Impact- Gamemaster Set. pub. by Great Guns Publishing - is a set of platoon/company level miniatures rules addressing ground combat in the near-WW II era. The 74 page spiral-bound rulebook includes a detailed table of contents, designers notes, a glossary (good!), almost 70 illustrated examples (read them they'll increase your comprehension immensly), and the complete game charts, interspersed with the rules.

There are, additionally, 4 pages of cardstock game chart summaries and data cards for 528 vehicles and guns, and 80 infantry unit types. The lot will come in a color box. Impact will also be released as a Basic Set - the main difference, I understand, will be that the Basic Set will have only 304 vehicle and equipment cards, and 64 infantry cards. Scales are 1 model/stand = 1 vehicle/gun/squad, 1 turn = 1 - 5 minutes, and 1 in. = approx. 28 yards (the actual ground scale is 1/1000).

Just about all of the die rolls in the game are d10s or percentile rolls, with a wide variety of situational modifiers. The first nine pages desaibe the terms used in the rules and explain such things as using the vehicle data cards for ammor penetration calculations, etc. The game turn begins with issuance of mission orders to the forces in play. These are central to the game and can only be changed in play by casting dice subject to leadership and national characteristics modifiers. Further, changed orders are subject to delay in implementation, based on an additional modifiecl die roll. Air-ground combat and engineering take place next. They're straightforward - no surprises, simple, and cletailed. Artillery fire includes map, counterbattery, and normal indirect fire. It drifts, benefits from ranging shots, and is resolved with two die rolls, one to hit and one to kill.

Communications on table are strictly limited to force players to pay attention to command control. Spotting is ranged, probabilistic, and subject to a bunch of situational modifiers - good! Tactical movement is controlled by use colored markers - there're eight of them, each indicating a different type of movement (remain stationary, opportunity fire, fast move, evade, etc.). Each turn a marker is placed in front of each unit (platoon or company) to indicate this turn's movement. The following turn the marker is moved to the unit's rear (to indicate fire penalties this turn accruing from movement last turn) and a new marker is placed at the unit's front. Some movement markers (e.g., opportunity fire) allow direct fire; others (e.g., double move) don't. Each colored marker confers a specific fire penalty to its unit. This sounds confusing but the result is that much of a unit's tactical information is indicated by a pair of colored markers.

Suggestions to the referee are made throughout the rules on how to speed play, keep players unbalanced, and generally limit tabletop intelligence - in this case, the rule suggest covering markers until after movement each turn. Direct antitank fire is ranged and probabilistic, is based on a percentile die roll to hit, and is subject to modifiers including firer and target movement, first shot, firer buttoned up, and numerous others. If a hit is scored, effective armor thickness (based on angle of hit - there are five, in addition to frontal and rear) is compared to firer penetration.

The vehicle data charts include all of this information, as well as target desouction likelihoods for penetrating hits. There's more to killing a target, but this gives the gist of combat resolution. Sound confusing? Only at first - the vehicle data cards simplify this considerably. Infantry fire is handled similarly, though (obviously) there's no armor to worry about. Units now check morale for a number of reasons including casualties, surprise, and general unhappiness. A percentile roll against the unit's morale level, situationally modified, determines morale for the next tum, which ranges from being berserk to routing.

Impact is played using simultaneous movement - both movement and fire take place in sequence based on a unit's orders, not whose turn it is. This is a bit out of vogue these days, but at this (low) level, is quite appropriate. Combined with movement rates of 4 - 6 inches per turn (using 1/300 scale miniatures), simultaneous movement places a special onus on the players and referee to play scrupulously and carefully. It's almost imperative that at least one of the players or the referee have some experience with the game, otherwise I suspect things will get hopelessly bogged down.

This isn't a slight on the rules - only a recognition of the fact that there's a lot to the rules - possibly more than the average player will readily digest in one game. The authors tried to include rules for everything and, by and large, succeeded.

When playing, be selective about which optional rules you use so you can keep the game moving. Impact is written in a deliberate, detailed, style that will take some getting used to. As a result, though, they're very consistent and logical in layout. I recommend that players control no more than a company or so of troops, even if they are able to keep track of more, because the player decisions - angling AFVs to get best armor defense, aiming fires at specific target locations, staging platoon ambushes - are those of the platoon and section leader, not the battalion commander. Players looking for a very tactical game should really enjoy Impact.

Available from your local gameshop for $50.00 (Gamemaster Set) or for $36.00 (Basic Set) or from Great Guns Publishing, 26 Grant Ave., Watertown, MA 02172 (617) 926-4656 - BILL RUTHERFORD

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