FRONTLINE HEROES A SOLO SKIRMISH WW2 WARGAME

[tereydavi]

As many of you know, I have been working in a ww2 solo skirmish wargame for quite a long time.
Well, the time has come and Frontline Heroes is available!
I have created a facebook group that is going to deal with Frontline Heroes and ww2 miniatures and terrain.
Anyone interested in this new game is welcome to join the Frontline Heroes group on Facebook. In this group, we'll discuss all aspects of the game, including miniatures and terrain related to World War II. Here's the group link, and I hope you give it the warm welcome it deserves. As I always say: I just hope you like it and have fun! I leave you now with an introduction to the game, its background, and rules.

FRONTLINE HEROES: FIELDS OF NORMANDY
https://www.facebook.com/groups/472135495276191

Frontline Heroes is a solo/PvP skirmish wargame set in World War II. In this game, our soldiers will be members of the Allied forces battling against the Nazi army on the European front.

Players have the option to play solo, controlling one side and facing an AI system that manages the enemy, or to engage in competitive mode against a human opponent, with each player controlling one side of the conflict. Additionally, the game can be played cooperatively with multiple players acting on the same side, fighting together against the enemy controlled by the AI.

As a skirmish game with only a few miniatures (from 4 to 14 models per side), Frontline Heroes offers missions encompassing stealth assaults, direct confrontations, sabotage, and reconnaissance. Players may also engage in small segments of larger battles, determined by the outcomes of their characters' actions.

Players take on the role of a small group of soldiers fighting for the Allied cause in Europe against the Nazi army. Choose your soldiers, issue the right commands, and accomplish the objectives of each mission. Some missions may be completed without firing a single shot, while others may involve intense life-and-death combat.

Now is your chance to take part in the events that changed the course of world history forever. Stand firm in the sands of the beaches, push through the dense bocage, defend each of the rooms in the ruins where you hide, climb the heavily fortified hills, seize enemy strongholds, and eliminate your enemies one by one before it's too late. The future of the entire world depends on you.

SOLO vs COMPETITIVE MODE
Frontline Heroes primarily focuses on solitaire mode, although it also offers cooperative and competitive mode options.

Solitaire mode involves a single player battling against an Artificial Intelligence (AI) that controls the enemy forces and their decisions. This mode emphasizes narrative and storytelling. The AI controls wich enemy models activate, when and the actions they make. The player doesn´t have to take any decision in this process.

Additionally, cooperative mode allows two players to team up on the same side, facing an AI-controlled enemy.

Competitive mode follows the standard format of miniatures wargames, where two or more players form opposing sides and engage in direct conflict, aiming to defeat the enemy and eliminate as many opposing miniatures as possible. It is a purely competitive mode. In this game, you won't find exhaustive army lists to form different factions. Instead, the system for creating the opposing factions is completely original and fun.
NORMAL vs STEALTH MISSIONS
Frontline Heroes features 21 missions, each specifying the miniatures that make up each faction, the layout of the game table, the background information, possible events, and everything needed to play a game. Furthermore, each mission offers high replayability.

In the game we have normal missions, as in any type of miniature wargame, where two forces face off until one prevails over the other through sheer force; and we also have stealth missions, in which we must infiltrate a small group of soldiers into enemy territory to accomplish certain vital objectives, such as sabotaging supplies, capturing bridges or blowing up installations.

Frontline Heroes features a comprehensive rules system and 21 missions for solo or multiplayer play, presented in a nearly 200-page book. The game is available in english at Wargamevault in the following link:
https://www.wargamevault.com/product/479925/FRONTLINE-HEROES-FIELDS-OF-NORMANDY

[frd]

I'm always on a lookout for good new solo games and this looks quite good (especially the 21 scenarios included), but for me solo games live or die on the AI rules. Could you tell us a bit about how the AI works in your game?

