Battlesworn

 

Last game of 2024 was a trial of these rules by Ganesha Games, designed for small fantasy skirmishes.  Although they're fantasy themed, we went with a more historical setting, with Vikings and Saxons clashing over river crossings

The figures are Anthony's excellent 54mm miniatures which are a great scale for this type of game but the rules are very scale-agnostic.

Figures can move or shoot any distance (so in theory you could move the whole length of the table in a single move) but only in a straight line.  The key feature of the game is built around a bidding system... using a dice, players bid from 1-6 points to gain initiative with the lowest going first.  The catch is that the winning low score means you can only move that number of figures.  The losing player can then react with the number they bid minus the winnining bid (so, eg if player A bids 2 and B bids 5, A can activate 2 figures and B can respond with 3) but only in response to movement or shooting.

There's a similar system for shooting and melee.  Low bids win but have fewer chances to cause damage.  As figures take damage, their status changes (described in colours for some reason... white to green to yellow to red and then dead).  As the category shifts it limits the type of bid that you can make with that figure.

There's a bit more to it than that, but that's the gist of the system.  We didn't have any magic using figures but I think the same principles apply.  It's an interesting approach, meaning there's a lot of thinking and head-scratching about what to bid when, and how to manage the movement system to get people in the right place at the right time.

Once we got our heads round the mechanics it moved a bit faster but it did feel a bit stilted at times as you pause plan your moves and then to bid for each shot or melee.  We also found that we probably only activated half of our available figures as the bidding system means you'll tend to only be moving a couple of figures at a time.

In our scenario the opposing forces were faced with a river with 2 available fords and a bridge. Both of us moved our heavier armoured troops to the central bridge where they spent the rest of the game glowering at each other but didn't move.  Most of the action took place around one of the 2 fords.  My Viking Warlord led the charge against the Saxons who had dared to cross the river... casualties were pretty even by the end of turn 10 which marked the end of the game.  I had a slight advantage in terms of damage inflicted but the Saxons had a tenuous toe-hold on my side of the river, so I think it ended honours-even.

It's an interesting system... quite simple but requiring quite a lot of thought which is always a plus.  It did feel a bit like a thought-experiment though and I'm not sure it gives the kind of free flowing game that I'd want in a skirmish game.