Over the last few months I have been messing around with a
set of fantasy skirmish rules, taking the best of other systems I like and
seeing if I can make them work all together. The goal is to have something relatively easy for my 8 year
old to play but also interesting enough to run at cons or game nights. I plan on releasing it with stats for
the Splintered Light Miniatures range of fantasy and rpg figures.
 |
| First Game 2'x4' Map and Archer |
I decided to take the 2 snow days we had to try a couple of
games with my son Archer. Though I
will need to let other experienced players play test, these two run throughs
with Archer did quickly reveal some glaring problems and allow a few fixes.
The two games we played were between a group of adventurers
and a tribe of orcs and goblins, with a hill giant thrown into the mix.
The adventurers had 2 wizards, a fighter, a barbarian, a
cleric, a bard, a thief, and a ranger.
 |
| Adventurers |
The orcs had an orc chieftain, an orc wizard, 5 orc
warriors, 2 orc heavies, 2 orc archers, 5 goblins, and 1 hill giant.
 |
| Orc and Goblin Force |
The first game was fun but I made so many mid game changes
and realized so many problems that I am not going to do any sort of battle
report. Here is a greatest hits
set of images, however. All I will
say is that the adventurers got slaughtered!
 |
| Orc Archer vs Bard |
 |
| Fighter vs Orc Heavy |
 |
| Hill Giant vs Barbarian |
The second game took place on a 2’x2’ mat, with each force
setting up 6’ in. Archer was
playing the adventurers and chose to split them in half, which proved to be a
mistake against the foe who outnumbered them 2 to 1.
 |
| 2nd Game Opening Moves |
The early turns saw the orcs moving forward. The adventurer group with the ranger, a
wizard, the thief, and the barbarian took to the hill on the left flank. The
ranger took his first longbow shot at the hill giant and then the second turn
decided to eliminate an orc warrior, which worked much better.
 |
| The Left Flank |
The other adventurer group with the fighter, the bard, the
cleric, and a wizard slowly moved forward on the right flank.
 |
| Right Flank |
The female wizard cast a wall of fire, not only blocking the
orc archers, who had taken some long range shot from the hill, but actually
incinerating them by landing it on them.
 |
| Firewall Destroys Orc Archers |
As the hill giant, goblins, and a few orc warriors moved
against the group on the hill, the wizard launched a fireball, delivering a
massive wound to the hill giant and deep frying a goblin. The ranger then put the hill giant out
of his misery with a well placed arrow.
The adventurers were off to a strong start.
 |
| Fireball! |
On the other side, however, the battle was not going so
well. The orc wizard began by
charming the fighter, who took a swing at the cleric to no effect. The orc wizard then cast her own
fireball the next turn, blasting not only the bard but the fighter as
well.
 |
| Payback! |
The orc chieftain and his bodyguard charged forward and made
quick work of the cleric and wizard.
 |
| The Right Flank Collapses |
Moving back to the hill, the adventurers successfully fought
off the attack of goblin and orc warriors. The thief amazingly held the left flank, eliminating the
first goblin he faced and then moving in the next turn to relieve the ranger,
who was facing two goblins.
 |
| The Ranger and Thief Hold The Left |
The barbarian did not fare as well. Though he did manage to slay one orc
warrior, the one on his flank buried an axe in his head, dropping him. The wizard managed to freeze the orc
with a spell until the ranger and thief could take him out.
 |
| The Barbarian Valiantly Takes on Two Orcs |
The orcs from the flank then moved to eliminate the
adventurers on the hill. The orc
wizard made the mistake of moving too far to the flank, allowing the thief to
charge her and kill her while the wizard protecting him and delayed the orc
force by casting a wall of fire, which failed to kill the orc heavy it landed
on. The ranger shot the orc
warrior on the wrong side of the fire wall and the three heroes waited for the
orc assault on the hill.
 |
| Firewall! |
Unfortunately, the assault was brutal when it came with the
orcs hammering down the wizard and the ranger. The thief, seeing the carnage and four remaining orcs,
decided to run and live to fight another day.
 |
| This Is the End! |
Overall, I am really pleased with how the first runs at the rules went. I will be continuing to playtest and tweak and work with Archer on strategy, but I think I am on the right track!
