After a LOOOONG hiatus, this Top 10 list is back!
Now, I want to start off with some criteria: this is NOT a strict ranking of the BEST skirmish games. Rather, it's limited to the games I've actually played in 2025, PLUS the rankings are more in the line of games that I prefer to play over others, given the time constraints I have, etc. That means #1 isn't necessarily a better game than #2, but rather #1 is a game I'd prefer playing over #2 right now. And so on. By this criteria, the list is pretty fluid and will change over time. My 2026 list might be very different!
With that said... onwards!
#10 Talomir Tales
This is an anomaly. It's an RPG/tabletop skirmish hybrid. As an RPG it's severely lacking in tables and ideas to flesh out the encounters you get every 2 weeks. You roll on a bunch of tables to see how many encounters you have in the time frame given as well as who or what you encounter.
It's very quick to make up your solo PC. Stats are very simple. Choose a Race and Class. Choose 1 Skill and you're off!
What I need to do is use lots of oracles and tables to flesh out the encounters generated by this game. Each "turn" is 2 weeks, so lots of events can happen in 2 weeks based on the number of encounters rolled. For example my PC Halda encountered 2 thieves who were female. What did she do? It wasn't a violent encounter, so it was a social one. In the end I just had them teach her some thief skills (she was dual-classing as a fighter-thief) and that was it.
As a tabletop skirmish game, the extremely simplified rules compared to even the free 2015 rule set is telling. It's almost NOT worth setting up the table unless I make the encounter even more interesting.
All the bad guys do is blindly charge at you if they are melee or shoot at you if they are ranged. It lacks the nuances of the full Swordplay 2015 based on 2 Hour Wargames' Chain Reaction system where you roll to see what the enemy does, or even who and where they are on the table.
Sure, the bandits attacked... but is driving off the bandits all I need to do?
I'm rethinking this game and seeing how I can use the rules and tables to really create a more interesting and meaningful game.
So why is it on this list?
The game has promise, that's for sure. That, plus I managed to get 3 Talomir Tales PDFs when they were on sale several years ago but never played until now. So I need to just pause and have a major rethink how to make this game more interesting. Using the full Swordplay 2015 rules is a start.
Lastly... this particular game in this particular title and format... simply isn't available anywhere I can search. There's a main Talomir Tales PDF to be found in Wargames Vault but I suspect this particular adventure 'Caravanserai' is folded into the main PDF now.
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