WWII gaming was never an easy sell in my group. It seemed that a few of us wanted to play and we collected huge armies - I have about 400 hundred 20mm/ 1:72 vehicles alone -- but finding a set of rules that people would be excited to play was near impossible. Spearhead was tried and is a great set, but felt 'stretched' in 20mm. Battlefront WWII is a well designed and easy game to play but suffers from the fact that a result is very difficult to arrive at in the 2-3 hours we have to play. We tried BKC and I really liked it...most didn't. The activation rolls meant too many players were left doing nothing too often.
I had collected all of the Rapid Fire books over the years and even had a typed set of the rules before RF (1) had been published. The books are pure delight and inspiration. But for some reason I never tried playing RF. On reading the rules they seemed strange. On the one hand there were rules for every imaginable operational function -- even aircraft carriers...yes in 20mm -- but all of that lovely abstraction seemed to be dovetailed with rules for throwing grenades as in a skirmish game! None of the rules were difficult although RF1 and RF2 still used a casualty table that put off many of the fellows in my group. It did seem old fashioned and frankly seemed like the rules were not the product of a design concept but more along the lines of a development process that responded to need in an almost ad hoc fashion. I couldn't see my guys playing this game.
Well, fortunately one of the group suggested, after yet another teeth-pulling WWII game, that we try RF. It was designed for 20mm models and we had all the books...and it did look quite easy to play. I am so glad we did.
After years of playing RF now, and yes, weathering the frustration of the casualty table, Colin Rumford and Richard Marsh have developed Rapid Fire Reloaded (RFR) and it is fantastically simple to play, has no tables and is fun. In fact, I had developed a simplified casualty system that anticipated RFR precisely.
Is RFR nuanced and "realistic?" Probably not. But I would say any rule set can be ruined by creating silly scenarios and any game can be played with a sense of realism if done in the right manner. And frankly, WWII gaming is particularly stretched anyway by the 1000-foot general syndrome regardless of the rules played.
So, RFR has kept us entertained for years and will continue to do for many more years to come. I have valued the very long range relationship that I have developed over the years with Colin, helping doing the odd-bit of editing and have continued to build layouts for the game. One day I will manage to play all of Juno and Omaha. I have modelled everything but don't have the 16' table to accommodate it all at once.
Recently we played a scenario from their latest Blitzkrieg book. Here are a few shots courtesy of my buddy Thomas:
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