Why You Should Consider Skirmish Gaming

Skirmish games are typically played with small armies of miniatures ranging from 5-30 miniatures per side. This makes entry into a skirmish game really easy. The games themselves are usually more detail oriented mechanics wise as well; because the forces are smaller the complexity of the game can be increased without bogging down gameplay.

Killzone at Adepticon 2011, thanks to Brian from A Gentleman's Ones Blog for the pic

Some people will disagree with me on the following, these people will ardently argue that my Micro skirmish category is the only true skirmish game, but this is my opinion. I put skirmish games into 3 categories, Micro, Macro and Scaleable skirmish.

Micro skirmish games are the ones where your force is made up of anywhere between 5 and 15 models, each model usually acts on its own even if part of a “unit.” Typically a Micro skirmish game can be completed in around forty-five minutes or less.

Macro skirmish games are the ones where your force is made up between 15 to around 30 models, sometimes the models act as units and the better ones allow models to act on their own even if part of a unit. These types of games can run anywhere from an hour to ninety minutes depending on the complexity of the system.

Scaleable skirmish games are my favorite by far as they straddle the line between Micro and Macro games. This allows you the gamer to choose how small or large you want your games to be. Both versions of Killzone and Warzone are all Scaleable skirmish games!

So to answer my own question “why skirmish gaming?” it is the easy entry in monetary and hobby outlay; with the added benefit of having fast paces small games that do not take up a lot of time. Sometimes it is just nice to have a force for a game that is painted to a higher standard than you would never consider doing in an army level game like 40k. Plus on top of that you can also go to town converting and modeling your minis to make each one be unique from the rest; this is actually one of my favorite things about skirmish.

Skirmish games also tent to be much more tactical in the gameplay, since you do not have the resources to just throw away a unit, you must seriously consider each of your actions to effectively use your units to complete the mission at hand.

Another of Brian's amazing tables!

Another thing that is really cool is the terrain making opportunities that you have with skirmish gaming that would just be impractical in a battle game (like 40k) setting. Terrain is also infinitely more important in a skirmish game than a battle one; if you play a skirmish game on a standard 25% terrain 40k table it will devolve into a shooting gallery and the side with the strongest shooting will typically run rough shod over other lists.

In my next post I will cover the importance of terrain in skirmish gaming.

Until Next time, keep your powder dry and lead flying!

Special Operations Killzone needs the communities help!

I need some assistance getting Special Operations Killzone up to date. I have poured a ton of passion, heart and soul into SO Killzone, I would hate for it to sit unupdated much longer.

Currently I am not playing much in the way of 40k at all; I have been more involved in 30k for a while now. Then couple this with the fact that I have been heavily involved writing stuff for Warzone Resurrection and the cost of the rapidly releasing 40k codices you might understand why Codex Operatives is woefully out of date. On top of that I am getting constantly emailed telling me that the Codex Ops is out of date.

Basically it boils down to the fact that I do not have the time nor am willing to spend the money on game books I won't be using to keep the Codex Operatives updated; so at this point I do not have any idea of when I might be able to tackle such a project on my own.

If SO Killzone has any hope of getting properly updated it will only be through the help of the community. The main rules are set and good to go as is, but the codex operatives needs a 6^th ed update for everything after Dark Angels.

I have asked for help in the past and even had a few people say that they were gonna help, which is great, but this time around if you volunteer you need to have the initiative to get these things rolling without me assigning a task; I am very busy currently and do not have the time to micromanage the project.

What needs doing and what sort of things are you looking for? Codex: Daemons, Tau, Eldar, Space Marine, Sisters of Battle and Tyranids need doing. You need to look for special rules and Wargear that will mess with the one man unit dynamic of SO Killzone. Remember every model in SO Killzone acts as it's own unit.

Here is a link to the current SO Killzone documents.

If you are willing to help out email me at galaxynflames @ gmail dot com

With your help Special Operations Killzone can thrive and get updates in 2014!

Until next time, keep your powder dry and lead flying!

Let me introduce myself

Big Jim here to introduce myself to those of you that may not know me and refresh the memories of my friends in the community; I have been wargaming since the young age of 8 so well over 30 years; my father was a gamer and I have followed in his footsteps. I love wargaming of almost every shape, size and genre. From the ancient world to the far flung reaches of the far future and most everywhere in-between I love rolling dice.

I have been playing 40k since the 80’s and don’t see that changing. I have been blogging since 2009 and up until last year I was a host of Deepstrike Radio a lore centric 40k podcast, unfortunately that had to end. In 2010 I along with some of my blogging buddies created a fan made skirmish game for 40k called Special Operations Killzone; it was successfully run as an event at Adepticon in 2011 and 2012. I have also written my own fandex for my Chaos Space Marines, that has been tested and talked about on the Independent Characters and 11^th Company podcasts.

More recently I have been working on a Horus Heresy version of Killzone; it is a great way to tip your toe into 30k without breaking the bank! So as you can tell I am not a stranger to tinkering with games and using house rules.

Speaking of recently I got to help bring back a favorite sci-fi setting of mine from the 90’s as a freelance game designer. I wrote the mission system and missions for Mutant Chronicle Warzone Resurrection; the Kickstarter for this game was much more successful than Prodos games ever imagined. It was a glorious thing to be able to write for a setting that I really like! Warzone Resurrection is a scalable skirmish game that can be played with as little as 11 models to anywhere up to 40 models in a large game. I cannot wait until it releases to retail here in the US in March!

