You just gotta love Skirmish

[Greasygeek]

Hi all

After going through the campaign a couple of times, playing  many battles myself and spectating even more I gotta admit it, I simply love AOS: Skirmish.

Let there be no doubt that GW probably never intended Skirmish as anything more than a quick release but to me and my group it is the perfect game for all those times that you do not have the time or the energy for a full scale game of AOS. The small battles quickly turn very cinematic and allows us to invent all kind of silly rules for the many ruins we use to smother the table with. All battlrfields looking fiercely cool when we play. Sure the balance is questeanble and one of six battleplans is damn close to being broken but after we created a injury table, a better underdog table and decreased the amount of renown rewarded, it opened up to many ways of playing the game way after going through the basic campaign. 

- So just how many of you out there still share my love for Skirmish?

- Have you been through the campaign? If yes what did you do to keep the game fresh?

 -What non Skirmish battleplans worked for you?

- Do you play multplayer campaigns or -games? 

- Do you use any house rules? Which? How? Why? 

- Have you tried any of the Path to Glory plans for Skirmish? Did they work?

- Have you tried including rules for Summoning or resurecting models? How?

Here's to hoping that GHB2 plans and times of war and open play cards works with Skirmish. 

 

[Mr. White]

I greatly prefer Skirmish as well. It lets me hobby the AoS in the perfect bite sized chunks I can handle right now. In the time it would take me to paint a full-blown army, I can assemble and paint several warbands, terrain, develop battleplans and build a campaign narrative, etc.

Skirmish is my favorite AoS accessory book.

[inunn]

I love skirmish! I ran a 4-player mini-tournament recently for myself, my brother and dad (who play AoS) and a friend of mine (who doesn't) and it was the perfect format. We got 4 games each in over the course of a day starting with a 4-player version of clash at dawn, and then 3 more games (one against each of the other players) adding 10 renown at the end of each battle. So much fun, and there's no way we could have packed so much into a day playing the full game.

Now that I've started going to my local club (which leans heavily to 40k) I'm finding it's also the perfect way to get games from all the players with old WHFB models kicking around who aren't really into AoS. I'm hoping it'll be the thin end of the wedge to bring more people round.

[Nin Win]

I'm also pretty much only doing Skirmish.  I totally abandoned my plan to make full sized armies and am instead doing warbands of about 100 renown that people can use parts of as they play through games.

A lot of battleplans work well with skirmish.  I don't know if I have my favorites, but between the six in the skirmish book and the free ones from the fan End Times Battletome as well as Hinterlands (both hosted here on TGA), I've mad no shortage of material to use.

I've done the Open Play battleplans for multiplayer from General's Handbook and they worked fine.  I prefer one-vs-one games though.

House rules:
When a rule benefits a "unit" it can benefit all the models from that warscroll within 6" <-- so far this has been fine, but maybe there's a really powerful ability out there that just hasn't come up yet.
Morale effects work when used on the enemy general.  So if an icon or banner says an enemy unit gets -1 morale, that works on the general only.

Summoning and the like:  spend renown on reserves like matched play.  I've also done straight up summoning with no limits and it was fine as well, but that's down to opponents who don't go crazy.

[Greasygeek]

14 minutes ago, Nin Win said:

House rules:
When a rule benefits a "unit" it can benefit all the models from that warscroll within 6" <-- 

DOES THAT ALSO COUNT FOR STANDARDS THAT BRING BACK MODELS? LIKE SKELLETON AND DAEMON STANDARDS..

 

Summoning and the like:  spend renown on reserves like matched play.  

IM THINKING ABOUT TRYING THIS OUT. SKIRMISH COULD REALLY USE A FEW SPLITTING HORRORS, RESSURECTED DEATH UNITS AND ENEMIES TURNED INTO TZAANGORS.

MY THOUGHT WAS TO CREATE A SYSTEM SIMILAR TO THE BLOOD BOWL INDUCEMENT SYSTEM. A WAY TO USE RENOWN AS SUMMONING MONEY INVESTED BEFORE GAME. HAVE YET TO FIGURE THE EXACT WAY TO DO IT PROPERLY BUT IT SOUNDS DOEABLE.

 

 

 

[Veillotron]

I really like the format - as noted by @Mr. White and @Nin Win, I love the fact that you can play with a smaller force, which makes it easier to paint some models without having to commit to painting a full army.

For quick games the format is perfect, and i like the fact that the rules are slightly different then for normal AoS.

