An Alternative for Casual Gamers: Grimdark Future

[Valerian]

Fellow Wolf Lords,

 

Have any of you played Grimdark Future?  It's a trimmed down version of 40k, made by fans of the game that were tired of all of the excessive complexity, and continual changes.  If you have any experience with this alternate version of the game, I'd love to hear about it below.

 

 

I've been into the hobby since 1989, and love the lore and the models, and games when I can get them in.  I just learned about Grimdark Future yesterday, and have already spent several hours reviewing the resources on their website, and watching YouTube battle reports.

 

I'm actually looking forward to getting some games in with old buddies, as well as my teenage kids, as this is a ruleset that we can actually manage to keep track of.  It's a full-time job to keep up with the bloated rules of the last several editions.  The fact that GDF uses alternating activations, and not "I Go, You Go" turns is just bonus.

 

GDF is a breath of fresh air for an old player that just wants to get in an occasional casual game, and has no desire to go compete at the Las Vegas Open.  

 

Best of all, the rules are free, and updated as needed when new 40k products are released.  

 

For the Space Wolves' specific treatment in GDF, look here in the "Army Books" section and find the Battle Brothers PDF file (or use the WebApp army builder); that's the one that includes their version of Blood Angels, Dark Angels, Grey Knights, Death Watch, and Space Wolves.  The PDF document for "Prime Brothers" includes all of the Primaris units.

Again, if you already have experience with this alternate rules set, I'd love to hear about it.  

 

 

Valerian

[Fankraker]

This looks really interesting! But where can i find the core rules?

[Valerian]

This looks really interesting! But where can i find the core rules?

 

Here you go, mate.  I should have included a link to those in the OP.

 

 

Also, no Space Wolves represented in this one, but this was a really well done battle report of a larger sized game, that better shows the ebb and flow of the game.

[ranulf the revenant]

I hadn't had the chance to play with these rules, but I would like to, at some point. Keeping up with 40K is exhausting :D

[Rune Priest Jbickb]

We played with those new cards the other night for a bit of a shake up, but this is also intriguing. I should dig into this some more.

[Griz]

Fellow Wolf Lords,

 

Have any of you played Grimdark Future?  It's a trimmed down version of 40k, made by fans of the game that were tired of all of the excessive complexity, and continual changes.  If you have any experience with this alternate version of the game, I'd love to hear about it below.

 

 

I've been into the hobby since 1989, and love the lore and the models, and games when I can get them in.  I just learned about Grimdark Future yesterday, and have already spent several hours reviewing the resources on their website, and watching YouTube battle reports.

 

I'm actually looking forward to getting some games in with old buddies, as well as my teenage kids, as this is a ruleset that we can actually manage to keep track of.  It's a full-time job to keep up with the bloated rules of the last several editions.  The fact that GDF uses alternating activations, and not "I Go, You Go" turns is just bonus.

 

GDF is a breath of fresh air for an old player that just wants to get in an occasional casual game, and has no desire to go compete at the Las Vegas Open.  

 

Best of all, the rules are free, and updated as needed when new 40k products are released.  

 

For the Space Wolves' specific treatment in GDF, look here in the "Army Books" section and find the Battle Brothers Detachments PDF file; that's the one that includes their version of Blood Angels, Dark Angels, Grey Knights, Death Watch, and Space Wolves.  The PDF document for "Prime Brothers" includes all of the Primaris units.

 

Again, if you already have experience with this alternate rules set, I'd love to hear about it.  

 

 

Valerian

 

My friends and I just got back into 40k and we were discussing whether we wanted to re-learn a new edition or try out a "simplistic" rule format and we came across OPR Grimdark Future.

 

While we haven't given it a go yet - my biggest concern is no unque/special characters (unless we missed it somewhere) and personally, I found that all the "Space Marine" army rules left me wanting and felt rather vanilla. 

 

That said, it does look like a very simplistic rule set and lends itself well to that particular style of play and I would agree 100% that is has an appeal for ease of return or just casual gaming. 

[Valerian]

 

While we haven't given it a go yet - my biggest concern is no unque/special characters (unless we missed it somewhere) and personally, I found that all the "Space Marine" army rules left me wanting and felt rather vanilla. 

 

 

If you join the Patreon (just $5), you get access to their unit building system, and can use that to re-create special named characters.  I was asking about this on a GDF Facebook page, and it's a common practice to do this.

 

Agreed that it's all rather vanilla, but that simplicity is the whole point.  Their rules for Space Wolves is to give every unit the 'Counter' rule, which grants an extra Attack when being charged by an enemy unit, which is pretty good way to replicate the "feel" of Space Wolves (i.e. charge us at your own risk).

 

 

I'm definitely looking forward to giving it a go with my old gaming buddies, whenever we get a chance to get together again.

[Griz]

 

 

While we haven't given it a go yet - my biggest concern is no unque/special characters (unless we missed it somewhere) and personally, I found that all the "Space Marine" army rules left me wanting and felt rather vanilla. 

