Sword Weirdos

What is Sword Weirdos

Sword Weirdos is a fantasy skirmish game by Casey Garske, published as Garske Games. It’s the fantasy sequel to his sci-fi skirmish game Space Weirdos. In his words, people kept asking “When will you write a fantasy version?” So he did.

There’s no setting. You build stats for just about any fantasy or historical model you own, and your model’s class and weapons decide what it can do. There are 26 classes and 54 weapons and other pieces of equipment to pick from. A warband is five to ten models or so.

The whole game fits in one 24-page zine. The PDF came out on 10 May 2023 on Wargame Vault, after a Kickstarter.

How it plays

Stats are dice. A model doesn’t have fixed numbers. Each stat is a die type, from 2d4 up to 2d12.
Opposed rolls. An archer shooting a spearman rolls its Shoot dice, the spearman rolls its Defense dice, and the higher roll wins.
Hits go to a table. There are no hit points. A confirmed hit means the target rolls on the attack result table to see what happens.
Alternating activations. Players take turns activating one model at a time.
Maneuver Points. A warband usually starts each turn with three, spent on special weapon abilities.
Sticks, not tape. All movement and ranges are measured with 5” sticks.
All your RPG dice. Everything except the d20.

A successful attack can still go wrong. Garske told Wargamer he loves “hearing stories where a sniper shot allows the target a shot back.”

How to start

Get the zine. $4.99 or more on itch.io, or $4.99 on Wargame Vault.
Look at what’s in the download. The rules zine, a separate 4-page solo rules PDF, and a PDF with tokens, hobby advice, and a warband sheet.
Pull five to ten minis off the shelf. Any fantasy or historical models work.
Cut some 5” sticks. That’s your measuring kit.

Want more solo games like this? Sword Weirdos is on our solo and co-op gaming resources list.