(Jake Collins of NZ 2) | 07 Mar 2011 12:58 a.m. PST |
They said it would never happen – but FFT3 is out
link |
Lampyridae | 07 Mar 2011 2:49 a.m. PST |
|
aercdr | 07 Mar 2011 2:53 a.m. PST |
I'll be darned. Looks like another download coming my way. |
Goober | 07 Mar 2011 3:18 a.m. PST |
$40 USD for a PDF?? I'll pass and wait for CWC II in deadtree. |
skippy0001 | 07 Mar 2011 4:08 a.m. PST |
Covers 1930 to modern, price not so bad and I've been wanting it for years. Just found my case of GHQ unpainted minis from the '70's & '80's in my storeroom. I'll be ordering it next week. |
Top Gun Ace | 07 Mar 2011 4:13 a.m. PST |
Sounds interesting, but can't afford them at that price. |
Todd636 | 07 Mar 2011 6:16 a.m. PST |
$40 USD would be in line for a printed version, but for a pdf? I'll pass |
Cpt Arexu | 07 Mar 2011 6:23 a.m. PST |
It's 461 pages long, guys, that's less than ten cents per page. |
cfielitz | 07 Mar 2011 6:24 a.m. PST |
I've waited so long for these. I wonder if they will do a hardcopy? |
aercdr | 07 Mar 2011 6:36 a.m. PST |
I ponied up, despite my reservations at the cost. 461 packed pages, with rules, data tables, army lists from 1939 on. Two quick reference sheets. I do not feel that I over paid. |
Who asked this joker | 07 Mar 2011 6:47 a.m. PST |
It's 461 pages long, guys, that's less than ten cents per page. For a PDF, 461 pages is not necessarily a good thing. For a rules set, 461 pages is not necessarily a good thing. So what is the page breakdown aecdr? How many pages are actual rules and how many cover army lists? |
Pierce Inverarity | 07 Mar 2011 7:19 a.m. PST |
Yes, it would be nice if somebody (the authors?) posted a table of contents. And announce whether there's going to be a book, and at what price. |
Deserter | 07 Mar 2011 7:32 a.m. PST |
The price looks right to me
It is an excellent set of rules (I have the first version) and I see now it has been expanded to cover 1915-2015
everything one needs in one (big) book
but you must add the cost of paper and toner
|
Ken Portner | 07 Mar 2011 8:10 a.m. PST |
Rules, designers notes, etc. Are 177 pages. The rest is army liists and weapons data. Don't let the length of the rules dissuade you. The mechanisms are not complex. But there is a lot of detail on terrain and the are many optional rules that you can bolt on as desired. Only thing I'd say is that unless you have access to a free printer or are willing to use it from a laptop or ereader, you may want to wait until a printed version becomes available. I checked out the cost of printing and binding at Kinkos/Fedex and it was about $30 USD just for the rules section! |
Buzzkill | 07 Mar 2011 8:13 a.m. PST |
Not familiar with the rules, is it primarily an armor game? Does it handle infantry at all or is it just tank battles. It looks pretty cool, and sure covers alot of ground, I mean 461 pages! I also like that they include their rules to determine your own equipment ratings. |
Who asked this joker | 07 Mar 2011 8:21 a.m. PST |
Rules, designers notes, etc. Are 177 pages. Wow. I was not expecting that. I'm sure it is a good game but probably not my cup of coffee. I did have a look at the sequence of play. It also seemed more complicated than what I would want in a game. Thanks for posting the breakdown. |
elsyrsyn | 07 Mar 2011 9:21 a.m. PST |
Rules, designers notes, etc. Are 177 pages. These are not the rules I'm looking for, then. As John said – thanks for the info. Doug |
Arrigo | 07 Mar 2011 9:38 a.m. PST |
Having played both the 1st and the 2nd edition I never found them particularly ocmplex, and the 3rd edition probably is just bigger beacuse it covers a much longer timespan. The game is quickly and very intuitive. They are now on my list and if the respect the promise probably will replace CWC. |
