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Ladies and Gents I'm looking for a rule set and not sure where to start. Criteria is modern through futuristic time frame. I want it to be as realistic as possible/practical, I'd prefer it to be designed for the 28mm +\- range, and most importantly I'd like it to be a very thorough rule set. Any and all inputs are welcome.

I would suggest Force on Force by Ambush Alley Games. Great set, very comprehensive eras to game in. What specific timeframe are youlooking for? It has several source books at this time, Iraq 2003, Afgahnastan 2003 to Present, Vietnam, and COld War Gone Hot. That was just in 2011. This year looks like Somolia and African Brush Wars at least, there should be 2 more that I cant remember right now. If you prefer a little more SciFi they also make Tomorrows War. Can be set as far forward as you want. The good thing is that if you learn one set of rules the other set is not hard to pick up. They share a common core of rules. Plus the scale is neutral. You pick the scale you want to use and can afford and go from there. That is because there thinking is that it is the man that pulls the trigger, not the gun he uses, that is important. I agree with that assesment based on my years of reading a wide range of History books. It plays fairly quickly and is skirmish level so wont break the bank to get started.

I'd echo the FoF or Tomorrow's War thing. If near future is your thing, I'd defintiely go with Tomorrow's War. It has rather rules (if you choose to use them) for ECM, Communications, Robots, dropships and other sci-fi elements.

It would help to know what size battle you want to play. Some folks have gone up to Battalion size and above, but the conventional wisedom seems to be that the game works best around Platoon level, perhaps a bit bigger.

Another very through/complete ruleset that I haven't played, but is widely well regarded is "Stargrunt 2" It's out of print now, but it can be downloade for free from Ground Zero Games.
http://www.groundzerogames.net/mambo/index.php?option=com_content&task=category§ionid=9&id=29&Itemid=50

Coming as more from the pop-gamer front, I'll recommend Infinity.

The rules are available free online:
http://www.infinitythegame.com

It's a model-based SciFi skirmish game where outplaying your opponent matters more than out-listing your opponent. The game system is quite balanced, thorough, and has a decent following.

Pretty much everyone has one wound, and bullets are terribly lethal. Armor will not protect you. Cover is essential.

Guns have really long range.
Positioning and facing matter.
Most models have many abilities they can do from cautious movement to suppressive fire to reactive fire.
There are also rules for a ton of SciFi equipment and abilities such as Thermoptic Camouflage, Mines, Cyber Warfare, Robots, etc.

Robots are rather clunky and most are more quadrupedal gun platforms with simple AI rather than soldiers on their own.

There's no Magic whatsoever. The closest thing are Hackers, and those only work on sensical targets such as heavy armor, enemy hackers, electronic equipment, and robots.

Tomorrows War and Infinity both +1 from me

Thanks for the help guys. I think I'm going to run with Force on Force. If anyone has any additional suggestions that are similar to that system I'm still open to input.

Well Force on Force has tons of expansions, I've been intrigued by Cold War Gone Hot myself... and Tomorrows War is basically the same system....

Additional question.... which will admittedly sound stupid at first. Allow me to preface it with my only war gaming experience thus far is 40k. How well do like scale models from different manufacturers typically match up. ie: would 20mm models from company A look respectable next to 20mm models from company B while standing next to a model tank from company C? I realize that technically they should be fine, however technicalities are not necessarily reality.

For the most part they should be fine... unless you're dealing with 'heroic scale' in which case all bets are off lol

Regarding scale, In general you will be fine. Some brands will not mix well in the same unit. Even these, however, will probably look fine if segregated into different squads but played on the same battlefield.

I'm not usually one to send folks to other forums, but if you're getting into Modern wargaming, you really owe it to yourself to go to http://theminiaturespage.com/ those crusty folks know just about everything there is to know about historical figures and wargaming in almost any scale.

28mm Scale is really the only one that suffers with variances in size, partly because the term '28mm' is a one size fits all. It was oriniginally coined to cover the variety of scales from 25mm to the 32mm of GW. However most historical manufactores seem to be levelling out at the 28mm mark these days.

Absolutionis wrote:Coming as more from the pop-gamer front, I'll recommend Infinity.

The rules are available free online:
http://www.infinitythegame.com

It's a model-based SciFi skirmish game where outplaying your opponent matters more than out-listing your opponent. The game system is quite balanced, thorough, and has a decent following.

Pretty much everyone has one wound, and bullets are terribly lethal. Armor will not protect you. Cover is essential.

Guns have really long range.
Positioning and facing matter.
Most models have many abilities they can do from cautious movement to suppressive fire to reactive fire.
There are also rules for a ton of SciFi equipment and abilities such as Thermoptic Camouflage, Mines, Cyber Warfare, Robots, etc.

Robots are rather clunky and most are more quadrupedal gun platforms with simple AI rather than soldiers on their own.

There's no Magic whatsoever. The closest thing are Hackers, and those only work on sensical targets such as heavy armor, enemy hackers, electronic equipment, and robots.

+1 to this, I pretty much only bring my 40K armys now, for when I can't get a game of Infinity.

TicToc wrote:Additional question.... which will admittedly sound stupid at first. Allow me to preface it with my only war gaming experience thus far is 40k. How well do like scale models from different manufacturers typically match up. ie: would 20mm models from company A look respectable next to 20mm models from company B while standing next to a model tank from company C? I realize that technically they should be fine, however technicalities are not necessarily reality.

Naa, it's not stupid, the only stupid question is the one unasked.

As it's been said, most companys model scale rather well together, so say 20mm's from Elhiem fit together rather well with 20mm's from Liberation.


Personally I like 20mm scale because I can use 1/72 scale model kits which are dirt cheap around here. Some people like 15mm because the figgies and tank/armour models are rathe inexpensive so you can play larger battles with more models.

If you haven't already check out the Ambush Alley Game website and fourm to learn about Force on Force and Tomorrow's War. I have both rulesets and I am rather impressed with both of them. For FoF there are a few different theater books out like, road to baghdad, Operation Enduring Freedom (afghanistand), Ambush Valley ( vietnam and one of my personal favs) and Cold War Gone Hot (which is tied for my new fav). So there is plenty of scope and variation to game play. You don't have to be locked into one era or time period also.

As it was said before also the core rules are pretty much the same in Tomorrow's War but they also add a sci-fi element to it. You can have robots ('bots) running around, ECM and 'The Grid' network (think the internet in 200 years) along with different tech-levels. IMHO the rules are better laid out in Tommorow's War then in the FoF book. I found tomorrow's war easier to pick up and play then the FoF book. If you are planning on playing sci-fi then pick up the TW book unless you got your heart set on doing moderens. Personally I like both books and I like to support the company so I usually pick up each book when it comes out.

The next book should be 'Day of the Rangers' set in somolia (ie 'Blackhawk Down'). Elhiem minatues has a good selection of 'skinnies' and as one of the official 'Force on Force minature suppliers' has a great selection of minatues to fit any of the theater books.

Good luck commander, you are going to need it. =o]

I second Force on Force and tomorrows war great rules and easy to pic up !