 

Re your question on Path to Glory: I cannot answer at the moment. I did buy the book and like what GW has done, but I have not had the time to test it out. It's either been a quick game of Skirmish, or playing a full game of AoS...

 

 

[Mr. White]

^ This is where we are too.

Path to Glory is in a weird spot that we don't game. It's either Skirmish/Hinterlands (campaigns or stand-alone) or we combine warband factions by Allegiances into armies and do a normal AoS battle.

[Artobans Ghost]

I have not tried path of glory yet but the skirmish rules this house. I've just recently got back into the hobby after reading and buying books on the new AoS. I actually liked the idea right from the beginning and the skirmish just drives it home. I don't have time for big games at the moment but I literally had some games that were finished in 45 mins. I can actually downsize my table too. It's 4x6 but it takes up too much room and the more I play, I find the size can shrink quite a bit.  

As mentioned above, the need for a big army is out the window and you can concentrate on some really nice warbands, terrain etc without huge investment. I'm certainly glad this came along. 

[Nin Win]

3 hours ago, Greasygeek said:

 

DOES THAT ALSO COUNT FOR STANDARDS THAT BRING BACK MODELS? LIKE SKELLETON AND DAEMON STANDARDS.

 

I honestly don't know.  We handle things on a case by case basis and I don't know if that's come up or not.  Here's the text of the skeleton entry:

ICON AND STANDARD BEARER Models in this unit may be Icon Bearers or Standard Bearers. You can return D6 slain models to this unit in your hero phase if it includes any Icon or Standard Bearers.

That seems really strong to me.  I'd probably say roll a d6 for each slain skeleton and on a 6 they can come back.  Adapting these type of rules is often a matter of compromise and negotiation.

[Wraith01]

I love Skirmish! My favorite campaign last year was Path to Glory from the Generals Handbook but this year I think Skirmish will take the crown. I haven't bought the new Path to Glory book, but I'll post probably get it soon. 

Talking about Skirmish, we just play it by the book. We've included a few Battleplans from the campaign books, I'm pretty sure they all work. In my group we were talking about even playing some Frostgrave scenarios in Skirmish. 

[Moldek]

I've not played anything since i got back into the hobby but as my fondest memories are from mordheim and (old) path to glory campaigns I have my eye firmly set on skirmish. I found a good FLGS and am planning to get my first game in next month. If I make some like minded friends my ultimate goal would be a big campaign, possibly trying hinterlands.

[Chris Tomlin]

Skirmish is super cool! I haven't played enough of it for my liking if I'm honest.

I will be running a Matched Play Skirmish event (possibly the first?) on Friday 1st September at Firestorm Games in Cardiff. It's a side event for BLACKOUT which is being run over the weekend, but if any of you Skirmish fans wanted to come down for just the Friday to take part it could certainly be arranged. Drop me a DM in you're interested.

It promises to be a really fun evening, with 3 games following the Matched Play guidance in the Skirmish book. Skirmish supremo @bottle is on board and heavily instrumental in the whole thing. There will be prizes for 1st, 2nd, 3rd, Best Painted and Best Sports.

Come join us!  

[Moldek]

@Chris Tomlin I'd love to come but I'm a bit far away in Paris I hope I'll see a report on there!

[WarbossKurgan]

I love Skirmish too. It is the perfect level for the amount of time I have to game (just my lunch breaks!) and it matches my prefered scale for the narrative arround my warbands.

We are in the middle of a 3 player Skirmish campaign (The Harrowmark Run) using the GH Triumph and Treachery battleplans as the "A-plot" when all 3 of us are available and a selection of other battleplans (from multiple sources) for "B-plot" one-on-one games. The B-plot games have been great fun as they have been building the backstory and motivations of our warbands nicely. 

We picked the battleplans to fit the story we sketched out for the campaign in advance but we have been tweaking things as we go to account for things that have happen on-table.

 

We started at 35 Renown (using the expanded Renown lists published here) we also reduced the amount of Renown awarded after each game by halfing everything so our warbands don't get too big, too quickly. 

[Killax]

I love the concept of Skirmish games and hope it will continue to develop within GW's design teams and larger plans. Luckily for us they do this but what would be more ideal for the players is to have one game with massed expansions.

We now have:
- AoS Skirmish
- AoS Shadespire (to look forward to)
- Bloodbowl
- Warhammer Quest and expansions

While all I really want is Mordheim 2.0. in an Age of Sigmar jacket  

[Sheriff]

I don't really understand it well enough to know if it would be good for me. You got to buy the book before you can understand it? 