Cpt Arexu | 07 Mar 2011 9:51 a.m. PST |
Don't give up on them for apparent complexity – Ty has always written with an eye to speed the turns along (they ought to play out as fast as a real engagement – a couple hour battle in a couple hours of play). I will buy these for the reference material if nothing else. I'm just surprised they were finished before Duke Nukem Forever
|
SgtPain | 07 Mar 2011 10:14 a.m. PST |
I'll stick with the 2nd edition for now, 40 bucks for a PDF is too much for me! most of my rules that I have purchased lately have been in PDF's, and for a 50 to 100 page rule book I prefer that format, since I can print an bind a copy myself. However, for me at least, the cost of printing and binding a 400+ page PDF book just drove it out of my price range. For that kind of money I expect a professional edited perfect bound book that I can hold in my hands and read. |
Arrigo | 07 Mar 2011 10:36 a.m. PST |
I suppose from the description the bulk of the PDF are army list to be printed as required. |
lkmjbc3 | 07 Mar 2011 10:51 a.m. PST |
Great news
Congrats Ty on birthing this monster!!! What is next
Arty Conliffe releasing Tactica 2? The end of the world? On a more serious note
does anyone have a review? Can this lure me away from Modern Spearhead? Joe Collins |
The Beast Rampant | 07 Mar 2011 11:55 a.m. PST |
The only thing worse than $40 USD for a 40 page PDF is $40 USD for a 400 page PDF |
RJ Andron | 07 Mar 2011 10:40 p.m. PST |
Having played the earlier versions of FFT back in the day, I definitely will be picking up this game. I've been waiting for the WWII data for use with FFT. Is the price too high? Not for me--I'll get value out of it. --- historicalwargames.net |
kabrank | 08 Mar 2011 3:07 a.m. PST |
Hi All Is there anywhere a quick summary of the order of play and combat mechanisums? |
grandtactical | 08 Mar 2011 3:23 a.m. PST |
I personally look at the work that went into the rules and the time they took to playtest, rewrite, and put together for a final draft, and how useful they would be to me for the games I want to play, rather than being utterly ludicrous and saying XX is too much for a pdf
|
Derek H | 08 Mar 2011 3:28 a.m. PST |
Is there a light version available for people to try out first? There's no way I'd even consider dropping $40 USD on the pdf otherwise. |
kabrank | 08 Mar 2011 3:36 a.m. PST |
A lite version to try out would be a very good idea indeed |
Regrebnelle | 08 Mar 2011 7:14 a.m. PST |
PDF is available now from Wargames Vault, my understanding from the FFT group is that both a hardcover and coil-bound will follow once some cover art is finished. I'm not sure of book format prices as there have been several threads on that from Ty and Paul. For myself I'm waiting for the coil-bound version. I have no great desire to print and bind that number of pages myself. If I had a Ipad or other e-reader I might have taken the plunge for PDF. Mark |
kmahony111 | 08 Mar 2011 3:55 p.m. PST |
Its a shame he didnt split the rules up into different periods. Looking at the sample pages on Wargames vault it looks like he is jamming all the artillery onto the same tables (and maybe the rest of the rules). If I was fighting WW2 battles I dont want to see charts for cluster munitions on my charts. Hopefully there is a clearer distinction in the rule book but 177 pages is a lot! |
tbeard1999 | 08 Mar 2011 8:13 p.m. PST |
