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I'm a bit tired of GW's business practices , and as a 15 year veteran of the "Hobby," i feel almost pushed out the metaphorical doors . So i'd like to find out what other fun games there are out there. I love the sci-fi of 40k , but also would love a Western game , or perhaps steam punk , or ww2.
Suggestions?

Warmachine/Hordes by Privateer Press is a great game. It's more skirmish oriented (IMO). And it doesn't really cost that much to get started. They have some very nice minis, although they tend to have a few bad ones, like most other companies I guess. They also have pretty good customer service practices (in my experience).

The rules themselves aren't very hard to learn, and it has a lot of in depth strategy involved to. It does take a bit to get used to their game turn though. It's a nice break from the "move,shoot, assault" based turn of GW systems.

ummm never really got into anything else, but I hear that Warmachine is a good steampunk game.

http://www.warlordgames.co.uk/

I saw this the other day, I dont know much about it, but looks pretty cool. Seens to be where Paul sawyer ended up.

And you also have AT43

NOTE Im too lazy to start a new system.

Try browsing http://www.tabletopgamingnews.com and [http://theminiaturespage.com[/url] and subscribing to http://www.the-ancible.com and http://www.wargamesillustrated.net

You could also browse Dakka's very own forums (http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/forums/list.page scrolling down to those listed under "other games" for some ideas.

A great podcast to listen to is http://wwwthed6generation.com which reviews all sorts of games.

There's a great world of independent games out there. Give it a whirl!

My current favourites are Battlefield Evolution: World at War, Uncharted Seas and Malifaux, but there are a gazillion others to choose from!

WWII : Rules of Engagement
Steampunk style: Malifaux

I think Malifaux has more Steampunk to it than the Steam Fantasy of
Warmachine, but that's only based on a brief read-through. Malifaux has
western elements, horror, and whatever else Wyrd cooked up to fit into
their line of miniatures.

Infinity.....

The world is your oyster, young Jedi.

There are games at every command level, every scale, and in every period, real or fictional, that anyone could imagine.

Still no strictly western games huh?

Well ya, legends of the old west, but it belongs to that nasty ol GW. the cool thing though is you can get your minis from Black Scorpion.
there was also a game called Boot Hill way back when, im fairly sure it can be adopted to minis, (its was alot like D&D)
other than that no idea at the momment.

Malifaux has the western & steampunk you're looking for but it is a skirmish game so it's not as epic as any GW games.

At-43 has some cool sci-fi and fairly good rules but the release schedule and retail prices for individual box sets both suck horribly.

Warmachine is a good solid game and although the steampunk is there you'd probably miss it if you weren't paying attention.

No one has mentioned Flames of War yet?

WWII game, looks pretty fun.

You want Sci-Fi AND World War 2?

Boy, I've got just the thing for you...

http://www.secretsofthethirdreich.com/

Nazis? Check.
Zombies? Check.
Werewolves? Check.
Hitler as a leader of a coven of Vampires? YUP!

US with crazy alien reverse engineered tech and derived supersoldiers? Yup, check!
Britain with druidic magic? Oh yeah baby, check.
Robots? What's that? OH YEAH CHECK!

But seriously. It's a fun system, and they've got their first expansion coming out soon(which has the rules for the Free French under the command of Charles de Ghoul.)

That's right. France is a radioactive wasteland chock full of zombies, Nazi werewolves/vampires stalking the trenches and the like now.

They've also got a Space Hulk-esque game called "Incursion" which is about US powered armor troops and MI13 forces assaulting a top secret Nazi experimenting warehouse on the fortress of Gibraltar.

I'd recommend Warmachine & Hordes wholeheartedly. The games have been around for some time, there's a great following and customer service, the minis are gorgeous...mostly, and they've started up their new rulings, so it's a great time to start.

I like the looks of Malifaux, but since it's new, I'm unsure what the player coverage is like (no one's playing in my lgs yet. They mostly bought the figures to paint them up)

fire4effekt wrote:Still no strictly western games huh?

If you are after non-GW games, there's Gutshot by Hawleg Publishing (http://www.hawgleg.com/)

Also "The Rules With No Name" from Foundry (http://www.wargamesfoundry.com/books/RWNN.asp)

And Knuckelduster at http://www.knuckleduster.com/index.html

There's also a load of FREE wargames rules for all periods, scales and genres at http://www.freewargamesrules.co.uk/. That's right, FREE! Their links to Wild West rulesets are at http://www.freewargamesrules.co.uk/index.php?page=19th-century

One thing to think about when getting into a new game is "how likely will I find someone across the table to play with"???
and if thats not a issue for you you might ask your self how far your willing to go to promote a game you want to play. buying two small armies to get people interested isn't a bad idea if you find a game you really love.

