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My brother and I are trying to get into mini wargaming. By now we both have a fair number of minis, but we're finding a lot of the game systems to be overly complicated and a little too much stuff to have to remember or write down. So, we're looking for a system that is overall simple and easy to learn and something that we can force other family members and noobs into. My brother came across Song of Blades and Heroes and sent me a copy of the sample rules. They seem like they're more or less what we're looking for, but I wanted to get some opinions from Dakka. How many of you guys use these rules? Does anyone know of any other simple systems that can be used with a variety of brands of figures? And, assuming Song of Blades and Heroes is exactly what we're looking for, does anyone know where I can find some predone stats for using 40k figures?

I play song of blades and heroes, its a very easy system to learn. There are many supplements such as dungeon crawl, campaign settings, and many more supposedly coming out in the future. I definitely recommend trying it out and the beauty of it you can use what ever miniatures you have. The system also allows for creating your own warbands, but as far as finding predone stats for 40k i am not sure but like I said you can create your own stats by following the mechanics.

Great game!

I always point people wondering about Song of Blades and Heroes to the great battle reports here (and I'm sure the author will be along soon to also sing the praises of SBH).

Anyways the initiative/activation system is one of the more unique and interesting approaches I've seen. I also like how a couple of stats and special abilities can make simple, easy to use characters that still feel different.

SBH is generally aimed at your typical fantasy scenario. Remember it's also skirmish scale, so if you're trying to recreate 40k mass battles you might want to look at another system. Also if you're going with range heavy games like 40k, you could look at one of the SBH sister systems like Mutants and Death Ray Guns. Still the same core system but aimed a bit more towards sci-fi.

In terms of other systems there a ton out there. I like some aspects of Two Hour Wargames and Force on Force. Getting into a new game is one of the funnest parts of the hobby to me. Exploring new mechanics, making newbie mistakes and laughing about them later, etc. always feels really rewarding.

If you really want a easy to play game to use your 40K figures, try In The Emperor's Name. It is a fun skirmish-level game (about 5-10 figures on a side) that can be downloaded completely for free. It's got about 20 pages of actual rules for play, plus additional material (like using vehicles in your games).

http://thegamesshed.wordpress.com/2011/07/02/in-the-emperors-name/

The above link will lead you to the 2.0 edition rules, which are complete with three documents: Rules, Warbands, and campaign rules. There are 3.0 rules being released, but these are the most complete and work just fine.

The following is a link to the 3.0 rules, but there is no material for the warbands yet (and they evidently tweaked how the points work, so the 2.0 Warbands aren't compatible) , so you have to do all the hard work on your own, unless you use the online points calculator. Hopefully in time when it is complete, it will be as cool as the 2.0 rules.

http://iten-game.org/

Song of Blades and Heroes is a great game. Bosky's already linked to my club's 2012 summer campaign. We've been playing it off and on for about 3 years now and are about to start another campaign. It is fast to play but offers enough options to keep you entertained for years.

Though it's not free, it is really cheap. The rules and each supplement are only 8 bucks each. http://www.ganeshagames.net/index.php?cPath=1_6&osCsid=90n4gpv8qf7jmf96996ft30af6

At the website above you can also see the free warband builder. It's a simple HTML program that does all the math for you in creating a warband and then lets you print it out and/or save (as text code) it for future use.

As for Sci-Fi games...

In the Emperor's Name is a great fast playing warband size game for your 40k figures and it has a unit creation mechanic so you can use it for any other sci-fi figure you might have. It's free.

Warengine/Shockforce is another great game for 40k figures. It's free and will accommodate platoon size infantry engagements but doesn't handle vehicles well. It's actually a favorite of mine as it plays fast, but has quite a bit of tactical flexibility You can get the rules and stats for all your 40k figures for free at the "Shockforce" Yahoo group. http://games.groups.yahoo.com/group/WarEngine/

No Limits is another suggestion. It's basically the VOR game engine made open source. IIRC, it has stats for 40k'ish units already created or you can mod your own.
http://www.wargamesunlimited.net/nolimits/

Also, consider the Warpath 2.0 rules from Mantic. They are free, professionally created, fast playing and heavily playtested. They don't have a unit creation mechanic, but almost all their units have pretty obvious 40k analogues.
http://www.manticgames.com/Hobby/Gaming.html
There's also a fair number of fan created force lists if you do a google search.

Lastly, Ganesha Games, creators of Song of Blades, is currently working on a Sci-Fi game called "Harder than Steel" It won't be out for a while, but it should cover all your 40k figures.

Best of luck on your game search. The world of alternate rulesets is wide and wonderful.

Im going to go ahead and agree with Eilif. Especially on Song of Blades and WarEngine.