"Looking for two(+) rulesets" Topic

Hello,

I recently decided to try to get some miniature wargames going again with my local boardgaming group. I still own a single platoon of Imperial Guard, but GW stuff is just too damn expensive. Now Im looking into what rules I want to play, I want to get a set for larger scale stuff (for this Im looking at Team Yankee in 6mm) and a set of rules for skirmish stuff, now for skirmish stuff there are so many rulesets and scales available that I cant find one thing to go for. Id prefer to have a ruleset that can do both ww2 and modern, but just ww2 will also work. As is Im quite tempted to pick up either the bolt action D-Day firefight starter box, and possibly later replace the models with cheaper 1/72 options, or the Flames of War firefight box for the miniatures and then use them to play chain of command or some other ruleset (crossfire looks good but hard to get) I'd prefer rules that are easy to pick up and play over rules that are more 'historically accurate' in the endless stats sense of the term.
*EDIT* forgot about the second ruleset I was going to ask for, I'm also open to suggestions for larger scale (as in, company on company or something) stuff (would rather 1:1 vehicle representation though)

There are lots of rules sets around. You may need to be more specific about what you want. Bolt action and FOW tend to be played by folks that are more into the models than into the accuracy of the simulation. Such rules are not too complax and have points systems but (in my opinion) do not have too much decsicion making. Our own rules are simple, plausible but at a cost. They need a lot of qualatative decisions to be made, like chess, rules are simple but the game is far from simple. Also being closer to reality the basic encounter game does not normaly work (there are few examples in the real world). It is senario driven and somebody has to write it.

So for instance for occational play our rules may not be suitable.

A good freeebe if yoiu want to just play with a few troops is Stargrunt II with WWII/Modern convertions on the net. Quite an elegant small game for foot infantry.

Also if you leave armour and artillety out Crossfire may be an option it. Its "disadvantage" is to play well it needs lots of terrain.

I have little experience of bord gamers but from what little i have had, some are scarily bright and grasp some pretty complex tactical concepts far faster than I would have expected, so for them a simple game may not hold their attention.

I wish you well in your quest.

There's a million games out there.

If you are coming off scifi and want something pretty flexible, I'd second UscCha, and say Stargrunt is worth looking into.

The game is written a bit awkwardly, but its a fantastic system and it can do ww2, moderns or scifi with basically no tweaking.

It's also a breath of fresh air from something like 40K. Suddenly, morale becomes very important!

Crossfire is great, more movement based. Copies do show up on ebay.
It's one of those games I think everyone should play at least once.

FOW and Bolt Action both have the advantages of glossy books and if you play in stores, its easy to find people to play with.

If you are looking for squad-sized campaign games, I got my own rules that I would love to blather at you about, if you don't mind some soliciting.

I just got Crossfire and Hit the Dirt (the supplement) a week ago from Caliver Books.

I'd recommend Peter Pig's PBI … it is an area based game (no measuring) so works in any scale you like so long as the squares are big enough to fit the figures in.

Company sized game for infantry with 1:1 vehicles on the table.

Phil
P.B.Eye-Candy

CrossFire is available (again) from On Military Matters.

FoW is an exceptionally well-developed game, with essentially everything in the rulebook. It could easily handle a battalion vs a battalion, and thus involves some serious abstractions. But good maneuver and good tactics pay off. I think most complaints about it come down to a few things things:

1. Reaction fire is limited to 8", and only against assaults. So a platoon cannot interdict movement within its full shooting range. This seems reasonable to me, but others really miss reaction fire mechanics.

2. Distances are arbitrary, not representative. This non-scale exists to make everything from pistols to 200mm artillery fit on the same table.

3. US/UK Artillery parks win in Late War. Which is hardly in conflict with saying that good tactics win: if your company has a battalion of artillery right behind you with nothing else to do, you're probably gonna win, as the Germans found out the hard way over and over again. But win or lose, those games aren't fun, and you shouldn't field that much artillery.

If those complaints don't bother you, go try it. The starter box is an insane value. I tried so many other "more realistic" games before I decided to just try the popular one, and am so glad I did.

P.S.: +1 for Crossfire, it's totally different from FoW, but you can use the same stands, and it is awesome. These are the only two WWII games I still play.

FOW is good if you want to get all your toys on the table too. It may not be 'realistic', but I actually like modelling and painting artillery. Same with Bolt Action

From my experience I would go with Bolt Action and introduce them to it first. Quick to grasp and has got a Hollywood feel to it. When the people are hooked and have settled into miniature gaming you then go on to Chain of Command. Both games have got interesting mechanics and are not the old IGOUGO style of playing which makes them both interesting plays. I play both in 1/72 without any changes to the rules.
Bigger games I would have a look at Battlegroup Set of rules.

If you are looking at rules which are more historically accurate, I would definitely look at Chain of Command for a skirmish level game. For bigger games, Battlegroup is fine, but not as easy to pick up quickly. We often play with 10 mm figures, but it was really written for 20 mm and 15 mm. The campaign books are also quite expensive (basic rules about £10.00 GBP and there is a PDF), but if there is a group of you playing you could share the cost by buying a book each.

well, now that Im finally allowed to comment, Im doubting between Five Men at Kurskz, NUTS!, and Bolt Action. (might just pick up all three and decide after reading them) After that decision its time to pick a scale I guess, in principle I wanna go with 20mm but the Flames of War platoon boxes look so convenient considering Id only need a platoon per side… Ill ask my FLGS if any scale has particular preference among players there next time I visit.

I would second the recomendation for Combat Patrol. Not only does it cover WW2 but their is a free supplement out for 1980's and Winter War, soon to be a Falklands Supplement and Borneo, Aden, Malaya, Afghan, Iraq…. The Author has even used them for Sci-Fi so your Imperial Guard platoon could get a new breath of life!

We have all the stuff on Sally 4th website including free introductory rules and free supplements!

wargamesbuildings.co.uk/Combat-Patrol