmish game.

I will also add a plug for the USE-ME rules from 15mm.co.uk $5 USD for the digital version. They have sets to cover a lot of periods and offer some nice ideas in build-your-own troops. A simple d6 mechanic.

Great looking terrain ! Would not want to fight in that !

@Queen Catherine: The entire rules and army lists are free to download. Gotta buy the books if you want the pretty pictures and setting fluff.

You can play the game completely from the downloads.

That said, there is a new edition coming out, and we have not seen the 3rd edition rules as downloads yet. What you can do is look at the Operation: Icestorm starter set, which has 7 minis for each of the two factions and starter rules/scenarios that teach you the basics of Infinity. The two factions are PanOceania, which is the largest player in the Human Sphere, and the Nomads, who are something of the "Migrant workers"/mercenaries/freedom fighters/terrorists of the setting.

I'm actually tempted to buy the starter set, even though I can't stand the PanO rifle design. It is an excellent deal, as the starter set comes with (paper) terrain and a small game mat.