From publisher blurb:
Can the valorous fighters and dwarves protect the party’s spell casters from twenty onrushing orcs?
Can the heroes outflank and Charge to strike at the orc chieftain?
Can the party actually battle in formation before they’re completely surrounded?
How many men-at-arms can move through a doorway into melee in a single round?
How many dragon slayers can really attack the dragon?
What is the range to the enemy spell caster?
How many archers can fire at the thief hiding behind a pillar?
What happens when the heroes counter-fire arrows into melee?
Has “theater of the mind” descended into chaos and player confusion?
Is it fair to kill a hero because the player misunderstood the Game Master’s description of the battlefield?
And just how big is a Fire Ball, anyway?
If these types of questions have ever vexed your game, Oldskull Grid War might be for you.
This tactical supplement clarifies the existing Basic/Expert rules with demonstrations of miniatures on a battle grid. Instead of adding more rules, Grid War clarifies the existing often-confusing guidelines through multiple levels of optional complexity. It does not turn the RPG into a boardgame; rather, it provides explanatory support for every combat maneuver, monster, spell, and magic item in the B/X OSE game. The role-playing focus of the adventure remains intact, with enhanced visuals that turn the game’s action scenes into exciting play-by-play freezeframes of strike, maneuver, and counterstrike.
Instead of waiting “for their turn” and stating a simple action, Grid War allows the players to work as a team to develop tactics, formations, holding actions, zones of control, aisles of movement, and cooperative defender facing. Players can see who needs help, where everyone is, what everyone is doing, and they can focus on the visuals of monster positions, vulnerable targets, terrain, doorways, and opportune areas for mass attack and defense. Spell casting is no longer guesswork, it is a demonstration of player skill, tactical decisions, line of sight, range, and area of effect.
You can use this supplement with fully-painted miniatures and sculpted terrain; or, you can use pawns on a chessboard. Lego, erase boards, glass beads, and computer screens can all benefit from the rules and visual examples featured throughout this tome. If you want your players to be fully engaged, without losing control of the state of play, Oldskull Grid War will give you the tools you need for full-on tactical battle gaming.