6mm Scale Skirmishing?

Hi!

I've been pondering painting up some old Epic figures I have had kicking around for some time now and have been searching round for a decent ruleset to use.

Epic 40k

I must admit that I am a real fan of Epic 40000, the third edition of Games Workshops 6mm scale Epic game. Its rules are really streamlined and simplified which allows for a really fun and fast playing game. The only problem is Epic is a tad pricey to collect these days with even the plastic infantry going for silly money plus I must admit I got tired of the Grimdark future that GW seems to have stuck with.

Another game that caught my eye a few years back was Mechwarrior Darkage, a collectable miniatures game. Although I never really played it I did read some of the background and liked the setting and the concept of small ragtag forces fighting it out using mechs, vehicles and infantry.

Sadly the game enraged fans of Battletech with its redesigns of classic mechs, butchering the setting, rulecreep and most of all, its collectable nature! What it did for me was give me an idea for a fun, inexpensive project that would allow me to collect a couple of small forces to paint!

So whats the plan you may ask? Essentially I am hoping to have a bash at using my favorite ruleset, Song of Blades as a basis for some small scale skirmishing.

I first came across Song of Blades not long after it was released but at the time I didn't rate it as it was just so simple. Move forward a few years and I was looking for a fast, simple ruleset to play some 15mm scale fantasy skirmishes with and by chance I tried out Song of Blades again and have been a fan ever since. Its genius is that one can play using any figures they have on a reasonably small board. It doesn't need one to have a degree in maths to play and games tend not to drag on for ever while keeping both players involved.

In fact its perfect for solo gaming, which is ideal for me as the mechanics allow one to play both sides without too much difficulty essentially turning it into a RPG lite sort of game.

Now I've settled on the system, I need to figure out how to turn a fantasy skirmish game into a fun 6mm sci-fi one. I am planning on basing up my figures on the new style lipped bases with an infantry squad or tank taking a single 30mm round base. Larger vehicles and mechs can then be given larger bases as required.

Games will be played on a 2x2' or 2x3' board as thats all the space I can manage at present and the combatants will probably feature about a dozen or so bases each and be very scenario based rather than a straight up brawl.

Setting wise, I will be settling with my own home brewed one of Farpoint, a frontier world with limited resources. Forces will initially include a planetary defence force and some marauding pirate types! Later on I will add some mercenary units and some other bits and bobs as the setting and time allows!

As always with my projects, the budget is severely limited so I will be trying to make do with what I've got for the time being and only making very small purchases when I need them! To cut down on cost I am also hoping to sculpt up some small vehicles and mechs to add to the fun.

Hopefully I will be able to get some background posted up soonish covering the world of Farpoint and the forces vying for its control!

All the best!