Howdy all, and thanks for the kind words. Regarding the cost of the PDF, we think that it's reasonable considering the amount of content. For instance there's more WW2 data than any other WW2 ruleset AND the same is true of moderns. We will be selling hardcopy books (hardback and spiral bound). ETA for this is a few more weeks (waiting on print quality artwork and revising the layout file for print). Don't let the rules length scare you away. The game plays faster than FFT2, which was a speed demon. The rules are presented in a comfortable font size and layout for my 40-something eyes. We could have gone with a double column format and cut the rules length by 40%, but the result was a loss in readability. In addition, a double column format makes using PDFs much more of a hassle. The rest -- data and army lists couldn't be reduced much. And as noted above -- this game has full coverage of WW2 through the near future. |
tbeard1999 | 08 Mar 2011 8:33 p.m. PST |
kmahony111, the data and army lists are separated into WW2 and postwar sections. There are even icons to quickly inform players which period they are looking at. The quick reference charts of course, has all charts for both periods for the simple reason that the same charts apply to both periods (well, 90% do). It would be a dubious time sink to create different quick reference sheets for the two periods when there's that much overlap. Oh
and it has a REAL index. |
tbeard1999 | 08 Mar 2011 8:34 p.m. PST |
Per y'all's requests
Short Table of Contents followed by Detailed Table of Contents 1: Miniature Wargaming 13 2: Introduction 29 3: Sequence of Play 31 4: Markers and Forces 35 5: Troop Quality 41 6: Movement & Cohesion 45 7: Terrain 51 8: Vehicles 63 9: Infantry, Carriers and Towed Weapons 65 10: Spotting 69 11: Combat Overview 73 12: Fire Combat 75 13: Anti-Vehicle Fire 83 14: Anti-infantry Fire 89 15: Artillery and Area Fire 93 16: Close Combat 109 17: Helicopters 113 18: Night Fighting 119 19: Combat Engineering 121 20: Airstrikes 129 21: High Technology 133 22: Airborne and Amphibious Rules 137 23: Chemical Warfare 143 24: Nuclear Weapons 149 25: Scenario Design & Campaigns 157 26: Gaming at 1:1 175 Appendix A: Designer's /Developer's Notes 177 Appendix B: Designing Vehicles, Helicopters, Infantry, Etc. 183 Appendix C: Army Lists Pre-1950 223 Appendix D: Data Charts Pre-1950 261 Appendix E: Army Lists 1950 Onward 307 Appendix F: Data Charts 1950 Onward 365 Index 447 Scenario Data Sheets & Quick Reference Charts 452 Full Table of Contents 1: Miniature Wargaming 13 1.1 What Is Miniature Wargaming? 13 1.2 Periods 13 1.3 The Miniatures 13 1.4 Painting the Miniatures 17 1.5 Terrain 19 1.6 A Few Good References 20 1.7 Playing Your First Game 21 1.8 Fistful of TOWs 3 Tactical Primer 21 1.9 Formatting 24 1.10 Chapter Organization 24 1.11 Resolving Ambiguities, Contradictions and Omissions 24 1.11.1 General 24 1.11.2 Initial Approach 25 1.11.3 Global Principles 25 1.11.4 Ambiguous Rules 25 1.11.5 Contradictory Rules 26 1.11.6 Omitted Rules 26 1.11.7 After the Game 26 1.12 Glossary 27 2: Introduction 29 2.1 What You Need To Play 29 2.2 Scale 29 2.3 Measuring 29 2.4 Optional Rules 30 3: Sequence of Play 31 3.1 Executive Summary 31 3.2 General 31 3.3 Sequence of Play 31 3.4 Time Limits (Optional, but highly recommended) 34 4: Markers and Forces 35 4.1 Markers 35 4.2 "Units" and "Stands" 36 4.3 Basing Your Troops 36 4.4 Identifying Stands 36 4.5 Vehicle, Antitank Gun, and Antiaircraft Gun Data Chart, and Artillery Data Chart 37 4.6 Infantry Data Chart 39 4.7 The Army Lists 40 5: Troop Quality 41 5.1 Executive Summary 41 5.2 Troop Quality 41 5.3 Quality Checks 42 5.3.1 Quality Checks Due to Fire Combat 43 5.3.2 Quality Checks Due to Overwatch Fire 43 5.3.3 Quality Checks Due to Area Fire Attacks 43 5.3.4 Quality Checks Due to Losses 43 5.3.5 Quality