Almost the entire book is a discussion of more or less free-form gaming that consist of umpired games including varying levels of role-playing. The exAlmost the entire book is a discussion of more or less free-form gaming that consist of umpired games including varying levels of role-playing. The exception is the first chapter that is a rather dry, but not wrong, section on "Designing Wargaming Rules."
Highly interesting to anyone wanting to learn more about "committee" style games, with multiple scenarios ready to go if you want to actually try to run one....more
An interesting update of the Flames of War rules, but wow is this a blast from the past. The novel Team Yankee came out in 1988 and was itself inspireAn interesting update of the Flames of War rules, but wow is this a blast from the past. The novel Team Yankee came out in 1988 and was itself inspired by The Third World War: The Untold Story that came out in 1982. Both document a WWIII that occurs in 1985. The war that many of us thought at the time was a distinct probability.
To see this come out as a game in 2016 is weird, but not unwelcome. The period allows for some interesting tactical situations. I don't know if I'll ever actually play a game, but it seems like a pretty solid one....more
Tank battles in this scale are kind of silly, but with that in mind this wasn't a bad take on them.
The actual rules are fairly light, simply changing Tank battles in this scale are kind of silly, but with that in mind this wasn't a bad take on them.
The actual rules are fairly light, simply changing things so that you can take an armored platoon instead of an infantry one as your army. The rest of the book is scenarios and a small number of new vehicles.
The historical scenarios look like they'd give you a small taste of the tactical issues of the real battles. Given the scale of the game that's the best you can really hope for, so I can't really knock them for not creating more historical set ups.
My biggest complaint, surprisingly given that this is an Osprey book, was the lack of appropriate art. A lot of the historical scenarios feature specific tanks, yet the art invariable showed something other than the tanks that were involved in the battle....more
Given who designed it, it should be no surprise that the core mechanic of Bolt Action is that of Warhammer: roll a d6 to hit followed by a d6 to woundGiven who designed it, it should be no surprise that the core mechanic of Bolt Action is that of Warhammer: roll a d6 to hit followed by a d6 to wound.
From that common core the rules do add some very different elements. Most notably the pinning mechanic that degrades a unit's effectiveness just for coming under fire and forcing morale tests to carry out the orders you give them. Also notable is the replacement of the igo/ugo system with a chit pull system.
This results in a playable game that gives a bit of historical flavor, but doesn't resemble actual historical reality very much.
I present what I thought was the most glaring example of this: It's a 28mm scale game, yet we have rules for on-board artillery, even Katyusha and Panzerwerfer rocket launchers! For those unfamiliar, the Katyusha had a minimum range of 1.5 miles. In Bolt Action it has a minimum range of 18" which at 28mm works out to about 108 feet (incidentally, its maximum range in the game works out to about 432 feet, or about 7500 feet less than its real life minimum range).
Now, there's nothing wrong with a light, playable game that takes liberties with historical accuracy, and I'll likely have some fun with this one, but it's harder to take because of who publishes this book. See, I suspect that because Osprey publishes this that it's the reason that we never saw a true WWII supplement for the just as playable but far more accurate Force on Force game. Since both games were published by Osprey, I suspect that they didn't want to have two products competing with each other in the same space, and that's a shame....more
The Clans of the Battletech universe, particularly those still in their homeworlds, didn't play a big role during the Jihad. This book explains why.
IfThe Clans of the Battletech universe, particularly those still in their homeworlds, didn't play a big role during the Jihad. This book explains why.
If you are afraid of spoilers in what is a sourcebook, don't read further. Also, don't flip ahead when you read the book itself, because the decorative margins of the book give some things away as you get further towards the back.
The Clans undergo a civil war of sorts, with the homeworld Clans conducting a jihad of their own against the "impure" clans tainted by the Inner Sphere. In a pattern mirroring the French Revolution, the bloodletting spirals out of control, only coming to a halt when the instigator and his entire clan is turned on and eliminated as being themselves tainted.
The destruction of genetic lines called for as part of this "cleansing" also causes a conspiracy centered in the scientist caste to trigger prematurely, creating a conflict that spills over into portions of the Inner Sphere occupation zones.
