Sunday 13 February 2011

In The Pipe...... Force on Force from Osprey Publishing

I have in my hands a review copy of Osprey Publishing/Ambush Alley Games' forthcoming hardback Force on Force: Modern Wargaming Rules.

Without doubt this has to be the most professional and visually stunning set of wargame rules I've ever seen.  Wargame rules aside, it's a joy to have, to read, to dip into and simply just browse.

Force on Force is illustrated throughout with good quality colour photos of painted modern 15 & 20mm figures in action settings, plus in theatre photos of real troops and weaponry, all supplemented by colour images culled from Osprey's catalogue of modern uniform, battle and campaign titles.

The book is threaded throughout with scenarios, and has a dedicated scenario section at the end. Force on Force also includes sample small scale unit information for all the major nations, unit and vehicle attributes, vehicle charts, special rules for asymmetric warfare, a campaign game, and finally full colour Fog of War cards and Quick Reference pages to cut-out or copy. All in all 224 pages of inspiring goodness!

Is it just for Iraq and Afghanistan? No!  Scenarios run the full gamut from Vietnam, to Top Malo House in the Falklands, Golan Heights to the centre of Grozny.

If you've already played Force on Force from Ambush Alley Games, you know what to expect. For the rest I'll cover the rules in more detail at the end of this coming week. But do check out the FoF Primer on the Ambush Alley website.

RRP is £25 and Amazon.co.uk are currently taking pre-orders at £17.50. Is Force on Force worth £17.50? Damn, it's worth £25! I own the original pdf and I would still have bought buy the new hardback if I hadn't been sent this copy by the publisher.

Force on Force: Modern Wargaming Rules represents a line in the sand in wargames rules publishing. I can see this book appealing to many non-wargamers let alone non-C20th gamers. It is nothing less than a tribute to the hobby and a great ambassador for wargaming.

The rules are cracking too!


Cheers
Mark

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18 comments:

  1. Thank you for your nice review. We put a lot of effort in our books! Obviously you are as much looking forward to its release as the team does!

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  2. Thanks for the kind words! Just FYI: The Fog of War Cards will also be available as free downloads on our site so you won't have to cut up your pretty hardcover book to use them. We'll also releasing commercially printed card decks for those who prefer an actual playing card style deck.

    Best wishes,

    Shawn Carpenter
    Ambush Alley Games

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  3. That was going to be my only niggle Shawn. Great stuff!

    Mark

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  4. Does this replace Ambush Alley and Ambush Valley?

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  5. No, Ambush Valley will be re-released from Osprey in this year's October - but its a supplement for Force On Force.

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  6. No, definitely not. All the scenarios in the "old" rule and scenario books should be playable with very few issues.

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  7. From Piers Brand, co-author of AV2: "Ambush Valley 2 is going be way more than a Re-dux. In all honesty, its a completely new book for the most part. Perhaps the most exciting thing is the sheer volume of TOE information that my co-author, Joe Trevithick, has brought to the piece. This is likely to be the first publication ever to have such comprehensive of all nations TOEs for the period. Joe has spent years collating and gathering information and this research has been compiled for the Osprey edition of Ambush Valley to give all Vietnam gamers something never before seen, or easily available. This book will be worth it just for that alone!

    As you can imagine, this is alot of stuff... So its gonna be a big book! Along with all this new information we have the Vietnam specific rules, containing a few amendments from playtesting and feedback since the first edition plus of course bringing them into line with the new rules in Force-on-Force. We also have 11 entirely new scenarios which we are playtesting at the moment, and I hope they will offer Vietnam players some new 'traditional' scenarios, but also a few that may offer a bit of difference from normal Vietnam games. The scenarios will also cover other forces instead of just US troops, so dust off those ARVN, Korean and Royal Thai Army figures! For even more value this edition will also cover the secret war fought in Cambodia and Laos. Finally, it will have the usual AAG 'eye candy' and Osprey illustrations."

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  8. BTW, we'll be updating the scenarios from the original version of Ambush Valley and we'll offer them as a free download from our forum.

    The same will be true of the original scenarios from Force on Force.

    Wow, we're bombarding you with first hand news, Mark!

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  9. Mark also copied my "pre-order Force On Force" button :-)

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  10. Are there still solo play rules in the new book? (mainly an AA player)

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  11. The solo rules didn't make it in, but they'll also be available for free download on the site.

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  12. "Mark also copied my "pre-order Force On Force" button :-)"

    Remember, Im an efficiencies ninja, it was the most efficient thing to do. If this was council buiness I'd hire PWC at £1,000 per day, get four quotes from designers and enter into a consultation exercise followed by an 18 month procurement project for the button. Then make myself redundant as a cash saving.

    LOL!

    Cheers
    Mark

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  13. LOL - No worries. That's alright.
    visit my blog to stay up to date on AAG releases. (www.smallscaleoperations.blogspot.com)

    I have signed up to follow yours - you are my 15mm inspiration. Keep it up, Mark! You're brushwork is exceptional.

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  14. I signed up to Smallscaleoperations a while ago via Winter of '79.

    Thanks for the compliment, I truly dont deserve it as my painting doesn't match Craig at Critial Mass Games' who kindly provides me with tips and ensouragement.

    Cheers
    Mark

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  15. Stupid me. It helps to read ("my alternative history blog" in the corner above says it all). *blush*

    Chris

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  16. Freekin awesome
    Combat Wombat

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  17. I just pre-ordered Force and Force and Road to Baghdad from Osprey publishing.

    Looking forward to getting the others when they are released :)

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