Checks Due to Close Combat 44 5.3.6 Effects of Failed Quality Checks 44 6: Movement & Cohesion 45 6.1 Executive Summary 45 6.2 General 45 6.3 Movement Classes 46 6.4 Terrain Effects on Movement 47 6.5 Cohesion 47 6.6 Strategic Movement 48 6.7 Friction (Optional) 49 6.8 Formation Headquarters (Optional) 49 7: Terrain 51 7.1 Executive Summary 51 7.2 Line of Sight 51 7.3 Cover 51 7.4 Linear Obstacles 52 7.5 Hills and Ridgelines 52 7.6 Clear Terrain 53 7.7 Light Woods 54 7.8 Heavy Woods 54 7.9 Forest 54 7.10 Sand and Snow 54 7.11 Bad Going 54 7.12 Rough 54 7.13 Swamp 55 7.14 Streams 55 7.15 Rivers and Canals 56 7.16 Roads, Bridges and Paths 57 7.17 Paths 57 7.18 Cliffs 57 7.19 Towns 58 7.20 Optional Area Terrains 58 7.20.1 Low Crops 58 7.20.2 High Crops 58 7.20.3 Paddy fields 58 7.21 Optional Linear Obstacles 58 7.21.1 Low Railroad & Highway Embankments, and Low Stone Walls & Fences 59 7.21.2 High Railroad & Highway Embankments, High Stone Walls & Fences, and Hedgerows 59 7.21.3 Dense Wind Breaks & High Hedges 59 7.21.4 Low Hedge 59 7.21.5 Low Earthen Berm 59 7.21.6 Planted Low Earthen Berm 59 7.21.7 Small Canals and Large Ditches 60 7.21.8 Causeways and Dikes 60 7.22 Terrain Overlap 60 8: Vehicles 63 8.1 General 63 8.2 Vehicle Firing Arcs 63 8.3 Open-Topped Vehicles 64 9: Infantry, Carriers and Towed Weapons 65 9.1 Executive Summary 65 9.2 Types of Infantry Stands 65 9.3 Infantry Movement and Facing 66 9.4 Infantry Firing 66 9.5 Embarking, Debarking and Carrying Stands 66 9.5.1 Tank Riders 67 9.6 Towed Weapons 67 10: Spotting 69 10.1 Executive Summary 69 10.2 General 69 10.3 Visibility Limit 69 10.4 Line of Sight (LOS) 70 10.4.1 Recon Stand Spotting 71 10.5 Detection 71 10.6 Spotting 71 10.7 Terrain Effects on Spotting 71 10.8 Smoke 71 10.8.1 Thermal Sights 72 10.8.2 Discharger Smoke (Optional) 72 10.8.3 Multi-Spectrum Smoke a.k.a Visual/Infrared Smoke (Optional) 72 11: Combat Overview 73 11.1 General 73 11.2 Cover 73 12: Fire Combat 75 12.1 Executive Summary 75 12.2 General 75 12.3 Procedure 76 12.4 Target Priority 76 12.5 Movement and Firing; Stabilized Guns 77 12.6 Overwatch 77 12.6.1 Missile Overwatch (Optional) 78 12.7 Shoot-and-Scoot 79 12.8 Hold Fire 80 12.9 Pivot 80 12.10 Special Anti-Armor Ammunition For pre-1950 Guns 80 12.11 Infantry in Personnel Carriers, and Tank Riders 80 13: Anti-Vehicle Fire 83 13.1 Executive Summary 83 13.2 General 83 13.3 Attacked Facing 84 13.4 Rolling to Hit 84 13.4.1 Gun Procedure 84 13.4.2 Quality Modifiers 84 13.4.3 Suppressed Modifier 84 13.4.4 ROF Reduction for Multiple Targets 84 13.4.5 Point Defense Systems 85 13.4.6 Missile Procedure 85 13.5 Terrain Saving Throw 86 13.6 Penetration Rolls 86 13.6.1 Types of Attacks and Armor 86 13.6.2 Procedure 87 13.7 Soft Vehicles 87 13.8 Advanced Armor 88 13.9 Infantry Anti-Tank Weapons 88 14: Anti-infantry Fire 89 14.1 Executive Summary 89 14.2 Procedure 89 14.3 Anti-Infantry Fire Modifiers 91 15: Artillery and Area Fire 93 15.1 Executive Summary 93 15.2 Area Fire 94 15.2.1 Definition 94 15.2.2 Artillery Support Groups 94 15.2.3 Off-Table Artillery 94 15.2.4 Direct Area Fire 95 15.2.5 Fire Units 95 15.2.6 Placing Barrages 95 15.2.7 Accuracy Roll 98 15.2.8 Area Fire Problems Table 98 15.2.9 Area Fire SNAFU Table 99 15.2.10 Fire Results 99 15.2.11 Counterbattery 102 15.3 Observing For Area Fire 102 15.4 Dedicated Forward Observers 102 15.5 Direct Fire (Anti-Vehicle & Anti-Infantry) By Artillery 102 15.6 Battalion Mortars and Battalion Guns 103 15.7 Artillery Fire Against Unspotted Stands 103 15.8 Multiple Rocket Launchers 103 15.9 Firing Smoke Barrages 104 15.10 Firing FASCAM (Field Artillery Scattered Mines) 104 15.11 Artillery Command/Control Effects (Optional) 105 15.11.1 Command Level 105 15.11.2 Communications 105 15.12 Preplanned Artillery Barrages (Optional) 106 15.13 Limited Artillery Ammunition (Optional) 107 15.14 High Explosive Artillery Fire Terrain Damage (Optional) 108 15.15 Residual ICM Bomblets (Very Optional) 108 16: Close Combat 109 16.1 Executive Summary 109 16.2 Procedure 109 16.3 Firing in Close Combat 109 16.4 Missiles in Close Combat 110 16.5 Soft Stands in Close Combat 110 16.5.1 Infantry Escorting Vehicles 110 16.5.2 Vehicles Disengaging from Infantry 110 16.5.3 Infantry in Cover Allowing Armored Vehicles to Pass Through (Optional) 110 16.6 Pivoting in Close Combat 111 16.7 Miscellaneous Close Combat Rules 111 17: Helicopters 113 17.1 Executive Summary 113 17.2 Movement 114 17.2.1 General 114 17.2.2 Nap of the Earth Mode 114 17.2.3 High Mode 114 17.2.4 Cohesion 114 17.3 Combat 114 17.3.1 General 114 17.3.2 Pop-Up Attacks 115 17.3.3 Close Combat 115 17.4 Non-Antiaircraft Units Firing At Helicopters 116 17.5 SAMs, AAMs, and AA Guns 116 17.6 Other Special Rules 117 17.7 Rockets 117 17.8 Laser Designation 117 17.9 Outfitting Helicopters 118 17.10 Transport Helicopters Special Rules 118 18: Night Fighting 119 18.1 General 119 18.2 Range and Effect on Combat 119 18.3 Fratricide 119 19: Combat Engineering 121 19.1 General 121 19.2 Pregame Engineering 122 19.3 Engineer Stands 122 19.4 Engineering Tasks 122 19.4.1 General 122 19.4.2 Engineering Task List 123 19.5 Occupying Positions 124 19.6 Entrenchments 124 19.7 Fortifications 125 19.7.1 Fortification Armor Ratings 126 19.7.2 Fortification Point Values 126 19.8 Obstacles 126 20: Airstrikes 129 20.1 Airstrikes 129 20.2 Purchasing Airstrikes and Resolving Airstrike Calls 129 20.3 Resolving Airstrikes 130 20.4 Types of Airstrikes 130 20.5 Residual Cluster Weapon Bomblets (Very Optional) 132 20.6 Aircraft Load Capacities (Optional) 132 21: High Technology 133 21.1 General 133 21.2 IVIS (Inter-Vehicular Information System) 133 21.3 CITV (Commander's Independent Thermal Viewer) 133 21.4 SADARM (Sense And Destroy ARMor) 133 21.5 Artillery Laser-Guided Projectiles 134 21.6 Artillery GPS Guided Projectiles 134 21.7 NLOS Missiles 134 21.8 Brilliant Mortar AT Weapons 135 21.9 Stand Alone AT Systems 135 21.10 Anti-Rocket Lasers 135 22: Airborne and Amphibious Rules 137 22.1 General 137 22.2 Airdrops 137 22.3 Amphibious Assaults 138 22.3.1 Amphibious Craft 138 22.3.2 Terrain 138 22.3.3 Movement 139 22.3.4 Combat Rules 139 22.3.5 Other Rules 139 23: Chemical Warfare 143 23.1 Executive Summary 143 23.2 General 143 23.3 Types of Chemical Agents 145 23.3.1 General 145 23.3.2 Nerve Agents 145 23.3.3 Non-Nerve Agents 145 23.3.4 Irritant Agents 146 23.4 Chemical Attacks 146 23.4.1 Chemical Zones of Contamination 146 23.4.2 Types of Chemical Attacks 146 23.4.3 Chemical Attack Resolution 147 23.5 Protected Stands 147 23.5.1 General 147 23.5.2 Full Protective Gear 147 23.5.3 Limited Protective Gear 148 23.5.4 NBC Systems 148 23.5.5 Point Values of Chemical Weapons 148 24: Nuclear Weapons 149 24.1 General 149 24.2 Nuclear Contamination 149 24.2.1 General 149 24.2.2 Contaminated Areas 150 24.2.3 Effects of Contamination 150 24.3 Nuclear Strikes 150 24.3.1 General 150 24.3.2 Nuclear Strike Scattering (Optional) 150 24.4 Effects 151 24.5 Targeting Restrictions 153 24.6 Effects on Terrain 153 24.7 Nuclear Cohesion Changes 153 24.8 Widespread Tactical Nuclear Weapon Availability (Double Secret Optional) 154 24.9 Nuclear Warhead Availability 154 24.9.1 The United States 154 24.9.2 The Soviet Union 155 24.9.3 NATO 155 24.9.4 Other Nations 155 24.9.5 Point Values of Nuclear Weapons 156 25: Scenario Design & Campaigns 157 25.1 General 