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My grandad wants to play but he (as well as myself) find the rules confusing.

We're looking for minimal stats, minimal special rules. Just lots of soldiers and tanks and carnage.

Possibly Horizon Wars? Pretty sure it was published by Osprey, but I can't find it on their website, at the moment...

Anyway, author is on here, hopefully he will chime in.

[edit]
Amazon has it: https://www.amazon.com/Horizon-Wars-Science-Fiction-Combined-Arms-Wargaming/dp/147281312X

Depending on how easy you want it to be - making a game isn't terribly difficult. Or simple revising an existing rule set and removing wasteful elements or pieces you don't want to bother with.

You could play epic using NET epic rules from their site (all free)
It’s basically a streamlined and effective version of epic that removed a ton of rules clutter and issues.

 Elbows wrote:
Depending on how easy you want it to be - making a game isn't terribly difficult. Or simple revising an existing rule set and removing wasteful elements or pieces you don't want to bother with.

I've actually just gone and and started doing that

Partly borrowing the turn structure from Epic40k but using very, very simple stats from Niel Thomas' One Hour Wargames for a limited amount of generic units (my imagination fills in the blanks for me - im a big fan of abstracting and too much crunch in a game takes me out of it)

I'm going to test it out using some counters whilst im waiting for my 6mm to arrive. I reckon I can get a massive battle going without much thinking but whilst also being strategic with cover and flanking rules added as a basic modifier that will punish or reward you for clever use of terrain, buildings and positioning.

Sorry for the flood of consciousness!!


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Jackal90 wrote:
You could play epic using NET epic rules from their site (all free)
It’s basically a streamlined and effective version of epic that removed a ton of rules clutter and issues.

This is part of what's really confusing me with Epic. I haven't got a clue where to start. It's seems to be a mix of different versions and I don't know what is what.

I heard NetEpic is just a bunch of army lists and not a ruleset?

I’m going to second Horizon Wars. Over the holidays I got in five or six games with my son and nephews, and the kids were able to pick it up pretty quickly. (I used the basic rules and left out the campaign stuff. I introduced a few units in each game to slowly increase complexity, and it wasn’t you til the fourth game that we used the rules for mechs/superheavies.). The game has a limited number of stats, such as four or five types of infantry, two types of tanks, two types of artillery, and a recon vehicle, and leaves it up to you which minis correspond to which stats. Every unit gets two token that they can use for actions or reactions.

Here’s a pic.

I would actually try the edition of Epic that was purposefully streamlined.

Another vote for Horizon Wars. Great game. Pretty simple to pick up, but doesn't mean it's boring; there's a lot you can do with it as you start getting familiar and building mechs and the like.

Here is my review of Horizon Wars

https://bloodandspectacles.blogspot.com/2017/01/review-horizon-wars-osprey-games.html

Here is a battle report:
https://bloodandspectacles.blogspot.com/2017/01/horizon-wars-battle-report-battle-of.html

Here are some other games I have seen around:
-Dropfleet Commander
-Squadhammer
-Rampant Galaxies
-Planetfall
-Future War Commander

Rocinante wrote:
My grandad wants to play but he (as well as myself) find the rules confusing.

We're looking for minimal stats, minimal special rules. Just lots of soldiers and tanks and carnage.

There have been multiple versions Epic and some have been more in depth than others. There was a version that was referred to as Epic40k, Epic Armageddon etc Epic40k was the most streamlined out of them all if you wanted to stay in the 40k universe.

That reminds me: we also just took all the damage off of Armor to simplify the tracking...until we got to the superheavies in which the kids had more emotional investment.

The version of Epic 40k which used a Firepower stat was one of the most universally disliked, but was also the most streamlined. Epic Armageddon was kind of a mix of streamlined and granular, where units had multiple weapons profiles in some cases.

 AegisGrimm wrote:
I would actually try the edition of Epic that was purposefully streamlined.

This. The actual Epic 40.000

Epic 40k is a great game and pretty streamlined, but it does have a plethora of different races and different units that are second nature to those us who've lived and breathed the 40kverse for most of our lives, but can be confusing to a newcomer - even moreso in a game like Epic where you will have a very wide variety of very small things on the tabletop.

It also tends to assume that you have all the relevant 40k-related minis.

I wrote Horizon Wars very much with people like Rocinante's Grandad in mind. Elements fall into a relatively small selection of generic categories. And you can easily stat up whatever you've got to hand, even using chits, counters or chess pieces to replicate different element types for those without access to miniatures.

