An interesting hybrid of wargame and narritive miniature game.

Spectre Operations released its 2nd edition rulebook last year and - having no experience with the game whatsoever - I picked up a copy as a total beginner.

The rulebook is gorgeous, with photos of beautifully painted, highly detailed miniatures on pretty much every page. The layout is intuitive and - after a brief introduction - dives right into a detailed play-by-play of the turn sequence, so you can see how a turn plays out before you get into the real meat of the rules.

The rules set is relatively simple to learn, though there is a heavy reliance on tokens to allow you to keep track of what's happening to which model/unit at any given time. The core rules are absolutely brutal, and do a fantastic job of representing the harsh and nasty reality of modern combat. Miniatures die suddenly and unceremoniously, so tactics and strategy play a big, big part in how to succeed. The emphasis is on getting the job done - and games usually come down to the wire as to which side wins and which side loses.

The scenarios listed in the rulebook are a great example of just what the game is capable of, but they are by no means limiting - the games you play are limited only by your imagination. Want to replicate Black Hawk Down, 13 Hours, or any of your other favourite modern war movies? You absolutely can!

The ruleset does a fantastic job of encompassing pretty much every aspect of modern combat that you can think of, from assault rifles to marksmen rifles, IEDs to predator drones, and yes - perhaps controversially - chemical weapons and suicide bombers.

The miniatures range is beautiful, though they are all single cast miniatures rather than multipart, and they do not come with any bases, which oddly have to be bought seperately.

Though not technically needed, the range of tokens for the game are available through the website, but they are sold seperately as well.

The miniatures are only sold through the company website, and are sometimes out of stock, though frequent restocks do come up across the range - so there's always going to be something useful in stock on the website.

These last few negatives I feel are due to the comnpany - Spectre Miniatures - being an independent gaming company made up a single 3-person team. As the game grows, this may change, but the miniature range is massive and you are not forced to use their miniatures if you don't want to - the Spectre ruleset could be used for any modern wargaming models.

All in all, I am very happy with the game system and - though ultra-modern wargaming is something of a niche market - I am excited to see where it goes in the future.

Overall: 8/10