157 25.2 Making Your Own Scenarios and Campaigns 157 25.2.1 General Scenario Design Guidance 157 25.2.2 General Campaign Design Guidance 160 25.3 Scenario Templates for the Battle Generator Campaign 161 25.3.1 Forces and Field Defenses 161 25.3.2 Deployments, Game Length, & Table Setup 162 25.3.3 Objectives and Victory Points 163 25.3.4 Scenario Types 163 25.4 Battle Generator Campaign 169 25.4.1 Setup 169 25.4.2 After the Scenario 171 25.4.3 Ending the Campaign 172 25.4.4 Scenario Selection Table 172 26: Gaming at 1:1 175 Appendix A: Designer's /Developer's Notes 177 A.1 Two Hours; Two Pages of Rules 177 A.2 Designing FFT3 178 A.2.1 Why? 178 A.2.2 Goal-Based Game Design 178 A.2.3 Our Goals for FFT 178 A.2.4 Elegance 179 A.2.5 The Command System 180 A.2.6 The Artillery System 180 A.2.7 Troop Quality 180 A.2.8 Vehicle Data 181 A.2.9 Speed, Speed and More Speed 181 A.2.10 Low Complexity 181 A.2.11 FFT3 Genesis 182 A.2.12 Conclusion 182 Appendix B: Designing Vehicles, Helicopters, Infantry, Etc. 183 B.1 Designing Vehicles & Towed Guns 183 B.2 Determine the Vehicle or Towed Gun's Armor Rating 184 B.3 Determine the Vehicle or Towed Gun's Movement Rating 185 B.4 Determine the Gun Ratings 186 B.5 Determine the Missile Ratings 187 B.6 Calculate the Basic Vehicle Point Value 188 B.7 Add Additional Gear and Features, and Calculate the Unadjusted Point Value 188 B.8 Determine Final Vehicle Adjusted Point Value 189 B.9 Helicopters 189 B.10 Infantry Stand AI Ratings 190 B.11 Infantry LAWs, MAWs, and Manportable SAMs 195 B.12 Infantry Stands' Final Point Value 196 B.13 Artillery 196 B.13.1 Guns and Howitzers 197 B.13.2 Mortars 198 B.13.3 Multiple Rocket Launchers 198 B.14 Anti-Aircraft Vehicles and Weapons 199 B.15 How To Get A Gun's Ratings 199 B.15.1 Penetration Rating 200 B.15.2 AI and ROF Ratings 201 B.15.3 Estimating Ammo Performance 202 B.16 Guns Chart – Pre-1950 204 B.17 Guns Chart – 1950 Onward 211 B.18 High Explosive Armor Piercing & Infantry AT Weapons Chart 219 Appendix C: Army Lists Pre-1950 223 British (U.K.) Army 1939–1945 225 French Army 1939–1940 230 German Army 1939–1945 232 Polish Army 1939 239 Soviet Army 1939–1945 240 U.S. Army 1942–1948 255 U.S. Marines 1941–1945 258 Appendix D: Data Charts Pre-1950 261 D.1 Vehicle, Antitank Gun, and Antiaircraft Gun Data Chart, Pre-1950 262 D.2 Artillery Point Cost, Pre-1950 288 D.2.1 Guns, and Howitzers 288 D.2.2 Mortars 288 D.2.3 Multiple Rocket Launchers 289 D.3 Artillery Data Chart, Pre-1950 290 D.4 Infantry Data Chart, Pre-1950 298 D.5 Aircraft Data Chart, Pre-1950 304 Appendix E: Army Lists 1950 Onward 307 Australian Army 1966–2015 309 Belgian Army 1980s+ 311 British Army 1980s+ 312 Canadian Army 1980s+ 314 Danish Army 1980s+ 315 Dutch Army (Netherlands) 1980s+ 316 Egyptian Army 1967 317 Egyptian Army 1973 318 French Army 1980s+ 320 German (West/United) Army 1980s+ 322 Iraqi Army 1973 324 Iraqi Army 1990 325 Israel Defense Force 1967 327 Israel Defense Force 1973 328 Italian Army 1980s+ 329 Jordanian Army 1967 331 Jordanian Army 1973 332 North Vietnamese/Viet Cong Army 1964-1974 333 Russian/Soviet/CIS Army 1970+ 334 Russian/Soviet/CIS Airborne Forces 1970s+ 340 Russian/Soviet/CIS Naval Infantry Forces 1970s+ 341 Spanish Army 1980s+ 342 Swedish Army 1963-2000+ 344 Syrian Army 1967 345 Syrian Army 1973 347 U.S. Army 1950-1973 349 U.S. Army 1973+ 355 U.S. Marine Corps 1950-2015 360 Appendix F: Data Charts 1950 Onward 365 F.1 Vehicle, Antitank Gun, and Antiaircraft Gun Data Chart, 1950 Onward 366 F.2 Artillery Point Costs, 1950 Onward 410 F.2.1 Guns, and Howitzers 410 F.2.2 Mortars 411 F.2.3 Multiple Rocket Launchers 411 F.3 Artillery Data Chart, 1950 Onward 412 F.4 Infantry Data Chart, 1950 Onward 422 F.5 Aircraft Data Chart, 1950 Onward 438 F.6 Helicopter Data Chart, 1950 Onward 443 F.5.1 Helicopter Weapons Systems Charts 444 Index 447 Scenario Data Sheets & Quick Reference Charts 452 |