The majority of the book itself covers the history of these conflicts from 3067 to 3075. The book also includes the status of the remaining clans as of 3085, bios of some of the major personalities involved in the Wars of Reaving, and some other random bits, such as the bloodnames present in the various Clans as of 3085.
The final section of the book is the Rules Annex, which is more extensive here than in many of the other sourcebooks I've read for Battletecth. The Society (the Scientist caste conspiracy) developed a number of new techs and equipment designs that take up roughly half of this section. The remaining space is mostly dedicated to a Wars of Reaving campaign using the Chaos Campaign system.
In depth look at overall Clan society in the Battletech universe. This book updates the history of the Clans to 3062.
The book covers the history of tIn depth look at overall Clan society in the Battletech universe. This book updates the history of the Clans to 3062.
The book covers the history of the Clans, Clan society, Clan government, capsule summaries of the clans themselves, descriptions of some of the most important planets in Clan space, and a rules appendix on using Clan Honor in games of Battletech.
This last has largely been incorporated in the Total War core rules for the game.
The fictional conceit of the book is that it's being written by Phelan Kell/Wolf/Ward for his father Morgan Kell, and there are a handful of short exchanges between the two. It's a shame they didn't use that device more often, because it's a rather nice one.
This book didn't make me any more sympathetic to the Clans, but it did help fill some more gaps in the timeline as I try to catch up on the fictional history of the Battletech universe....more
The first sourcebook to take an in-depth look at the clans, this was another one that I never got around to reading back when I was first into this gaThe first sourcebook to take an in-depth look at the clans, this was another one that I never got around to reading back when I was first into this game, largely because I never really liked the clans. The first third of the book presents a reasonably complete history of the clans, covering all the major events from the Exodus of Kerensky to the beginning of the Clan Invasion of the Inner Sphere. It then narrows its focus down to just Clan Wolf for the events of the Invasion from the initial planning through Tukayyid. The middle third breaks down the invasion into more detail, describing each planet taken by Clan Wolf with a brief synopsis of how they did it. The final third describes the military organization of Clan Wolf on the eve of Tukayyid.
I'm still not a big fan of the Clans, but my dislike of them has lessened over the years, and the information in this book does better explain some of the history that led to their return to the Inner Sphere when compared to the information available from the novels. The latter was more of a "we need to destroy you to save you" type of thing, where the version in the sourcebook is more of a "we can't let you save yourselves because we have to be the ones to save you." Both are incredibly arrogant points of view, but the latter is slightly less stupid, as it at least acknowledges that the Inner Sphere was on the verge of recovery when the Clans arrived to "save" it....more
The original Periphery sourcebook for Battletech. Includes the first detailed overview of the Periphery states (circa 3025), as well as the first histThe original Periphery sourcebook for Battletech. Includes the first detailed overview of the Periphery states (circa 3025), as well as the first history of the Reunification Wars.
Fans of the Battletech universe might be interested to know that there are several mentions of Periphery state navies being in possession of warships. Later canon established that there were no warships in the Inner Sphere/Periphery during this era.
Filled in some gaps in my knowledge of the Battletech universe circa 3025 since this was one of the few books covering that era that I'd never read before....more
The final book in the Jihad line of sourcebooks. The first part of Final Reckoning covers the period from the fall of Terra in 3078 to the creation ofThe final book in the Jihad line of sourcebooks. The first part of Final Reckoning covers the period from the fall of Terra in 3078 to the creation of the Republic of the Sphere in 3081. It does this the same way that the rest of the books have done, with various accounts strung together in chronological order. It ends with a complete timeline compiling all the previously published timelines into one section.
The next part is an overview of the Inner Sphere as of 3081, presented as an intelligence briefing for Devlin Stone, newly created Exarch of the Republic of the Sphere. This includes a rundown of known remaining Word of Blake forces.
Finally, there's the usual rules section at the back, the most notable being rules for designing super-heavy 'mechs of up to 200 tons.
Overall, a decent ending to the Jihad saga, spoiled only by the knowledge that the grand experiment being conducted by Devlin and his associates is ultimately doomed to failure with the coming Dark Age....more
The penultimate Jihad sourcebook for Battletech goes into the major events of the last two years of the war followed by an overview of Terra just prioThe penultimate Jihad sourcebook for Battletech goes into the major events of the last two years of the war followed by an overview of Terra just prior to its liberation and a history of the planet. There's also a small section of rules crunchy bits at the end for use in the game.
