"Rank popular micro armor Cold War/Modern Rule Sets" Topic

I am curious on what others takes are on popular rule sets for Cold War/Modern miniatures. As near as I can tell these are the big 5 that are out there for Micro and Pico armor. Fist Full of TOW, Cold War Commander, Saber Squadron, Micro Armor the Game: Modern and Modern Spearhead.

I would love to get others opinions on them and I thought a ranking system would be easiest to do it. I wanted to rank them on "Ease to learn and play", "Realism" and "Fun to Play." I'll list mine below but I would love to see other people list their ranks (and if there is a rule set not on the list that you just have to add, then by all means do so). (Side note I don't think any of these games are bad, this is just how they stack up to each other IMO).

Ease to learn and play.
1. Cold War Commander
2. Saber Squadron
3. Fist Full of TOW
4. Micro Armor the Game: Modern
5. Modern Spearhead

Realism
1. Fist Full of TOW
2. Modern Spearhead
3. Micro Armor the Game: Modern
4. Cold War Commander
5. Saber Squadron

Fun to Play
1. Cold War Commander
2. Fist Full of TOW
3. Modern Spearhead
4. Saber Squadron
5. Micro Armor the Game: Modern

MANEOUVRE GROUP I wrote it and love it and have played some of the above. I would rate it 5 everywhere.

However the rules are easy but the play is HARD. How would be how you rate Chess. I would say easy to learn and easy to play, only a few type of piece and moves are simple.

Chess takes a long time to be good at it but you get started realy quick.

Perhaps a further category. from Can play and chat at the same time to Needs concentration to play at its best.

Interesting to think about, although these things are highly subjective. I have played four of your suggestions (not Micro Armor), and also a couple of games of Manouevre Group.

The first thing I would note is that they are at very different scales: Modern Spearhead is at the brigade-plus level, while Sabre Squadron and Manoeuvre Group seem best for Companies, and FFT and CWC for Battalion Groups.

I have absolutely no idea how 'realistic' any of them is, I should say!

I think there are things to like about all of the rules I have played: personally I found MSH and Sabre Squadron both easy to pick up and most enjoyable: they are my current go-tos. FFT was not hard to pick up and also a lot of fun. CWC I can take or leave (but also wasn't hard to pick up, and I think it has some good features: I quite like the 'Warmaster' command activation thing with the chance of comedy blunders and the way recce units are given specific things to do).

It may help for context that my first experiences of modern gaming were with TTG's Challenger and Corps Commander. I still have a small soft spot for the latter…

Manoeuvre Group is an excellent set of rules that seems to do a good job of what it sets out to do. I enjoyed playing it (and found it a very interesting challenge) when someone else did the work of setting up the scenario and terrain.

Nobody I play with is capable of not chatting while playing.

Other rules I still sometimes play in this period are the WRG set (the 1950-85 version, with some changes to the gun/armour data), Tankwreck, and Nordic Weasel's Brigade Commander.

I have been trying to decide the route I want to go with my Cold War gaming. I have used Brigade Commander for my 3mm collection and for the most part have enjoyed it—easy to learn and quick to get into. I am thinking of making reaction fire a little more deadly though as it is not very deadly. I have Tankwreck and Armored Strike but have not played them. There are a lot of rules that are intriguing but right now I am spending all my money of new 15mm stuff so rule buying is lower on acquisition front. I have also been intrigued by the Able Archer/Rapid Fire rules as you can get away with less transport vehicles. I am also interested in using Nordic Weasel's Company Command too. I also did a quick modification of Memoir 44 (Memoir 84) to use with my 3mm minis.