Trad Games Chat: squabbled over drafts, forked, and disbanded

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Traditional Games > Trad Games Chat: squabbled over drafts, forked, and disbanded

a7m2: Jul 9, 2012

What are some wargames with simple or simplified rules that are still fun for someone new to wargaming? I've got plenty of models from various games and a 3D printer, so the type of model doesn't matter much. This is for someone who just started getting into nerd stuff like board games and MtG. Preferably a skirmish or low model count game initially.

# ¿ Jan 18, 2023 09:30

Adbot: ADBOT LOVES YOU

# ¿ May 16, 2024 10:20

a7m2: Jul 9, 2012

Thanks for the tips so far.

Cessna posted:

What do you want the game to cover? Historical stuff, Fantasy, Sci fi, etc?

Probably fantasy or sci fi, but I'm open to anything that's accessible for a complete beginner to war games.

How's Gaslands for beginners?

# ¿ Jan 18, 2023 17:31

a7m2: Jul 9, 2012

Magnetic North posted:

From a hobbyist perspective, Gaslands is cheap as you want it to be, since you can use inexpensive diecast cars and cereal box to make templates, or crank it up any wild amount you want to spend

From a gaming perspective, Gaslands is relatively simple and intuitive. Things usually work the way you think they would, even if some things like collisions and reversing have a few edge cases. It is marginally more complex than you might imagine and might dissuade a complete beginner. Based on what you said, I think you'd be fine, since you're learning MtG which is loads more complicated.

The game is not perfect and might not live up to any real competitive crunch. The push-you-luck aspect does occasionally create feelbads by losing actions, and if you play with audience votes, respawns can make the game take forever. There's a thousand nitpicks, but it's the adult-ified Matchbox cars smashing into each other in the playground sand except with guns, guns, and more guns. I really like it and think it's a great choice for anyone who wants an inexpensive miniature hobbies project and occasional game.

I think it's worth a try, since at most you'd be out $50 with enough to try it out, so long as you don't mind driving around the pepper pot. If you get it, find Gaslands Refuelled, which is a revised edition with several balance changes and content from several free PDFs, and some other stuff like ramps.

This is super helpful, thanks. I think I will try it. In the worst case I'll have fun kitbashing cars. As a side note: I have a little nephew (around 10 and fairly bright) who I bet would get a kick out of Gaslands. Is it simple enough for them (or possible to simplify the rules)?

Humbug Scoolbus posted:

OGRE

https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/5206/ogre This one?

Leperflesh posted:

is tabletop skirmish cool? Would you like Frostgrave, for example? It's not what I'd call "a wargame" but it's a minis fighting battle game played with a combo of wizards, supporting fighting people, and some terrain. Kitchen table is big enough. Rules are a book, use any minis you have at hand that can approximate "wazzards" and "fightey folks" and you're set.

Skirmish is absolutely cool yeah. I'll check it out, thanks.

# ¿ Jan 18, 2023 20:35

a7m2: Jul 9, 2012

Thank you for all the very helpful recommendations! I'm checking out Gaslands, One Page Rules' games, Frostgrave (maybe Stargrave too), and Ogre.

Foolster41 posted:

I have a nephew who's around 6 I played it with once and he seemed to grasp it pretty well, so I think a 10 year old could absolutely play it. I've been trying to find people to play it locally, but I keep buying more and more cars. (There's a neat place not far form where I live that sells models, including maybe 100s of different matchbox and hotwheel cars, including a bunch of tv show and movie cars)

Also there's places online where you can get the dice and neat accessories (weapons, rams) on Etsy for not too expensive (or you can probibly find STLs for your printer somewhere) I just use the printed free templetes, but you can get better templetes as well.

I recently got some mario kart hotwheels cars and made some item tokens (reskinning items from gaslands) for a mario kart version, but I havn't gotten a chance to play it yet.

I have a lot of fantasy minitures and would be interested in a game that's like gaslands where it's just a book and you supply your own minitures, and preferably one I can play single payer (enemy movement procedures of some kind), i don't know if that sort of game exists, I don't think any of the suggestions so far matches that.

