Fire and Fury Games

Battlefront WW II Rules

Review by Bill Rutherford

If you play WW II miniatures games you’ve probably seen these rules under play-test at one or another of the various HMGS shows, or at least heard rumors of “those new WW II rules the Fire and Fury guys are coming out with”… I’ll cut to the chase and say, after multiple playings, that they were worth the wait! Battlefront is a glossy rulebook containing 56 pages of rules, 20 of organization data, five of scenario data (2 scenarios…), four of advertisements, one of terrain effects data, and a sheet of counters printed on the inside of the back cover. You also get two glossy two-sided chart sheets, 108 unit data cards (on 12 sheets) detailing US, German, and Soviet forces, three sheets of full-color artillery templates, and a sheet of information counters. Production values are high throughout; everything other than the book is printed on stiff card, though cards and counters must be cut out before use.

One turn represents approximately 10 minutes; an inch on the tabletop represents about 40 yards. One stand of troops represents a squad, while a model gun or vehicle represents two or three pieces of equipment. The figure scale took me aback and required a bit of a leap of faith to accept. One must consider that a squad of infantry typically includes two or more fire teams and that most rule sets at this scale represent infantry by squad simply because fire teams very rarely went off on their own to do anything. The same is true of vehicles and heavy equipment. Most tank platoons broke down into one or two teams in combat, and not into as many elements as there were vehicles! These rules try to recreate that level of control by giving the players the number of miniatures that would move separately on the table. German and American tank platoons are represented by pairs of miniatures. Soviet platoons are generally represented by single models. It may seem minor but it distinctly flavors how a Soviet tank company maneuvers on the tabletop, as opposed to how a German or American company does…

The sequence of play is mixed-sequential with no major surprises. Those of you familiar with Fire and Fury will recall the famed Maneuver Table that controlled most of a unit’s activities. This table is present in Battlefront and functions somewhat like a pre-move morale check for each maneuver element, governing how well that element will perform during a given turn. Each unit possesses as well a discipline rating that acts as a modifier to all die rolls made during a turn; as a unit suffers combat effects, it’s less likely to do its job. Spotting is deterministic - that is, given a set of situational factors, one calculates whether a target is visible. I went into my first Battlefront game with every intention of being irritated by this feature (as you recall, I prefer probabilistic spotting rules) but found that, in play, the spotting chart considerably simplified play and did not lead to either side craftily plotting out spotting opportunities in advance… I grudgingly accept that it works! All fire combat is resolved on the same game table, with different sets of modifiers for each type (direct, indirect, air-to-ground).

Direct fire is ranged and elegantly incorporates armor penetration and armor thickness into the results determined by a single die roll. These rules focus on the “soft” aspects of combat - morale, non-killing results, etc., and NOT on detailed armor penetrations. A Tiger is considerably more likely to blow a hole in a Sherman than vice versa, but a Sherman does have the capability to scare a Tiger with a good die roll… Indirect fire is simple in execution but quite elegant in treatment. All fire must be called and rolled for to see whether contact with the battery was made; the rolls necessary vary depending upon who’s making the call. A game chart treats this simply and completely. Close combat resolution is via a simple contested die roll.

The rules treat every subject exhaustively (exhaustingly?), with extensive examples. On the plus side, once you’ve read them, you WILL know how to play! On the other hand, looking things up tended to take a bit of time. Every time we’d read a new rule, we’d get the impression it was going to be very complex to execute on the tabletop. Then we’d try it out and discover it to be simple and intuitive… We were unable to find anything in the rules that said clearly which size indirect fire templates were intended for use with which units - the rules refer to “small” and “large” templates but the template sheet comes with five sizes of templates. While on the Fire and Fury website (see below) I noticed that the templates are designed for use in multiple scales - perhaps therein lies the clue?

I liked the way the battle flowed on the tabletop. Sensible tactics seem to work and bad ones don’t. Further, the different nationalities have distinct styles to them, which adds immensely to the flavor of the game! One thing that felt a bit odd when I thought about it was that there’s no platoon-level command. Squads and tank sections belong to companies, who provide all command control, unless the platoon’s a detached platoon. The historically minded gamer will keep platoons together, for old times’ sake, but there’s really no pressing reason to do so on the tabletop. Yes, platoons tended to be organized as they were because the organizations made sense on the battlefield, but there’s no limiting command control oriented factor making it necessary.

The intended span of control for Battlefront seems to be in the neighborhood of a battalion or so per player; the lack of platoon-leaders is a bit less noticeable if this is kept in mind. The organization tables are quite useful; they’re oriented towards getting a realistic battle-group onto the table so play can begin, rather than being another listing of TO&Es. As noted, data cards are only provided for US, German, and Soviet troops so far, though the British are represented on the artillery Call for Fire table. Planned expansions to this game will add to the mix. Further equipment is being provided on an ongoing basis at Fire and Fury Games’ website at http://www.fireandfury.com/main.shtml and several pieces of British equipment are already present. If I had a pet peeve - well, two - they’d be that the sheet of hidden unit counters and the terrain effects chart are printed on the inside of the back cover of the rulebook and on the last page of the rulebook, respectively. I’d happily have paid a dollar or two more to get them as part of the charts/cards set that came with the rules, in order to get a decent-looking set of counters and a durable terrain effects chart. If those are my biggest peeves, though, I suppose I can’t complain!

Battlefront costs $33 but is not, I understand, available through normal distribution channels at this time. You must buy it directly from Fire and Fury Games at conventions or by mail from their website. There are certain economics at work that dictate this but I hope the rules become available, as soon as possible, from your local game shop. They’re a very enjoyable set of rules that provide a fresh perspective on company/battalion-level ground combat; they have to be seen to be played, though! Well recommended.

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