Anyone Here Using Osprey’s “Rogue Stars” Rules?

[Arundel]

Is this the one you mean?

https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product_info.php?products_id=261539&

Is it only available as a PDF?  Perhaps a paperback version?

Dan

Here you go, with lots of reviews too!

https://www.amazon.com/Savage-Worlds-Adventure-S2P10023-Hensley/dp/1950082008/ref=sr_1_1?crid=VALAMLX2GX33&dchild=1&keywords=savage+worlds+adventure+edition&qid=1602560836&sprefix=savage+worlds+%2Caps%2C235&sr=8-1

[Cacique Caribe]

Hmm.  Looks like Savage Worlds requires use of a deck of “adventure” cards.

About “Mutants and Death Ray Guns” and “Void Pirates” ... do either of those rule sets allow for asymmetrical numbers like I mentioned earlier, a small (handful) but experienced crew of a ship vs 15-20 alien natives (or mining colonists)?

https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/35425/mutants-and-death-ray-guns

https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/223872/void-pirates

Dan

[Hobgoblin]

If you want a game that's sometimes asymmetric in numbers (e.g. a crew of five against 20+ aliens), Pulp Alley is a good fit - and would work for scenarios with more players: perhaps two or three rival crews and 20-odd aliens. It also covers dangerous terrain, traps and other dangers by default. You need its special deck of cards (though you can print them out from the PDF).

The more players you have, though, the more Fistful of Lead will tend to be your answer: it's flat-out the best system for games with lots of players. It does the asymmetric thing too, though it's more likely to get bogged down with higher numbers, as its "gang members" act independently whereas Pulp Alley's act in groups (so each of your 20+ aliens would be essentially be a hit point for a group of five). It uses counters for wounds and shock (either on the table or on the roster sheet).

Mutants and Death Ray Guns is excellent too, though probably best with only two or three players and with sides of one to six characters each. Like Fistful of Lead, its 'mooks' act independently, so it can get bogged down in asymmetrical games. I wouldn't use it if one side were to have 20 or 30 models: Pulp Alley is best for that job. Mutants and Death Ray Guns is the simplest of all these systems, and you won't need to consult any charts or tables or the rulebook at all after your first game or two.

Then there's Rogue Planet. It handles mooks in a similar way to Pulp Alley, so it can cope with asymmetry in numbers well. It's a really interesting game - more sword and planet or 40Kish than strict sci-fi. If you want power-armoured characters picking up foes and hurling them into terrain, or psychics lifting their enemies into the air, it's your game. I'm not sure how well it plays with more than two players - never tried it.

I'd rank Mutants and Death Ray Guns first for speed of play and 'time to table' - you can stat up a warband/crew in a few minutes using the www.ganeshagames.net/army_builders/MDRGbuilder.html]online warband builder[/color].

Fistful of Lead is the best game for high player numbers, thanks to its brilliant activation system, which keeps everyone involved.

Pulp Alley works best for asymmetric character numbers and lots of derring-do (unexpected events and heroics).

Rogue Planet is best for off-the-wall heroics and a more fantastic feel.

They're all great games, though!

[Jagannath]

Hobgoblin, are you and I the only two who love Rogue Planet??

[Hobgoblin]

Hobgoblin, are you and I the only two who love Rogue Planet??

It sometimes feels that way! But there's a good blog out where someone's statted up lots of 40K types and made downloadable cards for them.

So there may in fact be three of us!

[swiftnick]

Hmm.  Looks like Savage Worlds requires use of a deck of “adventure” cards.

About “Mutants and Death Ray Guns” and “Void Pirates” ... do either of those rule sets allow for asymmetrical numbers like I mentioned earlier, a small (handful) but experienced crew of a ship vs 15-20 alien natives (or mining colonists)?

https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/35425/mutants-and-death-ray-guns

https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/223872/void-pirates

Dan

Adventure cards are just simply a pack of cards.

[robh]

About “Mutants and Death Ray Guns” and “Void Pirates” ... do either of those rule sets allow for asymmetrical numbers

Void Pirates certainly does. You allocate a "type" to each figure/character and that determines how many skills and abilities they can have. Basic "Trooper" class are your cannon fodder types (the example given in the rulebook is a Star Trek 'Red Shirt'.
Trooper does not signify anything other than the class, it could be a basic human, or a space slime creature, or an insect or a clone warrior, or a....whatever works for your game.

Player teams/gangs/units/crews are minimum 2 figures (both would be extremely well skilled and highly effective) to generally 6 or 7, allocating specific skills to each; a leader, an explosives expert, a medic, a sniper etc.
But you can equally use the options to create a leader and horde followers by just having lots of basic trooper types.

We have used these rules for Star Trek, Buck Rogers, Serenity and generic space opera skirmishes.

The other game that does this few vs many style well is the old Grenadier "Kill Zone" but I am not sure of its current availability.

[Hobgoblin]

It might be handy to compile some 'asymmetry ratios' - I had to do that to work out which system to use in a recent game.

Of the games I looked at, Pulp Alley allowed for the biggest difference without bending the rules. You can quite readily field one league that consists of just one person and another that consists of 51 (one leader with all 10 slots spent on 'mobs' - the lowest-quality gangs). So, the 'asymmetry ratio' is 1:51 with mobs or 1:26 with regular gangs - and you can combine mobs, gangs and other character types to get whatever number you want below 51.

