What's this about a skirmish game?

[Nemesis Destiny]

In this week's Legends and Lore column, @mearls says something about there being an announcement of a D&D branded skirmish game next year. Did I miss something or was this possibly the "cancelled announcement" that I've seen posted about on here?

EDIT: 1,000th post

 

[Kelvor Ravenstar]

Its related to the new packs of non-random miniatures. It didn't get as much press in the blogs until recordings of the seminar got out. Here's a bit more info.


* Non-random themed miniature packs of ~12 figures, likely including 1-2 large figures. Sets of common monsters such as goblins, orcs, and drow were mentioned. Some new sculpts in the sets.

* The miniature theme packs will be supported by a new skirmish game. When the packs release they will become the initial army packs for the skirmish game. This game uses "command cards" you draw on your turn (IE: Diceless!), focus on player skill more than luck. Will integrate a tile placement element where interlocking dungeon tiles are placed to form the play area each game (similar to the tile placement in the original DDM miniatures game). You will be able to play with either the stock armies from the theme sets, or construct your own army from different figures and customize your command deck. I believe they implied the command cards will be packaged with each miniatures theme set to support the skirmish game.

* The new skirmish game will have an open playtest (you do not need to be a DDI member to participate) where you download and print out the command cards, and play using your existing D&D miniatures. This playtest will roll out in the next couple months, current timeline is mid-September.

I'm really looking forward to this. Since they said the rules can be used with existing miniatures for the playtest, I'm definitely going to get involved with this.

 

[Nemesis Destiny]

Ah, I'd missed that bit about the new minis being supported by a tactical skirmish game.

I'm so very not interested, but I can see the niche. I hope it sells well and the minis don't look like the old ones (i.e. oversized ridiculous weapons and spikes everywhere). I might actually buy some (and completely ignore the other part).

 

[AlioTheFool]

I'm extremely excited that minis are back (though I prefer randomized distribution, but I get that the majority prefers non-random and I'll take whatever I can get). As for the skirmish game, I'll give it a chance, but I'm disappointed that it will be diceless. I like rolling dice. It was the main reason I played the original skirmish game.

Either way, I'm very interested to see where WotC takes this. The announcement was definitely the high point of the GenCon announcements for me.

 

[ForeverSlayer]

So it's probably a D&D game that uses cards like Magic the Gathering?

 

[Mircoles]

Non-randomized minis.

 

[Dice4Hire]

So it's probably a D&D game that uses cards like Magic the Gathering?

Assuming (and a big assumption this is) that this is a real question, I do not htink so. The cards are used for resolution instead of dice, so the powers of the individual pieces will probably be more important than dice.

I think it is likely that the cards will be more like fortune cards.

 

[Kzach]

Themed packs of non-random minis? HELL YES!

I always thought it was a mistake to market minis to players rather than DM's. Players are picky and want something to suit their character and can get that in the metal mini market. But DM's need hundreds of minis of all types and shapes and sizes. Even when DDM was at its height, I would buy boxes and sell off my double rares or trade them for hordes of commons. It's nice to have a big solo bad guy but it's extra nice to have fifty kobolds, fifty orcs, fifty bugbears...

 

[Riastlin]

I'm definitely interested in the skirmish game, though this is primarily do to the double usefulness of it in that the minis can be used for my D&D games as well. I've always been somewhat interested in the various minis games out there but have neither the time nor the money to buy, assemble, and paint all those gorgeous minis (particularly considering that it would likely take some time to get decent at painting them). So, it'll be nice to have a skirmish game that I can more easily try out (since I'll get double duty out of it) but still, most of my gaming time would go to RPGs.

What I'm really excited about though is the non-random minis. It's frustrating to scour the secondary market trying to find the minis you want/need for your campaign. If they do this right, it could be really nice for us DMs.

 

[Nemesis Destiny]

While I'm not interested in the skirmish game particularly, the fact that they're selling the minis themselves in themed packs is a big deal for me. I can actually acquire piles of the kinds of monsters that I actually use, rather than the annoying MTG method of boosters which only guarantees that you spend a truckload of money, not that you will ever get a complete set.

I've been wanting to do combat with minis for a while now, and this might end up being the start of the slippery slope. Using dice, tokens, and coins works well enough, but it just isn't the same. A few years back we tried playing with someone's spare HeroQuest stuff, and wow, it really brought the game to life.