Lock 'n Load Tactical: Day of Heroes

Modern Combat in 1993, eastern African coast. Nice art, challenging scenarios, easy to learn.

A must have for tactical scale lovers.

A bit more complicated than necessary. Lots of tiny exceptions in the rules that I had to keep checking made the entire experience clunky. On the other hand, the game feels right as in representing close quarter combat, but the final exerpience felt overly random. I imagine that if the rules get sleekened and edited, this may make the experience better, as the core system seems not bad.

A wonderful game in its artwork, rules, and excitement. This is my first LnL game of the rules series.I bought it first, because the subject matter was different than most tactical historical and modern games; there was both an excellent book and movie to compare the lessons and challenges and see how they play out in a decent simulation.

First: When I opened the box when I got home, not only did I have beautiful components, but, to my surprise there was an autographed letter from Mark Walker thanking me for my purchase and providing me a direct phone line should I have any questions . After I played my first games, I did have some situational rules questions. I had an even greater surprise when I called Lock and Load to ask my questions, and they put me on directly with Mark (who was superb and who also emailed me answers). That was a huge impression of customer service that I have gone on to buy more of his games.

My ratings: Rules - 8; The LnL rules system is what I like in squad level tactical game. The rules are fast and the interactive/competitive dice rolling helps keep both players involved regardless of whose impulse it is. Some of the rules regarding leaders and anti-armor weapon were vague to me. More importantly, what I like about these rules is that they are not bogged down in tedious minutae that other squad level games suffer. The rules also, allow a player to try different scenarios to learn different rules aspects before tackling larger scenarios.

Artwork - 10. The most beautiful board depiction of any game I have played! Having spent time fighting in the cities of Iraq, I had flash backs just looking down on this board, it was like looking at a satellite photo. The counters are also gorgeous and clear in their information and artwork.

Scenarios - 8. Although I have yet to play all scenarios, they are varied enough to get many plays out of them and I have been able to play the Pakistani Scenario, and Chalk 2's run to learn the infantry mechanics first, before tackling the Convoy and Helicopter heavy scenarios. Each scenario allows a player to play out critical fights in the battle of the Black Sea/Mogadishu and understand the challenges facing both sides.

Playability - 9 be Fast paced mechanics, and clear player's aid cards make for scenario games that can definately be played from under an hour to a full day (allowing almost a real time refight of the battle). One of my favorite aspects is how well the Somali psychology and tactics are portrayed with the road blocks and mobs rules, as well as the importance of RPGs,and the influence of the drug khat on the implacable courage of the Somalis.

Educational - 8. This game helped improve my understanding of the challenges faced in urban fighting, and the advantages/disadvantages both the Somalis and US forces had over each other.

Solitaire - 8. This game does not require any hidden information to be enjoyable. The US and the Somali sides have enough rule sets and flexibility to force a soltaire player to adapt to different tactics.

This is a great gateway game for getting other friends interested in wargames because of the popularity and knowledge many lay people know have of the battle of Mogadishu based on Black Hawk Down.

Also, I personally serve with veterans of that battle and have experienced many of the same hardships in battle. I believe this portrayal in a game does honor those who fought it by helping others understand.