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.

I have been playing a fair bit of skirmish lately and have found it quite enjoyable, the games are quick and the campaign is good fun. The fact that you keep upgrading your warband as you grow is a great mechanic that keeps you interested.

So far I have finished one campaign with bloodbound and half way through one with the Kharadron.
How is everyone finding it so far?
Any particular units that are effective?

I came up across a branchwych and she has a spell that is a 9" AOE dishing mortal wounds, it wiped out half my army.
Individually the Kharadron always seem to miss their shots but when i focus fire with a few they become quite effective, the arkanaught company are excellent points wise, with a choice of three special weapons.

I'll admit that I finally got interested in AoS with hearing about the new skirmish rules, but I'm not sure where to dive in.

If I want to play the skirmish side of things on a budget, besides the Skirmish book, which materials do I absolutely need, and leave the rest because I don't plan on playing the full on army-scale game. I assume probably the General's Handbook and the Battletome for any given army (and obviously the warscrolls from online)?

I'm looking forward to playing this (book is still coming in the mail).

Just wondering how people are mainly playing this? 50 renown, 100 renown? Campaigns or one-off battles?

To play I have needed the skirmish rules and the generals handbook. the GH isn't totally necessary but if you want to play with other models than in the skirmish rulebook than you will need it. A battletome isn't actually required because you don't need any of the rules or abilities out of it.

Other than that the core rules and warscrolls are all free.


So far i have started my campaigns off with 35 renown, this way we all get to pick the best hero choice which is usually 28 points.

Ok, thanks. I'm sure things are much easier when a player is already invested in Age of Sigmar, so they are really only buying Skirmish to supplement all the rules they already have, but I'm finding that with two kids under three, my days of painting more than a skirmish-sized force are gone for the time being, so there's no reason for me to invest in the entire rules collection lol. Not to mention that the scene around here is basically nonexistent for wargaming in general.

the GH isn't totally necessary but if you want to play with other models than in the skirmish rulebook than you will need it. 

Is it just for points? Because you can see those for free on the Warscroll builder on their community site. (Don't own skirmish yet so this may be a dumb comment)

 Madmatt wrote:
Any particular units that are effective?

Anything with good mobility/shooting and mortal wounds. The system feels very frail in this aspect. There isn't much needed to stomp the other force, if the opponent is not prepared.

I've been playing with 50 points of renown, we usually just roll for a scenario.

Relictor
Liberator prime, shield and hammer
Liberator; shield and hammer
Liberator, shield and hammer
Prosecutor prime, trident
Prosecutor, javelin and shield
Retributor Prime

I've been thinking of replacing Relictor and Liberator with Knight Venator, one Prosecutor with Judicator prime.

The scenarios are very enjoyable. Wish there would be more of them in the book. Perhaps in the Path of Glory.

Made in ca wrote:If I want to play the skirmish side of things on a budget, besides the Skirmish book, which materials do I absolutely need, and leave the rest because I don't plan on playing the full on army-scale game. I assume probably the General's Handbook and the Battletome for any given army (and obviously the warscrolls from online)?

Skirmish is enough for a bare minimum. There should be free 4 page rules available online and you get points for the units in the Skirmish. Warscrolls are also available online. Battletome is handy as it unlocks allegiance abilities, such as additional spells/prayers, traits and wargear. You can peacefully skip the general's handbook.

From the rules, you actually can't use the additional battletomes for anything.
"units you choose to make up your warband may make it eligible for allegiance abilities from a number of different sources, such as battletomes and the General’s Handbook. However, in a Skirmish battle, your warband can only use the allegiance abilities of the Grand Alliance from which they hail."

It goes on further to restrict artifacts to the ones listed in the skirmish rules or the Grand Alliance your army comes from.

So you can maybe get the spells part, but that is all.

Honestly, I love the concept of Skirmish; I mostly play at a GW store so we have very limited table space; being able to split our single (for AOS) 8x4 table into two 4x4 sections allows for A) More than just one game going on at a time, and B) with Skirmish being fast prevents people showing up for a game, finding the table is in use for a 2k game, and then either leaving or having to wait half the day for the game to finish.

Thus far my issue with it is that even my casual friends found immediate ways to break the system and/or screw around with the balance, so it suffers from the same problem most GW things do: It's intended for really casual/narrative play, but a lot of people are going to immediately veer to min/maxing whatever they can.

I have yet to pitch an event to my GW but I am thinking of it, I'm also waiting to see what the new Path to Glory book has because that might be worth exploring as well.

From the rules, you actually can't use the additional battletomes for anything.
"units you choose to make up your warband may make it eligible for allegiance abilities from a number of different sources, such as battletomes and the General’s Handbook. However, in a Skirmish battle, your warband can only use the allegiance abilities of the Grand Alliance from which they hail."

A huge oversight on my part.

What pts level is the most common for skirmish

Hey, how good a skirmish band can you make from Silver Tower? Saw some guys asking about getting into AoS and were open to getting Silver Tower, would make a great entry combo if they can.

PUFNSTUF wrote:What pts level is the most common for skirmish

I'm pretty sure it is 50pts, that goes up by either a set amount (25pts) or you roll for it using the rewards table after each game.

Baron Klatz wrote:Hey, how good a skirmish band can you make from Silver Tower? Saw some guys asking about getting into AoS and were open to getting Silver Tower, would make a great entry combo if they can.

You could make a decent skirmish band out of the Tzeentch stuff, but probably not the Order heroes - you do need some basic infantry to do well, since you need a minimum amount of guys to make the warband legal - it either 3 or 5, I don't remember. Either way, Heroes cost a lot of points - rightfully so - so you probably won't hit that minimum amount without running out of points. Tzeentch is a definite "yes" though.

How much terrain (if any) are you guys playing skirmish with?

@WarbossDakka, thanks for the info!

All you really need is the Skirmish book, the rules and warscrolls for your models (both of which are free downloads), and some models.

You really don't need the General's Handbook for anything, and I'd start with just what's pointed in the Skirmish book.

motski wrote:
How much terrain (if any) are you guys playing skirmish with?

On a 4x4 I use a fair bit of small stuff, like just spreading out trees individually and then maybe like a watchtower and a couple of similar size terrain pieces. I don't however bother with terrain rules at the moment as remembering them is a pain.

One good thing with playing skirmish is it is helping me paint more models. Instead of batch painting units which i hate, i have been trying to paint what I am using. Makes me put a bit more effort in a do a better job as well.

Mobility is definitely key in this game, I used a bloodsecrator as my hero but needed him on the move which made his ability useless. Khorgus Khul or a Slaughterpriest would have been better.

PUFNSTUF wrote:
What pts level is the most common for skirmish

I introduced my girlfriend to it with just 35. A modest general and Less 1 wound models reduce the overwhelming feel of too many things to keep track of.

She loved it at 35. When I suggested 50 next time, she said she'd rather play standard Age of Sigmar, however.
Perhaps give it a go at the suggested level, and you can always tone down if it takes too long?

It's quick and fun, but a little bland compared to a full game. Really shines as part of a larger game, like a campaign.