Xenocide: Firefight
Sci-Fi Skirmish Miniature Battles
(in playtesting)

Main Rules Rules (v2.05) 6/10/05 Point System (v2.05) Markers

Scenarios, Armies, Extras Force Lists (v2.04) Vehicles (v2.05) Join the Xenocide Yahoo group

Welcome to Xenocide: Firefight!

XFF is a Scif-Fi skirmish game focusing on individual troops organized into squads. It is designed to play fast and fun, while feeling a bit more real while still allowing the kinds of special abilities that sci-fi troopers are supposed to have. It is best played with 15mm or 28mm figures. At those two scales, I would keep all movement and firing ranges the same. If you wanted to have a larger game area, you could halve all of the ranges, but it will make for a longer game (not necessarily a bad thing).

Xenocide: Firefight is an update of the older Xenocide rules. The Xenocide name was shifted to the 6mm mass combat set - after all, Xenocide is a big concept for a squad level game.

I've included several small army lists. They are by no means the limit of the system, they were simply put together to let most people with figures for other game systems use them with this rules set immediately. I've included the point system, but it is complicated and no longer well playtested (the rules have changed, so the values of traits may have changed more than I've compensated for). If you use the point system, feel free to send me what you make and report how well it worked.

The point system worked very well in the original. It is designed on the idea of an open table - if you put more terrain out, it will lessen the effectiveness of range in many cases, so you may want to use more of the carbine and pistol weapons.

This game is heavily built around suppression. I hope it will allow for more realistic-feeling tactics to be employed - Covering Fire, Pin and Advance, etc. I also hope it does not slow the game down or make it tedious. Opinions on this are greatly appreciated. The suppression system is designed to be gradual, so you don't end up with everyone paralyzed on turn 1, but maybe slightly inhibited. It should help favor spreading fire around at different targets, instead of the standard tactic in mini-wargaming of piling as much fire as possible onto one target.

Old Xenocide was too lethal. It made suppression essentially meaningless, and made it extremely unpleasant to move your troops or have them on anything but first-fire orders. The Firefight rules have reduced accuracy, decreased weapon strength, and kept armor close to the same. I believe this will make suppression more relevant, and make maneuver more plausible. The orders have changed to make a standard turn involve shooting and movement, and to make opportunity fire something more unusual.

I don't have much for missions or force structures yet. You are welcomed and encouraged to do what you want with this, and tell me how it works out. I've got some basic set up rules - feel free to ignore them.

A Xenocide:Firefight email group has been set up with Yahoo Groups. The link for it is at the top of the page. I want to get a forum system put together as well, but haven't been able to find and easy one to set up that I like. The organization of Delphi Forums is unpleasant - I want more of a PHP format, but I don't want to have to do a lot of work setting it up or maintaining it. Advice is welcomed.

I generally pay attention to systems based on the amount of feedback I get from them. If I don't hear anything, I move on to something else. If you have anything to say, please say it, either in direct email or on the email list. That is the only way I know if there is interest, and it is the only way I get feedback to make the system better.

A note on the Xenocide name - no, it has nothing to do with the Orson Scott Card book Xenocide. I never read beyond Ender's Game. The universe is one I originally made up for GSC2, and liked enough to keep using for all my sci-fi.

6/10/05 - Main rules updated to V2.05. I made some major changes to the suppression system. Instead of keeping track of wounds and attacks and rolling dice for suppression tests, suppression markers are automatically placed depending on the number of attacks vs. the morale of the unit. It was more effort than desired to work it out. There is another level of simplification that can occur if it is needed.

Long range and running only inflict a -1 penalty to shooting now, to keep the game mobile.

6/7/05 - Order and suppression markers are now available for download in pdf form.

6/3/05 - The point system has been updated for vehicles (2.05) . Some sample vehicles are now available (2.05).

 

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Thane's Games