Buck Surdu's "Combat Patrol" WWII Skirmish, Now Availalbe

    I wanted to let my readers know that Buck Surdu's "Combat Patrol" WWII card-based skirmish rules for miniatures gaming are now available for purchase at Drive Thru Cards.   I as lucky enogh to be one of the playtesters for these rules, and can say they really are a lot of fun.
Here is a quick promotional video:

 Here are some of the features of the rules:

• The Double Random Activation™ mechanism provides the unpredictability and drama of card-based activation without the drawbacks. This activation mechanism was originally developed for Battles by GASLIGHT and was refined during the development of Look, Sarge, No Charts titles.  The mechanism uses cards for activation but ensures that multiple players are acting at the same time.
• No big yellow or pink chart cards cluttering up your beautiful gaming tables.  Each player needs one or two 3″x5″ cards with the information about his units, including their weapons and equipment.   Other than those, there are no chart cards.  The back of these unit records includes the modifiers for hand-to-hand combat and terrain effects on movement.  After a game or two, players rarely need to refer to these, so two unit records can be taped back to back for even less clutter.
• Combat resolution is resolved by flipping cards.  Players read different sections of the cards in the Action Deck depending on what they are trying to do:  shooting, resolving hits, “rolling” to penetrate enemy vehicles, hand-to-hand combat, movement, and morale.  In development, I took a series of charts and then broke them apart to fit on an Action Deck of 50 cards.  Flipping a card is essentially the same as rolling a die and looking up the result on a table.  The difference is that you don’t have to do all that table look up.  Flip a card and determine whether you got a hit.  If so, flip the next card to see which target figure was hit, how severely, and whether he is protected by cover.
• Cover is represented explicitly.  Instead of cover providing a negative modifier to hit, if you get a hit, when you flip the next card in the Action Deck, you look for cover icons.  If the target figure is in the type of cover indicated on the card, instead of being wounded or incapacitate he ducks back behind cover and is stunned.  While the use of cover as a to-hit modifier and the process in Combat Patrol™ can be mathematically equivalent, there is something intuitively appealing to knowing that the window sill deflected that round that would have otherwise hit your figure.  In play tests, this explicit representation of cover has made players make better use of cover while maneuvering their squads.
• Messy “opportunity fire” rules are replaced by a simple reaction mechanism.
• Somewhat randomized movement speeds based on the Guts level of the unit or its leader.
• The G.A.M.E.R.™ engine name is an acronym for the attributes which describe figures in Combat Patrol™: Guts (morale), Accuracy (shooting), Melee (hand-to-hand combat), Endurance (how many wounds a figure can take), and Reaction.  The game master can “sculpt” a unit to fit a historical scenario.
• Playable on multiple levels of resolution.  At the lowest level, all the figures in a unit have the same attributes.  At the highest level, each figure can have different attributes.  The levels of resolution can be mixed so that the Commando unit has more detail than the installation security personnel.  The allows games that have a historical feel as well as those with a more cinematic feel.
• Rules for replacements of personnel and equipment between scenarios enable players to represent mini-campaigns.
• Ground scale is 1 inch = 5 yards, pretty close to the scale of the 28mm figures I used in play testing.
• The basic rules are just eight pages!  And that includes several pictorial examples of firing and grenade resolution that fill almost a full page themselves.

Buck has prepared a tutorial video, explaining soe of the mechanics of the rules:

The rules are free, all you need to do is buy a set of 4 decks of cards to get started!
Combat-Patrol

Buck Surdu's "Combat Patrol" Coming Soon!

I just wanted to give you all a heads up about this exciting new set of rules by Buck Surdu.  I had a chance to take part in the playtesting for theses, and I can say that they really are fun and innovative.

After nearly three years of development, Combat Patrol™ is nearing completion.  The game features some really innovative mechanics that streamline play and reduce table cutter.  I have also play tested it in numerous convention games.  My gaming group has even begun adapting it to other historical periods.  There are many good WWII skirmish rules on the market.  So what makes this interesting and unique?

