Anyone know a really simple sci-fi skirmish war game? (Ideally with vehicles)

[Joseph Cresswell]

Hi all, I asked this question on BoardGameGeek and got quite a mixture of responses, but was also advised to ask it here. (To the experts?!?) 😉

I’m looking for some simple skirmish game rules that I can use.

My 7 year old daughter and 6 year old son and I have a love of wargaming and of modelling terrain, and I would love to get into a simple skirmish game with them. We currently play Memoir ’44, (with much homemade 3D terrain added), Battlelore Second Edition, Raptor and other similar games. They generally need a little help with the rules on these but are cunning and can hold their own.

We have some 28mm 40K and similar miniatures that I have picked up cheap or second hand on ebay, as I like painting them up. However, I DON’T like the particularly dark flavour of the 40K universe, and really don’t want to jump into that whole world with them. (Just not my cup of tea, and would prefer not to get my children into it at their age).

We have also scratch built a number of vehicles and converted broken old Action Force/GI Joe vehicles to play with. In addition, I have just picked up a complete Robogear starter set from ebay,and would love to use these vehicles if possible, though not too keen on the infantry, and not too sure about the rules.

So, any suggestions for a simple, snappy, streamlined skirmish game we could play on our tabletop in under 1 hour perhaps? Ideally in a sci-fi setting. I don’t mind paying for the rules, but I don’t want to wade through pages of rules each turn to decide where on a body a hit lands. I don’t mind a touch of dark setting, but don’t want a deeply grim setting that would not be suitable for my young kids. Happy to do things with space pirates, smugglers etc though.

Any suggestions appreciated. Thanks for your time!

[Don Glewwe]

Sure, I’ll flog my own…

http://glewwe-castle.com/brawl-factory/spacemarines.html

 

At least the price is right!  ; )

[Prince Rhys]

Nordic Weasel Games will be your friend here. Starport Scum is always a good way to go – available on Wargames Vault.

[Mr. Average]

One Page Rules has some fairly convincing “Grimdark” rulesets although I haven’t looked closely enough to distinguish the different versions.

[Mike]

FUBAR

Downloads

[Mr. Average]

KR-16

[Mike]

Mr. Average wrote:

KR-16

Bless your cotton socks!

[Logain]

I’d say Nordic Weasels “Five Core“ is the simplest one I’ve played and  gives a fantastic game. Great for a handful of figures and a vehicle or two.

[willb]

Fistful o9f Lead: Galactic Heroes plus the compendium and vehicle design guide by Wiley Games  Can be purchased as hard copy or PDF.  The compendium has information on adapting Star Wars, 40K, Star Trek and others.  The vehicle guide includes some of the Star Wars walkers. https://wiley-games.myshopify.com/

 

Definitely light-hearted and fun to play.  Ran it at a local convention with all new players and they enjoyed it a lot.

There is a FaceBook group and the authors Blog  http://baronvonj.blogspot.com/

if help is needed

The port of East Moss Landing with spaceship in the back.  This was the smuggler scenario from the rule book.  The second game I ran at the convention included armored vehicles.

[Deleted User]

Fast And Dirty is also an option.
https://www.freewebs.com/weaselfierce/

[Joseph Cresswell]

Gamers are awesome! My holiday reading this year will be skirmish game rulesets… Does it get any better?

 

Thanks so much guys!

[Northern Monkey]

I’d suggest Gruntz, fairly simple, and generic but does skirmish level really well, plus the unit builder allows you to use basically any models you have lying around!

My attempt at a Blog: http://ablogofwar.blogspot.co.uk/

[Mike6t3]

Have a look at Laserblade by Echidna Games. It’s available on Wargames Vault and pay what you want !

Can’t remember if it has vehicle rules but think it doesn’t. Sorry I don’t have my copy to hand in order to check.

Get there fastest with the mostest and roll highest.

Mike

[jeffers]

FUBAR was designed for sci-fi and works well. I used it for Cold War, so it is very adaptable. The FUBAR site shows a variety of flavours – Star Wars, Starship Troopers, Fairies & Goblins etc. – that people have done. And it’s free!

Downloads

More nonsense on my blog: http://battle77.blogspot.com/

[Patrice]

Argad would work  – although there are no Sci-Fi nor vehicle tables yet but I’ve seen some young guys adapting it to Post-Apo etc. using other periods tables and their own ideas and bits of other rules too (and they are even able to play Star Wars with it although I shouldn’t say that too loud I don’t want Disney’s lawyers at my door ).

You can start with the very basic “confined” one-page suggestion and add more rule layers as wished. It’s intended for RPG-minded gaming so you could imagine your own short scenarios and stories and universe where your two players would play “against” you as in any tabletop RPG and would have to collaborate (or not) with each other and with encountered NPCs…

http://www.argad-bzh.fr/argad/en.html
https://www.anargader.net/

[Krieghund]

Check out Echidna Games “Alien Wars”.

[Thorsten Frank]

I second FUBAR and the NWG rules (FiveCore IMHO better suited for your purposes but Starport Scum is excellent too)

"In strange grammar this one writes" - Master Yoda

[neuzd]

Since Nordic Weasel Games has been thrown around a lot, well, absolutely nothing in their roster can beat Squad Hammer Core People’s Edition in simplicity. It’s fun, blazingly fast, simple as a kid could have come up with (albeit a really smart and experienced one).

It’s also “pay what you want”.

[Joseph Cresswell]

So, having read a few rules on holiday this last week, I think Squad Hammer Core People’s Edition is the way to go for us. I have already started to create some units using our own miniatures. Thanks so much everyone!

[Henchman21]

My rec would be Void 1.1, whose rules has the advantage of being available as free PDF download from the manufacturer, so you’re not out any cash if it doesn’t meet the mark:

Void 1.1

There’s a quick-start, small-unit rules variant called “Void: Squad Tactics,” which, along with rules updates, is in Seb Games’ “Battlemag,” a quarterly (and also free) online publication:

Battle Mag!

It’s a really simple ruleset to pick up – it helps that it uses a d10 and every stat is on a scale of 1 to 10 – but squad-by-squad activation gives it a lot of depth for such a simple game.

[Author]

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