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Yes another let's make a home brew game. Not sure where to put this, since it's not a 40K game, or a Fantasy game, but a miniatures game for me and my son. I left 40K after not having fun, came back still not had fun but stayed to collect minis. I played a bit with my son but again we found it boring. So I started home brewing 40K rules. I just don't want to home brew other peoples rules, it does take a lot of time and energy to do so. So I thought if it takes a lot of time and energy might as well make my own game.

So I am asking for help and ideas. I have a basis of what I want to do, but I want to make my units now. Not sure how to go there. I gave up on trying to make my own minis, so I will just use all the minis I bought and the great minis coming out of other companies and will buy them. So I will make up rules for them. The game will be sci fi and fantasy together. Something like how Privateer Press has done it. I am taking ideas from everyone.

What ever mini I have or see and I buy I want to make rules for them.

So right now, I am stuck on stats. What do I want? I want a movement stat. Will also need an attack stat. Do we need a defence stat? I think so. Maybe a Leadership or Coolness/hotness stat. A stat that would see if you run away or go berserk. Also a Wound stat. So so far we have

M Movement
A Attack
D Defence
Ld Leadership (will change the name not sure what to call it right now)
W Wounds

Do I need more or less? Sometimes less is more but other times, it's nice to have more for more options.

I was thinking of another stat Actions. (Act. for short, not sure what else to call it) I was thinking this would be for movement, fire and defence. So for example if you don't shoot you can move double, if you don't defence you can move double and an extra d6. Maybe if you don't move, you can shoot and have a better chance to hit. If you don't move or defence you are really concentrating to shoot so have an even better chance to hit.

Is this just adding complexity and less fun, or does it add a bit of fun and strategy? I know trying to play this with my son, it was a lot of fun for us. Right now I don't think I am going to add it as a stat but just incorporate it into the game. Just throwing ideas out there for example.

One other note. I am keeping to die sixes or d6's. My daughter is mentally challenged and she understands d6's. She loves rolling d6's so I am keeping this game to d6's for simplicities sake for her. I know a lot of people don't like just d6's but trying to teach her at the same time as having fun. Other dice just confuse her. So please let's make stats that will work with a d6.

So what do you think? I want your opinions on what you would like in your minis for stats.

You are focusing on the wrong areas at the moment. You are already diving into stats and actions and you don't even have an overall concept or theme for your game. You have to answer or get a direction for your big questions and the broad ideas, otherwise your small stats and actions are going to mean nothing.

Thanks Curran12. What do you mean for direction? I was thinking of something like 40K/Lord of the Rings with Warmahordes added with Battletech. So we have individuals (heroes) groups (troops/squads) and vehicles.

Not looking for apocalypse big, but the game can be small, a few minis up to a game that can take a nite 4-6 hours.

I have this idea so far, I will post it for rules I just found that I made last year. I am stuck making more rules because I don't know how the minis will behave for stats.

Davor’s Rules

The game is played in turns. A turn has a number of phases.

• Initiative phase.
• Activation phase.
• Scoring phase.

Initiative Phase

To find out who goes first in a turn, each player rolls a d6. Who ever rolled the highest die has Initiative. Reroll if it’s a tie on the first turn. If the rolls are a tie after the first turn, the person who lost Initiative last turn gets Initiative this turn.

The person who has Initiative gets to decide who has Priority. Priority means that the person has to go first. They get to make a choice/decision first in the activation phase.

Sometimes a person may want to go first. So they will give themselves Priority. Other times they want to see what their opponent will do, or wants to have the final move so they give their opponent Priority.

Activation Phase

In the Activation Phase, there are to sub phases.
Priority Phase 1, Priority Phase 2.

In Priority Phase 1, the player who has Priority selects one of their units and declares an action for them. Once the Action has been declared, it is carried out. After the action has been carried out place a token down beside the unit to show that the action has been completed. Then the player chooses another unit and repeats the procedure until all of their units have been done.

