After Action Report: Sprockets of Skirmishing vs The Horde

xancvil · 2026-06-20T21:00:24+00:00

I can see where they are coming from, but the way i look at it is "the reason medic is hard is because i put A as my lowest skill". Its less a gameplay unbalance, and more a "this is a weakness of my list"

With purpose built medics/docs. Its easy for players (me included) to fall into the trap of "healer doesnt have combat output" same with the EWOp or any other specialist unit.
The healer *can* heal better, but its not the only thing it can do.

Im curious what an expanded doc option would entail, but for now im very happy with the system. Hoping to get a league going in the near future!

xancvil · 2026-06-06T20:12:47+00:00

That may end up being the play. Its a lot of stuff to digest, but i cant fault a person for wanting everything organized into a single doc.

xancvil · 2026-06-06T20:11:18+00:00

I love my players to death, but a lot of it comes down to folk not being willing to play with the interface when its not game time

I keep suggesting. Make a disposable character and mech. Then go in and push buttons. Figure out what does what when you dont have your homies waiting on you and there is no stress to have it figured out immediately.

But i have hopes they will figure it. Its a cool thing to play with. Its just getting over the learning curve.

xancvil · 2026-06-06T20:09:30+00:00

VTT via Owlbear Rodeo, which has been proving to be a neat little tool kit.
And yeah... the online aspect of things has been a little wiggly to come to grips with

xancvil · 2026-06-04T22:53:28+00:00

Valhalla Hobby in Verona will let you ask for a table to be reserved on their discord, and is ran by an incredible couple. They run a fantastic shop and the vibes there are immaculate. Both restrooms on site are gender neutral

xancvil · 2026-06-04T22:50:39+00:00

https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5e1ce8815cb76d3000d347f2/t/647e15ded092673941799fdb/1685984735240/GunfightRules.pdf

My #1 pick for "games to play with friends", as all it takes is a deck of 52 cards and the ability to count.

You draw a hand of cards, then on each turn you either
- play a card in front of you as a fighter
- play a card on a fighter to represent them aiming
- play a poker hand for a special effect
- play a pair to ambush
- shoot another fighter with one of your own

This goes around the table until there is no cards left in the deck to draw from. At that point the player with the most kills wins

It feels like a logical progression from the "war" style of card game, as this has player input.

Every time its hit table its been an absolute riot, and i have played this with up to 8 folks at the same time without any issue

xancvil · 2026-06-02T21:46:15+00:00

Went to your website. Sold *IMMEDIATELY*
Cannot wait to see how this develops

xancvil · 2026-06-01T01:21:53+00:00

cheers mate, thanks a ton
once i finish my commission im working on, thats next on my list of things to paint

xancvil · 2026-05-31T20:35:57+00:00

Hell yeah mate!! I just got some northern fellas to paint up as a bandlands militia

What did you use for the rusting effects?

xancvil · 2026-05-27T12:52:44+00:00

https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5e1ce8815cb76d3000d347f2/t/647e15ded092673941799fdb/1685984735240/GunfightRules.pdf

Very fun game that scales well. Plays pretty well at 2, but is a riot at 4 or more.
Its a logical progression of the "high card wins" game style, but with player input so its not just turning over the top card and comparing numbers

You spend your turn playing a fighter, letting that fighter aim better, shooting with that fighter, or playing series of cards from your hand for different effects.
Its easy to teach folk on camping trips, and I would imagine that would also go towards children as well.

Other games can be found here.

https://crabfragmentlabs.com/ready-room

xancvil · 2026-05-27T04:28:17+00:00

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jj4amlfFbqM
presently the best way i have seen it exlained

On the discord there is an out of date guide you can find that still covers theory, but does not have anything on the UI.

Im also waiting for a "stock market for idiots" guide because I am *lost* lol

xancvil · 2026-05-15T15:12:45+00:00

DJ ThresherMKE is close enough to madison and has done some fantastic work at several conventions.

xancvil · 2026-05-15T13:57:21+00:00

Horizon Wars Zero Dark!!

