New book: Sci-fi skirmish scenarios

[Malebolgia]

Just saw this on Facebook...anyone already ordered it? How is it?

https://www.pen-and-sword.co.uk/Sci-fi-Skirmish-Scenarios-Paperback/p/21780

[Daeothar]

That might be interesting indeed... 

[has.been]

Do let us know what you think of it.

[Storm Wolf]

Hi,

Still on pre-order so no idea as of yet 

[eilif]

Oooh,
    This is definitely something I'll be looking to see a review of.  I've got a good amount of rulebooks to draw scenarios from (just redownloaded the ITEN Campaign book today), but this is the sort of book I'd be likely to buy.

[Warren Abox]

I pre-ordered it a while back and am very much looking forward to reading it. I will post a full review on the channel in January, if you still need help deciding if it is right for you.  We sci-fi gamers don't get a whole lot of ruleset neutral sourcebooks like this, so it makes a welcome addition to the bookshelf.

 John Lambshead does good work.  His One Hour Skirmish book is good, light fun. 

[Bloggard]

thanks for posting the link.

looks to be well worth a look.

[Burgundavia]

Just picked it up - on first skim looks really interesting and probably fairly applicable to any small skirmish game

[James Mahdeep Bond V]

  Check out Black Site Studio's LUNAR. A rule set  predicating skirmish combat on the Monn circa 1979-80 on an altered timeline.  Figures available include Cosmonauts, Astronauts, Chinese, and a conglomeration of Euro types in space. Rovers, lunar landers, quads, habs, supply tanks. Nice stuff. Base game package comes with a 2x2 mat.

I don't think the rules' wep inventory includes Spray Paint. In Adam Smale's Hot Moon novel a KGB Cosmonaut sprays the faceplate of a female Captain NASA Astronaut in hand to hand tuggle with black spray paint. Instant take down and prisoner. Looked up the viability of a can of spray paint in a vacuum. Word is that it will probably work. I figure the painter has to be close to target before the spray freezes and bounces off the target. Apparently oxidized gunpowder will work in space. I question whether a Spacesuit will defeat an AK-47 round at range.

[Daeothar]

I'm very much interested in the game, but the pond inbetween myself and Black Site Studio prevents me from getting into it.

If you like this kind of fiction/speculation, I can recommend the TV-series 'For all Mankind', which goes into exactly this territory. And yes; assault-rifles will defeat standard space suits in it.

The spraypaint application is a genius one by the way!

[zemjw]

This is also available from Amazon, including Kindle format - uk link

I can't see a pdf option on the pen and sword site, but presumably there is one

[Warren Abox]

I need to write up a proper review, but the short one is: : it's pretty good.

After a brief introduction, the author presents a brief World building exercise. The result is a fairly Necromunda-esque setting that includes Urban gangs, professional security forces, cultist, and mutant warbands. He uses these, in the series of ring styles to match, to provide context for the scenarios that follow.

The scenarios make up the bulk of the book, as one might expect. The sheer variety of them is impressive. Lambshead manages to mix unusual deployment scenarios with new takes on objective control to create some real tactical puzzlers.

It is definitely geared towards skirmish fights, at least insofar as the rationale for deployment and victory conditions is concerned. You can rescan the settings, and the reskin the objectives for the scenarios to use them in non skirmish games, but that might take a little work. Even if there are few of this scenarios look like stinkers, there's enough of them here to keep a wargamer busy for quite a while.

It also includes a couple of solo scenarios. One of them operates very much like a Space Invaders game, with award the zombies marching across the table, and the player trying to kill them all before they cross his baseline.

And finally, it presents some thoughts on campaigns. These run the gamut from your typical narrative only, the point scoring after games. This section is not particularly groundbreaking, but it is thorough, and it's nice to see John's thoughts on the matter.

Hope this helps.

[Daeothar]

...Adam Smale's Hot Moon novel...

Ordered it, received it, and read it in a single weekend; it's a certified page-turner! Especially if you're a bit of a space program geek; the scifi in this book is about as hard as it gets, and I loved it. Hey; if Larry Niven likes it... 

Holding out for a second volume now.

It also made me re-evaluate the shipping and customs costs for the Lunar game... 

[nozza_uk]

Resurrecting an old thread.

I picked up this book a month ago and finally tried out a couple of scenarios (with a Star Wars theme) last night.

The first scenario we tried was called 'Manna from Heaven' and was all about trying to grab cargo falling from an exploding freighter. The second scenario was a more traditional fight where both sides tried to take out each others leader.

Good fun and made a difference from our usual games.

All I can say is that I highly recommend the book and if you can, pick up a copy.

[NickNascati]

The scenarios all seem pretty good, and easy to fit whatever sized skirmish forces you want to use.