Overall, it's not a bad wrap-up to the military aspects of the Jihad period of Battletech. The assault on Terra is suitably epic in scope, and is filled with enough SNAFUs on both sides to come across as "realistic."
We finally get a clear look at the defenses that defeated Wolf's Dragoons' and ComStar's attempts to assault the system earlier in the conflict, including stats and rules for the various drone ships.
We also get rules for Castles Brian, the legendary Star League fortresses that have been a part of Battletech lore since near the very beginning of the game. Something that I'll likely make use of if I ever get the chance to run my 4th Succession War campaign for the Battletech RPG.
My only real complaint with the book is that elements of the history of Terra are duplicated. It was kind of annoying reading the same information twice, especially since most of that information has already appeared in multiple other sourcebooks for Battletech over the years....more
This is Force on Force set in the future. The core rules are the same with additions added to handle futuristic elements like power armor and full shaThis is Force on Force set in the future. The core rules are the same with additions added to handle futuristic elements like power armor and full sharing of tactical information.
The focus of the system on troop quality rather than weapon statistics makes the transition from Force on Force to Tomorrow's War fairly seamless.
Like Force on Force, this is a scenario driven game. There are no points values for forces.
My only real complaint is the provided background, which the authors state is not "official." It's the kind of background I'd expect from a game written in the 80s. Today, it's hard to suspend disbelief in a future timeline where the US has remained a leader of the free world for over two hundred years, and where every nation that isn't allied with them is painted as a communist or socialist boogeyman.
Fortunately, it's easy to overlook the background and focus on the rules.
Since I blasted Force on Force for the number of typos it contained, I should point out that I noticed far fewer such errors in Tomorrow's War. ...more
An interesting set of modern conflict skirmish rules that I look forward to trying out, if only by proxying some of my 15mm WWII miniatures. It featurAn interesting set of modern conflict skirmish rules that I look forward to trying out, if only by proxying some of my 15mm WWII miniatures. It features an interesting initiative structure where one side holds the initiative throughout a turn while the other can only react. The result appears to be far more interactive than more traditional turn structures.
The game is scenario driven, and does not provide for generic point-based armies of the type preferred by tournament players. This is a neutral point for me, but could be a negative for others.
The book is solidly manufactured, but marred by numerous typos and a couple of omissions. Most of these don't effect the rules. A couple of missing tables are available from the Ambush Alley Games website.
I look forward to future supplements that expand this into conflicts that I'm more comfortable gaming, like Vietnam, and hopefully WWII. I find that I'm not completely comfortable gaming conflicts that have happened in the past decade, which is what this core book focuses on, despite a couple of sample scenarios from earlier periods....more
The game has interesting mechanics that I'm looking forward to trying out. The fiction spread throughout the rules tells an interesting story. The weiThe game has interesting mechanics that I'm looking forward to trying out. The fiction spread throughout the rules tells an interesting story. The weirdly dark setting is not normally my thing, but the good reputation that the mechanics have gotten finally led me to give it a read....more
This is a very interesting set of miniatures rules for the 18th and 19th Centuries. The game is written by Rick Priestly and Jervis Johnson, best knowThis is a very interesting set of miniatures rules for the 18th and 19th Centuries. The game is written by Rick Priestly and Jervis Johnson, best known for their association with Games Workshop. With this in mind I expected to encounter a typical GW style game, and instead found myself pleasantly surprised to find something quite different.
The system presented is simple, but seems to capture the essence of the era. I would love to play this game, but doubt I'll ever get the chance to as there are few in my area that are interested in historical miniatures.
Definitely worth checking out if you already have miniatures for the era, or can convince someone else to give it a try....more
An interesting book that uses wargaming to help reconstruct ancient battles and test various theories as to with what and how they were fought. IncludAn interesting book that uses wargaming to help reconstruct ancient battles and test various theories as to with what and how they were fought. Includes the rules to the game used in the book. Worth reading for anyone with an interest in ancient battles and doubly so for anyone also interested in games....more