Once this is completed the person who doesn’t have Priority then selects one of their units and declares an action just the previous player did. When this is complete Priority Phase 1 is complete.

Now Priority changes over to the other player.

In Priority Phase 2 the player who has Priority selects one of their units. Now they choose an action that wasn’t used in the previous Priority Phase 1. Once that action has been declared it is carried out. After that action has been done place the token to show that it has done its two Action moves. The player then chooses his other units and repeats the same process. Once the player has completed all their moves, then the other player repeats the same process.

Actions

• Move
• Shoot
• Cover


Move
• Walk; move your unit up to your allowed movement stat/speed. Cannot move within 1” of your opponents units. (going to change, I guess had 40K on the mind at the time. )
• Run; move your unit up to double your allowed movement stat/speed. Cannot move within 1” of your opponents unit. Also you can’t Shoot for that turn.
• Assault; move your unit up to you’re allowed movement (may run as well) and choose to attack in Hand-to-Hand combat by moving in base-to-base of one of your opponents units. (You move within 1” of your opponents units and touch bases.)
• All Out; move your unit 12” and an additional D6” if you do not Shoot and do not use Cover.

Shoot
• Fire; choose your unit and target one of your opponents units for ranged combat.
• Prepare Fire; some weapons require you to not move in order to fire, example, a missile. You have to prepare the weapon because it’s so bulky to set up or heavy to carry, you can’t move and fire the weapon at the same time.
• Aim Fire; if you do not use a Move action or a Cover action, then you may aim and get an extra die for attack. (Maybe be used with Prepare Fire with not using a Cover action.)

Cover
• Jinx; (not sure what to else to call it at the moment. Place holder name) choose to set up your defense ability so you can mitigate any attacks against you. Running in zigzags, falling to the ground, hugging the corners, you are making yourself a harder target for your opponent.
• If you do not use Move action you get an extra die, for a total of 2 and get an extra die again if you do not use Shoot action for a total of 3 dice for Jinx.



MOVEMENT

A unit will move it’s normal Movement Value on clear open terrain.

• Moving through light terrain a unit moves -1” for every 6”
• Moving through heavy terrain a unit moves -2” for every 6”

Some units will have Jump Packs. This will allow them to ignore terrain and use their normal Movement Value unhindered.

If landing in heavy terrain while using their Jump Pack, the unit will need to test to see if they “fumble” Roll a d6. On a 1, the unit takes a Hit. Damage is resolved immediately.

SHOOT

A unit my pick one of his opponents unit and decide to Shoot or Attack it with ranged weaponry. In order to be able to shoot the Attacker must meet these criteria.

• Must not be occupied. (Ex not being in Assault or doing other actions that prevent shooting.)
• Line of Sight must be established. (might go abstract, don't really care for True Line of Sight.)
• Must be in range of the weapon being fired.

Once these have been established the Attacker may decide to fire and attempt to hit their intended target. To see if you have an opportunity to hit your target, pick up your attack dice and compare it to your Attack Skill. The die needs to be equal or higher to be a success.

Modifiers that can be placed on shooting

• +1 The Attack Ran
• +1 The Defender is in Soft Cover
• +2 The Defender is in Hard Cover

Once the roll is determined then it’s your opponent’s turn to see if he made a Cover action. If your opponent decides they want to Jinx they take and roll a d6. If the roll is more than the attackers roll for his attack the shot is missed then.

If the Defender decides not to Jinx or can’t, the hit is automatic once the Attacker has made their roll. Once a hit has been determined the next stage is to see if a Wound has been done.

A wound is automatic unless an armour save has been successfully done. If a unit has an Armour Save Statistic the player needs to roll equal or over the armour value to be a success and no wound is taken. The Armour has prevented the shot. If the roll has failed the unit takes a wound. Usually in most cases a mini will be removed from the game to represent it has died. Not all units die, maybe the mini became incapacitated somehow, (ex knocked unconscious, too wounded to participate anymore) but is still removed non-the less to show it can’t take part anymore.

