"Old GDW Traveller Boardgames" Topic

Looking for some ideas to use with Ground Zero Games' Moongrunt range, and I thought there were some old GDW Traveller boardgames that did man to man combat aboard ship and perhaps in space as well. Perhaps something called Snapshot? What about the rules called Belter or Asteroid?

Looking for man to man skirmish, with weapons data, that could be used for Lunar combat.

Thoughts?

Snapshot was man to man.
Asteroid was sort of a dungeon crawl.
Belter was more of a resource management game.

Of the above go for snapshot.

IIRC they are available for download at RPGNow.com

snapshot is kind of wonky since it relies on the traveller combat rules.

Ashanti high lightning has pretty good combat. it's a skirmish version of striker.

Azhanti High Lightning is what you're looking for. Coincidentally, I just had it out to teach my son how to play.

Snapshot would work, but it's pretty simple, e.g. 8+ to hit on 2D6, +/- modifiers, so is a bit dated. Still fun though.

I'd check out FUBAR too, which is free, and there are several versions of it.

Lots of other options out there too.

My son loved playing Snapshot. I think he was 7 when we played it. It uses the LBB rules, as does Azhanti High Lightning.

For skirmishes, personally, I'd go with a D10 or D20 system.

Pretty easy to make up some simple rules and To-Hit values on your own, for Point Blank, Short, Medium (Effective), Long, and, if you want to include it, Extreme range.

I really love D20s for skirmishes – easier to read than percentile dice, and yet you get 5% granularity, which is great. Also, D20s roll well, so much less likely than D6s to get the same rolls repeatedly.

Excellent stuff! If one wanted to buy a hard copy (non RPGNow version) what gaming sites have old games for reasonable prices? I think I would be interested in both Snapshot and Azhanti High Lightning.

And, Sundance, what are LBB rules?

Traveller Little Black Book rules.

The rules are, or were, available in reprint collections, I think all the boardgames were bundled in one collection. Not near my stuff now to confirm that. The counters etc weren't available but scans of them were in the book. Farfuture.net I think is Marc's website that would have them.

They can be a little pricey, but you can usually find them on eBay and on Noble Knight Games.

Azhanti High Lightning was a great Traveller ship-board combat boardgame.

link goes to Waynesbooks Traveller boardgame section.

If you want hardcopy be prepared to spend serious money for them. On the other hand you can get the pdf and have it printed. Print the countersheet, glue to mat board and cut the counters out.

Bit of work

I still have a copy of AHL.

Check the listing for each game on BoardGameGeek. You might also check the marketplace board on Citizens of the Imperium.

Now that I'm on a real computer, not my phone, here's info on the reprints: PDF link

I still have copies of Asteroid and Imperium.

I'll join the chorus for AHL. Stargrunt II still has legs, and I've been converting AHL scenarios to SGII and having good results.

Keith

I think that I now have enough copies of Azhanti High Lightning to lay out every deck of the ship. Now I just have to buy a basketball court and bunch of conference tables so that I can actually do that.

Azhanti High Lightning is probably the easiest choice for 15mm skirmishes aboard ships (being a 15mm shipboard skirmish game).

Glenn, come to the MIT gaming club — there's a gym on the same floor of the building!

I only have a single copy myself.

Some people have even built 3-D ship interiors to battle in, with hull walls, bulkheads, etc., etc.

They can be as simple as flat decks with a few walls and bulkheads thrown up, to very elaborate, custom built jobs with lots of nice looking detailing.

Don't overlook clean, takeout pizza boxes, which can also work as buildings, warehouses, etc., too.

Thanks, MiniMo. When I lived in Cambridge, I didn't even own a single copy of AHL! (I did play Dungeons and Dragons in a conference room at the Harvard/Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics a few times.)

I'll let you know if I'm ever heading back there.

Starship Marine would also be a great choice and is free. Fun hard-sci game of combat on a spaceship that has been around for a long time.

link

We've also been really enjoying Nordic Weasal's Five Core rules for all things skirmish lately. It is a fun and simple set, very adaptable.

A lot of good suggestions, thank you. Yes, I am finally getting around to this topic again. I found a play copy of the AHL rules for a fiver, so going to see how I like them. A simple system works for me, especially as I plan to run games for friends and at cons…simple but with a "feel" (whatever that means) is what I am shooting for.

What dice are used for AHL?

I see from a combat chart that the To-Hit values are a lot higher than with Snapshot, so does it use 1D20, or 3D6, other?

IIRC, you need to roll >= to the printed number, for the weapon being used and range, +/- additional modifiers.