"STORM FRONT by Black Games" Topic

After reading about this new product:

TMP link

…and poking around their website a bit, I'm curious if anyone has tried out the STORM FRONT rules yet? They look interesting, and the price is certainly right!

I'm also thinking about those sweet, new Sci-Fi Humans Hasslefree is working on:

link

…they will need a decent set of rules.

Cheers,
Kevin

I've only played a few small games 30-40 points a side. It resolves quickly and I like the background. Also at $4.95 USD it is a great chance to try out a game and not take a boot to the bank account. I'm hoping to get the vehicle guide in the near future. Gas prices have been slowing down my hobby spending quite a bit lately. I'm lucky to live in one of the top 5 gas price states, 3rd place in fact!! Yipee!!

So… is it 'true' skirmish… individuals rather than squads… each with unique stats?
How many figures in an 'average' game do you think?
What do you like about the background?

I realize it's cheap enough to just buy and read… but I'm being lazy.

The troops are in squads but everybody gets to shoot. They do not shoot as a squad. Each troop type has it's own unique stats but the only unique individuals are the leader types, some of who have special powers or abilities. Most squads have 4-6 troops so you could have a decent game with 3 squads each and only field 18 minis per side. And it does play fast so it won't burn your whole afternoon to play. there are bots, power armor and support weapons also. The new vehicle book has some really fun stuff in it. I like the vehicles that are fold capable. If you already have a bunch of minis then this is a cheap and fun game to play.

Mr Canuck 18 Jul 2007 6:26 p.m. PST:
"I'm also thinking about those sweet, new Sci-Fi Humans Hasslefree is working on […] they will need a decent set of rules"

Well, there is certainly no derth of those as several threads on this forum attest. So in that sense another generic ruleset is about as necessary as a bike is to a fish.

Not that I'm 100% sure if the game even is generic. Seems to mention "troop types" so maybe it's generic in the sense of being so clichéd* that basically anything goes?

Nor am I saying that Storm Front (or is it supposed to be STORM FRONT @ WARMACHINE -- the game so tough you need to spell it in capital letters?) couldn't be better than the other decent sets of (generic) rules (such as Defiance: Vital Ground, No Limits, 5150, Combat Zone, Fast And Dirty, Stargrunt II, WarEngine etc.)…

---

*) this sounds a little harsh but I can't think of a nicer word at the moment… "Adhering to the finest traditions of scifi miniature gaming" sounds a little stilted, frankly…

I would want to know about any reviews and perhaps some photos of miniatures used in the game.

One of the games I played used Void VASA troops for the human troops with Black Legion as commados. They were fighting 2 Rampages wich I used 2 Vor growlers for. I think the Eldar would make for good Overlord troops. You can use pretty much any human sci-fi military trooper for the humans. The AT-43 humans would work well for sure. I picked up a few packs of alien guys from the Superfigs line for some of the Overlord troops too. Can't remember what they were called but they were painted blue and purple in the company pics I saw.

Oh the Superfigs aliens are the Host. Had to look them up.

castellan 19 Jul 2007 5:08 p.m. PST:
"I would want to know about any reviews"

Maitre d', I'd like to have what this gentleperson is having!

I've never done a review before but I will try to answer your questions about the game the best I can. If you want to ask any. I'll pop on tonight after work with a better discription of the game.

I would like to know if the game mechanics are easy to learn and what miniatures seem to work best. And is it fun to play.

Size of game? Initiative? Troop builder? Lethality? Speed? Can I play twenty+ troops and a handful of vehicles in an afternoon?

The mechanics are very easy to learn. All of your troops stats are located on thier stat cards wich come with the game. Each book includes the stat cards for any new troop or weapon types listed in that book. Combat is done with opposed D6 rolls. For example, if your human trooper had an attack of 4 then you would roll 4 D6s for his attack roll. Likewise if he has a defence of 2 then he would roll 2 D6s for his defence roll. I see in the new vehicle book they used a D20 for the vehicles.

As far as game size goes most of the scenarios in the game books use 3 to 6 units per side. If useing 25-30mm minis I'd say a 4x6 or 4x8 playing suface would work best. I ran a game on a 4x4 area and it worked fine. And it played out in alittle over 1/2 hour with a total of 5 units in the whole game. 3 on one side 2 on the other. But you can make your battles as big or small as you want to.

Initiative is done with chits. One chit for each unit. Extra chits can be baught with game pts. Troops are also baught with pts. So you can have a 300 pt game if you wanted. An example a UPDF standard trooper squad of six guys cost 12 pts. But as I said you can use pts to purchase more activation chits to give your units extra activations. The turn ends when there are no more chits to be drawn.

I've only played with a few troop types so far so I can't say much about the lethality of the game. For the regular troops a hit is a kill. Individual troop types have a damage table on thier stat cards. As far as speed goes the troops move pretty fast but the weapon ranges are kinda short.Again useing a stanard UPDF trooper as an example his move in a clear area is 15 inches while his pulse rifle has a range of 12 inches. I was thinking of using 15mm minis and cutting the movement in 1/2 but keep the ranges the same but I have not had a chance to try it yet.

A game of 20+ troops can be played in a few hours easy. I have not tried the vehicles out yet so I'm not sure about them. Over all I think it is a fun and easy game to learn.And as I said above you can use pretty much any human sci-fi minis for the humans. I use my Void VASA troops for that. I use Vor Growlers for Rampages. Going to use my 40K Eldar and the Superfigs Host for the Overlord troops. I think the Thrade minis would work well also.

Well I hope that helps those who wanted to know.

Thank you Wolvermonkey! It looks like a good game.