Today we are making a revised Third Edition series rulebook available for Fields of Fire as a digital download, free from the GMT website. This high resolution PDF contains new diagrams and examples, has been reorganized, has all clarifications and errata integrated, and has a complete index of examples and topics (plus the PDF has bookmarks!).
Additionally, we are releasing a revised Enemy Activity Check Hierarchy Player Aid. These materials can be used with Fields of Fire Volumes I and II, and The Bulge Campaign. A few notes for players who are diving into the game with these rules and PAC:
- This is not the final ruleset and the file may be periodically updated to correct any errata or add clarifications (these changes will be marked).
- The rules are not intended primarily as teaching materials. You can certainly learn the game from them, but the information in the rules is presented in a reference format, not an instructional format. Further instructional materials are being tested, and will be included with the Deluxe Edition and Update Kit.
- The series rules assume that the mission books are complete and contain information which is missing from some Fields of Fire Volume I and II mission books. Experienced players who have already successfully played through these missions will have no issues playing with the Third Edition rules. The Deluxe Edition and Update Kit will contain revised mission books.
- The counters shown in this rulebook are not final; some of them are new counters that will be included in the Deluxe Edition and Update Kit, and some are included with The Bulge Campaign. Again, veteran players should have no problem using their Fields of Fire Volume I and II counters to play with these rules.
- Finally, no new rules have been added to the game (with one small exception regarding vehicles which is brought to the series rules from The Bulge Campaign). At each turn we reviewed the rules with Ben and made sure they reflect his design intent, only with more examples and clarifications. If you found Fields of Fire too fiddly or complex, nothing has changed in that regard. What has changed is that this rulebook makes referencing a rule much faster, and you are more likely to be able to quickly resolve situations that arise as you play.
Veteran players, when playing please make a special note of the rule on page 8 in the “Important!” box. When you run into a situation that you cannot resolve quickly, use the random number generation procedure to choose between options. It is not important that every rule be followed perfectly, because there is an immense amount of chaos on the battlefield and whatever random outcome you end up with represents a plausible outcome. We recommend you focus on the game and situation at hand and limit the amount of time you spend digging through the rules.
Finally, I owe an enormous debt of gratitude to Andrew Stead and Colin Parsons, the Series Rules development team. These are the best developers I could have asked for and they did all the heavy lifting. They spent the last year rewriting this rulebook and all the mission books, inventorying all counters, clarifying all the player aids, co-writing starter guides with Ben, and helping me with the Deluxe Edition and Update Kit. On top of that, they are also the primary support for the game online. If you have asked a question at Fields of Fire HQ’s Lounge on facebook, or on BGG or CSW, or on the Fields of Fire playtest discord, Andrew or Colin likely answered you.
We hope you enjoy this rulebook. Know that it is a labor of love and the product of Ben, our development team, and over 100 playtesters. Countless hours went into it, but when you find something that could be clearer or seems to be a mistake, we encourage you to reach out on BGG, CSW, or directly to the development team. We are listening and want to continue to improve the rules before publication in the Deluxe Edition and Update Kit.
Author: Jason Carr
What I would love to see in rulebooks are state diagrams (you might Goggle that to see what stat diagram looks like) for each marker piece such as a PDF that shows the state changes, such as when to place the piece, flip it, replace it, or remove it.
For example a expose piece would have two states, not placed (i.e. not on the board) and placed on a unit. There would be two state changes place marker and remove marker. The remove marker trigger would be remove during clean up phase, The place marker trigger function would be place when moved to a new card, from cover to open, etc. These then could have references to the rules that define in more detail these triggers.
Thus each marker would have its onw state diagram and thus be one stop shopping as to when to place, flip, replace, or remove each type of game marker.
I might add another example.
A grenade card would have four states,
Sate 1: off board,
State 2 Placed and Face Up (Possible Hit)
State 3. Placed and Confirmed Hit (plus add SA Counter)
State 4, Placed and Flipped to Face Down (Miss).
The state changes would be an arrow from state 3 to state 1 and an arrow from state 4 and 1 triggered by clean up phase.
The cool things about state diagrams is that (once one learns to read them) they are very graphic and easy to read to see how what all the states are (the Bubbles) and how one state can change to some other states (the arrows).
