I'm looking for a new game to play & want a recommendation!

[Alxbates]

Howdy, folks.

As the title of the thread suggests, I'm looking for a new game to play.

I was talking with my friends the other day, reminiscing about our favorite gaming memories.  Probably the best miniatures gaming experience that any of us have had was a Warhammer Realms of Chaos campaign that we played years ago, using the two hardcover books - "Slaves to Darkness" and the "Lost and the Damned".  The campaign lasted months and months, and our characters and warbands took on lives of their own.  I've still got all of those miniatures, I'll never part with them.

Looking back on it, we didn't so much care for the system (although love it or hate it, Warhammer has a certain simplicity that made the games flow quickly), as much as we liked the mutations and conversions, as well as the vast array of potential reinforcements & wide variety of equipment options.

We had wonderful opportunities for conversions & kit bashing nearly every week, and new miniatures to buy and paint often, too.

The campaign ended with a battle between a huge army of mutated minotaurs and beastmen against our united warbands, using the regular Warhammer (third edition) rules.  Several of our chaos champions died, but one was able to get a lucky blow in against the Minotaur general with some sort of wraith blade, and over a period of several turns, the general faded away into nothingness!  One or two of our Champions ascended to Daemon Prince-hood, and if memory serves one of the players had his Champion spontaneously freak out into a Chaos Spawn.  It was an absolute blast!

Our tastes have changed since then, and the Warhammer aesthetic no longer holds much appeal.  One of my friends has gotten deep into retro sci-fi, another doesn’t really play much at all anymore, and I’ve become a big fan of Wargods of Aegyptus.

But we want to play again!  And we’re looking for a fantasy game that will give us what we’re looking for.  What are we looking for?  I think I can boil it down into a few points:

1 – Skirmish games!  None of us are looking to spend hundreds of dollars on hundreds of miniatures – we want to have small games with no more than 20 figures on each side – about a dozen seemed perfect last time.  This lets us name each of the characters if we like; or even develop an individual personality for a few of them!  Also, it’s a manageable number of figures to paint (and purchase).

2 – A CAMPAIGN system.  We don’t want to play a bunch of one-off games, or at least not ONLY one-off games.  We want our guys to gain stats and skills over time, new gear and new members of the adventuring party, new spells for any caster types and maybe even pets, baggage, or non-combat followers.  I don’t really care about casualty or injury rules – there’s nothing more frustrating than spending a weekend exquisitely converting and painting a figure, then to have it die in the next battle and never be used again.  In our Warhammer games, we came up with a compromise where deeply injured guys just missed a set number of games while they “recovered”.  A certain amount of bookkeeping is just fine… not *too* much, we want to play a wargame, not an RPG, but we want at least a little Role-Playing element to the game.  We want skills to be earned and purchased, worked towards, not awarded randomly.  Or at least not usually awarded randomly!

3 – 28mm scale.  28mm-ish. All of our terrain and virtually all of my entire gaming group’s miniatures collections are in 25-30mm scale, we’re not going to start from scratch with 15mm or 54 or anything else.

That’s about it!

A few years ago I took the Wargods of Aegyptus rules and came up with a home-brewed skirmish version based on them… I really liked it, but I admit that the Harbingers didn’t really fit into small games, they’re just too powerful to work on that scale, and the bigger creatures like Sebeki and now Wendigo and Titans break my skirmish system, too. 

We’re looking for a fantasy game, something that will let us play “Conan the Barbarian”-type adventures… maybe not exactly ‘low’ fantasy, but certainly lower than Warhammer.  No gunpowder!

I’ve done some looking on my own.  Mordheim is out, it’s too “Warhammer-y”, and the progression is frustratingly random & limited.  Song of Blades and Heroes is actually *too* simple – we’d like a little more depth.

The closest I’ve found is “Barbarians of Lemuria”… it’s an RPG, but I think I could shoehorn the rules into working on the tabletop…  Still, I’m sure that there are games out there that I haven’t heard of or tried myself.

So, what do you folks here suggest?

-Alex in Alaska

[Alxbates]

I suppose I should mention that the group would be amenable to some sort of hybrid setting that mixes fantasy with sci-fi, like "He-Man" or "Thundarr the Barbarian", and it's *possible* we'd be interested in a very generic open sci-fi setting, something where we could have Mad Scientist-led Robot Legions fighting against John Carter and Buck Rogers-type factions.

