Let's talk Small-Team Skirmish Games

I sold all of my Deadzone. Mantic really pissed me off with the way they handled the 2nd edition kickstarter. And it's really a 2 player game.

It sounds like you probably should try Shadespire, I think it's what you're looking for.

Unless you also require campaign play...

Nope. I am actually more interested in NON-campaign play. It's hard enough to get people over to play, let alone the same people reliably.

hotseatgames wrote: Nope. I am actually more interested in NON-campaign play. It's hard enough to get people over to play, let alone the same people reliably.

Maybe you could... design one?

Seems like an area that could use quite a bit of Mclovin'. I really am scratching my head to think of a boardgame that allows multiplayer skirmishing. I hope I'm just ignorant and that they exist, but I dont know of any.

I agree, it seems like an area fairly under-served in the market. Which most likely means that companies are a) willfully ignoring it or b) don't think it will sell.

What about Siege of the Citadel? I have never played it. I see that the kickstarter from a while back still hasn't shipped.

Here's some thoughts:

Shadespire - Phenomenal, my game of 2017.
Gorechosen - Very strong, not quite as good as Shadespire but it handles 3/4 players much better
Wiz-War - The best skirmish game besides ER if you count it
Space Freaks - A solid game that is a little prone to AP and needs to be played with the right people
Earth Reborn - The best game ever designed, best 2 player though
Dungeon Alliance - This is slower paced and more like Mage Knight, the dungeon crawl skirmish game.
New Necromunda - Great, but only 2 player
AvP: The Hunt Begins (2nd edtition) - Pretty good 3 player Skirmish game, the expansion minis suck though and are hard to integrate.
Walking Dead: All Out War - The PvP warfare here is actually very interesting. I prefer the narrative scenarios but I've played quite a bit of group vs. group and it's very fun. Guns and some of the more obscure weapons become more interesting and viable.

Board game skirmishing without a campaign and easy to pickup and play:

Frontiers
Heroes of Normandie
Talon
Star Wars: Epic Duels
Heroscape
MTG: Arena of the Planeswalkers et al
Dungeon Command
Wiz-War
Gorechosen

Wow, I just got my Arcane Ruins from GW in...for only $26, these kits are among the best value I’ve seen for skirmish-scale terrain. You get a good sized platform, a big obelisk,parts for three trilithons including some broken pieces, and some column debris for scatter. it goes together easily and should take but a couple of hours to paint all of it to completion. Definitely recommended for Frostgrave.

Where'd you get them for $26?

Oops, I lied (or didn't pay attention)- each set was $29.75. They are a GW Web exclusive so they are pretty hard to find elsewhere, at least not at retail. I got two sets and a pot of Valhallan Blizzard to tip the balance to free shipping. Still, at $30, this is one of the best scenery buys I've made.

I also have a set of the Ruins of Osgilliath triple pack coming too...that also looks like a tremendous value for $65. It's like 9 pieces of LOS blocking and elevation terrain plus some statues.

REALLY trying to avoid looking at pictures of the Warscryer Citadel (nee Skullvane Manse)...please do not show it to me. I'm being good!

Anyway, there is actually kind of a nerd-interesting point of discussion in all of this. Where do skirmish miniatures games end and board game miniatures games begin. When I think about the differences, what I keep coming up with is that the board game varieties discussed here all shift the focus away from the 3D aspects (including LOS, elevation, position, physical proximity, diorama-making, etc.) and more toward mechanics, cardplay, and other elements. So I don't think of Wiz-War or Gorechosen as being anything like Frostgrave or Necromunda. It just feels fundamentally different than playing a game where you have this very physical, tangible element along with measurements rather than mechanics to determine action potentials.

But still, Newcromunda has some very minor card play and other games like Deadzone (which is really kind of underrated IMO) do bring in things like area movement rather than by-the-inch movement so it's not an absolute thing. And then there's Heroscape, which really sort of sits right in the middle.

I was going to throw Space Freaks in here too...it is definitely more of a board game though.

Planning on fixing the ruins to a base or leaving all the bits as stand alone pieces?

I tend to go back and forth on basing terrain. On one hand, if you use the terrain on a different table it may be aesthetically jarring. However, a nice base can tidy terrain up, give it stability, and also provide a surrounding surface area to which it's easy to see if the terrain provides cover.

Where do skirmish miniatures games end and board game miniatures games begin?

For me, it stops being a board game when everything doesn't come together in a box. Space Hulk, Necromunda, battlefleet gothic and even Mordheim are board games (or were). I can expand the game to make it bigger, but it's still a board game if it has everything I need to play in a box. Everything. Even x-wing is a board game. A shabby one considering the content, but it qualifies for me. Sometimes even 40k table top is a board game, when they come out with this good starters like we saw since 2nd Ed..

It's a pretty weak classification though.

For me, the distinction comes down to how you determine movement.

Spaces of any sort = board game (Space Hulk, Shadespire, Blood Bowl, Heroscape, etc)
Measuring tool required = table top game (AoS, Necromunda, BFG, Dreadfleet, etc)

Nah, I don’t think I’m going to base ‘em. It’s a little more work than I like and I also want to be able to take these pieces off the table and throw them into a storage bin without worrying about breaking a diorama-type piece. I also like being able to set these piece in particular with variety.

I am going snow ‘em though.

Warscryer Citadel is one of the nicest terrain pieces I've ever seen.