Little Green Army Men: A Review of Combat Storm

By Mitch Reed

Well before I ever rolled a die, painted a miniature, or put a map under plexiglass I played with little green army men. As my son was growing up, he also gravitated to those green men and played with them for hours. I always wondered what use I would have for the bucket of army men as I grew up. My question has been answered with the game from . The developers from Strategy Wave Studios have recently published their second edition of Combat Storm, a game that uses those well-loved toys from my past. They were nice enough to give us a copy to review. I really liked what I saw, and I wonder where this game has been for all these years.
Coming in at 100 pages, Combat Storm uses any scale of army men you may have in your collection and allows you to play a skirmish war game on your living room floor or a proper game table. The game focuses on modern combat between the US Army and the People’s Coalition Front (a fictitious army) in a slick way that makes it easy to pick up and play yet challenges your tactical acumen. The game uses a d6 for most rolls you need to make. The mechanics are intuitive and fluid.

Setting Up
The game starts off with the one thing all gamers love; force building. You and your opponent decide on a game point today then you select your force. Games are usually between 50-100 models that are split into squads of 3-10 models. Units are made up of primary riflemen augmented by specialists such as an anti-armor expert, medic, supply soldiers, demolitions expert, and all kinds of support weapons and leaders to make your troops deadly. You can also upgrade your troops with body armor, grenades, and special weapons based on your model’s specialty. You also can add tanks, SP artillery, and aircraft to your force.
Each soldier has a Movement rate (usually 10”) and an armor (ARM) value which is the roll you need to make for a save and cost (CST), which is how much a model will cost in point to put in your force. Each weapon also has a set of characteristics, such as Range, Accuracy, and Damage. The way the game mixes in rate of fire (RoF) is very slick and you get a higher hit percentage and RoF when you are up close.

Game Play
The turn starts with players rolling to see who has initiative and the winner gets to sect one vehicle or ‘Combat Group” to activate, once this unit is done, it is marked as “Activated” and then the other side selects one unit to activate. Once this is done, the game turn is over and you roll again for initiative. Once all units have been activated the Activated markers are removed and you start all over again. What I like about this mechanic is that I do love chaos activation, it makes you think.
Once activated units move which includes going prone or crouch in an overwatch stance. When a unit is prone/crouched they can shoot at an enemy unit that crosses its line of sight. Once a unit has moved, they can shoot. Units can also sprint in the shooting phase instead of shooting.
The shooting mechanic is easy to learn and you have to shoot each Combat Group as one entity, so no chance to split fire. For each hit on a target, the enemy gets to roll for a save, and if that fails the damage rating of the weapon is applied to the target. Wounds are recorded by Combat Group and when you get three wounds a model has to go back into the bucket. Each model eliminated also takes away three wounds on the target so you do not just accumulate wounds all game. You can eliminate wounds in real-time if you have a medic with a wound pack. However, they only carry two so you need to use them wisely.

Once a turn is done models with certain types of weapons can reload, then you remove the activation markers and play another turn.

Specialists
The medic mentioned above is one specialist you need to have on your squad, however other soldiers can really help you out. The Supply Soldier allows you to keep a healthy supply of grenades and C-4 as well as their ability to repair vehicles. Forward observers can bring down some heat if you have air and artillery units in your force and leaders such as the Sergeant keeps your squad moving, literally. The specialists really add a lot of flavor to the game and give each Combat Group they are assigned to some great capabilities.

Record Keeping
The rules come with a bunch of charts to track the status of your unit’s logistics and composition. The tokens which are required can be printed for use in the game. I know a lot of players hate stat tracking (except for naval gamers). However, it is simple to do and gives you a quick reference for each of your units. The quick reference charts in the book are another thing you need to print out, but they are easy to use in the heat of battle.

Missions
The rules come with 8 unique missions with graphics on how to set up your table. Unlike other games, you can use books for buildings, pencils for walls, and whatever else you have in your house to make an interesting environment to play in. While I thought that terrain did not factor in the game, I found the terrain effects chart just before the “missions” section of the rulebook.

Morale
One thing missing, which is something I do not miss with Combat Storm is that morale does not play a role in the game. The game seems to move fast and inserting additional rules would slow down the game and take away from the fun.
Wait There is More
The game also has a bunch of special rules that cover things such as headshots, blast weapons, and red-dot sights. The vehicle list has all you need. The rules feature tanks, helicopters, transports, and ground attack aircraft. The vehicles are generic however that means you can use whatever plastic tank you have to use in the game.

My Thoughts
While the game uses plastic army men, which are toys of my past, the game is certainly not childish. The developers created a great set of rules that produces a great gaming experience with some really neat and deep mechanics that will not insult your sensibility. Force building alone seems fun and I have been going through all my son’s old toys to see what I can use to play this game.

When the developers sent me a code for the game, I gave it a quick look and replied to them that I think they have something here. I can see using this game to teach non-gamers about wargaming in a fun manner that uses items they may already have. This is another great feature of the game; you can pick up a bucket of army men for less than $20 and have all you need to play. What other game gives you such a low entry cost to play a fun game?

For $20 you can pick up a really fun game that I cannot wait to play at a convention, I think it will attract a crowd!
Questions
While I like the game, I do have some questions for the developers that I hope they address in version three.
Yoga Joes
These guys would make a great addition to the game, I can see how “tree pose” can make me nearly invisible in terrain.

GI Janes
What about the ladies? What can they bring to the fight?

Bayonet Dude
This guy HAS to have some special abilities!