Warhammer Skirmish Retro Review: A Gateway to Fantasy

Warhammer Skirmish is Warhammer Fantasy Supplement, written by Gav Thorpe and Alessio Cavatore. It adapts Tuomas Pirinen's rules from both Mordheim and Warhammer Fantasy Sixth Edition down into the titular skirmish scale.
In this review I'll be talking about the different ways Skirmish can be approached, as well as its value as a on-boarding point into retrogaming Warhammer Fantasy.
Starter Pack: drive.google.c...
Showdown Scenario: docs.google.co...
Mordheim Living Rulebook: gurth.home.xs4...
#warhammer #tabletop #warhammerfantasy

[@konatelassina5301]

I don’t recommend using Mordheim’s optional weapon-specific critical hit tables. You then get situations where slings, which fire 2 shots at -1 each, on a ranged shot critical where a single shot can crit 2 different models. So, skaven players just fish for 6’s and a single skaven model with a sling can potentially take down 4 opposing models. And, not every warband can have slings. Sucks if you’re a low model count warband like dwarves and play against 12 skaven with slings, getting 24 shots just fishing for 6’s taking down 2 dwarves for each 6.

[@CementSaul]

Cheers, that's good info. I'll keep it in mind for when I try out Mordheim.

[@lorenzovive5801]

I agree with you that this is my FAVORITE game system. It really encourages creativity of scenarios. You did a very nice job of explaining how it works. Also, you painted your models nicely. Thank you for your hard work and good presentstion.

[@CementSaul]

Thanks a bunch! Not a lot of interest for old systems at the moment, sadly. But playing through skirmish a bunch was a good time. Looking forward to the time when I can give Mordheim a proper review.

[@darnokx9277]

Not ven a minute in, and I see freshly painted Dwarfs for classical WHF... man, I raise my hat to thee!

[@raeishimura]

I haven't played too much fantasy battle honestly. I used to play mostly against my older brother and cousin. My cousin played Wood Elves, I ran a Dark Elf army, (I've always been a punk/goth, and so are most of my tabletop armies, lol) and my older brother did what he did in 40K as well, by being Orks. Skirmish here looks more viable honestly than much of the core game in terms of cost and play time. If you are actually using GW stuff, the cost can get a bit high. Skirmish games tend to be a lot better just in terms of cost. I think I could potentially run this with the assortment of models I have been printing for Reign in Hell, and I have a good number of painted terrain boards that are the right size for this from my Five Parsecs from Home campaign. The real challenge will be getting my game group together to play more than one game, lol. A great review as always though.

[@CementSaul]

Thanks! I do notice a lot of people aren't as enthusiastic about hopping around systems. This one might be a hard sell if folks aren't interested in Warhammer Fantasy, especially since there's no campaign system attached to it by default. It's a really cool look at old school design sensibilities, though.

[@CurrentKick]

Awesome review! I'm looking forward to your Mordheim and 6th edition reviews. Would love to see you cover Oathmark at some point as well as I heard it's a modernized version of WFB.

[@CementSaul]

That's also on the queue somewhere! Tho I still have to deal with the small matter of painting enough miniatures for an army scale game.

[@CurrentKick]

@@CementSaul Tell me about it! I've mostly just been buildiing and painting for Stargrave the last few months. Luckily the solo expansion (Quarantine 37) just got delievered, so I'll finally be able to play and cover it. Keep up the good work!

[@axanax2534]

I had a difficult time transitioning my Undead army from 5th into either the Tomb Kings or Vampire Counts in 6th, and that's always tainted my view of the system. People seem to love it best out of all the WFB though.

[@CementSaul]

It's got a lot going for it yep. Also a great point to start talking about whfb from, because you can start moving up into the newer stuff, which builds off it, or go back to the old editions, which informed 6th in turn.

[@Choom89]

Great watch, thanks!

[@machinamawatcher]

Very interesting, might see about taking my Necromancer and some ghouls I got for Warcry and trying this out. Also excited to hear your take on Mordheim in the future!

[@CementSaul]

Yep, it's gonna need a lot of prep but I'll get to it eventually! Very keen on seeing how the campaign for that works.

[@machinamawatcher]

@@CementSaul Looks like your socials have been deleted and your channel hasn't been active in nearly a year, so it seems the worst has happened and you've given up on content creation. I can't think of another way to reach out given the circumstances, so I'm commenting again here. I just wanted to say, I loved your content and really appreciated your more quantitative, in-depth approach to game reviews and assessments. You brought something unique to wargaming content creation and it's sad to see you go. And yeah, I'm still holding out hope that you come back with a grand, comprehensive Mordheim review - I think you'd have some interesting things to say about the game and with Mordheim currently experiencing a huge resurgence in the youtube creator space, I think it'd have a good shot at getting your channel picked up by the algorithm and giving you the view counts your high-quality content deserves. Regardless, I hope you're doing well at whatever you're applying yourself to now. Cheers.

[@zombiedad]

That was interesting. Thanks Saul

[@CementSaul]

Thanks for watching!

[@DarrinSK]

nostalgia

[@PlasmaDavid]

A shame there's no all-in-one fan ruleset document, still having to learn 6th edition and piecemeal it with a supplement is a bit of a bummer.

[@MajorSvenGaming]

I was heavy into fantasy during 5th and 6th... Had a orc and goblin army and was always stomped into the group by my cousins chaos warriors.... Never won a game.... Good times

[@MajorSvenGaming]

Also the links in the description box is a classy move

[@CementSaul]

Haha yea OnG seem to be infamous for being particularly difficult to work with.

[@GreySectoid]

What would be your pick for Mordheim style campaign or is the original still the best for that?

[@CementSaul]

Go for Mordheim! It's the same engine but with far more support for the campaign rules progression.

[@tablesaltgames]

This video makes me want to play Mordheim instead 😂

[@DeusMachina71]

Soooo much better than Age of Shitmar.. The golden age of Games Workshop was the golden age for a reason, these games are intended for gamers rather than the lowest of filthy casuals that GW is aiming for these days. I just started playing Warhammer Armies Project you definitely need to check it out, it's free and built on 8th edition with improvements. I'm stuck which edition I like better because I think 8th works better for infantry blocks as opposed to heroes which makes it better for rank and file games but is also more model heavy due to this becuase you can't simply load up on ultimate heavily equipped lords aka Herohammer you end up with large 20-40 unit infantry blocks

[@ja37d-34]

I love 6th Ed, my favourite edition. For quite a few reasons.. Some subjective, some maybe less so.. I had been reading the 4th and 5th Ed articles in White Dwarf for years while playing 40k.. And it took a me a while to win me over. Basically it was the campaign packs for 5th Ed and some some models (mainly the Dwarfs from Grudge of Drong and Brian nelson´s orcs from The Idol of Gork). A tale of Four gamers made it look real fun but it was still not until 6th Ed kicked in and i read the designer´s notes. Core, tank and files being the focus and Herohammer toned down.. But also the art in the rulebook and the new feel.. the grimdark low fantasy.. unknown and scary.. And also the support with stuff like Skirmish, The general´s Compendium, the campaigns Like Albion, Dark Shadows - and the Storm of Chaos. i also think most Army Books were quite balanced and the Ravening Hordes era was pretty good.. 8th Ed has some good things but overall, it is too much high fantasy, too many monsters, huuge units and Herohammer and power creep... Which is sad.. 6th Ed was great, had its flaws but all editions have that.. Truly a great time to enjoy the game.