[Faust23]

But we want to play again!  And we’re looking for a fantasy game that will give us what we’re looking for.  What are we looking for?  I think I can boil it down into a few points:

1 – Skirmish games!  None of us are looking to spend hundreds of dollars on hundreds of miniatures – we want to have small games with no more than 20 figures on each side – about a dozen seemed perfect last time.  This lets us name each of the characters if we like; or even develop an individual personality for a few of them!  Also, it’s a manageable number of figures to paint (and purchase).

2 – A CAMPAIGN system.  We don’t want to play a bunch of one-off games, or at least not ONLY one-off games.  We want our guys to gain stats and skills over time, new gear and new members of the adventuring party, new spells for any caster types and maybe even pets, baggage, or non-combat followers.  I don’t really care about casualty or injury rules – there’s nothing more frustrating than spending a weekend exquisitely converting and painting a figure, then to have it die in the next battle and never be used again.  In our Warhammer games, we came up with a compromise where deeply injured guys just missed a set number of games while they “recovered”.  A certain amount of bookkeeping is just fine… not *too* much, we want to play a wargame, not an RPG, but we want at least a little Role-Playing element to the game.  We want skills to be earned and purchased, worked towards, not awarded randomly.  Or at least not usually awarded randomly!

3 – 28mm scale.  28mm-ish. All of our terrain and virtually all of my entire gaming group’s miniatures collections are in 25-30mm scale, we’re not going to start from scratch with 15mm or 54 or anything else.

That’s about it!

I have just the game for you.  You'll have to wait about a month while I get the final artwork back and do the layout.  I'll be posting in the Other Adventures thread and the game will give you everything you've asked for above.  It is easy to use for Fantasy, and will have a formal fantasy supplement to follow.  I will send you a PM when I do the press release.

[Braxandur]

I’ve done some looking on my own.  Mordheim is out, it’s too “Warhammer-y”, and the progression is frustratingly random & limited.  Song of Blades and Heroes is actually *too* simple – we’d like a little more depth.

The closest I’ve found is “Barbarians of Lemuria”… it’s an RPG, but I think I could shoehorn the rules into working on the tabletop…  Still, I’m sure that there are games out there that I haven’t heard of or tried myself.

I completely agree on the comments about both Mordheim and Song of Blades and heroes. We did try out a lot of different games in my groups as well and never found one that did fit the bill. If you find one, please post it over here. I do have high hopes fro skulldredd, but Dave seems to be a bit busy at the moment.

[Alxbates]

I have just the game for you.  You'll have to wait about a month while I get the final artwork back and do the layout.  I'll be posting in the Other Adventures thread and the game will give you everything you've asked for above.  It is easy to use for Fantasy, and will have a formal fantasy supplement to follow.  I will send you a PM when I do the press release.

Well, you've certainly piqued my interest.  Please let me know when you've got something you can show off!

-Alex in Alaska

[DeafNala]

Our own kingofdaveness' Skulldred game looks to be really cool judging from the Battle Reports...& it's free. You can check it out here:

http://leadadventureforum.com/index.php?topic=33336.0

[Ramshackle_Curtis]

I suppose I should mention that the group would be amenable to some sort of hybrid setting that mixes fantasy with sci-fi, like "He-Man" or "Thundarr the Barbarian", and it's *possible* we'd be interested in a very generic open sci-fi setting, something where we could have Mad Scientist-led Robot Legions fighting against John Carter and Buck Rogers-type factions.

Nuclear Renaissance! Its a skirmish game, and I have full campaign rules. THe basic rules can be had for free here:

http://www.ramshacklegames.co.uk/nuclear/downloads.html

I also have a big, well HUGE list of extra stuff and the campaign rules. These are "in development", but we've done the playtasting and Im just putting the manuscript together (mainly finishing artwork). Im happy to send a text document of the campaign rules and the huge list of upgrades.

The gang generation is really detailed, you can make loads of different gangs. I always like Realm of Chaos, mordhiem and Necromunda, but NucRen is less random and more about what you want to do. It takes a while to set up your gang, but once its ready the gaming is pretty flowing. The game system works by roll D10s, add your  skill (shooting, combat etc). Highest score wins. Pretty simple, but combined with the character building rules it leads to a good fun, quite detailed but small game.

It works really well with multiple players too and we often play 5 player games.

