I was pleasantly surprised by this game.

I'm a long time Warmachine player and it was neat to see someone take a similar basic mechanic and take it in a completely different direction. Gruntz is about solid sci-fi wargaming and not at all about warcasters and combinations of powers and stuff like Warmachine.

Grabbed some miniatures from my collection, statted them up using the force building system and had a game. Played great. Rewarded sound tactics.

I'ts what a sci-fi miniatures rules set should be. I especially like the model count not being in the hundred of miniatures. 30 or so and a couple vehicles and you've got a big game.

Just reading the rules I know I will love this game. It has enough information for those that like pre-made army lists, but is generic enough to design ones own armys. Though it is written to a sci-fi or near future setting, it can be easily adapted to any genere where firearms are used. Game play is simple, though the game can be made more complex with the addition of more units and vehicles. As an added bonus the rules provide all the information to create scenarios based on B-Movies. If you want a Bug hunt, its there. You want zombies? The rules provide. You can even recreate such classics as an army vs. Giant monster scenarios. I also play games from Two Hour Wargames, but I think this game will become my goto rules for military action.

I must mention though that the rules did have a number of typos, but that is often normal and its still not as bad as other games I've read. The rules themselves seem to be put together rather nicely. Full color graphics throughout with plenty of diagrams to explain combat and movement. There is also a lot of support for the game. There is a blog and a yahoo group devoted to the game. Both offer numerous playing aids and army lists. There is also a unit building program in the works. The game is also support by a number of 15mm miniature companies both in the UK and the USA.

If your looking for quality 15mm scifi game rules and ease of play, you can't do much better then Gruntz 15mm.

Excellent rule-system. Good mechanics, fast moving, tactical and I love being able to stat up any 15mm models for it however I want!

I don't think the point builder is super-balanced, so I think it could end up with imbalanced games between someone who min-maxes their force and someone who builds a force for stylistic reasons. All good as long as you and your opponents are similarly cheesy/otherwise ;)

That's really looking for a negative to balance this review though, I REALLY like this game.

Overall the Gruntz 15 mm science fiction rules are fairly straightforward. Fortunately I've been following the yahoo group and the blog site did not have to design my troops from my first game. Thanks to the armored builder program that comes with the game is not overwhelmed. I may suggest putting to gruntz squads including their specialist in one or two examples vehicles in the book so first-time players of the rules can open the book immediately and try them out. I am experienced wargamer within wargaming for approximately 30 years so I had no problem understanding and using the rules. I really like the fact Gruntz the generalized enough that you can do any genre of science fiction for your games. After purchasing the rules, I made order to Ground Zero games, Eureka miniatures, blue Moon foundry and warnings for your online shop to purchase two starter sets of hammers slammers. With this system I'm reenergized about wargaming. This system is based in wargaming scale that is affordable to collect and game. I'm just hoping to find a few gamers in the San Francisco Bay Area open-minded enough to try it. Thank you Timothy Vidlak

Wonderful rulebook, very easy to learn but with a high degree of detaill.

I haven't had the chance to throw mini's on the board and give the game a whorl, that being said I have played a lot of games over 20 years and the mechanics are easy to grasp, the manual is put together well, and looks like a really fun fast paced action game. I also like the fact that you can add more if you like rather than try to "dummy" down some complex system. I would highly recommend this game to friends. PS the price can't be beat!

The rules are very interesting and I cannot wait to play a game. I have been looking for rules like these.If i could compare the rules to another game I would say that they are Almost similar to Hordes and Warmachine. I like the fact that you could use minis from any other company.

As the product from a one man show this is amazingly impressive work. It looks good and reads great with some really fun ideas that plays well and pretty quickly too - I've been stuck too many times at the end of the night with an unresolved battle and a wife who's waiting up for me.... I've missed the 15mm bandwagon and am stuck with all my 28mm stuff but with a few mods (range, cohesion etc) the game still fits my table. The point system is fun - who doesn't enjoy tweeking their force, I'm no GW junkie but it helps to balance scenario design if you have some idea as to the force composure. I've got Tomorrow's War, of course, but there's more energy and passion in this product that carries brilliantly to the table. Well done, really well done.

