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Rules of Engagement, for the now defunct West End Games' Star War RPG, is a sourcebook supplement about the Rebel Army's Special Forces, or SpecForce. SpecForce is made up of high-calibre military professionals who are assigned to undertake extremely difficult missions, similar to Imperial Storm Commandos and the Thyrsus Sun Guards. SpecForce is itself divided into different sections ranging from the notorious Infiltrators to SpaceOps Troopers.

It should be note that SpecForce should not be confused with SpecOps (detailed in another supplement). SpecOps work on murky undercover missions involving investigation, snooping, desperate lightfghts and performing chaotic seat-of-the-pants missions, while SpecForce exists to perform purely military extreme-hazard operations. SpecForce are the military, SpecOps are the spooks.

In setting out to detail this cadre of highly trained soldiers, RoE does quite well. The chapters are divided into useful subject areas. Chapter 1 details SpecForce's history and concept. Chapter 2 gives an idea of daily life within a SpecForce unit. Chapter 3 gives information on the kind of mission SpecForce does and doesn't do. Chapters 4,5 and 6 respectively detail the special equipment, transportation and weapons used by SpecForce while chapter 7 is a proper breakdown of the different SpecForce units. The remaining 4 chapters go over specific SpecForce units and their major players, a lot of information on Imperial troops (Special Forces and otherwise) and ideas for running SpecForce campaigns.

The information in these chapters is fairly good. There are typical NPC stats for each SpecForce type and every Imperial troop. There are plenty of interesting and useful weapons which are invaluable to SpecForce and there are some nice diagrams about hand signals an how to cross a road with a small unit in the operations chapter. RoE is quite a large book as far as some previous Star Wars supplements go, and as a result there is quite a lot of information there. Certainly, after reading the book you feel like you know quite a lot about Rebel Special Forces.

Unfortunately I do have bit of a problem with RoE. I found myself asking "Am I actually interested in this?" as well as "Is this actually any use for a Star Wars game?" As good as the information in the book is, there isn't really anything there to make a reader really that interested. It's your basic, standard 'highly-trained soldiers' rap again. There isn't much there that any GM would have come up with after a little thought.

Also, I felt RoE was a little boring for Star Wars. Star Wars is a game of grand stories; galactic space opera of the highest order. It is about capturing the feel of the films. It is about adventure and high-action where the players have fun as exceptional individuals on a backdrop of adrenaline filled spacefights and lightsabre duels. It is not about slogging it out as a regular Joe against the Imperial Army. RoE just doesn't get the atmosphere right.

At the end of the day, I can't see many people actually playing a SpecForce campaign. It would just be too dull. That leaves the book as source material for the GM, and like I said, there's nothing particularly inspirational in there. The stats on all the Imperial troops are pretty useful though, as are all the weapons, but they don't really justify the whole book.

The bottom line is that if RoE is judged purely on its content as a description of Rebel SpecForce then it scores highly. As a supplement for the fast-paced, high-adventure Star Wars RPG however, it falls down. There's some good stuff there and it would be a worthy purchase for someone who had been waiting for info in SpecForce for a while. For someone looking for something new and interesting, go elsewhere.

-Mao Chapman

Style: 2 (Needs Work)
Substance: 4 (Meaty)

Rules of Engagement: The Rebel SpecForce Handbook
Author: Timothy O'Brien Category: game Company/Publisher: West End Games Cost: $18.00 Page count: 128 ISBN: 0-87431-501-8 Capsule Review by Mao Chapman on 03/14/99. Genre tags: Science_fiction Space	Rules of Engagement, for the now defunct West End Games' Star War RPG, is a sourcebook supplement about the Rebel Army's Special Forces, or SpecForce. SpecForce is made up of high-calibre military professionals who are assigned to undertake extremely difficult missions, similar to Imperial Storm Commandos and the Thyrsus Sun Guards. SpecForce is itself divided into different sections ranging from the notorious Infiltrators to SpaceOps Troopers. It should be note that SpecForce should not be confused with SpecOps (detailed in another supplement). SpecOps work on murky undercover missions involving investigation, snooping, desperate lightfghts and performing chaotic seat-of-the-pants missions, while SpecForce exists to perform purely military extreme-hazard operations. SpecForce are the military, SpecOps are the spooks. In setting out to detail this cadre of highly trained soldiers, RoE does quite well. The chapters are divided into useful subject areas. Chapter 1 details SpecForce's history and concept. Chapter 2 gives an idea of daily life within a SpecForce unit. Chapter 3 gives information on the kind of mission SpecForce does and doesn't do. Chapters 4,5 and 6 respectively detail the special equipment, transportation and weapons used by SpecForce while chapter 7 is a proper breakdown of the different SpecForce units. The remaining 4 chapters go over specific SpecForce units and their major players, a lot of information on Imperial troops (Special Forces and otherwise) and ideas for running SpecForce campaigns. The information in these chapters is fairly good. There are typical NPC stats for each SpecForce type and every Imperial troop. There are plenty of interesting and useful weapons which are invaluable to SpecForce and there are some nice diagrams about hand signals an how to cross a road with a small unit in the operations chapter. RoE is quite a large book as far as some previous Star Wars supplements go, and as a result there is quite a lot of information there. Certainly, after reading the book you feel like you know quite a lot about Rebel Special Forces. Unfortunately I do have bit of a problem with RoE. I found myself asking "Am I actually interested in this?" as well as "Is this actually any use for a Star Wars game?" As good as the information in the book is, there isn't really anything there to make a reader really that interested. It's your basic, standard 'highly-trained soldiers' rap again. There isn't much there that any GM would have come up with after a little thought. Also, I felt RoE was a little boring for Star Wars. Star Wars is a game of grand stories; galactic space opera of the highest order. It is about capturing the feel of the films. It is about adventure and high-action where the players have fun as exceptional individuals on a backdrop of adrenaline filled spacefights and lightsabre duels. It is not about slogging it out as a regular Joe against the Imperial Army. RoE just doesn't get the atmosphere right. At the end of the day, I can't see many people actually playing a SpecForce campaign. It would just be too dull. That leaves the book as source material for the GM, and like I said, there's nothing particularly inspirational in there. The stats on all the Imperial troops are pretty useful though, as are all the weapons, but they don't really justify the whole book. The bottom line is that if RoE is judged purely on its content as a description of Rebel SpecForce then it scores highly. As a supplement for the fast-paced, high-adventure Star Wars RPG however, it falls down. There's some good stuff there and it would be a worthy purchase for someone who had been waiting for info in SpecForce for a while. For someone looking for something new and interesting, go elsewhere. -Mao Chapman Style: 2 (Needs Work) Substance: 4 (Meaty)

Rules of Engagement: The Rebel SpecForce Handbook