Hi!
A bit of a quick one this evening as I've been really busy at work in the form of Critter Commandos by Crunchy Frog Enterprises.
Produced in the US back in 2002, Critter Commandos puts you in charge of an anthropomorphic squad of troops with the sole purpose of doling out ridiculous levels of cartoon violence upon your foes, just like the classic cartoons!
I remember picking it up back in the day when I'd buy pretty much any sci-fi or fantasy wargame I could find and the cover was pretty cool and really reminded me of the Bucky O'Hare cartoon.
The rules themselves are pretty simple and quite fun with characters having a selection of stats that most folks would be fairly familiar with, other than their wounds which are callled Holes, as in the number of holes that can be shot into them before they are taken out of action.
Coupled with cartoony weapons such as portable holes, big hammers and pies along with the more usual combat rifles and pistols, the game is decidedly tongue in cheek and while it has some interesting concepts, it feels sometimes like its leaning too heavily into the concept. Saying that, its a nice, simple game and fairly quick and easy to play.
Sadly the art from the cover and introductory comic by The Brothers Grinn isn't carried through for the rest of the interior art which is pretty ropy to say the least.
Crunchy Frog soon became Team Frog and produced a supplement called Crittertek, a spoof of Battletech that allowed you to field big stompy robots into the game. While I do have a copy of it, I've not played it but the artwork is decidedly better than the original which is a plus, with some barely concealed cartoon versions of classic Battletech mechs.
Looking at the game, it is very much an early independent sort of a beast with a concept that was there with mixed results and the core of what could be a great game, especially as you could pretty much field any anthropomorphic creature you could imagine from ants to whales and use mad weapons to blast away at similarly cartoon foes.
I can imagine the game being quite a draw for younger gamers too style wise but the rules a little bit more complex than I suspect first time gamers are used to. Possibly some sort of mashup of Critter Commando style and Song of Blades and Heroes complexity would be a more pleasing combination...
There's a bit of a background with the bad guys being the Ratzi's who wish to take over and run everything and which do remind me of the Toad Empire in Bucky o'Hare but its pretty light and there more to give you an idea of the factions you can field.
There was a miniature line released for the game but as memory serves, they were quite expensive for pretty indifferent quality figures but Team Frog does still seem to be in operation and they're available from their website. Similarly the PDF of the rules are available from Wargame Vault.
This is a game I'd love to see get a revamp and released with a newer ruleset, higher quality art and miniature range, especially if they went for a pleasingly stylised sculpt as it is a good concept that could do pretty well if handled correctly. Sadly I suspect it will stay as it is, eternal and unchanging with the times.
I am actually tempted to draw up some standees to play a mini game or two because as I already mentioned, I'm a big fan of the sort of cartoon shenanigans that the game is based on.
Critter Commandos is a bit of an oddity in my collection but by no means unique in that I like the idea and would love to play it but the actual mechanics of getting to the point that I can with proper miniatures is probably more work than I'm willing to put into it and it may actually be better suited to the papertech approach where I pull together some quick drawings and play a game or two of cartoon super violence!
Who knows, I may even do so during my weeks hols for a bit of nostalgic fun.
In the meantime, All the best!
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