Close Combat

As soon as two minis have come in to base-to-base contact (only time when a mini can come within 1” of another mini) it is said to have been assaulted.

Once in base to base, all movement ceases for both units. Close Combat needs to be initiated. Both players will decide how to pool in their dice, to either attack, defend or try to escape the melee.

It is possible to roll all Defense dice. If this is the case, no wounds are taken if the rolls are successful but no wounds are caused. (Everything was done to prevent the wound being defensive, hiding in cover or what not.)

It is also possible to use all Attack Dice. If this is the case no defense dice can be rolled and if an attack is successful, it is an automatic hit then.

If the player believes he cannot win and there is a strong possibility of being destroyed, they can try to escape the assault. If the player decides to Retreat, choose the highest Initiative and roll a d6.

• If the Defender rolls are higher then combat is broken off.
• If the Attacker rolls a 6 but the defender still rolls higher, take the difference of the total rolls and that is the “free hits” the Attacker gets against the defender and then combat is broken off, no more actions can be taken from the Attacker. (Consider it the few shots or hits that could be taken when the unit is running away.)

If combat is not broken off, choose the miniatures with the highest Initiative in base to base and they get to go first. If it is a tie, then they strike/defend at the same time. The players roll their dice.

• Take your Armament Skill and add a d6. This will be your Attack/Defense Roll.
• If an Attack Roll is higher than the Defense Roll then a hit is scored. Roll for Armour Save. If the Armour Save fails, then a wound is scored.

Close Combat continues in order from descending order. So 10 goes first all the way down to 1. It is possible miniatures are removed before they get a chance to attack.

SCORING

You win the game by accomplishing the objectives in the scenario. An objective can be certain non-physical actions/accomplishments or capturing a physical objective. After the game turn ends, scoring is tallied up. Physical Objectives in the Neutral Zone are 1 point for each opponent. Physical Objective in your Zone is worth 1 point for you but 2 points for your opponent. Physical objective in your opponents Zone is 2 points for you but 1 point for your opponent.

Physical Objectives can be any points when you and your opponent agree to it, or is stated in the Scenarios.
Objectives can be placed anywhere if it is agreed apon if not using a scenario.

STATISTICS

Movement: How far a unit can move per turn.

Armament: How well a unit is in combat. If there is 2 numbers, the number on the left is for Close Combat the number on the right is for Shooting.

Potency: How strong and tough a unit is. If there is 2 numbers, number on the left is how strong the unit is, the number on the right is how tough the unit is.

Initiative: How fast/agile or reaction timing a unit has.

Vigor: How much health/stamina a unit has before it is removed.

Attack: How many times a unit can strike in Close Combat.

Discipline: Units moral/mental ability.

Okay, you've thrown some names out, but that really isn't answering a question. Heck, you basically just said "I want it to be like all games" with how big the list is. I'm not trying to come down hard on you, but you still need some more direction. What I mean by that is that you need figure out things like model count, game length (you have this) and the overall feel of the game. Is it super tight for competition play? Is it open for narrative play? How many players? How many models is a 4-6 hour game? And on that note, a few figures that lasts 4-6 hours? That is an IMMENSELY long game. You don't reach that length in 40k until you're around 2500-3000 points and above.

I understand why. It is easy to focus on small rules and that stuff, and it is not as exciting or cool to ask and answer the big picture questions. But unless you do, you only have a basket of rules. You don't start a trip without knowing your destination, you should do the same here.

 curran12 wrote:
Okay, you've thrown some names out, but that really isn't answering a question. Heck, you basically just said "I want it to be like all games" with how big the list is. I'm not trying to come down hard on you, but you still need some more direction. What I mean by that is that you need figure out things like model count, game length (you have this) and the overall feel of the game. Is it super tight for competition play? Is it open for narrative play? How many players? How many models is a 4-6 hour game? And on that note, a few figures that lasts 4-6 hours? That is an IMMENSELY long game. You don't reach that length in 40k until you're around 2500-3000 points and above.