If you like WW2 youll find a huge fan base with Flames of war. If you like Sci Fi AT-43 is slowly growing .
You might like to check out yahoo fan groups to see who is playing the games your interested in around your area. here's some examples (the FOW New England group is a good sized membership with over 125 members)

http://games.groups.yahoo.com/group/NEAT-43/

http://games.groups.yahoo.com/group/fownewengland/

http://games.groups.yahoo.com/group/FirestormArmada/?yguid=325136935

fire4effekt wrote:I'm a bit tired of GW's business practices , and as a 15 year veteran of the "Hobby," i feel almost pushed out the metaphorical doors . So i'd like to find out what other fun games there are out there. I love the sci-fi of 40k , but also would love a Western game , or perhaps steam punk , or ww2.
Suggestions?

Malifaux from Wyrd miniatures has some great models and the game looks interesting. Theres bits of fantasy, steampunk, wild west, etc in it. I'm currently painting up the "Ortega Gang", who have a very south of the border western feel to them.

fire4effekt wrote:Still no strictly western games huh?

Are you looking for westerns games?

http://www.erichotz.com/game_rules1.html

Check these guys out.
That list is extensive.

There is also these guys-
[/url] http://mrnizz.tripod.com/wwest.htm [url]

Then there is the old school Deadlands Game. Deadlands combines alot of the same elements that you are looking for. Horror, Steampunk, Wildwest.

Sci-Fi? Infinity

Steampunk? Malifaux

WW2? Flames of War

For the price of a new 2000-pt GW army, you could probably get small forces together for all 3 games.

For a Western RPG, try Kenzerco's Aces and 8's. Gritty and leathal role playing game. (I am not an employee or representative of KenzerCo.)

Kanluwen wrote:You want Sci-Fi AND World War 2?

Boy, I've got just the thing for you...

http://www.secretsofthethirdreich.com/

Nazis? Check.
Zombies? Check.
Werewolves? Check.
Hitler as a leader of a coven of Vampires? YUP!

US with crazy alien reverse engineered tech and derived supersoldiers? Yup, check!
Britain with druidic magic? Oh yeah baby, check.
Robots? What's that? OH YEAH CHECK!

But seriously. It's a fun system, and they've got their first expansion coming out soon(which has the rules for the Free French under the command of Charles de Ghoul.)

That's right. France is a radioactive wasteland chock full of zombies, Nazi werewolves/vampires stalking the trenches and the like now.

They've also got a Space Hulk-esque game called "Incursion" which is about US powered armor troops and MI13 forces assaulting a top secret Nazi experimenting warehouse on the fortress of Gibraltar.

Sir i think youve about sold me.
I also do have a Cryx starter for warmachine painted up, now i just need some one to teach me.(dragonknight lookin at you)

It's out of print, but Pinnacle used to sell 'The Great Rail Wars' as the miniaturers rules to the Deadlands RPG. TGRW ended up becoming the base for the Save Worlds rules, which are a sort of tactical/RPG hybrid.

The GRW rules had some neat stuff. Inittiative is resolved by cards, heroes are intentionally very powerful.

The Deadlands setting is a mix of Wild West with a lot of horror and some steampunk. So cowpokes shooting zombies with gatling pistols.

(For mecha action I am obligated to promote Heavy Gear. For Weird WWII, may I suggest Gear Kreig? Both from Dream Pod 9 who do, in fact, occasionally pay me when i get off my lazy rear and do stuff for them.

fire4effekt wrote:Im lookin for something new

Heroin.

I here's it's the 'new Ice' these days with the youth.

H.B.M.C. wrote:

fire4effekt wrote:Im lookin for something new

Heroin.

I here's it's the 'new Ice' these days with the youth.

And substantially cheaper than wargaming.

fire4effekt wrote:Still no strictly western games huh?

Gutshot is supposed to be good fun.

ill throw in my recommendation for warmachine/hordes. i bshed the game wrongfully for a few years, but when i got burnt on GW (seems to happen more lately) privateer press caught some business from me. the game isnt without it's flaws, but the busniess practives of the company are great, the models are very nice (and a change of pace from GW, which is a big plus for me) the game is quite different than anything GW produces as well.

i would take a look at the ranges, look at what looks good and go from there. the good part is the rules for both games are currently lofting in revision limbo and they are actually in PDF form on the PP website. you can get a few bases and proxy whatever you want with the stat cards available for free, so you can play for next to nothing.

give it a shot.

Flames of War is huge here in NM... try that out!

I like most of the WM and Hordes sculpts but just like GW some are hit and miss.

I do like the idea of jacks going all plastic and that might persuade me next summer to go to alternatives. I buy strictly FW monstrous creatures as at even 3 times the cost of the pewter monstrous creatures the ease of working with resin (assembly wise) to me is worth the extra money (not to mention nothing GW makes comes close to the quality of FW).