Rate of Fire can best be described as ‘platoon level WWII skirmish rules’. One figure represents one man and after a couple of games a player should easily be able to command 30-40 figures on the tabletop and complete a game within a few hours. Modifiers and special rules have been kept to a minimum and the emphasis of the game is on the turn order, troop quality, morale and leadership.

The rulebook covers infantry actions and the weapons and equipment associated with that. There are no vehicle rules included in this first book but they are being worked on as the first supplement. You can be sure that there is more than enough fun to be had with infantry actions while the vehicle rules are being play tested.

Troops will have various training levels from Green to Regular to Veteran and also variable morale, these affect what an element is able to achieve when it is activated. You’ll find that well trained and well lead troops with good morale are more than a match for poorly commanded new recruits and the rules were specifically designed with this in mind.

Leaders have the ability to use their Leadership Bonus to allow subordinate units to increase their chance of passing morale and rally tests. This will allow your inspirational commanders to encourage and motivate troops, again giving a well led force a distinct advantage over one that is poorly commanded.

As well as the basic rules covering everything you would expect from a WWII skirmish game there are advanced rules that cover smoke, night, weather, engineering, mines, artillery, forward observers, spotting, snipers, hidden deployment and much more.

Rate of Fire includes a points system and victory objectives for those games when players simply want to be able to turn up with their troops and fight an opponent with a fairly even match up. Obviously you may also play specific scenarios that are based on historical actions, though these are unlikely to be balanced games they can provide far more variety and challenge.

Hopefully you will find that if you use historical tactics, smoke, suppression, covering fire and some sort of plan you will not do too badly – charge headlong against the enemy hoping for the best and you will no doubt die horribly!

The plan is to make Rate of Fire a game that can be expanded and built upon with optional, advanced and additional rules module so that players can create the level of detail and playability that they are happy with. Above all though they are designed to be able to have an interesting, challenging and fun game.