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Hi

I am new and bad at war games. I have sat at the table with friends talking 40K and War Machine so some knowledge. Primarily a RPG guy. So I don't really know what I am looking for. My group wants to take a bit of an RPG break. There is some interest in a light minis game, also many of the players are the sort of RPG players, who should really be war gamers.

I am looking for something for the group to try out fur I have a few requirements.

1. I need it to be 6 player. That fits in most of the game group and I can just do rules argument.

2. You shouldn't have a ton of minis. Some people will be overwhelmed by this at first.

3. (Not Mandatory) Pre assembled or even painted minis would be better. I only see one or two guys painting things.

4. (Not Mandatory) and easier system or very clear but difficult system would be better. I am thinking more War Machine and less 40K. Something us outsiders can pick up and understand.

I was thinking something like a multiplayer space hulk would be good. Maybe Tannhauser would that work?

I'd recommend Battletech. It's a bit "old school", but it's totally still in production by Catalyst Games. Most gamers under 30 probably know it better via the "Mechwarrior" series of computer games.

It plays great with ~3 minis to a player. The rules are straightforward, and it is a lot of fun. It was my gateway drug into mini gaming.

You don't even need minis, really. The box set I have has cardboard stand-ups.

Otherwise, it sounds like you want to give HeroClix a try. It used to be WizKids, but I'm not sure who makes it after they went bankrupt. The game is still in production. Easy rules, prepainted figures, low figure count. Yeah, the more I think about it, this is what I'd recommend given your criteria. But Battletech is cooler.

Star Wars Miniatures? It's no longer produced but easy enough to find on eBay. Prepainted and easy rules.

Dungeons & Dragons. Again pre-painted. There are old rules and new. The new game comes in a boxed format. Actually there are several D&D games out now all using miniatures suchas Castle Ravenloft.

Descent: Journeys in the Dark. It's a Board Game, okay, only designed for 2-5 players. But pretty sure some of the expansions expand that. It's a D&D style dungeon crawl.

Heroclix. Superheroes battling it out.

Heroscape. Prepainted minis, but again out of production. A bit kiddie, but I like it.

Battle Tech RPG or just Mech on Mech Wars.

The new Star Wars X-Wing game by Fantasy Flight Games. Awesome minis, simple rules.

Arkham Horror by Fantasy Flight Games. Cooperative game that should be right up most RPG player's alley. The more players you have, the more difficult the game gets.

Raatcharch wrote:
I'd recommend Battletech. It's a bit "old school", but it's totally still in production by Catalyst Games. Most gamers under 30 probably know it better via the "Mechwarrior" series of computer games.

It plays great with ~3 minis to a player. The rules are straightforward, and it is a lot of fun. It was my gateway drug into mini gaming.

You don't even need minis, really. The box set I have has cardboard stand-ups.

Otherwise, it sounds like you want to give HeroClix a try. It used to be WizKids, but I'm not sure who makes it after they went bankrupt. The game is still in production. Easy rules, prepainted figures, low figure count. Yeah, the more I think about it, this is what I'd recommend given your criteria. But Battletech is cooler.

The new Battletech starter set has like 25+ plastic mechs in it. The sculpting quality is dubious at best, but they're still minis!

Last Night on Earth. It's a complete zombie boardgame.

Or play Infinity. Rules are free on their website, and you can proxy models (or buy the beautiful models). A 3 vs. 3 battle would be interesting.

Heroclix or Heroscape were the first two which leapt to mind. It's a shame Heroscape isn't in production anymore; it was really great for this kind of casualt multiplayer play.

Battletech is probably a good call. Even playing with 1 or 2 mechs per person will give you a fun game. And the buy-in is really affordable, especialy with twenty or so plastic mechs coming with the boxed set.

The New Descent game or Super Dungeon Explorer are both light games that can handle a group of players. Both have nice miniatures that are minimal assembly. Both are a good challenge with the same co-op feel as RPGs but more beer & pretzels.

 heartserenade wrote:
Last Night on Earth. It's a complete zombie boardgame.

