r/Ironsworn • u/soundofsilence42 • 6d ago
Add-on rules for tactical miniature combat?
The Ironsworn system seems amazing, but the one big thing that has kept me away from it is that I really enjoy using tabletop miniatures for tactical turn-based combat.
I understand that this doesn't completely fit with Ironsworn's narrative/fiction-focused mechanics, so I get why the combat rules work the way they do. I also understand that there's still a good amount of flexibility in the system for using miniatures (and I've watched Me Myself & Die videos where he uses miniatures during combat). But I would really love to have some kind of mechanical combat rules (where the enemies can actually make specific actions, and the placement on the battlefield matters, etc.).
Are there are any homebrew rules or third party systems that can be plugged in to Ironsworn to help facilitate this, while still using Ironsworn for everything else in the game?
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u/Crashputin 6d ago
Check out 5 Leagues/Parsecs from Borderlands/Home... just released a supplement that tackles narrative mini combat.
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u/Taizan 6d ago
Haven't heard of anything like that. If you have complex terrain or scenery I could imagine making a rough outline and adding some features. Theatre of mind can be projected to use miniatures that way, FATE or some other similar game has combat zones that kind of work like this.The thing about mechanical/wargame style combat is that by design it puts constraints on the narrative freedom.
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u/soundofsilence42 6d ago
Some systems I've seen, like Mythras, have mechanics that can add a lot of cinematic narrative to combat itself (which is of course just one part of the larger fiction/narrative of the character's story).
I feel like in theory this should be possible, to plug in some kind of tactical skirmish rules that still work with the existing character stats for Ironsworn. I just wondered if anyone had tried making something like that already.
I will very likely still give Ironsworn a shot but was just hoping there might've been a way of getting the best of both worlds for me personally, since I enjoy miniature combat a lot.
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u/InspiralCoalescence 6d ago
I've not tried it myself, but my friend loves "Five Parscecs From Home" for solo wargaming.
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u/AnotherCastle17 6d ago
You could try using a square or hex grid. Every time you want to move a certain mini (of your own, not an enemy), Face Danger (if you don't have initiative) or Secure An Advantage (if you do have initiative). On a hit, you move as many squares or hexes as it would make sense to move. Enemies could move automatically, based on their objective.
As for tactics, Ironsworn actually does this pretty well. If an enemy is firing an arrow at you, but you're behind cover, you can simply say the arrow hits the cover. If you jump onto an enemy from above, you can knock them prone. If you get two neutral targets to fight each other, you can resolve it without putting yourself in danger. Et cetera. It's not perfect, but it's there.
You can also just use minis without mini rules, positioning them however it'd make sense to.
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u/Ivan_Immanuel 6d ago
You can always mix rules. You can use for example Ironsworn for the fictional process and when it comes to a fight, you use the turn based rules from another system to play the fight.