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July 15, 2007

Ambush Blitz! AAR

I have been looking for a fast play set of Non-skirmish oriented WW2 rules for a long time now. Something with more meat than Memoir '44, and less complicated than Command Decision and Spearhead (Flames of War is kinda in between scale and I am deliberately leaving it out here). Our little band tried Blitzkrieg Commander and was not too impressed. I decided to put on a a game Ambush Blitz! for our (somewhat) frequent summer Wednesday night game.

Now this is NOT a well known set of rules in these part of the world. I heard about it through a mention in TMP which tout it as "fast play WW2 using a hex grid". Further inquiry showed that it is supported through the 1/144 Yahoo group, and the author expressly designed the rules to be used with 1/144 (close to 10/12mm scale) figures. Since I have my massive horde of 1/144 armor force AND I am looking for a fast play set of rules, I decide to take the plunge and order the rules.

PHYSICAL PRESENTATION
For 10 Euro (about $13 with the current exchange rate), you get a surprisingly well made set of rules. It is printed on full color glossy stock. You get 44 pages worth of rules, 10 scenarios, and tables and charts. You can pay more for the CD which gives you a scenario builder tool but I did not get that.
While the physical presentation is superb, the rules writing is another matter. The author is Portuguese I believe and the rules are written in English, while everything is there (more on that later) and the rules are pretty complete, it makes for an awkward reading. For example offboard artillery/indirect fire is called "Curved fire" in the rules. Now while that does not effect the game play in anyway, suitable choice of terms (and proof read from a native English speaker) will do wonder for a 2nd printing.

I did mention earlier that the rules are very complete. The organization is pretty good, and while some rules are scattered all over (i.e. there is a handy reference sheet, but a list of saving throw circumstances are not present. Instead one has to hunt through the rules to locate each and everyone in different places). A bit annoying, but tolerable.

RULES MECHANICS
If I have to describe the rules with one word, I would use the word "subtle". One get a lot of WW2 tactics and effects (at least how I interpret them) with minimal amount of rules. If you like a lot of chrome and national characteristics, this set of rules is NOT for you.

Each turn each HQ unit (the key action driver of the game) rolls a initiative die, and then the HQ will then take their turn in the order rolled. (i.e. Ge commander A rolls a 6, Ru commander rolls a 4, and Ge Commander B rolls a one, the play order if GeA, Ru, Ge B)
The the HQ's turn is up (an Activation Phase) the player activates units by rolling a command dieroll. Usually you have to roll a D6 and beat the distance in hexes between the HQ and the unit in question, so if your unit is three hexes away, you need to roll a 3 or higher on a D6 in order to active it to do something, else it is DONE for the turn. If a HQ blows his roll then he is done for the turn UNLESS he has "rerolls" left. (Normal HQ has 1 reroll per turn, better quality troops will have more). The mechanics is somewhat similar to Warmaster/Blitzkrieg Commander but with less extreme results (since you cannot push the same unit more than once, and the reroll gives you some buffer in recovering from disaster. The feel of chaos is definitely there (might not appeal to the perfect plan type of player).

Units are platoons, usually represented by 3 stands. Units normally moves 1~2 hexes a turn, but can "march" move which gains more distance but then the unit is "spent" (called "idle" in the rules) and can not do stuff next turn. Stacking is normally 1 unit a hex, but a non-infantry unit can stack with an infantry unit (also HQ can stack with one other unit).

When a unit is activated it can fire, move+fire, march (gain extra distance), assault, or get put into Overwatch mode so it can fire SNAP-FIRE during opponent's activation.

All fire (including assult which is just firing at 1 hex range) is performed the same way: A unit rules a number of D6 depending on troop type and number of stands remaining, then hit on certain number (usually 5~6). Normally there are no saving throws other than unit in dig in position or HQ getting fired at. Otherwise a hit = 1 stand removed. Quite decisive (which we all liked. We thought that the hits system in Blitzkrieg Commander is too attritional and too slow moving. Here unit evaporates if exposed to effective enemy fire for too long.

