"sci fi newbie here, so yet another rules thread" Topic

hey guys sorry for yet another rules thread but I couldn't seem to find the answer I was looking for so here goes. I'm going to preface this by saying I am a complete neophyte to science fiction. Also, smy computer is down right now so all I have is my phone. I ound a very cool campaign system that I am going to want to try but I am going to need rules for the space and ground combat. I think I found the rules I am looking for with space combat but any suggestions will be welcomed. my basic requirement for Space is ships blowing up everywhere large numbers of ships and basically a simple system. I think I found this with the GOBS rules, but I am also going to look into sunder the stars and starmada fleet ops. for ground combat I am looking for something that is in a higher level, like operational/grand tactical/corps/division. the same scale betrayed by the spearhead rules would be good. I have strike Legion and strike Legion planetary operations, but am looking for further recommendations. my requirements are that it be very bloody, and be able to accommodate large numbers of figures. with both the system's I want something we're losses will be heavy on both sides, I want wars in this campaign to be ruinous for the empires that under take them. thanks again for all your help guys.

That would be 6mm scale. I use Dirtside II and Future War Commander.

My first thought would be Full Thrust and Dirtside. But Full Thrust might not get enough ships on the table for you.

I have never tried it but I have heard that sky full of ships is good if you want a lot of ships.

Starmada Fleet Ops is great for large fleet actions. Recently ran a game with 50+ ships and a ton of fighters.

Legionnaire Games has their own spaceship rules too (Task Force Zeta, IIRC), so if you go with them for SL and SLPO, everything is integrated.

I have future war commander, it was my backup if i could not find anything better. I'll give the dirtside rules a look through, do they have lots of casualties? Do the task force zeta rlules allow for lots of ships? I, quite like the idea of 50 ships that was said of starmada

Task Force Zeta is a little slower playing imo (Maybe 30% slower). Here is 1/2 the fleet I had on the table at Millennium Con with Starmada Fleet Ops:

Yep, if you want to get the most ships on the table then GOBS, Starmada: Fleet Ops or Sky Full of Ships are the best bets.

-Will

for ground combat I am looking for something that is in a higher level, like operational/grand tactical/corps/division. the same scale betrayed by the spearhead rules would be good.

Corps or division per side? Yeeeowza!

Probably Future War Commander (Which I only know by reputation and relationship to Warmaster).

Dirtside is 1:1 model:vehicle, maneuvering element is a platoon of ~4 vehicles, roughly a battalion per side for the normal game. I don't think Dirtside would flow very quickly if you tried to put 9x-16 that many vehicles on the table (3x-4x battalions per Regiment/brigade, 3x-4x Regiment/brigades per division)…

You're talking about wanting stand=company games. I'll have to turn that over to the others, that's not my area of interest for scifi games. Napoleonics, yes, but not scifi.

Strike Legion: Planetary Operations is the only SciFi rules set I know of that's specifically written for divisional/corps scale games. If you're looking for higher casualties at a faster rate, then use FWC or Epic Armageddon, with 1 stand = 1 company or battalion. It won't give the 'feel' of commanding a higher-level formation, but you'll have lots of gore to clean from your tank treads.

TFZ probably won't do for your space games – it was designed around the idea of one player being able to handle up to 12 units (individual capital ships or squadrons of escorts) plus fighters in a reasonable amount of time (2-3 hours on average). Anything bigger than that, I'd go with Starmada Fleet Ops, as previously suggested.

Pz8 has rules for scifi where each stand is a company or platoon. Plays fast. We did a game with 8 or so battalions on the table in like 2 hours. Rules are 2 pages.

Here is the link to the Pz8 rule sets. I plan on using 3mm-1/600 for Dirtside II. I can get some larger units on the board. Robert

PDF link

Strange, couldn't view the Pz8 rules online, but I could download them and read the file. Thanks for sharing.

For simple space combat with lots of ships on the table I use 5150: Star Navy, and for planetary combat with large numbers of ground units I use 5150: Battalion Commander. Rules are easy to pick up, and they share the same system. Here's the link

Most welcome zircher. They are also working on a new Pz8 sci-fi skirmish rules too. Robert

Good looking fleet warlock! Thanks to all for the suggestions, I'm going to be looking at all these rules and seeing what catches. Thanks again guys

Forum is for sharing experiences, you know. *hint hint*

Doug

Most welcome Dobber. Robert