There is a new (for me) game system I've been exploring over the last couple of weeks.
For a few years now I have been sticking to a principal of having a (small) fixed number of games that I focus on (and more or less ignore all the others). You can't play/collect/remember the stats for everything... well, I can't. And the chances of playing some of everything at games day is zero.
The systems I've selected address different game styles/scales/formats, and (historically) includes:
- Epic is my full battlefield level system where the scale makes rolling around in tanks, titans and infantry hordes make sense.
- Necromunda is my skirmish level system, where you have individual operatives booting around a compact board *.
[* I was contemplating this on the weekend and there's not a huge amount of difference between 'battlefield' and 'skirmish' from a high level perspective. With 'battlefield' you have formations of units/soldiers, with 'skirmish' you have a single model but with multiple wounds. So they could be viewed as quite similar in that regard. When you add that you only have to build/paint 10 models instead of 100, it's easy to see why skirmish games are gaining more traction with hobbyists.]
- BFG is my space ship level game. I list is as a game I'm happy to play with others if that's what we're all playing this meet, but not something I'd normally suggest playing myself.
- Blackstone Fortress is something that doesn't get much of an opportunity due to it really requiring an extended campaign to be worth the effort starting. I put this down as my dungeon crawler game.
- Zone Alfa is my freeform/exploration/sandbox game. Not as good for player vs player compared to others imo but a nice generic canvas for solo playtime.
Ok, so?
I was visiting a friend on the weekend and during the drive I was contemplating this list. And there are some changes in the wind.
New Kill Team has been high on my radar for over a year now. While I have played Munda during that time, I've played more games of KT, and I generally prefer KT over Munda for a number of reasons. It's not unreasonable to consider adjusting the Skirmish level selection from Munda to Kill Team. Obviously I can play both/either, but I feel that the default has now changed.
Epic has been out of favour for some time. I love the scale, I love the setting, the terrain, the people, but I have serious reservations about the complexity of lists, balance, default game play... all adding up to 'I will play it, but I don't enjoy playing it much anymore.'
But... something about change?
For 'reasons' I recently had a look at a system called Grimdark Future. This is from One Page Rules, an... independent (at least from major manufacturers) endeavour. It has sci-fi and fantasy versions (re that first pic at the top of the post). It has battlefield and skirmish scale offerings. It even has a 'space ship' level ruleset.
I ended up watching a couple of battle reports and was impressed enough to print out the rules... and they have a free version that is probably enough for all but hardcore gamers wanting to take things very seriously.
I then played a couple of small test games and was even more impressed.
Basically One Page Rules' systems are 'no name' brand systems designed for you to use your 40k or any other system models with... halo, infinity, whatever, or all of those at the same time even.
Pertinent to my topic, there's Grimdark Future (GF) and Grimdark Future Firefight (GFF), battlefield and skirmish respectively. Not a great deal of difference between the two systems [which prompted my contemplation of multi-units vs multi-wound above].
I was able to pull out squads of my old marines and squads of my tyranids and actually run a coherent and (from my now experienced viewpoint) sane battle level game with 28mm models.
I'm sure there are other worthy systems available, but GF is looking like it's going to be pushing itself forcefully onto the list. I'm just not sure which slots it's going to be taking.
Why I'm liking GF...
Alternating Activations: I usually won't even play a game that doesn't have this now. The idea that one side moves, shoots, charges, has tea, and sets off a load of laundry before the other side can respond is just ludicrous.
Simple Rules: Enough to make the game function, not so many that you're looking up edge-case rules every 2 minutes. Comprehensible for beginners, not restrictive for the experienced.
Less Tricks: GF army lists use a tiny number of basic stats, and a small list of optional skills that can be added to units. The stats and skills are common to all forces.
This means a higher commonality between forces, that in turn means you're unlike to encounter a force you are totally unprepared to handle - they do what you do... more or less.
While there are special mechanics (extra speed, power, armour penetration etc) these seem to be universal, as in all forces could apply the same rules if/when appropriate.
i.e. You don't have extra-special eldar or necron tricksy features that you'll have no idea about until you encounter them on the table.
While it could be argued that this makes the game 'more generic', imo it also makes it more accessible for wargamers who don't want to have to study reams of special rules for armies they may never encounter. Also good for people with crap memories and/or for lazy gamers who just want a fun dice and models session (which is probably the majority of us).
Freely and Easily Accessible: You can point someone at the site and they can download the basic rules and army lists without having to commit (financially) to rules they might not even like. The accessibility aspect is a huge plus, and you can subscribe to 'advanced' stuff if you're super keen.
Easy Learning Curve: If you've played other things before you could/should be confident within 2 games. Complete noobs might benefit from a demo/run through, but it's not rocket science. And compared to "some commercial" games the rules are sooooooooooooooooo digestable.
Well Written: I didn't feel compelled to rule-lawyer the intention of the RaW too much. There were a couple of things ('cover' comes to mind) that were perhaps missing or in the wrong spot or could have benefited from a little more explanation... but especially in terms of being a lightweight (and free) system it's very well done.
Conclusions...
I really like this system.
I'm going to be exploring it as potentially my main 28mm battlefield level game (technically there wasn't one of these previously). It's a strong candidate for the 'battlefield' level in general, and maybe even baying for the 'skirmish' level.
Until next time...
No comments:
Post a Comment