Mini Gangs Review.

Hello and Welcome Back.

Recently I have been playing Mini Gangs, so I thought I would write up a quick review. 

Mini Gangs is a small scale skrimish game by Curtis Fell of Ramshackle Games. It is set in the same Post Apocalyptic setting as the Nuclear Renaissance gane and is figure agnostic. Games take less than a hour to play.

Mini Gangs came out back in 2017, I backed the Kickstarter. At the time, the rules didnt suit my gaming needs. I loved the figures released with the rules. To my shame, I still need to paint up a couple of those gangs.

Then again 25 years ago, I thought Babylons Burning was the best rule set. A few years later I couldnt be bothered with all the faff of going through all the tables. Tastes and needs change with time. It's worth keeping a open mind.

I have been seeing a lot of people playing the Mini Gangs online, so as I own the V1 rules (V2 was realised a couple of years ago) I decided to finially give them a spin and see what the fuss is about.

The original version 1 rule book is some 60 pages long (version 2 comes in at 74 pages). In addition to explaining the rules there are lots of beautiful pictures of Ramshackle figures in action, pictures and background fluff from the Nuclear Renaissance universe.

The Game comes in three flavours. Gateway, Casual and Hardcore. I will explain each flavour in turn. The rules use a D6 and the scale/measurements is in cm. Mini Gangs can be played on a small table top. Any surface with 50cm to 60cm square is more than enough. There is also a group of scenarios to play in the rule book. There are no vehicle rules in the game, but given the size of the tabletop vehicle play would be impractical. 

Gateway Mini Gangs: 

Mini Gangs is a quick, easy to learn game to introduce people new to tabletop games to the hobby. Gateway is the basis the rest of the rules is built upon. The game is built around gangs of 4 figures, each with a Awesomeness value. This is the only stat in the game, which prevents it being daunting to new players. It also helps players with Dyslexia or Dyscalculia. Each gang has a Leader, Fighter, Shooter and Medic. The game is played performing an action and rolling a D6 above or below the Awesomeness value depending on the action. Gateway gives a balanced game.

The Gateway rules are available for free from:

http://download.ramshacklegames.net/MiniGangs/MiniGangs_Gateway_web.pdf

Casual Mini Gangs:

The Casual Mini Gangs builds on the Gateway rules. It uses a card deck in addtion to the rules. The players deal 8 cards each. The cards give weapons, armour, food, skill and strategies to be used by the Gang. These give the gangs random advantages during the game. It can make a game feel unbalanced as a character could end up with power armour and a plasma blaster. But then who said life was fair? It makes for a good story if nothing else. Some of my favourite games have been challenging ones.

Another cool thing, at least to me anyway, is that one of my minis is used as the picture on one of the cards. Free autograph if you can guess which card! 

Hardcore Mini Gangs:

Hardcore Mini Gangs is more like a traditional tabletop game. It is played using the Gateway Rules, but using points values and will need the Mini Gangs rules book. The players are allowed to taylor gangs to suit according to the agreed points value for the game. You can equip them and add figures according to the points build. I would like to play 6 or 8 figures at some point just to see how the rules handle them. The points calculations are quite simple case of adding single numbers. There are mechanics for campaign games and given how long it takes to play, a campaign can be finished in a evening.

Thoughts: 

I have played a few games of Mini Gangs at each level. It is quick to learn and play. Most of my Gateway games took under a hour. It does give a good game, with only the one dice. The above and below rolls allows one stat number (Awesomeness) to function in different ways and works well. The Hardcore level allowing custom gangs can give a more traditional game. 

Mini Gangs is great for quick games and is good to scratch that dice rolling itch when you dont have a lot of time. Gateway allows you to grab a handful of figures, a D6, some terrain and play. It could allow you to game while on lunch at work, on holiday or out and about. I have seen games played in the park, beach and woods, on the ground using local materials. 

No one dies while the game is running. Injured figures can crawl about usually trying to get the medic. While the Medic is unarmed and has low Awesomeness value, do not make the mistake of ignoring this figure. Medic's keep your figures in the fight. It's worth protecting them in play.

Given the figure agnostic nature of the game, it can be played in any setting allowing gamers a huge potential for play. I just grabbed a bunch of sci fi figures and added a couple of magic users to use as medics. 

The rules allow for monsters and other nasties to be created, should you feel like going on an abandoned vault/bunker crawl, bug hunt or monster hunt.

I am now looking at my favorite existing gangs looking to add medics, as medics are unarmed and have bags or pouches. Ramshackle games carries suitable figures. Some of my gangs might also need dedicated looking fighter figures, as they a bit too shooty. Any excuse to expand my own gangs. I will also be looking to make some game boards, which can also serve as higher ground on a bigger table. There is a couple of 2 x 2 foot blue foam boards laying unloved in my hobby stores.

I think that Mini Gangs is going to be a regular game for me in future. Nice one Curtis. I better get the Version 2 rules ordered. 

Thanks for reading, stay safe out there.