From Ambush Alley Games and Osprey Publishing, Tomorrow’s War is a sfi-fi skirmish ruleset detailing  infantry warfare in the future. The system is designed for 15mm but could easily be bumped up to 28mm. As a squad-based force game, the scale is man to model and allows for the incorporation of individual armor units like tanks, APCs, and such ideal for platoon-sized engagements.

The setting of the game is rather concretely set with future nations extending conflicts both on Earth and on other colonized planets. So it is very much in the theater of mankind extending the battlefield along with imperialistic endeavors, further continuing warfare for resources and territory on a larger front of different planets. Corporations are also represented in the background, allowing for some flexibility in campaign themes. This is somewhat an interesting take on the game background, as there is room to explore non-symmetrical scenarios such as including untrained colonists, or poorly equipped but highly motivated insurgents.

The game revolves around a universal mechanic of rolling different polyhedral dice and trying to get a 4+. If rolling off against an opponent not only do you need to get a 4+, but also roll higher than the other person. Different troop and tech types use varying dice that range from d6 to d12. This makes for an interesting mechanic as everything is based around a static number (4+) with discrepancies in technologies, training, and troop morale using different dice. Additionally, some game conditions can temporarily alter the effectiveness of dice being used (such as one side being able to hack into the information network of an opponent).

Play revolves around one side gaining initiative for the turn through rolling off dice. They activate any of their units, and then the opposing player may activate units which were not utilized in a reaction. For every unit activated within LOS of the opponent, they have an opportunity to react to this activation. This can be a round of fire, to movement. All it takes is a troop quality test, trying to beat the rolled score of the opposing player.

Additionally, as long as the unit keeps passing reaction tests, it can can continually react to other units taking actions within their LOS. The catch is each activation reduces the firepower and movement of the reacting unit. You end up with these potentially large chains of events, where a unit moves, another reacts and moves out of LOS, only to stumble into sight of another unit, etc. It can get hectic, but there is a set order to resolving these actions.

What further compounds the chaotic feel of these actions and reaction fire is that there is no effective range for any weapons. Units can see and shoot over the entire board. LOS is blocked by terrain and other units. One particular aspect I like about the game is that models are in a relative position. Cover and units, while represented by individual models, are entirely based on where the majority of the models are. If more than half the models are in cover,the unit has its benefits. If most of the unit is behind a building, then the unit is out of sight. I appreciate the simplicity of this and getting away from relying too much on every single model in an entire squad needing to be in cover or behind a hill.

Another optional but random facet of play are the fog of war cards. Players continually draw and play special cards that introduce all sorts of random events to the game. Most are allow for a temporary condition to the battlefield or troops, while others might allow for a reroll or additional dice being added to a roll.

Combat is based entirely around rolling firepower dice verses defense dice. Get more successes than your target and you potentially inflict casualties. At first glance it looks very streamlined, however digging further you begin to see lots of different modifiers that can either add or remove dice from this pool. This is one refreshing approach to resolving tasks and fire. Rather than continually adding modifiers to an ever shifting target number, you just throw in (or remove) an extra die or two. Potential casualties are determined by rolling on a chart to see if the figure is simply wounded or out of the fight.

While the game is for infantry engagements, there are plenty of rules for armor also. I’ll say one plus for the game is the sheer amount of varying rules available for the game. From expected artillery and air support, to more futuristic information warfare superiority via a network grid. There are rules for drones, automatons, and other types of futuristic technology. As units have a variety of troop and technology characteristics, aliens can also be easily created with a detailed example of one within the rulebook. Even though units can adopt a variety of characteristics, it is not based on a point structure. However there are several troop and army types listed within the book.

The game has several basic scenarios scattered throughout the book and also has a campaign mode with a listing of various potential engagements. It’s an interesting ruleset as the initial impression is that it’s one of a very conventional theme, but there are additional rules to allow for more futuristic engagements adding on layers of technology.

The Good – I really appreciate the universal mechanic for resolving tasks. Keeping a static number and rolling different types of dice is a nifty idea. I also appreciate the breadth of ideas for futuristic engagements. There are a lot of interesting ideas and rules for different types of potential scenarios aside from the regular ‘wipe out the other person’s forces.’ The book itself is high production with colorful art, nice thick pages, all in a well bound hardback book.

The Bad – The layout of the rules is not ideal. While there are plenty of text examples, relying on photographs for some of the cover and LOS situations is a poor choice (wish they went with a cleaner graphic instead). There are too many charts spread out. Even worse, there is no quick summary sheet. Such critical information for playing the game and it’s scattered throughout the book.

For all the simplicity of the universal die mechanic, the game still gets bogged down with lots of book keeping. It’s small things that keep adding up, glutting the flow of the game. Like units taking multiple reaction tests which have to continually reduce their firepower and movement for future reactions.

The Verdict – This is not a ruleset I can recommend. While resolution of actions appears streamlined, in practice it’s ungainly. For contests, not only do you roll over the target number, but also have to roll higher than your opponent. This means a bucket of dice rolled in an attack have to be set aside and individually paired off as the defender rolls another bucket of dice.

For all the abstract positioning and LOS issues being based on an entire unit, you still get mired down in individual models needing various conditions being tracked. Models that are broken and surrender have to be under the watch of a lone opposing model and marched off the board. It seems that the game struggles with trying to have some quick, simple mechanics, but gets wrapped up in all of these other situational rules making it more like a simulation.

