The Final Chain Reaction

Well, it's finally out. After years of tweaking and buggering about Ed from Two Hour Wargames has nailed his colours to the mast and released a final version of Chain Reaction that not only defines the basis of THW's Reaction system but will form the consistent basic system for all (or at least the lions share of) the Two Hour wargames titles. With no changes.

As most long suffering readers here will know I've made a conscious effort to get to grips with the Two Hour Wargames system. I actually had a copy of CR2.0 when you had to pay for it (imagine!), even though it was free and moved to version 3.0 before I'd ever played it (frugal lesson here - don't buy rules until you're ready to use them!). Arabian Squire and I have have had quite a few fun games over the past year or so with this basic free set.

Having a quick look through (without playtesting I must strain) there seem to be a few immediate changes from the previous Version 3.0

• The "In Sight" test has changed (again!), although it looks simpler and the test table has been done away with. The rules have reverted back to the "everyone takes the test" of old, instead of just the inactive figure(s),  as was previously the case. As this is one of the most "complicated" and most used rules in the system this can only be a good thing. It'll be interesting to see how the uncontrolled actions from the test results play out compared to the old version, as this was always one of the fun parts of Chain Reaction.
• Melee has changed a bit, although unless you are playing a side with no guns (bugs or werewolves for example) this is rarely used.
• Shooting is pretty much the same.
• There is a new "Cohesion Test" - think morale test.
• The Non player force rules seem to be better explained/fleshed out.

Overall I'm looking forward to giving these a go. A change in "In Sight" test is always a bit of a challenge, but I'm hopeful that once played through a few times (as always) it'll start to stick.

So what are you waiting for, download it!