 

 

If you join the Patreon (just $5), you get access to their unit building system, and can use that to re-create special named characters.  I was asking about this on a GDF Facebook page, and it's a common practice to do this.

 

Interesting about the re-creating special characters - that would almost have to be a must for me! Good to know.

 

 

 

Agreed that it's all rather vanilla, but that simplicity is the whole point. 

 

It's true though, I suppose you can't have your cake and eat it too haha  

 

 

 

Their rules for Space Wolves is to give every unit the 'Counter' rule, which grants an extra Attack when being charged by an enemy unit, which is pretty good way to replicate the "feel" of Space Wolves (i.e. charge us at your own risk).

 

 

I'm definitely looking forward to giving it a go with my old gaming buddies, whenever we get a chance to get together again.

 

While I haven't played a game yet - the counter rule seems a bit underwhelming with the ruleset, since if you're charged, your opponent strikes first and kind of waters down the +1 attack you receive for being charged if your units are dead. But I suppose its better than not having +1 for the remaining models that were charged lol

 

Let us know how it goes, I'm sure it'll be a good time!

[Valerian]

Yeah, I'm looking forward to playing, although I don't know when I'll get my first opportunity.  I've been playing around with building a list for all of my Primaris models using their online army building tool here.  Pretty intuitive - much like AB for 40k.

[Valerian]

Spent some time making a master list with all of my modern Space Wolves (all Primaris plus one unit of Wulfen).

This is all I need on hand to play my army. It's so liberating.

[Valerian]

Here's the list that I put together on why I'm really digging this alternative rule set for casual gamers:

 

 

1. All Faction Rules are Current.  No “codex creep.”  The faction versions are updated at the same time.

 

2. The Core Rules are Short but Sweet.  Everything in the base rules is captured on a single page, front and back.  This means the rules are super accessible.  Pretty much anyone can spend 10 minutes reading through the rules and are ready to jump in and play the game.  

 

3. The Faction Rules are Short but Sweet.  Likewise, the Army Lists and Special Rules for each faction are captured on a single page, each, front and back.

 

4. The Base Rules (and all Faction Rules) are Free.  Additional content is available for a single monthly Patreon subscription of about $5.

 

5. Alternating Activations.  No onerous “I Go, You Go.”  This helps with balance and pacing, and keeps both players involved throughout the game.  No more checking out for half an hour while your opponent wins the first turn and does everything with their entire army before you can do anything but take saves and remove models from the board.  Alternating Activations keeps both sides engaged in the game, and helps prevent 1st or 2nd turn “tabling” of an opponent.  

 

6. No Force Organization Chart.  If you have a model or unit that you want to take, you can take it.

 

7. No OP Units, and no Trash Units.  Pretty much everything is viable, due to how the designers use an algorithm to set points costs.  Even “low-power” units (e.g. Gretchin) can win games.

 

8. No random Number of Attacks.  Each unit and each weapon has a set number, so no “swingy” attacks from weapons that you can’t depend on.

 

9. No random Damage.  Each weapon does a set amount of Damage upon an Unsaved (Unblocked) successful Hit. Most weapons do just 1 Wound, a few do 3 Wounds, and the most powerful (like Melta-equivalents) do 6.  So, again, weapons aren’t “swingy,” so you get what you pay for.

 

10. No random Charge Rolls.  Every unit can charge double its standard Movement value (4” Movement for Slow units, 8” for Fast, and 6” for everything else,) so no guesswork about who or what you can assault in melee when it’s your turn to activate a unit.  

 

11. No Strength vs Toughness Roles.  Removes an unnecessary step from each shooting or melee engagement.  Saves time and improves game pacing.

 

12. No Mortal Wounds and No Invulnerable Saves.  Simple enough - every attack gets treated with consistent mechanics - attackers attempt to “hit” with dice rolls based on their unit’s Quality stat, and targets attempt to “block” successful hits with dice rolls based on their unit’s Defense stat.

 

13. Heroes/Characters Attach to Units (Again).  No more having to try and manage Auras, and no more worrying about which units are “Core.”  Heroes/Characters can be joined to units at the beginning of the game, and if they do can share the effects of certain special abilities with those units. 

 

14. No Warlord Traits, Command Points, Stratagems, or Relics to worry about.  So much less unnecessary bloat to keep track of.  Instead of worrying about Rule Interactions from things like all of these, the game strategy depends on positioning, maneuver, choosing how to engage (whether by shooting or melee, since you can’t do both in a single activation), and choosing who to target.

 

15. Simple Terrain Rules, but terrain still impacts the game in a meaningful way.

 

16.  Each Faction gets a Special Rule that captures its essence.  Each unit is designed to capture the appropriate “feel” of the original source material, but without all of the bloat of modern 40k army codices.

 

Examples: 

 

 

1. Space Wolves units all have Counter - Gets +1 attack with a weapon of your choice when charged.)

2. Blood Angels units all have Furious - Gets +1 attack with a weapon of your choice when charging.

3. Dark Angels units all have Grim - This unit counts as having Fearless, and whenever it fails a morale test it takes one automatic wound and the morale test counts as passed instead.

