Battlelords!
Having been a diehard fan of this game/setting/system since the very early 90s and the fact that i own all of the published rulesbooks, including The White One and The Red One, I feel comforable saying that this iteration is by far the best.
The rules have been streamlined, without deviating from the gritty realism, the art is better than ever and the player races have been tweaked nicely to add a bit more balance.
When trying to sell this game to my friends, the words “gritty”, “paramilitary” and “space-opera” inevitably were used. I also would sell it as a foil to traditional fantasy roleplaying stating that there were no elves or dwarves. Of course, the later inclusion of the Goola-Goola Space Dwarves In sourcebooks proved me wrong... but, they are gone in this version of Battlelords!
This game is so much fun. The combat system, while realistic doesn’t bog down the game with endless dice rolling. Speaking of combat; weapons systems galore... laser rifles, pulse cannon, archaic power weapons (guns!) as well as more exotic methods to destroy your enemies: Omega cannons, gravitational sheers, shoulder mounted missile systems, and on and on... Armour in Battlelords is just as varied and offers a near infinite combination due to a wide array of armour systems and a huge selection of armour options.
I could go on and go about the qualities of this game. What it really comes down to is Fun. This game is so much fun to play. It’s a great amalgam of military roleplaying, space opera, hard sci-fi elements, horror with liberal amounts of humour. Getting your RPG group together, strapping on your Kodiak battle armour, making sure your M20 pulse cannon is charged and that you have a BRI (body rehabilitation injection) or 10 handy and heading out on a mission is endlessly entertaining. With total freedom of how you want to approach any given challenge, each adventure can have a huge number of possible outcomes; some good, some bad, so very bad, but all fun.
Buy. This. Game. Actually, download the FREE QuickStart rules first and check it out. You will not be disappointed.
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