COMBAT STORM 2ND EDITION (DIGITAL DOWNLOAD)

[Whiterook]

Now, oddly to my sensibilities, this has my interest! I just bought this today… $19.99 (eight bucks off list price…a price you can’t beat!). See here for my plans to put this puppy together, and stay tuned for Build Logs on the components, including my plan to paint the little green army dudes!

I haven’t played with “Little Green Army Men” since my pre-teens — some, errr, 50+ years ago, ahem     …you know, those bags of army dudes we pestered our mom’s to buy us in the grocery store, we’ll, at least for me back in the 1960’s. I had whole battalions setup on the living room floor, sometimes turning the corner into the kitchen! MASSIVE battles on an epic scale, until the cat walked in.

Today, low and behold… the adult version!

Combat Storm

Bored of traditional table-top wargames and want a new way to play with your plastic army men? Introducing COMBAT STORM!

COMBAT STORM is a 2-4 player table-top (or “floor-war”) game in which two armies (the U.S. Army and the People’s Coalition Front) battle each other in a modern day setting, in an effort to win missions by having each army complete specific objectives or combat each other in the Last Man Standing Game Mode.

Combat Storm uses your own collection of plastic army men as game pieces and a large playing area such as a 6’x4’ table or living-room floor as a battlefield.

For terrain, you can use common household objects to represent buildings and obstacles (e.g. books, wooden blocks, boxes, etc.) or use the included print-and-play papercraft terrain to build you own cities and environments.

When you order the Combat Storm (2nd Edition) Digital Edition, you will instantly receive the following:

• The Combat Storm (2nd Edition) Digital Edition PDF Rulebook (95 Pages)
  
• Gameplay Accessories PDF file, contains print-and-play game pieces for Squad Tokens, Wound Tokens, Reload Tokens, Prone/Crouch Tokens, Vehicle Damage Tokens and C4 Tokens.
  
• Army Builder PDF file to automatically calculate point costs for each army.
  
• City Accessories PDF file, contains print-and-play papercraft construction sets for a variety of terrain pieces: Cars (5 different colors), Utility Van, Bus Shelter, Garbage Dumpster, Mailbox, Concrete Barricade and Cement Block Wall.
  
• Hotel Building PDF file, contains print-and-play papercraft construction set for a hotel building. Also includes instructions for creating multi-level and larger hotel buildings.

• Apartment Building PDF file, contains print-and-play papercraft construction set for an apartment building. Also includes instructions for creating multi-level and larger apartment buildings.
  

Join the Battle today!

Of course, folks have already been bringing this a step further by painting their little dudes…



This isn’t all that different a concept than Memoir ‘44 gamers playing with smaller, more generic versions of these minis and painting them up. This system however, is more along the lines of a true miniatures wargame, set with ing diorama play.

The company selling the rules, Combat Storm, has amazing support, providing free buildings terrain, charts, etc., as seen above



…as well as having a dynamic community of gamers who support the system. From what I can see, this is nothing to sneeze at!

[Whiterook]

Having now taken a peek, what I originally gasped at a near 100 page rulebook was assuaged by finding that:

• The main bulk of How to Play rules are only about 7 pages long
  
• The next 30 or so pages are the US and PCF forces, which are kinda like a card with stats sort of thing on pages
  
• Followed by 7 pages of Equipment Upgrades
• Followed by 10 pages on Vehicles
• Followed by a couple pages on Air Support
• Followed by a couple pages on Special Attack rules
• Followed by a couple pages on Terrain & Cover
  
• The Missions are next In 17 pages 
• The remainder being a page on Game Play Tokens, a page on Optional Rules, And 13 pages Quick Reference Tables

So again, learn about 7 pages of rules and familiarize yourself with mechanics as you go! Not bad 

[Whiterook]

Initial thoughts, with a little help from BoardGameGeek’s review section…

Combat Storm features two armies: the U.S. Army and the fictitious People’s Coalition Front (PCF). I wasn’t sure exactly, who the PFC were supposed to represent nationality-wise. A fellow gamer at BGG posits that they are a generic, Soviet-equipped guerrilla force. That works for me overall, because when you search for modern-era plastic army men for sale online, you get United States and Russia. Interestingly enough, I haven’t seen any Middle East or South Americans. The flip side of that is, you can paint your little dudes to represent any nationality you want, as long as you take into account the PFC weapons are mostly Russian; though there’s an Austrian rifle, for instance, but I’ve not looked with great attention yet. This is a grain of salt thing of who the PFC is, if you don’t want to play Russians.

