Here are several wargame settings and rulesets I’d like to try out, most o f which have 1-8 pages of rules, play in 1 hour, and only require a 3×3’ or 4×4’ battlemat. I’m putting all this in this blog post, but also have a copy as a page which I’ll keep up to date as things evolve.

Roadmap

Based on simplicity of rules and availability of minis and terrain, here’s a possible roadmaps of the order in which we try games.

  1. Starships — Can play immediately using Orion’s Gate.
  2. Historical / Byzantine — Can play if Robert has painted armies for both sides using One-Hour Wargames rules.
  3. WWII — Can play with rebased MechWarrior minis to start, then switch to actual WWII minis once Stan has them painted, using One-Hour Wargames rules.

Settings & Rules

Starships

Supplies: Would use Stan’s growing collection of starship and asteroids terrain. Longer term would need Traveller, Full Thrust, Starfinder, Starmada, Firestorm Armada, or Dropfleet Commander minis. 

I envision small fleet-level actions with 3-5 ships per player (more ships means more game time).

Here are the top one-page rules I’d like to try:

  • Orion’s Gate — Orion’s Gate is a great looking one-page game that shows promise and would feel more like Star Trek and Star Wars battles. BoardGameGeek overview.
  • A Sky Full of Ships — A Sky Full of Ships is another game I summarized down to one-page with is a bit more hard-science feel with a point-buy ship construction system. The full rules have several space scenarios which we’ll probably use even if we’re playing with Orion’s Gate. BoardGameGeek overview.

If we eventually graduate beyond one-page rules, here are some more complex systems with wide community support:

  • Full Thrust — Full Thrust from Ground Zero Games has a cool point-buy system for more robust interstellar wargaming. They have a cool starter set. Even if we don’t use their rules, they have a great line of starships with various factions and races. BoardGameGeek overview.
  • Firestorm Armada — Another alternative beyond the one-page rules is Firestorm Armada. BoardGameGeek overview. (note that Firestorm’s company went out of business but Warcradle Studioes acquired the assets and will re-launch in 2018).
  • Starmada — A hex based game. See the BoardGameGeek overview.

Historical

Supplies: Would use Robert’s armies for Byzantine era. Stan is working on minis for WWII but need some time to paint them. As a quick-start, Stan might use rebased MechWarrior minis with WWII rules.

Robert has a particular interest in the 1071-1571 historical era which ended with Battle of Lepanto. Stan has particular interest in World War II era gaming.

We could first hit Robert’s era using the One-Hour Wargame ‘Medieval Wargaming — AD 1100-1300’ rules for his Crusader and Byzantine armies.

Wargames in these eras are Regiment level with multiple figures on a base organized into units.

  • One-Hour Wargames (1 hour) — Great system full of one-page rules for multiple eras, as a blogged about previously. It has rules for:
    Ancient Wargaming — 500 BC-AD 100
    Dark Age Wargaming — AD 600-1000
    Medieval Wargaming — AD 1100-1300
    Pike and Shot Wargaming — AD 1450–1650
    Horse and Musket Wargaming — AD 1700–1860
    Rifle and Sabre Wargaming — AD 1860–1900
    American Civil War Wargaming — AD 1861–1865
    Machine Age Wargaming — AD 1900–1939
    Second World War Wargaming — AD 1939–1945
  • Sword & Spear (2 hours) — 50 pages of rules, has received rave reviews. BoardGameGeek overview.
  • L’Art de la Guerre (2 hours) –– A great set of rules for tournaments. BoardGameGeek overview.

Sci Fi

Supplies: Would use rebased MechWarrior minis (for 10mm), 15mm GZG minis. Could use Star Wars minis, 40K minis, or rebased HALO Heroclix minis.

Skirmish-level games.

Other possibilities are the microgames from Steve Jackson (possibly with metal minis): G.E.V., O.G.R.E, Creature that Ate Sheboygan.

Fantasy

Supplies: Would use D&D minis and eventually Frostgrave-style warband minis plus various terrain.

  • Grimdark Fantasy — Grimdark Fantasy. Their scenarios and random event charts could be used in any game.
  • Warstuff or Warstuff evolved — Warstuff is also put out by the Grimdark creator.

Supers

Supplies: Would use rebased Heroclix figures with Heroclix maps and eventually boxes painted as buildings.