"15mm, what rules?" Topic

I like the look of a lot of the 15mm sci-fi out there at the moment and one of the guys at the club says he has some but no rules.

What rules would you recommend in this scale? I like a vehicle is one vehicle and a base is a section/fireteam.

Also why do you recommend the rules you like? What do you like about them?

Hammers-slammers.com

I'm rather biased, mind you. But it will cover your needs.

Have a look at the intro pages – that should give you an idea of the system.

John Treadaway

Hi Ascent

This is always an interesting topic. Can you clarify some of your other preferences such as whether you need a points system oor scenario driven; aliens; hard v fantasy sci fi etc.?

There are a lot of systems available that suit different types of game.

Lots of different rulesets as others have said

Dropship Horizon is a good site and hs some rules reviews on it

dropshiphorizon.blogspot.co.uk

Tomorrow's War.
link

Tomorrow's War and Gruntz.

I like Quadrant 13 from TooFatLardies.

link

As for why, they are like I Ain't Been Shot Mum adapted to scifi. The Chaotic battlefield is baked right in. Also we have used it for everything from Ogre to 40K to Battletech to Grav Tank battles. (For Ogre some creative interpretation was certainly needed to handle the ogre proper)

if you are interested in going old school

GDW/Striker
link

infantry is based as 4 man fire teams
with individual vehicles
game scale is 1:1000

there is also the related Azhanti High Lightning
link
game scale is 1:120

And if you really want to go Old School there is always StarGrunt II (which is FREE by the way):

link

Grunts, Stargrunt and Tomorrow's War are all fine games but none of them have team bases

Strike Legion: Platoon Leader uses fireteam bases (and can accommodate individual basing as well). Leans towards the 'realism' end of the scale without bogging down in minutiae.

Some recent commentary here: TMP link

Weasel is correct that Tomorrow's War is presented as a game that uses individually based figures, BUT Tomorrow's War does make allowances for team bases. We knew a lot of folks would already have SF armies based as teams and we didn't want anyone to be forced to re-base their figures just to play our game.

If you use team bases in TW, you just need to track casualties on the base with casualty caps, a die, a chit, whatever. Lots TW players use team bases (including me, these days ;) ).

Best,

Shawn.

I must admit I'd heard good things about Tomorrow's War.

With Hammers Slammers I like the idea of running my own merc force but does it have rules for creating your own vehicles and forces? I've never read the books and really not that bothered by existing forces.

Sorry, forgot the whole fireteam/base thing.

Depending on how science-fictiony you want to get you could try Warfare in the Age of Madness.

It's another post-apoc game that takes place in 2066 when everything has fallen apart. Force creation is a lot like "AK-47" (if you are familiar with that).

While designed more as a near-future setting there is enough "play" in unit design that you could use it in almost any setting you want.

Website: link

TMP topic links:

TMP link

TMP link

TMP link

TMP link

Hope this helps,

Tim

Appreciate the clarification Shawn :)

I'm not totally wedded to the idea of fire teams but they do appeal to me.

Alien Squad Leader may fit the bill. It is based on 3-5 man infantry bases, and individual vehicles, at 1-1. It has a good variety of army lists that cover all the main sci-fi tropes. It plays quickly and the rules are pretty simple.

I don't think it matters if the infantry are single based or multi based. I use both in the same game.
What I do is use small skull counters in different colours for marking casualties in multi based contingants ; one colour for squad ldr, another for grunts, another for support weapons etc.

Ascent I think the key thing is to determine the overall size and style of the gaming you want,as most of the rules have a ceiling.
Also with all the 'toys' now available be careful how much of the 'madness' you let yourself succumb to.

Good luck
Guy

With Hammers Slammers I like the idea of running my own merc force but does it have rules for creating your own vehicles and forces? I've never read the books and really not that bothered by existing forces.

@ Ascent:

The Slammers rules do have the infantry forces on multiple bases which you said would be handy. They don't cater for single figures except for sniper teams (one or two figures to a base): everyting else is 3, 4 or (on rare occasions) even more to a base.

As for building forces, have a look at the links I sent earlier: there are over 40 forces in the book itself (plus more on the web site), all different, most (though not all) mercenaries and they cover a very large range of miniatures from many different manufacturers ranges.

Without having to buy the rules, look at the New Forces on the Web section link and they detail some forces that use different manufacturers extant ranges.

With over 50 different forces, its quite hard not to be able to proxy whatever force you want to use (or already own) into one of the ones already created.

The PDF "Big Detachment Cards" in 15mm for all of the forces are downloadable (all for free, of course) here link as are the play/quick reference sheets.

That – along with the "how does the game play" link pdf PDF link sould give you most of the pointers you'd need.

Plenty of gamers use 'cannon' forces plus – in addition – loads of proxies: check out Pat Sexton's group in Chicago, for an example, link but there are many others (have a look at the gallery pages link

John Treadaway

Immodestly I will recommend PMC 2640: platoon to company scale, with infatry based either individually or in groups (optional rule). Generally the infantry units form normally the main force of the army and is far more than (too common) addition to the tanks.

The rulebook includes history + rules + list of units + scenarios + campaign + dedicated solitaire chapter (extra OpFor, additional scenarios).

Combat is based on morale-breaking and suppressive effect of fire, not just a slaughter.

Also you can download the free, but fully playable demo PMC 2640: Hell on Echidna.

I'm also shamelessly biased towards a system called Critical Mass, which I've not seen mentioned.

criticalmassgames.com

A great set of rules for company size forces. The game plays very fast, and can be very brutal – if that's how you like your games. Both players are kept involved throughout the game by each player taking it in turn to activate a unit. An "over watch" rule also allows the non activating player to attempt to activate before their opponent too.

The figures are all top notch, and a base generally contains multiple figures on it. There are 4 main factions, all with a distinctive play style.
CriticalMassGames ran a successful Kickstarter which added a mercenary force to the range of models too.

I hope you will take a look at this system too – if you haven't already.

All the Best,
Toothpick