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Wargames I'd like to exist

Discussion in 'Off-Topic English' started by Varsovian, Jun 27, 2019.

  1. Varsovian

    Varsovian Well-Known Member

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    In the last few months, I've been looking at other wargames aside from Infinity. After some searching and comparing the various wargames to my tastes, I've realized something:

    Some games I'd like to play just don't exist.

    I mean, Infinity is awesome, but I'd like to play something else aside from cyberpunk / sci-fi. Like, fantasy. I admit that Age of Sigmar somehow grew on me (enough to start collecting it), but I'd also like to play fantasy game of a different style... And so on. Basically, after looking at various games, some specific images of what I'd like to play evolved in my head... and there just aren't games like this around, I think.

    Here's what I'd like to play aside from Infinity and AoS:

    1. A fantasy game that is a bit more serious / toned-down style-wise than AoS or the various clones of Warhammer Fantasy (I'm looking at you, Kings Of War). Something that would look as mature as Infinity, but in a fantasy universe. It might be a skirmish game or a unit-based game, it doesn't really matter. But the style should be something like... I don't know, Conan? With all kinds of cool creatures, of course.

    2. A horror skirmish game. There's this board game by CMON called The Others: 7 Sins about a team of monster hunters fighting demons, demonically-mutated cultists etc. Now, imagine something like that, but as an Infinity-style wargame. With a few distinct factions, cool monsters etc. I'd love that.

    3. A superhero skirmish! There is one wargame like that I know of, Pulp City. But it seems to be in a semi-limbo right now... Also, it's a bit too cartoony in style - and the miniatures aren't just that good. I'd like to see something with good minis and a bit more mature in tone...

    Argh! If I was a sculptor and had some knowledge of game design, I'd create these games myself. But I don't have these skills, unfortunately...
     
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  2. DaRedOne

    DaRedOne Morat Warrior Philosopher
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    I think you should look at:

    1 - The Song of Ice and Fire wargame. It's pretty serious in tone, has very little fantasy elements and it's pretty fun to play both casually and competitively;

    2 - Malifaux. It's eighteen century victorianpunk aesthetics, but it's very heavy on the horror and it's a great skirmish game overall;

    3 - Batman Miniatures game. This runs the gamut from comic book style to movie style for the miniatures. It's focused on the DC side of comics, but it is very true to the source material.
     
  3. Section9

    Section9 Well-Known Member

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    You could also check out Mierce Miniatures' Darklands setting for fantasy.
     
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  4. colbrook

    colbrook Grenade Delivery Specialist

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    Nope, I'm still salty about the Maelstrom Games fiasco.
     
  5. Section9

    Section9 Well-Known Member

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    could you PM me the details? I like the models, been considering getting into the game, but if the company is shifty I don't want to support that crap.
     
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  6. jherazob

    jherazob Well-Known Member

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    Every single time somebody asks for suggestions for a fantasy wargame a name keeps coming up: Song of Blades & Heroes. It's a set of generic skirmish fantasy rules not dependent on any manufacturer's minis so you can use whatever you want. Here's a review:

    in fact, there's lots of independent rules for pretty much every genre not tied to physical mini lines, from fantasy and sci-fi to horror, historicals, superheroes, even giant monsters and robots and other stranger genres.
     
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  7. Koin-Koin

    Koin-Koin Well-Known Member

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    Regarding 1 and 2 I can't think anything else than "it's time for you to head RPG".
    Of course it's not miniature games per se but you may find what you want in it and keep it at one fight/battle scenario level.
    About 2: I've only tried 7 sins once and with badly red rules so it's not relevant but I didn't find it that immersive. So far the Cthulhu games are more immersive.
    Made my first Genesys game last week-end and if you're into the Alien kind of thing, you may get what you want (but still not a wargame).
    3: Guardians Chronicles is pretty fun but it's very cartoonish as it's its main purpose, put you in a comic. The only draw back is the first version rule book that is wrong on several points (the creator himself said it).
     
  8. DruidNei

    DruidNei Well-Known Member

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    As for 1) Godslayer might be also something to look into. I haven't checked the ruleset but minis have that gritty, warhammerish feel.

    I for once would like to see a more outlandish skirmish fantasy game, that would establish it's own unique style. Closest I can think of would be old Confrontation. Wrath of Kings didn't really nail it despite some similarities.
     
