John Lambshead

Many wargamers enjoy the challenge of skirmish games where, instead of the strategy of vast armies portrayed by traditional wargames, the focus is on the tactics of a small unit. However, skirmish rules are often so complex that it can take hours of rolling dice, consulting tables and recording data to recreate what would in reality be a fast and furious firefight lasting just minutes. Now these new rules make it possible to recapture the speed and intensity of these actions where every man, and every second, counts. The basic rules are supported by sections which give special rules and scenarios to capture the flavor of a range of different periods, from Napoleonic to Modern Warfare and beyond with Sci-Fi. From the 95th Rifles scouting for Wellington, Western gunfights and WWI trench raids, through WW2 parachute assaults or Special Forces strikes in Afghanistan, or even Space Marines storming a space station, Squad Firefights elegantly simple system allows you to focus on proper tactical decisions rather than rolling buckets of dice or calculating masses of modifiers.

Fast-play Dice-less Rules for Small-unit Actions from Napoleonics to Sci-Fi

One-hour Skirmish Wargames

Welcome to The Sprawl...Sci-fi skirmishes are an increasingly popular genre of war game but they are more dependent than most on good scenarios to keep them varied and exciting. John Lambshead has taken the work out of scenario building. He presents a selection of thirty-six missions of varying complexity, each with clear objectives and victory conditions, a map showing set-up zones and some with special rules. Although they are set in his imagined dystopian city of Civitas Cavernum (aka The Sprawl), with its factions of Scavs, Proctors, Cultists and Corporates, the scenarios are designed to be adaptable to almost any setting and set of rules (including those published in the author's One-hour Skirmish Wargames). In addition, there are no less than three mini-campaigns that link the scenarios together in various combinations.But that is not all. John Lambshead gives advice on designing your own scenarios and campaigns and there is even a set of tables allowing you to quickly create them through random dice rolls, ensuring almost infinite variety to your games. Finally, there is a useful reference section listing websites of rules publishers and manufacturers of suitable miniatures and model terrain. Welcome to The Sprawl (but keep your gun close and your mask on).

Small-unit Missions For Use With Your Favourite Wargaming Rules

Sci-fi Skirmish Scenarios

David Drake

Beginning a new series from a military science fiction master with over 3 million books in print. A young hero comes of age in the crucible of war and galactic struggle. When Allen Allenson, scion of a noble family that has fallen on hard times, gets a mission to roust the power-hungry Terrans from a "wild" star sector where they're encroaching, he jumps at the chance to show his individual worth, improve his family's fortunes¾and gather enough lucre to make a good marriage. But the wily Terrans are not so easily persuaded by a young colonial they think of as a "rube." Worse, "Riders"¾the being who naturally ply the wilderness between the stars, are playing their own deadly political games¾against the Terrans, against the colonials, and against one young greenhorn commander in particular: naf young Allen, whom they figure they can manipulate to do their bidding. The one thing nobody has counted on is the fact that Allen, while young and inexperienced, happens to be a hero in the making much to his own amazement. At the publisher's request, this title is sold without DRM (Digital Rights Management).

Into the Hinterlands

Sir Francis Walsingham, Queen Elizabeth's Secretary of State, was the greatest spymaster the world had ever seen. But when he asked Dr. Dee to summon a demon the result was unexpected, especially for his orphaned niece Lucy. Sir Francis' duty as her guardian was to find Lucy a suitably aristocratic husband, not to let her fight demons and witchcraft for the Queen's Secret Service. But his¾and Lucy's¾duty to protect Queen and country from enemies both natural and supernatural kept getting in the way. And so did all those demons . . . At the publisher's request, this title is sold without DRM (Digital Rights Management).

Lucy's Blade

Urban fantasy in one of the worlds greatest cities. Rhian, a girl from the Welsh valleys on the run from tragedy and herself, finds a new home in the modern East End of London, where the worlds largest financial center spins a web of money and power from glistening towers of chrome and glass. Beneath the digital faade lurks the old East End where the layers of two thousand years of dramatic and violent history slide over one another like glaciers, spilling out in avalanches that warp the real world. As bodies begin to litter the East End streets, The Commission dispatches its best enforcers to deal with the situation: Karla is not human, and Jameson left his humanity behind in pieces in Northern Ireland and Afghanistan. Rhian makes new friends, dangerous friends; and where Rhian goes, the wolf is always in her shadow, just a heartbeat away. Among the bankers and traders of the East End walk demons in human form and who is to say which are the monsters? London is a magical bomb waiting to explode and somewhere a fuse is hissing. At the publisher's request, this title is sold without DRM (Digital Rights Management).

Wolf in Shadow

Rick Priestley

Unlike chess or backgammon, tabletop wargames have no single, accepted set of rules. Most wargamers at some point have had a go at writing their own rules and virtually all have modified commercially available sets to better suit their idea of the ideal game or to adapt favourite rules to a different historical period or setting. But many who try soon find that writing a coherent set of rules is harder than they thought, while tweaking one part of an existing set can often have unforeseen consequences for the game as a whole. Now, at last, help is at hand. Veteran gamer and rules writer John Lambshead has teamed up with the legendary Rick Priestley, creator of Games Workshops phenomenally successful Warhammer system, to create this essential guide for any would-be wargame designer or tinkerer. Rick and John give excellent advice on deciding what you want from a wargame and balancing realism (be it in a historical or a fantasy/sci-fi context) with playability. They discuss the relative merits of various mechanisms (cards, dice, tables) then discuss how to select and combine these to handle the various essential game elements of turn sequences, combat resolution, morale etc to create a rewarding and playable game that suits your tastes and requirements

John Lambshead

Books

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