[tereydavi]

The AI works with a system that I developed from Lovecraftian wargame Fear of the Dark. First, the system choosed which miniatures activates depending on weapons and distance to enemy miniatures, and after selecting the miniature that activates, theough a flowchart chooses the actions that miniature tales. The result is quite similar to the decisions made by a human oponent and these decisions are made completely automatic, not needing of the player. This way you, as a player, only play your side and don't need to take any decisión as "the enemy side" making It more realistic and enjoyable.

For.me the main aim is that the feeling for the player is that he is playing against an opponent (although not a human one), so It is really important that the system works automatic, not needing the player interference or decisión taking at any moment.

It Also has a reaction system that makes the game quite dinamic (and deadly).

[traveller]

Interesting! I am also constantly on the lookout for solo games. A few questions:

1. Typical game footprint, 3x3, 4x4...?

2. Game mechanics? dice, cards, tokens, tables?

3. Difficulty level, "beer and pretzels" or simulation?

4. Typical game time for a scenario?

5. Intended for campaign where characters progress over time?

6. Is it available in printed format?

Cheers!

[tereydavi]

The game is played in a 3x3 gaming table, like any kitchen table.
The mechanics are a mix: cards for activation, dice for action resolution.
It's a solo wargame, It is really simple in order to keep track of everything that is happening in the table.
A missions may take 30 minutes to one hour.
There IS no campaign system or characters prograssion, there are 21 one-off missions.
The rules are provided in digital format (PDF).

Hope this helps, but I have made a few videos about the game mechanics that could help.
Search YouTube for Frontline héroes or visit the Facebook group.

[tereydavi]

This is the link to the first video where a few things about the game are explained (Indeed, I must apologize for my pronunciatión)

https://youtu.be/-5iIZf7kJdo?si=_vGZdSXGn1Q15Q-z

[traveller]

Thanks for the clarification! 

[pauld]

Great - been waiting for this so hit the buy button straight away.

One question - can you also offer a low ink version without the speckled background (ie: just on a white background),

As a PDF product this is really desirable.  We can then have the full cream version for tablet reading and the plain background for the printer.

Thanks

[tereydavi]

One question - can you also offer a low ink version without the speckled background (ie: just on a white background),

I did that with the previous wargame Fear of the Dark, but I had a problem with that: everytime that I had to make the slightest change I had to make the same change four times (with background/printer-friendly and english/spanish).

That was a really tedious overwork, thats why I decided to make just a "nice" edition with background. I even thought of making the Game just in english because It took to.much time to make the same.work twice.

I'm sorry if It causes any inconvenience, but I had to take the decision of not doung the printer-friendly layout.

[pauld]

OK.  I appreciate the response and the reasoning.

Thanks

[zemjw]

I have bought PDF rules where the background is on a separate layer that you can switch off before printing. However, it's all just one PDF, so you only have to maintain one.

I'm not a PDF creator, but it's worth having a search for how to do layers, as printing backgrounds uses a lot of ink and tends to wrinkle pages 

I have no idea if this works, but googling for turning off background images suggests

go to Edit -> preferences.
Under Categories, select Accessibility.
Check Replace document color and Custom color.
Set Page Background to White.
Click OK.

As noted, I haven't tried this, so it may not work, but it's worth checking out. Layers will provide a better solution

[tereydavi]

I've created a YouTube channel where I'll be uploading videos explaining the different game mechanics.

Currently, there are only videos covering a brief introduction to the game, initiative, and combat, but I'll be adding more videos as I can make them.

I hope for your understanding and forgive my pronunciation, as English is not my native language.

Here is the link for the list of videos in english language:

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL6UoJEe7hn942kqTZ0pZl33K6YoI--35Y

See you on the battlefield!

[Kikuchiyo]

Looks like fun

[tereydavi]

A new video added to Frontline Heroes: Fields of Normandy, explaining the morale system through a combat and its consequences.

This is the fourth video made: we have an introductory video, a video explaining the initiative system and the third one explaining the combat system with a whole combat as an example.

The next video will be a gameplay through a whole turn of play, showing most mechanics seen in Frontline Heroes.
If you want to know more don´t forget to have a look at the Frontline Heroes facebook group.