Grimdark Future
"In the grim dark future of the hobby there is only Grimdark Future" - onepageanon
Grimdark Future is a single-page ruleset made for 28mm miniatures, namely Warhammer 40,000. Legend says that a long time ago the people at One Page Rules used to make a game called 1p40k, but once they got scared of getting the C&D hammer they re-named everything and now we are here. They also launched a patreon page to make some money, so probably that's why they changed the names in the first place.
The fluff of Grimdark Future is pretty simple: humanity on earth split into two major factions, one faction believed in jesus and one believed in science. They had a great war and threatened to blow the whole place up, so colonization ships were shot far into space to escape this madness. The ships landed in a place called the sirius sector, where humanity met other alien species and realized they were fucked (and still hated each other), so back to war it is.
The gameplay is basically 40k-lite, units have only two stats (quality and defense) and things are streamlined to the core. The primary difference from 40k that isn’t a case of simplification is that Grimdark Future features alternating activations. Even though things are kept pretty simple the battles feel like 40k and each army has its own distinct play style. The game is very portable as the rules fit on one sheet and the armies fit on another sheet, so no more carrying 9000 books around.
Factions
- Alien Hives: The Not-Tyranids.
- Battle Brothers: The Not-Space Marines, genetically-enhanced supersoldiers who serve to preserve the Founder's dream of a unified mankind.
- Blessed Sisters: The Not-Sisters of Battle, who worship a revolutionary woman who called herself the God-Queen. Not allied with the Battle Brothers due to the God-Queen staging a revolt against the Founder.
- Custodian Brothers: The Not-Adeptus Custodes and Not-Sisters of Silence. Even rarer super-soldiers who serve as the bodyguards for the Founder's clone-son.
- DAO Union: The Not-Tau Empire, specifically the part that's focused on giant robots
- Dark Elf Raiders: The Not-Dark Eldar.
- Elven Jesters: The Not-Harlequins.
- Eternal Dynasty: The part of the Not-Tau Empire that's more focused on being weeb and cosmopolitan.
- Dwarf Guilds: The Not-Squats.
- Gangs of New Eden: The Not-Necromunda gangs.
- Havoc Brothers: The Not-Chaos Space Marines.
- High Elf Fleets: The Not-Craftworld Eldar.
- Human Defense Force: The Not-Imperial Guard.
- Feudal Guard: A variant army that's more elite and better able to fight in melee thanks to remembering to fix bayonets.
- Human Inquisition: NOBODY EXPECTS THE NOT-INQUISITION!
- Infected Colonies: An army made of plague zombies. Turns out that these zombies are hosts to intelligent parasites and they aren't even that evil to begin with.
- Jackals: The Not-Kroot, being split off from the DAO. Aside from being more lupine than avian, they're also a lot more scavenger-like.
- Machine Cults: The Not-Adeptus Mechanicus.
- Prime Brothers: The Not-Primaris Marines. Rather than being the new model, the Primes are super-powerful variants of brothers whose enhancements see them burn out a lot sooner and a lot more disastrously. Also get Detachments.
- Ratmen Clans: The Not-Skaven in space.
- Vile Rattus Clan: A variant army that's more militant than squads of rabble. Was made in partnership with 3D modeler, but has since been discontinued.
- Rebel Guerillas: Something akin to the Renegades & Heretics, but not necessarily aligned to Havoc in any way. Actually ran from their home system in hopes of building up a force big enough to help overthrow their foes at home.
- Robot Legions: The Not-Necrons. Originally built as slaves to the Elves before a bug granted them sentience and they sparked off a revolution for their independence.
- Saurian Starhosts: The Not-Lizardmen in space, acting in service to their Not-Slann but beginning to doubt their Great Plan considering how things have turned out.
- Soul-Snatcher Cults: The Not-Genestealer Cults.
- Titan Lords: The Not-Imperial Knights. More a bunch of bored rich mercenary fops who sell their services to whoever pays them the best.
- Wormhole Daemons: The Not-Chaos Daemons. Unlike in 40K, you can't really make a mixed-up army of daemons without grabbing allied detachments.
Tactics
| Grimdark Future Tactics Articles | |
|---|---|
| General: | General Tactics |
| Alien Hives: | Alien Hives - Soul-Snatcher Cults |
| Aliens: | Dwarf Guilds - Eternal Dynasty - Jackals - Orc Marauders Robot Legions - Saurian Starhost - TAO Coalition |
| Battle Brothers: | Battle Brothers - Custodian Brothers - Prime Brothers |
| Elves: | Dark Elf Raiders - Elven Jesters - High Elf Fleets |
| Havoc: | Havoc Brothers - Machine Cult Defilers - Wormhole Daemons |
| Humans: | Battle Sisters - Feudal Guard - Gangs of Hive City Human Defense Force - Human Inquisition - Infected Colonies Machine Cult - Titan Lords - Rebel Guerillas |
| Ratmen: | Ratmen Clans - Vile Rattus Cult |