In developing Combat Patrol™ I developed the G.A.M.E.R.™ “engine.”  Key features of the engine are:

• The Double Random Activation™ mechanism provides the unpredictability and drama of card-based activation without the drawbacks. This activation mechanism was originally developed for Battles by GASLIGHT and was refined during the development of Look, Sarge, No Charts titles.  The mechanism uses cards for activation but ensures that multiple players are acting at the same time.
• No big yellow or pink chart cards cluttering up your beautiful gaming tables.  Each player needs one or two 3″x5″ cards with the information about his units, including their weapons and equipment.   Other than those, there are no chart cards.  The back of these unit records includes the modifiers for hand-to-hand combat and terrain effects on movement.  After a game or two, players rarely need to refer to these, so two unit records can be taped back to back for even less clutter.
• Combat resolution is resolved by flipping cards.  Players read different sections of the cards in the Action Deck depending on what they are trying to do:  shooting, resolving hits, “rolling” to penetrate enemy vehicles, hand-to-hand combat, movement, and morale.  In development, I took a series of charts and then broke them apart to fit on an Action Deck of 50 cards.  Flipping a card is essentially the same as rolling a die and looking up the result on a table.  The difference is that you don’t have to do all that table look up.  Flip a card and determine whether you got a hit.  If so, flip the next card to see which target figure was hit, how severely, and whether he is protected by cover.
• Cover is represented explicitly.  Instead of cover providing a negative modifier to hit, if you get a hit, when you flip the next card in the Action Deck, you look for cover icons.  If the target figure is in the type of cover indicated on the card, instead of being wounded or incapacitate he ducks back behind cover and is stunned.  While the use of cover as a to-hit modifier and the process in Combat Patrol™ can be mathematically equivalent, there is something intuitively appealing to knowing that the window sill deflected that round that would have otherwise hit your figure.  In play tests, this explicit representation of cover has made players make better use of cover while maneuvering their squads.
• Messy “opportunity fire” rules are replaced by a simple reaction mechanism.
• Somewhat randomized movement speeds based on the Guts level of the unit or its leader.
• The G.A.M.E.R.™ engine name is an acronym for the attributes which describe figures in Combat Patrol™: Guts (morale), Accuracy (shooting), Melee (hand-to-hand combat), Endurance (how many wounds a figure can take), and Reaction.  The game master can “sculpt” a unit to fit a historical scenario.
• Playable on multiple levels of resolution.  At the lowest level, all the figures in a unit have the same attributes.  At the highest level, each figure can have different attributes.  The levels of resolution can be mixed so that the Commando unit has more detail than the installation security personnel.  The allows games that have a historical feel as well as those with a more cinematic feel.
• Rules for replacements of personnel and equipment between scenarios enable players to represent mini-campaigns.
• Ground scale is 1 inch = 5 yards, pretty close to the scale of the 28mm figures I used in play testing.
• The basic rules are just eight pages!  And that includes several pictorial examples of firing and grenade resolution that fill almost a full page themselves.

Combat Patrol™ will soon be available through DriveThruCards on durable, premium stock cards.  It is helpful for each player or pair of players to have an Action Deck to speed play.  On DriveThru customers may purchase either set A or set B of the cards.  Each set includes four Action Decks (supporting four to eight players), with different colored backs to keep them separated, and an Activation Deck.  Purchasing both set A and set B will give you eight different backs, supporting eight to sixteen players for those really large games.  The basic rules and an introductory scenario will be a free .pdf download from DriveThru as well.  The advanced rules and vehicle rules will be a second download.  In this way, the rules will be available worldwide without customers having to hunt for them in retail outlets.

Because everything will be downloadable, there won’t be a glossy hard-cover book full of eye candy.  It’s just a solid set of rules that has gone through several years of development and testing.  I think, however, if people give the rules a try, they will really see how Combat Patrol™ results in a streamlined, enjoyable World War II skirmish game with all the nuances of any other set of rules but with most of the complexity removed.

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Where it All Began...

   While sorting through a stack of rulebooks in my warroom, I came across my original wargame rulebooks: "Rally 'Round the Flag"  and "Angriff!".    I got RRtF first, in the late '70's, at a small regional con at a college in PA. My parents had taken me because of my interest in Avalon Hill games, and at the con I was first exposed to miniatures gaming.  The rest, as they say, is history.  Heritage had a booth there and tending it was Duke Seifried himself.  We asked what I needed to get started in this "miniatures gaming" thing, and he set me up with some 15mm ACW packs, basic paints, and this rulebook. Kindly purchased by my mom & dad.  Needless to say, I was hooked.
 

     A year or two later, I purchased the "Angriff!" rules as my interests expanded into WWII.  Sadly, I don't remember where it came from, but I suspect a small brick and mortar hobby shop; as it became my standard procedure that whenever my parents and I traveled anywhere, I would look in the local phone book for any hobby shops and we would have to visit to see if they had anything miniatures related.
   Though I haven't played "Angriff!" since the early '80's, RRtF is still a great set of rules, which I would still pull out now and then to play as late as the early '00s.

