If you've ever asked for advice on what sci-fi wargames you could play instead of Warhammer 40k, chances are that you've been pointed in the direction of One Page Rules. As advertised, the core rules of the system fit onto two sides of a sheet of regular printer paper, and they've recently been upgraded to version 3.5 - with overhauls the designers say make the game more balanced and accessible than ever.
One Page Rules began life as a fan project to make Warhammer 40k easier to play, a set of rules that was simpler and quicker to use. The OPR studio has long since ditched any references to Games Workshop's copyrights from its games, but the studio's 'Grimdark Future' army lists will still let you play with any of your Warhammer 40k factions without any hassle.
According to OPR's announcement for the new edition, "in v3.4 a lot of players felt that armies were feeling a bit samey, and that some armies got more love than others". So the latest edition aims to redress the balance, with many armies getting new units, and all armies getting "an army-wide rule… new weapons and special rules to play with… more and re-worked hero auras… new and re-worked spell lists".
Some unit types that were dominating the game have been tweaked too. Aircraft are now easier to hit; Swarms are no longer automatically Fearless and able to Ambush; Artillery units gain accuracy but become Immobile (unless their army has a dedicated Artillerist that can allow them to reposition). Likewise the Undead and Daemon rules are no longer available as army-wide rules, and army-wide Rending / Poison weapons are gone, along with "all instances of rules that allow you to flat out move another unit by six inches".
There's also been a general overhaul to the rules language to make it easier to understand OPR army lists. They've always been much more compact than Warhammer 40k codexes, but v3.5 ditches the practise of using thematic 'rules aliases' - now a special rule will have the same name in every army list that uses it. Which should make it easier than ever for the curious to get started with the rules system.
Are you a big fan of One Page Rules, or do you have another alternative sci-fi system that you really love? We'd love to hear about it in the official Wargamer Discord community.
If you're interested in a new range of sci-fi miniatures, check out part one and part two of our interview with the CEO at Archon studio to learn more about the upcoming Starcraft Tabletop Miniature Game.