USEME: 15mm Post Apocalyptic

USE ME means 'Ultra Simple Engine for Miniature Engagements' and this system delivers just that. Tactically challenging, easy to learn and for any age of wargamer. From skirmish to full battles, games last from five minutes to an hour or two for the largest battles. Play in your lunch break or in the evening when the idea of a really complex system with a long set up time really does not appeal. Pick up any of your miniatures and get playing in minutes. This is the seventh title in the USE ME series and was created after a year of solid feedback from the wargaming public. We have gone through a core science fiction set of rules and several historical ones plus ventured into space but now we go into a near and bleak future; that of the Post Apocalypse. Returning to the USE ME stable is author O.G.Joel, who has penned among other things USE ME World War Two. He had an interest in the aftermath of a man made, natural or supernatural event that would end our world and bring about a nightmare world of scavengers and technological warlords. This interest and knowledge resulted in these rules. Fast play rules based on the D6 USE ME engine that would suit 15mm scale miniatures (though it will work with smaller or larger scales with ease). From a few personalities in small scenario to squad level with battles involving a hundred or more character including vehicles. The USE ME game system. You will need some miniatures, some terrain and a few six sided dice (D6's) to play the game. This is not much and indeed most of the time everything in play needs only 1D6 roll to make a decision. In the game all miniatures and vehicles are de-marked into of CHARACTERS (from Infantry to Vehicles and everything else) and these into TYPES which allow you to create anything you want from this period with a few tables of TYPES with points costs attached. The Turn Sequence of the game follows a simple path of firstly the Initiative Phase where all players roll 1D6 and the highest roll wins the initiative for the turn (important later on!). Then the main part of the turn, the In Play Phase where all characters in the game are activated not by the side upon which they fight but by their Elan Rating. This means better troops and vehicles move and fight before poorer quality troops and vehicles and within each Elan banding from 6 to 1 activation begins with the initiative holding player. When activated each character can choose TWO actions, these include move, ranged fire, melee, hunker down, special action, unique action. The character may choose two different actions OR the same one twice with a modifier; very flexible in battle. Ranged fire and melee are based on opposed single D6 rolls with modifiers for troop type and weapon ratings. This super fast system results in targets being Killed, Struck or Winged by attacks. Killed removes them from play while the other two results negatively effect their further performance in the game. The hunker down action allows characters to take cover against attack while special actions cover those things detailed in the USE ME Advanced Rules and unique actions are created when needed for a scenario. In small games of USE ME every character acts on its own, this is a skirmish, but in larger games a simple mechanic allows you to combine three to ten characters into one SQUAD which then acts under its leader in play. All actions for squads are no more complex than for single characters. The USE ME advanced rules. After the rules engine for the game come the advanced rules which give a real flavour of the Post Apocalyptic setting including twenty one character profiles that specialise your character for play. These include Gas Masks, Hazmat Suits, EMP Pulse Protection, Night Vision and Poison Gas among others. Then unique rules for Psionic Abilities among Mutants including telekinesis and mind domination. Following this are unique rules for Contamination in play, Minefields and Rad-Pits. All of these are useful and full of the flavour of fighting in a world destroyed by a cataclysmic event. Factions of a Wasted World. The rules set is rounded off with seven army lists which give suggested forces for the kind of armies you would see in a Post Apocalypse setting. These are only suggestions but they give you an excellent jumping off point for your scenarios. They include Scavengers, Mutants, Machine Minds, Knights of the Relics, Cultists and more. The booklet includes suggested miniatures and pictures from the 15mm.co.uk range including HOF75 Wasteland Uber Goons, HOF56 and HOF74 Cultists and SHM22 The Controller among others. You can find these on the website but of course you can use any miniatures you like with the game. After the USE ME game finishes. Most of the time you will want to play a quick game, cause some carnage and send a lot of little metal men to their dooms. But it need not be the end if you want to carry on. USE ME has mechanics in it for updating your Force Roster (with your troops on it from the game just finished) to see what happened to those characters who were Struck or Winged in play to see if they recover in time for the next encounter. This makes rolling those dice nail biting and really important for the next scenario. Plus you can make a second lot of rolls for any characters Killed in play to see if a slim chance of them rejoining your forces for the next game. Solo Play in USE ME. This booklet contains a solo play system which means that when no human opponent is present or if you want a practise you are able to do this alone and at a time of your choosing. The solo play addition allows forces to be fielded and statures chosen to determine their behaviours against your actions in game. USE ME is a pocket rule system that does not pretend to be anything else. Its fast, its fun and its affordable. With many rule systems these days taking themselves far too seriously and with some being priced at an amount that makes purchasing them a long term goal for most of us USE ME gives you what it promises and in a format that will make you smile. —description from the publisher