Osprey's The Doomed

[Jack Hooligan]

There was a recent announcement of another post apocalyptic ruleset. I'm not familiar with any of the authors. Thoughts on this so far?

https://ospreypublishing.com/us/doomed-9781472854254/

[TheDaR]

There was a recent announcement of another post apocalyptic ruleset. I'm not familiar with any of the authors. Thoughts on this so far?

Chris McDowell has been primarily an RPG author up until now.  He's most famous for his Into the Odd/Electric Bastionland books, which are an interesting extremely minimalist take on D&D type games.  This carries over into his other works, and he's got a pretty keen eye for boiling a game down to the very minimum core necessary to convey his vision.

I watched Doomed go from initial playtest (where it started as "Grimlite", a minimal take on Necromunda), and then slowly developed the current more survival-horror sort of theme.  It's pretty heavily narrative and light on crunchy mechanics.  There's a lot of cleaving toward cooperative interpretation of the rules, more like an RPG than a boardgame.

Mechanics tend somewhat towards A Song of Blade and Heroes, with most units having single primary rating (Quality) plus some additional extra per-model or per-weapon special keyword rules, and then rolling to activate for attempting various action types.  Somewhat like Crossfire, there's no measuring of distances, movement is a straight line until you hit some other terrain or something stops you like coming within attack range of an enemy, likewise range for missile weapons is just line of sight.

There's a lot of emphasis on the mix and match of the particular Horror you're facing off against plus the "scene" (the battlefield layout, objectives for the board, etc).  There's plenty of advice on how to create your own horrors or reskin the default factions and horrors.

It's an interesting little game if you're willing to give a try to something a bit more narrative in your skirmishing.  If you're looking for a tournament ruleset with the promise of a ton of future expansion content, it's probably a pass.

[mikedemana]

Great review! Thank you...

Mike Demana

[zemjw]

From the Amazon pre-release page (probably Osprey as well, I couldn't be bothered fighting the cookies to find out  )

A quick-playing, rules-light skirmish wargame of Horror hunting set in a bleak sci-fi world on the brink of impending doom.

Hunger, Hatred, Domination, Oblivion, and Ruin. The world is dying, poised on the brink of falling to one of these great dooms. Factions pursue their own interests, as likely to be the heralds of the world's destruction as they are its saviours. Horrors - monstrous abominations that defy logic, science, and nature - roam the land. Bands of hunters follow bold leaders, seeking out and destroying Horrors, gaining fame as word of their deeds spreads amongst the desperate survivors. Rival bands compete for prestige, clash over ideology, and pose as much of a threat to each other as the Horrors they hunt.

The Doomed is a quick-playing, rules-light skirmish wargame in which small warbands of hunters compete to hunt unique Horrors in a bleak sci-fi world. Scenarios are defined by the Horror being hunted and by the Conflict in which the hunt takes place. Each Horror has its own strengths, weaknesses, and tactics, often breaking the rules in unique ways, and must be approached carefully - stealth, cunning, and brute force will all have a role to play. Each Conflict, meanwhile, provides a distinct set-up for the scenario and a secondary objective that pits the warbands against each other as well as against the Horror. Campaigns build towards a climax, with hunters gaining prestige and renown, offering access to new, unique options for their warband. In the background, the five dooms also grow in power, threatening to deliver their own climax to the campaign if the hunters are not successful enough.

Looks like it could be interesting. On the downside, it's another 176 page hardback costing £25.00