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Hello, I'm curious which are your favorite rules to play combined arms sf. The games has to be:

- SF (no modern historicals)
- 5-15~ mm scale
- combined arms (bringing artillery, infantry, aircraft)
- mass battle (dozens of units)

I've also made a poll, but if your game is not on the list, just put it in the comments. I'm looking forward to get into this genre and I need some sugestions.

Best is linked to a criteria. So my best is Epic Armageddon (Epic 4th edition), because it captures 40k armies as per their background brilliantly. Unlike 40k where the fluff doesn't match the game, I really feel I am commanding Tau, or Marines, or Orks, etc. I should add Epic 40k while fun didn't capture this as well and Legions just fails.

That it is a great game is just a bonus Though the system doesn't seem to port well to settings like WW2. Unlike warmaster and its various iterations (though future war is perhaps the least good).

My favorite is Alpha Strike. It's just good fun. Easy to play and can accommodate a large number of units easily. My choice is colored by the fact that I enjoy the Battletech universe and appreciate the affordability of being able to print any unit card for free via the online Master Unit List (MUL).

I'm not a simulationist though, so for those desiring more realistic/robust command and control mechanics (usually a feature of such large games) it might not satisfy.

As for the poll, it's been over a decade since I played, but IIRC, Tomorrow's War isn't really "Mass Battle"(a very nebulous term...). It tops out around a reinforced platoon. It sounds like you're looking for battles where each player commands a force somewhere between Company and Battalion/Regiment size.

https://www.thirteen.org/blog-post/u-s-army-units-explained-from-squads-to-brigades-to-corps/

Lastly, it does not have aircraft, but for a beer and pretzels game of this size, Panzer 8 Sci Fi might be fun.
The website disappeared years ago, but our club's slightly modified version can be found here:
https://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/list/504811.page

Epic: Armageddon, no doubt whatsoever.

I don't know why that masterpiece isn't even on the poll.

SU-152 wrote:
Epic: Armageddon, no doubt whatsoever.

I don't know why that masterpiece isn't even on the poll.

Well, it is, under epic 40k. The problem with Warhammer is that there are a million editions - epic 40k, space marine, armageddon, adeptus titanicus, netepic, legions imperialis - and I didn't want that most of the poll to be 40k editions (plus, are they that different from each other?)

Yes Epic 40k is in some ways a prototype battlefleet gothic. The game mechanics were lifted to it.

Epic A is more like a WW2 mass battle game with enough 40k twists to make it complete different.

Epic is something of an oddity for GW. Each edition has been a radical change and not compatible with the previous edition. 1st edition (Space Marine, an expansion for Adeptus mechanicus) is similar to the ethos of Rogue trader (I can fire my bolt pistol!), 2nd ed (space marine) a complete departure and the first stripped down system, radically different. 3rd (Epic 40,000) was such a departure the player base collapsed (well and the price quadrupled or more) and was intended to recreate 40k in miniature but with a system where everyone had the same weapons (contributing to a formations firepower). 4th edition (Epic A) is like a historicals game, coming out at a time where GW was doing historicals, had launched Warmaster, its most ported game system and arguably its most successful mechanically, and was doing open (and often rigorous) playtesting. It plays nothing like the previous editions with again a completely different set of mechanics (no codex or stat line is transferable between editions), focused around fire and manoeuvre.

Legions I guess is a spiritual successor, with mechanics going back to 2nd edition, but worse. Plus a different scale, so even less compatible.

Nice, I was always confused regarding Warhammer Epic. what about Netepic? I understand is a fanmade edition?

Netepic is a mod of 2nd edition space marine to both expand the unit selection and bring in alternating activations (I think, definitively expand the unit selection though).

I've been greatly enjoying Epic Warpath so far, but I haven't played most of the rest to compare it to.

I was an early adopter of Future War Commander, and it's not a combined arms game despite claiming to be in the marketing copy. Artillery and aircraft are just a random chart of how off-table assets affect your battle. It's also not a sci-fi game, it's an ancients game with lasers tacked on. Yes I'll die mad about it.

Tomorrow's War is a great game BUT it is more of a scenario design rulebook where you layer in what rules the scenario needs. It works best with infantry vs infantry so I do not recommend it for Combined Arms even though I love it.

I am old school, so Dirtside II and Horizon Wars both really appeal to me. Their generic nature is a bonus.

I was never a fan of Future War Commanders bolted on Warmaster Command and Control rules. However, there is a new, cleaner edition that I have not had a chance to try yet.

I like what I have seen of Full Spectrum Dominance but have not played it to have a strong opinion.

Thank you for the input, guys.
Regarding Tomorrow's War, I have to say it has some of the most interesting scenarios I've seen, very cool stuff.

As for future War commander, this one is interesting. I've ran a similar poll on a facebook page (10 mm wargames) and FWC won by a wide margin. It is super popular with the historical crowd it seems. But on the other hand, in the non historical circles, I've heard quite a bit of complains.