Grimdark Future Small Scale

Greetings small scale lover!
Yes, taking the normal value / 2.
With deployment normal distance, as described in full rulebook.

Hey, this is a great idea! I've been also been trying to adapt GF rules for small scale games to make a fast-paced alternative to Epic 40K. I basically play using the full rulebook small scale rules, except that instead of counting for instance a unit of 5 Battle Brothers as a Tough (5) miniature, I instead use 5 bases (so, as in GF, I'd get 5 "bases" for a regular unit of Battle Brothers). I also added a new phase at the beginning of each round where both players are giving orders (Hold/Move/Rush/Charge) using tokens which are hidden until a unit is activated, and a hidden deployment system (all these are directly inspired from NetEpic Palladium). Anyways, can't wait to see what your variant will look like when fully polished.

Btw, as of now, it seems that the army list you provided is using the regular point calculation method, making a 75Opts army a tad small for a 10mm game played on a regular table. Maybe it could be worth considering dropping the two units limit for combined units (so that you can field for instance an epic 40-men squad of Battle Brothers, while keeping the number of activations low) and/or extending the recommended point value?

Hey that's true, didn't think about the Transport (X) rule. Maybe a good way to deal with it would be to divide it by 5, making a Transport (10) vehicle a Transport (2) one. Then the the next issue that arises is regarding Transport (6) or Transport (11) ones. Maybe they could be considered as Transport (1+1 Hero) and Transport (2 + 1 Hero)?

Another way would be to recalculate costs for all units to include the increased amount of attacks per base.

For instance a Battle Brother base would be as follow

Battle Brothers [1] | Qua 3+ Def 2+ | Assault Rifle [12", A5], CCW [A5] | Fearless, Tough (5) --> 150pts (Using the online calculator, what a great tool!)


If you want I can quickly translate my house rules to english so you can have a look at them and cherry pick what you think would be relevant.

Completely agreed! However their point value should be modified as well, because in the context of Epic Grimdark Future your equivalent of a Transport (11) (able to transport a ten men unit + 1 hero) would be a Transport (3).

When it comes to point value a Transport (3) special rule would cost 36 pts, whereas a Transport (11) is 132pts, although in terms of transport capacity they both are transporting a unit with 11 wounds and 11 attacks.

On the other hand, when a transport gets destroyed you only get 3 Dangerous Terrain rolls to attempt to save your troops instead of 11, which means that each failure results in losing the equivalent of 5 miniatures in one go. I am not good enough of a game designer to really judge if it balances the point cost difference though.

Btw, if you need someone to playtest those rules, don't hesitate to reach me out, I have been waiting for ages (okay, let's be more realistic and say months) for a small scale twist on GF - way easier to convert new players who are not ready to dive into a 150+ pages rulebook.

Glad if I can help !


So I translated what I came up with for my small scale rules to english in case you'd find something interesting. Feel free to take anything you'd find appropriate!


Unlimited unit combination : You can combine more than two identical units into one.


Transport rule modification : Before the game, divide the Transport value of your vehicles by 5. This is the number of bases you can have inside the transport. For instance, a vehicle with Transport (5) would become a Transport (1) when used in small scale games. If your vehicle original Transport value is equal to 5*X +1 (6, 11, 21, etc.) round them down to the closest multiple of 5 and add a +1 Hero to its Transport value.

Ex: A Transport (11) would become Transport (2 + 1 Hero)

All your bases should be inside the same type of transport, and these Transports should stay in unit coherency while transporting your troops. You can decide to abandon bases from your unit if you can't place them all inside transports. They count as casualties and are removed from the table.


New profiles : You need to recalculate the point value and the profile of your units to adapt them to the game scale. Please, proceed as follow :

Copy your unit profile into the online point calculator (available to Patreon members, if you aren’t this alone should be a good motivation to join in!).

Multiply the Attack and Tough values of your model by the number of models in your unit before combination.

Divide the point value of the unit by 5.

Here you go. Or ‘Ere you go, if you play Orc Marauders I suppose...


New phase : The Order phase. This segment is played at the beginning of the turn. Each player places order tokens face down next to their units and heroes. These tokens represent the order given to this unit for this turn (Halt, Move, Rush, Charge), and are revealed when the corresponding unit is activated.

An easy way to make order tokens is use regular 20mm bases, and paint one of their side as follow :

Orange : Halt
Green : Move
Blue : Rush
Red : Charge (Note that you are expected to shout “TO BATTLE!” at your opponent while doing so, although this is not an obligation).

If you own a 3D printer, you can also consider creating your own tokens!


New deployment mechanic (Hidden deployment) : At the beginning of the game, instead of deploying your army using the normal rules you can instead decide to place a screen between the players before placing your units.


New unit type : Titans/Behemoths which are restricted in numbers you can field in your army. The number of Titans you can select in your force depends on the total point value of your army.

0 - 1000 pts : 0-1 Titan
1005 - 2000 pts : 0-2 Titan
For each additional 1000 pts : +1 Titan

Looks good. The rules I wrote was more in line with epic. But is is a realy cool idea to also decrease table size if I understand your rules correctly?