I understand why. It is easy to focus on small rules and that stuff, and it is not as exciting or cool to ask and answer the big picture questions. But unless you do, you only have a basket of rules. You don't start a trip without knowing your destination, you should do the same here.

Ah, now I see what you mean. I misunderstood what you said. No you are not being hard on me I appreciate you helping me out.

I guess some games we would want to play a skirmish game, so a few minis when we only want to play for an hour or so, a quick game. Some times we feel like playing a big game so that is why I said maybe 4.6 hours something done once a year.

In 40K terms, I guess a 1000 points when we use to play. We were going to play bigger but found the 40K rules boring so stopped. So hoping to play 1000-2000 points in 40K terms.

We want to be able to shoot and assault, we found fun in that. When playing Lord of the Rings we found casting magic spells fun as well. So wanted to incorporate that as well.

The game will be open for narrative play. Most times it will be just me and my son, but when my daughter is up for it, it can be just me and her or even the three of us, or four of us if the wife plays as well. (was suppose to start an Ork army for her before I quit.)

Again thanks for taking interest in my questions and greatly appreciate your help.

No problem. I like helping folks, and I've seen enough fall into the trap of focusing on the 'easy' stuff first, i.e. mechanic concepts (making the rules, but not diving deep into the math or mechanics) or fluff concepts. Those are the easy things to tackle, and it is only natural for a first-time/amateur designer to gravitate towards those, since they are easier problems to solve, and they produce a lot of visible work, so the feeling of accomplishment is higher.

That said, my suggestion for you is to really hammer out what your overall concept and goal is. Those concepts, once you get them set and you're real happy with them, are going to be what drives your rules, and you'll get a lot of harmony going there. And the concepts will trickle down into your unit/stat designs as well.Now some of these questions are going to be blunt and seemingly straightforward, but take time to consider them carefully.

To get your concept set, you'll want to answer these questions, and more to the point, explain why you want it to be that way:

1. How big is the game? You've got a start on this, but it needs more refinement and detail. You say a "few" models, what is a few? 10? 50? 5?

2. How much scaling does the game have? Again, you've started on this by saying you want variable size games. It means work for you because you have to consider large and small scale balancing.

3. How big is the playing area?

4. How does a player win?

5. How many players in a single game?

6. Is the game strategic or tactical? In my words, strategic is meant for games where the overall plan is given priority, where tactical is more on-the-ground reactions. Is there a balance between the two?

7. How does a player play? Again, very straightforward since we all think and breathe games, but it is worth considering. Is it more driven by dice, or is it more driven by stats?

8. What resources do players have? This is points, or mana, the currency a player uses to build their force or to take actions.

That should work out to give you a larger scale image of what you really want to do. When you're answering these, don't go wishy-washy. Give a definitive answer that you're willing to stand by. When you say "well I haven't decided" for instance, that just means you're refusing to answer the question. You might not get everything you want, but the direction and focus is what you need.

On the other hand, I'd actually say that you need to get the game on the table playing as soon as possible.

Thinking big only helps in a sense that you need to have some of this stuff in mind, but it will not help you at all in actually doing the create part of creating a game. Also, things like number of players, playing space, etc, are not actually that big of a deal, you'll already know these things the moment you choose a table and a number of figures to test on.

Take it from someone who literally wasted years of game development time and money thinking big without putting everything on the table early and often enough.

 curran12 wrote:
No problem. I like helping folks, and I've seen enough fall into the trap of focusing on the 'easy' stuff first, i.e. mechanic concepts (making the rules, but not diving deep into the math or mechanics) or fluff concepts. Those are the easy things to tackle, and it is only natural for a first-time/amateur designer to gravitate towards those, since they are easier problems to solve, and they produce a lot of visible work, so the feeling of accomplishment is higher.

That said, my suggestion for you is to really hammer out what your overall concept and goal is. Those concepts, once you get them set and you're real happy with them, are going to be what drives your rules, and you'll get a lot of harmony going there. And the concepts will trickle down into your unit/stat designs as well.Now some of these questions are going to be blunt and seemingly straightforward, but take time to consider them carefully.

