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Combat Patrol Set AClick to magnify

Combat Patrol Set A

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Set A of the cards (4 Action Decks and one Activation Deck) for $32.  The Basic rules are a free PDF download.  The PDF of the Advanced Rules is an additional $5 purchase.   Make sure you click the correct radio buttons when you order.

Combat PatrolTM is an exciting set of skirmish rules that allows players to focus on the game instead of the rules.

Combat PatrolTM  is a unique card-based minatures game.  The unique Double Random ActivationTM mechanism provides a leap-ahead method for activating units that provides the friction and drama of card-based systems with none of the drawbacks.  

More importantly, Combat PatrolTM uses a card-based combat resolution mechanism that is exciting and simple while eliminating unsightly chart cards cluttering your beautiful gaming table.

To play Combat Patrol you need EITHER set A or set B of the cards as well as the freely downloadable PDF of the basic rules. The advanced rules and rules for vehicles are a separately purchased download.  The PDF download is NOT a set of cards.  The PDF is the full rules as a PDF download-and-print booklet.  You MUST purchase the cards to play the game.  The basic rules are available as a free download, listed as a "preview."

Each set includes four 50-card Action Decks (supporting four to eight players), with different colored backs to keep them separated, and an Activation Deck.  Purchasing both Set A and Set B will give you eight different backs, supporting eight to sixteen players for those really large games.  The basic rules and an introductory scenario are a free .pdf download from DriveThru as well.  The advanced rules and vehicle rules are a second download.  

More information is available about these rules at http://www.bucksurdu.com/Buck_Surdu/Combat_Patrol.html.


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Reviews (1)
Discussions (6)
Customer avatar
Lesley N February 01, 2024 3:39 am UTC
PURCHASER
Clarity is it's own reward.

Disappointed in the lack of transparency.
Disappointed the game is an over valued card product.
When I pay top dollar, I expect a premium product.
This is NOT a premium product.

You've lost a potential client. If the cards had existed as as pdf option, I might have gone all in.
I'm all out.
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Customer avatar
John S February 01, 2024 10:36 am UTC
PUBLISHER
What is the issue? Did you not like the quality of the cards? What is not transparent. What do you mean that this is not a premium product? The cards are professionally printed and long-lasting. The rules are a PDF. If you want a printed rule book, you can get it from Sally 4th in Europe or On Military Matters in the US. Many people have purchased the cards and enjoyed the game.

From this site, https://www.drivethrucards.com/product/158116/Combat-Patrol-Set-A or https://www.drivethrucards.com/product/158122/Combat-Patrol-Set-B, you select Cards ($30) or Cards and PDF ($35). The physical cards get mailed to you. You can also order the cards and a printed rule book from either On Military Matters in the US or Sally 4th in Europe. I don't think it's a scam. I think you didn't see the options on the page for the rules.

As stated on the product description, "To play Combat Patrol you need EITHER set A or set B of the cards as well as the freely downloadable PDF of the basic rules....See more
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Customer avatar
Lesley N February 06, 2024 4:50 pm UTC
PURCHASER
What I meant John, and maybe things have been adjusted since and I don't know if they have been.

But it was not blatantly apparent when I purchased the pdf, that it was ONLY the basic rules and nothing else.
There ARE many developers here that provide pdf files of the cards for independent printout. And they offer a very nice price. purchaser does not wish to order the actual physical cards.
I mentioned the price because I AM aware that many card products are sold as physical items for a great deal less than you offer. I have seen numerous products that cost less WITH the postage factored in.
I'm guessing you have set a high price, as most wargames in 2024 are astronomical prices routinely (which is why I haven't bought conventional physical wargames since the 90s).

There are a lot of wargame developers on the site here that are doing a great job, selling great products at great prices, and out performing you. You might not like that statement. But I have spoken with...See more
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Customer avatar
John S February 06, 2024 8:07 pm UTC
PUBLISHER
I can't post a picture of the interface from Drive Thru at the top of this page, but there are three radio buttons:
- PDF of the rules $5.
- Cards $32.
- Watermarked PDF + Cards $37.
All you have to do is choose the option you want. That seems pretty clear to me. Many others have purchased the cards this way. You can also purchase a printed version of the book and cards from On Military Matters in the US or Sally 4th in the UK.

By the way, the PDF of the basic rules is free to let people read them before committing to purchasing the cards or full rules. Also, the rules' web page has lots of freely downloadable content.

I make about $2 per set of cards. The price is mostly set by the production cost of the cards as set by Drive Thru. I don't set the price.

