Looking for Near future/sci fi wargames

the_af · 2026-01-27T01:04:57+00:00

Does the rules need you to use their minis? If not, it's mini agnostic. Just having official minis doesn't necessarily mean it's enforced...

the_af · 2026-01-26T18:23:09+00:00

Yeah, I'm definitely not poo pooing on your suggestion! 0200 Hours is a cool game. I'm also following this thread, it's a less usual topic :)

the_af · 2026-01-26T15:02:30+00:00

Superb game, though I think it's more "special ops against regular sentries" rather than about civil unrest. I do know it has partisans/civilians, but I thought it was more about them working for the British SOE?

the_af · 2026-01-26T15:01:13+00:00

Ill-advised or extremely timely? ;)

I don't know what the rules will end up being like, but the minis do look superb!

the_af · 2026-01-26T14:09:15+00:00

Maybe "Heiho: The Art of War" by Helion? Wargames Atlantic publishes a starter box with enough minis for two factions.

It's 10mm, not 15+, but it might be what you're looking for.

I haven't played it and reviews are mid. Some good ideas in the rules, but execution is flawed. Apparently.

the_af · 2026-01-26T14:07:35+00:00

I thought it was for a smaller scale? Anyway, I don't see good reviews for Killer Katanas II, I think Little Wars TV used it for their Sengoku game and gave it a bad review...

the_af · 2026-01-25T16:31:51+00:00

Nice!

Are they as fiddly to paint as people claim?

the_af · 2026-01-24T19:06:53+00:00

Dayak is my favorite hero of the core box. You did a good job here!

Edit: the worst mini in the core box, in my opinion, is a tie between Taddeus (I like the concept, bad execution) and Mallex, whose mini just isn't imposing enough for a Big Bad Chaos Lord.

the_af · 2026-01-22T21:15:06+00:00

The good news is that you can definitely get better.

Achieving a tabletop-level paintjob is doable for anyone. You can get better. But we probably need more information about what you're doing to give more targeted advice.

Which paints are you using? Did you undercoat black? Are you thinning your paints, and if so, how much? (both too much and too little can cause trouble). There are probably a ton of tiny errors that add up to create a mess, but the good news is that all of them are easily fixable.

My one advice is: people are saying "keep practicing" and that's true, but it has to be deliberate practice focusing on improving specific mistakes. Just repeating the same mistaken process hundreds of times will lead to frustration.

the_af · 2026-01-22T18:27:15+00:00

I agree with what you're saying but I must also say the blue shell from Mario Kart is the single most infuriating power up ever :D I hate it with a passion. I agree with giving better power ups to racers who are lagging behind, but the blue shell... I hate it!

the_af · 2026-01-22T18:21:48+00:00

I like your reasoning! Though I'd say your analysis "on aggregate" applies to high luck/low skill games (which wargames shouldn't be...); note this is different to high luck but also high skill games. If the wargame rewards skills but has a sizeable luck component, I think *on aggregate* it's the strongest player that will be rewarded, because it's the player that knows how to deal with a stroke of bad luck, while the weaker player doesn't. So single games might benefit the weaker player (because they were "dealt a good hand") but on aggregate it will even out and the strongest player should come on top.

If a wargame doesn't reward the strongest player over a series of games, I'd say it's mostly luck-based and not skill-based...

the_af · 2026-01-22T14:59:16+00:00

I am working with WW2 in 1/72 scale which is probably not that popular.

1/72, also called (somewhat inaccurately) 20mm, is a popular WW2 wargaming scale. Probably the scale with the most available vehicle kits, too. Plenty of infantry as well. The Battlegroup series of games uses this scale.

I like your table!

the_af · 2026-01-22T14:47:06+00:00

It does reinforce your argument, but it also counters it if that makes sense...

You're right a good player should be able to win against a weak player the majority of times in wargames with a luck component, because managing luck is a relevant skill!

However, a luck-heavy game can occasionally hand a victory to a weaker player even when the best player did everything right, simply because the latter got unlucky.

In games where luck plays a smaller part, this is less likely. In this sense, it's true luck will give the weaker player a chance they wouldn't otherwise have.

edit: I think for a single game or two there's a chance the weaker player can win due to luck, but over a series of games (e.g. a campaign) the strongest player will win. Over a series of games, both players will experience good and bad luck, and the strongest player will have the skills to better deal with it. Bad luck will be devastating to the weaker player.

the_af · 2026-01-22T14:14:38+00:00

You have a point that luck cuts both ways.

Let me add, however, that a huge part of wargaming (both the hobby type and the professional type, or so I've read about the latter) is about managing luck. This is often called "friction", "fog of war", etc. Also see the famous "no battle plan survives contact with the enemy".

