I am trying to coax some friends into playing more. They have a few boxes of men but are iffy about investing further. In my opinion GW does not have very good rules together for small games (the warhammer skirmish rules that came out in 7th are pretty outdated). I am going to try out a few changes to make small battles more enjoyable. Here is my rule set, I am going to play-test it a bit but if you think there are any changes which could improve it please let me know. Warhammer skirmish 1250pt max No lords may be taken No monsters may be taken Infantry Ranks are defined as being 4 models wide for all purposes (rank bonus, steadfast….ect.) The Horde rule cannot be applied Winds of magic are generated via 1d6 roll. The player whose magic turn it is receives d6+1 power dice while the opponent receives d3 (both read from the same dice roll. E.g. a roll of 5 would give 6 power dice to player A and 3 dispel dice to player B). A Wizard cannot use more than 4 power dice to cast a single spell.
I do like mordheim! But this is for a bit of a larger scale than that. The idea is to make competitive games in the 500-1250pt range with a big of strategy. Typically in a 500 pt game both sides have 2 units that just run into each other.
The old Skirmish rules also changed the minimum requirement sizes. I think infantry units had to be 5+ models and cavalry were 3+ models. That might help with the incentive for smaller units.
I would think that they would house rule that to 2 since they are going for smaller units. Probably will not matter that much though.
I can design an army with 300 points! 1 skink chief with some equipment 3 units of ten skinks Tah dah!
Or 1 skink chief with egg, light armour, charmed shield, dragonbane gem and lustrian javelins 3 units of 10 skink cohorts with no upgrades 1 unit of 5 chameleons skinks So if someone tries being an ass and field cannons in such list, you have some defense If you want Saurus, you still can! Scar Veteran 2 units of 10 saurus warriors 300 points! With no upgrades at all! So probably pretty bad, but hey, it's still technicially legal
True skirmish games are those where each figure can move independently. Rank/file formations are not required... Might be fun to build one from the ground up. Make up some new kinds of troops even. I have a couple of ideas... A Kroxigor might be equipped with scaled up Javelins and effectively become a mobile bolt thrower. He should probably have two skinks that help him find the target. They shoot arrows, he follows up with the heavier round. A 40x60 base for all three. A Cold One with a pair of Skink archers in a tiny howdah might be fun. 24x50. Two Cold Ones leashed to one Kroxigor who controls them like a pair of hunting dogs might be fun. A pair of jungle cats might be just as much fun. That sounds like a 50x100 chariot base idea. In a skirmish game all figures are able move independently without maintaining unit cohesion. Cavalry could pair up; two horse forming a 50x50 that fight and move together. Officers and leaders could have the function of pulling other figures along with them. Squads—which could form and dissolve as needed. Any musician or standard bearer could function as a leader. Shooting could be what side A does while side B moves & vice-versa. Number of 'figures' to move could be 2D6 use the lowest + 1D6 rolled secretly by your opponent.
Yes. (But on further 'contemplation' I think the OP may simply be using skirmish to describe a smaller scale battle.) Or another example would be Warlord. (A game published by Reaper Minis.) I found a place on the internet where somebody saved the official Warhammer Skirmish rules. It kinda looks like GW has taken down every copy they ever had out there. If somebody is interested I guess PM me for the bookmark. I think they were meant for/written under 6th edition. Possibly they are outdated. [Edit...] http://www.warseer.com/forums/showthread.php?172882-Border-Patrol <--wARseer thread with link to the border patrol rules PDF. ---from: http://www.warseer.com/forums/showthread.php?172882-Border-Patrol&p=3120126&viewfull=1#post3120126