[MISC] Shock Force

At 11:29 PM 9/6/98 +1200, you wrote:

[Much Snippage]

>>Shockforce - fast, simple, easy to remember, no counters. Unlike most
>>other games of its ilk, has complete construction rules so I can play
with
>>my old space marines. The official background is patently stupid, but
>>you're free to ignore it.
>    Then why bother to play it? The construction rules for DSII are
quite
>reasonable as well. As for counters, in DSII, if your force is all one
>quality, you can eliminate the quality counter or only place quality
>counters on the small portion of your force that is different. The
>confidence counter is only needed to record when your unit is being
moved.
>It can be left off, until needed if you're honest. Or you could put
them on
>a separate sheet of paper, where your platoon organisation is.

Well, first of all, Shock Force is a 25/28mm scale skirmish game, not
Microarmor.  But that's begging the question.  Why bother to play it? 
Let
me put it this way…I am a great fan of SGII, and have attempted on
innumerable occasions to get my group to play it.  They will do so, but
only with reluctance.  They don't like the rules; they are too complex
and
too slow.  Shock Force, on the other hand....  We now play Shock Force,
or
some variation thereof, almost every single week.  We use it for Science
Fiction skirmish, we use it for Fantasy skirmish, one guy is even
working
on using it for 15mm Napoleonic battles.  Not skirmishes, battles.

Only thrice before have I seen my group take to a set of rules with such
enthusiasm.

The first time was for Ogre Miniature Dattles, which was what got me
involved in SF microarmor to begin with.  And is the reason that I now
have
no less than 12 Ogres of various sizes, shapes, and colors.

The second time was for Fire and Fury, which caused even me to by a pack
of
Old Glory Union troops.

And the third time was Full Thrust, which set off a frenzy of starship
puchases among the group which continues to this day.

What do all these systems have in common?  They are all very quick,
simple
rules.	We can play 2 or 3 games of Shock Force in the time it takes to
play ¾ of a game of SGII.  And they do not require constant
consultations
of the rulebook if you have not played in two or three months.	It seems
that, as we all get older, we have less and less patience with our rule
systems.  We don't get enough time to game as it is; we want to spend
our
time on Friday nights playing, not discussing the rules.

But that's just our opinion.

John Crimmins
johncrim@voicenet.com