"Things you want in your SCIFI/Pulp Rule set" Topic

We have scored the industry,
This is more of what you want in the rules.

Many systems cover what I am looking for, and I have many.
But that One that calls to me, for some serious gaming I have yet to find.

For me I Want,

15mm Design from ground up

Well laid out rules

Ability to create my own Armies/Aliens and so on

Some sort of Campaign/EXP system, that promotes keeping folks alive

PDF Version of the Rules, would be nice to get them with the Printed or Separate. (I look at a lot of systems, and like to be able to Search for things with the PDFs)

That I would Like,
Lets get away from d6s for the whole game, a +1 on a d6 is a huge increase.
This seems to be a Taboo issue I know.

Scales well from Skirmish to at least a Company.

There are always finer points and such, but these are my main ones.

IMHO one of the problems with a lot of the available rules is that they try to scale from skirmish to company level, and end up failing (usually at the company size plus level).

I've got my skirmish and platoon level rules that I like, or am in the process of checking out to see if I like (Tomorrow's War and Gruntz). Currently looking at FUBAR for larger games, which to be honest is where my real interest in 15mm scale gaming sits.

I find FUBAR works really well with about 4 squads of 5 men per side and the odd vehicle.

Any bigger than that and I get a bit bogged down, others have used it for much larger games and loved it though.

I need a company+ game (same scale as Flames of War). I have the platoon-or-two game (Tomorrows War) and a squad-or-two game (Infinity)

For Company sized games Crossfire works very well.

Not so much for vehicles but an infantry only battle is very well replicated with what I experienced in the services.

(not trying to be cheeky…) I don't understand the whole "designed for 15mm" idea. I use games designed for… with whatever scale I choose, sometimes I modify the distances, sometimes not. The games still work.

I see rules as a toolbox, if playing skirmish, I'll use all the rules. When playing a company, I'll simplify and modify so the same rules set works without taking forever.

Things I want: simple mechanics (I dislike needing to roll high, then low). Some background fluff (not a lot, I can fill in the blanks). Walkers, different weapon types (laser, slugs, chemical, hand-wavium projectors). At company level, things like drones, area denial weapons (mines, pain rays, etc).

I want rules that can fit on 2 sides of A4. The rest being fluff and colour.

I've found many of the same issues, i've been searching for that elusives company + scale that very few rulesets cater for, even though, imo, thats the point of 15mm.
Critical Mass is the closest to what I want but it has no alien/army builder.
I'm currently working on my own rules, a sort of hybrid of FOW, Future War Commander, Critical Mass, Gruntz, 40K and every other game I've ever played. It uses D10s (I have the same issue with the +1 on a d6) and has fully granular unit profiles which should, I think, allow anyone to build whatever alien they want, within reason. I love aliens in sci-fi so my system in development has them as a basic priority, that and building different playstyles for different forces, I don't want everything to play like WWII in space! I have yet to get to grips with the armybuilder and I think that is, without doubt, going to be the most complex and difficult part of the build.

How about converting d6 games to d12s? That is the brilliant idea of the year around here…

But then you have to roll 2 dice instead of just a Die. Percentile are ok for complex RPGs not so much for squad wargames where you are rolling for individuals in the squad.

Honestly I am sticking to a fusion of Savage Worlds/Showdown for it's ease of play.