Techno-Fantasy Adventure 2nd Edition: Skirmish for the Rest of Us

If you've got a cabinet full of Stargrave crew minis getting soft-hands between campaigns, or a pile of kitbashed warbands assembled from leftover sprues with nowhere to go, Techno-Fantasy Adventure 2nd Edition (TFA2) might be the ruleset you didn't know you needed.

TFA2 is a lightweight skirmish game from Scott Pyle and Four-Color Studios that does one thing really well: it gets out of your way. Your warband is small — two to seven models depending on your build — and the whole resolution system runs on 3D6 plus a stat modifier against a target number. No lookup tables mid-combat. No special dice. Roll, add your bonus, beat the number, get on with it. The "Double Bonus" mechanic (rolling double 5s or 6s) adds some teeth — certain Traits fire off on that roll, so there's a little extra electricity whenever dice hit the table.

Where TFA2 really earns its keep is the genre flexibility. The rules explicitly tell you to use fantasy minis, sci-fi minis, or whatever weird hybrid you've got in the bitz box. That's not just marketing speak — the character creation system backs it up. You pick a Role (Champion, Fighter, Shooter, or Specialist), assign stats, then layer on Traits from a list that includes everything from Amorphous to Deadshot to Empowered (pick your own power source: sorcery, psionics, mutation, whatever fits your model). If a Stargrave crew member, a Frostgrave warband, or a gang of kitbashed nightmares from your bits drawer can be glued on a base, TFA2 will happily make them a character sheet. The crew and I just played a 3 way game with 1 player running "DNA-Stealers", 1 player running an Ancient feral Vampire and his minions, and another player running a handful of starwars minis. Fun was had by all!

The second edition also added proper solo and co-op rules, which is the big news if you play in small time windows or without a regular opponent. In those modes, you always roll — the game generates TNs for enemy actions rather than an opposing player. Boons (spendable 1 die reroll tokens) give you a safety valve when the dice go sideways. Campaigns are well-supported too, with post-battle progression, Subplot sequences, and Background mechanics that let your characters grow between games without becoming a spreadsheet project.

Is it a revolution? No. It's a clean, flexible, fast-playing skirmish engine that respects your time and works with models you already own. That's a harder design goal than it sounds, and TFA2 hits it. If your Stargrave crew is looking for a side gig, or you've got Frostgrave soldiers itching for a different adventure, or if you want to mix up both in the same game give it a look. Your sprue pile will thank you.

*Added 6/9

I only glossed over the campaign system, and it deserves more than that. To be honest it's the highlight of the rules, its very deep yet simple to track and is very 'Stargravian/5Parsecs' in context. If you want to have sci-fi adventures in outer space, but the 27 Stargrave books or pricing of the parsecs books has put you off.. this is the system for you.

TFA2 is available at four-colorstudios.com, DriveThruRPG and Wargames Vault. Looking for models to fill out your warband? The Stargrave line, Frostgrave soldiers, and our many Wargames Atlantic sprues are a natural fit — browse SprueDude for individual sprues and bits to build exactly what you want.