Jonathan Hicks, the mind behind the fantastic Those Dark Places, is back with another awesome Sci-Fi game. You can now download FIRETEAM - Rules Light Sci-Fi Action Roleplaying and get stuck into some brutal scraps on the tabletop.

FIRETEAM // Jonathan Hicks

In FIRETEAM, players will take on the role of Specialists in a Fireteam Of The Interplanetary Combine which is tasked with delving into all manner of conflicts across the known universe.

"Threats to the Combine come in all shapes and sizes; insurrection, terrorism, and strange, alien threats that the Combine struggle to deal with. On top of all this they are fighting an ongoing war with the Gene League Separatists, a huge collection of worlds that see the Combine as a threat to their ‘freedom’ and individuality, as well as seeing the rest of the non-augmented human race as inferior. They feel they are fighting a war for the purity of their genetically superior species and their independence, and worlds and star systems continually change hands with the borders shifting every few months. It’s becoming more than the Combine can handle."

Games of FIRETEAM should be played as quick one-shot adventures packed with action and quick, brutal combat. All sounds good to me so far! The rulebook contains...

• Simple character creation and progress, with just a few minutes for a full combat team to get statted and ready, and more than suitable for one-shots and campaigns.
• Fast, easily modded rules that can be used with most science fiction settings, including rules for vehicles and starships; in fact, the character creation and rules are only 8 pages long, so you can get straight into the action in one sitting!
• A single-page setting to get you started, and five adventures that fill out the galaxy and cover everything from tactical strikes, secret missions and assaults, to starship battles, boarding actions and all-out war!
• Can be used as 'Theatre of the Mind' or on a grid battlemat, so you can use your favourite minis.
• Easily adaptable to your favourite military science fiction setting, with lots of room for new rules, stats and expansion.

I like that the game can be played out in the mind or with a battlemat, which introduces lots of nice options from the world of tabletop gaming. It could be fun to play this game with some of the Sci-Fi troopers from the Hasslefree Miniatures collection for example.

FIRETEAM Marine // Jonathan Hicks

The game has also been designed so that the community can get involved. Hicks is very happy for people to get involved and share their own combat missions for everyone to have a go at. He is also willing for folks to sell their creations as long as they credit him and the original game when doing so.

FIRETEAM Marine // Jonathan Hicks

This sounds like it could be a bit of fun. It might be worth a download, especially if you've liked some of the atmospheric stuff by Hicks in the past. It is always good to have more options and I like that this allows you to delve deeper into that Sci-Fi miniatures collection you own!

Are you tempted to download FIRETEAM?