Force on Force? Osprey's version of Ambush Alley

[jbmacek]

Howdy Folks,

I'm curious, have any of you played Force on Force aka Ambush Alley? I've never really done miniatures skirmish games before, so I picked up a copy and we gave it a try last Saturday. Fun game! I'm going to have to try it again sometime. Maybe combine it with Wings of War!

Setting up. Since I've never played a traditional miniatures game before (more or less, I have played Ogre as a minis game once) I didn't have anything with which to make a map board. I bought four sheets of foam from the local hobby store at 79 cents each, and a pack of miniature popsicle sticks for $2.50. Laid flat, the sticks became floorboards outlining buildings. Upright, they represented walls.




Objective was to rescue a downed pilot. You can see his little white helmet in the middle of the board, surrounded by lots of baddies. My "marines" (actually, Ground Zero Games scifi dudes) have gotten bogged down, taking cover behind the walls to return enemy fire. I lost the scenario because, even though we rescued the pilot, we took too long to accomplish the task.

[IRM]

Not the new Osprey version (it doesn't cover WW2 while the original does) but I've been playing Force on Force for a while. Really good rules set, covers every situation you're likely to come across in a game in an intuitive and realistic manner.

I've since moved over to Flames Of War for my WW2 fix, but I still use it for modern games and SF ground combat (Tomorrow's War add-on, full Osprey version on the way), so I'll likely pick up the Osprey book at some point since it includes all the changes brought in by TW and pretty much replaces Ambush Alley for asymmetric warfare.

I tend to lean a little heavier on hardware for my FoF games :P, here's my 20mm Russians:

[Hunter]

Not the new Osprey version (it doesn't cover WW2 while the original does) but I've been playing Force on Force for a while. Really good rules set, covers every situation you're likely to come across in a game in an intuitive and realistic manner.

I've since moved over to Flames Of War for my WW2 fix, but I still use it for modern games and SF ground combat (Tomorrow's War add-on, full Osprey version on the way), so I'll likely pick up the Osprey book at some point since it includes all the changes brought in by TW and pretty much replaces Ambush Alley for asymmetric warfare.

I tend to lean a little heavier on hardware for my FoF games :P, here's my 20mm Russians:

I believe that falls into the AWESOME category.

[usmc1855]

I've played it several times. Not a bad system. Rather quick to pick up on the basic rules concept (it helps when at least one person at the table, knows them well). All of the games we had played where either modern, or near future scenarios.

[jbmacek]

I believe that falls into the AWESOME category.

Yep, I agree completely!

[flash]

Hi John, great choice !
I play the original Ambush Alley & Force on Force (yet to get the new one). Look here for some pics of my most recent forays.
I don't get to game as much as I'd like to but slowly getting vehicles involved & looking to introduce helos soon.
I have some older shots here that show a more urban terrain.
FoF is easily one of the best rulesets I've seen for gaming the modern era - although I have my own I use for WW2 !

[jbmacek]

Great pics! Thanks for sharing!

[Guntruck]

Just got the FoF main rules with the Iraq and Afghan supplements. No-one seems to do decent Brits in 15mm scale, sadly.

[David Manley]

No-one seems to do decent Brits in 15mm scale, sadly.

The QRF ones are pretty good, or so I've been told (I don't have any myself). Unfortunately the leading British 15mm modern figure manufacturer, Peter Pig, is too busy doing Waffen SS and modern Americans to do any British figures

[Guntruck]

David, you must have been looking at a different range of QRF than I have been then. Sorry matey, I don't rate them all that highly. Old Glory's Brits are passable, but as you say Martin of Peter Pig is not planning Brits any time soon. They come well after the SS, Americans and the Spanish Civil War revamp. He is however considering slotting in a range of Taliban - he's asked a few of us to suggest the make-ups of packs. At least they don't wear camo and are easy to paint.

Seriously tempted to move up to 20 or 28mm for this period, as there are some gorgeous figures available in these scales.

[David Manley]

I admit I've not seen them - just going by what I'd been told. Duff gen? More than likely I guess

PP Taliban but no Brits in Afghan gear. Typical. I don't suppose there's any sign of the Sudan range expansion that was promised months back?

[Guntruck]

It's a shame that QRF do a good range of vehicles for that theatre but cannot manage some good figs to go with them. Anyways, we are playing our first FoF on Wednesday.