John R. "Buck" Surdu
Christopher Palmer
| Author: John R. "Buck" Surdu Christopher Palmer |
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| Publisher: LMW Works | |
| Date Published: 2009 | |
| Period:World War II PT Boat Actions | |
| Scale:Skirmish | |
| Status: Released October 2009 | |
| Notes:Available as .pdf download from RPGNow. |
PT-boat actions are generally divided into three phases. There is the stealthy approach phase in which one force lies in wait, trying to get an advantageous position on the enemy. This phase can last several hours, beginning from the time the boats leave port until (and if) contact is made with the enemy. There is the assault phase, in which the boats battle each other, typically at fewer than 200 yards, and nearly always at night. This phase usually lasts between 20 and 40 minutes. Finally, there is the aftermath. Typically one side or the other affects a disengagement and both sides head from home.
The Quick and the Dead focuses on the middle phase. Games last about 40 minutes. There are no turns and no chart cards. Players use cards to control the movement and firing of their boats. All the needed information is on the cards. When a player has exhausted his cards, each of his boats makes a morale check, draws more cards, and continues playing. At the end of a game, players feel exhausted, as if they've just been through a fight.
If you like your naval games pedantic and chart-ridden, The Quick and the Dead is not for you. If you want to feel as if you've actually been in a PT fight, these are the only rules that give you that feeling. The game plays very different than most game you've played. Some players get the hang of the fluid, no-turns system quickly. Others have difficulty. I have found that by a player's third game, they get the hang of it. Many don't like the game the first time they play, but after playing a couple more times, really enjoy it. During play tests some have suggested that I should include an optional standard-style turn sequence. While players would be free to do so, I've decided not to include a tradtional turn sequence, because then The Quick and the Dead would be just another game, and I wanted it to be unique.
The Quick and the Dead comes with a rulebook, the cards to play the game, scenario cards, and boat record cards for most of the German, Italian, British, and American boat types in the Mediterranean. I usually play on a 4'x6' table, but that's for a six-player game. You could certainly play on a dining room table. The basic set of cards is for that size game. The advantage of the .pdf format is that if you want to player larger games (more players) you can print another deck of cards.
The Quick and the Dead is a card-based game. Because PT-boat actions are a limited, niche period of interest, I didn't think we could sell enough sets to make the unit cost palatable. We decided to make the rules available as a PDF download through RPGNow. You can download the rules, print all the cards on cardstock, and cut them out.
On The Miniatures Page, someone posted, "Please seriously consider an expansion that will include boats that served in the Channel and the Pacific. Maybe a few key destroyer types too. The Med, while interesting was a pretty specialized battlefield compared to the Channel. I don't think you'd need new rules, except possibly for destroyers and minefields, but it's the ship types!" If the rules become popular, I'd be happy to post data cards for the Channel and the Pacific. The rules include the algorithms I used to determine the stats for the boats. Players could easily make boat records themselves. If someone wants to work up boat stats for the other theaters, I'd be happy to make the cards and post them to this Web page for others to use.