Again, thank you. I do appreciate this.

To get your concept set, you'll want to answer these questions, and more to the point, explain why you want it to be that way:

1. How big is the game? You've got a start on this, but it needs more refinement and detail. You say a "few" models, what is a few? 10? 50? 5?

Hmm... Now you are making me think. Long story short is I use to love playing Battletech. So I am use to 2-4 mechs. When nobody played no more it was 40K for me. Never got many games in but it was usually 30-50 minis depending if playing horde or not. Didn't really like fielding that many minis. It finally hit me that 40K is like battle tech. While 40K may have many minis compared to Battletech the units are actually like 3-8 units with the minis as wounds counters. So for minis it can be like 50 minis but broken down into 2-5 groups. More minis would be basically more wound counters.

2. How much scaling does the game have? Again, you've started on this by saying you want variable size games. It means work for you because you have to consider large and small scale balancing.

Not sure what you mean by scaling. Do you mean like 40K small scale where everything is close by on the battlefield and Battletech is like large scale since the ranges can be quite far?

3. How big is the playing area?

Basically the dinning room table.

4. How does a player win?

Making up scenarios using victory points. I found sometimes no matter what the victory conditions are, some people just like to wipe out the other force. My son just wants to blow things up so I will have to incorporate a "Wipe Out" rule into the scenario somehow.

5. How many players in a single game?

Most likely 2. 3 if my daughter wants to play and if I can actually make it fun, my wife as well would make 4.

6. Is the game strategic or tactical? In my words, strategic is meant for games where the overall plan is given priority, where tactical is more on-the-ground reactions. Is there a balance between the two?

Hmmm. Making me thing again. Never thought of this. Will have to think real long and hard now.

7. How does a player play? Again, very straightforward since we all think and breathe games, but it is worth considering. Is it more driven by dice, or is it more driven by stats?

For my daughter it will be dice. That is why I am sticking it to a d6. But from my Battletech days, I loved the stats. So some how I will have to incorporate both into the game. Need to make it for for the family. Wife will be bored with stats, son just wants to blow things up, stats are for me to waste time.

8. What resources do players have? This is points, or mana, the currency a player uses to build their force or to take actions.

This is wasn't I was sure. Do I make it simple and not have any or go to the store, get some nice coloured beads and use them for resources. I was thinking like Blue can be mana for mages, Red for power to fire powerful weapons that need to be recharged. Can having these beads/counters add fun to the game or just make it more paper work?

That should work out to give you a larger scale image of what you really want to do. When you're answering these, don't go wishy-washy. Give a definitive answer that you're willing to stand by. When you say "well I haven't decided" for instance, that just means you're refusing to answer the question. You might not get everything you want, but the direction and focus is what you need.

I hope trying to think what I want to accomplish after reading this, will give me for focus and direction. Thank you and please keep it coming.

 Vertrucio wrote:
On the other hand, I'd actually say that you need to get the game on the table playing as soon as possible.

Thinking big only helps in a sense that you need to have some of this stuff in mind, but it will not help you at all in actually doing the create part of creating a game. Also, things like number of players, playing space, etc, are not actually that big of a deal, you'll already know these things the moment you choose a table and a number of figures to test on.

Take it from someone who literally wasted years of game development time and money thinking big without putting everything on the table early and often enough.

What do you mean by putting everything on the table? Not sure I understand.

I was thinking big, but I think I confused myself LOL. That is why I thought starting off small and expanding from there would be a good way to go. So you think I should go big? How would you suggest by doing that?


Automatically Appended Next Post:
Now I know what else I forgot to say. The reason why I want to have stats is, this way if Me or someone else wants to use a GW book or PP book or what other else mini they see is cool and want to make rules for them we can make stats for them and use them, no matter where the mini or fluff came from.

By everything, I mean everything you have for the game, as soon as you have it. Not every idea or whim, but every rule, every miniature, every unit, etc. Get it on the table and play it.

