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Hey all,

I'm an indie tabletop designer who has been working on a rules-light, miniatures-agnostic 10mm skirmish game called Rattle and Rend.

I've recently released the its Beta rules and wanted to share this anyone in the DakkaDakka community who might be looking for a break from their regular GW faire (as I literally look at the half-painted AoS Nighthaunt on my desk I need to get back to batch painting tonight!).





Key features:

Ultra-Compact Skirmish Footprint: A compact 16x16in / 400x400mm board, using multi-based warbands of 4-8 units. Combined with the intended 10mm figures and terrain, it's easy to take to the game store or find a place to store at home.

Dynamic Turns & Player Interactivity: Instead of a UGOIGO or alternating activation system, gameplay revolves around the bidding and spending of "Momentum" points on unit actions and reactions, allowing the reactive player to seize the initiative and flip the flow of a round instantly.

Warband-Level Options: The game uses a standard set of seven unit types (ala Saga's base of common units) that are then modified by warband-level options that also impart narrative flavor: choose two Tactics (special rules, much as you'd expect), a Bond that ties your warband together (and effects how you may regain those Momentum points), and lastly, your Warband's reputation (that allows you to impact the pre-game setup phase in your favor).

Minimalist Campaign System: Enabling longer-term and/or narrative play through a dual roster system that allows for growth and change of your warband without fiddly bookkeeping.

Implied Worldbuilding & Complete Miniature Agnosticism: The Vast Boral is a vast reach of rotten and dying boreal forests, stinking wastes of tar and bogs, fetid marshes, and reedy expanses fading into a shallow sea. The lore is light and implied - inspired by Joseph McCullough's Frostgrave - allowing for players maximum creativity to use any 10mm models they like (and even the errant 6mm, 15mm or 28mm!) to create the warband of their imagination.

Who's the game for?

Busy players who want a rule set that's easier to get into, that doesn't require a ton of mental overhead or chasing metas to master, and stores and transports in a super small footprint.

I'm designing it for gamers who like:

The easy storage and transport of 10mm scale Warmaster, Argatoria, or Wargames Atlantic’s 10mm boxes.

The skirmish gameplay of Mordheim, Kill Team, or Frostgrave.

The fast-playing, easy to remember rules of One Page Rules, One-Hour Wargames, Sword / Space Weirdos.

Two Ways to Download the Beta Rules:

I'm keeping access to the rules gated during this playtesting period. Obviously the live version will be more widely, publicly available.

Join the Rattle and Rend Facebook group (over 700 members!) → 
https://www.facebook.com/groups/rattleandrend

Sign up for the email list → 
https://tabletop.willphillips.org/2026/03/rattle-and-rend-email-signup/

If you check out the rules or even paint up some warbands and have some battles, I'd welcome your feedback! ?

Huh, normally I'm not interested in this scale, but your elevator pitch has my attention...

You've given a good high level summary of the game, but what's the actual resolution mechanic?

 schoon wrote:
You've given a good high level summary of the game, but what's the actual resolution mechanic?

Fair question! I didn't want to overwhelm folks by getting too into the weeds.

Here's the core resolution mechanic:

I was inspired by WarCry and Song of Blades and Heroes to use a more minimal stat line. Elements have Move and Range - used as you'd expect - plus three stats: Fury, Guile, and Will. The last three are target numbers, with lower being better, so similar to most GW games.

The game uses d20s (for a casual rule set like this, the swingy result is a deliberate choice). Default rolls use 2d20. Penalties force 1d20; bonuses use 3d20. Bonuses and penalties cancel out.

Roll equal to or over your Fury/Guile/Will stat to succeed on at least one die. Two or more successes is a critical, with additional beneficial effects.

Elements do not track wounds. A successful attack forces a Will check. Failure removes an element from play.

Well that's a pretty interesting approach.