"Victory Decision going Sci-Fi" Topic

Hi all,

Not sure how many of you have heard of Victory Decision but its a slick WWII game by AD Publishing. The rules are very clear and well presented. Game mechanics give you lots of tactical options but are simple to execute and requite little book keeping.

One of their next projects is to adapt the game engine to a generic sci-fi setting. They are looking for input on what players would want out of the game.

If you are into 28mm(ish) sci-fi gaming you owe it to yourself to at least check it out. Discussion over on the Lead Adventure forums:

link

-Tim

So the game system is coming full circle? Kind of ironic?

Yes, back to Sci-fi – but with revised rules and not linked to a particular line of miniatures.

I have great hopes for these rules giving a home to my AT-43/Starwars and DUST minis – and for the dream-forge ones I'm going to buy soon!

-Tim

Well, (shameless self promotion) if you want to use your DUST minis outside of their rules, the NUTS! War Without End rules allow you to do that, and I've done a conversion list for DUST minis to use with NUTS! The rules are designed to let you use any miniature and determine the game stats, and it includes everything from late war real tech like the Panther UHU night vision system, helicopters and the X-7 ATGM to combat walkers, power armor suits, death rays and rocket packs, super soldiers, zombies and even the Hanebu:

link

The DUST conversion is here:
TMP link

I actually have NUTS War without end. Great system. Still my gaming group needs point values for our campaign – and well not everyone plays Weird War style armies – that's why we are excited about ViDe Sci-fi.

-Tim

Cool, I'm working closely with Agis on our Gears & Guts 1/56th scale Gear Krieg product line (in conjunction with Company B), and he's a great guy. He's been very helpful during our design phase reviews and is a master modeler/painter -- and his Victory Decision system is also quite good. I know he's working on taking Gear Krieg into ViDe as well, like he did with the WaW/Gear Krieg book he did.

Interesting that people are talking about alternative rules for Dust minis when Dust Warfare isn't even out yet!

I guess people aren't just aware of DW or confuse it with some kind of a sourcebook for Dust Tactics.

FFG needs to work on this.

Oh we people are well aware of Dust Warfare. Just also aware that its been promised for sometime and the release date seems to get pushed back all the time… plus Dust Warfare does little for letting me play my Dust Axis figs vs. Necrons and from what I've read I won't be able to add a Tiger 1 to my Dust Axis army either.

That being said I will likely buy the Dust Warfare rules as I am a certified rules addict.

-Tim

Fair enough, though at least I can't fault FFG for giving AC and the team all the time they need to polish the game to perfection (in their own subjective opinions, of course).

I can't say that I oppose the idea of finding a good set of sci-fi rules that can accommodate all those 40k miniatures, either…

So just a little thread necromancy to let everyone know that Victory Decision Future Combat is now available from wargame vault:

link

More info here:

link

-Tim

I eagerly await reviews. I had high hopes for Future War Commander and it turned out to be just WW2 rules with lasers tacked on. I hope VD avoids such "legacy" issues if it also evolved from a WW2 game.

I'll bite, what Sci-Fi game was Victory Decision originally based on?

@blackfang

Actually its worse than you think. FWC is based on Warmaster which is a mass fantasy combat game.

@Achtung Minen

Sorry I don't follow your question. Victory Decision is a WW2 game and ViDe Future Combat is the SciFi version.

Oh, I must have misunderstood something. I read CPBelt's comment at the top of the page to mean that Victory Decision had originally come from Sci-Fi in some way…

Victory Decision is based on Battlefield Evolution which is based on Starship Troopers.

Hi folks,

great to see already some discussion about my new game.

Victory Decision has indeed some roots in Battlefield Evolution. I wrote the WW II book and Pacific War for Mongoose and developed later Victory Decision using some of
the design elements.
But ViDe is much more, leadership based alternate activation, integrated suppressions system etc. etc.

Maybe check out my design notes:
link

Or some reviews of the core system:
link

Question(s):
If I fail to activate a unit, can I attempt to activate it again as many times as my opponent and I roll off? Or do you only have one chance to activate and if you fail the unit does nothing that turn?

