D&D, but with minis skirmish rules for combat?

[JPL]

I just did the flash demo over on the WotC website. Interesting.

Y'know...it would be an interesting experiment to run a hybrid game.

Newcomers, in particular, would probably pick up the mini skirmish rules very quickly.

Fights would be fast and furious. Get in, kill the critters, and move on [either to the character-intensive roleplaying, or to the next fight].

[Is WotC going to post the minis rules for free? Or do I have to get my wife to give me $20?]

 

[JPL]

...because as much as I enjoy the longer D&D battles, there are times when I just want to keep the story going, y'know?

And spending an hour dealing with some evildoers is not always the way to do that.

 

[Mercule]

So, does that mean that the new Minis rules are just skirmish rules? Or do they actually include some real mass combat rules?

 

[Castellan]

So, does that mean that the new Minis rules are just skirmish rules? Or do they actually include some real mass combat rules?

No real mass combat. The combat in the game is very similar to the rules in the 3.5 PHB, with the addition of morale checks for critters and commander ratings for the warband. Otherwise, consider the game to be just a combat redux of D&D.

 

[Zaruthustran]

No real mass combat. The combat in the game is very similar to the rules in the 3.5 PHB, with the addition of morale checks for critters and commander ratings for the warband. Otherwise, consider the game to be just a combat redux of D&D.

The Miniatures Handbook has the mass combat rules. The little rules pamphlet that comes in a box of D&D Miniatures figures has only skirmish rules.

But I'd say the D&D Miniatures game is a bit more than D&D combat redux. The minis game has point values for minis, terrain modifiers, and various multiplayer game types (points-based scenarios, objective-based scenarios, etc.).

It's a whole new game.

It is true that the combat is essentially D&D combat: you've got your attack bonus vs. the defender's AC bonus, you've got flanking, you've got Charge, you've got Cover, you've got AoOs. But you don't have 5' step, and you don't have Trip, Disarm, Sunder, or Grapple.

What truly sets it apart is damage. You don't have variable damage. All hit points and damage stats are multiples of 5. An average guy with a dagger, longsword, staff, bow, Magic Missile, or whatever does 5 damage. An ogre or guy with a greatsword does 10 damage. Sneak Attack adds 5 damage, or 10 if you're higher level. This really speeds up the game.

-z

 

[Mercule]

It is true that the combat is essentially D&D combat: you've got your attack bonus vs. the defender's AC bonus, you've got flanking, you've got Charge, you've got Cover, you've got AoOs. But you don't have 5' step, and you don't have Trip, Disarm, Sunder, or Grapple.

Now, that would be cool -- 100 monks doing a Trip attack on the 5th Legion of Imperial Grun.

Anyway, this means that there are "stands" of units, or some other mechanism appropriate for resolving thousands of troops of either side. We could actually run Alexander's conquest of Persia, or Caesar's invasion of Gaul?

How compatible is it with something like d20 Modern? Could it be used in a Civil War or WW 2 era game? Or, more to the point, a futuristic WW 3 type game?

My main interest is in using it in a Fantasy setting for large-scale wars, but it'd be cool if WotC had the foresight to make it easily adjustable.

 

[pogre]

A company that has taken this direction in Pinnacle. They took the rules from their old miniatures game and used it to make their new roleplaying game Savage Worlds. Quite fast and furious as I understand it.

 

[Mercule]

A company that has taken this direction in Pinnacle. They took the rules from their old miniatures game and used it to make their new roleplaying game Savage Worlds. Quite fast and furious as I understand it.

Sounds vaguely familiar*. I say give them 25 years. They'll alter the system significantly, marking some cumbersome system relics of their wargame days (like the magic system, maybe) as sacred cows, while stripping out most of the remaining wargame rules.

Then they'll start adding wargame elements back into the game in a way that satisfies neither roleplayers nor wargamers.

*It should be noted that 3.x is my favorite incarnation of D&D. The fact that most of the system has improved so much, though, makes some of the lemons (like fire-and-forget magic) stand out a bit more.

 

[Frostmarrow]

I just saw the new D&D minis flash-presentation. I must say that this presentation made me somewhat curious of the new line. It looks pretty neat and I can see myself enjoy playing it. Now, all I need is an opponent.