So I want to run some tabletop wargames at a local nerd convention, and the best games for cons tend to be those were every player control a single model (and sometimes there's a GM who controls the "NPCs").
Does anyone know any good miniature games like that? Any stories about good display games you've seen at conventions?
I'm thinking of running Tooth & Claw for starters, it's a pretty interesting little game of hunting prehistoric animals, with each player controlling a hunter or a pack of cavemen, and the animals are controlled by the dice.
At conventions if you are trying to snag passers by and not running pre registered for games you need visual appear.
I typically run HeroQuest at conventions which is a out of print RPG Lite dungeon crawler in 2D+ (played on a flat dungeon board but with 3D doors, furniture and miniatures). A simple but fast playing game you can pick it up used on ebay for around $50 for a complete copy. I paint everything to a basic table top standard. Will be switching to Mantic's Dungeon Saga next year as it is very similar and actually in print.
Tooth and Claw looks like fun you can buy pre-painted dinosaur and prehistoric animal minis toys for cheap at toy stores and the like. What are you using for Cave men/?
>>43442943
Where does one get the rules for tooth & claw?
>>43442991
I'm using some North Star victorian adventurers instead, since cavemen is kind of the game's Hard Mode (getting into close combat with an animal is usually a death sentence, and the spears and bows used by cavemen will almost never kill a beast in one hit). Also there are no dinosaurs in the game, but I'm gonna pick up the DeeZee prehistoric mammal models the game was designed for, mixed with some random animal models I have lying around.
The rules could easily be used for more realistic big game hunting with modern animals like elephants, rhinos and lions, but it's more fun with mammoths and sabertooth tigers.
A dungeon crawl sounds like a good idea too.
>>43443006
It's sold on North Star Miniatures website for fairly cheap. I'd scan the rulebook, if my scanner wasn't broken.
>>43443052
Should note that the game has rules for pretty much every kind of pre-20th century ranged weapon you'd possibly want to bring to a hunt, from atlatl and matchlocks to revolvers and elephant guns. With the 19th century guns, it's somewhat easier to bag an animal before it gets the chance to maul you, but the heavier the gun is, the bigger penalty you'll take for snapshots, like shooting a sabertooth tiger than suddenly pounces at you.
Does anyone know of any suitable system for playing a post-apocalyptic game for conventions? Seeing as this is the year of Fury Road and Fallout 4, it would probably get people's attention.
>>43443052
> "Also there are no dinosaurs in the game..."
>"....but it's more fun with mammoths and sabertooth tigers."
Needs dinos immediately!
>>43443120
Dark Future
http://dark-future-living-rulebook.wikia.com/wiki/Dark_Future:_Living_Rulebook_Wiki
You can find the rules on torrent as well. But that site has the templaes and road pieces you need. You can use matchbox scale cars and micro machines brand motorcycles. Infantry is around 20mm IIRC but it is primarily a road combat game. Might be too high tech for mad max or even fallout.
>>43443127
The reason it doesn't have dinosaurs is because it was written with the DeeZee models in mind, but I guess it should be possible to stat dinosaurs for it.
Tooth & Claw basically assumes that most prehistoric animals would behave like their modern counterparts, and the animals are divided in different classes depending on their basic behavior:
All herbivores with horns, tusks etc follow the same rules but with different stats depending on if it's an aurochs, a wooly rhino or a brontotherium, for example. All relatives to elephants use the same Jumbo rules, but with different stats depending on the size.
So you could probably easily just change the names of the animals, and you get dinosaurs. Use the Charger rules for triceratops, the Jumbo rules for sauropods and either the Predator or Scavenger rules for meat-eaters.
>>43443149
Does it work with models on foot, though?
>>43443210
There are also some more exotic animals that get their own rules specifically for them, like gigantopithecus having a change to disarm any hunter it gets into contact with, or megatherium being especially dumb and slow.
For me the best sorts of games for cons are.
1. Highly visually appealing. That usually means painted miniatures and terrain.
2. Multiplayer Co-Op against a person (Game Master) or small Team against team. This builds camaraderie and team spirit. Makes winning more enjoyable. As humans we are wired to work together in groups to accomplish life and death tasks. Channel this for your game.
3. Rules light (a loaded term I know) and fast playing with minimal reference material no flipping through books everything players need to know should fit on a card or two. Minimum book keeping chores best to use a visual cue i.e. red glass blob counters for hit points. A single die type mechanic is best
4. Controlling a single, identifiable character with a strong easily identifiable archetype.
5. Offer achievable character progression with power increase in just 1 or 2 sessions.
6. Game sessions should be under and hour or 2.
Dungeon crawls really lend themselves to this style of play.