Fistful of Lead generally allows a 5:7 ratio; most crews have five characters, but you can replace one regular with three grunts. You could bend the rules and replace more, but as the grunts act independently rather than being effectively one character represented by several models, that would slow things down quite a bit and probably unbalance the card-based activation system.

Mutants and Death Ray Guns is points-based (unless you use the random generators in the books), but is designed for around six a side. A 3:10 ratio is probably about as far as you'd want to go. Otherwise, for asymmetrical games using the Song of Blades engine, it's best to either have several players against one or have attacks come in waves (a defeated warband is replaced with a new one).

Rogue Planet is also points-based and much more freeform. You could probably stretch it out to something similar to Pulp Alley as it uses a similar system of 'figures as hit points'.

It would be good to what the ratio is for Void Pirates, Savage Worlds and other games. I really like asymmetrical games, and it's useful to be able to work out what's the best tool for the job.

[Arundel]

As Swiftnick says, all Savage Worlds needs is a regular deck of cards. They do sell another deck (the Adventure Deck?) to add more mayhem to things, but again, it is purely optional and not needed for standard game play. And of course it's easy enough to scrap the whole card activation thing and replace it with a roll off or some other system that you like.

But this isn't to belabour the point. Lot's of good suggestions here, many of which I greatly enjoy myself. FfoL is great fun, though it can be a little counter heavy; Void Pirates is another excellent suggestion - as has been pointed out, there are no rules for real cannon-fodder mooks, but you can easily tweak the trooper class to fall over more easily.   

Best of luck with your search. Let us know what you end out using!

[Cacique Caribe]

As Swiftnick says, all Savage Worlds needs is a regular deck of cards. They do sell another deck (the Adventure Deck?) to add more mayhem to things, but again, it is purely optional and not needed for standard game play. And of course it's easy enough to scrap the whole card activation thing and replace it with a roll off or some other system that you like.

The “Adventure Deck” is the one I saw listed there.

My thing with specialized cards is that, if you happen to lose one, replacements are nearly impossible to get unless you’ve scanned them all.  The idea of a normal standard deck of playing cards, on the other hand, doesn’t bother me too much.

[Cacique Caribe]

Void Pirates certainly does. You allocate a "type" to each figure/character and that determines how many skills and abilities they can have. Basic "Trooper" class are your cannon fodder types (the example given in the rulebook is a Star Trek 'Red Shirt'.
Trooper does not signify anything other than the class, it could be a basic human, or a space slime creature, or an insect or a clone warrior, or a....whatever works for your game.

Player teams/gangs/units/crews are minimum 2 figures (both would be extremely well skilled and highly effective) to generally 6 or 7, allocating specific skills to each; a leader, an explosives expert, a medic, a sniper etc.
But you can equally use the options to create a leader and horde followers by just having lots of basic trooper types.

We have used these rules for Star Trek, Buck Rogers, Serenity and generic space opera skirmishes.

The other game that does this few vs many style well is the old Grenadier "Kill Zone" but I am not sure of its current availability.

Wow, Void Pirates seems more flexible than I initially thought.  I’m just not into battles that look too evenly prearranged (like 5 or so vs 5 or so), almost mirroring each other.  That’s too unrealistic for me, even for SciFi.

The “red shirt” option certainly sounds appealing!

[Easy E]

I put my thoughts on Rogue Stars here:
https://bloodandspectacles.blogspot.com/2017/02/review-rogue-stars-osprey-wargame-series.html


If you are interested in Sci-Fantasy, then Rogue Planet is pretty nifty.   
https://bloodandspectacles.blogspot.com/2020/07/review-rogue-planet-bombshell.html


Thoughts on Pulp Alley here:
https://bloodandspectacles.blogspot.com/2017/04/review-pulp-alley-pulp-alley-publishing.html


Some other games that no one has mentioned yet that maybe interesting to you:
-Rampant Suns- Wargame Vault
-Blasters and Bulkheads- 4-Color Studios
-Spaceport Scum- Wargame Vault
- Planet 28- Wargame Vault

[Mammoth miniatures]

- Planet 28- Wargame Vault

that's a good one that is! It's free to download and I hear the writer is devilishly handsome and witty... 

[Arundel]

that's a good one that is! It's free to download and I hear the writer is devilishly handsome and witty...

Never heard of these before, and I'm intrigued. Mammoth, can Planet 28 handle asymmetrical skirmishes also? My current love is classic Battlestar Galactica, so say a handful of human hero types versus a larger number of Cylons whose danger is in their numbers rather than their skill. Could your rules do that?

I know I could just buy the thing and find out, but any information would be helpful. They sound quite appealing (as does the author by your description!   ).

[Mammoth miniatures]

Never heard of these before, and I'm intrigued. Mammoth, can Planet 28 handle asymmetrical skirmishes also? My current love is classic Battlestar Galactica, so say a handful of human hero types versus a larger number of Cylons whose danger is in their numbers rather than their skill. Could your rules do that?

I know I could just buy the thing and find out, but any information would be helpful. They sound quite appealing (as does the author by your description!   ).

I did plenty of playtesting with asymmetrical fights - i'd say it works quite well but obviously I am biased. i will say that the sweet spot for the game is between 1-8 characters per warband if you're using individual characters, but if you use a generic "mook" type enemy then you could potentially run alot of them and only need to keep track of individual modifiers and health.
the solo expansion has some rules for single character warbands which would help.