The Joy of Designing an Engaging Three Player Skirmish Scenario

Three-player skirmish games can be very tricky to design. Without careful planning, you risk two players ganging up on the third, one player getting stuck waiting for the others to resolve their turns, or the action becoming lopsided. In this scenario, set in the grim darkness of the 41st millennium, I aimed to create a balanced and engaging experience where all three players remained in the thick of the action.

The Scenario: “The Saint’s Fate”

As you probably know, I love adding narrative flavor to my games. Whether D&D or Warhammer an engaging narrative creates much more opportunity for emergent play. I’ve recently developed a loose setting for my 40K inspired games as a way to develop an interesting and ongoing narrative. Consequently, I wanted to set this scenario in the same setting. For more information on Mordax Prime follow the link here. As for the scenario…

A miraculous manifestation has occurred. A Saint touched by the power of the God Emperor, has manifested among the ranks of the Adepta Sororitas, but her fate is uncertain. The Inquisition, ever wary of uncontrolled power, has dispatched a team of Lancet Hereticus Space Marines to capture her for interrogation. Meanwhile, a force of Chaos Plague Marines, the Ferrymen, seeks to claim the Saint for a dark ritual, hoping to summon a daemon of the Warp into realspace.

The Sisters of Battle, unaware of what forces are closing in, have fortified their shrine compound to protect the Saint. What follows is a brutal three-way battle where each faction must act quickly to achieve victory.

Board Setup

  • Board Size: 3ft x 3ft
  • The Saint: Begins inside the shrine compound, positioned on one half of the board.
  • Deployment:
    • Sisters of Battle are entrenched in and around the shrine compound.
    • The Lancet Hereticus Space Marines deploy in one corner opposite the shrine.
    • The Chaos Plague Marines deploy in the other opposite corner.
Table deployment map

Victory Conditions

  • At the start of Turn 4, an escape shuttle may arrive at the compound on a roll of 5 or 6.
  • Each turn after that, the roll threshold decreases (4+ on Turn 5, 3+ on Turn 6, etc.).
  • The player who has control of the Saint and gets her to the escape shuttle wins the game.

Note that the Saint begins in the possession of the Sisters of Battle.

Key Design Features

1. Balanced Start & Player Equality

  • The two marine factions begin an equal distance from the objective (the Saint in the shrine), ensuring no player has an immediate advantage.
  • Sisters of Battle start in a strong defensive position but must react to two incoming threats.
  • Both invading forces must contend with the Sisters and each other.

2. Quick Action & Continuous Engagement

  • The short board size (3ft x 3ft) ensures combat starts early, preventing long movement phases where nothing happens.
  • The Sisters’ defensive position means they will likely be fighting by Turn 1.
  • Since the Saint is stationary at the beginning, players must maneuver aggressively and fight over control.
  • The time limit ensures that all players must take action in order to win.

3. Preventing “Two vs. One” Situations

  • Both the Inquisition and Chaos forces have competing objectives, preventing an easy alliance.
  • The victory condition forces all players to engage—hoarding forces in a corner will not secure a win.
  • The randomized escape shuttle arrival means players must remain flexible; camping a spot isn’t a viable strategy.

Final Thoughts on the Three Player Scenario

This three player scenario creates a dynamic battlefield where all players are constantly engaged. It prevents downtime, discourages ganging up, and forces strategic decision-making. The next blog post will explore how this scenario played out in actual gameplay—did it live up to expectations, or were there unexpected twists? Stay tuned!

Title image is Sister of Battle by Anna Steinbauer. For more of her awesome art visit her site here.

Competitive D&D: Is it for you?

competitive D&D in action

Just after Christmas, some friends and I had the exhilarating experience of participating in a Dungeons & Dragons competition. But by their nature roleplaying games aren’t a competition, I hear you say. Normally, I would agree. However, we thought we’d give it a go. You don’t get many opportunities to pit your D&D skill against other parties. After reading this you may see some merit in competitive D&D.

The tournament saw multiple groups navigating through the legendary Gary Gygax adventure: The Lost Caverns of Tsojconth. Although we missed the official tournament sign-up, our friend Rich, who was DMing at the event, graciously agreed to run a separate session for us. The event was organized by the local group DnD Fremantle, who have done a fantastic job fostering a vibrant D&D community in our local area.

The Challenge

The competition was structured in two intense 2-hour blocks, requiring rapid decision-making and strategic thinking. Initially, we struggled with the limited time to familiarize ourselves with our character sheets, spells, and abilities—only 15 minutes! It was a challenging start, but we quickly adapted to the fast-paced environment.

Rich, our DM, used a scoring system to evaluate our progress, awarding points for achieving specific goals in each encounter. The objective was to traverse as much of the adventure as possible within the 4-hour limit. In the real tournament 5 groups all ran through the adventure at the same time and their scores totaled at the end to determine the winning team.

The Party

From memory, we had 6 pre-generated characters to choose from: monk, wizard, warlock, fighter, cleric and rogue. As mentioned above, we had 15 mins to choose our characters and understand how they worked. Our final party comprised four level 9 adventurers:

  • Ethelrede, a stalwart human fighter
  • Cathartic, a devoted human cleric
  • Weslocke, a cunning Tiefling warlock
  • Dunil, a resourceful halfling rogue

There should have been five, but unfortunately one of our players was ill on the day.

Key Encounters

The adventure was very “old-school”, with seemingly random creatures dotted around an underground cave system. It did mean that you never quite knew what was around the corner. Some of our memorable encounters included:

  • The Mud Golem: Early in the adventure, we faced a formidable mud golem guarding a magical sword. This creature could only be damaged by magical means, which significantly limited our options. It was a close call, especially for my character, Dunil, who nearly perished in the encounter (only 2hp left).
  • Gem-Hauling Statue Faces: We successfully navigated a trap-laden room filled with gem-inlaid statues, managing to extract the gems without losing any limbs.
  • Friendly Pechs: In a refreshing twist, we encountered Pechs—goblin-like creatures who turned out to be friendly allies. This encounter provided a brief respite from the relentless dungeon hazards.
  • Chuuls’ Deadly Ambush: Crossing a river proved fatal as we were ambushed by paralyzing crab-like creatures, the Chuuls. This encounter ended in a total party kill (TPK), forcing us to restart. It was a humbling experience but one that bonded our team.
  • Fierce Formian Battle: Our session concluded with a fierce battle against Formians, ugly ogre like creatures with sinister eyes. This encounter tested our combat strategies and teamwork to the limit.
The incredible trophy made for the actual tournament!!

Lessons Learned

  1. Pre-Game Planning: It’s crucial to allocate more time for character selection and understanding character abilities. Knowing who will play which type of character and having a strategy for dungeon interaction can save valuable time.
  2. Team Urgency: The competition format instilled a heightened sense of urgency. Quick decision-making and effective communication became our focus, improving our overall gameplay.
  3. Adaptation: Adapting to the competition’s fast pace was challenging but ultimately rewarding. By the second half, we found our rhythm, coordinating efficiently as we navigated the labyrinthine caverns.

We ended the adventure with a score of 8 points, which included a -5 penalty for the TPK. While this might seem modest compared to the winning team’s 18 points, we considered it a solid performance for our first competitive run. More importantly, the experience was incredibly fun, thanks to Rich’s masterful DMing.

More Competitive D&D?

This competition has whetted our appetite for more. We’re already planning to enter the next tournament with lessons learned and a renewed sense of strategy. If you’re considering a competitive D&D experience, we highly recommend teaming up with friends and diving into the challenge. It’s an unforgettable way to test your skills and deepen your love for the game.

See you in the next adventure!