Bartertown.com

I stumbled on this game a few years ago and I love it. It's a fantasy skirmish game that's made to use whatever minis you have lying around. It even has a formula to determine the point cost of a model given its stats and abilities. I was sold on it when I saw a demo force made up of ice goblins, polar bears, and giant rabid penguins. I've got a Robin Hood and his merry men force and a force of My Little Pony figures, while a friend plays goblins, dwarves, and an army of homies from the little vending machines.

That is messed up and hilarious, both at the same time.
Is there a sci-fi version of these rules?

Eric

Yes, it's called "Mutants and Death Ray Guns", but I don't care much for it; all the abilities are randomly rolled for instead of bought. It makes it hard to do a theme. That was a version from 5 or so years ago however, so there may be a newer one out.

Is there something that would keep you from just picking what you want, rather than rolling? Are some abilities too OOP?
I have a bunch of post-apocalyptic models, and I wouldn't mind having a quick & easy "beer and pretzels" system to use to skirmish with them.

Eric

Not sure, it would require some playtesting. Fortunately the rules are cheap, like $8 or so to download.
Song of Blades has a pretty robust list of abilities to choose from, I don't see any reason why it couldn't work for a sci-fi setting as well if desired.

Here's a link to their free Song of Blades warband calculator, it has all the abilities listed so you can just click the ones you want and put in the stats and it tells you how much they cost. It doesn't have ability descriptions, but you get the idea.

http://www.ganeshagames.net/army_builde ... v1217.html

I play it with my kids using 20mm fantasy animals from the Redwall series (think mice with spears and squirrels with bows, fighting against the evil rat pirates). Our take is that it's quick and easy learn the basic rules, but the optional rules (some in expansions) provide for a lot of variety of terrain, settings, and troop types. Play moves fast and it's fun. The only downside is that the variable control rules mean there is a possibility of being "stuck' for a while as the other player does several things, which can be frustrating for kids especially.

I don't know about the post-apocolyptic ones, but the Blades and Heroes version has point cost for all the abilities, so I just design themed warbands the way I want them and balance out the two sides.

Yeah, it's pretty easy to do themed warbands with Song of Blades. I've got the rules made for the original X-Men, I just need to get the appropriate Hero Clix figures.

Where did you find Redwall minis? That's awesome.

Splintered Light Miniatures (am I allowed to post a link since they're not advertisers? Anyway you can google it). In their 20mm "Woodland Warriors" line they have all the different species you need, plus a lot of fun character/civilian types.

There was the "Song of Splintered Lands" book that has stats for the SLM range and a neat campaign in there. I like the range but favor I guess the more traditional line of 20mm races he has http://imp522adventuresinminiatures.blo ... label/20mm

That is awesome. I need to spend some money there.