Note. A given arrow may have a number of triggers such as move from one card to another and move from cover to open for an engage marker. But one can readily see that in the state diagram.
Grenade has 3 “states”.
1) Off board
2) Face up (Hit)
3) Face down (Miss).
I’m not sure what you mean by “SA counter” though, sorry.
Maybe could take this to one of the discussion boards? CSW, BGG, Facebook? This board isn’t such a great medium for rules discussions.
Also, I might add that SA Counter is different from a normal one in that it has a different state diagram in that it is removed in the clean up phase (IIRC). So that SA VOF counter might be part of the Grenade State diagram as a concurrent state, i.e. it has it own stat e diagram but the two sate diagrams (one for the Grenade counter) the other for the SA VOF) are linked.
I might note that such links are sometimes denoted with dashed arrows that go from one state diagram’s Bubble to another State Diagrams Arrow, denoting that entering that state cause a trigger in the other (companion) state diagram via that link to its arrow.
Thus the SA VOF linked to the grenade even though it is the same counter as used for a normal SA VOF is different in that it has a different state diagram.
Based on my reading of the version 3 rules an enemy sniper can never be placed on an upper floor.
Rule 9.2.3 Enemy Cover
paragraph 4
Unless otherwise stated in the mission instructions or
Package description, units placed in Multi-story building
cover are placed on the ground floor.
And as far the sniper’s special instructions there seems to be nothing about seeking cover, just who to fire at and when to bug out.
Is that correct and am I reading that right?
I asked Andrew and Colin to answer this, one of them should do so shortly. Keep in mind that the Mission books are going to be updated for third edition, so the sniper instructions may change.
Hi, thanks for the feedback!
Yes, this is the same as 2nd edition. The default for a Sniper is to be placed on the ground floor. Upper stories are more Exposed and would not be the standard location for a sniper to conceal himself in.
When it’s appropriate for the specific mission, the mission instructions will note it (such as in my recent AAR of Bulge mission 6).
BTW, I made an example of a Marker State Diagram for placing a friendly basic Cover marker and uploaded it into my Padlet Virtual Corkboard on Field of Fire Playing Aids.
Here is the link
https://padlet.com/rlwbeachbum/lb5xd1s534iph86u
Another thing that is confusing is just how many phone lines one gets in Normandy mission 1. Is it 4 or 8. So in addition to that nice graphic on page 15 that shows all the pieces on the board ready for play it would be cool to have another graphic showing all the assets and such on the Command Display.
And BTW, for those who might complain that vol 3 rulebook has more pages and not less, it might be worth pointing out that most of those extra pages are great additions like and index and more examples. So it might be worth figuring out just how many pages the volume 3 rulebook would be had it not had those to enable a more apples and apples comparison.
BTW, I added another state diagram to my Padlet virtual corkboard on the Concentrated Fire marker.
Thanks for the ideas, I took a look and we’ll talk about them internally.
Hi,
Phone Lines available in a campaign are stated specifically in the Mission Books. 3rd edition Normandy has 4, the same as 2nd edition Normandy.
I’m pretty sure there is no mention of a “default” in the 3rd edition series rules, as it is a campaign dependent factor.
There will be a training book with Fields of Fire Deluxe. This contains examples of play with detailed set up diagrams, Commnand display pictures and so on.
Hope you enjoy it when it’s done!
Very excited for this! Than k you everyone!!
Another thing that baffles me are those counters marked NCO. I can’t find anything in the rules that describe what those counters are. It seems they might be experience counters but what the NCO signifies is not clear.
Another question is whether one can assign any command to a pyrotechnic or just the ones listed in the rules? I see people doing that in some Fields of Fire videos so is doing this legit?
Also, I have a suggestion. I would much prefer to have the Turn Sequence Summary on its own card. To save from adding a new card maybe the content on the Icon Card be printed on the back of the rules and the Turn Sequence of Play printed on that card instead. For I use that far more than the Icon card. For once one learns the Icon that card has little use.
I’m excited to see a new version of the rules and would love to help if at all possible. I have found a few errors (missing commas, sentences that could be reworded, etc) but I think it would be too much to post on bgg and frankly it would be difficult to point out the exact sentences. Do you use Workfront or equivalent that I can more easily suggest edits?