Firefight 2E: Command Protocols

Having read through a great deal of this book I can say that the update to FireFight is very good. Combining the Rules and Forcelists into one book is great and very handy at the game table. The artwork throughout the book is inspiring and well done.

Mantic is in many ways the plucky upstart to the big guys out there in the 28mm wargaming space, and one has to admire their tenacity if not their ingenuity. While Kings of War et al have certainly gained some limited traction, Firefight has had a slightly more lukewarm response, which is fitting given how dominant its competitors have been in the past 2 decades. It's a real shame too, because the ruleset presented here is outstanding. Firefight 2E is, as you may surmise, the second edition of this game to be released. In many ways, it's a 3rd edition as this game actually started out as Warpath, and was more akin to Kings of War in its inception. Thankfully, Firefight got away from some of the abstractions in the fantasy game and plays more like your typical sci-fi skirmish game, though it has some surprises that set it apart. I'll break down several of them, below: +This game uses d8 dice instead of d6s, giving it much more unit nuance and allowing for minor tweaks in gameplay that really hammer home faction character. +The Command Dice system (using Mantic's unique dice) is a great bit of tactical uncertainty, and army building allows the player to manipulate it as they desire. +Alternating activations is king, and makes this game so much more enjoyable than the tired I go, you go of other systems. Even better, Mantic has expanded the number of actions units can take, adding Overwatch and Take Aim for even more tactical options. +Tons of built-in scenarios, expanded to more than double from the previous edition. +Army lists for EVERY FACTION right in the book, and the army builder is free (ish, more on that later). +Clarified and common-sense Line of Sight and Terrain rules that are easy to understand and implement. It's not all good, though; here are some of the uglier parts to consider: -Model range is a bit eclectic; it can be difficult to acquire what you want as it's spread across other Mantic properties (Veer-Myn, for example, draw some units from the Kings of War range). -Some units don't exist yet, though Mantic is clearly future-proofing for upcoming releases. -Background info on the world of Firefight is a bit sparse. This book largely focuses on rules and faction army lists, with only a handful of pages dedicated to fleshing out the lore. That said, for some players this may be an upside as it allows for a myriad of converting opportunities and a chance to tell your own story in the very loose framework Mantic has laid out for us. -The app is freemium, meaning you can build 2 army lists for any factions but you won't get any more list slots and you won't get rules references unless you pay. That said, the options are reasonably affordable if you want to pay in and the app works quite well, which we should expect if we're paying for it. All said, this is a great ruleset that reads quickly and offers surprising nuance on the table. The rulebook itself is very affordable and printed in high-quality, full color with a solid binding. Firefight is also easy to get into, with a 1000 point army (the recommended starter level) clocking in at around $100-120 USD, and while the minis can be hit-or-miss it's hard to argue the value, especially with how good this ruleset is. If you're even remotely curious about what else is out there in the 28mm Sci-Fi wargaming space and maybe are a little tired of paying out the nose for increasingly poor rules from competitors, give this one a try!