Each side has the same 10 soldier types, which makes using soldiers with designated, different poses important (or not… I’m a bit OCD on such things). Of course, you have your backbone troops of Riflemen, but there are several other options to build your force through a point system for the particular mission at hand. These other units include medic, support infantry (machine gunner), sniper, sergeant, grenadier, supply soldier, forward observer, demolitions expert, and the anti-armor soldier, along with special forces stats for some types. The equipment for both sides is highly specific, accounting for subtle differences in rate of fire, accuracy, and range, and there are even upgrades for troops, such as body armor — which I love that this system incorporates a chance to not just be slaughtered immediately, or within a number of hits — or upgraded weapons. As mentioned all troop types and upgrades carry a point value, so each side can build forces that are roughly equal in strength, if the players so choose.

Game Play

The game is turn-based. Keeping in mind that you could field a whole company of men, should you choose, from there (or restricted to just) payers divide their forces into squads. The Sequence of Turns is divided into three phases:

• A Combat Group Activation Phase. A Combat Group is any squad (in general, 3-10 soldiers) or vehicle. On your turn, you can choose only one squad (or vehicle) to activate for that turn, an “activated” token goes on it, and then it cannot activate again until all your squads have activated this round and a new round starts, reseting everything for possible activation. Activating a squad allows it to mor or shoot.

• The Movement Phase is where yiu can move your square/vehicle just activated above, up to its maximum movement allowance, after which it can proceed to…
• The Shooting Phase, where your above activated squad/vehicle can fire on the enemy. Your whole squad can only fire on one particular enemy squad/vehicle (no splitting fire).

So in summation, the first player activates one of thier squads to move and/or shoot, placing a marker or token to indicate that the squad has been activated; player two does the same. On player one’s next turn, he can move and/or shoot with any of his squads that hasn’t yet been activated; player two does the same. This process continues until all yoir squads have been activated; and when all squads bear activation markers, all of that player’s activation markers are removed and the process begins again.

I’ve read that in general, American troops boast better accuracy at range and possess heavier firepower than their PCF foes; PCF are much more dangerous at close range, which is something for that player to keep in mind for tactics and maneuver strategy employed. Firing is resolved separately for each attacking soldier, but hits don’t automatically equal casualties, as the target gets to roll to see if body armor stopped the damage. Squads take damage only if body armor fails, and the defending player determines which troops are eliminated from the squad as necessary.

Playing Time

60 to 90 minutes for a standard game.

Pros:

Customization. Combat Storm has infinite customization of squads you can assemble and deploy, from fast but weak troops, highly trained operatives, deploy lots of heavy firepower, or field a mix of all types.

Specificity. The rules go into considerable detail about what specific weapon systems the soldiers are carrying, and account for their perceived differences. The equipment presented seems to loosely emulate “what if” hypothetical conflicts with Russia, North Korea, or China for instance, but also hints at recent conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Highly detailed vehicle rules. Vehicles are treated like squads, but can only be harmed by weapons capable of doing armor damage. There are even specialized tables for vehicle damage; for example, a vehicle can have damaged treads, resulting in the game equivalent of a mobility kill.

Air strikes. While aircraft aren’t represented in miniature as part of the game, the effects of air strikes can be. Air strikes are purchased with points, just like regular troops, and a player will need a forward observer to “paint” the target area with a laser. Strikes can come from a bombing run (more effective against vehicles) or a helicopter strike (which is more effective against personnel).

[mikeh]

Cool! Reminds me of the computer game on Green Army Men that fought the tans.

[Whiterook]

It’s quite amazing what the system encompasses in rules vs. simple Dollar Store or better green army men. I think a lot of people would dismiss this as fluff… but it really isn’t! …I’d put it up against many “superior” systems folks would claim are better, and it’s a damned sight more accessible in learning curve.

Here are some nifty pics I found from existing gamers…

[Whiterook]

…and a few more…

[mikeh]

Nice pictures!

[Whiterook]

Jul 11, 2022 1:48:28 GMT -5 mikeh said:

Nice pictures!

Yes, those are super cool looking… great action. I was originally going to base my minis on disks, but after seeing these pics, I’m going to see how the ones I bought stand in what they are molded on. My Russians just got in, but construction work inside the house today and too has the packages waiting to be ordered… I got a couple rulebooks too, the 1 hour one you’re using, and NUTS!

[mikeh]

Sounds like you have some good reading ahead of you. Are you thinking of painting your army men? They look cool as is but I can see, and would be tempted myself to paint them.

[Whiterook]

Jul 21, 2022 11:26:32 GMT -5 mikeh said:

Sounds like you have some good reading ahead of you. Are you thinking of painting your army men? They look cool as is but I can see, and would be tempted myself to paint them.

Yes,indeed! …I’m looking forward to learning and using the two systems to get a lot of my minis in games!

...and Yes, I’ll be painting them    The ones pictured above are not the ones I bought… see this thread for the Americans. My Russians just came in and I’ll post those up on that thread next, but ‘til then, these are mine…