"GW or SST" Topic

I was thinking of going into sci-fi. So will it be Warhammer 40K or Starship Troopers or something else?
Which have superior rules and miniatures? What are the strong and weak point of both?
Thank for any input.

FWIW the big downside of SST for me was only two factions one of which, the bugs, are very hard for the player to identify with and are, basically, dull. Upside was good rule mechanisms which give a fast, fun game.

40k is basically the reverse of that situation, IMHO.

Besides the questions you asked, an important point to consider is who you will play with. In my area for instance, there are a lot of 40K players but not so many SST players.

Neither. Urban War much better game. Better figures nice set of rules and now there's Metropolis. it just gets better.

Isn't SSt going to go through a rules change to bring it in line with Battlefield evolution? Not that you are guaranteed that with GW either and all the editions.
We just bought in to AT-43, after a couple of games it's pretty fun, and being prepainted lets us concentrate on playing.
My only complaint with any scifi game that is published by any miniature company is that the rules/army lists are the excuse to sell figures, so they aren't really interested on fully functional or dynamic rulesets.

in true TMP tradition, 5150. Use any figures you want.

I'll second d.r.s opinion here.

Go with something that you are more likely to find opponents for.

I'm hooked on the Sci-Fi- Infinity by Corvus Belli right now, can't find anyone to even try it.

humwawa is also right about the rules versus story line for 40K and SST.

I keep reading, hearing and seeing good things about AT-43.
You might want to keep that game as an option.

Joep

Get into WH40K only if you have a very hefty monthly allowance for your hobbies, and a very high tolerance to Munchkinism.

FWIW the big downside of SST for me was only two factions one of which, the bugs, are very hard for the player to identify with and are, basically, dull.

There are three factions at present including the Skinnies, and they've got a fourth faction (another alien race) coming…which I believe they're calling the Forth, amusingly.

But yes, 40K does have more variety in number of armies. Probably easier to find opponents for, too, but that's wildly variable.

I second Joep123's comments; Infinity is a superlative game – fun, fast, dynamic rule mechanics with detailed and expressive miniatures … but no players.

If any of you happen to be at GenCon Indy and want to check out Infinity; I'll be running a tournament friday.

SST FUN! 40K NEW SET? NOT AS GOOD AS OLD SCHOOL ROGUE TRADER
GW FIGS AND SST STUFF ALL GOOD. FIND MORE PLAYERS OF 40K I THINK.

40K. You may have problem finding opponents for any of the other games mentioned, including SST. I have tried too many times than I can count trying to get other people into the less popular games and failing, ending up having pretty minis with no one to play with. That's part of the reason why my Ebay rating is over 500.

"GW or SST"

GW has a much higher standard of quality, IMHO

I agree with ostgrenadier. The figures are nicer from GW by a long shot.

But you also have to look at if you want to play sci-fi or fantasy in space.

SST is sci-fi, 40K is fantasy in space. Both systems are designed to model totally different realities.

I really like infinity too. It is the best small level skirmish game I've ever played. The starter rules are a free download and you can pretty much substitute a lot of figures in there.

Try that with either the infinity figs or the 40K figs.

5 years from now, GW will still be going strong (and we'll still be complaining about it). SST is likely to go the way of the dodo by then. I'd suggest finding out what people play in your area, and then going with it. There isn't much point finding the perfect game if you can't find an opponent. Try to borrow someone else's figures and get in a few games before you make an investment.

As others have said, SST has fewer races, but better rules. 40k has a lot of variety, but is quite expensive.

My vote is for SST. The rules are just sooo much better.

Humwawa: "FWIW the big downside of SST for me was only two factions one of which, the bugs, are very hard for the player to identify with and are, basically, dull."

Why not spice things up with some "zombified" troops, like in the godawful SST2 film. The film sucked, but the idea might make gaming less "dull", with that whole "enemy within and without" concept.

link
link
picture

Plus, it might pull in those gamers out there who are already into "zombies". :)

I know that many will now jump in and say "stick to the rules".

However, remember this. Game rules are not law or canon texts. Fun is the ultimate goal. In the immortal words of Captain Barbossa "the Code is more what you'd call 'guidelines' than actual rules."

CC

STARGUARD! is the grandaddy of all sci-fi miniature wargame systems. It's still in print, and tsill aheckuvalotta fun to play! You can look it up here:

tin-soldier.com

Hope this helps!

