A Look at "Fields of Fire" - We'll Meet Again, Don't Know Where, Don't Know When...

 Solitaire Survey I, no.5: "Fields of Fire"

A Look at GMT's "Fields of Fire" 1st Edition

 

I am going to have to circle back to this game.

I am going to have to look around for some reformatted rules with the errata included or something and play more.

The are several things here worthy of a more thorough, careful, investigation and examination. And I just want to play it more. The “survey of solitaire games” isn’t meant for in-depth analysis. It’s more about impressions, accessibility, ease, clarity, etc.

Unpunched, but soon-to-be punched, FoF 1st Ed.

 

I’ve also assiduously avoided forums and general discussion about “Fields of Fire” for fear of contamination. I wanted go into this as free from any bias as possible. Thankfully, I know next to nothing about FoF’s genesis or design history.

To be honest, I hadn’t heard if it before the 2^nd edition was released. I assume that’s when I picked up this unpunched 1^st edition, around 2014, I’m guessing. It’s been sitting here collecting dust for years. I think I opened it once, looked it over, and said, “I’ll get to this later.” Well, later is now now.

Anyway, so there is an improved 2^nd edition out there, but I haven’t seen it. I imagine some portion of any criticism I offer here was probably at least somewhat addressed in the revised version, but I really couldn’t know for sure.

Cards in plastic. Do I have to sleeve these now?

 For purposes of the solo game survey, I played this as written in the 1^st edition. No errata.

And let’s call the game “FoF” from now on in this post. “FoF” means “Fields of Fire.”

First things first, with this game you get a quality GMT box and components. Counters and cards are easy to use. Good stuff. No complaints. Well designed. Aesthetically pleasing and utilitarian. However, to talk about 1^st edition FoF we have to consider the game itself apart from the literature i.e. the first edition rulebook.

The first edition rulebook is just bad. I think there are missing rules. Not incorrect rules, at least not many, just missing. Things left unsaid. Or key pieces of information whose manner of presentation is both so disparate and so well camouflaged that I can’t seem to consistently pull them together in a timely way when I need to.

The rulebook is not ordered well. Seems like it should be, the language seems clear enough, there aren’t typos to speak of, but there seems to be an assumption that the player knows certain things about the game that aren’t ever presented in the rulebook. There is this lurking hint of an expected a priori knowledge throughout. Sometimes reads like some of the rules sections were pieced together from a Q and A session that you weren’t privy to. 

 

I don't like punching counters.

There are  also instances of vague language or undefined terminology used in a regulation or rules statement. There are a bunch of little gaps in procedural and sometimes conceptual explanations. Makes certain play sequences a little difficult to parse.

Here’s a solid example; the actual use of the Action deck isn’t described well. I’ve never played a game that uses cards the way FoF does. I could have used a little more elaboration on this core fundamental and somewhat, to me, novel idea of an Action deck.

Moreover, the explanation of components is confusing and incomplete too, or presented strangely somehow. The labels on cards in diagrams intended to explain the cards’ various symbols and numbers are poorly referenced in and related to the accompanying text. Some symbols left unexplained.

And vital information and rules introduced in a chaotic and scattered way. The AT combat modifier on VOF chits, for example, Page 30, Anti-Tank combat modifier on VOF counters explanation in a little brown box – this rule and closely related information is presented in 3 other areas in the text, these VOF modifiers chits are used constantly during the game, but the explanation of the smaller of the two numbers on these vitally important game pieces is buried in the text in a little colored offset box. These colored boxes are used for everything from design notes and historical footnotes . . . to presenting vital core rules! What are the criteria for shoving info into those brown boxes? No rhyme or reason to it. And just generally, related rules spread out in different sections across the whole document, poorly cross-referenced or not cross-referenced at all. And there’s also several instances where vital info is sprinkled in alongside more general introductory descriptive text. Mixing actual rules with procedural descriptions without any sort of contextual signifier, or just placed or presented in an illogical or otherwise counterintuitive order, some odd choices, etc., very piecemeal, again, often  feels very patched together as if the text was taken or lifted from another older longer document.

But now let’s completely forget the dumb rulebook and focus on the game.

I ended up enjoying this a lot more than I thought I would, or maybe should, have. There’s something slightly indulgent about FoF.

It’s the kind of game you find yourself thinking about even when you’re not playing it.

I say “Fields of Fire” is a beast apart. For most of us, this is not a game you sit down with one Sunday afternoon and play.  It’s one of those you have to take some time with, get to know it pretty well. A game where not only is the campaign king, but it’s part of actually playing the game. You don’t just play one game of FoF and quit.

PC markers at the ready. The A's are almost certainly bad guys trying to kill you.

 

But it’s not really a product for the casual gamer, is it? Once I got it set up, and got to what I felt was actually playing, those first turns were still slow with lots of rules lookups as new situations arose.

There is a ton of variety in terms of factors applied to specific actions or firefights. There are many small but still meaningful and interesting modifiers that stack as you figure out the effects of different commands and troop actions. A dynamic situation. It can get a little complex in some ways, admittedly, but it’s good stuff.

What I’m finding with the solitaire designs is that they’re often so heavily abstracted and mechanical that you have to just set them up and start going through the motions to understand how they work. In the case of FoF, the complexity itself is part of the process of convincing you that there is an opposing force, an otherness in opposition “out there.” And it succeeds. Yet it’s very difficult to achieve this effect. To inspire this feeling in the player requires a fastidious balance and corralling of the randomness into novel but also sensible, useful, information. This game has a great bot, in my opinion.

 

I don't even know if I'm paying this right, but this turned into a real slugfest up here around the objectives. That PDF in the upper right shldn't be there, it's just there to remind me that an unspotted German FO is calling in strikes on that card.

