NEW GAME ON THE PAINTING TABLE.

Due to work i wasn't able to play FOG at Battlecry this year. Whilst that was a bummer it did allow me a day of walking around and looking at everything that was going on and allowed me to check out some new games that i hadn't seen before. One of those was Skirmish Sangin.

 

Skirmish Sangin is a skirmish level war-game set in the modern Afghanistan conflict. What makes it different is it has a strong narrative aspect to the gaming much like a roleplaying game. It uses a percentile system and action points to work out what you can and cant do in a round and.  In playing it it brought up memories of playing the Twilight 2000 roleplaying game 20 years ago with my friends but with miniatures instead of character sheets. 

  

The book is broken up into different sections as you would expect to find in any good war gaming rules. There is a brief history of the conflict that is currently raging. Their are the core rules, optional rules, scenarios. Rules for vehicles are also in the book. Overall the writing style is good and easy to read and the rules make sense and easy to remember.  After about 3 or 4 rounds of combat i found myself already knowing all the basics and not having to be told what to do in the demo game. The book has lots of pictures of miniatures fighting over very nice terrain and they really help bring the setting together.

Another plus for me is that this game was created and put together by a pair of kiwi’s from Wellington that i used to know back when i managed the Wellington GW store. Being great guys and passionate war gamers it doesn't surprise me that they went off and made a war game of their own – i just wish id heard of it sooner as it is a lot of fun to play. 

Although the base setting covers modern Afghanistan the rules lend themselves to any modern setting. I could easily see a Vietnam version or 80’s cold war crisis and i think it would work extremely well for recreating Twilight 2000 style post WW3 conflicts in Europe. I’m looking forward to see what books Radio Dish Dash Publications will bring out next. 

They have also started their own miniature line.  Being a Kiwi based production they wanted to have some New Zealand and Australian miniatures for the conflict. As soon as i saw them i knew they would have to be my first force.  I've kept the bases small to allow easier movement in buildings and dense terrain. they are 10mm round bases from Dopey Dog laser engraving where i get all my wooden FOG bases from.  Eureka Miniatures and Empress Miniatures both do great 28mm moderns that will work great for this game and I'm sure there are others.    3 or 4 of the lads from the South Auckland gaming group have grabbed a copy of the rules and some miniatures so I'm sure it wont be too long till i get in another game. Until then ill be doing some research on the NZ army’s uniform that's in use over in Afghanistan at the moment and get started on painting my first set of 28mm moderns up.