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I've gotten a few coworkers interested in wargaming, and I'm looking for some suggestions for cheap modern-era skirmish games that are fairly easy to grasp for newbies. Primarily looking at 28mm, and thinking maybe WWII in terms of time period, but bonus points for flexibility in scale/setting.

I like what I've heard about Ganesha Games on the fantasy side, so I've been thinking about Flying Lead as a possibility, but also stumbled across Operation Squad on the Ganesha website. It looks like Flying Lead covers a variety of different modern periods, but the battle reports I've read about Operation Squad make it sound pretty promising, if a little limited in terms of setting. Does anyone here have any experience with either of these, or recommendations for other rule sets that would be worth looking into?

I played Flying Lead. The setting is only limited by your imagination and mini selection. Generic, fast, simple, and tactical.

I only gave it a quick read through, but "The Battlefield" looked promising.

Also, alot of folks liked Mongoose's Battlefield Evolution rules for modern combat, though I don't recall it being aimed at ww2.

I think both are available at Wargames Vault.

Force on Force is a very well established system. A bit more complicated than some, but not rules-heavy like 40k. Though not terribly complicated, it does take some effort to get familiar with it. It's aimed at Vietnam through modern. My club plays the sci-fi version "Tomorrow's War" from time to time and enjoy it.

Best of luck in your search. My suggestion is to pick an era and a scale, paint up some figures and then experiment with different rulesets until you find one you and your group really enjoy. With a set of minis in 15, 20 or 28mm, there's a wealth of rulesets to choose from and no reason to limit yourself to one.

 Mathieu Raymond wrote:
I played Flying Lead. The setting is only limited by your imagination and mini selection. Generic, fast, simple, and tactical.

This. Great, simple, streamlined rules, but offers a surprising amount of tactical depth for such simplicity. The activation system takes a little getting used to (and is part of the tactical element of the game, and of army construction), but the system is simple and sound.

Also, the same company just released an updated version of Mutants and Death Ray Guns, their post-apoc version of the rules (and they have a variety of fantasy and historical rulesets, too). As a bonus, its very easy to mix/match the rule sets, so you can add elements from Flying Lead to MDRG or vice versa, if you like - or even mix in elements from the fantasy rules.

Thanks for the input. Think I'm going to start off with Flying Lead, since I'm also planning on doing some SBH. That way, the two rulesets are similar enough there won't be too much trouble adjusting.