Building a Fantastic Scuffles warband

I have been lucky enough to be asked to have a look through a very early version of the Fantastic Scuffle rules from Nic Wright. They are based on his recently released Devilry Afoot rules. Now, I am not really a big fan of horror games but I do like a good fantasy skirmish game. So when Nic mentioned that the rules were going to be in testing soon I put up my hand and tried to get his attention.

The game is more of a narrative fantasy game. Unlike something like Age of Fantasy Skirmish you are creating stats for characters, for units that have distinct characteristics. Your Warband ‘leader’ is the leader based on the skills you give them but mostly because you create a narrative whereby they are in charge. There is no ‘Leader’ attribute. I am not sure if this is the type of game for everyone but it is certainly something I like.

A first taste

Some years ago a few of us used to get together at The Sentry Box in Calgary and played A Song of Blades and Heroes by Ganesha Games. I had a handful of random fantasy miniatures that I used to create a warband. Mostly it was an excuse to paint up some Mantic Games Abyssal Dwarves that I had picked up in a trade. I have a bit of a fondness for Dark/Chaos Dwarves.

The unnamed leader of the warband has a magic spear that he used for shooting attacks. I wanted it to be a spear that he threw and it would return to him after the attack. His band also consists of a handful of other Abyssal Dwarves, an Ogre (also from Mantic Games) and a small swarm of Reaper Miniatures Hobgoblin minis. Sadly I never managed to pick up any of the Abyssal Dwarves with blackpowder weapons.

I never used the entire collection of figures in our games and I suspect that a 100-150 point warband in Nic’s new rules won’t use them all either but it is nice to have options. The rules will also include campaign rules and there may be options for adding miniatures to your warband.

Define your role

Units in the game are first defined by choosing a role for the miniature(s). You can choose from Warrior, Sage, Rogue and Minion. Minions are, as you would guess, for units like Hobgoblins that come in groups. In the rules they also activate in groups. Each role matches a standard FRPG trope and gives you a good starting point to create fun units. Unlike many fantasy skirmish games there is a distinct Rogue type which not only allows you a template for backstabby assassin types but also thieves and con-artists. Happily the games scenario engine supports these types of characters as well. So if you have a miniature of a footpad who you want to be a thief you can not only create stats for that type of character but also have things for them to do in games. None of the miniatures in my warband really look like a Sage/Mage and so they are all going to be Warriors.

Traits

The rules currently use a positive attribute system whereby any traits you give to a character are either positive or neutral. I can’t really see any negative traits that you can assign. This is a bit of a change from Fantastic Battles which does have several negative traits you can give units to make them less expansive. Or to just make them fit a trope for the unit. I am not sure if this is a deliberate design choice or just a result of Nic porting the traits from his Devilry Afoot rules. My hope is that there will be some negative traits added to allow you to create cheaper minions as well as add some ‘character’ to your characters. I can see how, in a horror game, you won’t find a need for cowardly werewolves but I think a fantasy game does need space for timorous hobgoblins and warriors who are more bluff than fight.

Equipment

Very much unlike A Song of Blades & Heroes, these new rules have multiple options for equipment. Everything from weapons and armour to incidentals such as bandages and flaming missiles. There are quite a few options but not so many that you are overwhelmed with choice. It looks as if there are enough for most miniatures that a person might have in their collection. And happily there are blackpowder weapons as equipment but also referenced in the rules. Some people might not like having them in a ‘fantasy’ game but my dwarves are always ‘packing heat’.

Making a warband

I never really had a theme or narrative for this band of models when I was playing ASoBH. There was the ‘leader’ who had his magic spear but aside from that the group was uninformed by any narrative. So let’s see what one can make using these new, preliminary, rules from Nic.

Argash the very Grim

Argash has two qualities. He has his magic spear, Sharp Wind, and he is a resolute and firm commander. He is a Warrior and, due to his dwarfy nature, is Small. For traits I will give him Heroic, Skilled Fighter, a magic missile spell to represent the spear and Resolute. The latter will stop him being affected by his wounds as the game goes on. I give him medium armour, a spear and small shield. I’ve not had an opportunity to play the game yet so I won’t bother with any of the miscellaneous equipment.

Rockham the Scarlet

Next up is his bodyguard Rockham the Scarlet. He is also a Warrior and while not terribly large for an Ogre he is still larger than the average. He has a bastard sword, small shield and light armour. He is given the Doughty and Robust traits since he is intended to just last in battle as long as he can. He isn’t the best fighter (his bastard sword does give him an advantage in Opportunity Attacks) but meant to take damage and not fall down.

Wilkham the Wrangler

Wilkham’s job is to handle the Hobgoblins. In my ASoBH warband this model was for the force’s second-in-command but Nic’s new rules have a Trait called ‘Commanding’ that gives Minions some flexibility when activated. Since the warband has a lot of minions I thought it might be handy to have a unit with it. Wilkham will stick with the Hobgoblins and let them more efficiently gang-up on models.

Havel the Untested

Havel is a relatively new warrior and consequently is given the Belligerent trait to represent his eagerness to get into battle and stick in. He has also been given the Wild trait. He can choose to lower his ability to hit for an equal increase in his ability to wound. He wants to rush into combat and can make the (bad?) decision to take a Wild hack and hope to take an opponent down.

Minions

The Hobgoblins are Minions (so lower stats in general) and also small. The archers and ‘warriors’ have both been given the Evasive trait which lets them flee when they are charged. One can view it as a way to represent skirmishers or, in this case, units that would rather run away and regroup for a mass attack later. Other than that they differ only in their equipment.

One area where Nic’s new rules succeed over ASoBH is that it lets me create minions that are more distinct without a lot of additional rules. A Song of Blades and Heroes doesn’t have weapons or even armour and so a Kobold in that system is pretty much the same as another but I feel like I have more options with this ruleset. In fact, I could remove Evasive from the Hobgoblins with maces and then have them accompany Wilkham. Then I would have skittish archer Hobgoblins and hand-to-hand Hobgoblins that are more settled by his presence.

Next?

Next up I will need to create some stats for a warband for Argash and his friends to take on in a battle. I might try to use some of my Relicblade minis or perhaps the Wood Elf Warcry models?