I've been looking for these type of Sci-FI rules for ages! Easy to learn, fast paced but depth set of rules with ability to create unit stats for all sci-fi toys you have!

fast-paced skirmish at it's bets. The PDF itself is well layed out and as professional as this kind of procut can be. I wish I could spend more cash on related material.

I have to admit I was attracted to Gruntz because of its attractive layout. Good graphic design (especially in wargames) is hard to come by, and seeing it was refreshing. I picked it up despite the fact that it's spelled "Gruntz", with the Z, even though I generally detest such spellings.

Inside is a solid ruleset, with a few shortcomings. The basic game utilizes IGO-UGO. Figures are based individually, and formed into squads, with SAW attachments. Specialist units and vehicles are separate. Both squad and vehicle construction is simple and effective. Fire is individually based, with each model rolling 2d6+skill to exceed a target number. Damage is applied as 2d6+weapon stat minus target soak.

Movement and morale are both simple and effective. Special abilities are exception-based, and noted on each unit card, so complications aren't unnecessarily multiplied.

As the game is designed to be used with any figures, it includes a unit designer which allows quick and simple construction even without using the included spreadsheet.

Optional rules allow for alternate activation (goodbye IGO-UGO), grouped basing, etc.

As a whole, it plays quite quickly and after a few minutes rules questions become minimal.

It does have a few shortcomings. Artillery is explicitly on board only, which is there to prevent it from being overly powerful. It's easy enough to house rule that away, although more powerful artillery types are not part of the unit builder package. There are no rules for mines or smoke, and weather is not included in the rules.

Infantry anti-armour weapons appear woefully underpowered. Using the strongest specialist weapon listed, with a rear shot and rolling as well as possible, it is only just possible to destroy the lightest tank with one shot. Even a light tank can survive such a shot. In the rules as written, it's not possible to disable weapons and movement either, although they can be curtailed somewhat. That makes anti-armour ambushes a little more difficult, if not impossible. If you are looking for Traveller-style fusion guns with massive damage, you'll need to create your own rules for them.

The whole works could use another round of proofreading. There are a number of typos [insert typo here], and the work "environmental" has been rendered as "environMental", clearly a result of a search and replace for the "Mental" statistic. The aforementioned Z is applied sporadically (gruntz and perkz but not tankz or weaponz), and jargon has been created where a word already exists (eg: waxed vs wounded).

Ultimately, Gruntz succeeds, though, because it's fun to play. There are no tedious table look-ups or agonizing over minutiae. The time is spent playing, and any rules not available are easily created. Despite its flaws (which may be addressed in a further update, for all I know) it's a worthy addition to your 15mm repertoire, especially if you're looking for a cinematic sci-fi experience.

I send regular e-mails to Robin (the Author)with addition ideas. The rules themselves are amazingly simple and has the best unit/army builder ideas Iv'e seen including Transforming Mechs into aircraft. Robin is working on a errata at the moment and I'm helping him with some optional automatic fire rules. If you can think of it you can build it. BIG 10/10 for these rules much better than 40k.

Haven't played a game yet but after a few read-throughs of the rules Gruntz looks quite good. If you are looking for a skirmish level game it strikes a nice balance of detail and playability with emphasis on playability. It is adaptable to almost any setting and unit sheets are provided for some of the more popular 15mm figures.

The 'soak' concept is an elegant way to handle things such as shields and EM that are often missing in sci-fi rules or added with cumbersome mechanics.

In my case I was looking for a squad level game not skirmish but I think Gruntz will work just fine here as well. An infantry unit of 6 guys can simply become a platoon of 6 sections with almost no modification to the rules.

Finally!!!! I think I've found the set of rules that will allow me to make use of the buckets of Star Wars miniatures I have sitting under my desk (yes buckets).

if you love sci-fi if you love 15mm if you love fast action. Then this is for you Gruntz 15mm sci-fi gaming rules has it all. The core rules are easy and simple to follow after your first game you will be wanting another very soon. And with advanced rules the game gets better.