Sci-fi Warband driven game

[Hobby Services]

Blasters & Bulkheads from Four Color Figures works well for me.

[dijit]

There does seem to be a significant hole for a scifi warband/platoon sized game. Especially one that lets you tailor your own forces ala Lion/Dragon Rampant. Theres Agis's rulebook (forgitten the name off hand), but that lacks the truely alien and space opera, then theres tomorrow's war which lack the fore mentioned even more and is bogged down by some, in my eyes, clunky mechanics. Apart from really old school like Rogue Trader, Stargrunt, etc I dont see all that much around tbh.

[gamer Mac]

"Star mogul" sounds like the game you are after

[eilif]

The Blasters and Bulkheads suggestion is a good one. I haven't played it in a few years, but I recall it having a nice balance between heroic individual characters and faceless groups of mooks.

"Star mogul" sounds like the game you are after

Star Mogul is all individuals though, right?

[Hobgoblin]

Ganesha Game's Swatters is a nice set of rules. It's set up for squads of human troops against various sorts of xenomorphish aliens, but there's quite a bit of flexibility built in. It uses individually based miniatures on CDs (or similar movement trays).

[tnjrp]

I'm still unsure as to what a "warband driven" game should be like. I'm not even sure on the size. Is warband the same in regards to headcount as a platoon (vague enough as that itself is)? Is it bigger? Smaller?

[dijit]

I'm still unsure as to what a "warband driven" game should be like. I'm not even sure on the size. Is warband the same in regards to headcount as a platoon (vague enough as that itself is)? Is it bigger? Smaller?

I think we're talking roughly 15-40 minis, dependant on their troop quality/armour. So from a small PA platoon to a large militia platoon. Upper limit would probably be a around the standard size of a 2nd edition 40k game (think it was 1500pts back then), where Space marines would often field 2 10 man tactical squads, a 5 man heavy weapon squad and a 5 man assault/scout/Terminiator squad plus a few characters.

[jon_1066]

I have been tinkering with such a thing for a few months:

http://leadadventureforum.com/index.php?topic=84431.msg1037832#msg1037832

Basically a Chain of Command - Lion Rampant - WH40K mashup.  PM me if you want a butchers at the rules I have put together.

[dijit]

I have been tinkering with such a thing for a few months:

http://leadadventureforum.com/index.php?topic=84431.msg1037832#msg1037832

Basically a Chain of Command - Lion Rampant - WH40K mashup.  PM me if you want a butchers at the rules I have put together.

Looks pretty decent. I'd missed that thread before. I think it's not a bad place to start - take the best bits of different systems and mix them together.

[tnjrp]

I think we're talking roughly 15-40 minis, dependant on their troop quality/armour

In that case Infinity and Deadzone I mentioned earlier would be at the very lowest end of the spectrum. Our group would hesitate to go over 10 models per side for the former in fact but I think it's not unusual to have up to 20 per side in experienced gamer circles.

Mantic's Firefight version of Warpath sounds to be just about right but I've not bothered to see if it offers a loose organization that would fit my impression of what a warband would be like (as opposed to organized military platoon or similar). And of course it's not yet available except as a free beta.

The same (organizational issue, that is, not the availability) goes for my usual hobby horse, Majestic 12's Defiance too tho the force size should be a good fit. I might prefer to have a bit more than 40 per side for that but it is a flexible game in regards to that. Going down to 15 or less per side is stretching the envelope a little however but should work well enough if you load up with elite quality troops, heroes and commanders.

[baldlea]

At those numbers, you need Clash on the Fringe. Build whatever you want and with a points system.

[hummus]

this could be what you looking for
http://afrightfulbestiary.blogspot.co.uk/2016/02/titan-rampant.html

[bobwithasilentc]

Another vote for Nordic Weasel Games' Clash on the Fringe. It handles platoon size forces nicely, and IMHO has a very elegant treatment of suppression, morale and leadership, while still allowing for heroic sci-fi characters to make a difference. Also comes with a unit calculator so you can build forces to suit your mini collection.

[nozza_uk]

Warband suggest to me upto 10-12 figures. I guess I've been influenced by Frostgrave in that respect. For me, what would be ideal would be a game that uses a D20 combat engine (ala Frostgrave) with the perils and challenges from Pulp Alley. One gaming friend said it sounds like a tabletop version of a CCG!

[tnjrp]

In that case, we would be back to Infinity and Deadzone again -- with an added side order of AE:Bounty

The first one being probably most close to "consensus", that is having the largest player base. Not necessarily among the peeps on this forum but overall.