Scoring Force on force

This time I'm going to bang on about my least favourite favourite game, Force on force.

Presentation  9

It's one of the fanciest books I think I own. Generally well laid out, a lot of content, good original Osprey artworks, colourful maps and nice pictures of inspirational models to get you going AND it has an index! Even the individual pages have a camo pattern unobtrusively over every page.

It must be a right killer on the ink if you bought a PDF copy and want to print it out!

All that said though there can be some rules issues with having relevant pieces of information in two separate places so you do need to double check multiple sections sometimes.

Playability  1/9

We're hitting the hurdle early, kids! Now, by necessity I'm jumping ahead a bit to chat mechanics (which I'll only cover briefly as there's a lot to it).

The reaction chain is largely fantastic and coupled with the "nearly universal mechanic" we're potentially talking about the best wargame ever conceived. Yes, I like it that much.

Most of the game works on the mechanic of rolling a 4+ (or 4+ and higher than your opponent in the case of an opposed roll) with better troops getting better dice (D6 vs D8 for example). Then we add to this the aforementioned reaction chain where units on opposing sides try to "do something" while the enemy tries to "stop them doing something" and it's quite brilliant.

Where it falls over, flails around, soils itself and just gives up is executing this in a moderately complex situation. The reaction chain can get a little... busy. So much so I've had a few games grind to a confused halt over it.

There is also a priority list for resolving the chain that can create impossible situations when the initiative side moves.

Imagine if you will, a regular unit facing a pair or enemy units with a third enemy just around the corner and out of sight. Let's say our regulars win the reaction test against unit 2 and unit 3 around the corner. The book says we sort out the tests our regular unit WON first. So they run past unit 2, round the corner and kill everyone in unit 3. Magnificent. But now we resolve the tests they LOST. So as soon as they go to run past unit 2, unit 1 rolls brilliantly and kills our regulars with guns, grenades and harsh language. So... unit 3 is fine because our regulars never got there? Or definitely dead because we were supposed to resolve their encounter first? And let's not even try to work out what happens when there's a unit on Overwatch involved!

Consequently it's hard to accurately score playability because I've had games that were utterly fantastic and others that died on their feet with not a lot to separate them.

I think I have now managed to curate and create enough house rules to get around most issues but I have also run out of people who want to play the game for me to test them out. Still, I feel obliged to score things based on my experiences actually playing the game anyway and not on what house rules might do to it but that is... messy. So sod it, it's my blog and I'm giving it a split score.

If your gaming doesn't include paradox inducing events that would rent time and space asunder it's one of the best games going. If it does you'll probably wind up down the pub talking over the day's gaming an hour or so earlier and debating if Skirmish Sangin is in fact the superior moderns wargame.

Arguably not a bad result either but I can't honestly call it a plus for a game if I have to abandon playing it.

Mechanics  9

So assuming everything lines up or you have a computer running the reaction order and space time is functioning as we understand it this game is close to a 10. The first aid rules can seem a bit odd at first and there's potentially a lot to learn for your first game but it's nothing too awful.

Each individual part is quite logical and not overly complex in isolation and even just using the main book will cover lots of options and possibilities. There's almost everything you could need for modern combat gaming in here, certainly up to 2011 when the book was published... thirteen... years... ago...

Wow. I think my personal space time just got bent.

Flavour  9

With so much designed to replicate modern combat in the book it'd be hard to miss when it comes to nailing the flavour. When you've got helicopters flying overhead and well trained western style soldiers trying to get their wounded out on an armoured transport while taking poor fire from an enemy you can't quite find you know you're playing a modern war.

You can pick and choose the appropriate rules and equipment for whatever war you're playing and get a good feel of it. However to get really specific we need to look at the next section;

Support  8

As of 2024 the game is pretty dormant. There is (as always) a Facebook group, this one with the author in it. I hear they're now working on a new version of the game (which rumours say is working to streamline the reaction system which would be nice but that I've also heard has stalled several times). The Ambush alley website doesn't appear to have been touched in a while but has a "contact us" section so perhaps that is also available. The original forum I used to visit went away a long time ago and I can't find if it was replaced anywhere. Aaand... that's about it for interactive support. 

However there were also 8 (I think it was 8) supplement books printed, each covering a particular war or time period. They cover all sorts from Iraq to Afghanistan to Vietnam and Africa. There is also one for special forces which takes the game back as far as World war 2 and whole volume dedicated to if the cold war of the 80s kicked off good and proper. Each one includes period and location special rules which can easily be lifted and used in many games of your own devising.

All the books are still available in PDF format but if you want the physical books it's an unfortunate case of being a great collection IF you can find it.

TOTAL   65/89

In the end I've spent more time and effort trying to understand and make this game work than any other game I've ever played.

I'm not claiming to be a rules genius but I can say I've never struggled with a game as much as this one. However I've also never wanted to persist with a game as much as this one.

It is definitely my least favourite favourite game.