Reminds me, I got to play Zombicide this weekend and it was wicked fun!

We played Last Night on Earth. It was terribly unbalanced.

Zombicide, we play it with 5~6 players.

GW's Lord of the Rings game is great. The models are easy to assemble and may require on piece to be glued on to another, they still look good with flat colours, the rules are extremely simple and it's great to play with a bunch of friends. Plus small games are more fun.

I'd recommend Song of Blades and Heroes, as it is by far my favorite rules-lite fantasy warband (7-10 minis per person) skirmish game.

It will not work well with 6 independent players in one battle, though if you split them into two opposing teams it might work. However, takes only a 3x3 table, so a bunch of people can play in a relatively small room small space. Also, most games resolve in under an hour, so you can play a few games in an evening and switch up players and the rules are very simple to learn and require very little oversight.

Most importantly, it's not tied to any specific set of miniatures, so all your members can buy whatever fantasy figs catch their fancy and use the unit creation mechanic to stat them up for play.

http://www.ganeshagames.net/product_info.php?cPath=1_6&products_id=7

All that said, if you absolutely have to have all 6 players independently playing on the same gameboard, it will probably not work well.

Free rules; Blaze of Glory (a cowboy game). Only need a few minis, and it's a hell of a lot of fun. Good for lots of players as there isn't a fixed turn sequence - you draw a card from a deck and that tells you which individual model moves.

 SlaveToDorkness wrote:
We played Last Night on Earth. It was terribly unbalanced.

The first time I ever played that game, there were 6 of us. Three of the group (played humans) swore off the game that day. It was one of those "luck of the draw" games, where everything went right with the Zombies.

Just recently, I played a 1 on 1 game with my 14y/o daughter. We played the 15 turn starter game. With minimal help from me, mostly in the form of showing her options she might not have seen -both good and bad, but without telling her which- she was able to do really well. She only killed half the # of Zombies she'd have needed, but she made it all the way down to turn 2 before I killed the first human and barely killed the second at turn 1. If ONE of my attacks had flubbed, she'd have won.

Accordingly, I don't feel it's unbalanced.


Another option is Dungeon Twister. The RPG group I used to be in thought very highly of it. I've got the main box, the "Prison" 2e box and 2 or 3 expansions. That one will scale up to 6 people.

If you can find it, you might like FRAG! It's a board game inspired by first person shooter video games. Six people is no problem, and you kill EACH OTHER.

Also, a card game- Munchkin. Great for RPGers.


Eric

Well i have the 1st. edition of descent i guess i will give it a try. I am friends with Ninja Ray and he has also mentioned it. I guess i will need to look at picking up the upgrade pack.

One of my friends did Battletech back in the Battletech, Citytech, AeroTech days. I guess that would be worth a shot.

I will take a look at the Zombicide thing. I like those you build the board games.

travelnjones wrote:

I will take a look at the Zombicide thing. I like those you build the board games.

You build the board in both, Dungeon Twister and LNoE.

Eric

oh ok i will look at those then. I am a little worried the some ( One of the) players will say why not play an RPG but screw them (him). I will check around to see if either of them are cheap on ebay or my FLGS.

 MagickalMemories wrote:

 SlaveToDorkness wrote:
We played Last Night on Earth. It was terribly unbalanced.

The first time I ever played that game, there were 6 of us. Three of the group (played humans) swore off the game that day. It was one of those "luck of the draw" games, where everything went right with the Zombies.

Just recently, I played a 1 on 1 game with my 14y/o daughter. We played the 15 turn starter game. With minimal help from me, mostly in the form of showing her options she might not have seen -both good and bad, but without telling her which- she was able to do really well. She only killed half the # of Zombies she'd have needed, but she made it all the way down to turn 2 before I killed the first human and barely killed the second at turn 1. If ONE of my attacks had flubbed, she'd have won.

Accordingly, I don't feel it's unbalanced.


Another option is Dungeon Twister. The RPG group I used to be in thought very highly of it. I've got the main box, the "Prison" 2e box and 2 or 3 expansions. That one will scale up to 6 people.