  9. sonicReducer

    sonicReducer Well-Known Member

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    @Varsovian there are a few generic rulesets that might fit what you want, if you are happy to come up the backgrounds yourself. Pulp Alley is one, super versatile. They have rules for horror but again, you'd need to write your own characters and stuff
     
  10. Icchan

    Icchan Well-Known Member

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    I've usually found it quite easy to find a miniature wargame that suited my tastes, the difficulty has always been convincing others to start the game with me.
    A couple of times I've made the plunge into a new game, only to end up selling them later because no one else was interested. Sometimes it sucks living in a small country. But then I remember I mostly hate crowds so it's all good again.

    Also, there's a generic fantasy version of Saga which is miniature agnostic, but you'd have to come up with your own fluff.
     
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  11. jherazob

    jherazob Well-Known Member

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    This is always the problem with any wargame, if you have no one to play it with it's a problem. Of course, this can be ameliorated by you having more than one warband, if you can manage to get your buddies to get a general handle of the rules you can always lend them an army to play with. But of course it's not the best solution but hey, it's a chance.
    I fail to see the problem here :stuck_out_tongue_winking_eye:
     
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  12. Varsovian

    Varsovian Well-Known Member

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    Thanks! I know of the ASOIAF game, but it's actually too low fantasy for me: just warriors of various types... I'd prefer something with a more fantastical bent. Just in a tad more realistic style than AoS.

    As for Malifaux - another interesting option! Although I'm not really into steampunk. Wild West Exodus is somewhat similar, BTW. I've been looking into that one, too...

    As for the Batman game - hmmm, weird, but... the idea of playing in a DC universe doesn't really appeal to me. For some reason, I'd prefer an original setting... or even a game where you can make your own heroes!

    Nobody here plays it, I'm afraid...

    I know of SOBH, I might pick it up some day! Any other independent rules you know of? I'd be interested in seeing something for superheroes or horror...

    Oh, I've long been an RPG player before I got into wargaming. :) And I know good horror or superhero RPGs. But I'd like also a wargame like that :)

    Is Genesys a board game? As for 7 Sins, I have this game at home, but I have yet to play it. I hope I won't be disappointed...

    I'll look into it!

    I remember looking into Godslayer... Nobody here plays it here, I think.

    Oh, I like coming up with fluff! :)
     
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  13. jherazob

    jherazob Well-Known Member

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    Interesting rules? Let's see, here's a few i've seen around, haven't played them all but plan to at some point (need to rope in other people):
    • If you want 40K/AoS without being bogged down by the rules, look up "One Page Rules".
    • Star Breach is kinda sorta like SoBH but for sci-fi. The motto: "Any Sci-Fi Universe. Any Sci-Fi Models. Forever Free to Play."
    • Anything else from Ganesha Games, i've seen that they have rules for most genres, including giant monsters and robots (the new Godzilla movie should provide inspirational for this)
    • I keep hearing of Two Hour Wargames, they also have rules for many genres based on the same basic "engine"
    • I need to look up my bookmarks because now i can't recall anything else despite the fact that i know there's a truckload more than this
    I think the idea of knowing what you want and asking for rules that fit it is the way to go, sorry for not being of more help
     
  14. Koin-Koin

    Koin-Koin Well-Known Member

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    My bad, it's Nemesis not Genesys.
    A friend of mine gets his KS 2 weeks ago (had to wait a bit longer for the localised version) and we tested it last week-end.
    Le'ts call it a semi-coop game: each player wakes up in an infested starship with a common goal to survive but everyone has his own agenda.
    It's very Alien inspired obviously (I call it the "Alien boardgame that should exists if licence money was not a concern").

    BoW did a Let's Play during the KS campaign.

    7 Sins, I'd like to retry it with a better knowledge of the rules as I think I totally miss the game because of that.

    For the fantasy wargame, you may also have a look at the Warlord Games' Warlord of Erehwon. It's a game system though to be played with any fantasy minis you already have.
     
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  15. Aspect Graviton

    Aspect Graviton Friendly Alien Overlord
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    1. God slayer was pretty good, unfortunatley it didn't have any releases for a year or so and it died in my area. The rulebook also suffered from germglish where somebody had converted it from german to english but had no idea about the structure of english sentences so it was an impenetrable mess of gargantuan paragraph long run-on sentences.

    Arena rex is pretty good just quite difficult to get hold of.

    have bought into a starter for Conquest which mechanically sounded interesting and good and the models were pretty, will have to see how it plays.

