I've been on a personal mission to try out different rulesets to find one that'll perfectly capture the 'squad level' wargame I want. I'm looking for a game which can comfortably handle between 5-30 models a side, and mostly consist of small fireteams or sections, and occasionally the odd vehicle or special character.
So far I've tried:
40k (the main problem is the roll-to-hit, roll-to-wound, roll-for-saves trifecta. It takes a lot of time to determine that not a lot has happened).
Infinity (great set of rules, but only appropriate for a few models each side, and doesn't work with squads)
FUBAR (very simple and easy to pick up, but everything feels very samey. Weapons never feel different from one another, and squads often stand around not activating.)
So I decided to try customising the Frostgrave rules (a ruleset I like a lot!) and turn it into a squad-level game. Laura and I tested out the custom Frostgrave rules on a little 'side-mission' happening elsewhere on the planet Sador.
***
The preface was that a Planetary Defence Force outpost had been captured by a surprise assault of well-trained rebel militia. The surviving PDF troopers had retreated into the local woods, and when calling for backup had found that all long-range communications had been jammed. Recon determined that the Echeni (rebel) threat was greater than feared, and the PDF survivors were surrounded by hostiles.
The PDF's best hope of escape (and warning the rest of Sador about the insidious Echeni threat) was to counter-attack the base and secure one of the aerospace shuttles. The PDF would win if a single PDF trooper makes it onto the shuttle.
Something foul was going on with the Echeni. The rebels had once been political activists, but now they were violent, cruel and monstrous. Evil experiments had been conducted on PDF personnel who had been captured from the initial assault, and shambling corpse-like mutants spilled forth from the old base to murder their former comrades. Meanwhile Echeni rebel troopers fired from the parapets.
The PDF troopers had to sprint across open ground to get to cover once they were spotted. They'd determined that this entrance to the base was the least well covered, but it was still deadly to be out in the open.
The Greenwood Rangers set up a sniper nest behind some rocks and helped take down the poxwalkers, whilst the squaddies exchanged fire with the rebel militiamen. Meanwhile the elite Kasrkin stormtroopers sneaked through the base and managed to secure the landing pad. The Echeni forces were successfully held off and the PDF troopers managed to escape with only a single casualty.
***
The game was reasonably fun, but the Frostgrave rules didn't scale well for what I wanted to do. The main problem was that the HP system (every trooper had 10HP, and weapons did damage equal to [D20 + Shoot bonus - target's Armour value]) meant that damage resolution took quite a while to work out. Also the unit activation and jumping back and forth was a little awkward. One fireteam on each side was designateed the 'Commander' and would activate first, and could also activate up to two other Fireteams within 3" of it. Then after each side's Commander team activated, any remaining unactivated teams from each side would activate. This made some fireteams feel a bit useless, and the zombies/poxwalkers especially just ended up being chewed up as they activated last (due to being so far from their commander, by necessity as they're close-combat units).
I think next time we'll try Gates of Antares. I received a set of rules from my friend Rick recently, and I've got two sets of Order Dice on the way, so maybe that'll be the perfect set of rules I'm looking for!
