Friday, February 26, 2016

Playtesting my own 15mm solitatire sci-fi skirmish game

Things have been quiet on the blog simply because I've been too busy gaming!  I've been frantically playtesting my own rules for an X-Com-like solitaire game.  Based on Earth in the 1950s, the game features a shared dice pool mechanic for moving and firing that neatly replicates the feel of "action points" without any bookkeeping.  The aliens are driven by a strategic and tactical AI that sometimes has surprised me with really clever moves.  And finally campaign rules drive both the alien encounters and the advancement of human technology and human troop quality (as they get better at hunting the aliens).

I think it's a good sign that I've enjoyed every game that I've played-- even if no one else likes it I'm having fun! I'll be posting some playtests shortly and may even put together a demo video to highlight how the game works.  And eventually, I will probably follow Matakashi's lead and post most of the rules for free online, then offer a low-cost pdf for convenience.