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I'm trying to do a third world civil war , any suggestions on which would be a good rule set...

btw (new to tabletop and generally new to wargaming in general so please go easy on me) also I have dyscalculia..

so math isn't my best subject and it's very severe

Here"s a pretty comprehensive list of modern miniatures wargames, with a description of each ruleset:

https://www.hntdaab.co.uk/blog/wargaming/great-big-modern-wargaming-rules-comparison-complete-edition

I've played Spectre Operations from that list. It's pretty simple at heart - roll a d6, add a skill number and try to beat the target's defence number+d6 with some modifiers. If you hit, roll a d6 against a target number for the weapon to see if the target is killed instantly (modifiers for body armour). If your guy survives, roll a d6 against a table to see how injured you are.

There's the complication of lots of specialist gear giving extra rules and modifiers, but in your scenario the troops may just have a rifle. Although the focus of the game is special forces, the rules and stats would allow several squads of trained soldiers to fight a similar force, or go up against a mob of untrained militia or even cartel troops.

For a third-world country, you may be looking at older tech and there are more rulesets.

AK-47 Republic by Peter Pig is precisely what you're looking for. Second edition is a tidied up ruleset, but first edition has more entertaining third-world events and political "complications". It's based on 15mm figures, but you can decide whether to look at 28s.

Too Fat Lardies has Troops, Weapons and Tactics or I Ain't been Shot Mum (company-sized games) with several modern supplements. My favourite is B'Maso, a really good look at African wars of independence and guerilla movements from the 50s to the 70s.

TFL also sells a game called Charlie Don't Surf, a game of asymmetrical warfare in the Vietnam conflict.

Lots of Cold Wars games, but they tend to focus on larger battle actions with smaller figures (6mm, 10mm or 15mm).

Plenty of manufacturers make minis in different scales - your side of the pond, Rebel Minis make nice modern figures in 15mm, Footsore Miniatures make them in 28mm.

Empress Miniatures sell a lot of modern forces in 28mm,and a lovely line of 28mm modern vehicles.

Caesar Miniatures do 20mm figures that fit with a lot of HO/OO model railway scenery, although their modern troops and insurgents may have been rotated out of production. It's a scale (1:72) where you can get a lot of model tank kits, helicopters and so on.

Grubby Tanks here in the UK sells the old Britannia line of 20mm moderns in metal, with a range of modern and Cold War vehicles in resin.

Lots of mini manufacturers do Vietnam figures/vehicles and African or SE Asian scenery/buildings. You can make a passable shanty town yourself just from corrugated card.

Have fun!

Thank you , this will help me alot

Force on Force - simple system. Roll a die. If you roll a 4 or higher, you succeed. Better quality troops roll a bigger die. The rules are primarily effects based. It's more important that your troops are armed with assault rifles, as opposed to figuring out whether you have an AK or an M-16. Having said that, the rules have *incredible* depth, and model a huge variety of things that can be encountered on the battlefield. There are a lot of rules, and it's easy to get overwhelmed. But the vast majority of the rules are there to let you add things to the basic engagement. You're generally not going to have to deal with most of them in any given game because you're not using everything there. In comparison the basic game rules - i.e. moving two groups of infantry around the table and shooting at each other - is pretty simple.

There are a number of theater books for various post-WW2 conflicts, including one for African Bush Wars that likely has something that will work for you. There's also a theater book focusing on the US mission to Somalia (in support of a multi-national force), including the infamous Blackhawk Down battle, which might be of use if you want some examples of what a multi-national intervention into your civil war might include. Also worth noting is that irregular troops are treated in a much different fashion than regular troops by these rules. Regulars work much as you're probably used to in such games. Irregulars are more chaotic, and enter somewhat randomly in much larger numbers. But irregular units are also much more brittle than regulars, and will rapidly melt away under serious opposition.

There's a sample scenario with some basic introductory rules in a PDF here - http://www.ambushalleygames.net/force-on-force-play-aids/ A USMC squad is racing to rescue a downed pilot in Afghanistan, but is forced to deal with a Taliban (treated as regular troops) ambush.

Spectre Operations seems always out of stock, and I have heard (unsure) that there is no point system in that game.

Is AK-47 Republic meant for narrative or head to head one-off games?

There are a few, as Modern was en vogue for a bit and has now fallen off a bit.


1. Force-on-Force is probably the "go to" in this genre, because it is good. Keep in mind, the rulebook is a huge toolbox and you do not need to use every rule in the book to play. However, the action/reaction system can take a bit to wrap your head around.

2. Spectre Operations- This one is model vs model and details are tracked at the model level. I have seen good things about it, but have never played it.

3. Skirmish: Sanguin (?)- I have read a few reports on this game, but honestly know little about it. Seemed similar to Spectre Operations. IIRC it used a lot of modifiers to run.

4. BOHICA- Only seen people mentioning it, but not playing it.

5. Black Powder/Red Earth- New and set in a specific setting of contractors vs baddies. The game is relatively high lethality and quick play.

6. AK-47- The classic semi-narrative game of third world countries. This maybe your go-to, but it is designed for more 15mm with platoons and support. Do not expect GW levels of flash in the rules, but they deliver a good game.

7. Chain of Command: Modern- I have seen this referenced in many places, but the rules are not official. Chain of Command is great, so I imagine the Modern version would be great too.

8. Black OPs by Osprey- The game really is focused on commando raids and covert missions. It is a almost solo-playable due to the structure of guards and what not. There are rules for vehicles, but it really focuses on infantry vs infantry. Solid, but not great.

Fistful of TOWs is my go to for moderns, or cold war commander for GW players so everything feels familiar.

A vote for Spector operations hear!
Great set of rules.
Nice miniature's as well although you will need to go with the magnetic base storage system.
Due to the non heroic style of the miniature's some of the weapons are fragile.