Point Blank is a miniatures based war game that simulates man to man combat at its lowest level. The focus in Point Blank is on the small unit tactics used by fire teams and squads emphasizing the differing abilities of troops as well as their weapons. Because of this strict focus, Point Blank is by its very nature a fast paced game full of action. Battles in Point Blank can and do change course in an instant.
Each player typically controls a squad or several squads of infantry and perhaps a vehicle or two. The game scale is approximately two yards/meters per inch with one to ten seconds per activity phase. Each figure represents a single soldier, vehicle or weapon system. This strict focus allows the maximum flexibility for small unit tactics and free action in Point Blank.
While each soldier is represented individually in Point Blank and squad training as well as individual initiative are keys concepts inherent to the game system, Point Blank is not a role playing game. Individual statistics for each soldier such as "strength", "dexterity" or "weapon skill" are not tracked. Record keeping in Point Blank is kept to a bare minimum through the use of several innovative features that allow players to concentrate on tactics and not how many bullets a man is carrying.
Point Blank is written to be flexible enough to allow gamers to use the same rules to simulate any small scale engagement from World War II fire fights in the ruins of Berlin to 1960's era ambushes in the jungles of Vietnam to present day Middle East house clearing operations. Point Blank can even encompass far future science fiction skirmish engagements such as ship to ship boarding actions and planet side firefights between alien species.
Point Blank is designed to allow gamers the choice of using their favorite scale of figures (suggested figure sizes range from: 15mm to 1/32nd scale) from their favorite manufacturer.
Point Blank is not written to be air tight or to provide a "balanced" tournament game system. Point Blank is written to be played and enjoyed by reasonable, mature people and as such, if the players do not like a rule or particular aspect of the game system they are encouraged to change the rule(s) in question or to ignore them entirely.
The rules for Point Blank are designed to be a modular game system. This design provides a skeleton of basic rules and allows gamers to start playing quickly and yet still allows the addition of rules to meet each gamer's expected balance between realism and playability. There are three major sections to the rules. Section one contains the basic rules and may be played by itself. Section two consists of the Advanced Rules and section three contains the Optional Rules. Generally individual rules sections can be added or deleted from the game system to allow the gamer to achieve the level of detail they desire.
The basic rules are easy to learn and encompass less than five pages of actual rules and form the core of the game system. To this basic set of rules the players may add additional rules to suit their preferences. Rules from the extensive advanced and optional rules sections include: morale, hidden movement, recon by fire, vehicles, heavy weapons and special rules for science fiction gaming (aliens, alien worlds, etc) as well as numerous other facets of the nitty-gritty, man-to-man conflict that Point Blank recreates.
The detail level in Point Blank allows the idiosyncrasies and abilities of different troops as well as weapon systems to both be important to the outcome of the conflict and to guide the tactics used by successful gamers. Better trained and motivated troops really do act and react faster and better under fire than their less trained and motivated counterparts. The difference between a Bren, a BAR and an MG42 are not only important, they can be the keys to success or failure in battle. In Point Blank there is no such thing as a "light machine gun category".
With the basic rules kept to under 5 pages, Point Blank is quick and easy to learn and yet it offers:
A unique turn-based system where no one ever knows who is moving next.
A game system where high morale/quality troops really do move and react under fire faster and better than lesser trained troops.
A game system where the differences between weapon systems not only exist they are important to the game.
A game system that can be realistically and enjoyably used in any squad level conflict from the 1930 to far future science fictional scenarios.
A game system where morale is tracked on several levels and troops respond to both enemy fire and casualties in a realistic manner.
A combat system where armor and penetration values are evaluated in regards to: armor thickness; vertical slope, angle of impact (horizontal slope), ammunition type and more!
A combat system that is fast by virtue of having all of the details factored down to one single die roll to resolve the hit and a single die roll to resolve the penetration.
A game system that realistically tracks weapon beaten zones (an area where heavy fire is concentrated to suppress/pin an enemy), but only when a unit can produce sustained fire.
A game system that tracks multiple levels of morale, suppression and other unit impairing states on the battlefield.
All this and more in a fast-paced game where a jammed weapon or a single man can bring you victory or plunge you to defeat.
Point Blank will be released in a single volume containing full tables of organization and equipment for all major combatants in WWII through the present as well as over a dozen science fiction species. The complete rule set will be over 150 pages in length and will require no additional purchase to play actions ranging from World War II, near past, modern or science fiction based skirmish engagements.
Also included are the following tables of organization and equipment (TO&E):
WWII TO&Es Belgian France Finland German Italy Japan Poland Soviet Union United Kingdom United States POST WWII TO&Es Angolan Austrian Argentine Australian Afghan Belgian Biafran Belgian British Bulgarian Canadian Chinese Cuban Czech Danish East German Egyptian El Salvadorian Finnish French Greek Hungarian Iranian Iraqi Israeli Indian Jordanian Libyan Nicaraguan Nigerian North Korean Pakistani Palestinian Philippine Polish Portuguese Rhodesian Rhodesian Saudi Sierra Leone South African South Korean South Vietnamese Soviet (Russian) Spanish Swedish Swiss Syrian Taiwanese Turkish United States Vietnam West German Yugoslav
...and more!
All content copyright R. Scott Clinton
Last updated October 19, 2007