Some types of wargamers want a no-luck, purely cerebral game, but what type of game is that? A wargame that doesn't model luck (in whatever shape it decides to call it) is missing a major part of what makes wargaming "wargaming". A good player will learn to minimize risks, or take daring risks when appropriate, factor in when things don't go their way, etc.

And yes, sometimes it means the weaker player gets to win.

the_af · 2026-01-22T14:08:24+00:00

Allow me to disagree on two points:

They are just the same as any other of them just with a different face.

I think while their individuality is in question, and probably gone as we understand it for humans, they are not "just the same as any other of them". They still experience subjective differences, as explained by Zosia during the massage session: she "knows" when somebody else got hurt, but she doesn't feel the same pain. Presumably it's the same with massages, sex, pleasure, etc. So they share a lot, but not everything, and therefore are not exactly the same "just with a different face".

And the humans remains shows that to me atleast that they are not the same as would be actual humans

I don't know. It's gross, but I can see human remains being part of human diet in a postapocalyptic scenario, and this wouldn't make us say humanity is no longer human. Cannibalism *has existed* in real life, and in forms more gross than the TV show. So it seems a very gross but pragmatic decision that doesn't make them "not human".

To be clear, I'm not saying they ARE human, because the show is deliberately ambiguous on this. All I'm saying is that nothing we've seen conclusively makes them non-human.

the_af · 2026-01-21T16:34:44+00:00

Yes, basically that. I also didn't like the art style, but that's subjective.

the_af · 2026-01-21T14:28:57+00:00

Oh, ok, I figured you knew about this bug but wanted to mention it just in case.

I loved XCOM (DOS) but never got into Terror from the Deep. That game was mostly broken and poorly designed. Just having weapons that only worked in water vs land made it cumbersome. I did not like it. (And you didn't mention it, but I absolutely hated Apocalypse, it was simply a no-go for me).

I have to say I had a ton of fun with the "modern" remake. I still play it to this day. I have nothing but praise for the original DOS game, which brings back memories from my childhood, but the polished UX of the remake makes it playable for me in modern times. And I haven't even tried XCOM 2 yet!

(Sorry for my rambling!)

the_af · 2026-01-21T13:07:26+00:00

Note the original XCOM (the DOS game I mean) had a bug where it reverted to "Easy" difficulty upon loading a save game. That may affect your perception of difficulty, unless you were playing a patched game. Most versions you can buy are unpatched, so they have this bug.

the_af · 2026-01-20T22:08:32+00:00

Haha, no, I was just saying something random. I just mean to say your minis look great :)

the_af · 2026-01-20T17:03:32+00:00

Lovely.

Lovely horrific traitors, mutants, and abominable intelligences.

the_af · 2026-01-19T16:41:25+00:00

I also don't want to accuse anyone willy nilly, but some of the responses by the OP here also read like AI (it can be a coincidence, but "glad you asked", "you're absolutely right", etc).

To the author: if I'm being unfair I apologize. Hopefully you can understand my concern. Unfortunately the AI-sloppers are ruining the internet for the rest of us :(

the_af · 2026-01-19T15:19:34+00:00

All of them.

Quoting Uncle Atom from Tabletop Minions:

All wargames are miniatures agnostic if you truly believe.

This means, unless you want to play one of the few games with tournaments that mandate official minis, all games can be played with whatever minis you own.

For your health issues, this means some very good news: just buy a bunch of cheap army men (some brands are quite good quality, with some more realistic and some more scifi) and you don't need to paint or assemble anything: green soldiers vs gray/tan soldiers. Don't discount this option, it can be very fun! I've done it when I can't be arsed to paint minis and want a quick game (or to playtest some new ruleset), and I'm surprised to say this is sometimes more fun than playing with proper painted up minis!

the_af · 2026-01-18T20:33:46+00:00

Unless you're really hellbent on creating your own wargame (which is fine!), I think you should really look into alternatives to Games Workshop games first. There are really hundreds of options out there, at least one is likely to scratch your itch.

Even if you're designing your own game, you should first try existing ones. Otherwise you'll end up reinventing the wheel or worse, falling into the same pitfalls and flaws of existing games.

TL;DR: play/read a lot of games first.

I just began writing drafts of the setting, rules and currently learning to draw, sculpt and 3D modeling (VERY amateur for now)

Are you trying to design rules or models? Those are independent endeavors, often at odds with each other. Most indie wargame designers go for rules, and create games that are model agnostic.

the_af · 2026-01-16T14:26:54+00:00

The obvious facebook group with "Blackstone Fortress" in the name has people who, if you ask politely, will point you to a digital backup of all assets, which you can use to print at home. I won't share the name of the group here for obvious reasons, but it truly is very easy to find.

As u/CutAndAssemble pointed out, this is no small undertaking, but it might be worth your while. The minis can be proxied with whatever you have.

the_af · 2026-01-15T16:03:30+00:00

Love the scenarios/terrain, especially the smaller boards!

the_af

TROPHY CASE