Strike Legion (and Other Games) FAQ

So, what’s this thing all about?

Strike Legion is a science fiction tabletop wargame series that, when taken as a whole, allows players to recreate historical, science fiction or science fantasy battles using miniatures of their choice.

What makes this game different than other scifi games on the market?

Strike Legion incorporates electronic warfare as an integral part of future combat in a unique manner for ground combat games, creating a new level of tactical decision-making and introducing another level of uncertainty into your game plans. Also, this isn’t a game where you throw ever increasing amounts of six-sided dice all over the tabletop to engage in combat; there are more efficient ways to resolve game functions involving probability outcomes, and we’ve used some of them here.

How complex is the game?

On a scale of 1 through 10, we’d give it a 6 in complexity, but the game incorporates more detail in the various types of units than this would lead one to believe. You can field infantry ranging from guys in loincloths throwing rocks to fully powered suits of advanced armor and electronics that are capable of taking out a small city on their own, vehicles from chariots or oxcarts up through tanks capable of inter-dimensional tactical movement that use high-energy weapon and defensive systems (some of which can even travel through time - no, really!). You can incorporate slimy alien bugs, galleys and sailing ships (and sea monsters to attack them), Aether flyers, dreadnoughts, submarines, Big Stompy Robots (BSRs), huge cybertanks, and even flesh-and-blood (or energy-based) individuals can battle it out across your tabletop using the same rules.

And we’ve spent four years of intensive playtesting, re-writing, and editing things to make sure they all work well together in a playable, enjoyable, and engrossing format. As with all game products, there may be the occasional typographical error or a question or two on how a rule is intended to work. These can be addressed and answered via emailing us at info@LegionnaireGames.com, or the Strike Legion Mailing List.

 

Am I stuck playing with only the units provided in the books?

No. The Strike Legion series contains complete construction rules for any type of vehicle, infantry, gun, walking, swimming, crawling, or flying thing you’d like to field in your games. Creating your own force can be as simple or as detailed as you’d like it to be.

I don’t want to make my own units. Are there any ‘official’ army lists that I can buy?

Currently, no. There are a large number of free-of-charge army lists - complete with data cards and organizational info for a number of popular science fiction settings and existing gaming miniatures, all of which are available here. Other Strike Legion sourcebooks for both licensed and original scifi settings are currently at various way-stations along the publishing pipeline.

How many miniatures do I need for an average game?

That depends on the size of game you’d like to play. Strike Legion scales very well for battles between companies (10-16 minis), battalions (roughly 40 vehicles), and regiments (80-100 vehicles and/or squads) on each side.

How long do games take to play to a conclusion?

Generally speaking, about a minute per vehicle or stand on the table (so, using the above numbers, a battle between opposing battalions should take 80-90 minutes to play). Games involving Large vehicles (those capable of sustaining multiple damage hits before being destroyed) should count an extra minute for each additional hit they are capable of sustaining (if you really want to plan your games around a time limit, that is).

 

 

Are there any other Strike Legion games?

Yes. In addition to the four books in the Strike Legion 'tactical' series, there is the Strike Legion: Planetary Operations game that looks at higher-echelon combat.

Each maneuver unit in Planetary Ops represents a battalion of 2-4 stands plus support units (artillery, scouts, AA, and others), allowing players to engage in battles between regimental and divisional-sized formations in a reasonable time frame. Planetary Ops includes scaled-up versions of all of the combat options presented in the Strike Legion game series, full unit construction rules and conversion guidelines for your Strike Legion creations, and three different types of campaign games to give your battles more meaning and depth.

There is currently one 'setting' module for Planetary Ops. The War That Never Was presents special rules, units, TO&E, and scenarios for an alternate-history timeline where WWIII was fought between NATO and the Warsaw Pact nations in 1989.

Additional setting modules are also in the works for Planetary Ops - keep an eye on the Strike Legion Mailing List for information on these titles as it becomes available.

What about Task Force Zeta?

Task Force Zeta (TFZ) is a SciFi starship combat game, with each model representing a single ship or a squadron of fighters/shuttles. TFZ uses the same EW system that we introduced in the Strike Legion tactical series, and allows players to use pre-made fleet lists (from the rulebook or the Downloads page of this site), and allows the creation of literally hundreds of basic ship and fighter hull configurations - before adding weapons and systems - via its Ship Construction rules section.

Anything special about TFZ?

Yes! TFZ uses the same design philosophy as Strike Legion - lots of options with simple rules. There are sections that describe six basic types of armor and shields, eleven distinct weapons classes (each having a different game effect), four basic types of torpedoes and drones (each of which may be modified by the addition of specialized warheads), a couple dozen systems, and a simple to use Power Management system that allows players to yell at their Scottish engineers that they NEED MORE POWER!

TFZ will have the same level of on-line support offered for our other titles in the form of free fleet lists and the occasional experimental rule for open playtesting - we've started them off by posting three basic fleet lists for Klinks, Feds, and Roms (and I'm sure most of you reading this know who they are). Other lists posted in the near future will include lists for Babylonian, Imperial and Rebel, and Colonial vs. Toasters SciFi settings.

If you'd like to read a bit more about TFZ and Legionnaire Games'  plans for new games and new expansions for existing titles, grab a copy of each of the free demo versions of our games - each has an Introductory FAQ with updates (in chronological order of release) of our projects in the works.