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2012/02/24 22:22:02
Subject: [Indie Mini War Game] ver.0.0.2 -- WIP game -- feedback wanted
a little project I've been bouncing around for a few days
I figure it's progressed far enough to share here
The game takes place several hundred years in the future, humans are beginning to delve into interstellar colonization. Civil war and extraterrestrials tear the longstanding peace apart. The Republic is left without a formal military and relies on an archaic order of "Knights" as well as their alien allies, The Empire utilizes extremely fast, versatile war machines to close the distance with their enemies before unleashing huge salvos of inaccurate weaponry. The Aether Guard fall somewhere in between, they feel like a modern military and rely on maneuvering and cover to dispatch their enemies safely. Also there are aliens (I haven't started working on any specific factions yet for the ETs)
The game is very terrain oriented, close combat is unforgiving, and the factions are very diverse. It is meant for a 28mm scale with moderately sized armies (somewhere in between a skirmish and a full on battle.)
I'm looking for as much feedback as possible, especially on ways to make the game feel more unique (It feels a little too close to 40k right now).
Included in this file is one in-progress rule book and two in-progress army books.
I should also note that I am interested in seeing fan-dexes if anyone wants to throw a quick one together and PM it to me.
This message was edited 5 times. Last update was at 2012/05/07 03:41:56
Okay, well after reading it, I'm a fan of the fluff, but I think I'd need a cheat-sheet to remember the different assault rules and the abbreviations. Also, what to do about armor? Maybe I missed something, lol.
This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at 2012/02/27 01:12:30
It was just a very brief overview, I'll post my fluff timeline eventually. It currently only goes from the year 2030 to about 2100 or so, it should be 50 or 60 years longer. I also have some artwork in progress.
Gave a read-through of the rules. Seems straitforward and workable so far. It's appears to be a much streamlined version of 40k, which can be a good or a bad thing depending on what your goals are.
What's your intention for these rules? Are they intended for eventual sale or as a homebrew set for your friends?
How have your playtested games gone?
This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at 2012/02/27 14:12:38
I'm hoping to playtest this Friday, as for my intentions, I'd just like to see how far it'll go, if it goes to any sort of production I'd be more than overjoyed but if it stays homebrew I have no complaints.
Automatically Appended Next Post: Here's my fluff time-line, It's pretty long, not too detailed yet.
Spoiler:
2030: Earth Governments unite under one Republic (Unification Wars)
2045: The Republic begins colonizing the Solar system (Mars, Mercury, the Moon, Europa, etc.)
2047: Unification Wars end, Republic defeats and destroys all records of hostile government. Large deposits of iron found on Mars.
2048-2070: The Republic terraforms Mars. Mars' population nears Earth's (7.5 billion). Europa colonies utilize martian resources to begin developing large scale extra-solar transportation.
2075: large scale extra-solar transportation achieved by 1/7 of the Republic Fleet. Space travel nears light speed.
2076: The republic builds a new fleet dedicated to extra-solar operation, commanded by Grand Fleet Master, Vernius Dergion. Several extra-solar planets are colonized in three star systems. Terraforming is now a rapid process.
2077: The Republic has not known war in 30 years. Military forces are nearly nonexistent. The Republic Order of Knights maintains peace by both negotiations and force.
2078: Human Populations in major colonies: Earth: 8Bil. Mars: 7.5Bil. Europa: 4.5Bil. Poseidon (proxima centauri): 6Bil. Kraken (sirius) 7.5bil. Nautilus: 4.5Bil.
Multiple fleets colonize Solar's arm of the Milky Way, the Republic begins approaching the galactic center. Grand Fleet Master, Dergion, assumes control of the Republic Senate as Grand Master of the Republic.
2080: Minor uprisings begin on colony worlds. Dergion annihilates all "revolutionaries," mutilating all traitors as examples. The Aether Guard is created by the Republic Senate. Its goal is to handle colonization an maintenance of "fringe worlds." Aether Guard Lord General, Hiram Klaxton, saves the population of Kraken from a group of radicals utilizing "stolen" weapons of mass destruction. Lord General, Klaxton is given control of Kraken by Dergion. The Republic Senate and the Order of Knights fear that they will be overthrown by an alliance between Dergion and the Aether Guard.
2090: Lord General, Klaxton's investigation into the events on Kraken determine that Dergion was responsible for supplying the renegades with WMDs. Dergion vanishes as many planets secede from the Republic. The Republic Order of Knights assumes control of the Senate. The Aether Guard swear loyalty to the Republic. Aether Guard forces attempt to reclaim seceding worlds while Knights are in transit to war-torn areas. The Empire is found to be responsible for the rebellion. Dergion leads the Empire in a hundred year civil war against the Republic.
"Hundred Year War": Battle for Poseidon: The Aether Guard assaulted aquatic cities from orbit, inadvertently killing millions of civilians before fighting began. Republic Knights arrive as Aether landing craft descend. The Knights execute several Aether commanders for the killing of civilians. Aether Guard lead a difficult, urban assault against well armed, dug in forces. A WMD destroys Poseidon's capitol, killing over a billion people and starting a tsunami which levels most of the planet's structures. The Republic Knights finish the battle and claim victory. The Aether guard claims neutrality, unable to side with either the Empire or the Republic who had executed Aether commanders without any consent from higher Aether forces. Fringe worlds begin contacting new found sentient life. The Aether Guard prospers in trade with extraterrestrials. The Empire mercilessly slaughters all other species, while the Republic accepts many new species into its rank and government.
