I'm jumping into this.
Let's see if it's a keeper or ends up on the sale heap
The manual for this (Warfighter PMC) is an absolute dogfest...truly unforgivable. There are lots of things that are not explained or explained in a different area.
For example, I was looking at what I need to do to get a soldier to move. I assumed it was just an Action to be used - but it's not...and the true way to move is split over 3 sections of the manual...it's actually explained properly when looking at the page describing the player soldier card and it's values...but it's not explained well under the Entrance Cost of a location card and it's not explained well where it explains a soldier moving.
The additional re-write manual is a good source for ploughing through your campaign - but having to refer back to this manual (with no index) is proving somewhat challenging. Then when wanting to know anything about PMC specifically, of which there's a section, it's just a random list of things partially explained.
Not a single mention of Be Hit +/-# - saw the example on a video.
Oof. That sounds like 100% pure nightmare fuel. There is nothing that puts me off a board game faster than a bad rulebook. I'll sometimes just box them back up and sell em off without even playing.
Well - I am giving it a go now. It's hard work for sure.
The rulebook made it a nightmare. No index means endless scrolling through it to find something.
Another difficulty with the game - though it's my problem not there's - is the key words. There's quite a few and trying to remember to impliment them. Not just keywords - options you have on your kit. It's all very well detailed and adds alot to the game - but damn - shite manual = it's really difficult to keep on top of alot of it.
Thankfully they did include a player aid that has the key words on it - this thing is 8 pages but at least it's in alphabetical order.
I'm now on my third attempt at trying my first mission - again, due to not really implementing everything right. I wish I wasn't so bloody ocd about stuff like that. I guess we all have it - to a degree - but it does cripple me when playing. The whole idea of getting this game was to run a mercenary company and all I've managed to do is set the company up and then play the same mission (without completing so far) three times.
This is the final showdown. I've just got to get on with it. If I don't, it's getting boxed up.
One other thing about a bad manual...it limits your ability to just pick it up, have a cursory refresh of the rules and get playing. An easy rulebook allows you to park a game for months and when you want to play - get the rule book, sift through it and start playing. So even if I do get thei game going and run my company for the 6 months (no idea why they limited it - why not just let it crack on) - it's unlikely I'll be able to get it out and play again.
Anyway - I'm off to get the first mission done.