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I've been looking to jump into a skirmish game for a while now (will also be picking up Necromunda when it drops) I havent played one since the Marvel Minatures game was discontinued. What I'm looking for is an intuitive rule set with a low model count and great looking sculpts. I'm not very interested in historicals

Love the look of infinity but the rules are Intimidating. What does dakka suggest? I loved the random activation of MMUG and would love to play a game just like that except for the fact it's been D/C'd. Not really looking to jump into the DC version.

 supreme overlord wrote:
I've been looking to jump into a skirmish game for a while now (will also be picking up Necromunda when it drops) I havent played one since the Marvel Minatures game was discontinued. What I'm looking for is an intuitive rule set with a low model count and great looking sculpts. I'm not very interested in historicals

Love the look of infinity but the rules are Intimidating. What does dakka suggest? I loved the random activation of MMUG and would love to play a game just like that except for the fact it's been D/C'd. Not really looking to jump into the DC version.

There are a load of good Skirmish games out there. As for 'and great looking sculpts', this sounds like the GW mentality of having to buy the minis from the rules makers.

My personal favourite at the moment is the Dracula's America Rules with or without the 'wierd'. We use the rules for Wild West only games most of the time. I use Tombstone figures from Black Scorpion, so no link between rules writer and model makers.

I'm sure in a few months I'll change favourite again, but, that's the joy of playing games with only a single rulebook and 5-10 figures from a selection of different manufacturers.

Necromunda looks good but with extra card sets and additional books, it's going to be well over £100 to play.

I typically convert my own minis from all the sprues I have (especially for GW games) So I'll probably just buy the rulebook for necromunda unless I need everything else to play then, of course, I'll fork over the cash.

The usual question - what do the people around you play?

Though I think Batman is awesome value now with their resin miniatures. They dropped almost 50% in price when swapping from metal to resin. I do think Malifaux is good value as well. A crew box and a few extras will set you right for a good while.

But again, if no one around you plays them, it's hard to recommend them.

in print, I would have to say Malifaux is best. CoI could be great too if you are into IK.

oh I have a pretty solid group of guys I can convince to pick up just about anything what about heavy Gear of battletech? are they drunchy/beardy or fast paced and simple?

heavy gear IMO is the better of the two, but battletech is really popular around here. I play both, but I tend to prefer one over the other. Also I could recommend Wrath of Kings and if you dont mind OOP, Confrontation (3rd ed or before, or even EVO) is the best game ever made (that is my opinion)

For your buck? If you're not playing tournaments I'd say X-Wing simply because it's pre-painted and you can play on a piece of black felt. The minis are a bit expensive and there's quite a pay-to-win scheme going on with the cards/units/pilots thing...but if you're just looking for fun casual games that wouldn't be bad. Target occasionally has the starter box dirt cheap.

Malifaux is brilliant, and you get get playing for about $70 (mini rulebook + faction + cards). Lots of very clever mechanics, lots of strategy and engagement.

There is a absolutely huge range of Skirmish games covering all genres - eg I think there are about 4 pirate themed games.

Some are simple, some are very complex.

If you like the look of Infinity but not the rules, then how about Scrappers or Rogue Stars? Or even Rogue Trader, if you know someone with a rulebook lying around.

I think Donnybrook from League of Augsburg.

It is fast and fun but also very flexible in terms of time period, geographical location and models which you have.

It can even be used for Lo-Fi Sci-Fi.

All for only 27 quid!

Bushido is also relatively cheap, with cool looking minis.
It's also typically played on boards with little terrain, so building a table isn't a time/money sink, as opposed to many other skirmish games.

If you play warmahordes as it was ment aka skirmish and not army, then it aint bad.

I would say that it's hardly to beat "Oldcromunda" in "best for the buck" category, as complete rules are free to download and all cheapest thing you can buy is Neophyte Hybrids box if you want to go GW with your models. This kit seems like designed specially for Necro, just ending up in 40K range by mistake But with "Newcromunda" coming out it is still uncertain how will Necro community split up.

7TV from Crooked Dice is a lot of fun, and they make some fantastic minis for it (though you are not limited to just using theirs): http://www.crooked-dice.co.uk/wp/rules/7tv-2nd-edition/

Some of the Osprey rules are pretty decent (Black Ops and FistFul of Kung Fu for example) and Northstar makes figure for several of the Osprey games http://www.northstarfigures.com/list.php?man=162&page=1 (fistful of king fu figs).

If you liked the Marvel game, you may also like the Super System. I think it is on 4th edition, but many people play 3rd edition as well.

Review Here: https://bloodandspectacles.blogspot.com/2016/12/review-super-systems-4th-edition-4.html

That will let you play with your MMUG minis so that is pretty good value for you.

If you are looking for something less superhero oteinted you can not go too far wrong with any of the Osprey Wargames Series. Ronin/En Garde are good fun. So is In Her Majesty's Name and Broken Legion. Depends on what you are looking for.