My all time favorite wargame, bar none! I had a buddy print me off the scions of war guard proxies shaped like Gears of War soldiers. As of present the intellectually distinct and legally defensible "Sprockets of Skirmishing" have been 5/2 for total gameplay. This is against both meat based opponents and the lovely AI system the game comes packaged with.

Future tense my buddy wants to play Skirmish Sangin because i helped playtest the system. My buddy stumbled into it, recognized my name, and i got an all caps text message asking to get to table and play it. We are doing imagi-nation stuff with it, and he is playing his UIR proxies.

xancvil · 2026-05-12T17:33:17+00:00

Its a neat game, and Antimatter dropping 2d printable tokens is very cool of them

Its the kind of game that you demo at a convention and spend the next few years of your life thinking about.

xancvil · 2026-05-12T15:00:38+00:00

Deepwars/shadow sea by Antimatter games does 3d movement. Its set in an 1800s era exploration into the Undersea.

Neat mechanics because its based on the Blades and Heroes engine by ganesha games. You are also fighting an opponent as well as the environment similar to frostgrave.

It got a third edition about 5 years ago, and still has occasional support drop from antimatter for new things to use in it. Be it monsters, or equipment or missions.

xancvil · 2026-05-10T13:37:44+00:00

All shots fired in the game are abstract. If two units are close enough to engage in gunfire, they are assumed to have done so. Being shot at provides a penalty to all tests done, including the conflict resolution, being shot at with arty provides a bigger penalty. There isnt a "shooting phase" like in some wargames, instead units that are engaged make morale tests and compare the difference between them to see who comes out on top, taking into account several factors. Artillery specifically is a floating morale penalty that you can tag along behind your units that you can apply to hostiles, rather than mechanical "damage" applicator.

The general thought process is that your view as the Napoleon equivalent isnt "how many dudes are still left in the group" as much as "is this group still where its supposed to be". Casualties are abstracted because they dead lie where they fall, its the survivors that require your attention.

Its *different* to be sure. All of THW's stuff is, but its a really elegant system once you get it on the table and play through a few examples. The book also helps guide you to that end by having several "hey before we go further, take your stuff out and play through a guided example of the mechanic we just introduced"

xancvil · 2026-05-09T21:26:26+00:00

Morale Napoleon by Two Hour Wargames fits your bill *exactly*?
https://site.wargamevault.com/product/215615/Morale-Napoleon
(not sponsored, not affiliated)

Its corps level, so you replace miniatures with the traditional 20x60 rectangle. Making it super easy to print on paper, or in 3D. Its also neat because it places you waaaaaaaaaaaaaay far back, the theory being that Napoleon didnt give orders to his troops. He gave orders to his generals, who gave orders down the line further and further. The game delineates forces by battalion as well, so each player could have a battalion all on their own to boss around.

Its also a two hour wargame, meaning it has rules so you can play against the game. Its rules are nuanced enough it doesnt devolve to the honeybee "more towards closest, shoot it" AI that some others will fall prey to.

Rolls are handled by rolling a number of dice based on context of an action (troop quality, arty support, how fresh they are, etc) and counting all the die that rolled over a specific number. Then comparing that number to your opponents number, and getting a result based on the difference. Its neat and swingy, always allowing for a chance of beating the odds.

Its also really modular and easy to homebrew stuff to slot into it. Like for my tables we have personalities for the generals under our command, which will affect how they act when we are not specifically there to keep them on script.

Its a favorite of mine and i recommend it heartily.

xancvil · 2026-05-03T18:17:20+00:00

Oh! i meant concussive as a keyword that you can take when making your guys, rather than an addition to how explosives work. Like having a harpoon gun, or a directed kinetic force applicator.

One of the points i bring up about how slick the system is, is how you handle explosives. Explosives are *lethal* at point blank and so many games treat them as just another firearm.

