Critical Mass Games - 15mm Scifi - Demo game at the Club.

A couple of guys from Critical Mass Games offered to do a demo for their new range of figures and their rule set. I have seen these being demo'ed as it were, at a few shows around the UK.
The game tables have always been nice and the figures very well present. But I have never taken the time to really study or take part. Why, I hear you cry.. well, it ain't 28mm of course!
That aside, and to be fair to the chaps, they put a good effort into it and they presented a swift and brutal game. Firstly, over looking the first fact, they are not, I repeat,not 28mm in scale. They are quite nice. Infact, I was impressed by the scaling and detail on some of the figures. Some of the styling is not too my taste, but that is the world of sci-fi. We all have our preferences.

Now the rule system, is a basic, alternative atcivation. One player, chooses a unit, and takes his actions, then vise versa untill the end. The shooting is, based on base value for the unit and then some simple modifiers, such as cover. Wounding is, is a save roll, pass or fail.
Vehicles have a simple two part damage chart, you roll to hit, you roll to penetrate. If you equal, its a roll on the minor damage. Penetrate its a major damage.

All fairly straight forward. Commanders, do a few things, and some powers/options depend on each race. Army lists are point-ed and 1500 pts is about the smallest game.

So far so good.., ok, not quite. As it stands, a basic army looks around £80! Ouch!
The rule system is ok. The rule book, however looked a little light. Firslt, no solid, comprehensive index.

If you want to rate a set of rules. Start with the index. If a rule set is well written, its index, will be simple, effective and comprehensive. i.e., so you can find all the bits and bobs, when you need it, as you learn. Not have to wade through reading the same chapter on shooting, each time a differing variation arrives.

Secondly the production was soft spine, perfect bound and what appeared as standard heat bond lazer printing. The paper is non glossy and I have a suspiciouns, after long use the text may smudge. It just looked that way, but I could be very wrong.

So, no I won't be rushing out to buy the rules. They aren't bad, just they they failed to grab me.

BUT, that aside.. the figurs are interesting. They are varied, and I was impressed by some of the vehicle basing and design.

The game played ok. I think its a marmite thing. I can see some people loving it. Some people hating it.

It did not light my fires, but then I am hard to please. Hell, I am damned hard to please!
So, I would give the mini's a B+. Their pricing, a C- and their rules a D-.