I feel like maybe it would be good to play with my gf as I only have 1/3 of my army painted so far. But probably not painted the right units... you got to have a broad selection of units painted? e.g. boss units, monsters, infantry, cavalry etc? 

[WarbossKurgan]

42 minutes ago, Sheriff said:

I don't really understand it well enough to know if it would be good for me. You got to buy the book before you can understand it? 

I feel like maybe it would be good to play with my gf as I only have 1/3 of my army painted so far. But probably not painted the right units... you got to have a broad selection of units painted? e.g. boss units, monsters, infantry, cavalry etc? 

For £6 it's worth getting the book. The intro overview of the Mortal Realms is worth that much as it's a great way to introduce new people to the setting!

You can choose the starting "Renown" level (the Skirmish version of Points) but you start at a fairly low model count. We chose 35 Renown as that allowed a good starting warband - I used an Orruk Warboss a Orruk Boss and 2 Orruk Boyz.

Check out this thread for the "community" expanded Renown lists:

In theory you can use whatever you like in your warband - a Hero and 2 other models is all that are required as a minimum.

[wayniac]

I really like skirmish but find it to be easily abused if you even give a brief glance at some of the missions (e.g. deploying in clash at dawn to force your opponent to be on the edges due to the 9" restriction, a fast army rushing to The Relic and blocking the enemy's entry so they suffer mortal wounds from the storm effect, fast moving unit with the cargo quickly running off the board immediately so the opponent can't win the scenario, etc.).

I also find a fair bit of imbalance with how armies are built, but that's nothing new.

[Sheriff]

2 minutes ago, WarbossKurgan said:

For £6 it's worth getting the book. The intro overview of the Mortal Realms is worth that much as it's a great way to introduce new people to the setting!

You can choose the starting "Renown" level (the Skirmish version of Points) but you start at a fairly low model count. We chose 35 Renown as that allowed a good starting warband - I used an Orruk Warboss a Orruk Boss and 2 Orruk Boyz.

Check out this thread for the "community" expanded Renown lists:

In theory you can use whatever you like in your warband - a Hero and 2 other models is all that are required as a minimum.

I currently have 12 moonclan grots with spears, 10 spider riders, and then could paint a warboss too pretty quick. That enough by the sounds of it? But I'd need to cut it in half to play with my gf... 

(I'll keep on painting...)

[Greasygeek]

My full warband the order of the grape is at 69 renown.

1 x Exelcior warriors priest 

2 x handgunners

1 x Gryphound.

1 x Kurnoth Hunter

1 x cogsmith

1 x grt sword

1 x crossbow man.

total of 8 models. Just saying that you really only need a few models playing Skirmish. Remember the game begin at 25.

[harrocks]

On 08/08/2017 at 7:22 PM, Greasygeek said:

Hi all

After going through the campaign a couple of times, playing  many battles myself and spectating even more I gotta admit it, I simply love AOS: Skirmish.

 ... The small battles quickly turn very cinematic and allows us to invent all kind of silly rules for the many ruins we use to smother the table with. All battlrfields looking fiercely cool when we play ...

this + 1

[boomr19]

Skirmish is great for getting my non-AoS friends/family to at least try it out.  I do a 35-40 point game for an intro which doesn't last too long.  I admit I'm trying to reel them in to see if one of them will try a full size game with me, full size as in 1000pt.  Nothing too crazy.  Gotta bring them in little by little

[boomr19]

On 8/9/2017 at 7:36 AM, wayniac said:

I really like skirmish but find it to be easily abused if you even give a brief glance at some of the missions (e.g. deploying in clash at dawn to force your opponent to be on the edges due to the 9" restriction, a fast army rushing to The Relic and blocking the enemy's entry so they suffer mortal wounds from the storm effect, fast moving unit with the cargo quickly running off the board immediately so the opponent can't win the scenario, etc.).

I also find a fair bit of imbalance with how armies are built, but that's nothing new.

This is true, I find it better mostly as a narrative thing, and not so much a competitive game.  Great way to tell stories, but maybe not so great as a head to head competitive.  Or at least we may need more balanced battleplans and that my fix the competitive aspect of it. 

[bsharitt]

Has anyone been playing 3-4 player Skirmish? If so, how did you do it? I've been considering teams, free for all or adapting triumph and treachary.

[Majin]

Hi all, today i played 2 games, the game is cool, very fast, i Love it, soon we play a tourtnament.