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So I just got my Reaper Vampire level box, and I wanted to know; What are some good, skirmish-level fantasy games? The only caveat I can think of is that they have to allow for character customization and I'd prefer a good magic system. I glanced at Reaper's Warlord but the characters are premade.

For a long list of games, some of which is skirmish fantasy or multi-genre:
http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/list/369662.page

I would suggest Mordheim:
http://www.games-workshop.com/gws/content/article.jsp?catId=cat480008a&categoryId=6700006a§ion=&aId=21500021a

Hard to beat Battlesystem Skirmishes for the level of customization. Long OOP, but easy to find. It uses AD&D characters for heroes and Monster Manual creatures for...well, everything else. The skirmish rules are a streamlined for larger combat (as opposed to the regular D&D style combat).

After that, something like Song of Blades and Heroes (probably the best currently in distribution). Lots of premade stuff, but guidelines for creating custom stuff as well.

There is Fanticide by Ernie Baker, Rick Priestly, Andy Chambers, Alessio Cavatore, and E. Skye Chaney.

Around these parts it has had mixed reviews. It has a home grown flavor which I like. It reminds me of the early D&D stuff. Others perceive it as amateurish, as some of the art is simple or rough. I like the setting which reminds me of the Wizard of Oz. (It even has flying monkeys.) It is also very tongue in cheek. Some people think it is just bad humor. For example, the world map includes the Waste of Time.

The game has rules for creating your own characters. However, the system is streamlined, so do not expect too much detail. For example the possible classes of melee weapons are club, spear, blade, and two-handed weapon. Now of course you can give them different names, but the gameplay is based on one of these classes. The system does have magic. There are four classes of magic, and each class has five spells.

thundering wrote:
So I just got my Reaper Vampire level box, and I wanted to know; What are some good, skirmish-level fantasy games? The only caveat I can think of is that they have to allow for character customization and I'd prefer a good magic system. I glanced at Reaper's Warlord but the characters are premade.

Dig up the old Warhammer Quest, Hero Quest or rules for Caverns of Doom.

Fanticide is just outright hardcore. Very good, but alittle more then your average fantasy game. Wizard of Oz on X rated rock and roll/ psychobilly.


If you can get them, find Goalsystems Dungeon Delves. It is a good mix of skirmish/ tabletop level rpg along the lines of old school D and D on the tabletop.

My first recommendation is A Song of Blades and Heroes from Ganesha Games (available as a PDF or print version), which is a great game for up to around a dozen models per side.

You may also like to keep your eyes open for WarCallers, the forthcoming fantasy skirmish game from One Pound Wargames. I've nearly finished preparing the alpha test document which explains the core rules, which will be released for free on our website, probably in June.

The alpha test assumes four models per side and games take about 30 minutes. High customization of characters is one of our priorities, along with simple book keeping and a tidy tabletop. If you'd like to be first in the queue, join our forums and sign up to our newsletter. Links on the website: http://precinctomega.co.uk.

R.

Another vote for Song of Blades and Heroes. It's a great system and a favorite of my club. Well supported also by a yahoo group where the author is very active and a series of supplements. Also it's only 8 bucks.

One place where it differs from your request is that Magic is quite streamlined. Still, it offers a very fast and fun and the unit creation mechanic (available as a HTML program as well) makes it easy to stat up any figure you can come up with.

Skulldred is also a very fun fantasy skirmish game system.

Another vote for GoalSystem: Delves. It works for tabletop skirmish and has the bonus of also being a questing system.

~Eric

thundering wrote:
So I just got my Reaper Vampire level box,

First off, I am so jealous....

and I wanted to know; What are some good, skirmish-level fantasy games? The only caveat I can think of is that they have to allow for character customization and I'd prefer a good magic system. I glanced at Reaper's Warlord but the characters are premade.

Song of Blades and Heroes (as has been mentioned) or Mordheim would be my suggestions.

-P

 precinctomega wrote:
My first recommendation is A Song of Blades and Heroes from Ganesha Games (available as a PDF or print version), which is a great game for up to around a dozen models per side.

Agreed. Also nice is it comes with stats for dozens of fantasy things...and rules to make your own stats for your minis.


Automatically Appended Next Post:

 spaceelf wrote:
There is Fanticide by Ernie Baker, Rick Priestly, Andy Chambers, Alessio Cavatore, and E. Skye Chaney.

Wow..I just looked it up..love it. Very awesome background, sounds like a very fun game. The $55 for the rulebook, made me cringe a bit though.

Mordheim is fun, there are lots of fan sites, and GW provides the rules for free in the form of a pdf.

 Mad4Minis wrote:

 precinctomega wrote:
My first recommendation is A Song of Blades and Heroes from Ganesha Games (available as a PDF or print version), which is a great game for up to around a dozen models per side.

Agreed. Also nice is it comes with stats for dozens of fantasy things...and rules to make your own stats for your minis.


Automatically Appended Next Post:

 spaceelf wrote:
There is Fanticide by Ernie Baker, Rick Priestly, Andy Chambers, Alessio Cavatore, and E. Skye Chaney.

Wow..I just looked it up..love it. Very awesome background, sounds like a very fun game. The $55 for the rulebook, made me cringe a bit though.

I picked up a copy of the SBH rules based on the recommendations from this thread (at 8USD, what the heck... I've wasted more on crappy GW rules.) Nice, simple statlines and some awesome 80s D&D style artwork. I'm going to give it a read next week once I finish cobbling together a couple of papers that need to be done.

Fanticide though, oof. I'm going to have to try it out at some point, but I'll have to see if I can wrangle a demo game at a store before I drop $55. It's not an insane price for a rulebook compared to other games, but it's just to steep to grab on a whim.

Have a look at Godslayer - KS looked great, but the stuff hasn't arrived yet.