A rules light dungeon crawler I run is called Trap Door. I use cardboard D&D tiles over plastic mesh drawer liner (to keep from sliding around) and painted Reaper bones minis. Make my own counters on card stock w/ a color printer. Gold is tracked with real metal fantasy coins
http://www.wargamevault.com/product/139366/Trapdoor
I would like to see a Post Apoc dungeon crawl (scavenge the ruins) type game.
>>43443285
>I would like to see a Post Apoc dungeon crawl (scavenge the ruins) type game.
You know, this is not a bad idea at all. And it honestly should be pretty easy to turn a generic fantasy dungeon crawling system into a post-apocalyptic game, it's mostly just a change of names.
>>43443341
Post Apoc setting I loved was called Blood Dawn it was made by the same guys that did Battle Lords of the 23rd Century.
Basically you have melee weapons, blackpowder weapons, modern, and high tech weapons all coexisting. Makes for a nice gear as class progression.
There was also magic.
>>43443384
Basica Fantasy Archetypes:
Fighter
Magic User
Healer
Rogue/Thief
Basic Post Apoc Archetypes
Fighter = Fighter
Magic User = ?
Healer = ?
Rogue/Thief = Tech/engineer charcater?
First question is how gonzo? Personally I like full on Gonzo, Psychics, mutants, magic, monsters, walking plant people ala Gamma World the works!
>>43443285
>>43443341
Okay, the idea I'm getting now is a Fallout themed dungeon crawl, using Trap Door (or any similar system, but I kinda like it's simplicity) and tiles made using Hirst molds to represent a vault the players are breaking into.
Only problem is that Fallout doesn't really have magic (well, there are psionics, but they're extremely rare).
>>43443420
Magic user= Psionic/someone with access to a lot of weird pre-war gadgets
Healer= Scientist or some kind of tribal medicine man
>>43443441
>>43443441
I wouldn't run it as straight Fallout per the video games. I would just steal elements from it like piltering an "abandoned" vault. If you want magic add magic.
Creatures have moved into the vault in the top levels. Sentry robots carry out their last orders before the grind went off line, all sorts of traps from simple ones built by the savages/cannibals that have taken over the water purification plant to deadly modern constructs from before the war the guard the armory room. And so on.
>>43443492
I have a bunch of Necromunda gangers already that would make excellent raiders, and a whole bunch of Wargames Factory zombies that makes good mutants.
>>43443459
Its all good till they run into sanitation terraformers from the domed cities. Crossbows and homespun melee weapons and armor vs. futuristic armored environmentally sealed suits and modern guns/fricken lasers.
>>43443523
Oh, and the reason I was talking about going straight Fallout is because I'm planning to buy some Brothers Vinni models, and namedropping Fallout would probably get more attention from potential players. Although it's probably a good idea to not stick slavishly to what's canon.
>>43443523
What rules are you gonna use and what is the plot device?
1. Looking for a new home.
2. General Treasure Hunters
3. Specific Treasure Hunters (the water chip!)
4. Looking for a person to save them from _________(the Wizard erm I mean overseer of Oz)
>>43443562
Trap Door, as I said before. Or something else, if it turns out I don't like it.
As for plot, there's an important McGuffin in the Vault, like a water purification chip or something, but the cave outside the vault is home to raiders, the vault door didn't close properly so there's tons of feral ghouls and mutant animals inside, and the security robots in the deeper levels are still active. The usual.
>>43443559
Those are great minis no doubt. But player use of power armor is a late game thing. And honestly my favorite bit of fallout is being poor and broke at the beginning. When you scavenge everything. Every can of spam a feast. Every rusted shotgun an arsenal. Every single rotting shotgun shell a fortune! Such material poverty picking over the corpse of a once dedecdant material wealthy society is the core of the post apoc trope.
Reminds me of Denzel Washington's character in the book of Eli when he is happy scavenger a wet napkin and a ketchup packet.
Not I kill everything in my massive power armor suit.
>>43443587
"Eli: People had more than they needed. We had no idea what was precious and what wasn't. We threw away things people kill each other for now."
>>43443587
They have battle armour and stuff too, I just posted a random model from the range. Scavenging would absolutely be a big part of the game, and if they ever get power armor, it would be just before the final boss (or the BoS are enemies!).
They also do plenty of Fallout robots, mutants and such, as do Armorcast.
There is a post apoc dungeon crawler on kickstarter now:
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1336904045/blackout-journey-into-darkness-0
Not that it helps you at the moment but you can liberally borrow ideas.
>>43443648
Meh...they are too well equipped. a 40mm grenade launcher is too powerful to give the desperate "I'd kill for a can of beans" flavor of post apoc.
I am not opposed to power armor just make sure they are always looking for fuel, spare parts, stop for repairs, etc.
>>43443587
>>43443629
Vinni even makes models of people in Vault Tech jumpsuits, armed with SMGs and pistols. Surely that's low-level enough.