Do you have plans to add supplements to the game? In particular I am wondering if you will add more varied forces, like melee-focused armies (feral, or "bug" style armies) or additional game mechanics like psychic powers/spells, large monsters, etc?

The rulebook looks great, btw. I look forward to trying it out. :-)

Quote from the book:
"Each game turn is split into segments. Victory Decision uses alternate unit activations to make the game as interesting as possible for both players during the entire game. During the activation segment the players carry out the actions of the chosen unit.
Each unit in a force can only be activated once per game turn.
After both players have activated all of their units once, they move onto the end segment. Note that both players do things in each segment, so both determine initiative in the Initiative Segment, and carry out actions in the activation segment, and so on."

So yes, you can try to activate again after failing to activate; but "Each unit in a force can only be activated once per game turn."

I have an Alien/ Bug/ Xeno book planned for 1stQ 2014, maybe also Robots and a book on heroes and psi/ force abilities.
Depends on the feedback. :)

Feedback: I'm all for Heroes/force and Robots (i.e. Separatist Droid Army with Sith).

Excellent news all around. Thanks for your answers! :-)

You are welcome!

Hi,

1st a big thank you for buying "Victory Decision – Future Combat" and all the nice feedback.
Number 1 Hottest Title in 2 days after release. Best Copper Seller within 4 days! Call me happy. 8)

But talk is cheap, getting you something extra is better.
;)
I added a new unit to the book and included some more pics to make ViDe – FuCo even "sexier".

Infantry models by GZG. Weapon platform by Old Crow Models

Victory Decision: Future Combat stats: High Tech Infantry Platoon Heavy Support Element;
Stationary Weapon Support Platform – 220 points; armed with Heavy Pulse Laser Cannon (+ 110 points)

Weapon platform by Old Crow Models

High Tech Infantry Platoon Heavy Support Element;
Stationary Weapon Support Platform – 220 points; Anti Aircraft Guided Missile Launcher (+ 55 points)

Changes:
Page 3 – Old Crow Models (oldcrowmodels.co.uk) added to "Miniatures shown in this publication"
Page 91 – New unit – Experimental Hardshell Power Armour Combat Suit Squad
Page 120 – 2 Pictures added for the Stationary Weapon Support Platform

I changed again some minor errors; Changes 21.12.2013:
Page 87 – Points for Close Combat Specialist added, other points corrected
Page 102 – Jet-Pack option added to 22.2.2. Hardshell Power Armour Combat Suit Command Section
Page 106 – Points for Close Combat Specialist added

There is now an "Updates" section on my website:
adpublishing.de/html/fuco_updates.html

And I have added some more example units to give you an idea what kind of units can be created with Future Combat:

Robots by Copplestone Casting – High Tech Infantry Platoon Combat Element;
Multirole Combat Suit Infantry Squad – 335 points; Options: Kinetic Pulse Carbines (-5 points), Pioneer option for whole unit to represent the additional toughness of Robots (the Tenacity ability will help a lot!) (+35 points), 5 minis removed from unit (5*37= -185 points), Overall Cost: 180 points

Modern Troops by The Assault Group – Low Tech Infantry Platoon Combat Element;
Rifle Squad – 130 points; Options: 4* Assault Rifle (4*6 = +24 points), 1* Grenade Launcher (+10 points), 1* LMG (+30 points), 5 minis removed from squad (5*12 = -60 points), Overall Cost: 134 points

Troops by DUST-Models – Mid Tech Infantry Platoon Combat Element;
Ballistic Armour Rifle Squad – 250 points; Options: 4* Experimental Laser Rifle (4*5 = +20 points), 1* LMG (+30 points), Enhanced option for whole unit to represent the weird war touch (+135 points)5 minis removed from unit (5*48 = -240 points), Overall Cost: 195 points

Talarius showed me this last night. It certainly has me interested. I was all into PMC2640 because of the excellent Mordheim-style campaign system, but I want to give this a try also!