Its possible to make close combat gangs, and ranged weapons are really expensive points wise. In the campaign rules section there are beast gangs so its very possible to do HeMan style wargaming very easily.

The robot rules are pretty open too, to allow big or small robots of all kinds.

[Faust23]

Well, you've certainly piqued my interest.  Please let me know when you've got something you can show off!

-Alex in Alaska

Will do.

[killshot]

I'm watching this thread with interest too.  I played Warhammer growing up, but I just don't want to build armies that large anymore (plus, I'm extremely lazy and hate putting multi-part plastic miniatures together).  I building a Red Box Games HelsVakt warband and will most likely use Aenglish too.  I really enjoy the Lord of the Ring Strategy Battle Game and use that for skirmishing with my son.

[manic _miner]

 You could try Relic's by Tor Gaming Alex.Nice little range of miniatures which is expanding all the time.More new race due out soon too.

 It is a shame that the Croc have not been putting out new items.Would be good if they got Wargods of Olympus out for when the Wrath of the Titans comes out.

 Helldorado might be another good one to look into.

 Lots of people like Song of Blades and Heroes.One which I want to look into myself.You can use the miniatures you have already.

 Anyway all the best for 2012.

[Luddite]

By far the best 28mm skirmish campaign game i've played is WHH Legends of the Old West and i highly recommend it.

However, its cowboys and not 'pre gunpowder / fantasy', so perhaps the new WHH 'Gladiator' rules might be more to your liking.  I'm planning a campaign myself, and the rules cover not just running a gladiator 'business' but also small scale skirmishing of all sorts.  Might be worth a look?

[Braxandur]

By far the best 28mm skirmish campaign game i've played is WHH Legends of the Old West and i highly recommend it.

However, its cowboys and not 'pre gunpowder / fantasy', so perhaps the new WHH 'Gladiator' rules might be more to your liking.  I'm planning a campaign myself, and the rules cover not just running a gladiator 'business' but also small scale skirmishing of all sorts.  Might be worth a look?

Completly agree that Legends of the Old west is a fantastic game! However, the LOTR system (on which it is based) somehown, for my feeling, does not work that well in fantasy skirmish games, unless you are playing scenarios. Otherwise, it too often easily seems to end up as a battle in the middle of the table. (or actually anywhere else) with all the models from both gangs involved. As soon as shooting is more a part of the game, the LOTR rules terrific, IMHO. Then again almost all skirmish systems I know function well as soon as both parties have some shooting in there and work less well as soon as it is mainly close combat.

[des loup]

I’ve done some looking on my own.  Mordheim is out, it’s too “Warhammer-y”, and the progression is frustratingly random & limited.  Song of Blades and Heroes is actually *too* simple – we’d like a little more depth.

Definitely give HAVOC a look. It's easily one of the most tactical and original games I've played. You'd have to use the campaign rules on the designer's site, but there's a lot of other free fun stuff there as well so worth looking at.

The cut scene mechanic in the game would give you those rpg 'remember' when moments. The multiplayer options are creative as well. I don't know of another game like it.

http://bombshell-games.com/

[number9]

I think Havoc is a brilliant game, but would require your group to make adjustments if you want to involve more of a modern fantasy feel, or to include the kind of campaign stuff you want. It is a great toolbox and simpler to figure out and play than the rulebook length would suggest.

[VoodooInk]

Let me start by thanking number9 and des loup for recommending HAVOC.  

@Alxbates
If you decide to check out HAVOC, then you'll want to look at THIS as a starting structure for setting up a campaign.  There are some other ways to add progressive elements to the game that are very easy to implement. These range from models gaining wounds, 'Names', and alternate weapons. For some grand finale battles, these multiplayer rules  might be of interest as well.

The system is definitely designed to have a couple of models be centerpieces in the force. These models [referred to as 'The Named'] are a great chance to define the type of warband you have and what is important to you thematically.

The cut scene mechanic in the game would give you those rpg 'remember' when moments.

Not only are the matrix inspired cut-scenes epic, but the challenge mechanic and 'Rules of Form' offer many opportunities for roleplaying without having complications or restrictions.

number9 is right that you'd have to make some adjustments to get a more traditionally styled experience, but it shouldn't be anything too challenging. On the other hand, you may look things over and decide that you'd like to try the 'HAVOC' way. If you have any questions, then don't hesitate to ask.