"Normandy Firefight impressions" Topic

Back in the early 90's I tried developing a skirmish game for 1/35 modern miniatures. I called the idea "hyper skirmish" because you had only a handful of men, hit locations, ammunition expenditure, etc. It wasn't a bad idea but the whole concept was a victim of the 90's (lots of charts, etc.) When I saw that a game like it was on the market I had to try. After reading the rulebook I must say I like it!

In the game players randomly determine a character to activate. The character then makes a pinning test (if needed) and can then Move/Shoot or Shoot/Move. Finally, they can change their stance (prone, kneeling, standing) and will have to live with the decision through their next turn.

Weapons can "shoot the table" which is only 48" square. Chance to hit is percentage based and fairly easy to calculate i.e.: 100% (for standing target) – range in inches – wound / move / recoil modifiers, etc. Full auto is 50% + 2 per round.

Damage accumulates as percentage of incapacitation, once a character reaches 100% they are out. Small caliber rounds do less damage. Some body locations multiply the damage (yes, there is a "groin" location )

Lather, rinse repeat. Overall I can't wait to try a game. My plan is to use the 1-48 combat miniatures rather than 1/35.

There are only a few odd things I noticed.

1) Shorter range weapons are not penalized so a pistol is just as accurate as a rifle. I wish the game used -2% per inch for the short barreled weapons (pistols/SMGs)

2) I more expanded character creation system might be nice. There are currently 10 traits. Having a campaign mode where you can get traits in various areas (scout, combat, leader) would be cool.

I bought the game at Salute and played it the following Wednesday and really liked it. Your idea for 2% re pistols is a very good idea and I think I'll give it a go on the next game… :o)

Mick

Having played several games I can honestly say that it is my favorite small skirmish system. The d100 mechanic is refreshing and there is minimal dice rolling. I made counters for 'stance' and 'pinning', and because of the low figure count it is very easy to get into. Highly recommended.

The game is more like the last fight in Saving Private Ryan rather than the start, literally small little squads with lots of terrain. I'm thinking of getting some 20mm figures and making a purpose built 2'x2' board for it as you use cm's instead of inches for that scale.

Mick

Sounds like fun.

I'd say pistols should be -3, or -4 per inch though, since they're really only useful up close, and personal.

Perhaps SMGs at -2, or change to -3, compared to rifles/assault rifles, and/or the pistols mentioned above. They should be a bit better than the pistols, but obviously worse than the rifles.

This would be a great set of rules for swapping out minis, if you can find all four positions, instead of using counters to represent the prone, kneeling, standing, and running figs.

I really like it. It handles really low level skirmish with just the right mix of detail and playability. The rules are quite easy to learn and there is very little in the way of charts. I especially love how your to-hit roll is also your location roll and damage roll all at once, simply by reading the die roll in different ways. It's a very elegant system.

The rules seem very open in the way they are written so that house ruling for things like pistols, SMGs etc should be no problem at all.

I think the new Wargames Factory plastics would be ideal for a 28mm version of this. Build the same figures in standing and kneeling poses with pistol, rifle, grenade as you want and then swap out as you change weapons/situation. No need for markers.

I box per side will get you a games worth of figures for pennies.

house ruling for things like pistols, SMGs etc should be no problem at all.

Indeed, I found a couple of weapons that need to have Selective Fire capability. My plan was to let players choose between Full Auto (using those rules) and Semi-Auto (using those rules)

If it was designed for large action figures, perhaps the pistol rule is because some figures have only pistols and the authors didn't want those to be unuseable?