Force on Force | GeMiGaBoK

Apr 11, 2014 Posted by Aksu

Back to the FoF Front

We’ve been busy re-learning Force on Force after a long stint of Napoleonics. We are preparing for an 1980s Afghanistan campaign, and we felt it might be a good idea to do a few training games before risking any valuable campaign assets. I do declare we were right. It is amazing how much one can forget about the rules if one does not play a game regularly. Luckily the core mechanics of Force on Force are pretty simple. So far we’ve only managed to screw up on the following “minor” points: Remembering that losses cause morale checks How to make morale checks How to handle bail out checks Movement makes it harder to shoot with RPGs Shooting at buildings Mounting and dismounting – vehicles can’t move Effect of crew losses on vehicles How to handle ambush firing – we had a collective brain meltdown handling the action-reaction cycles on this one Anyway, good fun is being had, and soon we will have an opportunity to move to the friendlier climate of Afghanistan from the cold war in... read more

Jan 14, 2013 Posted by JanneL

Force on Force 1984 Larger Game Tryout

We wanted to see howForce on Force would work with slightly larger scenario and so we gave it a try with couple of mechanized Sov platoons reinfrced with a tank platoon. Defending against the red onslaught was a platoon or so Germans. More or less in the vein of our Germany 1984 FoF Campaign. We didn’t notice any new problems during the game and the flow was pretty darn good. Overview ofthe table with Soviet attack beginning in the bottom. Soviet troops hunkering behind a house. Infantry has secured the crossroads and tanks trundle onwards. I seem to recall that the Soviets didn’t make it much further than the crossroads. If my memory serves me well there was a FO in the the 2nd floor of far off white building with a red roof by the road that proved especially bothersome. Janne L (Played: Aug 20th…. Jerries: Aksu, Eero, Mr H. Sovs: Janne and Mr... read more

Jan 13, 2013 Posted by JanneL

Force on Force 1984 Campaign 3

We got the FoF campaign rolling. The games re actually very quick to run and you can play 2 or even 3 during an evening. To add variety we had charts from which we could purchase assets for each game after rolling how much points we had to spend. Unlike our normal games we also used the fog of war deck and it was somewhat a mixed bag. On the other hand it did give some variety, but then again some of the stuff is amazingly powerful and game breaking. Like the dedicated off board sniper which the Sovs got in two games. Heh, in at least three games “Hamburg has been nuked” -rumor card came up leading us to suspect that since the rumor was so darned persistent it must be true… Book keeping for the casualties, replacements etc is bit tedious though and you need to devise a way to do it by yourself as there’s no nifty chart included in the rules. Also to casualty/replacement rules are as poorly written as the remainder of the rules so it isn’t working nearly as easily and intuitively as it should. OKish idea, poor execution. Overview of the table. Sovs advancing towards the resort supported by the T-55 asset bought for this scenario mainly because we rolled enough points and had seen the devastating effect of tank support in the recent Syria game. The last remaining BTR (the other must’ve been wrecked in the previous game) bought it but the infantry presses on. The shelling by the T-55 finally wrecked the resort building. Securing the objectives. I think this is probably the only picture with some Jerries visible (just behind the forest area on the top right corner). Some light wounds (orange markers) donät hinder the advance of the proletariat! Janne L Played: Aug 6th…. Jerries: ?(Aksu/Eero/Mr H)?. Sovs: Janne and Mr... read more

Jan 13, 2013 Posted by Aksu

Force on Force – our rules

Force on Force is our favourite skirmish ruleset for many reasons: it’s fast to play, you don’t need a massive investment to start playing, the core system is elegant, and it is good for a wide range of scenarios. Here is a list of the house rules and clarifications we have used in our games.

Madness of War -Syria 2012

Janne N had once again brewn a nice and very topical scenario for 20mm FoF that managed to have four separate sides with different objectives. Our stage is a quiet if more than somewhat bombed out Syrian rural town. A closer look reveals little activity. There is plenty of ruins, car wrecks… and what looks like a truck still in remotely working condition. Suddenly there’s a blur of activity as a mechanized platoon of Syrian troops enter the area from left with their reinforcements, a platoon of T-55s. They have orders to clear the area from insurgents. The government troops are supported on the right by Palestinian volunteers (can’t recall were they Hamas or…?). A firefight instantly erupt from the ruins next to the volunteers who reply in kind. IIRC there was some activity in the ruins thus giving the tanks targets and they immediately commenced shelling indiscriminately wrecking havoc on the few units that were capable of harming them with their RPGs etc. Meanwhile the volunteers entered the ruins and were constantly exchanging fire with the insurgents. After giving the insurgents a long shelling and forcing them to retreat the government troops start advancing. During the fighting also some reporters (near the crossroads by the van) were unfortunately killed. No no actually targeted them on purpose. No, really! The government troops got some casualties as did the volunteers who after one point didn’t really seem to be doing much anything any more. The insurgents were driven to the other side of the crossroads and the few remaining troops they had kept on retreating methinks. Government was just doing up some brutal cleaning up and insurgents were resisting them. Volunteers were special unit sent to rescue a VIP who had been captured and held hostage by the insurgents and didn’t feel like getting more casualties after they managed to free to hostage up, whom they actually found amongst the insurgents of the first ruins they assaulted! The miniscule Brit team was “observing” which is to say occasionally trying to help out the insurgents, but this fell short when their CO got killed (they have a tendency to do that as the same happened in the previous Libya game by the same GM) and fell away with the insurgents. Luckily for the government troops they didn’t manage to call air support. In the end due to some activity that nearly resulted in friendly fire the... read more