SciFi 6mm playtest

Lead Addict brought over his 6mm Sci-Fi stuff and some rules he has been working on, for a play test. The forces were about equal, but different. As a group, we've been searching for a quick set of rules that gives you a feel for the period (or at least how we think it should feel). The closest for this scale, for me, has been Future War Commander. Robofire! is also fun, but I think operates on a different scale, and seems more fantasy Sci-Fi as opposed to hard SciFi.
I didn't get a true feel for this playtest as I was wiped out, almost immediately by artillery. But, that's what play tests are for. I'm sure lead Addict will have something on his blog about it today.

The smoke is where half my troops used to be.

Update

So, been sick. Might've had something to do with standing in the cold and rain for 2 days at a soccer tournament. No game last week but I'll be having one tomorrow night. As usual, don't know what.
Rule writing portion of Fistful of Lead: Horse and Musket is done. Now, I just have to write scenarios for each period I want to add flavor to. For example, the French and Indian War scenario will cover rules for woods and native troops.
-J

FfoL: Horse and Musket Play Test

I started work on a Horse and Musket version of my Fistful of Lead rules. Even though we've played this variant before, last night I wanted to try a few rules suggested by the Yahoo Group. The biggest change between the two sets involves reloading. With the Wild West version, you don't keep track of ammo. It is assumed the models are reloading between volleys and only have to truly reload when they roll a "1".

With this period centering around the single shot, muzzle loading musket, you get one shot and then you have to reload. We tested the two schools of thought on my poor ol Legion down in Mexico.

The Legion keeps the Republican's heads down

Machete wielding villagers approach

Outnumbered once again they were set upon by Republican forces. The Legion played it how we've always done it. After shooting,  the model gets a x2 reload marker (in this case we used 2 cotton balls of smoke for cinematic effect). Since a model gets two actions per turn, they could on one turn, fire/reload. Next turn, reload/fire, and third turn reload/reload. Thus, the Legionaires in a defensive position, were able to keep up a steady stream of fire.
The Republicans however tried a different rule. Each time their muskets were empty, they had to roll a 6+ to reload. This could potentially give them a higher rate of fire, being able to shoot every turn if they didn't move, or they could roll crappy, as they did in the game and hardly get a shot off.

Blood added for effect

A great time was had by all. In the end, it came down to a heroic stand by a lone Legionaire in the doorway of a hacienda. He single-handedly killed 6 men before going down. A posthumus Pour le Merit is in his future.
I think the group leaned more toward reload markers rather than roll. The roll method offered some fun aspects, with wounded guys, or militia  be less likely to get the roll quicker. But where we ran into trouble was where that roll fit in with timing of moves, etc. It's much easier to plan, knowing when your guys will be fully loaded.
I might still put the roll reload method in the rules as an option.

Painting

After looking through the last dozen or so posts, I realized I haven't been posting any painting. I have actually been painting. I told myself I would paint at least an hour every day, and here ares some results:

This ones actually a badger

These Raccoons are from Splintered Light Miniatures. I forgot how much fun painting a good 15mm fig can be. I've been painting up some 15s for both dungeon crawl games and some Fantasy GASLIGHT. When next to a 28mm fig they are just right for sentient animals.
These minis were great. My only criticism of the sculpting is the faces. Raccoons have a more pointy face. I should know, I kill enough of them.

These others are old Bretonnians. Shields are all hand painted.

RECRUITS revisited

Here's the great game I managed to be in at RECRUITS. French and Indian War.

54mm beautifully painted soldiers

The Baron (facing away) contemplates his next move...

We got massacred.
Here's some other great games.

Stalingrad

Some youngins' play Fistful of Lead.

WW1

"Star Wars, nothing but Star Wars.."

Big Pirate game

Enough to get ya to come in the Fall? More pics at RECRUITS website

Future War Commander

I missed out on a lot of games last weekend when I couldn't make RECRUITs. One I especially wanted to try out was a game of Future War Commander put on by fellow Basement General, Greg. It was pretty game with lots of lunar terrain and vehicles and aliens almost exclusively done with Mechwarrior and MonsterApocolypse repaints.

I've always been a fan of Blitzkrieg Commander, and have read FWC a dozen times but never played. The scenario involved first contact between the humans and all their tech and an alien hive-mind race. Of course things went bad immediately.

On the alien side we had a creature that could project a forcefield dome, one that could teleport into close combat, a giant beast with horrific ranged weaponry and hordes of little squishy thing to tear and rend. It didn't do us a bit of good.

Our plan was to be very aggressive, but we just couldn't mount an attack. We lost most our forcefield troops off the bat and our hordes died quickly. Not a good first showing for the new fearsome race.
I still really like the rules. Robofire! wins for simplicity and quickness, but FWC has a bit more depth. There is also included in the rules, a version for playing 28mm skirmish with essentially the same mechanics. Looks like I got some painting to do.