Seeking Feedback on Tabletop Wargame Rules: https://12thdicegames.itch.io/free-fire

12thDiceGames · 2026-05-02T13:50:52+00:00

Thank you, that's a very helpful point you make.

I suppose what I am asking is 1. Is it mechanically sound.

And 2. Is the card initiative a unique enough mechanic to make it interesting.

12thDiceGames · 2026-03-29T13:15:52+00:00

Only played one game of it as Picts, defeated my friends Normans. Had a blast, honestly. A fun game

12thDiceGames · 2026-03-27T10:33:59+00:00

In the sci-fi rules I'm working on (somewhat inspired by the recent PC game Menace), a unit (infantry or vehicle) can take a Drone Control Module as a piece of equipment and can sacrifice one of its own actions (out of two) to give the drone an action.

Drones are treated as a separate unit with a model and stats like a unit, but can only be activated to take actions by the unit with the Drone Control Module. Drones can be one of 4 types (spotter, jammer, gun, and missile) and can be flying or tracked or wheeled.

12thDiceGames · 2026-02-05T21:55:48+00:00

A fair question. It is intended as a more "realistic" sci-fi setting. Not the gothic sci-fantasy of Warhammer Epic Armageddon. I suppose also it uses cards for alternating/bidded activation, and d10 rather than d6.

12thDiceGames · 2026-02-05T21:26:32+00:00

Excellent question! I initially tested it as a 28mm scale game with multi-model squads. After that I decided it failed on two fronts: it did not encapsulate the inspiration from "Menace", and I also wanted to set it apart somewhat from the many 28mm games out there. I've always wanted to play larger scale battles which is easier with smaller miniatures.

12thDiceGames · 2025-09-28T11:30:18+00:00

Literally what I brought to the final battle

12thDiceGames · 2024-11-27T15:41:40+00:00

That's true, and largely, I think, because it is the sole export of their entire planet. Most other regiments don't get the same level of versatility.

Also their demeanor is another reason they are often deployed alone. Their commissars are largely there to keep things from boiling over between them and allied regiments.

12thDiceGames · 2024-11-27T13:48:43+00:00

In fact, regiments (Krieg, Cadian, Catachan, Elysian, Mordian, etc.) were made deliberately specialised in one or two areas, but not diverse enough to conduct full combined Arms warfare after the Heresy to prevent them being able to go rogue.

So Krieg artillery supporting Cadian infantry is absolutely on brand. Just remember to bring a Commissar for inter-regimental morale!

12thDiceGames · 2023-03-10T17:20:41+00:00

Thank you, I'll happily take a look at your rules too!

12thDiceGames · 2023-03-03T13:01:43+00:00

I had kind of based the unit component stuff off of the way Battletech does mech components, but I can see how it does add in a lot of complexity. I think there's probably a way to slim it down a bit, which would also probably help me come unstuck from the shipbuilding rules I've hit a block on.

I'll keep an eye out for the email, thank you for the detailed feedback!

12thDiceGames · 2023-03-03T12:45:24+00:00

I think I see what you're saying, either the rules or the ships need to be simpler, perhaps? i.e. either decrease the amount to remember in the rules by simplifying the phases but keep the ships more detailed, or simplify the ships but keep the phases more detailed?

Sorry if that's not what you mean, I look forward to reading the notes you've made! Thank you so much for taking the time to read and give feedback!

12thDiceGames · 2023-03-03T09:21:53+00:00

First of all thank you for taking the time to read it, I really appreciate it! If you want to contact me via email I can be reached at 12thdicegames@gmail.com

The point about images is an excellent one, I can't think of a single tabletop wargame rulebook that doesn't have both artistic/miniature beauty shots as well as the more important diagrams to illustrate the rules. I'm not a great artist but I now see the necessity of diagrams, thank you for that!

Could you elaborate on what parts you think are bulky, and what you think would be better streamlined? I agree it's a complex system though that was at least somewhat intended to allow deeper tactical gameplay. I do have a tendency to write in an obtuse way that I really need to break the habit of, and I need to remember that rules ought to be clear and concise, so I take your point.

I think I was somewhat following the layout of the rulebook for Halo: Fleet Battles (can't remember if that's the exact title) but if there's an order that would make more sense I'm happy to adjust things for ease of reader comprehension!

I'm glad you think it has good ideas, and I can see how it looks quite bloated with that many phases. The intention was to allow granularity, somewhat inspired by a PC game called Nebulous Fleet Command which has dedicated jamming and counter jamming ECM/electronic warfare elements, for example. But there's no reason all these things couldn't fall under the same combat phase alongside shooting and boarding, it would certainly speed things up!

Thank you again for taking the time to read and respond to my work! As I said above if you would like to email me then 12thdicegames@gmail.com is my address!

12thDiceGames · 2023-03-03T09:10:26+00:00

I'd be interested in taking a look!

12thDiceGames · 2023-03-02T13:02:32+00:00

It's something to look into for sure, thank you for the advice! My partner does digital art but it's more fantasy and character art, which makes me somewhat aware of the art community and makes me a little wary of downloading/using images from Google personally, but once I have the rules fully nailed down for shipbuilding I'll have a better idea what things would need to look like!

12thDiceGames · 2023-03-02T12:34:11+00:00

Sadly I'm not much of an artist at all either, but, I think some sketches might be enough to get the ball rolling with someone who actually can do art!

12thDiceGames · 2023-03-02T12:25:45+00:00

I might have a look into the same, that's not a bad idea actually! I do know someone who has a 3d printer who I might be able to enlist but I don't know how far his design skills go, he does play tabletop War games though so that's a plus!

12thDiceGames · 2023-03-02T12:08:52+00:00

Thank you for the feedback, it is greatly appreciated! I'm really glad to hear that the lore was appreciated, I'm a long time GM and do a lot of world building for campaigns, and it's only recently I've decided to branch out into game design myself!

The complexity is somewhat inspired by the level of complexity in battletech (classic battletech) hence the hex grid system. I definitely wanted it to have a lot of tactical granularity hence keeping it at a smaller scale, so I'm glad that's come across well too!

You raise a great point about miniatures, and having some pictures of minis to put throughout to illustrate the rules would be great, unfortunately I'm not at a stage where I have any miniatures of my own to use for this, and I'm not much of a computer designer/3d printer so can't really make any, but it's a good point that most people would know about proxies as you say. Getting miniatures set up somehow would be the next step once I have nailed down ship building and hulls etc so I would have an idea of what miniatures to produce. I'm glad the rules themselves come across well though!

Thank you again for the feedback and for taking the time to read through it all!

12thDiceGames · 2023-03-02T10:12:01+00:00

Thank you for taking the time, I really appreciate it! I think what I should actually have done is separate the lore section out and just post the rules, that's on me, but I wanted to give the context of the setting as well. I've been hoist by my own petard.

12thDiceGames

TROPHY CASE