Commando (role-playing game)

Commando is a role-playing game published by Simulations Publications, Inc. (SPI) in 1979.

Commando is a man-to-man tactical combat game that simulates commando operations from World War II to the present.^[1] Although it was marketed as a role-playing game, reviewers called it primarily a board wargame with a set of role-playing rules grafted onto it.^[1][2] The role-playing rules include character creation, skills, cooperative fire teams, and hero characters.

The game box contains:^[2]

• twelve geomorphic 11" x 17" double-sided paper maps with a square grid scaled at 3 m per square
• 47-page wargame rulebook
• 23-page role-playing rulebook
• two copies of 8-page booklet of charts
• addenda sheet dated September 1979
• two 20-sided dice
• four small six-sided dice

If using the role-playing rules, a group of players create commando characters to be sent out on missions presented by a gamemaster. The players can increase the hero rating of their character at the end of each successful mission. These can be used to gain special abilities.^[2]

Commando was designed by Eric Goldberg^[3]: 99 as the first commercial role-playing game with a modern military theme.^[2] It was published by SPI in 1979 as a boxed set with cover art by David Wenzel and graphic design by Redmond A. Simonsen.^[1] After publication, the game appeared on SPI's Top Ten Bestseller list for four months, rising as high as #4.^[4]

In Moves #57, Ian Chadwick liked the game, saying, "It's a good game, a remarkably smooth system which has accepted the compromise of a lightweight framework in exchange for a well designed, complete tactical system."^[5]

In Issue 65 of Fire & Movement, Jeff Petraska wrote, "Commando uses no counters and has square grid maps and at first glance looks a bit unwieldy. With some play experience however, the game shows itself to be a lot of fun and a good simulation of commando operations."^[6]

Joe Scolari, writing a retrospective review in Simulacrum #6, recalled that the game could be played as both a straight two-player wargame, or as a role-playing game, but noted unlike many modern games, Commando had a plethora of optional rules and charts. He concluded, "Commando furnishes all the details, charts, and rules you'd expect from a wargame from back then, which makes it the kind of game that tends to send today's gamers running in terror!"^[2]

• Phoenix #24
• Campaign #97
• The American Wargamer Vol.7 #6
• Fantastic Science Fiction v27 n10^[7]

At the 1980 Origins Awards, Commando won the H.G. Wells Award for "Best Roleplaying Rules of 1979."^[1][8][9]