Ronin:
https://bloodandspectacles.blogspot.com/2017/09/review-roninen-garde-osprey-games.html

In Her Majesty's Name:
https://bloodandspectacles.blogspot.com/2016/12/review-in-her-majestys-name-osprey.html

Broken Legions:
https://bloodandspectacles.blogspot.com/2016/12/review-broken-legions-osprey-wargame.html

Others might recommend Bushido, Mercs 2.0, and Arena Rex if you want more boutigue models and named minis in your fights. If you like MMUG those two might be more your speed. I do not have any reviews on those though.

I found Batman the best skirmish game imo. The resins are cheaper, rules are free, cards are available for all and the balance is there too imo, you could pick any minis and put them into a team (following the usual legal requirements of course) and even the most 'casual' list can still put up against the most 'competitive' as the game rewards player skill more than list creation, which I find is very hard to do never mind on a superhero scale where people will be bias towards certain characters.

Song of Blades and Heroes. Inexpensive, quality ruleset.
Use any minis you want, from cheap Reaper Bones to whatever you can imagine.
So it's as expensive as you want it to be. Honestly, this game rekindled mini gaming in my gaming group. Being able to build super modular force lists using any minis we want to a theme (or not) was liberating and made everyone want to revisit other settings, like 40k.

Punkapocalyptic is free and looks very good at first glance. Also offers premium resin gangs but you can use any minis.

I second Song of Blades and Heroes. Get the Advanced Song of Blades and Heroes, though, as it's the most bang for your buck, and can be had on places like Amazon for 20 bucks.

Also visit One Page Rules. The designer has made rules-light versions of 40k and Warhammer, with both army-scale and skirmish-scale versions of each game, with stats for nearly every model available right now. He just uses different names to avoid copyright issues. Also they are completely free.

Pretty genious rules, too. Especially for the skirmish games, its two pages of rules, with a single page 'Codex' for each army, and every model has a simple statline of two different stats to roll against, a couple of super simple weapon profiles, and a couple of simple universal keyword abilities.

so currently Heavy gear is at the top of my list. Is the game IGOUGO or is it alternating activation? are the rules easy to pick up?

I can recommend Mantic's Deadzone. it's a nice boardgame/skirmish hybrid with alternating activation, a quick and clean rule set, and a relatively cheap entry price. The starter rules are available off Mantic's website too.

The Walking Dead: All out War from Mantic Games is great. Models are all fully assembled and "ready to play out of the box" Model count is low especially if you are playing less than 200pt games. It's alternate activation and the cool thing is that the passive zombie system means when you don't have an opponent to play, you can play the game solo. Rules are easy to learn and finding interesting combos with characters and equipment is fun. Also in one of the expansions it has rules to create your own survivors...which was a huge selling point for me.

I play:

Guild Ball
Infinity
Malifaux
DCU
Arena Rex
Batman

I'd say of them, the closest to DCU's allocation and activation system is probably Guild Ball, but that's probably where the similarities end. DCU is far more terrain based where GB is very much a positioning game. GB is probably the most tournament ready game on that list, where DCU skews towards a lot more towards spectacle. Arena Rex has great filler game potential. It's pretty simple overall but is very engaging for its quick playtime and always seems to come down to a pretty tense finish. These games all benefit from pretty small investments for what you get out of them.

Of the ones I listed, I'd say Infinity and Malifaux are the games with the most depth of options to act as a primary game for someone. They're both excellent games that are very deep and involved, but really couldn't be more different from each other. Batman fits similarly into this range of commitment, but I just find it clunky. I used to feel that way about Infinity though, so it probably just needs the right community support to streamline the issues with the rules to make it sing.

fresus wrote:
Bushido is also relatively cheap, with cool looking minis.
It's also typically played on boards with little terrain, so building a table isn't a time/money sink, as opposed to many other skirmish games.

There are some really nice sculpts in that range.

I like the fantasy-type inclusions as well (Japanese demons and undead etc.)

Malifaux, and if you are not adverse to OOP, then Confrontation.

Having a blast with Test of Honour at the moment.

Just bought the British and American starter armies for the AWI from Warlord Games at an amazing £50 each. Once I get the militia and Indians painted I'm gonna dive into Songs of Drums and Tomahawks before I go full out Black Powder.

Shameless plug .. If you're looking for a generic system you can use with any models, check out the Gangfight rules at SkirmishGames.com

Right now we have fantasy rules available, will be adding Blackwater Gulch & Western rules in January, and Sci Fi rules to follow soon after.

 Necros wrote:
Shameless plug .. If you're looking for a generic system you can use with any models, check out the Gangfight rules at SkirmishGames.com

Right now we have fantasy rules available, will be adding Blackwater Gulch & Western rules in January, and Sci Fi rules to follow soon after.

Really like the look of Mechadrome! would def jump into that once the range is expanded.