tbeard1999 | 08 Mar 2011 8:41 p.m. PST |
kmahony111, the data and army lists are separated into WW2 and postwar sections. There are even icons to quickly inform players which period they are looking at. The quick reference charts of course, has all charts for both periods for the simple reason that the same charts apply to both periods (well, 90% do). It would be a dubious time sink to create different quick reference sheets for the two periods when there's that much overlap. |
Paul Minson | 08 Mar 2011 11:30 p.m. PST |
Hi guys, I just posted a free, 32-page comprehensive preview of A Fistful Of TOWs 3 on Wargame Vault (www.wargamevault.com). Wargame Vault's built-in preview only allows a single page range, which prevented displaying samples of the rules, WW2 data, WW2 army lists, 1950+ data, 1950+ army lists, index, etc. This free preview addresses that. And please be aware that if PDF is not to your liking, or if you prefer to avoid the cost of printing 461 pages out, we will be releasing two hardcopy editions: a coil-bound edition and a hardback edition. We don't have exact prices yet, but they will be in the neighborhood of $65, with the hardback being about 8 bucks more than the coil-bound due to the difference in the binding cost. |
Arrigo | 09 Mar 2011 3:40 a.m. PST |
Ty and Paul, why Italian and Japanese have been omitted from the WW2 lists? Arrigo |
kabrank | 09 Mar 2011 3:47 a.m. PST |
Hi Paul Thanks for posting a review. I have downloaded this but it appears to not be printable. Is this intentional? I need to be able to show this to my player group to gauge their reactions pre buying. Thanks Kelvin Thanks for all |
GeoffQRF | 09 Mar 2011 5:08 a.m. PST |
Short Table of Contents followed by Detailed Table of Contents Well there's the first 10 pages :-) |
kabrank | 09 Mar 2011 5:22 a.m. PST |
Hi Paul Now printing OK Not sure why the problem earlier. Thanks V much for this. Any advised mods for playing in 20MM? [old eyes mean my trusty 6mm are gathering dust!] |
tbeard1999 | 09 Mar 2011 7:19 a.m. PST |
Kabrank-- I play in 15mm scale a lot with no modifications. For 20mm, you might want to change the ground scale to 1"=50m, particularly for WWII. |
tbeard1999 | 09 Mar 2011 7:35 a.m. PST |
Regarding rules length, the core rules needed for play are from page 29 to 112. That's 83 pages of rules. As noted above, we used a layout designed for high readability. Had we formatted the rules like many games, the length would have been about 50 pages. That is hardly overwhelming in my opinion. The remainder is optional rules (nuclear weapons, chemical warfare, helicopters, amphibious assaults, fortifications, engineering, etc.) data, army lists, commentary and other content. FFT3 has more WW2 data than all of the Flames of War books combined, for instance. This is no criticism of Flames of War
they have done a fabulous service to the hobby by introducing a whole generation of gamers to the hobby. I'm just pointing out the staggering amount of content you get in FFT3. One reason it took us so long to get it out was that we wanted it to be an impressive bargain for the players. And yes, we fully grasped the cost of printing from PDF, which is why we originally had no plans to do a PDF version. Our fans asked for it, so we changed our plans. And there are some advantaged to PDF- text search and copy/paste for instance. Also, I use my iPad and FFT works great on it. We've gotten feedback that some folks are using on their KIndles satisfactorally (must be the larger model). Heck, it's even usable on my iPhone 4, though I wouldn't use it as a permanent solution. So please
