"Suggestions for 15mm skirmish rules?" Topic

Hiya, folks! After years (decades, really) of being almost exclusively a roleplayer, I've decided to finally branch out into wargaming. I've been reading over TMP for a week or two, looking at minis online, and so on and so on…and I've decided to start with 15mm figs.

But I'm also gonna need some rules, and I'm hoping you nice folks can point me to some good choices.

Here's what my (current) dream game would be like:

- Intended for, or adaptable to, 15mm scale
- Skirmish level (1 figure = 1 person)
- Smallish squads (maybe 4-7 figs per side?)
- Modern to far future--from shotguns and pistols to blaster pistols and laser rifles
- Setting-agnostic (so I can have SpecOps vs Martians in one game, and Victorians/pulp heroes vs dinosaurs the next)
- Fast-paced rules

I've been nosing around at some rules sets: "Chain Reaction 3.0" puts me off a little bit, "Star Wars Miniatures Battles" (which I own) may be a little too heavy on the prep, and "Showdown", the minis battle companion to the "Savage Worlds" RPG, is just…I dunno, OK, I guess.

Learned sages of TMP, prithee, bestow thine wisdom upon me!

TL;DR: Wanna play 15mm modern/SF skirmishes. What rules do you recommend?

Force on Force

PULP ALLEY highly recommended.

Tope that helps.

Check out the SpecOps module for Gruntz here:

link

You'll need the Gruntz rules too… but I think you'll find what you're looking for! Oh, and i'm the author of SpecOps, so I might be biased :)

You can check out all the free SpecOps supplements here:

link

I like gruntz rules, but haven't done the spec ops add on. You could adapt infinity or necrounda to 15mm….

I like alien squad leader as well.

welcome to 15mm too by the way….you are in luck the scale has lots of options

FiveCore by Nordic Weasel Games, meets all your requirements.

Stargrunt II free to download at link

FiveCore or Pulp Alley.

There is bound to be a suitable version of the 'Song of Blades' system by Ganesha Games which would work well.

Black Ops

Another vote for Force on Force.

There's also a large selection of stuff to choose from in the USEME rules……
link

FiveCore is getting an update in the next day or two.

If you want to get a campaign system included with your game, as well as a bunch of alien traits to build weird critters, it'll do you right.

It is not stat-driven though and it does lack a points system.

It was written for 5 guys per side but a squad sized game will take about an hour to play.

Savage Worlds is an RPG/Miniatures game. It is customizable for any setting so it would work.

The full game is a little better than the Showdown Rules.

Also, have you looked at GASLIGHT. The rules were geared towards Victorian Sci-fi, but they are so generic that it wouldn't be hard to convert them to any setting.

On the topic of Savage Worlds, don't let the fact its an RPG scare you off. The game engine originated as a mini's game and it plays on a grid.

It's well recommended for character-driven skirmishes.

Any rules used for 28mm or 20mm can also be used for 15mm. In most cases there would not have to be any change in any scales for firing or movement. At the skirmish level most weapons since 1850 could extend off the board at any scale.

Striker rules might work for you. The basic unit is a fire team of four figs but it's easy to scale.

I would say that Striker is far from fast playing! :) Now, perhaps Striker II, but I think the scale changed from one stand being a fireteam to one stand being a platoon? I could be wrong, but Striker II was basically a re-tooling of Combined Arms/Command Decision, which is a platoon per stand game.

Striker is really BEEPing cool but fast-playing it ain't :-)

Its fireteam bases (mostly) but when we played, we just clustered 4 guys next to each other and it worked just fine. Made it easier to remove casualties too.

I'll give another vote for Gruntz with the SpecOps Module.

And I will say that GASLIGHT is the go to game for my group. We normally use it for VSF, but have used it for a variety of other settings including sci-fi.

Thanks for all the suggestions so far -- I'm getting some good ideas, here, some good leads.

LANDORI and WEASEL: I hadn't thought of using Savage Worlds straight up, but I guess it makes a kind of sense, eh? I do have a copy. Oh, and by the way: I fear no RPG system! I've got dozens of RPGs at my command, spanning the history of game design and stuff, so…yeah, I dig ya.

GASLIGHT is lookin' good. So is 5CORE. Any others?

Pulp Alley and Tomorrow's War

PA is story driven,
TW is SciFi near future version of Force on Force,

If you aren't afraid of rpg's, Savage Worlds is well worth the look then.
Besides, being able to branch into a bit of rpg'ing is always nice in a tabletop game.

There's a ton of supplements too, some of which are fantastic for wargamers, some of somewhat more mixed utility (though generally all high quality)

Of course, you should buy like 300 copies of 5core as well :D

I was introduced to BattleSworn last weekend, bought the rulebook pdf Monday, printed yesterday, ordered 15mm fantasy figures today and will most definitely mix them up with some of my ww1 15mm later for pulp BattleSworn. Maybe order some martians… System looks like it can handle it.

Weasel: I do have a copy of "Savage Worlds", and am persuaded to try it for skirmishes. "5Core" certainly appeals, too…

coming from a roleplaying background
Striker could work rather well
it is the mass combat system for Traveller
the units are setup to play as NPCs

an alternative to Striker in this case
could be Azhanti High Lightning

the to hit and damage system is the same
with a few tweaks

but is setup for individual figures
and a shorter turn length

and both can handle a wide range of tech levels

We actually used the Striker combat system in Traveller RPG sessions since neither the original or Megatraveller combat systems were all that great.

Oooh! I have Striker!

If you want to skirmish with it, toss out the thing about orders and just have each guy move individually each turn.

The cover system is not great for skirmish actions, we just made it a 4+ roll instead.

How about F.A.D.?

I'd like to say that FAD is very good ;-)

It is squad based though, so maybe not a good fit for the OP?

Aces. Thanks, everyone. I'm going to look at Savage Worlds (sitting right next to me), and Striker as well (on a CD-ROM, currently in my drive). I've also ordered Pulp Alley from my Local, and that may take a while to come in but I'm lookin' forward to it.

I'll start with those. Thanks again, folks! You guys're swell.

EDIT: I should've remembered: Striker is for platoons. Maybe Azhanti High Lightning will work better for small squads and skirmishes?

3rd edition Warhammer 40k. Its fast, its Pts system works, and its very easily adaptable to skirmish, and/or modded with house rules. Plus you can pick up the rulebook for about 1-10 dollars anywhere.

I'd love to see AZL expanded this way, but a) it's based on a square grid, and b) is a bit limited as to forces described, so a bit of a chore to 'roll your own.'

Doug

Weasel, I sure if some rules were tweaked a little bit it would work pretty good.

Striker is for fire teams, not platoons iirc

Gruntz

All of the systems mentioned work well. I will add in one of my favourites, Alien Squad Leader. It is easy to learn, but hard to master. Plus it uses unique army lists, similar to 40k but the game gives a wide berth to players on how to interpret the different unit types. For example, my Cyborg Enslaver army looks different from any other out there, as does my Mechanoids army.

Have you considered Infinity? Core rules are totally free to download (and expansion rules will be), and it's not hard to find close proxies in 15mm for most of the troop types. Game is intended for ~10 soldiers per side, though tournament play seems to run 14-20 per side.

Tomorrow's War is really a step above that, base maneuver unit is a fireteam and you have roughly a platoon per side.