A few chats over a few beers with my mate Jase recently led to the idea for a new game. It’s a derivative of our dungeon crawl game, but this time in a near future/sci-fi setting, with Alien-esque baddies creeping up on our gallant little band.
It’s a much simpler game than the fantasy one, with fewer enemies, no complexities like magic, and less character progression. It’s more of a beer & pretzels game, focusing on a special forces squad undertaking perilous missions into overrun facilities. Get in, do some stuff, and get out again while taking as few casualties from the very sneaky, very vicious, aliens as possible. Like Space Hulk, but with smaller, cheaper components.
Naturally, apart from painting a handful of GZG and Pendraken figures, we scratchbuilt everything… Cork tiles, mdf doors and features, equipment and other tokens, printed squad sheets, mission and layout cards, etc. It took about 4 weeks to get enough done to start playing, with each of us producing a share. Now we’re back-filling the missing bits so we each have a full set of everything.
We recently got together and played 5 games, all tense and challenging, but good fun too. Since then we’ve defined some more mission types and tweaked a couple of things based on what we learned from the initial games.
Like the dungeon game, its a 2.5D game in that it uses figures and some 3D scenic pieces, but there are no walls. The last thing I want from this type of game/project is fiddling around trying to reach and see the figures, let alone make dozens of feet of walls in all shapes and lengths.
Some more pics…
Escorting a xenologist through the complex so he can carry out a crucial bit of DNA collecting:
There are things to see and do…
A whole mission site set out – a fairly long way in, and then back out again.
A squad is made up of ‘characters’ and basic grunts. They get attributes, skills (characters only) and kit. Keeping track of ammo is important too of course.
Never be the rear gunner, even if you’ve got a flamethrower:
Covering all the angles:
A bit more to do to finish off my set, but it’s been a really enjoyable project and the game itself plays how we envisioned it.
Hi,
Very nice! I own Space Hulk, but it’s a lot to take someplace. I also own some 15mm SciFi figures which include Aliens, so a smaller, simpler version of the same type of game, as you have described here, is attractive. Will you be sharing the rules at some point? (I hope, I hope…)
Best regards,
Chris Johnson
Thanks Chris. I’ve emailed you a copy of the rules in case they’re of interest. Cheers, Dave
That looks excellent. Look forward to seeing more of this.
Excellent! I’ve been quietly building up my 15mm Sci Fi over the last year, so this is very interesting. This looks great, were the rules home brewed and could they work for a squad on squad game rather than a bug hunt?
Glad you like it mate. I reckon you could use the basic rules for squad on squad action, and I’ll send you them for a read. But, you know what you’re like – you’ll want to write your own set, and they’ll be excellent! 🙂
This looks really cool, Dave. When do we get to try it out?
I have my science fiction squads assembled and on the painting table. Sadly, I thought orange uniforms was the way to go……..bad mistake.
Star Wars rebels by any chance? You’ll have to get yourself to the midlands and we’ll get some grunts slaughtered by nasty gribblies.
Hi!
Best regards from Germany… Your Alien-15mm-Game looks really great! As a teacher I´m working on a school project to get kids away from videogames (at least for a short period of time, I hope!) and make them invent stories, build and play cool games on their own that are as much fun as their pre-designed games on different gaming devices. Would you be so kind to share your rules with us?
Best regards from Oberhausen!
Dennis
Hi Dave,
I’ve just finished painting up some 15mm aliens and grunts and putting together some floor tiles, but haven’t really looked at rules yet – I don’t suppose you’d be willing to let me have a crack at yours?
Cheers,
Jim
Hi Jim,
Thanks for the interest, yes I’m happy to share my rules in case they’re of use.
Will email over. Be good to know what you end up playing.
Dave