It started life as the by-product of bored, overworked, and highly skilled miners deciding they wanted to do something, anything, other than work for the thankless corporations.
From the first dare between two crews that involved a bit too much local brew and some spare hardware, through to becoming a fully fledged, ironically corporatised, industry unto itself, 'The League' spread to any place one found minerals and those that dug them up; its events, 'raids' as they became known, a fixture Slabside within the SOM, or deep in the black Silent.
Sporting professional teams and an entire industry that catered to every conceivable aspect, the colourful livery, sponsorship logos and big personalities could not disguise the fact that the teams evolved into mastheads for well funded, boutique mining operations.
But that didn’t matter. There were raids to be won and glory to be had. To the race teams, what came after was irrelevant...
Raid Metal came about as a by-product of the Sub Orbital Machine project and wanting a game to play that was simple, compact, fast and fun – so many of the games I have are big, complex and are a chore to simply set up; I just don't have the time, so they stay in the cupboard.
Combining the simplicity of 'pocket games' of old, with a modern unit card and turn system, Raid Metal is designed first and foremost to be simple to learn and fast playing, yet fully extensible for different levels of granularity depending on player's wishes. But Raid Metal is most importantly, to me anyway, scenario based by default. So unlike many other unit based games where you need a system to generate a team and then a scenario in order to start a game, Raid Metal's starting point and end aim is very clear – grab as much as you can and return intact. This core feature opens the door for campaign games where players can build on their base teams, giving them a personality and plan their tactics for the long term, almost becoming a tabletop role playing game.
To help players create new scenarios with the least amount of effort, I'll also be building a Raid Metal specific version of my popular Battletech Skirmish Engine.
With the base rule set now complete, I am currently in the final stages of the first development phase of Raid Metal. If you're interested in play testing or having a run through and offering your thoughts, sign up to my newsletter where I'll be making more detailed announcements.