E: My Collection:

Just finished my first car yesterday
Before:

After:

I LOVE the Mario Kart idea.

# ¿ Jan 21, 2023 06:14

a7m2: Jul 9, 2012

Not sure if there's a dedicated suggestions thread but I'll try here: I'm looking for a beginner-friendly miniatures game that's not super expensive to get into to play with my wife and I and maybe some friends. Preferably low model count. I've played Gaslands with her which was super fun and that's about it.

I have 40k and AoS armies but it's a bit much to get into.

# ¿ Mar 29, 2024 17:17

a7m2: Jul 9, 2012

I should've said I wanted to stay away from GW stuff altogether but totally not opposed to buying models. I love painting models so I specifically want something not GW because I paint plenty of those already.

Moonstone looks interesting!

# ¿ Mar 29, 2024 18:07

a7m2: Jul 9, 2012

theironjef posted:

How do you feel about Marvel and or Star Wars? Because Crisis Protocol and Shatterpoint are both relatively active, small model count skirmish games with very nice detailed figures.

Not a fan of Marvel but Star Wars I don't mind. I'll definitely check out Shatterpoint. I hear X-Wing is good too

Also it doesn't really matter if it's got an active player base, I'm likely only playing this with my wife and maybe a friend or two.

Leperflesh posted:

Frostgrave (get 2nd ed) has low mini count and you can use any minis you want from any company
Mantic has some small skirmishy minis games such as Deadzone, Firefight, Vanguard, and Hellboy
There's a bunch of games in the sort of crossover minis/boardgame space, if you'd like to not deal with making terrain? Deadzone sits in that spot for example but there's many more
There are tons of historical games, do you want to have skirmishy or small army battles between little soldiers? Every historical era and location is explored and while there's a nerd chasm ten miles deep you can fall into, there's accessible streamlined games for beginners too

Almost missed this post.

OK, I'll check out Frostgrave. Deadzone seems interesting too. I have some terrain but making more can be a hassle. Is there a good accessible historical game for ancient China?

# ¿ Mar 29, 2024 19:41

a7m2: Jul 9, 2012

Helical Nightmares posted:

The indy miniatures game thread you are looking for is here: https://forums.somethingawful.com/showthread.php?threadid=3253037 The OP is in process of being updated as I understand it.

You've got good advice here already with Kill Team, Frostgrave, etc.. I was going to recommend Gaslands Refuelled but you've already played it!

If you are looking for force against force you may want to take a look at One Page Rules, specifically Grimdark Future.

If you are looking for skirmish games with PvP and coop options, take a look at what Osprey has on offer, specifically from authors Ash Barker (Last Days-zombies wargame) and Patrick Todoroff (Zona Alfa-STALKER wargame). I would be remiss if I didn't mention my personal favorite author Ivan Sorensen who created 5 Parsecs from Home (scifi) and 5 Leagues from the Borderlands (fantasy) adventures/skirmish/solo games published by Modiphius. The above wargames are usually available in pdf through WargameVault.

You know, I was sort of curious about this myself and I was looking for news about Crewmen 2 by North Star Miniatures (their manufacturer) and after some googling I came up with nothing.

For those who don't follow the most inexpensive plastic miniatures around, Frostgrave and Stargrave have boxed sets at about $27 to $30 for 20 plastic miniatures and you will have bits left over.

Thanks! How is 5 Parsecs from Home? I've never played a solo game like this before. The only solo RPG I've played was 1000 year old vampire which I liked but it seems very different.

# ¿ Mar 29, 2024 20:18

Adbot: ADBOT LOVES YOU

# ¿ May 16, 2024 10:20

a7m2: Jul 9, 2012

Splicer posted:

Do you have lego
https://mobileframezero.com/mfz/

This is cool. I have access to a lot of high quality knock-off lego for cheap so I might pick this up

# ¿ Mar 31, 2024 14:45

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Traditional Games > Trad Games Chat: squabbled over drafts, forked, and disbanded