Over on The Miniatures Page I've heard about a set of free rules that are "1 page WH 40k" style. They are called Grimdark Future. There are a few different version of these rules, the original ones being written for larger battles.
I decided to try out the "Firefight" version of the rules with my 11 year old Grandson, Kylor.
Kylor had been itching for me to get him some miniatures to paint so he could have his own army. Being a long time gamer in the Toledo, Ohio area I contacted a friend of mine, Doug who is "in charge" of a local gaming group. Over the years he has accumulated the collections of a gaming friend and his brother who have passed away. Doug told me he had about 30 figures that were just collecting dust and he was more than happy to pass them onto a (hopefully) future miniatures gamer.
The miniatures he gave me look to me to be from the Alternative Armies "Ion Age" line.
Separated into 3 units, they were already painted to a tabletop standard. Personally I think Kylor should leave two of the units alone, maybe a "magic dip" and some basing, but the last 10 man unit I will help him repaint....but that's a future story.
ON WITH THE FIGHT!!!
Grimdark Future: Firefight is a skirmish set of rules using a point system, so I made a chart for Kylor to reference for Space Ma....I mean "Battle Brothers". 😉 He would use one of his 10 man units. I have loads of old 2nd edition 40k Orkz and Gretchen (Space Goblins), so I dug out an equal point value of them. Here was the Order of Battle:
Fireteam Kylor
Captain Kylor
9 - Battle Brothers
Grampz Davz Mob
Grampz Davz (in a Orky Battlesuit)
11 - Orkz
2 - Goblin Herdz (of 5 Goblins each)
To keep the learning game simple, we played to 50% losses for the win. I needed to kill 5 of his figures, Kylor need to get 11 of mine.
"Captain, Orbital sensors have detected an Ork drop ship entering the atmoshpere. ETA until touchdown is 10 minutes. Projected Landing Point is within 5 kilometers of our position."
"Thank you Corporal. Please sound the alarm and have the men meet for a briefing. Looks like we have a fight on our hands this night...."
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| Firebase Navajo |
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| My plan was simple. 2 groups of Orkz will advance from the 2 bottom assembly points. The 2 Herds of Goblins and Grampz Davz will advance from the upper 2.... |
Captain Kylor can be seen on the left of the picture giving his Battle Brothers an inspirational speech. There was mention of Ice Cream......
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My old school Orkz and Gobos show up looking for Hummie blood.... |
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| Kylor very wisely deployed most of his troop on the rooftops getting a cover bonus. Captain Kylor can be seen on the right of this picture on ground level. |
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| With my best Orky war cries I throw my Boyz into a hail of defensive gun fire. Green markers indicate who has activated this turn. On my left... 2 of my Boyz have been "knocked" (a Fortnite reference). I stunned one of his Troopers in the roof and more importantly, Captain Kylor has taken 2 hits!! (red markers on the upper right side of picture) |
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| My center group of Orkz are not having a good time. They've had 2 of their number knocked down by the Battle Brothers defensive fire. But undeterred, they press on toward their objective.... |
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| On my right, the 2 herds of Goblins press forward. They are actually better shots than the Orkz, but the Orkz get 2 shots per turn and have a longer range. Grampz Davz in his Orky Battlesuit leads from the front...and has taken hits because if it. |
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| Mid battle situation. My advance has stalled while exchanging gunfire with Kylor. I did 'sneak' an Ork to the ladder of the bottom left building. My Green (middle) group of Orkz have been split up, but both are doing their best to take out Kylor's men. The Goblin herds and Grampz Davz press on.... |
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| Kylor then popped out a couple more minis (Reserves) on the ground level that had been hidden to me before. I switch targets and in a hail of Orky gunfire both of them went down!! |
WOOT WOOT GRAMPZ DAVZ!!!
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| I activate and my sneaky Ork climbs the ladder and attacks one of Kylor's Battle Boyz!! "HEY!" Kylor exclaimed, "Where did he come from!!??" "Up the Ladder. He made it there last turn," I replied with an evil grin....STABBITY STAB!! he went and another of Kylor's Battle Bothers went down. |
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| Flush with Battle Lust my Ork turned to the other Battle Brother. Bravely he withstood my Ork smacking him the the back with his hand to hand weapon as he continued to rain a hail of fire onto my other forces.....at this point Kylor had lost 3 of his 5 casualities, but I had lost 10 of 11.... |
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| The end game was here. Grampz Davz had taken this 3 hits. One more and he would have to test for dead (well, technically the game term is 'knocked out') 2 of the Battle Brothers fired a devistating barrage onto him...but Grampz Davz held firm in defience!! Kylor then turned his last Battle Bother onto the lone Goblin and put him down....for the win!! |
Next came one of the greatest things I've ever heard uttered around a gaming table. Kylor and I shook hands. I congratulated him on his win. "Thanks," he replied. He then looked to the 3 figures that had paid the ultimate price. "You guys are trash," Kylor said with a sneer. "As for the rest of you," he said, turning back to the survivors on the board, "We're going out for ice cream...."
