Recently i was listening to an old D6 generation
podcast about Spartan miniature's relatively new game,
Dystopian Wars. I have always wanted to play games on a more grand scale so Dystopian Wars naturally drew me in. The mechanics look very interesting, especially the rules for fighters. Originally, i was slightly put off by the steam punk minis, but i must say, over time they have really grown on me. The only flaw i see with Dystopian Wars is also one of my favorite things about it: the scale. The grand battles are made possible by the minuscule scale of the minis. While i quite love the idea of land, sea, and air power all being effectively used on one tabletop, i can't quite get over the lack of any infantry to speak of. It makes sense for spartan games to leave them out, seeing as at this scale, they would be little more than blobs of metal on the tabletop, but i feel that i would sorely miss their presence on the battlefield. For this reason, i chose to wait on Dystopian Wars for the time being. Don't however, be mistaken, i do intend to play Dystopian Wars in the future, i just don't have the right drive for it right now.
This left me with a bit of a predicament. I still need a way to scratch my itch for large scale warfare. I decided that my 15mm sci fi collection is not sufficient to wage war on the scale that i crave, nor are my finances in any position to make it so. This left me with 6mm; this is a scale of which i know next to noting about, other than that i could feasibly purchase and paint a much larger force than i could in 15mm.
My search for a 6mm rule set led me to several options. I want flexible rules that are generic enough to work with any miniature line, provide a points system to construct my own armies, and require minimal book keeping. my two favorites were
Future War Commander and
Strike Legion. In the end i decided to start with Strike Legion because i like the way electronic warfare is represented and the activation sequence. I may try out FWC at a later time though.
So far i have read through the basic rules and gotten halfway through the first scenario presented in the book. One great thing i have noticed about the SL rule book is that the scenarios given in the rulebook progress with the rules. Each time a couple new concepts are added, there is a scenario to play through that lets you practice that concept. After the basic rules, which covered all the core concepts in an elementary fashion, revolve around tank on tank combat. The next segment gives advanced ruled for the basic concepts and introduces VTOLs and aerospace flyers, walkers, and infantry, and after that it introduces close combat, artillery and expands upon core mechanics such as morale.
Here are some pictures of my first game:
the combatants
set up: the purple guys had to protect the city from the green guys.
end of the 1st turn. Astute viewers will notice that the 3 blown up tanks that are in the top middle in the next photo are not here. My brother was picking up the tanks and zooming them around while i wasn't looking.
End of second turn
The tanks i used during this game came from a halo wars RISK game and are the UNSC Scorpion Tank (green) and the Covenant Wraith (purple). The models aren't half bad so i painted up a couple to see how they look and was pleasantly surprised for how little time it took. The only problem it that i think they're a little small for 6mm. I don't have any 6mm minis to compare with yet so i was hoping you guys could help me. For reference, the base to the right is a flames of war medium base, the Scorpion is on a US quarter, and a US penny is between them. The Scorpion is about 3/4" (16cm) long, and the Wraith is about 15/16" (18cm) long. Behind them are two walkers I'm thinking about painting up and using as well(both from the RISK 2210 game)
