Statistically, you either had or had played with toy soldiers as a kid. But the only person to set any sort of rules back then was an irate parent, laying down the law once the crying got too much. Combat Storm aims to bring a little class into what would otherwise be an ugly brawl by providing rules for your green or tan army men!
Combat Storm gives every type of plastic soldier a class and then allows you to freely group them into squads of 3+ troopers. Considering that most warriors are armed identically with only special rules to set them apart, this doesn’t create much of an issue. You may also upgrade troopers by using a separate points pool that’s equal to 10% of your army size.
Weapons have ranges, which determine target numbers and damageper shot. That’s right, it’s not just BS4-applies-to-every-round. For a rifle, the first shot may be 4+, the second – 5+. This allows the game to differentiate easily between basic guns (green’s M16A4s vs. tan’s AKMs) as well as special weapons. So, for example, the AK may be more powerful, but less accurate while an LMG will have an entire different table for when you fire it from the bipod.
Combat Storm also features vehicles! They’re literally the same for both factions. They can’t be damaged by weapons that don’t deal vehicle damage, so it cuts down on one conundrum that 40K was never able to solve before giving. Therefore, weapons effective against vehicles may be a lot less effective against infantry. Meanwhile, squad MGs and sniper rifles are powerless against vehicles. Unlike infantry, vehicles don’t get an armor save, but instead of dying immediately, they roll on a damage table.
Granted, the infantry don’t die that easily either. You need to deal 4 damage to a squad to remove a single dude. Since regular rifles deal 4 at most, you’ll need more than a single shot to do anything. This is one of the ways the game encourages larger squads rather than going for MSU spam. On the other hand, this isn’t Cold War Commander– leftover damage points don’t dissipate, so the next attack is a lot more likely to kill someone.
Another neat feature in Combat Storm is the asymmetrical nature of the scenarios. No kill points here, it’s always about either accomplishing a certain goal or preventing the enemy from doing that. You even have the map layouts for that! The only issue is the lack of guidance for how big the units should be in scenarios that mandate specific force compositions.
What are the main downsides of Combat Storm? Well, casting the green soldiers as US army is absolutely unnecessary, especially if you want to have a silly game untainted by real-life contexts. There are also some issues with the clarity of the rules and balance. For example, Special Forces troopers seem way too cheap, only 10 points more expensive than their regular equivalents that would need many more upgrades to reach their level.
In conclusion, Combat Storm is neat little game for those who have a bunch of army men laying around or are planning to get some. There’s an upcoming free expansion that will expand the game, but as always, we want a cleaner, better edited 2nd edition!
