SKIRMASH Battle Report: Dice of the gods!

Same stats as before:

Dice of power have once again fallen from the gods. The great beings however want their dice back, and one of the five dice (randomly picked) will vanish back to the heavens at the end of each round. A side gains 1 point per die they have a figure within 3” of at the end of each round. The side with the most points will gather the most power and therefore win the battle! Will good or evil prevail?

The first round played out as expected, both sides advancing and trading shots.

As the sides clashed, Sledge fanned his revolver into Wyrmwood, but the walking infestation just absorbed the bullets. The Cowboy then charged the freak and pistol whipped him, somehow this was more effective and the enemy was defeated.

On the other side of the battlefield Erik the Viking buried his axe in the Magman’s head, and golem fell.

It seemed the battle was to be decided by the clash in the middle.

As the gods retrieved their die from the goodies left flank.

Goodies 3, Baddies 2.

The Orc started the killing in round two by gunning down the distant Octopoid.

Skinner replied by cleaving Polar in half.

Trog pressed Evil’s advantage in the centre by rushing Assault and pummelling the Future Cop into a bloody pulp.

Sledge added to his kill tally by defeating Chrome in hand to hand combat.

But then Maneater on the verge of being overrun by Erik spat its poison barbs into the Viking and finished him off.

To continue the trading of kills, the Orc opened up on the centre and brought down Vlad.

It was then the gods took the die Maneater was guarding.

With the dice vanishing, the action was turned to the goodies right and the baddies left flanks.

Goodies 5, Baddies 4.

Skinner pressed forwards and slew the Cyborg.

The Orc opened up once again, taking out the Moleman allowing Sledge and Sir Gildain to claim the die.

The near indestructible Trog then pushed further forwards in the centre and crushed Oz’s skull with his club!

All that remained from the Orc’s perspective was a centre swarming with bad guys, with only the Amazon and the Valkyrie holding up the tidal wave, and Sledge and Sir Gildain holding a die against the Maneater in the distance.

It was then…

The die he had been holding vanished.

Goodies 8, Baddies 5.

Round 4 opened with Sledge gunning down the Maneater.

The Zombie then charged the Amazon ineffectively and she cut him down.

Trog and Skinner were quick to respond, but the dice of power had slipped through the baddies fingers and the goodies won 9 to 7.

I think I need some better names for my two sides, Goodies and Baddies isn’t particularly cool sounding. Maybe The Vanguardians and The Harbingers of Darkness… something like that.

I also think as fun as SKIRMASH is to play in its current iteration, a few special rules would go a long way to adding some more flavour to my cavalcade of odd characters.

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.