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I've got...about 3k in Orks now. I've been running Green Tide and Kanwall. Needless to say, moving all those boyz gets tiring after a long game.
I'd love to pick up a skirmish game to play when my horde is wearing me down.
Currently I'm looking at Malifaux with some interest.
Do any of you have any suggestions on other skirmish games or perhaps games you like more with low low low model count and good looking, fun to paint models?
Thanks!

matphat wrote:I've got...about 3k in Orks now. I've been running Green Tide and Kanwall. Needless to say, moving all those boyz gets tiring after a long game.
I'd love to pick up a skirmish game to play when my horde is wearing me down.
Currently I'm looking at Malifaux with some interest.
Do any of you have any suggestions on other skirmish games or perhaps games you like more with low low low model count and good looking, fun to paint models?
Thanks!

If you like modern's or historicals check out www.ambushalleygames.com. Great rule set, you can play anything from a 4 man spec-op's team to a full blown PAVN batallon trying to take out Hue City or Da Nang and everything inbetween.

If it's sci-fi rules then check out Tomorrow's War on the AAG website. It uses the same game mechanics as Force on Force does, but the game is model indifferent/scale indifferent. If you want to play 28mm its the same rules as 15mm or 6mm. I would recomend Tomorrow's War as they have cleaned up the rules and game mechanics alot. Great website and on the fourms the game developers actually talk to you and tell you the reasioning behind why they did what they did. Kind of neat IMHO.

I've just recently delved into it but infinity seems what your looking for.

http://www.infinitythegame.com

check it out it might be right up your ally.

INFINITY!!!

Warmachine, everyone plays it, as far as I can see its probably the next biggest thing behind GW and their models are excellently sculpted and fairly priced.

You can field anything from a caster and a couple of jacks to a full army for the small points value and adding to your army giving it a whole new structure can cost you less than £10 easily.

http://www.matakishi.com/ <---- always has cool games.

other then that,

golgo island- funny b movie love, without a bunch of bull gak in between.

USX line, RAFM- call of cthuhlu stuff, and Jack Burton too. I'm looking for a 1/43 scale Pork Chop express.

Cutlass- Pirates. Necromunda flavored, with some great figures from Black Scorpion.

Blackwater Gulch- Cowboys. with a side order of quick clean play.

http://www.erichotz.com/game_rules1.html Gutshot, White Wash City, etc. can be found here, as well. excellent references and a whole lot more cowbell.

Superfigs- Superheros with a lot of choices.
Pulp City- Super Heros with character.

All Things Zombie- Shoot them in the head, Barbra.

Super Dungeon Explorer- The Gauntlet.

Dr Who- Crooked Dice is a great company.

Oi! Geezer- Ma still want's that caravan... The have a Miami Vice addition as well.

Ambush Alley has a nice tight shotgroup.

Incursion. Wierd War 2 fight through the caves.

theres a bunch more, that will not break your wallet, as well.

There is life after GW.

I prefer Infinity, it seems many others in this thread do as well. I have played games such as Warmachine and Malifaux,and like the feel of Infinityas it is different than a I go you go game like these two. Malifaux has some interesting mechanics with cards but I think the models are a little on the low quality compared to other games, also the aesthetics are not for me (personal taste, if you like them more power to you). The learning curve of Infinity is similar to Warmachine however, but it less about unit or model "X" and is more about tactics.

Infinity has a large well sculpted range with a different game play feel than the others. Their catchphrase is "It is not your list it is you." It is true to some sense but there is bad/good lists.
The English version of the forums is not a bustle of activity like dakka, but don't let that scare ya off. The rules are free, so you don't need to buy a rule book unless you want the art and fluff, visit their site for a better look. The models that sold me were the Yu-Jing, the bikes specifically! Infinitythegame.com.

i suggest getting into something that will interest your player base. its all well and good if you jump into a new game, but with no one to play with it will get boring fast.

i recommend warmahordes

Easily, one of the best skirmish games I've seen in a great while.