I was warning against going big before you have nailed down something that will anchor the game.

When you think big, you have infinite directions to think, this may sound cool and fun, but it's the absolute wrong way to handle creating something that you actually release.

@Davor.
Could you define the game you want to make?
Is it a board game or a table top game?
Is it a war game or an abstract game?
If it is a war game is it land based, sea based or air based?

If it is land based , is it ancient war , (up to WWI) of modern war, (post WWI.)

What scale is the game?

Is it skirmish to large skirmish .(Up to 50 elements a side.)
An element depends on the scale of the minatures.Up to 15mm minatures are generally based a few infantry to a 'unit base.'
20mm and above minatures tend to use individually based minatures.

Eg
A war game at 20mm scale, land battle game , depicting battles in the near future .
Is going to have completely different rules to a 1000th scale naval battles game covering ancient sea battles!

If you could define what sort of game you want in a broad sense ,I would be able to help you define and refine things a bit .

Vertrucio wrote:By everything, I mean everything you have for the game, as soon as you have it. Not every idea or whim, but every rule, every miniature, every unit, etc. Get it on the table and play it.

I was warning against going big before you have nailed down something that will anchor the game.

When you think big, you have infinite directions to think, this may sound cool and fun, but it's the absolute wrong way to handle creating something that you actually release.

Last time I thought big, I wen ton where. I just scattered my brain and went on over load. After trying to relearn and play 40K again, it was just too big of a mess. So I thought I would start small first and then grow it from there. I was thinking of something like the Battle for Macragge scenarios in 4th edition box set. Start small, and add more and more to it. This way I can see what is fun for the family and what is not. Also it will help my wife and daughter from playing something simple at first, get use to playing again and not be overwhelmed.

Thank you for helping me and giving me ideas. In the end I would like to add rules for buildings and making vehicles and maybe rules for making your own units. But want the basics first to see if it's fun playing first.

Lanrak wrote:@Davor.
Could you define the game you want to make?

I guess the game I want is something like 40K/Warmahordes/Lord of the Rings/Battletech. I have all these miniatures and nothing is being used now. I need to make the game more fun for me and my son since we find 40K boring now and make the game simplified for my daughter and wife to play. I tried to show her how Warmahordes plays and the look on her face, I knew not to continue trying with it. So all the time and energy and money spent, I want to use the minis again.

Family like playing LotR, rules were simple enough. I just want to add to it so Orks and Necrons and vehicles can be added into it as well. Hope that makes sense.

Is it a board game or a table top game?

No it will not be a board game like Monopoly but a table top game like 40K/LotR etc.

Is it a war game or an abstract game?

I guess it will be a war game. Not sure what you mean by abstract.

If it is a war game is it land based, sea based or air based?

It will be land based. We have a few flyers (not made yet) so once they are put together will have to figure out how to use them in the game. No sea based since we don't have any boats or ships.

If it is land based , is it ancient war , (up to WWI) of modern war, (post WWI.)

It will be Fantasy Sci-fi mixed in together. This way the Lord of the Rings, and Hordes minis can be used with the 40K minis I have as well.

What scale is the game?

By scale you mean 28mm? What ever LotR/40K/Hordes scale is

Is it skirmish to large skirmish .(Up to 50 elements a side.)
An element depends on the scale of the minatures.Up to 15mm minatures are generally based a few infantry to a 'unit base.'
20mm and above minatures tend to use individually based minatures.

Eg
A war game at 20mm scale, land battle game , depicting battles in the near future .
Is going to have completely different rules to a 1000th scale naval battles game covering ancient sea battles!

I guess a large skirmish game in the range of 1500 points is what I will eventually want to get to. As I said before, maybe once a year we will do a huge game that be can be 4-6 hours but in most cases a came that can be 2-3 hours of fun we are shooting for.

For now I want to start with 2 or 3 minis so my daughter and wife can get the feel. Just like in Battle for Macragge scenarios. So those should be 15-30 minute games and expand from there once I can actually see what my wife likes and doesn't like.

