Nordic Weasel Games: I am excited (and nervous!) to introduce Shoot People in Space! Shoot People in Space (from here on, SPEIS) is 94 pages of wargaming goodness, offering rules for building and fighting with science fiction miniatures. The game is intended for head-to-head play and perfectly suited to multi-player chaos but can also be played solo or with two players teaming up against the bad guys.
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The typical gaming army size is from 8 to maybe 15 figures, making the game easy to collect and build for. If you already have armies for games like Renegade Scout or enemy squads painted up for Five Parsecs you can probably sit down and play right away. Gameplay is heavily inspired by early sci-fi games like Laserburn, Combat 3000 and Spacefarers in spirit, though not in exact mechanics. Battles are fought in phases with alternating activations: In the action phase your figures take turns carrying out one action (moving, firing, doing something else) while in the firefight phase most figures can fire (potentially shooting a second time).
Combat uses a simple 2D6 table with several unexpected factors built in: Firers can fumble or inflict critical hits and the use of a separate Threat die can cause surprise reactions such as the targets diving for cover or firing back. Gun battles plays out quickly and chaotically. The rules also provide an additional element of liveliness by troops occasionally going out of control: As a result of combat, they may be running away, holding a position or rushing at the enemy and will continue to do so until they are brought under control. The usual slew of extra options are included including things like blowing up terrain and blasting through doors.
Troop types include 3 figure teams of infantry, single characters and bikes (including “drifter” hover bikes) with additional rules included for combat robots, random giant monsters and more. You can select from 11 species taken from the Unified Space game setting and preconfigured load-outs are available to make army building time be as fast as possible. A points system is included to allow pick-up games. The game can be played with any single-mounted scifi figures you have and works in both 15mm and 28mm.
SPEIS is intended for head-to-head play with 10 scenario objectives to pick from, but we also offer tools for non player forces and a random unit generator. These are great for solo play or to have a third party force show up mid battle if you like. Options are provided for persistent play: This allows you to build a roster of units and when you use them in battle, they will be able to level up (or die). This allows you to experience a degree of progression even if you are primarily playing pick up games against random forces or in a club setting with multiple players. The “Mercenary mode” focuses things by restricting players to a single force that they have to use over multiple games while trying to achieve bounties. Finally 5 pages of Game Mastering advice is provided for players who want to experience sci-fi miniatures gaming the way it was back in the day.
SPEIS is a perfect middle ground between the man-to-man campaigns of Five Parsecs and the much larger battlefields of Renegade Scout / Clash on the Fringe and is adaptable to almost any style of gameplay from pick-up games with prebuilt armies to Game-mastered campaigns to solo action.
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