Martin Gallo - May 4, 2011 1:54 pm (#52151 Total: 52156) Up Front - Play it; Be it Boot on the Ground (Worthington Games) For the first time in recent history I have played a new wargame. They usually pile up in the queue before I get to them and by the time I do get to them they have been reviewed by plenty of other people. What you get is a sheet of counters a map, some scenario cards, a player aid card, a deck of sixty cards and rules. My first impression is that this is one ugly game. The color set used has a drab and gray tone to it, even the orange is dull but it still pops compared to the rest of the colors. It is not bad enough to stop me from playing it, but it certainly is not a choice I would have made had I been the artist. None of the colors on the counters, player aids or map interfered with game play. I also do not like the map, a satellite view of part of a city. The idea behind the game seems to be that you are sitting in a command center and directing the actions of your team while watching the action on a video monitor. From that perspective the map and graphics seem to work. The rules are just a few pages with examples and the player aid repeated within. Low page count for the actual rules and plenty of examples. I think it took me fewer than fifteen minutes to read all the way through. The rules are clear and I had no worries about playing the game after I read them. It seems like after reading the rules to most games I have a 'well, I think I will just have to see how it goes' feeling, but the Boots rules were clear enough and the concepts well enough presented and explained that I was confident that I knew how to play after reading them. The basic game play is 'action-response'. In a solo game, like the one I played, I activated one or more of my units to move/fire (/perform a special action) and then flipped over a card to determine how the enemy reacted to that action. In a two player game, one player plays the special forces and the other can either play another special forces team or the insurgents. Three player action is also supported with two SFT players and one insurgent player. If both players are playing special forces teams they take turns activating one or more units with the other player resolving a card after (thus activate, card, activate, card) with the other player handling the insurgents opposing the active player's SFT. It works pretty well, I had NO IDEA what the enemy was going to do and they surprised me several times. The tension was 'palpable' (noting that it is just a game). Each scenario can be played solo, one, two or three players - Well done!! Movement is simple - One mp per square, +1 mp per window; No stacking of personnel. Usually this sort of thing bothers me because diagonal movement distorts reality a bit but here movement is generally low enough that it is not a problem (3 to 5 mp being the most common) but I do worry about that Scout with 7mp. Movement can be interrupted at any time to fire and/or use a special action (demolitions or medic). Combat is also simple, roll a die for the firer and add his fire modifier and target orientation (+1 for side shots and +3 for chicken shots) and compare to the target die roll (plus cover, if available) and resolve. Depending on whether it is a SFT or an insurgent the result is a kill, wound, no effect or counter attack. It can be deadly. One thing that gave me pause is that the only target cover is from vehicles in the street - windows and door do not offer any cover. In the interests of keeping it simple I suppose that works. Combat is generally deadly - it does not take much of a die roll differential to cause harm. Insurgents are numerous but can only take one hit. Activating a team allows you multiple shots, but with +0 drm for team shots your chances of hitting are even. It becomes a little bit dicey. Special Forces activations are by individual or team. Individual activation permits full movement/fire/action for ONE personnel; Activating a team allows any number of adjacent personnel to activate, but they only get 3mp and no fire bonus. Insurgents only fire if instructed by their card action. So, what do I think about it? I think it is fun, short and deadly. There are not a lot of details here and so the game plays quickly. I miss the old days of playing Sniper-Special Forces but that was a slower game to play. My one solo Boots game took about 15 minutes! A lot of gaming can happen in an evening. The game is very easy to both set up and pick up and it is also easy to walk away from and get back to since there is no record keeping (each action is a discreet turn) so if you have room to leave it up it is convenient to play a turn here and there. Move a unit, roll a couple of dice and go to the next turn. I am not sure about it long term re-playability - Each game will be very different because of the insurgent activation but the lack of detail might make it seem sort of bland after a while. If I were still traveling for business this would be a definite candidate for taking with me as it has a small enough footprint to be played on a hotel table.