Overview
The Tactical Assault: Combat Cards™ are a fun and innovative way to fight combined arms battles on the tabletop battlefield. The Combat Cards are designed to bring all of the detailed elements of land warfare – including the fog of war – to the tabletop in a narrative card-driven format that is easy to play yet full of challenges. To be successful you must be creative in your strategies, flexible in your tactics and attentive to the ever changing battlefield.
The key to the Combat Cards is the way in which they simulate every commander’s struggle with maximizing the use of their available assets in the face of the multitude of hazards, delays and other challenges on the battlefield. The Combat Cards integrate all of this in a fast and easy to use system that challenges players to balance the need for careful planning with a willingness to take risks and seize upon sudden opportunities.
The Combat Cards can be utilized for just about any modern historical period, starting with the 20th century, as well as any science fiction setting. They can be used with any scale of miniatures, any sized battlefield and for any size of battle – ranging from the smallest skirmish action all the way up to massive operational level maneuvers.
Scenario Design… Point Scenarios
Thursday, March 31st, 2011Point Scenarios are scenarios designed around a theme, objective or battlefield test with the intent of challenging players to select the optimal force, within certain parameters, to succeed in the scenario. In other words, building a force for the scenario is essentially part of the scenario’s challenge.
To set up a Point Scenario, you first have to decide what is it about the scenario that will make it different and fun to play. Is there a unique battlefield condition that will add a new challenge (e.g. fog, night time, etc.)? Is there a unique layout to the battlefield that will pose a particular obstacle (e.g. fighting on a volcano, in a swamp, on a small island, etc.)? Is there something about the forces being used that make it a unique challenge (e.g. no Aerial units allowed due to weather, all units move at half speed due to heavy mud, etc.)? (more…)
Designer Notes… Command Units
Sunday, March 27th, 2011One of the most misunderstood units in the Combat Cards is the Command Unit. Most folks think of the Command Unit as the overall commander of the force, responsible for directing the actions of all other units. With this understandable perception, players are sometimes puzzled by the rather limited command range of the these units – typically only a short distance from the unit itself.
Unfortunately, this isn’t exactly the intended role of these units. (more…)
How Do I… Use Urban Terrain
Wednesday, March 23rd, 2011When laying out terrain on the tabletop battlefield, most forms of terrain are pretty easy and obvious to fit within the context of the Combat Cards. Woods are typically a Template of Covering Terrain, swamps are Templates of Hindering Terrain, hedges are Linear Obstructing Terrain and so on. The one form of terrain that often gives players fits is the dreaded ‘built up’ or ‘urban’ areas (e.g. cities, towns, villages and buildings).
Should urban areas be Templates of Impassable terrain? Or should each wall of a building be Linear Covering Terrain? Should roads be Clear Open Terrain, or should the walls and hedges that often run along them force them to be Obstructing Terrain? As players will play a host of different scales, genres and battlefield sizes there really isn’t a single authoritative answer to the question. What follows are some ideas which have proven effective in different types of games. Hopefully one them, or some combination of them, will help you lay out a better battlefield for your games. (more…)