Anywho, enough about my past and let’s talk about what I will be bringing to DFG. I will be doing a lot of talking about skirmish gaming through both Killzone’s and Warzone Resurrection; going through the ins and outs of how each of the systems work. I will also talk about the unique modeling opportunities that there are with skirmish gaming.

So until next time, keep your powder dry and lead flying!

Operation: Kill Zone Open Play Day!

Sammy here with some info about a fun day of skirmish combat. what we're gonna do is have a open free play day for Warhammer 40k using the fan developed "Operation Kill Zone" if you haven't seen what Big Jim and his boyz have done, check it out!

Hive Fleet Behemoth Space Hulk Genestealers - Ready For War!

Old School here to officially show off my new take on tyranids. No matter what the internet or anyone else says, at the end of the day, I love these guys. To kick off my return to the Hive Fleets, I grabbed my Adepticon SP: Kill Zone (I think I registered for it this year) army from last year and gave it a new look during our painting night last week at Evolution Games. Let's take a look around my Space Hulk Hive Fleet Behemoth genestealers!

Rundown and Review on Special Operation: Kill Zone

Old School here to talk about a game I recently picked up at Adepticon called Special Operation: Kill Zone. The brainchild of Big Jim from Galaxy in Flames and Brian of A Gentleman's Ones ( and some heavy playtesting from key members of the blogosphere), the game takes a spin off the old Kill Team mission and brings it into the modern gameplay system, streamlined to provide fast, bloody games where the victor is often the player with the most brains backing his Team's brawn.

Killzone Updates: A Much Needed Improvement!

Old School here to say one last merry X-mas for the year and also to welcome in Operation Killzone's updates, which in my opinion, after reading them, were a much needed improvement ...

Taking on Killzone! What Should I take?

Old School here and as you may or may not know, I have thrown my name in the hat for Special Operation Killzone At Adepticon this year. I have so many thoughts going through my head as to what army to make my team from, that I just cannot decide.

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Now let me preface this with the idea that yes, I would love to win games, but the main objective for me when playing Killzone is to have fun and show off a small collection of my models painted and converted to a very nice standard. That being said, I am stuck. On one hand, I could just go with Chaos and just add the models to the 14th Black Crusade ... but on the other hand, I see Killzone as an opportunity to branch out into other directions and make something very specific to kill zone and full of character. With that in mind, the ideas are as follows:

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A slaaneshi warband: Fast, shooty, killy and the chance to field a doom siren - very appealing, a chance to paint a nice looking group of pink minis.

A team of Tyranid Warriors and other lifeforms - a chance to really make the most of my magnetic warriors and to throw some of my space hulk genestealers on the board. This army would look cool and has an appeal to me as all 6 of my warriors are magnetic. This group would also look pretty on the table.

Deathwatch Killteam - Big Jim has not posted a seperate SOG for them, but I could draw them from the Marine Codex. I have had the bits to make a deathwatch kill team for a long time, but never the incentive to actaully make it. It would be cool to own, cool on the board and would be a nod to the old days of killteam.

Space Wolves - This would be another chance to put my already converted and painted khorne models on the table in a counts as match, but then again, it would not be a new endeavor for me, but it would save me time as I have been already working on these models.

Well, those are the choices I have been looking at and I really am stuck. What do you think I should field? What would you like to see on the table if you were to throw down? Are you going to play too and are also stuck? Let's hear your thoughts!

By the way, you can find all the Killzone resources you need here!

Adepticon Blog Wants Your Input, Kill Zone Confirmed For Adepticon!

Old School here with two peices of news for Adepticon and a batch of links to get you started on the road there. First and foremost, Big Jim from Galaxy in Flames and B.Smoove from A Gentlemen's Ones, along with a council of members of our blog community, have managed to get their ongoing project: Special Operation Kill Zone into Adepticon for 2011! Depending on how it fits in with my tourney plans there, I may have to start my Kill Zone team ASAP! Dark Future Games and the Evo Club will be rolling deep this year and I think we may have to join in to represent the Blog as well as mid Michigan!

In addition to that bit of great news, The Adepticon Developers have a blog up with the following purpose defined in their first post:

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Welcome to the AdeptiCon 2011 Development Blog! This site will serve as a means to disseminate information regarding the development and planning of the convention as it enters its ninth year. Additionally, this site will allow us to discuss things such as event history, theory and the convention’s take on certain ‘hot button’ issues that might not truly be considered news in relation to the convention proper. Much of what is to follow has been in the works for many months and is the accumulation of hundreds of constructive emails, adaptations in game systems, conversations with other event organizers and most importantly attendee feedback.

While the contents of this site and the ideas of adaptation are nothing new for the organizers of AdeptiCon, we felt it would be a great way to reach out the community at large and move beyond the point of ideas being resigned to emails, planning meetings, buried in forums or lost in comment systems.

There has been a ton of great discussion out there lately concerning the nature of certain game systems, the structure of events and the validity of tournament formats. Over the past few years we have also seen the independent scene explode with a number of fantastic new events. We find all of this incredibly exciting and invigorating for both the community and AdeptiCon. As Archibald Tuttle so eloquently put it, "Listen, kid, we're all in it together".
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Alright folks, so between the Kill Zone news and the fact that we now have a public blog forum to exchange ideas, it's time to make our voices heard and get involved in the next Adepticon! I had a lot of fun there last year and look forward to seeing many of you there this time around! Go, now follow the Adepticon Development Blog, follow Galaxy in Flames and A Gentlemen's Ones and have your voice be heard!