Skirmish wargaming is like riding a bicycle: doing it is simple enough but describing how to do it is another thing entirely. To start with, it is worth remembering that before skirmish wargaming was ever thought of there were such things as skirmishes – which is to say, real skirmishes between real combatants – since positively ages ago right up until the present day. So, rather than trying to work out what makes a skirmish wargame a skirmish wargame, how about first figuring out what makes a skirmish a skirmish?
So what is a skirmish? You'd think that one would be easy, wouldn't you, but even the dictionaries seem a little uncertain. Chambers ventures, “A minor irregular fight between small or marginal parties – to fight slightly or irregularly.” One online definition calls the skirmish “an episode of irregular or unpremeditated fighting,” which sounds more like a description of kicking-out time in Nottingham city centre than the typical roles of your Greek psiloi or 95th Rifleman. Most of the definitions I
