Moonstone: Dusk Till Dawn: Fairytale, Nearly-Diceless, Awesome Skirmish Wargame
Hi fellow Wargamers!
Bart – Head of the Studio here!
Not too long ago, a certain niche game system caught my eye with its absolutely stunning models: Moonstone. I stumbled upon it quite by accident. A miniature of Sir Hoghswash appeared somewhere in my social media feed, then another one from a different faction.
I started digging and immediately knew I had to have a dozen of these wonderful miniatures in my collection to give the game a try.
Stepping Into the World of Tauber
Before anything else, a quick note for anyone new to the hobby: a skirmish game is a miniature wargame played with a small number of figures – usually between four and eight per side – on a relatively compact table. You need a handful of characters, a rulebook, and an opponent. That low barrier to entry is one of the big reasons the genre has been growing steadily, and it’s exactly the context in which Moonstone makes the most sense.
Disclaimer for the new players: it is ALWAYS a rabbit hole and you’ll end up with multiple different models, warbands, and heroes just because they are fun to play. It is just how it works!
What Exactly is Moonstone?
Moonstone is published by Goblin King Games, a small, independent British studio. It is set in the world of Tauber, a place that feels like someone took European folklore, dark fairy tales, and a very British sense of humour and threw them all into a pot together. You’ll find flatulent pug knights, a goblin king pursuing ancient grudges, and faeries with sharp political ambitions. For me, that atmosphere was the hook from the moment I saw the first miniature.
Building a Troupe
In terms of how the game actually plays: each player assembles a Troupe of four to six characters from one of four factions – the hard-hitting Commonwealth, the trickster Dominion, the nature-attuned Leshavult, or the newly arrived Shades. The goal is not to eliminate your opponent, but to harvest Moonstones. These mysterious gems appear overnight across the battlefield and crumble to dust at sunrise.
The Wizards at the Tower of Grommel pay handsomely for intact stones, which means every game is a constant balancing act between fighting and grabbing objectives. The mechanics are completely diceless and focused on cards. It involves a lot of prediction and bluffing. I absolutely can’t wait to try it during a game to truly feel it. So far I’ve mostly played systems focused on dice, so this is something new and thrilling for me.
What I particularly appreciate is the philosophy behind the game. All the rules, unit cards, and the play deck are available for free on the publisher’s website. Anyone curious can learn the system without spending a penny. This is rare enough in the wargaming world to be genuinely remarkable, and it shows how Goblin King Games thinks about their community. They grow the game by lowering the threshold for engagement, avoiding locking rules behind expensive books.
Exploring Niche Skirmish Games
The miniature wargaming market is heavily dominated by Games Workshop and the Warhammer universe. This makes sense; they have the largest community, the most developed lore, and decades of momentum behind them. But dominance also means a certain kind of standardization: large model counts, significant financial investment, and sometimes heavy rules systems that take months to fully learn. Of course, GW has Warhammer Underworlds or Kill Team, but you get the point.
Why Look Beyond the Mainstream?
Niche and independent skirmish games exist precisely as an alternative to that model. They tend to be smaller in scope, more experimental in their design, and often more willing to take risks with setting and mechanics. Because they rely on passionate communities and direct sales rather than mass retail, many of them offer their rules for free. The trade-off is lower visibility and smaller player bases, which can make finding opponents a bit more challenging.
Some titles worth knowing about if you’re exploring this space: Malifaux by Wyrd Miniatures replaces dice entirely with a card deck, adding hand management and bluffing to every game in a dark alternate-history Victorian world. Carnevale by TT Combat takes place in a nightmarish version of Venice, where assassins and monsters fight across rooftops and canals. Frostgrave by Osprey Games is miniature-agnostic, meaning you can use any models you already own for its amazing campaign system. And for those who enjoy an anime or Asian aesthetic, Eldfall Chronicles hits a very sweet spot.
Unboxing the Dusk Till Dawn Starter Set
The starter set is fairly expensive given its contents, but I completely understand why. The rules, unit cards, and play deck are all free online. Supporting small publishers and studios by buying these boxes is how games like this get to keep growing. I went with the Dusk Till Dawn box specifically because the included factions match my aesthetic preferences perfectly.
Moonstone Rulebook, Cards, and Tokens
The compact box is roughly the size of a standard hardcover book. Inside, you get a beautifully illustrated cover, a full set of seven D4 dice representing the titular Moonstones, plus two D6s used occasionally for initiative. There’s also a twenty-page rulebook in a handy small format (I’ve already ordered the full-size rulebook to dive into the lore more deeply).
The Arcane and Melee cards are the core of the combat system. Made from a plastic-like material, they’re quite flexible. The unit cards share the same construction, though I’d still recommend sleeving all of them. One small negative: the card edges show slightly chipped paint right out of the box, which makes them look a little rough up close.
The movement ruler and the energy token set are made from thick cardboard and are genuinely excellent. No complaints there at all!
Miniature Quality and Assembly
The miniatures and their bases arrive packed in zip-lock bags. Cast quality is very high. The details are crisp, there are virtually no mould lines requiring cleanup, and I found no air bubbles whatsoever. I’d place them comfortably at the top tier of resin miniatures. Each figure consists of two to three parts requiring a bit of superglue assembly.
Unfortunately, two models arrived slightly damaged with cracked components in fairly thin, tricky-to-repair areas. Switching the packaging to a one-model-per-bag approach, or even a blister format with foam inserts, would likely solve this entirely in the future.
From Grey Resin to Tabletop Ready: Moonstone Painted
Of course, unboxing and assembly is just the beginning. We couldn’t wait to get the Dusk Till Dawn miniatures onto our painting desks here in the studio.
Painting Moonstone is a completely different experience from working on grimdark sci-fi armor. The models are packed with character, blending whimsical fairy-tale elements with darker, folklore-inspired details. It gave us a great excuse to play with vibrant colors, smooth blending, and custom basing that really captures the magical, overgrown feel of the Tauber woods.
Check out the full gallery below to see both factions fully painted and ready to harvest some Moonstones!
Want Your Own Troupe Ready for the Table?
Seeing a fully painted Troupe on the board is what makes skirmish games like Moonstone so great. You punch out the tokens, read the rules, and you are immediately ready to arrange a game.
But when your free time is limited, finding the hours to paint a brand new warband up to a standard you’re proud of can feel like a massive roadblock. You want to learn the bluffs and tactics of the game, not stress over getting the perfect highlights on a miniature.
Let’s be honest – that box won’t paint itself, even if you stare at it all year. We paint, you have the problem off your mind. Write to us through our contact form, and let’s get your new Troupe fully painted and ready for the table!
