A Tiny Narrative Co-op Skirmish? We’re Very In
We had one of those dangerous hobby conversations recently — the kind that starts as a very loose idea and immediately makes us want to build warbands, write backstories, and start looking for STL files.
Michał threw out a proposal for a custom miniature skirmish format: cooperative, heavily narrative, but with very simple rules. The idea is that each of us would control a small warband built in advance, with 1–3 heroes, custom stats, backstory, and abilities. Then we’d go hunting for suitable miniatures, print them, and throw them into short, punchy sessions lasting around 60–90 minutes.
And honestly? That sounds extremely like our kind of nonsense.
What’s the pitch?
The core of the idea is a campaign-style system with persistent progression. Characters would level up between sessions, keep their items, and develop through some kind of skill tree. So instead of one-off games, we’d be building a little ongoing story around our crews.
The comparison Michał used was basically:
Warcry co-op, but with some narrative D&D energy
Which is a very strong elevator pitch.
The ruleset is still in progress and not fully locked in yet, but the goal is clear: keep it light, flexible, and story-friendly. One especially fun part is that the system is apparently simple enough for GPT-4 to understand well and generate extra content for it — things like:
- missions,
- story hooks,
- achievements,
- weird restrictions,
- and scenario flavor.
That could be a really fun way to keep each session fresh without needing to overprepare everything by hand.
The biggest advantage: freedom
One thing we immediately liked is that this format wouldn’t trap us inside a strict official roster or model range. If someone wants to make something unusual, weird, thematic, or just plain cool, that’s part of the appeal.
Instead of arguing whether a model “fits the format,” we’d just ask whether it fits the story and the warband.
And yes, the most important design question was addressed almost immediately:
can dwarfs have guns bigger than themselves?
The answer was an instant and glorious yes.
So that’s the tone set properly.
Not instead of AoS — alongside it
Very importantly, this wasn’t pitched as replacing our usual games. This would sit next to our regular hobby plans, not instead of them. We’re still playing Spearhead and Age of Sigmar, and this would be more of an extra lane for when we want something more narrative, more experimental, and a bit more personal.
That might actually be the sweet spot. Sometimes you want a structured game; sometimes you want to run a tiny crew of lovingly overdesigned weirdos through a co-op mission and see what happens.
Early vibes: pirates, maybe… in space?
As for setting, nothing is fixed yet, but Michał mentioned that he’s been thinking about revisiting the pirate theme — except maybe pushing it into a Firefly-style space western direction.
So, you know. Pirates, but also sci-fi. Space outlaws. Probably questionable morals. Potentially oversized firearms. We are not seeing a downside here.
There’s no fully formed lore yet, which is probably part of the fun. At this stage it feels more like a moodboard than a setting bible, but it’s a very promising moodboard.
Ender also threw in a reference to SteamWorld Heist as a vibe check for those kinds of aesthetics, which honestly feels like a pretty solid point of comparison.
Why this sounds fun to us
A few reasons this immediately clicked:
- small model count means low barrier to entry,
- persistent heroes make us care about what happens,
- simple rules keep the focus on the table and the story,
- custom warbands open the door for much more creative hobbying,
- and short sessions make it easier to actually get games played.
It also scratches a very specific hobby itch: making a character because the idea is cool, not because it’s the optimal list choice.
That alone is powerful.
So what now?
For now, this is still in the concept phase, but it’s a concept we’re definitely excited about. If the ruleset keeps coming together, we can absolutely see ourselves diving into custom crews, printed minis, campaign progression, and some wonderfully chaotic co-op storytelling.
We’ll share more when the shape of the system becomes clearer — especially once there’s something concrete to show in terms of warbands, missions, or mini choices.
For now, we’re just enjoying the early-stage energy of a project that could become a very cool side adventure for the group.
And if it ends with pirate dwarfs in a space western with absurdly large guns, we’ll consider that a success.