Battle for Heldür:
Heldür was a volcanic, Aether Guard controlled planet with moderate Empire influence. The Republic sent a pacification force of Knights to keep the Empire in check, not only on Heldür, but the entire star-system. The local Aether Guard attacked the invading Republic forces, losing on the ground but maintaining all major airspace. The Empire used a blockade of starships to render all incoming support useless, eventually taking the system. An Aether specialist, Cole Daimon rose to fame on Heldür, utilizing his Dragon-Breath Flamethrower to defend anti-air battery 48 from enemy forces. He was named the Dragon of Heldür by the troops he saved.
Conflict on Westerwinns:
Westerwinns was the farthest planet from Heldür's star. After all major Aether support had died on this frozen hellish world, an Aether veteran sniper, Wes Dergion, Vernius Dergion's nephew, hid in Westerwinns' glaciers, sniping 176 Empire troopers and officers within the week before he was rescued.
The Empire destroyed the world out of anger and declared Wes Dergion, the Spirit of Westerwinns.
Yeah, that was A LOT... Good luck reading it all
This message was edited 3 times. Last update was at 2012/03/23 14:06:42
The playtest happened yesterday, one 600 point game between Aether Guard and the Republic. Everything worked out fairly how I expected, CC needs to be tweaked and the Republic Ghrall are REALLY over-powered.
Lord of Timbraxia wrote:And what are you going to do about this? Will you be upping the Ghrall's points, or will you tone them down?
They're going to be toned down, slightly, their Shooting Skill will be changed to make them less accurate. Also, their points cost will go up by at least 5 points per model.
They were really OP, a squad of 30 was able to kill 15 Aether riflemen and a Commander within 2 turns. During turn 1, they were able to inflict 15 unsaved wounds onto a squad of 10 men, and only suffered 5 casualties themselves.
Yeah, Grhaal are pretty orky, a nice alternative to the jedi-style of the Knights. I think the Grhaal should all be fixed now.
I worked out the first special character for the Republic, a Grhaal who was allowed to train as a knight, The Fist of Kitto (try and find that reference). The Grhaal now have a decent backstory and such.
The Aether guard are well, they probably won't change until I get another chance to do a test game. I am working on a special character for them, either a Lord General type (perhaps Klaxton?)
or a commando type character.
New Fluff!
Battle for Heldür:
Heldür was a volcanic, Aether Guard controlled planet with moderate Empire influence. The Republic sent a pacification force of Knights to keep the Empire in check, not only on Heldür, but the entire star-system. The local Aether Guard attacked the invading Republic forces, losing on the ground but maintaining all major airspace. The Empire used a blockade of starships to render all incoming support useless, eventually taking the system. An Aether specialist, Cole Daimon rose to fame on Heldür, utilizing his Dragon-Breath Flamethrower to defend anti-air battery 48 from enemy forces. He was named the Dragon of Heldür by the troops he saved.
Conflict on Westerwinns:
Westerwinns was the farthest planet from Heldür's star. After all major Aether support had died on this frozen hellish world, an Aether veteran sniper, Wes Dergion, Vernius Dergion's nephew, hid in Westerwinns' glaciers, sniping 176 Empire troopers and officers within the week before he was rescued.
The Empire destroyed the world out of anger and declared Wes Dergion, the Spirit of Westerwinns.
killykavekommando wrote:Story seems a bit too much like Starwars, up until the end. What did you use to represent each of the minis for the battle?
We were just using random 40k minis from the game we had played previously.
I intentionally named some things after similar equivalents in StarWars, I wanted people to draw some kind of connection there, I want the game to fall somewhere between Starwars, Firefly and 40k.
Also, I want to rename the Sedition Wars segment of the timeline, since a game called sedition wars actually exists. Suggestions?
This message was edited 2 times. Last update was at 2012/03/08 03:53:53
Another Test-game, everything went surprisingly well since the last update to the rules, I'll post a new version, soon.
Automatically Appended Next Post: I've been thinking about the Empire, I really want them to have a different style from the two existing armies. The best Idea is to have their troops move in groups of 1 or 2 at most with decent armor, a lot of wildly inaccurate weapons that do amazing damage. Each model would have a high amount of health (Wounds). The army would field much less models than others, but each model would be nearly as effective as a squad of regulars, making even large battles feel like skirmishes do to the lack of models.
This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at 2012/03/09 03:44:25
killykavekommando wrote:I like how this game has that Infinity kind of skirmish feel in which unit choice is very important. Seems interesting!
Yeah, today's play-test really showed off the power of unit-choices. I brought a squad of Aether veterans, a squad of drop-troops, a tiny squad of riflemen with battle rifles accompanied by a commander with a BR, and both of the Aether guard's current special characters. A very ranged list, good for fighting against knights. My opponent shocked me by fielding only the Fist of Kitto with his special rule that allows Ghraal to be bought as basic infantry and two medium sized groups of Ghrall. I actually managed to do better in CC than I did by shooting, LOL.
One thing I've been working on lately is the Empire.
So far, their basic troop choice has nearly god-like stats, and really good weapon choices. I'm hoping it turns out that they can be more RPG than strategy as I go along. because of the strength of the soldiers only 2-3 can be brought in a regular game, however they have a lot of very nice upgrades. I'm looking for C&C on this idea...
Hive Fleet Aquarius 2-1-0
