Charlie Don't Surf Rule Review

 

Charlie Don't Surf is a Vietnam War Ruleset created by TooFatLardies.  It is meant to recreate historical and cinematic Vietnam scenarios.  I will warn you my review may feel like I don't like the game.  I do very much like the game.  However this is not a game for brand new players.

My Reviews are going to be graded like classes in College; A,B,C,D,E.  At the end we will get a GPA which will determine if this game makes distinguished honor roll, honor roll, passes or fails.  A good game should at least pass with a C average.

The categories I will be grading are 1) Presentation/Product/Package, 2) Game Rules/Mechanics,             3) Historical/fantasy Cannon Accuracy, 4) Cost/time, 5) Good Time and Memories

1) Presentation/Product/Package.  Ummm The rule book has not pictures and is very Infantry war manual chart heavy to read.  The scenario book is a little better and then there is nothing else...  Thats it.  It is not a very well supported game.  You are on your own with Charlie Don't surf.  I reread the rules many times to understand the charts and game.

D

2) Game Rules/Mechanics.  The Turn Sequence is driven by custom cards (Which I found from a Facebook group).  This is unique because you don't know if you can move or not.  I actually like the card driven mechanic.  You loose control very quickly in combat during 'Nam and this mechanic really drives that home.  The problem with the cards is we always have at least one person who doesn't seem to move many miniatures in the game.  Which I don't like.  The shooting chart takes time getting use to but after play a dozen games it makes sense and works.  I love the blind deployment, and spotting rules and the rules for night time as well.  But no QRS means you keep flipping through the book

C+

3) Historical/Fantasy Accuracy.  I include fantasy here because the rules do allow for the "Hollywood" effect.  In fact half of the campaign I ran was based on John Wayne's "The Green Berets."  There is a lot of crunchiness in the rules for historical accuracy as well.  You could recreate LZ X-Ray if you wanted to do a "We were soldiers Once and Young."  But all the work is on your own to do that.

B

4) Cost/Time.  This is actually a really inexpensive game.  I might have spent $90 for a ton of 10mm minis from Pendraken.  There are some great 28mm figures too if you want a larger scale.  And every game we played ended in 90 minutes.  Which is a great time for us at Living Hope Alliance

A

5) Good Times and Memories.  The Campaign we played with this was great and I am asked when is the next 'Nam campaign.

A-

GPA is 2.80

Not a great score but to be fair there are not a lot of 'Nam rule sets to play.