Years active 2013 to present Age range 8+ Playing time | Players 2 Setup time 5 Minutes | |
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Illustrator(s) David Thompson, Rick Hershey, Sean Sevestre |
Skirmish Tactics Apocalypse (STA) is a two player skirmish-level tabletop hybrid miniatures/board/wargame. The game is set in a post-apocalyptic near future.
There are two ways to play STA: skirmishes and conquests. Skirmishes are standalone games played for a single victory, with no lasting repercussions. Conquests are a series of skirmishes linked in a league-style arrangement. In conquests, players begin with a group of recruit characters. Skirmish Tactics Apocalypse was released on BoardGameGeek as a free print and play game in February 2013.
STA is a scenario driven game. Each scenario typically has multiple objectives, and combat between factions is usually a secondary or tertiary objective. Players win skirmishes in STA by gaining victory points through accomplishing these objectives.
The game board for STA - called the gamescape - is formed from modular tiles which are themed to represent different environments. Players build the game board with nine modular tiles, each of which are divided into a 7x7 grid. Characters use the grids for movement.
Each character in STA is represented by a token and has a corresponding character card. During conquest play, characters improve their attributes and develop new abilities as they progress from Recruit to Veteran and then Elite status.
Players control characters from one of the game’s six factions. The Combine and Marauders are part of the core game; the other four factions can be integrated seamlessly: