"Low figure count skirmish rules" Topic

I'm looking for a low figure count set of sci fi skirmish rules. I'd like for me and my girlfriend to be able to each control some units and play against the game. I thought about using the PEF rules from chain reaction and coupling them with an even simpler set of skirmish rules. I'm not sure how well that would work. I'd like for us to each control five or so miniatures and be able to use any miniatures we have, including different alien miniatures from the laserburn line. Any idea or suggestions? 5150 seems like a bit much for what we are wanting to do but I have thought about it as an option.

Use KR 16 but instead of rolling for units to activate, roll for individual models.

angelbarracks.co.uk/rules.html

Flying Lead would be a good choice. Easy to play. You only need about a dozen or so figures per side. Same engine as Song of Blades and Heroes.

Or Mutants and Death Ray Guns, post-apocalyptical skirmish, from Ganesha Games too. I use them for sci-fi skirmish, 5-10 figures each side. There is a character builder in the Ganesha website.

In the Emperor's Name is free and while sort of functional WH40K-setting rules, they can be adjusted to work how you'd like your setting to be.

Good solutions are Flying Lead/Mutants and Death Ray Guns or Gruntz.

5150: Star Army, 5150: New Beginnings, or Flying Lead/Mutants and Death Ray Guns all would work for "low figure count" skirmish.

The Ganesha games systems are the simplest and easiest to teach but aren't as good for solo or co-op games as 5150.

5150/Chain Reaction seems more complex than it really is, once you understand the base mechanics you will only need to occasionally glance at the reaction charts (also Stars choose what reaction they take, so you can make all your soldiers Stars and only use reaction charts for the OpFor).

5150 by Two Hour Wargames may be your best bet. THW probably produces the best solo-friendly games on the market.

In PMC 2640 there is dedicated chapter with rules, scenarios and units for solo gaming.
But it's far from "low figure count" game as your army starts from 4-8 units (every unit is from 2 to 8 minis or sngle vehicle/aircraft) and you need a few dozen of minis to build OpFor. But at least you may slaughter these pity rebels (restoring law and (corporate) order) or bugs by dozens :D

Take a look at Firefight 2.0 from Alternative Armies. A good, easy to learn set with interesting mechanics and loads of scenarios.

They've already mentioned Ganesha Games stuff (which I like) so I'll throw out CombatZone and Warengine (free). But for some quick fun try FUBAR. Its a one page set of rules that you can teach anybody in a few minutes and its Free too.

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These suggestions are already very good.
I have a different angle that we play as a family sometimes. We use the space crusade game mechanics the weapon stats and orders cards.
We use different figures for them pigiron,EM4,necromunda Reaper etc..
The best thing though is we use the blips still but have different miniatures for them .this makes for some tense scenarios.
I am currently trying to make it more interesting by using either super dungeon explore or descent dice.
You do not have to use the game board as we have used star wars ,flipmat castle and heroquest boards

Necromunda springs to mind- and it's free on the web. Simple, easy to use and low figure count!

Have to throw in my votes for Flying Lead and Mutants and Death Ray Guns. We use both and the are great!

Occult wars is what I use. Not strictly sf but its my fav small scale skirmish system.

AAG/FoF/TW is made for fireteam skirmish, and has rules (or at least guidelines) for campaign play (with appropriate character record-keeping) and co-op mode, and can be driven heavily by Fog of War cards, if you desire.

Here's a twist on that from Dropship Horizon – Ambush Royale: Bond in FoF

link

When I was researching 54mm, I found 3 free "official" WH40K rulesets available as PDFs: Kill Team, Inquisitor, and Necromunda. They seem like they'd also lend themselves to a campaign system, with the characters acquiring RPG-like traits.

This is for ATZ but will help you with how THW games work. One page.

PDF link

I'd give Supersystem or "Blasters and bulkheads" a try. They both run on the Goalsystem engine which gives you some nice flavor for your heroes and characters while making it easy to control mobs of "mooks" or "henchmen".

Akula's Rules Skirmish Edition. The Total AR:SE A Nightmare On Froth Street for zombies has a good mechanic that could be adapted to your needs. Free too!

PDF link

Thanks for posting that Ed. Had not seen that before.

THW rules are easier than they look at first glance. They also lend themselves to solo play, so they may be exactly what you are after.

That said, I am also a huge fan of Ganesha games' "Mutants and Death Ray Guns" and "Flying Lead".

I think I'll just give 5150 a try and only use the parts that I want. Thanks for all the suggestions.

"Flashpoint" uses as little as a six man squad called a point, or even a single robot/cyborg.