4. Deathwatch units all have Disciplined - This model gets +1 to hit rolls when shooting at enemies within 12".

5. Grey Knights units all have Aegis - This unit may block spells as if it had the Psychic(2) special rule. If it is a Psychic then it gets +2 to spell block rolls.  Additionally, most Grey Knights units have the option to upgrade to become Psychic - May cast one spell during its activation, at any point before attacking. 

6. Orks units all have Furious - Gets +1 attack with a weapon of your choice when charging.

7. Sisters of Battle units all have Devout - This model gets +1 to hit rolls when shooting at enemies within 12".

8. Most Tau units have Good Shot - This model shoots at Quality 4+ (which is 1 point better than their actual Quality stat).

9. Most Drukhari units are Fast - Moves +2” when using Advance and +4” when using Rush/Charge.

10. For Chaos Space Marines and Daemons, all of the units dedicated to Slaanesh are Fast or Very Fast.  Those dedicated to Nurgle have Regeneration (essentially a 5+ Feel No Pain).  Those dedicated to Khorne have Furious (see above), while those dedicated to Tzeentch have Stealth - enemy units get -1 to hit rolls when shooting at this unit.  

[Wulf Vengis]

When Elder Valerian speaks, a wise wolf listens.

 

I shall delve into these shortly.

[Valerian]

When Elder Valerian speaks, a wise wolf listens.

 

I shall delve into these shortly.

 

Much appreciated, Wulf Vengis.

 

One really big thing that I didn't mention as a factor above is that there is a Points Calculator that folks can gain access to with one of the $5 monthly Patreon subscriptions.  There is a permanent digital PDF file that you can download right away, and there is a web-based application that you get access to while you have an active subscription.

 

With either the  application or the document, you can build your own units, like named special characters, or change any units that you think weren't well-designed.  And since their method for determining points values is much more intentional than GW's, you can make units as strong as you wish, without throwing game balance out of whack.  

 

It's very liberating to know that if you don't like something, it's acceptable to just change it!  All that is required is adjusting the points cost appropriately, and they tell you exactly how to do it.  

 

 

(One thing to know, however, is that the online calculator is in the process of being upgraded to the latest version right now, so you might want to wait a bit before diving into making a bunch of custom units).

[Valerian]

One Page Rules is where it's at.

[DanPesci]

We were discussing GDF with my gamng group the other day for the first time and Ive gotta say am very intruiged.

 

After playing some titanicus in the last couple of years and then returning to games of 40k, I find the lack of alt-activation in 40k pretty horrible.

 

The GDF rules look really simple, and theres options for adding in more layers (e.g. ive seen bat reps where people are adding extra turns, strategems etc).

 

Im probably going to sign up for the patreon this week just to play around with the tools and list/unit builder.

 

The army lists themselves are excellent, the amount of work gone into them is amazing.

 

 

 

While I haven't played a game yet - the counter rule seems a bit underwhelming with the ruleset, since if you're charged, your opponent strikes first and kind of waters down the +1 attack you receive for being charged if your units are dead. But I suppose its better than not having +1 for the remaining models that were charged lol

Let us know how it goes, I'm sure it'll be a good time!

 

 

 

From what ive watched the game looks much less killy overall. If you are taking 10 man infantry units, then unless you are being charged by a dedicated close combat unit, chances are you'll still have at least half of the squad left, so counter lets you hit at your full unit strength.

 

Id have to play a few games to see how well it actually works, but also becuase its alt activation, our units could already have shot that turn, and still get charged and get a bonus.

Whereas say blood angels will only get that bonus if they charge (and you cant shoot and charge).

 

 

 

I ran a couple of scenarios to test this a bit (and to get my head around how the rules work!)

 

 

10 wolf brothers vx 10 dark brothers (SW vs DA)

 

If dark brothers go first they can shoot or they can charge (lets say they charge), getting 10A on the charge.

This works out at about 1-2 dead wolf brothers.

the remaining 8 WB then get 2 attacks each due to counter. Killing 3-4 dark brothers on average.

 

So despite charging first the dark brothers would still on average lose combat.

 

 

10 Wolf brothers Vx 10 Blood Brothers. (SW vs BA)

 

A tougher combat matchup as blood brothers (BA) get 'furious' (+1A on the charge)

 

This time wolf brother unit gets to activate first and shoots. Doing 2 wounds to the BB squad.

Remaining 8 BB then charge, getting 16 A = 3-4 wounds.

 

Wolves get to strike back with counter, for 12-14A = 2-3 wounds

 

So wolves would lose combat most times against blood angels, but would still have killed the same if not more overall if they get to shoot before they have charged.

 

 

Definately going to try and get a couple of games in using this ruleset the next time the group is together.

Edited May 16, 2022 by DanPesci

[Valerian]

This quote from a guy on a OPR Facebook page really sums it up:

 

 

"Sure, One Page Rules is cheaper, and easier, and more fun, but does it have 5 books needed to play one army for one game?  I didn't think so."