"Rule for 15mm Sci-Fi company level games" Topic

Thats rights, another tedious 'what rules…' thread, sorry.

I'm looking for something which will do sci-fi company level games, i.e. FOW stylie, with each base representing a team and preferably 1:1 vehicle scale.

I'm aware of Future War Commander and thats about it.

Would Tomorrows War work for this or would it be too slow-paced? Also, does TW allow you to construct races which are non-human i.e. aliens (tyranids, aliens etc), robots and humanoid variant with abilities/differing psychology/psychic abilities etc.

thanks

For TW, if you based each fireteam together there is no reason this would not work with the rules as written, though I suspect it would make for a longer game. Support for aliens/robots/etc is limited in scope but what is there works well; you can combine the effects in lots of interesting ways.

There was rumblings about a company-centric sci-fi rules set in the works, but I cannot recall the name for the life of me.

-Will

Gruntz, the amazing sci-fi rules by Robin Fitton, has a section on playing with group-based minis (standard are single minis, might slow you down when fielding a whole company based on modern TOE), and thus will work a treat at company level. Highly recommended! :-)
gruntz.biz

Critical Mass Games have a set of company level sci-fi rules. The book contains army lists for their miniatures, but no background (to be published in separate book). As in FOW, infantry are put on group bases, vehicles are 1:1.

link

Tentacle by Too Fat Lardies, but it is not released yet.

GZG games Dirtside should work. (or Stargrunt, pretty sure StarGrunt is smaller scale)

Striker 2 (I think it is available at Wargame Vault or Drive Through RPG).

I was going t say the same thing Dynaman8789, TFL have a set of company level rules awaiting publication, based on IABSM/CDS mechanisms and whole chapters on converting and creating your own forces.

Just wish Rich would get it out, but I know he is busy on 3 dozen other projects and it will come soon.

Critical Mass Games have a set of company level sci-fi rules.

It's a Flames of War type thing, if you go for that. FoW has always looked to me like Napoleonics but seems to be quite popular.

Tomorrow's War or Alien Squad leader would be good choices.

Galactic War 2 from Old Glory is another option.

I'd go for Tomorrows War. With an entire company ( three platoons + HQ?) it might start a bit slow but after a few turns the pace will pick up a lot.

Check the message archives.

Tons of discussion on this topic…..

Strike Legion and ASQL 2.0 as well I'd think.

Try out Tactical Assult: Combat Cards TacticalAssaultGames.com
This system is excellent (and I have tried every from Tentacle to Tomorrows War. it is simple and very flexible so you can add as much complexity as you want. The scale is up to you – company level no problem. It also use no dice! Rge rules can be downloaded for free but the key is the actual cards which will cost about £8.00 GBP to download. Greta value.

I've been experimenting with Pz8's two-page rules. Just double all ranges since it was made with 6mm in mind.

I'd say Hammer's Slammers the Crucible, but then I'm biased…

Have a look at the support material here hammers-slammers.com .

John Treadaway

Ok, you have walked into the black hole of 15mm gaming. Not much exists at company level. The Too Fat Lardies set offers much promise and i can't wait for it.

What won't really work unless you want to take a LOT of time.
Stargrunt, Tommorrow's War and maybe Gruntz.

Alien squad Leader and Dirtside will work. CMG's should. I am not familiar with Hammer's Slammers or Strike Legion.

Thanks,

John

lots of great suggestions, thanks for the summary John, I was in information overload…

I too think this is outside of the scope of TW and Stargrunt. Im keeping fingers crossed for TFL's set.

In defense of Gruntz:
Use group bases for company sized actions (or bigger), and your games won't take more time than for example a game of FOW with a roughly equivalent number of stands/vehicles.

For example, if you look at a company as a force consisting of 1 force commander and 3 platoons, each with 3 infantry squads (represented by 9 squad stands, or 18 fireteam stands if you want more flexibility), plus some specialists stands and vehicles, you get a very manageable number of stands/vehicles.

But I admit that pushing around all those (or more) minis based as singles would be a rather tedious affair…

After reading my last post, I do wonder if anyone will understand it…

Fundamentally, you need to decide whether you're interested in one of the myriad "well, it wasn't designed for what you want, but you could make do" choices mentioned quite often above, or a ruleset actually designed from the ground up for what you have in mind.

As John notes, there is very limited choice at the moment if you (like I) would prefer a ruleset actually intended to deliver the type of game listed in the original post. Critical Mass rules come closest, but they are intended for their figures and universe. Again, I'm sure someone will pipe up and say that you could modify them, and indeed you could, but you're paying good money to CMG and still having to then go and do a bunch of mods and homebrew stuff to work outside their universe.

I wait in hope.

'I wait in hope'

So do I… I think I'll just build the armies and wait for the rules to arrive one day. That or more likely I'll read several or all of the above and synthesize the bits I like into one set which does what I want, there's definitely a gap in the market. A long-term project me thinks.

Samulus I use a oop set of rules called G-Cav by GZG with updates.
If your going to Salute drop by and see us at Taylor's Crew
Beyond the Tanhausser gate we will be playing a company + sized 15mm Sci Fi game with plenty of different aliens and humans.

Guy T

I don't think Tomorrow's War is too bad time-wise.

I ran a couple 8-player games at Millennium Con a year and a half ago with roughly 50 Infantry per side and 15 total armor units plus a static emplacement and was mostly through each game in 4 hours (With novice players).

Uhhh, Warlock, 50 troops per side is a little more than a platoon. The man wants more like 150-200 troops per side.

One slightly off-the-wall idea is Epic:Armageddon. basic unit is roughly a platoon, and you have air, artillery, infantry, and tanks, plus orbital support if you really want to get nuts.

Rules are free.

USE ME 001. It is single based but there is no reason you can not multi base them. Very simple rules, or very complex depends how you want to play them.

From 15mm uk

I like both Gruntz, and USE ME it just no one posted USE ME.

Noel

Use FWC – works perfectly for what you want.

uhhh Lion, i was addressing the fact that i had 8 completely unfamiliar players and even they managed to handle large numbers of troops and armor on a large 4x8 table with dense terrain..

Besides, he said FoW size games and TW can handle that very easily.

He never said "150-200 infantry per side".

TW also has sections on Ai and Aliens and how to handle them in game.

Fubar is also a good choice.

@Only Warlock
And Samulus never said "FoW size games", just take a look at his OP.
As far as numbers are concerned, Lion in the Stars has it right.

For TW, I would really group-base the fireteams for company sized games.

Try Valkyrie? Designed for company lvl. Also it's a free download on Dropship.