Now, what is Final Round all about?
Well, first of all, it is a game. Although we have used the second World War as the background setting, we insist that you view this as a fictional game.
It is true that the War is not the most HARMLESS thing to build a game around. And that is what seperates a game like ours from Fantasy or Science Fiction wargames. The Second World War was real with real people.
We have tried to make the war on your tabletop exciting and fun to play. But please keep in mind that in reality, it is nothing like that. Therefore we strongly suggest that you get yourself into some of the historical background.
"What does it take to get started with Final Round?"
Not much is the short answer. First, you will need the rules, which are for free (go and download them now if you haven't already). You might also require a scenario - which you can download as well.
Secondly you will need some time to read the rules. This will not take too long as they kept quite simplistic and short (the actual rules comprise of no more then 20 pages). You 'll also need some time to actually play the game. This depends very much on your style of play but as a rule of thumb a game can be completed within 2-3 hours.
Finally, you'll require some terrain and miniatures. Thre is virtually no limit to the amount of time and money you can spent on this. But we can give you a hint on your minimum expenses for Final Round.
About 50-100 small scale (20mm or 1/72d) miniatures per side will suffice. As these are sold in boxes of about 50 pieces with each box at about 6,- your expenses for miniatures might total to about 24,- and you are done. ready to get going.
We wanted a slim-size ruleset which is easy to learn and works with a few simple concepts. It should also be versatile enough to allow players to create different combinations and tactics. Playing Final Round should be intersting and challenging, depending on who you play with.
To achieve this we focussed on the players and not on the rules when we created this game. Final Round is built to be accessible and affordable. If you like a deeper historical background, the scenario descriptions will provide you with some basic infos and can be the starting point for further research. If you prefer to just put up some of your favourite miniatures on your kitchen table and get going - you can do just that.
Most of all Final Round is entirely open for your own extensions, modifications and house rules. If you have understood the basic principles (which are not too difficult) you can start playing around with them and change things at your will. Do it - it's your game.
"Gamers with some tabletop experience and the ability to imagine events on the tabletop instead of reading or playing them out."
As mentioned elsewhere we kept the rulebook very slim by abondoning all unnecesessary tables and descriptions. Additionally we kept descriptions of events very vague. This has nothing to do with laziness on our part but happened to ensure that few tables with usually three steps cover all possible effects resulting from actions in the game.
The best example for such a vague description are the damage results on the infantry save table. Where other games refer to troops as Broken only when they are panicked, we decided to use the term for shaken, panicked, wounded, scattered, pinned, frightened and much more (virtually anything you might think of). We wanted to avoid lots of tables which tell you the condition of your units in any thinkable and unthinkable situation. Instead, we agreed on three simple steps as the result of enemy fire: You are either Saved, Destroyed or Broken.
This vagueness calls for two important traits on your part - imagination and common sense are your keys to fully enjoy the game.
Without your imagination doing part of the work, Final Round will never feel the way we intended it to. If you expect a ruleset to explain and describe everything in detail, this is definitely not a game for you.
A good common sense for balance and realism will also help you to a more enjoyable gaming experience. Moreover, it is essential when you start creating your own scenarios. Since we have left out a system for point values delibereately, you will have to find your own approach to balance the opposing forces.
And, of course, it is far greater fun to play Final Round if you keep reality in mind and have your soldiers act accordingly. Naturally, the latter is absolutely optional, but definitely adds extra fun to the game.
Scenarios play an important role in Final Round. In fact, playing scenarios it what the game is about. Generally, our scenario packs will keep close to real events but keep in mind that the design of the scenario is limited by the sources available to us and by that what will work on the tabletop. You can view our scenarios in the Scenario Section.
Closely related to the idea of a scenario based game, we have not created any system to calculate the combat value of a unit. At first, we did not think of another possibility than having a points system, as we were always used to have one in other games. But when we tried to actually find point values for the units in our games, it became obvious that is was impossible.
We found out that the effectiveness of a unit depends on a variety of things. For example, the Heavy Machine Gun is a perfect weapon to defend a fortified position. But it will be almost useless fighting in an assault. Thus, we left out a scheme for point values and leave all the work to you. When creating your own scenarios, you will have to figure out yourself how to balance the forces.
Final Round is 100% space marine free, as we call it. This allusion just says one thing: The game is free of annoying special-anything. That means, there are no special rules, no special weapons, no special abilities, no special characters and no special units. Quite unspectacular.
That does not mean the game is boring - there is sufficient diversity through the combiniations of a small number of basic weapons and the Skill Rating of units. But that's it. Except for the scenarios and what you make of them.
Although Final Round features a background which is more real than one would like, we did not intend to create an accurate simulation of combat actions in World War 2. The game is designed to create the right feel for the period in a rather cineastic way. And of course, it is designed to be fun to play.
Final Round is a miniatures wargame and of course you will need miniatures to play. we developed the game partly because we needed a gaming system that allows an exciting game with less miniatures. Now you can benefit from it. You will not have to amass tons of the little buggers to make up your forces. Moreover, you are not limited to a specific manufacturer or scale. Due to the high level of abstraction, the game will work well with 1/72nd scale or 15mm miniatures using about four figures per base. But it will just as well work with larger 1/48th or 28mm scale, using single miniatures instead of teams.
We prefer 1/72nd scale but that is just a matter of taste (and, yes, they are much cheaper). To make a long story short: Simply use any miniatures you can get hold of.
This is one of the game's traits you will definitely like: It is free. You do not have to pay for it. What else should we say about it?
Keeping things simple is not as easy as one might think. When creating rules for a tabletop wargame, you actually create a framework for some kind of "virtual reality". The Rules are to represent all things happening on the tabltop that are not the players' choice.
Final Round is a competitive game. Therefore, we needed some hard and reliable rules to ensure that games would be fair. But hard rules are always "stupid" rules. When creating them, you can never imagine all the different kinds of situations that might occur during play. Nevertheless, we have striven to provide solutions (i.e. rules) for the most likely ones. We did this mostly by creating the rules in a more general style. The rules will not tell you, what happens exactly, but rather tell you, what the final situation looks like.
In our "crusade for simplicity" we had to balance the rules to be exact but versatile. We hope, we got it right.
As stated elswhere, this game is not to recreate reality. We want to give you the fun and challenge of what we think is a good tabletop wargame, combined with the feel for the historical period. Final Round's approach to history is rather a cineastic one and we have left out large parts of which we thought a game is not the right place for. That does not mean, these aspects are not important - it is just, that a game is not the appropriate place for some things. Aside from the game, we would like to encourage you to get yourself into some of the background.
In the History Spotlights, we provide you brief, well, spotlights on historical events related to the Second World War. We try to feature one or two topics per month, focussing on the western and eastern front. We'll have a look at things that happened in the current month, some 60 years from now.