[none] Sci-fi battle board games?

[dbm]

While I enjoy tactical war games (played 40k from RT through to about 6e) I don't have the time to commit for the modelling side of the hobby these days. There are quite a few board game / maps-and-chits war games that seem pretty cool, and would probably give the game-play experience without the overhead of the modelling. The Undaunted series are a good example of the sort of thing I am imagining. But finding a planet-side sci-fi themed battle game seems almost impossible (most sci-fi games seem to focus on space warfare).

Any suggestions for games to check out? Ideally either chits or pre-assembled models that don’t need painting. Skirmish or bigger scale, either might fit the bill.

All suggestions welcome!

 

[Guvnor]

Well, I'd like to summon @First Age to make the case for Heavy Gear and cardboard mechs.

I am also a big fan of Ganesha Games, so even tho you might want to paint some minis (or have them painted) I'll suggest Mutants and Death Ray Guns or Challengers of the Great Beyond:
http://www.ganeshagames.net/index.php?cPath=1_9&osCsid=eqhracbea6pvfgoc9ho0vrv9b0

Here are some prepainted minis, and since you really only need 6-10 per side it's viable, here:
https://em4miniatures.com/products/mercenaries
https://www.alternative-armies.com/collections/painted-science-fiction-miniatures

Gamemats: https://www.gamemat.eu/?lang=1&cur=3

Game run time is sub 90 minutes, often less, space needed is about 1.2m square (that's with some space for rulebook and coffee).
They play nicely solo although they have no explicit solo rules.

I also summon @Sablemage and @soypunk to enthuse about 2 Hour Wargames, which are indeed board and chit wargames.

Finally I recommend Zombicide which is essentially a zombie apocalypse skirmish wargame in a box.

 

[Maddz]

How about Ogre and spin-offs like G.E.V.? I'm thinking of the original versions from the 1990s and before. Battletech could be another. Renegade Legion had at least 1 dirt-side game.

 

[dbm]

Good suggestions, thanks

Keep them coming!

 

[Guvnor]

How about Ogre and spin-offs like G.E.V.? I'm thinking of the original versions from the 1990s and before. Battletech could be another. Renegade Legion had at least 1 dirt-side game.

Oh yes, I still love a game of Ogre. Included it in my Traveller campaign.

 

[steveh]

Oh yes, I still love a game of Ogre. Included it in my Traveller campaign.

Tell us more!

 

[Sablemage]

From Two Hour Wargames' 5150 range, you could try the Star Army games (squad to company level, with or without armour and mechs) or the New Beginnings games which are on the borderline between RPGs and fireteam level skirmish. These are spinoffs of the Chain Reaction rules which are available for free as a taster. They can be played using counters on a battleboard, or with figures on a tabletop. I've also played them in VTT and I know the author plays in PowerPoint. I've played New Beginnings to death but haven't dabbled in Star Army.

I second The Guvnor's recommendation for eM4 minis, I have quite a lot of those - the range used to be much larger - and the old WotC Star Wars minis are viable (although large by 28mm standards) if you can find them; they've been out of production for a while now.

You might also find Loke Battlemats' books of SF and cyberpunk battleboards useful, they're intended for RPGs but should work equally well for fireteam- or squad-level skirmishes. Something I am eyeing up is the range of terrain pieces from Playmats.EU - here's an example. Those are basically mousemats, cut to shape and printed with scatter terrain - houses, ponds, trees, hills and whatnot. The houses are a bit 19th century but trees don't change much.