Today I had the chance to try out FNG 2nd Tour, the Vietnam era rules from Two Hour Wargames. I have been looking forward to trying these rules for some time, as they get a lot of mention on the Field of Fire Vietnam forum, especially from Garryowen (Tom). Tom has invited me in the past to come game with his group on several occasions, but I could not make it work out schedule-wise, until today.
I will admit that I have read through both Nuts! and the Korean War supplement (entitled Fire in Korea), and was not impressed, mostly from a layout and rules flow viewpoint. But having had a chance to push through a game of FNG, I feel like I have a good grasp of how this system of rules is supposed to work. Tom had a nice QRS and turn sequence he shared, and that really helped.
I have skipped over many of the things that happened along the way, because the point of getting together was for me to learn the basic game skills. After going through the pre-game need to knows, I felt like I was able to pick up the flow of the game, when to do in sight tests, and firing and reaction fairly well.
While this isn't really a rules review, I will share that I did enjoy learning the core of FNG, and certainly want to keep gaming these rules to see how other mechanics play. Now if Darby would just finish the third edition....
After the game we went to a local Vietnamese restaurant, which was quite good. Sate is a spicy mother though, but my first 33 beer helped cool my throat a bit.
Nice! That's awesome that you got to play with Tom, he's a heck of a guy and runs a great game! Waaaay back when Bravo 6 (Todd whom founded FoF!) sent me NUTS! as a gift I couldn't quite get my head all of the way around it until I played with Ed Tiexiera at a convention and had my "AHA!" moment (not while humming Take on Me... lol)
ReplyDelete3rd edition is coming along, but slowly. I'll keep at it!
Good to hear about FNG 3.0...hope to see it soon! :) And yes, FNG is a set of rules I believe you have to actually game to understand, and having Tom as the teacher was very helpful.
DeleteTwo Hour Wargames are just about the only rules set I use. Once you get used to them they are very robust and flexible, allowing fairly realistic tactics to be used.
ReplyDeleteI can believe that, based on the little I have been involved with them. Now that I have played a little FNG, I think I can go back to some of their other sets of rules and perhaps grasp them more readily.
DeleteGood news! Darby has committed to being finished by the end of August! Looki g firward to it.
ReplyDeleteAs am I! I guess I can always wait until FNG 3 come out (I am looking for a copy of FNG or FNG 2nd Tour in hard copy on the Fields of Fire forum currently...have a copy of FNG: UW on the way from one of the chaps there).
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