Five Core 3rd Edition: Skirmish Gaming Evolved - A Review

Five Core 3rd Edition: Skirmish Gaming Evolved

Period(s): 20th century, modern, future. 

Publisher: Nordic Weasel Games

Where can I find it: www.wargamesvault.com 

Cost: PDF $14.95

The Skinny

Complexity: 5/10 

Rating: 4/5 - Excellent despite its flaws

In one sentence: A very innovative set of rules which is only slightly let down by the writing and layout of the book.

Overview

Five Core 3rd edition is the latest edition of the Five Core system. It is usable for any man-to-man combat in the 20th and 21st centuries as well as any science fiction setting. I have personally used the WWII version, Five Men at Kursk to game WWII, but you can totally do WWII with this set, but you would be missing out on some of the particular details. The game is quite innovative and rewards proper small-unit tactics to win. You need to suppress the enemy and outflank their positions which will force them to fall back or risk being annihilated. It covers all the weapon types you would want, including vehicles, but maintains the abstract tone of the rules. This set is about tactics, not about the finer details of small arms.  

The Good

Five Core is quite comprehensive. At 109 pages, it comes with just about anything you would ever want to do in a squad/small platoon-level skirmish game. Beyond movement, shooting, and the like, there is a section on covert warfare that is just brilliant. You can actually play stealthy encounters without a GM and have it be exciting as the non-stealthy player has plenty of agency, but does have some minor programming and procedures to follow to limit his/her ability to react. The two features of the system that really make it special are the Turn Structure and Combat mechanics.

Turn Structure: There are two ways to play a turn, but the best way seems to be the standard system in my opinion. In the standard system, you roll 1D6 at the top of your turn. On a 1 every one of your models move, but your opponent can react to movement by moving his/her own models. On a 2-5 it is a standard turn, and you can activate 3 or more models (depending on how big your force is). On a 6, it is a Firfight, and every one of your models can shoot, but do nothing else. Once your shooting is done, your opponent can fire all of their models that witnessed one of your models firing. This whole system produces a nice fog of war effect and adds friction, but you are always able to do something.

Combat: Combat is very easy. You roll 'Kill' dice to eliminate enemy models and 'Shock' dice to cause suppression and morale effects. Different weapons roll differing amounts of Kill and Shock dice, and the number of dice can be modified by range, cover, etc. For Kill dice, if you roll a 1, it is a minor effect such as wounding a model. If you roll a 1 on a Shock die, the model is essentially suppressed. A score of 6 on the Kill die destroys the target, while a 6 on the Shock die forces the model to panic and fall back to a different position in cover. If they are already in cover, they simply clam up and are useless until rallied. Scores of 2-5 have no effect. So you roll a handful of different colored dice and simply look for scores of 1 or 6. If you roll more than one effect, the worst is applied to your target, but any model (including friends) within 4" of your target can be assigned effects from the attack. Simple! 

The Bad

Some of the rules covering odd situations or more niche combat scenarios are not as well thought out as the rest of the game. There are some oddities in the rules that I am surprised made it past playtesting. For example, at the start of your turn when you roll a 1 (Scurry!) all of your models can move. However, there is no zone of control for enemy models, so it is entirely possible to come almost into base-to-base contact with the enemy. It creates odd situations where models can charge across open ground and jump right into an enemy trench. I will probably house rule that models have a 2" ZOC no enemy model can enter, and maybe a simple check to see if a model is willing to cross open ground while the enemy is in LOS. There really should be some limitations. 

The Ugly

The book is an eyesore. Very odd color choices when colors are chosen and the layout is not the friendliest. That being said, it is an okay reference, and the rules are there, but it is very ugly. 

Conclusion

Five Core 3rd edition is overall a fantastic set of skirmish rules. The last time I played, I had 14 Waffen SS Pz Grenadiers vs around 24 Soviet Infantry and Scouts. It was a great game and I lost due to my opponent doing an excellent job laying down suppressive fire and working my flanks.

The PDF costs $14.95 and you get a ton of content with that price. I would repeat this purchase again.