It's fun, the premise is quirky and snarky, and it's just a romp to play.

I'm here to second Brushfire, you can get a Black Friday/Cyber Monday deal here for the next few hours.


I also will plug Malifaux, but Brushfire is far more about the fun than the war. Also name one game where you can run a horde of Hamster Barbarians? Tell me that? Also space popes (i.e. lizard popes... I can't remember the name right now :( )

Alfndrate wrote:I'm here to second Brushfire, you can get a Black Friday/Cyber Monday deal here for the next few hours.


I also will plug Malifaux, but Brushfire is far more about the fun than the war. Also name one game where you can run a horde of Hamster Barbarians? Tell me that? Also space popes (i.e. lizard popes... I can't remember the name right now :( )

Tomorrow's War?...that would be my only guess since you can use any models that you want to.

In my area, Malifaux is the most popular skirmish game. Seems to have a quick and fun mechanism with cards instead of dice and all.

Urban War. Just been revamped and a nice new rulebook.

I haven't played games like Malifaux or Warmachine to compare, but I like a lot Infinity. I'm not saying it's better because I don't really know. But it's a great game.

Brushfire? :3


Automatically Appended Next Post:
Can be played with a low model count, very fun, cool minis.

I'd suggest Uncharted Seas, Dystopian Wars, or Firestorm Armada from Spartan Games.

It's more navel style, but skirmish sized.

These guys do some lovely skirmish games; http://www.ganeshagames.net/ from fantasy through to modern/early future. Nice rules, and no dedicated miniature lines, so you can choose whatever models you like.

Skrapyard from Precinct Omega Publishing is a fun skirmish game, very cheep to get into and works well as a multi mission game. It is officially a 40mm game but can be played at 28mm scale. The rulebook is very cheap and you can go crazy with your Skrapgang We play it our club, I run a Mercheant Adventurer Gang (Skrap Pirates!)using Black Scorpion Undead Pirates. Just a thought!

My favourite skirmish game is Star Wars Miniatures. Games been dead for a couple of years now (ignoring the terrible fan made virtual sets) but you can easily pick up enough minis off eBay to play a small skirmish.

Dungeons and Dragons skirmish.

fun fast and easily playable

I'm also looking at picking up a new skirmish game, but I can't get past the aesthetics of a lot of them - I can't stand Warmachine and Infinity minis. I'd love to give Alkemy a shot, but I can't find any starter sets here.

matphat wrote:Do any of you have any suggestions on other skirmish games or perhaps games you like more with low low low model count and good looking, fun to paint models?

Not to be obtuse or painfully obvious, but have you given any of the GW specialist games a shot? Mordheim and LotR are both excellent skirmish games and I've heard great things about Necromunda (although I haven't had a chance to try it out)

Shameless Plug: If you like the Wild West, check out my game Blackwater Gulch http://www.blackwatergulch.com

Necros wrote:Shameless Plug: If you like the Wild West, check out my game Blackwater Gulch http://www.blackwatergulch.com

That looks very tempting. Like I need any more temptation right now. Damn you.

FabricatorGeneralMike wrote:
If it's sci-fi rules then check out Tomorrow's War on the AAG website. .

adameast wrote:Warmachine, everyone plays it, as far as I can see its probably the next biggest thing behind GW and their models are excellently sculpted and fairly priced.
.

Folks, I love Tomorrow's war and Warmachine is reportedly a very good game. However Tomorrow's war and Warmachine are NOT Skirmish games with "low low model counts" as the OP asked for. They're "Skirmish" ony in that one model equals one trooper. They are more accurately described as Platoon level squad-based games.

Mataphat,
Are you dead set on an all inclusive game (i.e. a system that provides you with rules, figs and background in one package)
If you are, I'd take a look at

Infinity: probably the most popular current skirmish game.
Brushfire: A well developed background and really fun animal minis.

On the other hand, I highly recommend generic skirmish games that will allow you to collect warbands of whatever brands of figures catch your fancy without being tied to one brand for future warbands. It's really freeing to be able to buy and paint up warbands from the coolest factions of any game (current or past) and actually be able to get them on the table. Here are some of my club's favorites, all of which are based around warbands of around 7-15 miniatures a side.