You can even get the digital download of Over the Horizon from Wargame Vault to get the solo/co-op rules so you can collaborate in an attempt to defeat an enemy force controlled by a deck of normal playing cards.

I used paper templates in my Battle Reports and they worked just fine.

Mantic´s Warpath might also be an option, pretty similar to Epic, but with 28 mm miniatures. It could probably be downscaled, like some do with Kings of War.

Rocinante wrote:


This is part of what's really confusing me with Epic. I haven't got a clue where to start. It's seems to be a mix of different versions and I don't know what is what.

I heard NetEpic is just a bunch of army lists and not a ruleset?

Fake news. Here is the free rules download https://netepic.org/core-rules/

Laserstorm by Nordic Weasel is also one you could try, although if you just want soldiers and carnage, Swatters by Ganesha Games does big big hunts relatively simply.

Gruntz could also be up your alley, but it is 15mm.

Thanks for all the suggestions guys.

After trawling through all the suggestions I've settled on Squad Hammer. It actually ticks all the boxes I'm looking to be ticked. It gives a lot of freedom and looks great fun. Perfect beer & pretzels wargame I can see myself playing solo for a good narrative game... I'll probably use it as a skirmish game too.

In fact, I think I've become a Nordic Weasel fanboy. Because I'm also going to buy Renegade Scout (Rogue Trader) as an alternative ruleset for my 28mm 40k stuff because I can't abide 8th Edition.

Future War Commander.

Battletech Alpha Strike works as well. Excellent combined arms combat capability with reasonably simple rules. And Mechs!

I've been looking for a fast and furious 6mm wargame, just for fun, and I heard good things about an older game called Laserstorm, as I see now that 3AcresAndATau put it forth, too.

https://www.wargamevault.com/product/157157/LaserStorm-6mm-grand-warfare

For just ten dollars I've been really thinking of giving it a try. It's much more simplified than something like Epic: Armageddon, but some of the blogs I have found give it good reviews as a "beer and pretzels 6mm game". Supposedly there are some fanmade armylists for 40k factions for it online, too.

There's also the 6mm game Dirstside II from Ground Zero Games, which is completely free, but REALLY smacks of being an 80's wargame (along with Stargrunt and Full Thrust on the same site), including pulling numbered cardboard chits from a container for damage. The rulebook is also pretty clunky (at least to me).

I had really been playing with the idea of buying one of the new plastic OGRE miniatures "Battle Boxes", and splitting the contents evenly into two differently painted forces. It would be different to see giant Bolos/cybertanks instead of mechs, because every modern scifi game under the sun has it's own version of mechs.

I'm personally looking for the sweet spot between fielding only a couple of detailed units, and just playing dozens of models, where you basically remove battle tanks as fast as troop models in 40k and they are nothing more than just pawns. Something where you could have just a 3x3 or 3x4 battlefield, with each player putting 15-25 models/troop units on the table and playing in an hour or two.
'

You could try the Alpha Strike rules for Battletech. Tons of different units, lots of stompy robot action. Rules are free from the web. Can be a lite or deep experience depending on your taste. I've been using my Epic tanks and marines in Battletech for years.

How well does Alpha Strike handle non-mechs?

Epic 3rd edition is full of tactics and simple stats and simple rules

 AegisGrimm wrote:
How well does Alpha Strike handle non-mechs?

Pretty simple. Vehicles, Aerotech (flyers), and infantry (foot, battle armor, jump, etc.) all have the same kind of stat card as the mechs do. There's a few things like vehicles being more squishy than their equivically tonned mech cousins. This is handled by global special rules for the unit type. Same goes for infantry and aero units.

All the units can be found here:
http://www.masterunitlist.info/Unit/Filter

The rules are out there for free but you gotta find them.

I use the epic marines as just regular infantry. Rhinos as Vedette tanks and Land Raiders as SRM or LRM carriers. By the way, my models are from the Space Marine/Titan Legions era of epic. Not sure if the newer "Epic" minis were bigger or not.


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Also, there's some cool editors that can work on your phone (such as Mech Factory) that can help you make 40k battlemechs and doing the Alpha Strike conversions for you. Here is a mock-up of a Battletech Adeptus Titanicus Knight (55t, 5/8 move, AC5 (1t ammo), 2 MedLas, and a Chainsaw).



You could swap the medium lasers for machine guns or change the tonnage, whatever you want.