Force on Force is a modern day skirmish game that has no standard line for its models.  In other words it is just a set of rules.  I had tha opportunity to play a quick game at Origins Game fair and I thought I would  share what I learned before I do the book review.  This is not in any way a complete game review and it is important you know that because you can only get so much out of a demo.

I was a little leery of the fact that there is not a miniatures line to go with the game.  After playing the game I am really starting to like the fact that you can proxy your models for your force.  It does two thing for me.  It saves money, and it makes it easy to play any force I want.  Those are important to me.

Force on Force is a simple game to pick up that allows you to apply tactics.  Which is a seemingly unique quality in a skirmish game in our current trending.  It was nice to play a game that wasn’t dependent on simple tricks and gimmicks to win a battle, or a game that requires the player to go first in order to win.  that isn’t the feel I received from playing the demo at all.

The rules are a little different though, well the dice mechanic is.  The system is set up so that different levels of units use different dice.   For example, using a popular motif for labeling units, core troop would use a d6 for their skill rolls while elite troops would be assigned a d8.    The basic concept is the bigger the die the better the troop.  On the flipside though the smaller the die the more likely you are to roll any given number.  For example, you have a 25% chance of rolling a 1,2,3, or a 4 on a d4.  The dice and type of unit are cross referenced  on charts to determine effects.  The other thing that I thought was cool wounded models have a chance of standing back up on their next turn.

If I was to base my opinion of Force on Force entirely on the demo it is certainly worth trying.  I did pick up a copy of the rules to review.  I hope to have it read by the end of next week and a book review written shortly after.