Rules Download and Designer’s Notes

The Command Horizon rules are designed to give you a quick and free-flowing game. To give you an idea of what to expect please take a little time to read the notes below. If you can’t wait that long you can download the rules now and get playing the game!

The download is Version 4.1 – April 2008. We are developing, improving and updating the rules on a continuing basis, so please check regularly to make sure that you have the latest version.

Introduction

There are many Science Fiction/Future combat rules available for wargamers to use. What makes Command Horizon different is their scale of action, scale of figures used and level of complexity. There were clear objectives laid out at the start of the process. The rules had to be:

* Suitable for 6mm scaled figures and models.
* Simple to play, with a minimum of charts, tables and modifiers. We wanted players to be able to pick up the mechanics after a couple of game turns.
* Offer the option to play large actions based on battalions as opposed to the single figure mass-skirmish games that currently dominate the genre.
* Quick to play – a typical game to last no longer than 90 minutes.
* Set in a believable and realistic universe. No semi-mystical and baroque weapons, lost cultures or other semi-fantasy concepts.

The end result is the Command Horizon rules and universe. We have enjoyed creating both and play testing and developing the rules, and we hope that you will enjoy the games that it produces. As with any set of rules there are a large number of assumptions and decisions about what is relevant and what we have felt is unimportant that cannot be expressed in the simple statement of how you play a game. These short notes are an attempt to give you some insight into the why and how of the design process.

What You will need to play Command Horizon.

Your Army

Command Horizon puts you in charge of a battalion. This means that each model actual represents a number of vehicles or men. This approach, while common in historical gaming, has never been popular with SF games, where games are generally played as ‘mass skirmishes’. We wanted to take the opportunity that 6mm offers of giving the players command of large formations of men and machines. The change of emphasis gives a very different game and offers a refreshing change. There is nothing like the thrill of ordering several thousand men into an an all-out assault. The change of command level also allows us to shift the emphasis of the game mechanics from ’super-weapons’ and fancy armour, to the command and co-ordination of the different parts of a combined arms force. If you are tired of seeing your carefully thought-out plans thwarted by a single figure armed with a ‘Super Slayer Light Sword of Doom’, then we think that CH could be the system for you.

Dice and Markers

We have opted for a ‘buckets of dice’ combat system. This was not the first option by any means as we tried and discarded D10, single D6 and poly dice. When it came down to it we found the multi-D6 roll enabled us to develop an instinctive game mechanic based on identifying the weaponry being used and rolling a number of dice based on that. This gets rid of the need for multiple modifiers and tables. No matter how hard we tried there was no way to eliminate some means of indicating a change of status of a unit during the game. We have managed to keep this to a minimum, but nonetheless it has to be done, and we have opted to do this with markers. There are two types of wargamers. Those who like to keep a paper record of roster sheet, this leaving the table clear of clutter, and those who hate to have bits of paper lying around with badly written notes and crossings out all over them. No matter which option we adopted we would have alienated one section. If you are one of those people who say, ‘I will never play a system that forces me to use markers on the table!’, can I suggest that you give these rules at least one play. By refusing to see how it works you may just be missing out. We have actually kept the use of markers to an absolute minimum.

* Each battalion must have an indication of its current Command Horizon for which we use a small D6 placed on the battalion HQ base.
* At one point in the game a player must indicate which units receive an allocation of Command Points. In our games we actually used singly based Light Command Vehicle models.
* Similarly at one point in the procedure those units that have had a Hit must be indicated. The use of black and white acrylic ‘pom-poms’ placed in the bases affected is simple and again doesn’t affect the aesthetics of the game.

Textured resin bases available from Baccus

Bases and Measurements

Command Horizon require all units to be placed on a base. The official size for this is 60mm square, but the system is easily usable for any size of base.Why bases? Many existing SF rules sets work quite well with no bases for the vehicles at all. The important point about CH is that the because the models are representative, you need to give some indication of the ground occupied by infantry or vehicles on the base. This can only be done by allocating a fixed area of ground to a set number of models. A more practical point is that it is much easier to move four bases, each holding three models than it is to move twelve individual tanks

A company of medium tanks

The use of fixed bases also confers a couple of other great advantages. By making all measurements from edge of base to edge of base this removes ambiguity and a great source of wargamer arguments and tantrums. It also means that we have been able to standardise all measurements into multiples of a base width. This simplifies the movement and range measurements, and importantly allows for different basing standards to be used, provided both sides are consistent. For example if your armies are already on 40mm bases then they can be used with CH. Alternatively if you feel the need to move to 80mm square bases, this can be done with no alteration to the rules needed at all.

Organising Your Army

We decided to keep the organisation of Human forces along traditional lines. Most players will be familiar with Companies, Battalions and Brigades. Military terminology tends to be very conservative in nature and we cannot see these terms changing much, even after several hundred years. Aliens follow similar patterns but have radically different command and control systems making them a challenge to play and play against.

