Antagonists

[shakespear]

Im looking to get into VSF and I am looking a few different rulesets. I was wondering which ruleset had the largest amount of army lists?

I see alot of countries represented in peoples VSF games and I was wondering where do the rules for them come from?

I assume most VSF rulesets have rules for martians..

[Hat Guy]

Most popular VSF rules sets are pretty open to variety. GASLIGHT (what I play) has no set armies, our local group has made British, Prussians, Martians, Arabs, the Catholic Church and is looking at Americans, French and even more.

[Dr. The Viking]

VSF is usually a little more "do it yourself" than your average wargame.

In my group the lists, the composition of what makes an army and sometimes also the vehicles is done by people themselves. There are no hard and fast rules about it. 

[Froggy the Great]

I've also noticed that while there seem to be certain rulesets that favor VSF, you can use pretty much anything so long as it allows for the sorts of SF you want in your V.

[Gluteus Maximus]

..... the Catholic Church ......

I'm intrigued! Do you have any pics? Certainly sounds like a unique VSF army 


I like the GASLIGHT family of rules too, they cover everything from RPG to large-scale battles.

I also like the "Colonial Adventures" set by Two Hour Wargames which is a good set for solo, two or multi-player games, with it's own army lists included. There are also a couple of VSF expansions, Lemuria and Colonial Steam Punks, which allow you to expand historical lists or create fictional armies.

If you want to go for other rules, probably the best thing to do is pick a specific period (eg British 1870-early 1880s) and use historical lists as a basis. Then add whatever contraptions and odd weapons that you feel like using.

[Dr. The Viking]

I have yet to fully understand what makes GASLIGHT VSf.. ?

We use the rules ourselves.. but mainly because we're used to it now. Not because there's anything particularly VSF about them.

[Gluteus Maximus]

I have yet to fully understand what makes GASLIGHT VSf.. ?

We use the rules ourselves.. but mainly because we're used to it now. Not because there's anything particularly VSF about them.

I think it's because they are designed so you can easily add whatever VSF wotsit you dream up into your games. They make very good generic skirmish rules just using mundane weapons etc.

[Ramshackle_Curtis]

I play with my VSF in Nuclear Renaissance. I have played a couple of big games with GASLIGHTS and it seems to work nicely. Although, to be fair, I think is is probably a bit hard work to make very "competitive" armies, you have to tinker a bit with the armies to you liking. Im a bit of a power gamer though, and in gaslights there are some combinations that seem very powerful (a hero in an impervious suit with a flame thrower is bad ass!). The vehicle movement rules are fantastic.

[Hat Guy]

the sorts of SF you want in your V.

Ooh, err missus.

Tom's Vatican army is primarily a Warmachine Menoth army, it really looks the part with the steeple Warjacks, archaic weapons and lots of men in robes with whips.

[Gluteus Maximus]

...lots of men in robes with whips.

 

Sounds great    Try and get him to take some pics. It's always nice to see a really original army.

[rob_the_robgoblin]

My Antagonists are Prussians or Anarchists mostly. The Japanese pop up once in a while with their hair-brained schemes. 

Most of them are bare metal though and have never been out on a board. 

[Fuzzywuzzieswiflasers]

 A lot of rules (evil empire) hand everything to you on a plate and off you go. Its all about making you play tournament games and locking you in to buying more stuff as the lists change for tournaments.....  Ooops got started on my rant

Actually most VSF rules require the players to invest a bit more effort into their own games, designing your own armies and coming up with a back story for it. Of course the regular colonial powers are easier to come up with as you have the historical regiments and timelines to draw on. The armies like the arabs (Sci Fi zanzibar raiders  ) or the catholic church or mad scientist armies are great fun.

I have played gaslight a fair bit and we have gone through the scratch build arms race putting lots of stuff on the table, however Gaslight works best with a couple of lead characters, 3 -4 regular units and a couple of VSF vehicles. Just perfect for a club nights gaming.

The games also works better with a set narrative scenario. If you think a quasi skirmish , squad based game you will go well.


Cheers
Fuzzy