A set consists of four decks (50 cards each) and an activation deck (~30 cards), so ~230 total. If you consider $37 "astronomical," I can respect that. I made the decision not to...See more
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Customer avatar
Lesley N February 06, 2024 9:43 pm UTC
PURCHASER
Well at any rate, my thoughts have nothing to do with the design itself.

I'll settle for wishing you well and leave it at that.
Customer avatar
John S November 19, 2022 4:18 am UTC
PUBLISHER
You purchase the cards from DriveThru. I think you just clicked the radio button for just the PDF for $5. From this site, https://www.drivethrucards.com/product/158116/Combat-Patrol-Set-A or https://www.drivethrucards.com/product/158122/Combat-Patrol-Set-B, you select Cards ($30) or Cards and PDF ($35). The physical cards get mailed to you. You can also order the cards and a printed rule book from either On Military Matters in the US or Sally 4th in Europe. I don't think it's a scam. I think you didn't see the options on the page for the rules.
Customer avatar
Michael W November 19, 2022 2:06 am UTC
PURCHASER
Waste of money. No info as to where you get the cards. No indication that you have to buy the physical cards. No info here as to where buy the physical cards except a one liner on the devs website to an obscure UK game store.

I didn’t buy a damn game, I got a small PDF that is literally useless. The bare minimum should have been to, at least purchase the cards as print and play on the site here.

IMHO this is a scam. I’m certainly not going to make a purchase through some obscure foreign game store.

Certainly going to remember the name Buck Surdu and look up the publisher for future reference to avoid.

I’ve made literall thousands of purchases on DriveThruRPG and this is the first time I’ve felt ripped off. I’ve been disappointed with a few purchases and found others to not be my cup of tea but never ripped off before now.
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Customer avatar
John S February 01, 2024 10:38 am UTC
PUBLISHER
From this site, https://www.drivethrucards.com/product/158116/Combat-Patrol-Set-A or https://www.drivethrucards.com/product/158122/Combat-Patrol-Set-B, you select Cards ($30) or Cards and PDF ($35). The physical cards get mailed to you. You can also order the cards and a printed rule book from either On Military Matters in the US or Sally 4th in Europe. I don't think it's a scam. I think you didn't see the options on the page for the rules.

As stated on the product description, "To play Combat Patrol you need EITHER set A or set B of the cards as well as the freely downloadable PDF of the basic rules. The advanced rules and rules for vehicles are a separately purchased download. The PDF download is NOT a set of cards. The PDF is the full rules as a PDF download-and-print booklet. You MUST purchase the cards to play the game. The basic rules are available as a free download, listed as a 'preview.'" What transparency is lacking?
Customer avatar
Brian I January 26, 2018 5:25 pm UTC
PURCHASER
Love the game system and find it to be a fast moving. The support for this on Bucks site is outstanding. The YouTube training videos are very helpful. Investing in the cards is not cheap but after you get them and run the games you will find the value worth it. A lot of research went into producing the cards, which is a binary paper computer. The scale can be used from Micro Armor to 54mm, adjust as needed. Fun is the word I use for this system. Thanks Buck. Brian.
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Customer avatar
John S November 19, 2022 4:19 am UTC
PUBLISHER
Thanks for the kind words. For everyone's reference, the site Brian refers to is https://www.bucksurdu.com/combatpatrol/
Customer avatar
John S September 26, 2017 4:38 pm UTC
PUBLISHER
Matthew:

I am very glad you are please with the product. You might consider joining the Yahoo Group for Combat Patrol where you can ask rules questions, where I have published the FAQ, and where I make announcements about upcoming products.

I started WWII skirmishing with 20mm figures (40 years ago) due to the availability of a vast array of 1:72 vehicles and HO scale terrain. I have been slowly converting to 28mm, which I like better. If you go with 28mm, you will also have to decide whether to go with 1:56 vehicles or (what I think are the truer scale) 1:48 scale vehicles. I have gone with 1:48. This limits availability of vehicles, since 1:56 are more common, but I think they look better on the table. With Combat Patrol you probably aren't going to put more than a handful of vehicles on the table for any particular game anyway. I have also found a lot of great 1:48 scale vehicles recently on Shapeways.

Enjoy. I look forward to hearing some battle reports...See more
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Customer avatar
Matthew G September 26, 2017 7:21 pm UTC
PURCHASER
Thanks Buck. I just printed up most of what I need, metal coil bound for ease of use. As for vehicles I agree that they will and should be kept pretty light on the ground in this man-to-man skirmish setting. In fact since I only plan on a skeleton force I'm looking to shrink the Vehicle/Weapon stats onto simple 1-sheet/large font cards for nationalities and actual equipment I'll use. It's good to have all the info but I'll start with a simple "representative" set - something like; US = Jeep/Scout, H/T, Truck, Greyhound/AC, Stuart, Sherman (maybe 2 types), SPG, FG, and a few AT's (and infantry weapons).