Playing an infantry company captain . . .

This is not to every gamer’s taste, of course, no game is, but there are signs here of a conscientious deliberate appeal to the infantry tactics officer mind, a certain realism, emphasis on command and control as it should be, concreteness in specific ways. The platoons break all the way down to teams. But you’re counting rounds of ammo and patching together communications networks on the fly. You have like one .50 caliber and you need to use it wisely. The enemy can be ruthless.

It's game of command and control. Cease fire orders are absolutely necessary. There’s crossfire and smoke signals, and you can phone in artillery strikes. The Initiative phase, the so very American Initiative Phase, where a couple brave units can take big heroic actions completely disregarding the chain of command. No orders, just action. There’s a serious attempt here to give play the rhythm of company actions with various impulse and initiative phases, a clever use of time.  Psychic energy is almost quantified as a currency. Commands and orders can be saved representing time and energy used efficiently. 

 

Another nasty end stage fight. There's a pinned marker for the German fire team buried under the heavy weapons VoF.

FoF just does some things so well.

It may be more accurate to regard it as more of a game system than just a game. It can produce literally many thousands of unique scenarios to play. Tens of thousands. More maybe.

And I feel “Fields of Fire” was carefully crafted, it has coherence, and an internal logic. That’s something I look for. A sort of holism emerges in quality games. FoF has a bit of that, at least.

It’s a specific vision doing a specific thing. Distinct. Maybe distinguished.

Still, there are significant issues with the 1^st edition, so the second edition was necessary. There’s a cool game in here that was completely hobbled by a bad rulebook. 

 My end to the first mission of the Normandy Campaign. It's probably the simplest setup you can have. I called it victory and ended the game at this point. Rows 1 and 2 were clear of German units and I have units in the Objective cards without any German units present on those cards. Funny, the rules never really say how to end the scenarios. They give you victory conditions and campaign company maintenance rules but not really a guide to wrapping up on map activity . . .

Ultimately, though, for most people, there’s probably a touch too many little details to track here. The game demands an upfront investment of sorts. A steeper price than average for admission.  But I enjoy it. Willing to pay. The carefully selected menu of kinetic factors to emphasize and which to handle more abstractly is a flavorful mix. The game has a very distinct feel and charm. No included detail was arbitrary or without meaning and impact on the larger tactical situation. There’s some elegance in this somewhat tricked-out chromy mass.

Also note that here’s a title that if you don’t want to use reference tables and look things up you should avoid.

It’s probably the sort of thing where either you really like it or you don’t.

As for me, this is a game I plan on revisiting soon. Would recommend to a more experienced solitaire wargamer. Probably would advise against the 1^st edition.

Notes on "Ambush! solitaire squad level WWII Combat France, 1944"

 

Ambush!

I concur with the consensus; this is a great game. It’s sort of an rpg-lite, plays a little Hollywood in places, but it’s a squad level WW2 US infantry game originally set in Normandy, so forgivable in this case.

My secondhand copy. Box is pretty worn but the contents were in great shape. Can't recall how, where, or when I got it. Been sitting unplayed on the shelf for years.

 

Some things that makes this game stand out are the presence of a real narrative serial type “what happens next?” vibe going on coupled with just the right amount of rules crunch that doesn’t bog down the pace or interrupt the flow, but rather enhances immersion. Really nice. No wonder it still has a dedicated following and continues to fetch high prices in the aftermarket even for well worn copies. 

Pretty early in the first scenario. Discovered hostiles, so some Rounds have been played through, but haven't explored much.

 

However, I’d say there are a couple potential problem areas with this game to be aware of if one is considering playing Ambush! for the first time:

-        The rule book is poor by modern standards. I had a little trouble using it at first. There’s not enough cross-referencing, and there isn’t a “how to begin” type section. Book is really not organized to facilitate learning the game for the first time. Also, it lacks a “key terms” system to offset common terminology used in a game-specific context. That’s a newer development in rules writing, now become fairly standard, that I think really helps and could really help here.

Then there are typos and some actual errors in the text. But the errata is readily available for download online in more than one place and it really isn’t an issue because the game can be played 98% as written without the corrections even being necessary.

-        There is definitely a learning curve with Ambush! so I think it best to just roll up sleeves and get in there. This approach, while good advice for initially learning any boardgame, is especially applicable to learning Ambush!. To really even figure it out what it's doing, you might just have to set it up and start to play through the turn sequences.

-         Finally, and here’s some nitpicking, organizational issues with player aids. Some fussiness that could have been streamlined; the reference charts aren’t organized well. Flipping the chart and table sheet over, back and forth, does get a little annoying. There are a couple tables that you frequently use in conjunction with one another that are, inexplicably, on opposite sides of the player charts reference sheet, so you find yourself flipping the thing over and back again a lot. And that said, if looking things up bothers you, avoid this game entirely. Looking things up is part of the play as the engine is driven by referencing a chart for encounters and looking them up in a paragraph booklet. But this isn’t problem for me, personally. 

 

Haha! Things kinda went south from this point. I didn't win, but came awfully close. Errors were made.

 

 

 

More generally speaking, overall, the game sets a nice pace, with slower relaxed play during Operations, then increased intensity when dealing with Activated German soldiers during the Rounds. The paragraph system does limit replayability but there are a dozen or so scenarios in the first installment and several expansions for the base game out there.

If I wasn’t doing a survey in preparation for a new project, I’d spend more time with this right now. I almost certainly will play this again. And for a person interested in methods and tools for solitaire gaming this game merits study. From a design perspective, a number of interesting ways to address the solitaire player problem employed here.