separate the format (PDF) from the game itself. If you don't want a PDF, there will soon be 2 printed options. |
tbeard1999 | 09 Mar 2011 7:51 a.m. PST |
Arrigo-- We ran out of time and space (470 pages was the maximum length for printing books), so the Italians and Japanese didn't make it. However the Italians are fully covered in the data. If the demand is there, we may add the Japanese and Italians and Axis minors. Currently, Paul is working on a scenario book. I have 4 projects and can't decide which comes first: 1. FFT:2055, which extends FFT3 into the mid tom late 21st century. 2. Central European Front 1960-2000, the definitive guide to wargaming the NATO/Warsaw Pact conflict in Europe. 3. Railgun, the Sci-Fi version of FFT. 4. Alternate Wars -- an alternate history supplement, which includes an updated Dixie: 2000, the Draka from SM Stirlings Draka series, the Race from Turtledove's Worldwar series, WW2 in the 1950s, etc. |
Arrigo | 09 Mar 2011 9:11 a.m. PST |
Project number 2 please, and if you can put the Italians and Japanese list or as free download or in the group I will apprecciate very much beacuse I often game ww2 desert and pacific :) Arrigo |
thomalley | 09 Mar 2011 9:37 a.m. PST |
Will there be a copy with nothing after 1945? |
Paul Minson | 09 Mar 2011 10:17 a.m. PST |
thomalley, Didn't have any plans to do so. If cost is a concern, I'm afraid splitting it up won't help much with that. A big portion of the cost is the printing just because it's so large. For instance, Command Decision Test of Battle is $50 USD for WW2, and its army lists and data (including the free stuff on the website) are exceeded by what's in FFT3. Arrigo, Would like to add the Italians and Japanese, especially the Italians because I know a lot of folks like playing North Africa. First would have to identify good sources and buy them, then spend the time to research and compose them, as well as rate the infantry for them. --Paul |
(Jake Collins of NZ 2) | 09 Mar 2011 12:05 p.m. PST |
Number 3 please Ty! Happy to assist in any way. |
Wartopia | 09 Mar 2011 12:12 p.m. PST |
I've been waiting for sometime for FFT3 and having followed Paul and Ty's deliberations on their forum. I feel even at ~$65 for the printed version it's a good value given the scope of troops covered. Blitz Commander and Cold War Commander are around $50+ if purchased from Lulu.com for point of comparison and are not nearly as detailed as the FFT system (the full color versions of those two systems is closer to $110 USD together). I'm eager to read the rules but will likely wait for the coil-bound version instead of buying the PDF version (must
control
my
self
) :-) |
Paul Minson | 09 Mar 2011 3:22 p.m. PST |
We'll get the print editions out as quickly as we can. :-) I'm sorry we didn't get them out together with the PDf, but we didn't notice the JPEG compression artifacts in the version of the cover image we have until I was getting the cover ready for the print edition. We're just waiting on print-quality artwork to arrive from Jody Harmon, and then the process of setting up the printing and getting a proof copy reviewed and any issues with it fixed. |
ScoutJock | 09 Mar 2011 3:29 p.m. PST |
What is the unit scale? 1 infantry stand = a fire team, a squad, a platoon? 1 tank = a tank, a tank platoon
? Basic question I know, but I couldn't find it. Obviously I am not familiar with the previous versions. |
Paul Minson | 09 Mar 2011 5:11 p.m. PST |
It's 1:5 scale, so 1 stand = 1 infantry platoon or 4-6 vehicles. |