Normally a hit result in the death of a stand, one exception is if armor is hit. Armor unit must face a hex face, and then it has a frontal armor value (front 3 hexes) and rear armor value (the rest). If a hit from a weapon that has a penetration number hits a armored target, then an addition D20 is rolled, and by default a 10 or less will result in a kill, and that number is modified by the difference between the penetration num and the armor num (e.g. if I have a PN value of 10 and you have a armor val of 4, then I kill on 14 or less on a D20). Pretty simple really.

One other aspect I really liked is how "attachments" (like support weapons and transports are treated). In games like Flames of War one has to build ALL THE TRANSPORTS that's used for a unit (where most of the time it's sent to the rear so it's not on the map anyway). In Ambush Blitz transports are used as "markers". So if an infantry unit of three bases is a mechanized infantry, one add a halftrack stand to indicate that it can move faster and has a limited armor save against small armes fire. It is not a "stand" which can be used to take casualties. I like this quite a bit (since I hate painting trucks) so one can only have a handful of transport models in order to play the game.
Support Weapons are slightly different in that they really ARE a separate stand when attached to an infantry unit. So if a HMG is attached to an inf platoon than that platoon now fires like a 4 stand unit. Pretty straight forward.

GAME PLAY
I choose one of the smaller scenario from the book (one set in Barbarossa, where the Germans need to attack and occupy Russian held objectives). Germans have overwhelming number, but Ru have infantry in ambush, plus on turn three the dreaded KV-1 (the heaviest Ge tanks are PzII) makes its appearance. I didn't have to worry about indirect fire or things like fortifications and such, just Infantry, support weapons (only a few), and tanks. A good learning scenario for us where none of the players have tried the rules before.

I was game mastering full time in order to ensure an enjoyable experience for the other 5 players (2 on Ge side and 3 on the Ru side. Since there are really only one Ru command in the game, it's ran by a committee).

It took me about 30 min to explain the rules to a point when people are ready to push troops. Concepts are easy to grasp: position your HQ so you can maximize your activation, how to have support fire into enemy position before you advance, how to setup snap-fire (defensive fire) in the face of incoming enemy, etc. Everything flows smoothly and the rules are clean.

IMPRESSION
I like a lot of the little touches (subtle effects): there's a ZOC that affects enemy drill roll, and upon entering an enemy ZOC you are committing to an assault, which means you have to pass a drill roll in order to initiate the combat. The management of ZOC and defensive fire is what set this apart from simpler fare such as Memoir'44.
We played about 8 turns in 2 1/2 hours of play (and this involves frequent rules lookup for some of the more unusual stuff like ambush and air to ground attack). We all agreed that once we are more familiar with the rules it can move much faster (or players can command more troops, people are already talking about Kursk...)

The author made a big deal about this game is designed specifically for 1/144. But since it's based on a hex grid, one can really use whatever scale you want (prob works fine for 1/285 or 15mm). Might look funny having a 25mm tank having a max shooting distance of 6 hexes, but it does not really affect play.

One thing you will NOT get is quirky national characteristics which happens in many WW2 rules. An infantry squad is an infantry squad, and the only difference between a Russian one and a German one in our scenario is that the Ru have a crappier inherent anti-tank value of 0 instead of the German with a value of 1. The only other difference is in the armor and penetration value of the tanks/guns. One area the rule does allow for some differentiation is the HQ quality (better commands can have more command rerolls), but that did not apply in the scenario we played.

FINAL THOUGHT
What sold me on these rules is that:
1. Playing on a hex grid speed up large games since one doesn't have to waste time checking distances. This may not appeal to everyone but for large games hex is fine by me.
2. I like transport models used as markers only.
3. I like the D6 based quick combat mechanism.
4. I like the simple command and control & inclusion of defensive fire.

Most of the other players all commented that they liked this better than Blitzkrieg Commander. Two of us are FoW players as well and in my mind that is more of a mass-skirmish game, thus at a lower scale than AB! and not really a competitor, but for larger games (or multiplayer games) I would choose AB over FoW in a heartbeat. So until some other rules come along (I am fickle that way), this could be the one for large scale WW2 games...

Some potential negatives (depending on who you are), is that this is set higher than a skirmish game, so not for tread heads.

Posted by msoong at July 15, 2007 01:35 PM

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