    2. Not really any jumping to mind at them moment which is odd as they're all the rage.

    3. After batman came out I ended up writting my own when there were models for marvel stuff and superman but batman was a thouroughly unsuitable ruleset for dealing with disparate power levels.

    It's ended up being very movement based MOBA esq game where you throw each other into they various props around or through buildings and characters buff each other and have one or more obvious team roles such as tank/artillery (hulk), toolbox/button pusher (ironman), Artillery/leader (magneto), assasin/flanker (venom) etc.
    Stats are broken into two parts the skill and the power so the skill is the number you had to roll over and the power is the dice you used and tests would be essentially face to face comparing attackers level of sucess against the defenders, have double the score of your opponent and it's also a critical.
    A normal human would be a D6 in all stats so the punisher for example as a skilled human shot on a D6 >1 (and had a variety of ranged weapons which had a native +1) so he'd consistantly hit but wouldn't generally get levels of success that would be considered super human where as Thors agility of D8>2 meant that while he'd often pass the test by 5 or six as his reflexes are superior, but he'd also fail 25% of the time.

    Games are generally aimed at around 12-20 points, a favourite has always been avengers assemble:
    • Cap 3pts leads, buffs, protects and gives occasional beatdowns.
    • Ironman 3pts completes objectives and has limited access to tools to deal with most situations.
    • Widow 2pts distracts and takes out chaff.
    • Hawkeye 2pts removes debuffs flanks and skirmishes.
    • Thor 5pts is your pointman.
    • Hulk 5pts absorbs damage and makes a good finisher if targets have been stunned by somebody else.
    Because you're running pure avengers you also get bonuses based around re-grouping and co-ordinated attacks.

    Other pure teams get bonuses relevant to them, so X-men get re-rolls based on danger room preparation and double any strategic advantage, Guardians entirely negate strategic advantage as they're unpredictable and get free interactions with objectives because they 'wing it', brotherhood of mutants ignore outnumbering because they're used to getting bullied and get to use strategic advantage to re-roll tests because they're destined for greatness. etc.

    [​IMG]
    Captain america valliently beating spiderman unconcious against a shipping crate while namore and black panther double team the hulk buster
    [​IMG]
    The Thing about to cop a car to the face from ironman
    [​IMG]
    Nova prime 'powerballing' captain ameriac through Ironman and hawkeye
    [​IMG]
    Captain america using his signature move "beat helpless annihilation wave bad guy insensible against a wall"
    If you can find some suitable models (you're more than welcome to use it) just drop me a PM in fact if anyone can find some suitable models drop me a PM
     
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  16. jherazob

    jherazob Well-Known Member

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    Knight Models still has the DC license so those should work perfectly (and looks like they've had a wild spree of re-sculpting so they should be pretty up to date), but if you want Marvel and can't find the OOP minis consider Heroclix, they have freaking everything, although they're noticeably smaller and usually with crappy paintjobs but oh well...
     
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  17. Pen-dragon

    Pen-dragon Deva

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    How is that not the best solution? I mean it is the perfect excuse to buy more miniatures!
     
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  18. jherazob

    jherazob Well-Known Member

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    And that's exactly what i don't need! My backlog gives me rude looks every time i enter my room, and it keeps getting worse! :joy:
     
  19. Section9

    Section9 Well-Known Member

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    My wallet would like to have words with you, sir.
     
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  20. Varsovian

    Varsovian Well-Known Member

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    Hmmmm. I looked at Star Breach, but I was put off by the fact that half of the factions included are basically WH40K factions. And the book doesn't seem to offer a method of creating new factions...

    As for Ganesha Games, I've been intrigued for some time by Fear And Faith - which is supposed to be SOBH adapted for horror skirmish. Hmmmm.

    I'll look at WoE, then... As for Nemesis - oh, I know this one! I actually considered backing it on KS...

    My problem with Arena Rex is that it seems to be... somewhat limited? I mean, how much variety can there be in a game about a few people pushing each other around the arena..? The game caught my interest because of *gorgeous* miniatures and I'd even take a risk and pay for an overseas package to get it - but I wonder how much actual fun is there?

    Noted, thanks for sharing!

    Yeah, my backlog does the same, too. Especially since I started to spend most of my free time on preparing scenery instead.

    Of course, my *scenery backlog* is very happy to receive some love, so there's that :D

    On yet another hand, my backlog of RPG books to read is basically hating me these days...
     
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