Forum adverts like this one are shown to any user who is not logged in. Join us by filling out a tiny 3 field form and you will get your own, free, dakka user account which gives a good range of benefits to you: No adverts like this in the forums anymore. Times and dates in your local timezone. Full tracking of what you have read so you can skip to your first unread post, easily see what has changed since you last logged in, and easily see what is new at a glance. Email notifications for threads you want to watch closely. Being a part of the oldest wargaming community on the net. If you are already a member then feel free to login now.

Hello,

Returning player from rouge trader era (where I collected, modified & painted more than played).

In the last year I’ve built out around 2.5k orks (first love!), 1.5k each of tau & marines and a few Eldar models- mostly stuff I enjoyed building/painting than for lists. Also have a few hundred points of tyranids. I’m building out scenery as well, with some modular boards in progress.
I have a few friends who are interested in the odd game (orks, grey knights &marines) but we’re all short of time & so likes the idea of small skirmish games to get us back into it.

So - what’s the best format (missions/objectives/styles) that are suitable for smaller scale skirmishes?
I.e. 500pt - 1000pt games?

Note - last year I really liked the idea of kill teams, but ideally in 8th rules.

Many thanks

well, I exclusively play 500 point games, as I only have one other person to play with and had to build a table at my house and I find that the small-scale battles are very unique. However, if you are playing with other people at a hobby shop, I would recommend making a 1000 point army, as you will find more people willing to play that point value.

GW does make a small skirmish game with 8th ed lite rules called Shadow Wars Armageddon. It only allows a limited amount/types of models so it may be too restrictive but you should check it out just to see.

1000 points is probably the best as it keeps games small but allows a fair variety.

I prefer maelstrom of war missions, with the cards, as they tend to keep each different and interesting.

I most frequently play 1000 point games using the "Open War" cards. We draw the cards before the games night and then get to list build to the mission. They're fun and random, but maybe too random as some of the creations can be a touch unfair.

The Maelstrom of War missions are similarly random, and similarly sometimes cruelly random. But you don't know quite what you're going to be chasing as the objectives are drawn during the game. I had fun with Maelstrom and would like to play it some more to get more of a feel for it, it seemed a very different want of playing.

PS - Nice to see another player returning to the game from the RT era.

Second edition 40k has you covered. Look up the Battle Bible and give it a spin.

Thanks - don’t really intend on playing in a shop - I rarely have time during the day or weekends, so it would be evenings mostly. More for a few friends on my own boards.

Will take a look at maelstrom missions & some objective cards.

Does anyone use the player finder on this board to look for similar likeminded (time poor!) players in their areas? Tbh- Felt a little stalkery! I guess the local shop is the best place to find a local group?

Thanks

 MagicJuggler wrote:
Second edition 40k has you covered. Look up the Battle Bible and give it a spin.

2nd edition rocks for small games of a couple squads, a character or two and a couple of vehicles.

Or if you don't have to conform to a group, go totally off the reservation and play Grimdark Future and or Grimdark Future:Skirmish from One Page Games. The names of everything is different for copyright purposes (space marines =Battle Brothers) but there's army profiles for every 40k army/sub-faction but for the latest Custodes stuff. Absolutely different rules (even lighter than 40k 8th, with each model having only 2 stats plus simple weapon profiles) but to me the evocative models are what give the 40k tabletop "feel", not the GW rules.

My son and I do 1000 points battles, we've enjoyed it.

I'll also second Shadow War: Armageddon. Much smaller force, but much more personal fighting scale. Most games end in a "bottle" though, where the opponent "runs away" before getting too destroyed.

I hate the cards, so I prefer Eternal War.

It works fine at 1000, but under that there just won't be enough troops to do much with the objectives.

1000pts of Orks can be a substantial army. For example my campaign army at 1000 pts is;

Warboss
2x Weirdboyz
3x 30 boy mobz
25 Stormboyz.

That's 118 models, not quite a skirmish.

We're trialling out some small 500 pt fun lists over the next few weeks, to run alongside the campaign, and as theyre unbound I'm putting together some of the more flavoursome units like flashgitz for a bit of non-competitive fun. I've created 4 lists along those lines, mainly to see how they play on the table and to mess about with games that aren't hordes of boyz,

Mek list
Big Mek kff
Mek
Def-Dread 4x klaws
4x killa kanz 3x rokkits 1x big shoota

Pirates list
Kaptin Badrukk ammo runt
6x Tankbustas
Battle wagon
Flash gitz 3x ammo runts

Grots and snikrot
Boss Snikrot
15 Kommandos with 2x burnas
Grot Mega-Tank 2x kmb 3x big shootas, 2x boom kannisters
Dakkajet 6xSS

Bikes & koptas
Zhardsnark Da rippa
3x deff koptas with rokkits
5x warbikers

As you can see, just some fun stuff to throw down and experiment with, but I'm looking forward to trialling out different playstyles. My Op is doing something similar, and we're going to randomly match up our lists, play on a smaller table with only a couple of objectives, and hammer it out.

Otherwise you can take the usual Warboss and 2 units of Boyz. But it can get a but dull after a while.

Avezius wrote:
Thanks - don’t really intend on playing in a shop - I rarely have time during the day or weekends, so it would be evenings mostly. More for a few friends on my own boards.

Will take a look at maelstrom missions & some objective cards.

Does anyone use the player finder on this board to look for similar likeminded (time poor!) players in their areas? Tbh- Felt a little stalkery! I guess the local shop is the best place to find a local group?

Thanks

I play sometimes in a local store that has late opening until 10pm, so I can get there after work and get a game in. I also know of a local wargming club and another gaming venue that also play to a similar time. Being similarly time poor I don't make it to the store regularly, but I have been able to drop in every couple of weeks (or so) and that's worked out. So do find out what's around you as that might also work as well.

I've not used the player finder so I can't comment on it...

If by some random chance you're in the Midlands drop me a PM.