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So I wanted to throw out a few ideas for a game I’ve been working on. It’s more of a board game than a minis game, but it could theoretically work for both types. I’m really just doing this for myself and a few friends, but I wanted to get some feedback on general game ideas, well, really mostly out of curiosity. It’s a game I started designing because none of the games I’ve played really fit the stupidly specific game I was looking for (hard sci-fi, with a defined scale that focused more on strategic thinking and force movement, that allows for non-firepower advantages to come into play, i.e., a long-distant raider force vs an equivalently sized heavy line force is an interesting game to play). I apologize for that last sentence, which was atrocious. The following aren’t rules, but design goals. If anyone else thinks this sort of game sounds interesting, I’ll work on getting my playtest notes incorporated into the main rules and you can take a look.

Main Goals:

Setting informs rules: I know this can be a pretty questionable choice, but there’s a reason for it. The rules are designed around a future science-fictional conflict, and while simulation is not a goal, it is desired that units do what they’re supposed to do, (i.e., infantry are durable and stealthy, but not necessarily very quick, and vehicles are fast, but easy to detect and cannot negotiate broken terrain). I think Flames of War has done a pretty decent job with this (or at least they had in the past, it’s been quite some time). They tailored rules to make it beneficial for units to act like they did historically. This isn’t historical, of course, but I’m trying to take the same approach.

Set turn timescale: Turns represent a set amount of time (1 hour), but actions aren’t supposed to represent everything that can happen in one hour. They represent the opportunities that forces have over the course of that hour that inevitably includes lots of waiting. I don’t have an in-game purpose for this, it just seems required to me given the light simulationist aspects of the game.

Large set scale: I am looking at both hex map and tabletop rules options, and in either case, one hex (or one inch) would be equal to 1 km. This makes most weapons ranges pretty short compared to the size of the board. Light infantry carried small arms have a range of 1” (or the adjacent hex), Power armored infantry would have ranges around 2-3”, mortars would be 5-6”, but attack differently than directly fired weapons. The large scale is to allow the overall map space to take up a strategically significant area. Miniatures (in the incredibly unlikely event they were ever produced) would obviously not be to scale, although would be somewhere around 10-12mm scale, and would act as markers, and their bases would be representative of the unit’s area of control. Units could move a relatively long distance compared to their firing range in some circumstances. Basically, if they were not “engaged” with another enemy unit (not observed or under fire), they could have a pretty long movement (in the 6-10” range), but maneuvering under fire would be more like 1-3”. Ideally, this would make movement much more important than in smaller scale games, where movement is a relatively short distance compared to weapon range. I think a 3x3 to 4x4 would be a good table size. Hopefully, this scale, with a smallish number of units (6-10) would avoid the feeling that some games get where your units are packed like sardines into the available space.

Combat: The game would not be defined by exchanging fire, since weapon ranges are so relatively short. Unlike (for example) 40k, where everything is firing just about every chance it gets, units would fire only when close to enemy units. Combat in a turn would generally be a firefight back and forth between opposing units and end with one of them being destroyed or more likely breaking contact. Additionally, weapons fire makes it easier for enemy units to lock in on the firing unit, making each attack a risky proposition. This further enhances the role of movement in the game.

Uncertainty: It’s a non-starter to include too much “stealth” and the record keeping required to avoid easy cheating (or poor memory), but each unit would have a few face down equipment cards or a record sheet that would detail what the unit’s capabilities were beyond stock configuration. As the equipment was used (or enemy scans revealed them), capabilities would begin to become obvious. Furthermore, each side would pull a random objective card and keep it hidden (probably of three possible objectives). This would serve a few goals. One, it introduces the ability to bluff in the game. If the enemy doesn’t know your goal, you can try to be less direct about things. Two, it discourages turtling. If players don’t know what the opposing win conditions are, they have to attempt to defend all possible conditions.

Fast Turns: Since weapons fire is short ranged and limited, most units will only be moving each turn. This combined with a limited number (<10) of units, means that each turn can be very quick, allowing more than the 6 or so turns that are normally the case for minis game in my experience.

Interactive Turns: Not IGO/UGO. The idea is that each turn is interactive, and that unit activation order is one of the prime decision points in the game. Very simply put; players get points to bid with each turn, and bid to get the right to activate. You can bid a lot to try and guarantee your critical unit activates first, but you might not have points left to activate some your units for the turn (representing a swift, independent attack) or you can bid lower to spread your points out (representing a more ponderous, coordinated attack). If you are out bid, you don’t lose your points and win ties for the next activation bid.


TLDR: Ideas for a fast playing operations level hard sci fi wargame. What's not to like?