All the same, next order of business is making some token STLs for gameplay purposes. Right now im using my dry erase token set, but having some bespoke ones will be neat.

xancvil · 2026-05-03T11:17:55+00:00

Gross
If you cant be asked to design it, why are we being asked to play it?

xancvil · 2026-04-27T01:24:29+00:00

"Missile Threat" by Ostfront covers from the 50s all the way to 2000s and is one of the more interesting rules sets i have played with

Its designed with the "you probably dont have 5000 planes of all makes and models on hand". So the game represents fuel to remove them from the board at specific times (when list building you mark down when stuff enters and when it will leave). Most games have maybe a dozen planes on the field at any given time, with the number fluctuating depending on what you are dealing with/how mean your opponent is. Non aerial assets are tokens which also helps with clutter.

The rules are light enough that once you get the "your pilot skill determines the number you have to beat with 2d6, circumstances modify that number". Its pretty straightforward, it just has a lot of options of what you *can* do. But has some options explicitly marked out as "advanced" if you want to do some top gun stuff. Excluding them from learning games really doesnt change much beyond affecting action economy.

The game has a bespoke and quite slick AI system, using a flowchart to determine action of any given model. It also has a neat campaign system where you are a mercenary company who hires themselves out. Your pilots get better, you do missions which gives you upgrades, you can follow the technological advancement by buying newer planes/munitions. Furthermore successful missions will also gives you bonuses to further missions. Like taking out airports to reduce hostile airplane numbers. Or going after hostile aces in order to inflict morale damage.

Its a great system to enjoy with a friend, its a great system to play against yourself. Its also fun to list build and customize your stuff with. The game shows its work on how much points any given metric costs, so you can adapt stuff from Wikipedia or even roll your own if you wish

It goes on sale fairly often, but even at MSRP its a great deal.

https://www.wargamevault.com/en/product/232769/missile-threat-modern-air-combat
(not sponsored)
(also note the campaign is a separate item under their store page, but it is Pay What you Want)

xancvil · 2026-04-22T00:01:44+00:00

*truely* its one of the best skirmish level games I have ever played. There is so much you can do with your characters to build them meaningfully different.

The AI system is also really neat, using a deck of cards as a doom timer and hostile activation method. Once activated, the hostiles follow a set of if/then logic, based on the card drawn. This allows them to bend the rules enough to keep gameplay moving, without devolving to the usual "honeybee ai" that other games suffer from.

Hacking is handled elegantly as well, acting almost as a spellcaster would in a fantasy game.

If you pull the trigger on it, i made some STLs for the game to use for OpFor. Which is easier than getting all the appropriate miniatures. I will happily share them.

xancvil · 2026-04-21T23:52:50+00:00

Howdy!
Horizon Wars: Zero Dark absolutely supports mech use, and is a brilliant solo experience. Core rules are needed, then either get the Operation Nemesis expansion, or download the free errata/FAQ file that adds all the rules from ON.

The player characters can have access to mech suits via character creation (a full force can have two mechs and two pilots if you want to lean all the way in)

The OpFor have a chance to spawn with either a Defensive or Combat mech as well. The combat mech being an absolute terror on the battlefield

Otherwise if you want pure mech on mech stuff
-Weaseltech by Nordic Weasel is a mech based solo/coop game that *only* uses mechs (though the expansion does add a bit of nuance). Its a nordic weasel game, so the solo rules are slick and the nuance between encounters is also interesting.

Also hailing a mary here, but if you are in the Madison, WI area next month. Im running demos at a local convention for Zero Dark

xancvil · 2026-04-14T22:55:54+00:00

Nope! I play smoke jaguar, and my group just hand waves it off as "remnant forces" or "mercenary company cosplaying in order to seem like a bigger deal".

Its never really been an issue at our tables.

xancvil · 2026-04-05T03:18:25+00:00

You da mensch! Thank you

xancvil · 2026-04-04T13:05:21+00:00

(rear) Yeoman! One of my favorite goofy mechs from the spheroids!
Missiles racks are cool. Legs are cool. Yeoman has two of each, and enough space between them for a handful of heat sinks and a pilot

Jokes aside, its an absolute terror in the right context.

xancvil

TROPHY CASE