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Author Topic: Firefight Skirmish wargame rules somebody still play them?  (Read 946 times)

Offline italwars

  • Mastermind
  • Posts: 1118
Hello
I 've just purchased a priced copy of that very  modern skirmish wargame rules ..Old School flavour and extremely detailed and maybe complicated but his scientifical approach without any abstractions..his list of Cold War weapons not by categories but by models ecc...is very interesting...probably i'll try to use it for very small solo skirmishes set in the Falklands or Afghanistan just to refight with the very atmosphere in which those Old School rules were designed...but anyway it seem quite slow to game...did anybody still game with it? any comments?...the only thing which seem  not be my cup of tea is the need for the "activation phases" so common in todays rule sets...but the rest looks excellent....by the way my fine copy was lacking all the inserts (separate summary sheets, firing/explosions templates ecc..) i can do without the small "phase counters" but the rest seem useful to have...may somebody who still have it be so kind to send me some good quality scans of those inserts?..of course i'll be happy to pay for them...or swap with anything i can have in my library/archives about Italian military history from various periods  ( except  Cold War/Modern  Italian military history cause, as we can remenber from examples in Lebanon or Somalia, we did absolutly nothing  ;) ;))
thanks in advance

Offline madman

  • Scientist
  • Posts: 228
Re: Firefight Skirmish wargame rules somebody still play them?
« Reply #1 on: May 13, 2021, 04:36:52 PM »
It would be interesting to see them. But what ones I have found seem to be running close to $100 between the "asking price" and shipping so that ain't happening.

Curious how it handles the following;

I assume 1 base per figure but what is the intended number of figures per side/player (fire team, squad or platoon)?

Is this a buckets of dice (roll dice for everyone shooting) or roll each attack singly?

Is there any "friction"? As in roll or draw cards to see who activates, and full or partial activations?

Are there full scale organizations provided or intended or is this a points buy unit organization?

Thank you in advance.

Offline Dougie

  • Assistant
  • Posts: 46
Re: Firefight Skirmish wargame rules somebody still play them?
« Reply #2 on: May 13, 2021, 06:34:19 PM »
I have a set that I picked up in the 80s and still play it  :) I’ll pm you
Dougie

Offline italwars

  • Mastermind
  • Posts: 1118
Re: Firefight Skirmish wargame rules somebody still play them?
« Reply #3 on: May 13, 2021, 08:50:18 PM »
It would be interesting to see them. But what ones I have found seem to be running close to $100 between the "asking price" and shipping so that ain't happening.

Curious how it handles the following;

I assume 1 base per figure but what is the intended number of figures per side/player (fire team, squad or platoon)?

Is this a buckets of dice (roll dice for everyone shooting) or roll each attack singly?

Is there any "friction"? As in roll or draw cards to see who activates, and full or partial activations?

Are there full scale organizations provided or intended or is this a points buy unit organization?

Thank you in advance.

Thanks to everybody for the answers and help
well Madman i've just bought this set to have a try..i had in the past and probably gamed once with it....at glance it's , as i wished, a complicated but extremely well reserached Old School set with classical mechanism so in short:
1 figure equal one man...but then you need to decide even the stance of your casting by putting near the mini a chip..organisation is the real historical one..examples of Cold War squads/platoons are given in the appendix..bucklets of die rolls for each casting..there is the friction factor and the activation phase (which is the only thing of this set of rules, similar to nowdays rule books, that  i cannot stand )...each leader must be provided with a cup of chips corresponding to the men, with various factors depending on the training, that he could try to activate. full scale organizations  are provided but also a point systhem that you can use to buid your own force maybe for competition games..
for the moment ..that s all i have inderstood for the moment



« Last Edit: May 13, 2021, 08:52:16 PM by italwars »

Offline madman

  • Scientist
  • Posts: 228
Re: Firefight Skirmish wargame rules somebody still play them?
« Reply #4 on: May 13, 2021, 09:25:51 PM »
I have a few of the rules by that outfit, but not that one.

I waffle between complicated and not. But generally like more "detail" if it doesn't slow things too far. Say I prefer "options" as opposed to stacks of rules.

By buckets of dice I mean one roll per figure as opposed to one (or lots more) dice per figure but you would roll for an entire fire team or squad at a time. In Ambush Alley and Force on Force you roll per team but not too many dice at a time (max 10). But the entire team as opposed to just a figure or two is involved both as firers and targets. Chain of Command is the definition of BUCKETS OF DICE to me.

Friction is a new concept to me (just back into gaming after being out since the early '90s) but I really like the idea. How it is implemented either I like or not. Command and control is great if it doesn't bog a game down or impose silly or outdated rules. As an example I downloaded a recent sci fi rules lately in which squad members had to be within 1" of the squad leader despite tech level. No implementation of remote sensing, individual video feeds or the effects of communications at all. Yet this was covered excellently in the early '80s in Striker.

I am on the fence wrt markers on the table. I think one or two per unit (in skirmish this means individuals) is acceptable. Any more gets ridiculous imho.

Offline Dougie

  • Assistant
  • Posts: 46
Re: Firefight Skirmish wargame rules somebody still play them?
« Reply #5 on: May 14, 2021, 10:55:39 AM »
It would be interesting to see them. But what ones I have found seem to be running close to $100 between the "asking price" and shipping so that ain't happening.

Curious how it handles the following;

I assume 1 base per figure but what is the intended number of figures per side/player (fire team, squad or platoon)?

Is this a buckets of dice (roll dice for everyone shooting) or roll each attack singly?

Is there any "friction"? As in roll or draw cards to see who activates, and full or partial activations?

Are there full scale organizations provided or intended or is this a points buy unit organization?

Thank you in advance.

Briefly I really like the rules but they are detailed and I can understand why they are not to everyones liking, in relation to your questions;
1. Figures based singly and they are aimed at a maximum of platoon level, figures are activated individually.
2. There is an initiative phase with units of higher quality training, combat experience and cohesion having an advantage.
3. The command phase allows leaders with a higher leadership rating to activate more individual figures.
4. A couple of orbats provided in the back of the book but the authors intention was for players to research what they needed, its not designed for points or gamey play if that makes sense.
Dougie

 

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