The two dots are typos. It should be just a single dot in both cases -- so "no effect". Thank you for bringing this to our attention!

The publication referred to—Swords of the Misty Isles—was never completed, that's right. However, we are developing true skirmish rules that will be included in a near-future publication (likely our new Hârn Region module).

By "true" skirmish I mean something more generalized than the (merely) simplified Quick combat HMg rules or the old Battlelust book (which bills itself as "skirmish" rules, yes—but is really more detailed Quick combat in play). This is not to disparage such Quick systems—they have their place. But they are still 1:1 scale (one "unit" equals one warrior).

What we have in mind is a system where one unit essentially equals a manus (5 warriors). It would be tailored more for use in a role playing campaign and less so as a wargame. For instance, say three PCs have allied themselves with 10 members of the village militia to fend off 20 marauders. Rather than taking the 24 hours :) of game time to play this out using the core 1:1 melee rules, this skirmish system would allow GMs and players to determine quickly the combat involving 10 militia vs 15 marauders, with either the 3 PCs pitted against the remaining 5 using generalized skirmish-scale stats, or the GM intermittently "freezing" the 30-second skirmish rounds to resolve the 3 PCs against the same 5 using the HM rules during a few HM-scale rounds. This is just one scenario, but you get the application idea.

These would not cover "mass" combat (pitched battles of hundreds of warriors), because of the battlefield factors: close order or ranks in mass combat is different than the open order of skirmish-scale. Of course, all of this doesn't help you at the moment, but it's where we're headed.

I would suggest asking in the forums at lythia.com, too. I recall downloading years ago a short fanon system along the lines described above.

Walt McAtee
KP Project Director