If you can find it, you might like FRAG! It's a board game inspired by first person shooter video games. Six people is no problem, and you kill EACH OTHER.

Also, a card game- Munchkin. Great for RPGers.


Eric

I'll second FRAG-it's tons of fun, and there is miniscule 'character creation', each model is a different color, and it's a blast (pun intended). Also, I'm surprised nobody mentioned Talisman-you can play 6 people (takes longer), and has the character building level to it. There are a bunch of models, no painting required unless you want to, and the rules are pretty simple but fun. Runebound is another Talisman-like game, that is supposedly more balanced, and is also a lot of fun. Can't go wrong with any of them.

I have talisman actually. Its a good game, i was just hoping for something to introduce some light war gaming minis type stuff but yea its a great game.

One of my friends (think he is on her as Zark or Zark1969) and I had all the expansions for the 2nd edition. Even the Dragons one.

I will look at this Frag


Automatically Appended Next Post:
Wait Frag is a SJG? is that the right one?

Run a Necromunda campaign!

The rules are free from GW's site iirc, and you only need like 10-12 minis max. You don't even have to use GW's minis if you don't want to, and with gang creation and characterisation, it shares a lot of elements with roleplaying, so you won't be too out of your comfort zone!

 WaaaaghLord wrote:
Run a Necromunda campaign!

The rules are free from GW's site iirc, and you only need like 10-12 minis max. You don't even have to use GW's minis if you don't want to, and with gang creation and characterisation, it shares a lot of elements with roleplaying, so you won't be too out of your comfort zone!

There RPGer and by the sound of it there some power gamer in the group. Infinity would be a better fit, more so with the new XP system. Necromunda quickly becomes no fun when one guy gets ahead in XP and money, then crub stomps everybody else.

As for game I go FRAG or Munchkin, or Arkham Horror.

Battletech here as well. Although if you're looking for fast version you can try some of the clicks games. those are already painted.

The battletech starter kit has 25 mech's in it and everything you'll all need to run a game. best part is its only $75 and everyone can enjoy on the cheap.

Check out games made by Richard Borg. I can't recall if there are any 6 player ones out there, but they are a damn fine introduction to strategy/tactics gaming.

Zombiecide for sure.
I can see 3 on 3 games of Star Wars: X-Wing
I'm not sure. but I think that Super Dungeon Explore! can have 6 players.

Actually that super dungeon explore looks pretty neat. Is it like descent where you play a single party member? That is good by would be perfect would be if you could play a whole party and there was pvp with other party member. Is there anything like that? Because that would just be perfect!

1. Incursion.

2. Empire of the Dead

3. Blackwater Gulch

4. Historica Rodenta

5. Superfigs

6. Pulp City

7. Infinity

8. All things Zombie

9. Road Kill

10. Anime Tactics

12. Caverns of Doom

13. Heroquest

14. Space Hulk

15 Battletech

16 Necromunda

17. Mordhiem

18. AE WW2

19. AE BOUNTY

20. Chaos in Carpathia

21. Chaos in Cairo

23. Chaos on Khronos

24. Red Sun, Blue Sky


I could just keep going on and on. Basicly, you need to break it down on exactly what you are interested in playing.

The games are out there, you guys just need to focus on what your interested in.

All of these are suggestions, and in no particular order.

Good luck though. I wish I had that issue sometimes.

sorry to restate what I was saying, if each player could control a small party and could engage in PVP with other parties that would be perfect. Doubt anything like that exists. Sort of a small skirmish wargame inside a dungeon exploration game. Sort of like talisman or dungeon where you not cooperating.

Starcraft the board game. 6 players, minis, different every game. The expansion adds more units planets and scenarios too.

 Grot 6 wrote:


2. Empire of the Dead

.

This one looks really interesting. I am sort of confused by the pages and pics though. I see some where its played on a grid board that is set up. And i see others were it looks more of the tabletop style where you measure things with tape measures like 40k. Can you play it either way? didn't know that even existed playing from a grid may be better for noobs like us.