Leland R. Erickson
Metal Express
metal-express.net

Plus, as the bugs get smarter and control more and more human minds, they may develop more of a Stargate Goauld concept, where each becomes a separate faction.

CC

With 40K you're likely to find plenty of players, however the down side to that is most will be kids, munchkins and rule lawyers.

I like SST, but I'm not fond of a newer larger 30mm scale.

I don't care if I have so few people to play against, I'm staying with my principles and refuse to play a game that appeals to the lowest common denominator.
I'd go with Stargrunt II to be honest.

A very similar thread from a short while agO:

TMP link

I like No Limits for scifi becuase of a couple reasons.
1. Forces are activated one at a time, instead of one wave smashing another before responding. SST uses that system to if I remember the demo I played right.
2. You can make your own forces, OR use the pregenerated in the downloads section.
3. You can use whatever figs and models you like*.

66.135.36.5/index.html

*Though in reality unless you are playing the game in the headquarters of the maker you can use whatever proxies you like.

AT-43 is pretty nice to and depending on your interest in painting you can use the figs right out of the box or touch them up.

Play SST and/or 40K with the respective figs and Infinity rules.

Or Shockforce!

Both are fun.

SST, better rules, much smaller player base.

40k, completely overpriced, crappy rules. a bazillion 14 year old kids to play against.

SST stuff seems to be selling at a discount too. Pretty easy to build up decent Bug & MI forces for short $$$. Grab a box set off eBay and go from there. Paint 'em up and demo some games – I bet you'll find players fast enough.

And there's always 5150 to fall back on.

Nathaniel 09 Jul 2007 5:06 p.m. PST:
"A very similar thread from a short while ago"

Yep. And the world hasn't moved on so much that I really can add much to what I said back then.

Either go with what's being played, or go with what your buddies might like to play, or go with the miniatures you like. You can always proxy them into another ruleset or play Shockforce/ WarEngine, No Limits, Defiance, or the hacker's Guide to Legions of Steel: link and an old copy of the Legions of Steel rules.

SST is a better game. I agree that GW plastics are better, but a pretty game with rules that stink is less appealing to me personally.

I'd throw in a vote for "Neither"… Like others have also mentioned, I'm also on the 5150 front, by Two Hour Wargames. Play with any minis you like, use for any style of game, from large armies to small squad level skirmish, in any style of universe, from dark gothic 40K style, to, well, anything. If you've got a night where you can't get out for a game with anyone, the're great rules for solo play too. An AWESOME support group who can help with difficulties is the icing on the cake.

Forget the big names, go 5150.

SST is being rereleased as SST Evolution towards the end of august. Prepainted minis. hte rtules are the pretty much hte same, they've simple updated some of the ambiguous ruls, and ones that were lacking(cover, etc)

Theye may be only 3 races(with a 4th on hte way) but ther is a alrge amount of variety inside each of teh 3 current races. Bugs have 25 or so different species.warriors are still your basic troop type, but you can tailor a force to you playing style.

hte Mobile infantry have 5 different types of troops: Power armoured MI(the stndard MI) LIght armour mi(movie Troopers) Pathfinders(special forces recon in advanced powersuits), PAthfinders(sort of meant to represent the POwersuits from hte book) and Marauders( super-heavy support walkers from the series)

Skinnie armies are baed(at this point) around which leader you take. your general can only take certain types ad a mounts of units. Generals such as the Cabal can take mostly Brutes, which are primitive tribal CC experts. others like T'Phai and hte WArcheif take mostly hordes of the Militia and raders. at the other end of the spectrum, hte Lord can take unlimited Venerables, who are like skinni Exosuits, and hte General can take unlimited Guard, which are basicallt powersuited MI with better weapons.

there may be only 3 races, but there are many options.

I vote for SST, but wait for prepaits. that could widen hte SST player base significantly, een if you don't want Prepaints.Ultimately, if you Can't find palyers, don't get it. no point wasting money one something your not going to be able to use.

Crucible Orc 10 Jul 2007 7:33 a.m. PST:
"SST is being rereleased as SST Evolution towards the end of august"

Has this actually been confirmed to be the case by anyone? A Mongoose rep (can't recall if it was Mr. Sprange or somebody else) said so in May, but nothing's shown up on their site since then AFAIK.