There is too much information in the rulebook, and it is poorly presented. There are a lot of examples, but critical charts are scattered throughout the book. It seems there is a good game buried in between the pages of the book, hidden away. Maybe if the game strove for a core set of mechanics, with layers of optional advanced rules it might work. Definitely having a better presentation and organization of critical rules and charts, including a good summary would help. Maybe if it had these things, this game would have some potential. As it is now, Tomorrow’s War has too many scattered ideas, too many situational rules, and needing too much effort to wade through the book to be a solid game.

A long while ago I sort of sworn off any squad based rules and for a few years I jumped into larger, mixed forces WWII games. The smaller tactical stuff just didn’t keep my interest any more. However lately I’ve been having an itch to get back into squad-based infantry stuff. I’ve done the whole 40K bit before and had no desire to go that route, so I dipped my toe into the 15 mm sci-fi range and was looking for a few rule sets to try out.

Enter Gruntz, a 15 mm, man to model, skirmish game that can easily handle a platoon or more of minis. The game is a points based system where players try to field equivalent forces of an agreed value, see who can tackle a scenario, and come out the winner. Gruntz is a pretty simple system, with several layers of advanced rules to alter the play. At first glance the system is very pedestrian but by incorporating the advanced rules, there is enough there to give seasoned wargame fans a fun time.

The base rules revolve around a player activating their entire force, with the opponent doing the same for their troops (simple IGOUGO). Each unit can perform two actions, typically being move then fire, fire twice, or assault. Players roll 2d6, adding their unit’s skill, and try to roll equal to or higher than a target number to hit, followed by rolling 2d6 against another target number to damage a unit. Casualties inflicted give units suppression markers which reduce the number of actions they can do on following turns.

There is a nice gradation of attribute stats, as units can have different relative levels of training, morale, and equipment to alter these values. So units could mimic very stealthy units that can’t take a hit, to slower, easier to hit targets that are tough as nails. Vehicles also operate very similarly, but have a few more options when shooting and usually can take much more damage (as typical infantry can only suffer one wound).

There are some wrinkles to play. A unit has a few options with shooting to either concentrate fire, or lay down suppressive fire into an area. And units can also place themselves on overwatch to interrupt opponent’s actions if needed. However for the most part the game uses very familiar and simplistic mechanics to resolve fire and morale situations.

The advanced rules here are a nice touch. They primarily cover alternate ways to activate units, using random initiative via a deck of playing cards, to even alternate activation between opponents. Rules for actions that the player can take can also be mixed up, to give some more flexibility in the 2 different actions a unit does. While the game is set up for single based figures, there are even rules to cover multiple figures per base. These rules certainly give the game some needed complexity while not overburdening the player with an overly complicated set of simulationist rules.

The point system for building units is a pretty strong aspect of the game. There is a lot of room to give units not only varying attributes, but also special abilities. Also the system seems flexible enough to work up statistics for a variety of vehicle models, from copters, tanks, and APCs, to walking mechanized units. What is nice is that you could easily work up different flavors for troops and equipment to give forces a completely different feel, making aliens have differing play styles.

The game has several basic scenarios which usually revolve around with attacking and defending forces and give the players concrete goals and objectives. A nice break from the simple objective of ‘kill the enemy army’ you might see in other sci-fi games.

The Good – You have a fun little set of rules, with just the right complexity to make for an enjoyable game. The point system for unit creation allows for a makeup of different forces, allowing for mixing in air and armor pretty easy. You have enough variation in unit abilities and the base attributes to give forces a different feel for the same point value, adding a lot of variation in the force makeup from game to game.

The Bad – While simplicity has it’s charm, sometimes the mechanics can be a little rigid. Infantry forces are required to cluster around a unit leader, and elements that split off from a squad have very limited options. There are some variety of options with unit activation, however it does slip into that territory of IGOUGO with a single unit’s activation. There is some room for reaction fire, especially with charges, but these options are limited. For smaller scale games, I’d like more flexibility in target reaction. Also, while the point system does allow for variation in unit makeup, that problem of the min/max lists can crop up.

The Verdict – I have the newest V1.1 and was happy to see not much changed compared to the original Gruntz. At its core is a very approachable skirmish-scale wargame that allows players to field a variety of forces. While infantry are what your troops are built around, it’s nice to have some other options in the force makeup.

The execution of the game may not be ideal for everyone. You very much have a unit undergoing different actions, without any response from the opponent. Infantry unit cohesion is also a little tight (3”) and inflexible (however with 6 man squad sizes very understandable). There are a lack of campaign rules, and options for setting up the board revolve around mutual player agreement.

Still the game sets out to give a basic ruleset for sci-fi infantry skirmishes and delivers. Where you can argue the unit activation and resolution of tasks is very simplistic, at the same time you can say they are streamlined and get the players involved. You throw buckets of dice and have quick, easy, resolutions to combat which is enjoyable. While there is a bit of bookkeeping required for managing troops in the manner of unit cards, the rules themselves are easy to remember.

It’s a fun ruleset. For squad-based infantry games folks might want something a bit more fluid and dynamic. However if you want a game that has a good set of basic mechanics, that is tactically challenging and enjoyable, with enough room to allow players to explore different force makeups for their troops, Gruntz is a great entry point into the 15 mm sci-fi wargaming realm.