If you could define what sort of game you want in a broad sense ,I would be able to help you define and refine things a bit .

I want a game where I can use my 40K, LotR and Warmahordes minis. My wife wanted me to make her Orks, my son Necrons, and me Tyranids and Dark Angles. Wife likes Trollbloods, son Circle of Oberous and I like Legion of Everblight. So would like them to use them as well. Scale wise if some are bigger or smaller as in the case of LotR we don't care. It still looks cool on the table top.

Wife asked me why she can't use her Trollbloods with her Orks and I said it can't be done. Then that got me thinking why can't it be done? While I can't go into a GW store or a tournament using Trollbloods with Orks we can do anything at home in our basement and dinner table. So that is why I am trying to make stats for the minis, so I can start from there and use the rules I posted before as starting ground work. I just can't for the life of me figure out what would be a good idea for stats so my wife and daughter are not overblown and loose interest.

I want to make it simple, but not to simple to confuse them. My son seems to grab a handle so not worried about him.

Any help you can give me would be greatly appreciated.


Automatically Appended Next Post:
For me, I want a move stat. One thing 40K made simple I realized is that movement is a bit standard. Thing is, it makes other units seem slow. Then again LotR has movement stats and doesn't seem to complicate things.

So I was also thinking how Dropzone commander has dropships to move slow units. So maybe Terminator type units will move slow maybe 3 or 4" walking. They will be tough to kill but slow to move. So this is where vehicles will come in to move them around the battle field.

Also I don't like the idea of Roll to Hit, then Roll to Wound, then Roll to Save. That is just too much rolling. While my daughter loves rolling dice, it doesn't make much sense to the wife. So for me is Roll to Hit. When you hit, you incapacitate or kill the mini unless it makes it's save (If they have one.)

There will be soft saves, like trees and foliage where it gives a difficulty to hit but no saves and hard saves like behind a broken wall where it gives difficulty to hit plus adds to your save roll (If it has one.)

So need a Movement stat to see how far something can move.

Need an Attack Stat (WS/BS) to see how it can hit. Do I combine that Attack Stat together and just have one number or keep the WS/BS separately?

Same for Toughness/Strength stat. Combine them or keep them separate?

Maybe some special characters or monsters can have a separate WS/BS and Toughness/Strength stat?

I want to convey that each mini can be unique and different or even special in some cases as a special monster or unique character. So having more stats would make them more unique but will it make it more complicated?

Its 4:30am where I live and I cant sleep due to a sinus infection, so I'll give my 2cents. Also excuse the spelling mistakes as imtyping on an old phone.

This is just my suggestion, butconsidering this game is to be played with you and your son, with all sorts of miniatures, and that you left 40k due to the complexity of its rules, one good option would be to have the rules very straightforward and generic (open to lots of different settings & miniatures types). So very streamlined core rules with a strategic hook within the core mechanics. This keeps the game modular, easier for your son to learn, easier to balance due to less moving parts, and open to any amount of additional complexity/expandability through adding in some special rules to units (or groups of units fielded together ala formations in 40k). Unit/miniatures could be classified into several broad troop types/categories, like infantry, cavalry/tanks,artillery flyers and heroes for example. The special rules can come mostly from keywords purchased from a list during army creation, as well as those special rules inherent to the given unit type.
Forgive me if you are already thinking on these lines and Ive missed it.

I wasabout to writea rules summary but Ill get back to you when I get to a computer - this tiny phone keyboard is kiling me. By the,way are you familiar with the "Song of Blades and Heroes" and "1 Page 40k" rulesets? Those may serve as good reference points if you want to make the kind of rules system im talking about.

Thanks Chochky, hope you feel better. I never herd of Song of Blades and Heroes. Will check it out. I think I have read 1 Page 40K. Problem with that is I believe it's still I do everything, you sit there remove models then you do everything and I remove models. Wife Hates that.

Thanks for the Song of Blades and Heroes mentions, I will Google it.