Horrendous Gaming’s Solo Campaign Systems
How these came about
It was an interesting experience but ultimately a bit unsatisfying as a solo game. What was fun was the idea of the connected battles with the same army (Viking Horde) taking centre stage, and since then I have been toying with this idea some more. I even took Ivan Sorensen’s rules for Elf, Knyghte, Pyke and Sworde (which I was one of the playtesters for) and layered over a campaign setup, but again couldn’t quite make it work solo.
So I started wondering whether I could make a similar simple combat system and the concept of Reactions work in a large setting, say 30+ figures per side, and the Skirmish Campaign system was born.
Probably not surprising, but while I was drafting the skirmish version, my mind started churning on just how big a game you could play with those rules and frankly units of more than 10 mean a bucket of dice, so not much bigger really. So the Big Battles version was also born, with 10mm figures multi-based in mind.
Current status (08 February 2026)
HG07 Fantasy Skirmish Edition - Enemies at the Borders
Your Realm’s roster has 23 Units made up from basic fighter and shooter troops, through special troops, characters, monsters and war machines. You will select a force of 7 each time, from those still available, to send against the randomly determined adversary force, fight the battle, and then see what troops survive and progress. You will fight 12 battles, from a scenario pool of 40, with three levels of increasing difficulty. There’s Magic (if you want it) and 12 different Kin types with little changes and special Units to make each feel different. Select a Unit size before you start (from 4 figures per to 10 per) and then all forces are selected based on those size units. This is a skirmish game, so Individually based figures and no concerns about formations and facing.
Published 13Feb2026 - https://site.wargamevault.com/product/557056/Enemies-at-the-Borders?affiliate_id=4612915
I have a campaign in progress here - https://horrendousgaming.blogspot.com/p/protect-kingdom.html
HG09 Post Apocalypse Skirmish Edition - After the Calamity
Set in the same world as Protect and Survive, but with between 30 and 100 figures on the table. Your coastal community has just managed to survive and now it starts to explore around them. Mapping, Resource Gathering, and Base Building, all in a world that is out to stop you. Can your limited forces win out against the four enemies around you in five different types of battles, or will you fail? Again a bigger skirmish with unit sizes selected by what you have available, four Adversaries from a set of 10, and around 15-20 battles until you can conclude the campaign (from a selection of 50 scenarios).
Playtesting available ahead of the release in June 2026
HG10 High Fantasy Big Battles Edition - Defending the Realm
A different scale (10mm) means bigger battles but also needs a different campaign mechanism, so this time you manoeuvre your forces around the map to counter the moves of the three enemy armies, until you can battle against them. You will need to manage your supply lines, keep an eye on the currently neutral parties within your borders, and protect your towns, while dealing with the aftermath of the battles and hopefully driving these invaders from your lands.
Using four 20x40mm bases to represent each unit and a profile score called Effectiveness (EFF) to account for casualties and wear and tear, this is going to be a very different solo wargaming experience.
Work in progress for an August 2026 release, there’s a running story here - https://horrendousgaming.blogspot.com/p/big-project-at-small-scale.html
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