Cue the power metal intro as colourful heroes and villains dart across your 14” CRT TV screens.
Three Dice of Power have fallen from the gods above! Heroes and villains rush into the bleak valley to claim them.
Vlad the Vampire darts forward, screeching like an animal, heading for the central Dice. Polar the Bear responds in kind, and the two clash in the middle. Vlad catches the bear unprepared and puts a gash in his ribs, blood spilling across the dry earth, but the bear quickly avenges itself, tearing the bloodsucker limb from limb!
Bjorn the Viking warrior stalks round on the left flank and spies a strange sorcerer lurking there too. Both lock eyes, and before the mage can summon any power, Bjorn was upon him, burying his axe in the wizard’s chest.
Polar roared for support from his allies, and Caesar the Orc brought up his machine-gun. He flicked its bipod down, but before he could load, a creature emerged, shimmering in the sun. Its Chrome skin reflected the burning sun into Caesar’s eyes, and its hands forming into blades pushed through the Orc’s guts. The green-skinned gunner slumped down.
As Caesar fell, his Elven companion advanced too, but a great plant rose out of the long grass and spat poison barbs into her torso.
Then on the left, Bjorn cried out in agony, as maggots fired from a writhing mass of worms in human form burrowed through his armour and deep into his flesh.
Back on the right, the noble Knight charged into the chrome creature, swinging his mace and shield in wide and violent arcs. He caught something as the shining freak attempted to dart between his blows, something that felt familiar, crunchy, like bone. The mirror-man dropped and the Knight let out a victorious battle cry.
The future cop who had moved up to support Polar in the middle was brought down by a man made of rock, spewing lava from his mouth.
Rushing past the Knight on the right, the Amazonian decapitated the killer plant.
The Cowboy stepped over the fallen cop, and dodging the rock man’s blasts of lava used his six-shooters to blast the golem full of holes.
But despite the Cowboys heroics, the forces of evil continued to press forward as a Zombie bit into Polar and finished him off.
The worm man that had killed Bjorn ran for the Dice of Power on the left, but he was caught by a blast of energy and fell. A cyborg emerged from the bushes, and droned “Target Eliminated.”
The Cyborg took one of the dice back to the good guys’ base.
The central Dice couldn’t be claimed, as the Cowboy fought the Zombie and the hulking Skinner Creature for it, with the Australian standing nearby.
The Dice on the left was deftly taken by the Amazonian as the Knight kept the pink Troglodyte busy.
The good guys won!
Here were my stat lines, the goodies:
The baddies:
SKIRMASH as it currently stands is as below, I played the game on a 4’x4’ table and doubled all the ranges.
SET UP
The game is played on a 2’x2’ board. Players should have the same number of figures (from 3-10). Figures have three stats, ‘Manoeuvre’, ‘Combat’, and ‘Stamina’. Stats can be any value from 1-5. A figure also had a class – Fighter, Skirmisher or Shooter.
THE GAME
The game is played over 4 rounds. At the start of a round players roll off to determine who activates a figure first. Players then alternate activating figures until all of one player’s figures are exhausted, then their opponent can activate each of their non-exhausted figures once more, and then the round ends.
ACTIVATING
When a figure is activated they can perform a number of actions. To determine how many roll 1 die per point of Manoeuvre the figure has.
A roll of 1 = 0 actions.
A roll of 2 or 3 = 1 action.
A roll of 4 or 5 = 2 actions.
A roll of 6 = 3 actions.
Once a figure has completed all of their actions they take a Stamina check, and then their activation is over, and the opposing player can activate a figure.
If a figure scores 3 or less actions, instead of spending those actions they can opt to make a single 4” move, and not make ranged attacks or a melee attack and then take a Stamina check.
MOVEMENT
For 1 action a figure can move 1”.
RANGED ATTACKS
A figure can spend actions to make a ranged attack. 1 action = 1 die. A figure can only make 1 ranged attack per activation against a single enemy within range (but can use multiple actions to get multiple dice).
Fighters can attack an enemy within 3”.
Skirmishers can attack an enemy within 9”.
Shooters can attack enemies within 18”.
To hit the target, roll each die trying to beat the attacking figure’s Combat stat.
+1 to the attackers Combat stat if the target has soft cover.
+2 for hard cover.
+1 if the target is in base to base contact with the attacker.
+2 if the target is in base to base contact with an ally.
Natural 6’s always hit and natural 1s always miss.
The target can attempt to block each hit scored, to do so they must roll above their Manoeuvre stat.
Figures get an additional save if they fail to roll above their Manoeuvre stat, Shooters save on a 6+, Skirmishers on a 5+, Fighters 3+.
Each failed save results in a wound.
MELEE ATTACKS
If a figure is in base to base contact with an enemy at any point during their activation they can make a melee attack against that enemy for free. A figure can only make one melee attack per activation.
Roll 1 die per point of Combat the attacker has. Each die that rolls above the target’s Combat stat causes a wound.
If the target is in base to base contact with an ally of the attacker add 1 to each die rolled.
Natural 1s always miss.
KILLING ENEMIES
Once a figure has suffered a number of wounds equal to their Stamina stat they are killed.
STAMINA CHECKS
When a figure has finished activating they must take a Stamina check, roll a die. If the result is equal to or lower than their Stamina stat then they are exhausted and cannot be activated again this round. If the result is higher the figure is not exhausted and can be activated again later in the round.
Deathzap 