"Flames of War Sci Fi Version?" Topic

Has anyone tried using Flames of War for sci-fi gaming?

How did that work for you?

I've been thinking about this as well

Sounds like a lot of conversion of stats. I wouldn't mind a Turttledove supplement. That might get me into FoW.

I figure you have mostly just some stat work to do.

One thing to be concerned about is saving throws vs. armour saves, for things like powered armour infantry. An infantry save, then a penetration check, then firepower? I would probably drop the firepower – anything that got through the armour would at least disable the occupant.

Having a rough formula to figure points values would be nice, though.

lol, its called warhammer 40k.

Honestly….the big difference might be a proliferation of Assault Rifle teams.

Save factor for infantry dependent on body armour (Or lack of)

Has anyone tried using FoW for 28s or for single based 15s? Given that all the "teams" cover all the weapon types including semi-auto rifles, I think it could work out.

@Victor: Gee, that's really helpful. Thanks for that. FOW is a stand-based 15mm game in which you actually use things like field artillery, air-to-ground combat, etc. 40K is a 28mm skirmish game.

@Wolfprophet: I am not familiar with Late War rules (we play Early-Mid), so I am guessing that Assault Rifle Teams are like SMG teams with longer range?

Isn't that what the Critical Mass Games rules are?

J Womack, pretty much. 12" range unless it's been changed. I've also seen the FoW Modern group do AR teams as 18" distance instead.

Pretty sure Assault rifle teams are stated directly in the rulebook too?

Obviously, i don't currently play any 15mm sci-fi. But Loud Ninja Games' Chuhuacs are making me reconsider.

I broke out my FOW Italians just last night to fight some sci-fi troops using Gruntz. Great fun, even though I got butchered. Pipe-cleaner halos for casualty markers on the stands worked.

There's a mod from the South Maryland Wargames Club that I've read that has some legs. It's basically a bunch of force generators (build you own, nothing pre-set) that from my time as a FoW playtester is actually pretty close to the BF points system. I received these files from a friend who's on their yahoo group, so have no direct links.

It gives good coverage to tanks, AFVs and infantry, and it makes a very solid start to units with power armour and also mechs. FoW's base engine struggles a bit with the impact of modern communications on the battlefield/game table. As an admirer of Tomorrow's War approach to these issues, this would be the only area where the FoW mod falls down a bit.

I'm hoping to get permission from the original mod writer to pick up where he's left off so I can keep my toe in the FoW rules writing/play testing water, and if that's given we've got an update to the current mod that smooths out some bumps.

This and the Hammers Slammers rules are what I'm leaning towards for company size plus games.

You just need to add the Sci, since the Fi is already in place.

Assault rifle teams generally have an 8" range, though the US M16 teams have a 12" range with some special rules I don't remember right now.

I would count power-armored infantry as always being in bulletproof cover, so a failed save would result in a firepower check. This will dramatically reduce the number of casualties, however, so I would suggest increasing a modern fireteam's firepower to 5+ instead of 6.

Anthony Pham is about to open a kickstarter for his game "Exoshift" which, I believe, will have some FoW flavor to it.

exoshift.org

Or you could just play Tommorow's War, which is ready made for this kind of thing…

Critical Mass Rules Sci Fi rules use some very similar mechanisms to flames of war which have been enhanced and give a better game than FOW.

Tommorow's War doesn't look to scale up to the size of FoW very well. Future War Commander maybe? They claim to start at the same level that FoW states they are at.

I know not of Critical Mass so thanks to those that mentioned it.

Any cross over from FoW using a Sci-Fi version of FoW to get people into 15mm Sci-Fi gaming isn't a bad thing at all.

Exoshift looks interesting but it's written for 1/72 or 20mm which I suspect isn't what the OP is looking for having created this topic in Flames of War and 15mm Sci-Fi gaming boards. I'm glad you posted about it though I'll keep an eye on it nothing wrong with modifying a bit if needed to fit with 15mm. I just skimmed it so I could be wrong about the scale.

Flames of War plays very similar to the old GW Epic. You might try tweeking one of the different versions of Epic to bring it up to 15mm. Really as long as you are using consistent base sizes you could just play with 15mm instead of 6mm. The later versions were excellent games, and the third editions was often critisized by GW Fans as not having enough "Flavour" while it got a lot of good reviews by other wargamers.

The later versions were excellent games, and the third editions was often critisized by GW Fans as not having enough "Flavour" while it got a lot of good reviews by other wargamers.

And the same people who detested the third edition absolutely loved Battlefleet Gothic, which had nearly identical rules. It was a great game… its only crime was being too different from the bogged-down nonsense of 1st/2nd edition.

I took a stab at using the 3rd edition mechanics in a mecha-centric 15mm game last year, but never really finished it. Might have to dust that off and try again.

-Chris K.

Critical Mass Rules Sci Fi rules use some very similar mechanisms to flames of war which have been enhanced and give a better game than FOW.

Some have even claimed that they are a bit of a rip off. Problem is that they are so closely tied into the Critical Mass background, which is not at all my cuppa, that they are not particularly usable for generic gaming.

Our Club Rules Guru and advid FOW player made a few changes and came up with an excellent set for DR Who 15mm

So Yes :)

Did you say Dr. who? I'm sold……copy of info please?

Doctor Who as well? Interested, yes. P

I thought that it's already sci-fi.

Russians = Space Orks

Germans = Space Marines

British = Imperial Guard

etc.

:-D

Didn't take long for the FoW bashing to begin…

Not tried FoW for hard sci-fi but my group is working out how to do a 50s B movie sci-fi battle between the Americans and giant bugs/martians/creatures from beneath the Earth using FoW.

I keep thinking (despite having zero knowledge of the FoW) ruleset, that it would be good as-is for Star Wars-style gaming, given that Star Wars has always been World War II in space anyway.

I wonder how you'd do an AT-AT?

I am an avid Flames of War player (German and Russian) and Bolt Action player, and honestly both would work well for sci fi as both are very easily adaptable systems.

With Bolt Action, its easily modded, and i usually run 10-15 units on each side without it becoming too bogged down as long as both guys know the rules well. Its alot of fun and its easy to pick up and learn. Here are the lists and mods i use on my blog if you are interested:)

15mmwarzone.blogspot.com

Hope i helped!
~Jared

Ubercommando,

Comparing FoW to 40k isn't bashing in any way. Settle down and stop taking things so personally.

Phil Yates developed FoW out of a 40K mod that he wrote for WWII called "Warhammer: Panzer Battles". I've played FoW with Phil, he's a very nice bloke, and he'll be the first to admit 40K's influence on FoW.

And thinking of Orks as Russians and Germans as Space Marines makes sense, especially if you've played both FoW and Space Marine/Epic.

Heck, I usually describe Flames of War as '40k done right'.

Tomorrow's War wouldn't be a good match, IMO, wrong level of command. In TW, the player is bossing around fireteams (makes him ~platoon leader), while in Flames the player is bossing around platoons (making him a company or battalion commander).

You could totally play the Battle of Hoth using Flames of War rules. Call the AT-ATs something silly like a Maus or KV3/KV5, give them "tank riders."

I think Future War Commander is an option here. It uses the ubiquitous "lots of D6" like FOW and already has stats for almost every form of future force possible. I know it might be little further up the command tree but I think it provides a similar feel of a game.