1) Wastelands Meltdown. Rules are free Here: http://s1.zetaboards.com/Post_Apoc_Wargames/topic/4047419/1/ (Let me know if the download doesn't work). This is a super simple game that is a great excuse to buy any post-apocalyptic figures you want. It has a good set of vehicle rules as well.

2) Song of Blades and Heroes. This is a game with quite a large following. It's cheap (5 dollar download for basic rules) and has lots of expansions covering things such as dungeoncrawls, Arthurian legends, Redwall'ish animals, etc. http://www.ganeshagames.net/index.php?cPath=1_6&osCsid=385b5om0g71v0hrfona5hoan44 This is probably our club's favorite game. I'm just polishing off an Elven Warband made from vintage GW figs.

3) In The Emperor's Name. A nice fast playing skirmish game in the 40k universe. Well developed (Campaign sysetem and retinue lists for every 40k faction and then some) and based aroudn the FUBAR game engine. Has a charachter generation mechanic so it is completely useable for environments other than 40k. Also Free here: http://thegamesshed.wordpress.com/2011/07/02/in-the-emperors-name/

Thanks all for your suggestions, and special thanks to Eilif, for that outstanding suggestion on free games.

matphat wrote:I've got...about 3k in Orks now. I've been running Green Tide and Kanwall. Needless to say, moving all those boyz gets tiring after a long game.

I have four kr multicases full of Orks and I stopped using them because my back hurt after a 2k game lol

If you liike superheroes - HeroClix
if you like anime - Anima Tactics
I always liked the Heavy Gear feel and world. Dream Pod 9 has Heavy Gear Blitz out now which is a slighty smaller scale than their original Heavy Gear game, actually I think it's one of the train (HO or N) scales.

All 3 are pretty good skirmish systems. HC is collectable with rarities and random packs, so that's kinda of annoying, but still - if you like super heroes it's a pretty cheap buy in.

One other series of skirmish game to consider is the various "Goal system" games by "Four Color Figures". Not true warband skirmish in that they do involve some squads, but the way the games are setup is with individual hero charachters and up to a few squads of Henchmen who function as one figure, and lose their efficiency as they lose members of the squad.

I've not played them, but some I've read Blasters and Bulkheads and some members of our group really like them. The most popular of the Goalsystem games are:

Supersystem (superhero game, now in it's 3rd edition)
Chaos in Carpathia (Victorian horror and adventure)
Blasters and Bulkheads (Star Wars'ish sci-fi)

There are others as well, many of which are designed around specific miniatures lines. Most of the games are sold as 6-10 buck PDF's here:
http://www.wargamedownloads.com/cat.php?ItemSubcategory=38&pics=

MightyGodzilla wrote:I always liked the Heavy Gear feel and world. Dream Pod 9 has Heavy Gear Blitz out now which is a slighty smaller scale than their original Heavy Gear game, actually I think it's one of the train (HO or N) scales.

To be pedantic, the major scale change was in 98 or so when the minis were rescaled to 1/144th. That was the change from the RAFM minis tot he Tactical scale. The RAFM minis would be good stand-ins for Dreadnoughts or Crisis suits, and are heavy enough to use as emergency melee weapons.

The tactical scale minis were resculpted for Blitz, but the scale is technically the same. However, there's a bit of exaggeration so bigger units (Fire Support Gears) are bigger, and smaller units (Scouts like the Iguana) are smaller. Also weapons were re-sculpted to be a bit beefier as the old ones could be a bit fragile and hard to identify. There's also been some re-sculpting of a few models (mainly APCs) to make them 'properly' in scale with everything else. However, Tactical scale minis are still 100% legal at any DP9-run event.

I didn't suggest it myself because I'd say it's a bit bigger than a typical Skirmish game, but it's a fun game. Heavy Gear Arena is a bit more skirmish-like, and has campaign rules.