Recommendations for Large 28mm Scale Battle Games?

[Baconfat]

Do you recommend any Sci-Fi games that will effectively deal with large tables and large forces?

I've got hundreds of sci-fi models collecting dust. They need a (not 40K) set of rules that'll deal with 100+ models and a few vehicles a side.  I'd hope the rules have stats for aliens, power armor, jetbikes, big walking things, and maybe even zombies.

I've heard Tomorrow's War can bog down with too many units taking reaction tests.  I think Victory Decision Future Combat was designed for smaller games.  40K has too much hand to hand for my taste.

thanks in advance

[nic-e]

try warpath 2.

It needs work and there's a kickstarter coming later in the year, but the current system is really fun and easy and free on mantics website.

[Maj Guiscard]

Off the cuff, I would say go check out FUBAR.  It's free, so you can check it out easily, and has an alternating activation mechanism to keep both sides involved in a big battle.

[Sarmor]

Haven't yet tried it with really big games, but you might wanna try PMC 2640. The rules are quite straightforward, so it shouldn't bog down.
Not much hand to hand, as charging units can be easily discouraged from fighting by massed fire.

However, instead of precise stats for aliens, power armour, etc, the rules have a set of general stats for several unit types of different quality (AFAIR about 100 in total), and the player should decide, what does he want to use to represent each type of unit. As the game's author likest to say: "It's up to you whether your elite commandos are cyber ninjas, soldiers in power armour, or clones of Arnold Schwarzenegger." Recently, I've played a game where one of the sides was made of feline, canine and serpentine aliens...
As for vehicles, while only general types are described (recon, support, transport, "tank"...), there are optional rules for 4 or 5 different propulsion systems.

If you're interested, last week Assault Publishing released a free demo: http://assaultpublishing.com/?p=1366

[Dr.Falkenhayn]

try Hammer Slammer or Stargrunt II (Free to download from GZG) 

[tnjrp]

My usual suspect Defiance works well and in fact is sorta geared towards rather large forces: the realistic miniature numbers rather depend on what force building decisions you make. Am not sure if hundreds of miniatures per side are doable in a sensible time frame tho.

More on the scaling aspect in my already a little old review of the "main rulebook" Defiance: Vita Ground:
http://www.rpg.net/reviews/archive/11/11318.phtml

More stuff for the game, including links to rules:
http://heros.netai.net/html/DVG.html

[HerbyF]

I agree with Dr. Falkenhayn, Stargrunt II or Hammers Slammers are both good.

[CptJake]

I would look at Two Hour Wargames 5150.  'Star Army' is the set where the player is a platoon leaer or company commander, 5150 Battalion Commander has the player as a (you guessed it) BN CDR.

5150 Battalion Commander

Jake

[aliensurfer]

Of all these listed, the only one I'd use for a very quick game is Fubar for the size of game you are talking about, the others all get a bit clunky to say the least. Fubar is the most streamlined of them all.

[Baconfat]

Thank you everyone.  I appreciate all the recommendations.

[Rhelyk]

Mantic's Warpath 2.0 game might fit the bill. It's designed to be a faster playing 40k written by Alessio Cavatore. Currently has 4 official lists and a 5th alpha playtest list. Not as melee heavy as 40k, but it might still be too large a part for your tastes. Still, rules are free, check it out.

http://www.manticgames.com/free-rules.html

Another option would be Battlefield: Evolution by Mongoose Publishing. It's a modern/near future battles game based on the very excellent Starship Troopers ruleset. It has a number of expansions covering WW2, alternate-history WW2,  and post-apocalypse as well. You can get the main ruleset for about $10 USD on DrivethruRPG

http://rpg.drivethrustuff.com/product/58191/Battlefield-Evolution-Advanced-Rulebook

and you can get the basic starter rules from Boardgame Geek if you want a quick preview
http://boardgamegeek.com/filepage/24841/battlefield-evolution-basic-rules-redux-v1-0-doc

[tnjrp]

If Baconfat is after a generic game then Warpath won't really do tho. OTOH if he has lotsa Imperial Guard, Orks, Space Marines and/or even old skool "Space Dwarves" then it should work nicely enough.

Swatters was mentioned in the TMP version of this thread and it should work tho I'm not sure how well it handles games in other than Starship Troopers style.

[Keeper Nilbog]

If your talking about Battlefield Evo, then try Agis's Victory Decision:Future Combat rules (again, downloadable from Wargames Vault). An updated and Sci-Fi specific (loosely, though are more so the B:Evo), and they work well, with no direct tied in background.