Wyrd’s Malifaux, McVey’s Sedition Wars, Incursion, Mercs, Rum & Bones, Anima Tactics, Dark Age Apocalypse, Infinity, Hell Dorado, WarCanto, Nemesis, Dust Warfare, Freebooter’s Fate, Eden, and a big etc.
There’s been quite an invasion of skirmish fantasy/sci-fi mostly character driven miniature games for the last 3 or 4 years. They have a lot in common like faction starter sets, most replacing the classic army roster for cards with model information and bookkeeping, some of them with free online rules, most tackle some kind of metagame resource management, most are aimed at painters as well as gamers.
There is little doubt Warmachine/Hordes will remain king in this niche of miniature gaming for a few years to come. I am one to think it has absolutely nothing to do with GW’s style of games, therefore no point in thinking PP will “replace” them whatsoever. But still the question lingers: how many of these games and miniature lines will survive the next 3 or 4 years?
P.S.: I understand some of these games have been around for a while, like Infinity or the original Dark Age. But it seems the fight is on right now in the overpriced skirmish miniature market.
oMAD 
August 6, 2011 at 10:02 am
Interesting post.
HoMachine no longer counts as a skirmish game in my view. With 2nd Edition, PP made a concious decision to move the game away from 8-10 model armies to promoting units and larger points games. Yet it’s not quite up to a GW scale of game, more somewhere in between.
However, £$£ cost wise, both systems are right at the top end of the hobby. The escalation in the “overpriced skirmish miniature market” is surely just a response to consumer demand? Individual model price for something like Eden or Malifaux are probably cheaper than a comparable metal mini from GW or PP.
Skirmish gaming also scratches a different hobby itch than either GW or PP; you can paint up a starter set/faction box in less than a week, having multiple factions isn’t expensive to build, rules can accommodate greater complexity for an individual, games take a lot less time to set up etc.
The variety on offer can only be a good thing for gamers though. If the competition doesn’t produce lower prices, then in theory it should produce better quality products and support. I’m all for that.
August 6, 2011 at 12:22 pm
I agree on Vladdd309.
I’d say Infinity is here to stay: it’s strongly supported both by gamers and by the manufacturer.
Furthermore the company (Corvus Belli) is a solid one, renown for its 15 mm historic range.
The feeling and the fluff of the game are very different from “the big ones” (GW and PP), so it doesn’t compete directly with ’em.
On the other side, Mercs and Infinity aim to similar market niche, so “there will be only one”.
All of this IMHO, of course.
Can’t say much of the other games, because I don’t play them.
August 6, 2011 at 5:21 pm
I don’t know about you guys, but I’ve yet to see a big-ish WM game (lets say 30 points) with more than 25 figs a side. That is still character driven skirmish gaming for me, specially considering how WM works. I mean, historical players consider 40K a big skirmish game cause 70 models a side don’t make a real battle O.o
I can see some of the other games having less figures, while others will probably adapt to this size as well. One of the things that drive LOTR gamers to get bigger on their battles, something the system does not support very well, is the fact that individual figures don’t have enough tactical options to have a deep gameplay with just a few of them.
Infinity and WM are kings on this. You can probably play 2 vs. 2 models in Infinity over and over and over again and have a different battle each time. Same with a warcaster and his battlegroup. Same thing with Eden and Incursion, I believe.
I agree matchups will be fought between similar games, specially on the fiction/setting aspect. Dark Age vs. Eden, R&B vs Freebooter’s Fate, Infinity vs. Mercs, Dust vs. Incursion, etc.
August 17, 2018 at 7:06 pm
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Skirmish gaming skirmish. | oMAD