5150: New Beginnings

5150: New Beginnings is a Science Fiction immersion game from Two Hour Wargames, and the first immersion game that I have bought. While I’m still reading the rules, I like what I see.

I’m not sure if “immersion game” is a tagline that THW has coined for their games, as I have not come across it before but, essentially, it describes a type of game that sits between a tabletop skirmish game and an RPG. By using reaction rolls, the characters in the game are meant to act and react to events as they unfold in a way that is more natural and logical than the traditional “I go, You go” of tabletop wargames.

What I really like is that there is an extensive campaign side to the game, and that the game can be played solo as well.

I first came across the game either on TMP or on one of the many blogs I follow. I joined the Two Hour Games Yahoo Group and read a couple of very entertaining After Action Reports written by guys fumbling their way through character creation and initial encounters. What sold me on the game was that I could easily see myself using my Traveller campaign as a setting, and actually getting to play with some of the figures I have been painting. My initial plan is to set the game in the Border Worlds – along the Lymethius and Gamelea Subsector borders – as this is an area of friction and conflict, which tends to generate good stories.

I elected to get the printed version of the rules from Two Hour Wargames, rather than the pdf, and it came, spiral bound, on a nice weight of paper with a colour card cover. The spiral binding made sense after my initial surprise as the book is going to spend a fair amount of time open when in play. I intend to rebind it, adding clear plastic covers to protect the very nice cover art, as I have access to a spiral binding machine.

I will post some updates on this soon, I think.