Work Begins on Combat Patrol(TM): Dark Ages

Mockup of new Action Deck cards

I have begun to develop a version of Combat Patrol(TM) using the GAMER(TM) engine.  This will be for ancient, mediaeval, pike and shot, and similar periods.  There won’t be huge changes from the WWII version, but the changes will better enable the rules to reflect to differences between modern combat and earlier periods.  I have been tentatively calling this project Combat Patrol(TM): Dark Ages, but I don’t think that title is inclusive enough.

Development has begun with mocking up a sample Action Deck card.  I will create a couple decks of cards like this for play testing.  Once I am happy with the results, I’ll send the mockups to the artist I use in Canada to build the final cards.  Emmanuel did an excellent job on the original Combat Patrol(TM): WWII cards and also the South Pacific supplement cards.

Some interesting differences:

  • Melee will likely be the primary mode of combat, rather than firearms, so I will move the melee modifiers from the back of the unit record cards to the Action Deck.  Those are shown in the blue rounded rectangles in the mockup.
  • I am thinking about going with a numerical score for Accuracy as well as Melee.  Your starting point for shooting or Melee will be this number below the target icons.
  • Instead of six “columns” for WWII, I will go with eight or ten “columns” for this game.  These previous three changes are designed to permit “leveling up” of figures between games in a campaign type setting.
  • I THINK that there will be a cover icon on the cards for armor.  If you are hit in an area with armor and the armor icon appears, you are protected.  If you are hit in an area with armor and the armor icon does not appear, you are not protected.
  • There will be an additional icon where the tank hit location used to be that shows a man on a horse.  On about half of them, the man will be highlighted, and on the other half the horse will be highlighted.  This will be used when firing at a mounted figure to determine if the man or horse was hit.
  • Instead of “out of ammunition,” these cards will have a “fumble” result.  This will have results like firearm explodes, bow string breaks, figure falls, drop sword, etc.  If the condition is applicable, that result will apply.  If it is not applicable, it is ignored.  For instance if you get a fumble results that says firearm explodes, but you were attacking with a sword, you ignore the result.
  • I plan to use the concept of reach that was developed for Bear Yourselves Valiantly.

The first historical period to feature these rules will likely be the Border Reiver period.  I am working with Greg Priebe on a Border Reiver campaign system.