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I've been thinking about starting a small skirmish game "Game Night."  With that in mind, I've been looking over what's out there in the market today.  You can read my brief overviews here:
http://strangevistas.wordpress.com/2007/02/06/wargames-for-under-40-part-one/

I'd appreciate any comments or other suggestions.

Shoot, I posted this in the wrong section (clicked the wrong place).  My mistake.

Great little overview of the skirmish games at there, here's my take:

Mordheim

-Good game, very easy to learn, some nice minis
-Lack of support from GW is stagnating this game, can get boring very fast

Warlord

-Nice game, rules are a bit more "advanced" for fantasy skirmish, VERY nice minis (Werner Klocke anyone?), Undead Pirates!
-Not a lot of support for this game, smaller following

Chainmail

-Okay rules
-OOP, no support really, not a big following, other fantasy skirmish games do everything this does better

PtG
(never played)

100 Kingdoms
(never played but the rules look okay and the factions are certainly unique!)

Warmachine/Hordes

-quick crazy ruleset, interesting background, some very nice minis
-VERY expensive (right up there w/ GW), lots of powercreep, pg. 5


What no Confrontation!?

-solid ruleset, interesting background, VERY nice minis all around, ability to expand warband into army for Ragnarok
-expensive, translation makes the rules a bit hard to understand until playing thru them, scattered (but growing) following

You know I forgot Confrontation, and I even own the rulebook.  I should break it out...

There's also Dark Age, for what it's worth. A fairly large and interesting spread of miniatures, though how the rules play is anyone's guess...

DA is more scifi though

Don't forget "5150" by Two Hour Wargames (who also do "NUTS" for WWI and "FNG" for Vietnam). Rules are a £10 PDF, and very unique. Very popular with the guys from Wargames Journal.

And another one is Alien Squad Leader. Sort of DBA/HoTT for Sci-Fi. Rules cost £6.

Both are extremely cheap to get into (because you can use any generic sci-fi figures - including your existing GW ones if you must) and have their dedicated fans.  Chances are if you ever visit any independent wargames shows (such as SALUTE or HAMMERHEAD) you'll come across one or the the other game sometime.

I've updated the review with sci-fi skirmish games now.

http://strangevistas.wordpress.com/2007/02/07/wargames-under-40-part-two/

Yay, Confrontation!

My take:

Necromunda

-Excellent ruleset, easy to learn, lots of "advanced"/additional rules, nice minis, the ability to use 40K minis here and vice versa, ability of characters/gangs to grow
-Not much support, scattered following, new gang minis are WAY TOO EXPENSIVE, version 2 (Underhive) not as fun as 1st ed.

Space Hulk
-ability to use SM and Nid minis, interesting ruleset
-rules seem dated, rulebooks/boxes can be very expensive (~$90 for a Genestealer Expansion)

Rezolution
(haven't played but nice minis...)

DA
-excellent minis, interesting background
-Quick start rules are very hard to understand and confusing, price could be a factor

Starmogul
(haven't played but pay-for-download rules? Lame.)

5150
(haven't played but I hear good things plus it's a generic ruleset)

Battletech (Classic)

-great ruleset, interesting background, cool minis
-mechs tend to dominate play, somewhat difficult rules when starting, hex grids!


You forgot GZG's Stargrunt 2/Dirtside 2 and FASA's Vor: The Maelstrom

Stargrunt 2 (25/28mm) / Dirtside 2 (6mm)

-excellent ruleset, ability to field ANY size force (skirmish to army level), ability to "create" troops/vehicles/etc., ability to use any minis (although GZG's are very cheap and nice!), rulebook is $20 for Stargrunt (~$5 if you can find a copy on Ebay) and FREE for Dirtside 2!, points system allows no powercreep
-lack of following in US, some of the older minis aren't very nice

Vor

-interesting ruleset/background, ability to use any minis
-OOP, rules aren't as good as others, minis are big (even by GW standards)

I would add Infinity for sci-fi. Play tends to be quick with less "dead time" than many games due to the ARO system. Beatiful minis, though a tad pricey and limited support. Shares basing w/40K, though, so substitutions are easy.

No AT-43?

Don't forget...

Urban War
Starship Troopers
Future Wars
Laserburn

Why hasn't anyone mentioned the most obvious: Warhammer 40,000! Specifically the original WH40k Rogue Trader, using the rules updates found in it's three supplements (The First Book of the Astronomicon, The WH40k Compilation and The WH40k Compendium), but avoiding the terrible template vehicle rules and other assorted mess that came out in the months preceding 2nd ed. Alternately, one could go with the
2nd Ed ruleset, which cleaned Rogue Trader up some but was still a pure skirmish game at heart.

Nobody mentioned it because... I don't know.
Well you did now so we'll never shove that kitty back into it's sack.
Attawaytabe.

Posted By Kilkrazy on 02/11/2007 12:08 AM
Don't forget...

Urban War
Starship Troopers
Future Wars
Laserburn

Um, I did mention Urban War.  And I didn't mention games like Starship Troopers because I specifically said I was looking at games that didn't involve moving units around, but single figures instead.

I did skip Inquisitor, though.  I should toss that one in too.