I'm leaning towards 15mm at this point; smaller table top footprint and cost. I'm not a painting maven and don't like bases - flocked or not - so the smaller size should work nicely. Besides I grew up with good old 1/72 Airfix too... early days yet.
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Customer avatar
John S September 26, 2017 7:25 pm UTC
PUBLISHER
See what you think when you put 15mm figures and vehicles on the table. I'd stick with the current distances on weapons with 15mm figures rather than scaling them down. That will get the ground scale closer to figure scale and should look very good.
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Customer avatar
Matthew G September 26, 2017 9:20 pm UTC
PURCHASER
Hey cool - thanks for the comments. If this was to be strictly infantry 28mm has nicer "hand feel". It may still work out that way, but with even fewer vehicles.
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Customer avatar
Matthew G September 27, 2017 6:15 pm UTC
PURCHASER
Oops Correction! 15mm was a typo - I'm looking between 25mm and 28mm, and leaning towards the smaller 1/72 "Airfix" scale as opposed to 28mm w/ 1/48 vehicles...
Customer avatar
September 12, 2017 2:36 am UTC
PURCHASER
Okay, so it was my fault for not reading the text properly and buying the PDF, thinking that I'd get enough to play the game - but hey, I liked the look of the rules from the basic rules download and I don't mind spending $5 for the full rules.

But when I went through the checkout to get the card set: $64AUS to get a single deck!?! Yikes!

Why not do a PDF print-at-home version, so us people that live outside the continental US can try this game at an affordable price?

Until then, this one will just have to stay in the "nice idea - pity I'll never get to play it" folder...
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Customer avatar
John S September 12, 2017 3:15 am UTC
PUBLISHER
A Set of cards is actually five decks. Each set contains four action decks and an activation deck. The difference between Set A and Set B is just the colors of the backs of the action decks; otherwise, all action decks are the same. So, a set of cards includes 124 professional-printed and laminated poker-sized playing cards.

I have no plans for print and play for Combat Patrol. As for trying them out. I have provided the starter rules for FREE. There are four of five demonstration videos for FREE. The full rules are a paltry $5. I think that I have provided many good-faith mechanisms by which you can get a good feel for whether you will like the rules before you purchase the necessary card decks.

There are a number of purchase options. You can order a Set A or Set B from DriveThru. Sally 4th in England sells individual action decks, so you can purchase just one deck if you so choose. Both Sally 4th in England and On Military Matters in the US sell "starter sets" that...See more
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Customer avatar
Matthew G September 15, 2017 12:54 am UTC
PURCHASER
This looks interesting but a clear description of what is included with a set of cards would be really helpful. After reading the intro rules PDF I share a similar confusion as the earlier poster except that we now know a set includes 5 decks; 4 Action 1 Activation. Is one set sufficient for 2 players going head to head? Will cards of the same color make it difficult to distinguish "sides", or to reconstitute decks? Are the cards ID's to facilitate setup with two player, or 2-handed solo? The intro rules don't illuminate the basics here.. in fact is the action deck shared by all players? What colors are the A & B decks Are the different decks in each set colored differently to distinguish between decks? Thanks!
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Customer avatar
Matthew G September 15, 2017 1:44 am UTC
PURCHASER
Edit: Tracked down the game to your homepage and stuff at Sally 4th! Got the picture now. For others finding this more randomly I still suggest a better item description similar to the one on your homepage about mid way down that directs one to DriveThru. There it explains the decks and usage pretty well. Lots of DLC too!
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Customer avatar
John S September 15, 2017 11:52 am UTC
PUBLISHER
I believe the information you suggest is already in the purchase notes, but I have also added it to the product description. Thanks for your interest in the rules.

I don't know what DLC means.
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Customer avatar
Matthew G September 15, 2017 7:53 pm UTC
PURCHASER
John - the extra descriptive paragraph you added helps. DLC is short for "down-loaded content"; all the supplements, optional rules and national OBs you post on your homepage. I look forward to this.
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Customer avatar
Matthew G September 26, 2017 4:16 pm UTC
PURCHASER
Cards arrived and they look great; 4 player decks and 1 Activation deck. All cards fit in 2 of the DTCards plastic deck boxes (1-1/2" tall each), nice... Just need to print up rules, FAQ, national OBs and Stat Sheets and we're in business. Deciding on 15mm vs 28mm minis now.
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