Reign in Hell

What is Reign in Hell

Reign in Hell: Demonic Skirmish Combat is a “fast, brutal, miniatures-agnostic tabletop wargaming ruleset” from Snarling Badger Studios. It was the studio’s first game. Adam Loper of Tabletop Minions and Vince Venturella started working on it together during the 2020 pandemic, meeting weekly online, and it came out on WargameVault in May 2021.

You pick a cabal of demons and fight another player’s cabal for the right to reshape the ruins of Hell to fit your Philosophy. The studio’s examples: restore Hell to its former glory, tear it all down and watch it burn, or head back to Earth for some payback.

Any demon models work. The studio says to use demons you already own, 3D print something, or kitbash or sculpt your own. The FAQ goes further: your minis don’t have to be demons at all. Ghostly figures for tortured spirits, or ogres standing in for Oni, are both fine.

How it plays

Leader, Devout, Minions. A cabal is built from three demon types. Each demon has Move, Life, and Combat, plus special abilities, Essences, and a Relic. The free cabal sheet has room for one Leader, one Devout, and eight Minions.
Variable activation. Activation order changes every turn, driven by a set of activation dice, but you still decide which of your own demons goes when. The studio calls keeping both players “constantly invested in the action” one of its main design goals.
Combat Styles. When a demon activates it picks a Combat Style, such as Charge, Running Skirmish, or Focused Combat. Soul Dice give you extra boosts, like more movement for a demon.
Quick setup. Scenarios call for a Light, Medium, or Heavy board: three, four, or five pieces of terrain. Round bases around 25-40mm are recommended, with bigger ones allowed for Leaders and Devouts.
The campaign. Your demons gain Titles, Relics, and Essences as the campaign goes on, so each one builds its own story. The FAQ says there’s no set end, but the game was designed to curve out at about 10 games before cabals cap out on power.
Solo through the expansion. The core book has one solo scenario, The Beast. The Oculus Spear adds a six-part campaign you play alone or co-op with a friend, hunting a powerful Relic across Hell.

How to start

Get the rulebook. It’s 64 pages. The PDF is $10 on WargameVault, or $16 plus shipping for the PDF and a printed book.
Print the free sheets. The Reign in Hell page has free cabal sheets, a title tracker, the FAQ and errata, and a fixed page for The Beast. Grab that last one, because the scenario’s stats got cut off in the original proof.
Dig out some demons. Or anything you want to call a demon. Add a few pieces of terrain and some dice.
Want solo? The Oculus Spear is a 29-page PDF, pay what you want, with $4 suggested. You need the core rules to use it.