Unit Types

Once again, the range of arms available to a brigade commander remains familiar. The types of armour and offensive weapons may have changed with the introduction of technology, but the simple facts remain that you need offensive units to take ground, infantry to hold it and both need support from air and artillery support.The obvious exceptions are the Walkers, and as both the Command Horizon rules and figure ranges develop more exotic and advanced unit types will be introduced.

Weapons and Equipment

The basic tripartite division of long range offensive weapons includes the current options of projectile firing guns and missile systems, along with that staple of SF gaming and literature, a ‘ray gun’.In this edition of Command Horizon, you will find that there is no real differentiation between the effect of Guns and Beams. This is purely a temporary state as future developments will see both being more closely defined with their own strengths and weaknesses.Launchers have the great advantage of not having their firing affected by blocked line of sight, but are subject to greater interference from ECM.
Command

As much as any army relies on good equipment, it can do nothing unless it has good training, an efficient command structure and a competent person in charge. All of this is reflected in the Command Horizon rating of the Battalion and Brigade HQs. For Brigade HQs the CH value reflects the competence of the Brigadier and his staff. It is also a function of the efficiency of the collation and interpretation of the vast amount of electronic information flowing into the HQ from the thousands of Battlefield Information Devices that cover the combat area. For Battalion HQs the CH value is a measure of the unit’s ability to interpret and act upon orders as well as the efficiency of its internal command structure.

Playing Command Horizon – Moving

Move Sequence

The move sequence is very straightforward being a variation on the standard IGO-UGO system. Like all such processes it seems very complex when first viewed, but after a couple of run throughs you’ll find it both easy to follow and instinctive. The Reaction phase is the key section of any player’s move. How the Command Points are allocated and which order they are used in will make all the difference to the outcome of the game. We recommend that all players take some thinking time when it comes to this part of the move.

Movement

The most controversial part of this section is that provided bases do not end up on top of each other at the end of their move, neither friendly nor enemy bases offer any barrier to movement. Remember that each base actually represents a relatively small number of men or vehicles occupying a very large area of ground. What we have found in play is that seemingly obvious tactic of trying to drive through an opponent’s front line brings no advantage at all and usually ends up with the offending player taking a great deal of punishment as the exposed unit places itself in very close range of a lot of defenders. Like many of the more controversial aspects of the Command Horizon rules we suggest very strongly that you reserve any criticism until you have actually played a game or two, as the practice gained from this is by far a better means of judgment than condemnation after a read-through.

Terrain

The terrain rules are very simple. This scale of action covers large areas of ground, so we don’t take into account single trees or buildings, just areas of forests or built up areas. At the moment the rules are designed only for temperate Earth-compatible environments. We will be adding extra sections for more extreme environments later. These will include lower and higher gravity, extreme climate and temperatures.

Playing Command Horizon – Combat

Shooting

The Command Horizon combat system is very simple. To some, the delight of a wargame is that they can measure ranges, work out angles of deflection, arcs of fire, exact ammunition being used, the morale of the firer, the type of armour being engaged, the size of the target and the angle of the sun in the firer’s eyes. Once all of these factors have been totalled and three charts referenced dice are rolled and damage inflicted or not. Damage can range from a scratch to the paintwork, to complete destruction and invariably in such games this all ammunition expenditure has to be recorded.We take a completely different approach. The debate about ‘realism’ vs ‘playability’ often concludes that you can only have one at the expense of the other. We would beg to differ. Analyzing a single shot in microscopic detail is just not feasible in a game such as CH when we are dealing with the actions of hundreds of men at any one time.The basis of the combat system is that when armour and defense cope with incoming fire, they cope very well. When those defences are breached it can be disastrous. The only state between fully operational and destroyed is ‘Zipped’. In this condition a base is treated as being completely disrupted and thus can neither move nor conduct any offensive action.

Line of sight

As with movement, Line of Sight is only blocked by terrain. It is not blocked by either enemy or friendly units. Each base covers a large area which in reality is occupied by a relatively small number of men and vehicles. We make the assumption that advanced IFF systems and information from BIDs keep friendly units from being incorrectly targeted

Additional Units.

Human Skim Fighters

One of the great joys of playing SF games is the opportunity to use units and weapons that are not technologically possible at the present time. We have purposely made the CH systems simple which will allow us to add increasingly exotic machines and weapons. Although this section deals with the conventional artillery and aircraft, it also sees the first of these future weapons with the light walkers. The aim is to keep all such weapons feasible in terms of our modern understanding of technology and materials, but to give them qualities that will enable new tactics and armies to develop. This process will accelerate as we introduce alien races to the CH universe.