I’ve been playing with SKIRMASH over the past few days and it’s been a lot of fun. My initial idea with SKIRMASH was a quick and easy skirmish game that balanced itself. Here are the original rules I posted in a single image:
The way it works with SKIRMASH is the stats work like double edged swords. A stat that makes you good in one way makes you bad in another.
So for example a figure has a ‘Manoeuvre’ stat. Manoeuvre affects the order in which figures activate and it also works to increase their move distance. However a player needs to roll higher than their figure’s Manoeuvre in order to save them from hits. So basically the faster you are, the easier you are to kill, the slower and so presumably more heavily armoured you are, the more difficult you are to kill.
Combat also works similarly, a single stat works for both ranged and melee combat. When a figure takes a shot they need to roll above their Combat stat to hit a target, and when they attack an enemy in melee Combat they and their opponent both have dice rolled for them, and they add their Combat stats, with the higher roller winning. So high Combat is bad for ranged attacks, but good for melee.
I’ve been working on another stat ‘Presence’, which is a bit of an odd one so far, but add a little more flavour and diversity to my figures which as odd and varied as they are can only be a good thing. Presence allows figures to make special ranged attacks against enemies within 6”, again by rolling above you hit, you also save against those attacks using the target’s Presence stat, again by rolling above. So a low Presence is good for those attacks. However, I’ve also thrown in objectives, points on the board for figures to attack and defend (as much as I don’t like ‘objectives’ done in this way), and at the end of the game you total up your figures’ Presence on each objective to see who’s holding it. So for objectives and in that case winning the game, a high presence is good.
I’m wary of adding more stats, as I’m not a fan of stat heavy games, especially for solo play, I feel like you do a lot of looking things up and less playing. But I’m still looking for ways of adding self balancing personality to my figures, my latest additions after all are an odd bunch:
Let me know any thoughts!
Deathzap 
Quick test today with 2 teams of 4 guys (without presence), solo playing.
Team 1 : everybody is 3/3
Team 2 : 4/5, 6/5, 1/1, 3/3.
I used 2 D10 (lacking a D20 in my collection).
It worked well, machinegun (1/1) did a good work of area denial while “fast” warriors (4/5 and 6/5) promptly rushed into enemy lines. However bad activation throws led them to be shot down after causing only 1 casualty and 1 wound.
At this point machinegun tried to move as far as possible to get more shooting opportunities while 3/3 tried to contain team 1, causing 2 wounds before being hacked to pieces.
Machinegun managed to shoot 1 more guy of team 1 before getting engaged in melee (and getting 5 wounds in a row).
I think the stats management system is well made. Maybe adding a wounds management system could be nice ? For exemple : -1 on manoeuvre stat for each wound (with a minimum of 1) ?
Brilliant! I’m really pleased it worked well. Maybe additional wounds gives you a minus to your activation roll?
You are right, a malus on the activation roll (D20) or the actions roll (D6) feels better. On a bad actions roll (D6) a wounded fig might only be able to move or try to get into melee. A -1/-2 on the activation roll (just thinking, all ideas should be tested) seems to have less influence on the fight.
Now I have good reasons (even if they’re not needed) to play again, just have to find time !
Much larger skirmish today involving 6 guys on each side.
Rules added :
-every wound gives a malus of -1 on the activation and action rolls.
-explosive weapons (ex) : you can only use 1D6 for your ranged attack. If it’s a hit, roll an other D6. The number you get is the number of hits you can share between your main target and enemies nearby (at one inch).
Team 1 : 4 good grunts 3/3, one battlemech 1/2, one grenade thrower 3/3 (ex)
Team 2 : 2 good grunts 3/3, 2 raiders 4/5, one machinegun 1/1, one cannon 1/1 (ex)
Team 1 attacks team 2 in a semi rural area (team 1 begins in the wood and team 2 in the streets). Whiteboard + erasable marker for the map.
First, I need to add colored D20 to my set. Having to make 12 throws takes time. 2 throws of 6 dices will be better.
First turn everybody advance with caution and taking advantage of cover. No shooting opportunities.
Second turn a raider rushes alone through a house, shoots an enemy grunt and engages in melee, only causing 1 wound. Cannon and machinegun take position in 2 houses. Raider is then wiped off the map, after his opponent in melee used his movement to disengage. Meanwhile the rest of team 1 advance cautiously.
Third turn everything accelerate : team 2 grunt kills an opponent before being obliterated by the grenade thrower who made a long sprint to take his shot. Same grenade thrower is vaporised by cannon. The battlemech does nothing by fear of getting in melee. On the other flank it’s still potshots and trying to advance.
Fourth turn battlemech engages with machinegun in an intense exchange of fire, only causing 1 wound to each side. Cannon is eliminated by the conjoint charge and shooting of 2 grunts. Team 1 shoots down the grunt and raider still alive with very good actions throws.
Last turn machinegun mow down one grunt before being shot and rushed.
Team 1 wins again (dice assist).
Total time (with terrain drawing) : 40 mins.
Reflexions : maybe the attacker should get a malus while attacking in melee an enemy behind cover.
Explosives weapons should have explosives death too (roll 1 D6, it’s the number of hits to share between everybody too close).
I love how SKIRMASH is coming together! I will be making little clay robots on the weekend to test it myself.
Great work! I really like the explosive weapons rule. I’ve been debating with myself how to add more personality to the figures without adding too many rules, but I think a few key special rules may be the way to go. Explosive weapons is definitely one of them.
I’m figuring out the wounds thing currently, I’m thinking for the actions roll 2D6 – starting wounds, to begin with and then I’ll probably try 2D6 – starting wounds and wounds suffered.
The activation roll is bugging me too. It’s a lot of D20 rolls at the start of a round before the action gets going. One thing I want to try is you pick a figure, and your opponent picks a figure and then you both roll off adding your figure’s manoeuvre stat, the higher roller goes first, then the other. Keep going like that until all figures have gone.
Team 2 finally succeed to stop Team 1 with an ambush today. The use of expendables war dogs (6/5) with the now classical machinegun / cannon duo worked well in the woods.
7vs7, 40 minutes from empty table to empty table (the scenario and deployement zones led to a very fast fight and I’m still drawing terrain on a whiteboard).
Added rule : if the defender in a melee is behind soft cover or on a higher terrain, he get +1 on his melee roll.
Modified : for explosions, hits are to be fairly shared between every fig at less than one inch of the target. (Protip : you can use friendly fire to hit enemies out of view ! )
Still using 1 wound = -1 on activation and action roll.
The activation phase seemed less long today, maybe because I made a roll for each team alternatively.
Also, having 3 casualties at the end of the first round made it go even faster.
In my humble opinion, a action / reaction system would change the flavor of the game but this idea is fun and could get it’s own game ?
1 D6 seems enough for the action roll, with 2D6 some figs could run across the map in one round.