Magazine Article Summaries

My idea of a wargames publication 'syndicate', has sort of fallen on stoney ground!? Only Colin and Alistair showing any interest. So, how about a cheaper version?
I have taken to scanning interesting articles from magazines, to make it easier to store them. So, I thought 'why not post a short summary on the blog?', then if anyone else is interested, I will happily send them a copy of the article. I hope that if anyone else comes across an article of interest, then they can just send me a short summary, which I will post on the blog, along with the name of the submitter. That way any interested folks can ask them for more information (no full names used).

Phil T

This batch of articles includes;

“Firefight”, Historical Miniature Gamer #7
Simple 6 page set of WW2 skirmish rules. Uses activation chits to control the turn sequence, drawn at random. A typical squad gets 3 chits, whereas a veteran squad may get 4. The chits are drawn to determine the turn sequence, but the drawn chits are kept in view, so you have some idea what may happen next. Each chit allows the player to activate one soldier, or group of soldiers under an NCO. Each activated soldier gets 4 ‘Action Points’ (AP), which are used to complete actions, eg, 2AP for aimed shot, etc. Looks simple, but I like the multi-chit activation idea.

“Quickdraw”, Western Skirmish, Battlegames Issue 9.
Looks like a nice simple set of Western skirmish rules (6 pages). Initiative is controlled by the drawing of playing cards. Each character is allocated 2 cards and the joker causes a reshuffle of the deck. A nice touch is the need for a “guts” test, if a character wants to move toward an enemy, or leave cover, etc. Looks like a nice simple, but sensible set of rules.

“Skulking in the Rear”, Historical Miniature Gamer #7
Simple 2 page skirmish game initiative system, for use in gangster / pulp games, etc. Each ‘team’ / faction, gets 7 cards (ace, 1, 2, 10, jack, queen, king). The ace, 1, 2 allow one character to move (including characters within 2 inches), the jack, queen, king, allow all of a player’s characters to move. The “10” allows civilians to act in the player’s favour. A card can be used to allow a character to take up to two actions, or “hold” one action in order to interrupt another player (but this too can then be interrupted by a held action).
There are also two jokers in the pack, drawing the first is just a warning (or can invoke some pre-planned random event). The second joker ends the turn and the deck is reshuffled. Using cards like this, allows up to 4 factions to play, which is good for gangster, or ‘pulp’ type games.