"Bear Yourselves Valiantly" Rules Now Available!

Just want to let all of you know that our latest Look, Sarge, No Charts series rulebook, "Bear Yourselves Valiantly", for fantasy, ancients, and medieval mass combat, is now available to be purchased from On Military Matters:

http://onmilitarymatters.com/pages/dfsearch.php?term=keywords&data=bear+yourselves+valiantly&submit=Search

We're happy to get this into your hands a few weeks early from our original Fall-In targeted release date!

For a battle report see here:
http://onemoregamingproject.blogspot.com/2014/01/bear-yourselves-valiantly-fantasy.html

"Bear Yourselves Valiantly" Rules Sent to the Publisher!

I just wanted to give everyone the latest update on our rules for Fantasy, Ancients and Medieval  mass combat, "Bear Yourselves Valiantly".  The rules were sent out to our publisher, On Military Matters, today and we are on track for our planned release of the rules to coincide with Fall-In; where we will be running several demo games!
  Here is a sneak peek at the final cover:

For more information, see the rulebook's website.

"Bear Yourselves Valiantly" Rules Update

I just wanted give everyone an update on our progress with our mass combat fantasy, medievals and ancients rules, "Bear Yourselves Valiantly".    We are very pleased to reveal the final cover for the rules:

Also, we spent last weekend doing a lot of the photography for the many examples of play throughout the book.

James "Tank" Nickle, Dave Wood, and Buck Surdu working on photos for the rules.

We were pleased to arrange with Magister Militum to have many of their upcoming new range of Fantasy figures featured in the photos in our rules.

  

Magister Militum American Indians riding Giant Eagles

Magister Militum Ents

Magister Militum High Elf Cavalry

Magister Militum High Elf Mounted Archers

Magister Militum High Elves with Swords

Magister Militum Wood Elves wit Swords

Magister Militum Large Water Elemental

 It looks like we are on track for a publication date to coincide with Historicon this July.   We are making final edits, adding photos, and compiling example army lists as we head towards our final deadline before sending the book off to our publisher, On Military Matters.

BYV Game at Last Year's Historicon

Be sure to check the BYV website for updates and more information:
http://www.bucksurdu.com/Buck_Surdu/LSNC__FAM.html

"Bear Yourselves Valiantly" Rules Development Session

Last Saturday, the "Bear Yourselves Valiantly"(Look, Sarge, No Charts: Fantasy, Ancients, and Medieval)  author team, Buck Surdu, Dave Wood, James, Nickle, and myself, along with Duncan Adams from the HAWKs, got together for a day dedicated to ironing out some of the issues that have been occuring with the rules over the past few playtest sessions we've run.  These issues mainly dealt with clarifying allowable movement, participant's roles in melee, and the exact roles of leaders.

We played two games, first a War of the Roses battle, then a Rome vs Carthage one. Since playing the games to actually determine a winner wasn't the real goal, we were able to go real slow, stopping several times during the games to discuss aspects of the rules, and try different things out. It turned out to be a very productive session, and we believe we have most of the major issues ironed out.

I'm looking forward to now trying out our new modifications in a public playtest coming up at Barrage, the HAWKs one day con in September.

Beginning Painting for "Look,Sarge, No Charts: Fantasy & Ancients"

Now that we are wrapping up and putting the final touches on "Look, Sarge, No Charts: Napoleonics" , I started to do some painting for our next project, "Look, Sarge, No Charts: Fantasy and Ancients." Buck alerted me to what a good deal the Games Workshop "Battle of Five Armies" Warmaster set was, so I picked up one on eBay. This set contains a good number of sprues of 10mm fantasy miniatures of Elves, Humans, Dwarves, and Goblins, as well as some Eagles, and Wargs.
I had the opportunity to spray prime some of these sprues black during a warm day this past week, and today being a dreary rainy day here, I set about beginning to paint one of the Wood Elf sprues this morning.

I really am pleased with how quickly and easily these paint up; and I'm not ashamed to say that this veteran painter found the painting guide in the rulebook, included in the set, to really help me stage out the order to do the colors as well as giving me good ideas for my palette. You can always count on Games Workshop publications to have lots of inspirational color pictures in them. :-)

So, I will be working on these this weekend, (along with 28mm Tharks and Red Martians!) and you can expect more information as the LSNC: fantasy & Ancients project and rules progress this Spring and Summer.
.(Looking at the picture above, I see I missed one of the helmets on the left hand strip. Back to the painting table to fix it!)