Status Report

 Last weekend I planned to test differing scopes for skirmish gaming. These were my two test games:

1. Activation, movement, and combat by individual figure with 5-6 figures per side.
2. Activation and movement by unit. Each figure rolls in combat. About 15-20 figures per side.

This plan got sidetracked a bit when I jotted down a skirmish variant for MicroBattle but then began writing them as a full length set of rules.

Test 2

I managed to get the second test done. I don't have enough individual figures so I used my 3mm units. I assumed that units comprised 3-4 figures. I tracked casualties on a piece of paper.

Here we see the start of the battle. Two bands of dark-cloaked skeletons (bottom) advance on unsuspecting human settlements. Human troops (top) rush to the rescue.

I gave up after a few turns. Two issues cropped up.

• Keeping a roster is a pain.
• I did not know how to handle retreats. What happens when only one figure fails a retreat test? Does that one figure leave the unit to fall back? For a large skirmish, I want to keep units together. I'll have to think about this a bit.

I ended up finishing the game using the standard MicroBattle rules.

Melee breaks out around the town.

The human leader overruns a band of skeleton archers. However, more skeletons advance across the bridge to join the fray.

Some skeletons pillage the village and set it on fire.

But the human cavalry destroys the skeleton leader just as day breaks. The remaining skeletons withdraw.

Placing an order for miniatures

The above test convinced me that a true skirmish game works better with individually mounted figures (or at least individual casualties). With that decided, I ordered some 10mm Dark Age and skeleton figures from Irregular miniatures. for a fantasy Byzantine skirmish project.

I also ordered some 6mm, just out of curiosity. I'm thinking of using them for small-scale battles, with each unit approximately company sized.

Making casualty markers

As you can see above, I'm still using wooden markers to track casualties. I originally created these for my block armies, and have been meaning to replace them with casualty figures for my 3mm armies. I finally put some together.

I chopped up some 3mm cavalry and skirmishers blocks and mounted them on some circular bases I had lying around. I am still in the process of painting them.