V 010003 – 140111
Changes 11.01.2014:
Page 3 – DreamForge added under "Miniatures shown in this publication"
Ash Barker added under "Creative Consulting, additional Editing and Proofreading"; he edited severalgrammatical and verb tense items out of the book. No rules were changed but reading the rules should now be more accessible.
Page 38 – New Weapon Feature Z Infection/X+ added.
Page 83, 84, 85, 86, 87, 88, 89, 94 – Flechette Gun added.
Page 95 – Option to take the new Weapon Feature Z Infection/X+ added.
Page 99 – Lasergun added to 22.1.6. High Tech Infantry Hardshell Weapons
Page 97, 100, 101, 105, 113 – Guided Flechette Gun added.
Page 102, 109 – High Tech Infantry Weapons chart added under Options.
Page 113 – Picture added.

I have updated the Future Combat book again. While writing the next book – Rival Species – for the Future Combat line I added new Actions, Abilities and Psi Powers. I realized that these would be a great addition to the core book as well.
The latest update now includes all the rules to use and cancel Psi Powers in Future Combat!
A small but nice list of useable Psi Powers is also added.

So, here is what changed:

V 010004 – 140201 – Changes 01.02.2014:
Page 3 – Zac Belado added under "Creative Consulting, additional Editing and Proofreading"
Page 23 – Use Psi Action added as an Overwatch action
Page 27 – Use Psi Action added
Page 32 – Psi Sensitive added
Page 84 – 21.1. Mid Tech Infantry Psi Powers added
Page 88 – Psi Sensitive upgrade added as unit option
Page 99 – 22.1. High Tech Infantry Psi Powers added
Page 104 – Psi Sensitive upgrade added as unit option

Feedback for Future Combat, new ideas and encouragement is still coming in. The "Design Notes" section is updated. Also new is another mini that is used in the next Future Combat update: A SF Dinorider, it will be used in the book to illustrate cavalry units.

Dino by Copplestone Casting, Rider old VOID mini (if I recall correctly)
The saddle is made of Milliput and some bags and a bottle from Assault minis are also added to cover my clusy sculpting.

More:
adpublishing.de/html/fuco_design_notes.html
adpublishing.de/html/general_scifi.html

The rulebook is again updated, I added a new unit!

V 010007 – 140518 – Changes 18.05.2014:
Page 120 – Added; new unit "Giant Combat Mecha"

Wow. Was the Mecca written into the game or was the game written for the mecha? That's some piece of kit to have on the table. I really 'LOVE' the dino rider, bit like a GW Tallarn Desert Raider mini but cooler.

Thanks for posting, is this game similar to Battlefield Evolution? My mate loved that game!!

Pah! Just read one of your earlier posts, yes is my answer! Keep up the good work!

A

The Mecha was added later. There was some talk about how to incorporate bigger walker in the game on LAF and I added the unit to the rulebook.

I am very tempted by this….
Just two questions:
1) What sort of dice are required?
2) What is the smallest/largest type of battles that are really playable?: 6-12 troopers as a 28mm skirmish? a company level game with 6mm? Or is it all sort of 'large platoon/40K scale? (Not the scale of the models but the scale/s of the game).
Thanks!

Oh, and there aren't any decks/card mechanics, are there?

Hi billcat,

1 – D6 and sometimes D10 for heavier weapon effects.
2 – If you choose units that are really good and consequently expensive in points you can play games of about 2h length with around 10 to 15 minis per side.
Before you can choose a force for a game you will need to agree with your opponent upon a scenario and the total number of points each of you will spend on your force.
This is a very convenient way of gaming. You just agree on a point limit and both players will then plan their armies. The recommended Points Value is 1500 points per side. This will allow you to field a full platoon with a command unit and some supporting units. It will give you a 2 hour game on average depending on your playing style, how much you know the gaming table and your opponent etc.
The smallest game size recommended is 500 points. You may only field 2 Squads and very limited support, one mistake and your patrol is gone. The game will last between 30 minutes and 1 hour.
The biggest games we played were 3.000 points using 2 FOCs per side. Fielding 2 full platoons and a lot of supporting units resulting in a conflict on the Company level. It was always fun but is definitely more time consuming.
So what size game you choose is up to you and your gaming group. Having done this you can proceed to pick a force as described below.

…oh and indeed no cards!

Sounds great! Thanks.

That dino-rider is brilliant work.