This Quar's War

What is This Quar’s War

This Quar’s War is the mass-battle game for the Quar, published by ZombieSmith. The Quar are small, insect-eating soldiers on the continent of Alwyd, where the Long War has been running for 700 years. Crusaders, Royalist Coftyrans, Fidwog, Easky, Western Arnyarans and more fight it out with rhyfles, machineguns, cavalry, and armored tractors.

The first edition came out in 2009, written by Josh Qualtieri, Anthony Brown and Pete Murray. It was a 108-page 28mm game built around the Battle for Gate 18. In his design notes Brown calls the Quar “a conduit for replaying historical events that are strategically interesting but a little too grim,” with World War I as his example, and gives the mission statement as “Gritty yet whimsical.”

The current edition is This Quar’s War: The Long War, “redesigned from the ground up.” It was funded on Kickstarter in March 2020 by 117 backers, alongside a resculpted 15mm Quar range. The rulebook credits Zach Walter with rules design, Andrew Walters with development, and Qualtieri with art, layout and world design. It’s 50 pages and plays company-sized actions with 20 to 200 models.

How it plays

Pykpyks carry the orders. Each round both players place six Pykpyks, the messengers sent out from HQ, on their section officers, vehicles and detached units. A unit with no Pykpyk can’t act. Units at Long range or farther from HQ need two.
Hidden Surges. When you activate a section, your opponent secretly draws an Activation card that sets how many Surges you get, from 3 to 5. You keep giving orders until they tell you you’re out.
Roll low. Most rolls are 3d6 and low is good. Advantages add Edge dice, up to three, and you keep the best three.
Grit. Your troops earn Grit when they do well, and you spend it on extra or harder actions. A spare Pykpyk can be sent as “words of general encouragement” for one Grit.
Scenarios first. Games are played in scenarios, prepared or rolled up from the Scenario Deck, and the scenario sets the points, terrain and objectives. Forces come from each faction’s Muster.
Army Life. Optional cards add things “from particularly inspired officers to gut mites.”

The first edition is a different game: open orders, double-blind activation, big dice pools, and no army lists or points. Forces come from scenarios and historical organization charts, and it has seven missions from the Battle for Gate 18.

How to start

Download the rules. The Long War PDF is free on the Quar Historical Archive, with unit cards for each faction, army rosters and the Army Life cards. The printed book is $12.50 from ZombieSmith.
Pick a nation. ZombieSmith’s 15mm starters are $75 each. The Crusader starter is a 58-figure rhyfler company with command, two Ailthean light tractors and a Baeliog heavy tractor. The Coftyran one is a 48-figure company, an 18-figure HMG section, a cavalry squad and two light tractors. There are Gwynt, Fidwog, Creevin, Arnyaran and Easky starters too.
Clear a 3’ × 3’ table. You’ll want plenty of terrain: farmhouses, trees, fences, roads and ditches.
Bring six d6. Three is the minimum, six is ideal.

The first edition is still playable, and its PDF is free too, along with its two supplements, Of Spats and Pedrails and Tales of the Breach. The printed first edition is $35.

ZombieSmith also makes Clash of Rhyfles, a 28mm skirmish game set in the same war.