>>43443671
Guns beyond a pistol....thats high tech!
Low level is a spear, a bat with nails....actually nix that the nails are an upgrade!
A guy with an assault rifle, ammo, and body armor is like a knight in shining armor lording over the peasant hordes.
When you leave the vault in fallout you don't even have a pistol IIRC. So at most a knife, a pistol and limited ammo. No armor beyond clothing.
Of course you can find and upgrade everything.
Remember the scene in Mad Max: The Road Warrior when Wes rolls up on Max and Max pulls out the (unbeknownst) empty sawed off shotgun. Wes leaves. I love that.
>>43442943
Song of Blades and heroes is great for convention games, pretty much any of the song's series is good.
/tg/ has some archives around here iirc, in one of the generals the mega has it somewhat randomly.
http://www.ganeshagames.net/product_info.php?products_id=7
>>43443127
Saurion Safari has what you need.
>>43443721
OP here. I'm really glad you're not gonna play with me.
>>43443870
I looked at the post-apocalyptic version of this game, but was put off by the random mutations.
>>43444770
>OP here. I'm really glad you're not gonna play with me.
Thats a shitty thing to say.
All I am suggesting is that at low level levels players go from melee weapons and pistols to rifles and better melee weapons. I also like the idea of human savages who have reverted to scavenged junk improve and develop over time to wear power armor. Maybe he still likes melee weapons but now has a power maul or chain sword or something instead of a baseball bat or rusted machete.
If you want to run a higher level game cool. But I like humble beginnings and this makes me unworthy to play with you?
>>43443721
>When you leave the vault in fallout you don't even have a pistol IIRC.
don't you start with a 10mm, or get one early on anyway
>>43444809
Depends which Fallout we are talking about here there have been 3+ games (depending if you want to count Fallout Tactics and Wasteland).In the first Fallout you find a 10mm pistol right away on exiting the vault.
In fallout 2 I think you can get a gun in the vault before you leave but it isn't a given.
>>43444770
>I looked at the post-apocalyptic version of this game, but was put off by the random mutations.
So play without them? The core system of activations and brawling and knocking down things is really good imo, it's fast, no book-keeping, works well with multiple players.
>>43444808
Don't take this the wrong way, but you're kind of a whiny, annoying stick in the mud who can't grasp the concept of fun.
But hey, it takes all kinds, right?
>>43442943
>>43443052
>>43443067
I don't have anything constructive input to provide.
I just want to say I REALLY like those figures- they look fantastic; especially the mammoths.
>>43444808
And there's a difference between starting out with guns, and bitching about a model being waaaay too overpowered and missing the point just because it has a rifle. You're the type who actively seeks things to complain about, no wonder nobody wants to play anything with you.
>>43444808
Well, I think his point is that its better to sort out That Guys early on, and someone moved to bitching about a presumably American setting having more guns than a presumably Australian setting sounds like a terrible person to have around. You can see why it'd be bad to have someone like you around, right? The kind of guy that complains about even the most minor of design choices, like a rifle (probably cheapest and most easily available gun in the US) being used for starting chars.
>>43449892
DeeZee does great stuff. Also check out Lucid Eye's cavemen, they're gorgeous.
>>43449933
This guy gets it. You're free to stop by any time, if you happen to be near Uddevalla in June.
DeeZee's Elasmotherium is all kinds of garbage, though. Their cavebears suffer from the same kind of saggy torso.
Great lions and other great cats, though.
>>43444808
And you're clearly a shitty person, so it evens out.
>>43444808
For reference, spazzing out about rifles instead of pistols in any context other than what can be hid conveniently on your person is like spazzing out about shortbows instead of longbows in D&D. An imperfect analogy since longbows actually are harder to use than shortbows.
Let's ignore that one asshole (just like his family does), and talk about awesome models instead. I'm thinking of trying out Tooth & Claw as a solo game (which is possible due to all the animals working through dice and tables), using toy animals as proxies for the mammoths and stuff, and report to /tg/. Would people be okay with that?
Glyptodon is the best prehistoric mammal. You know this to be true.
Just buy 60 bucks of Wings of War boxes/glory boxes, that should be enough for 10-or-so players.
Either that or play War of flames,the Flames of War FPS thing.
>>43443120
This is not a test looks fun, though I'm not a huge fan of metal minis.
>>43450286
Reporting in as a people. I'm okay with it. I kind of want a PDF of the rules, I'm a sucker for prehistoric monsters.
>>43452208
I'll scan them if I ever get this scanner working again. It's a fairly slim book.
>>43452010
Wings of War is fun, but that would miss the whole painting and building part of the hobby, which is about 80% of the reason why I want to run a game to begin with.
>>43453219
You're a good chap Anon! I'm always on the lookout for light stuff that can be played easily on the fly.
