ZAP! POW! SOCK! - And away we go into exciting battles in the worlds of Critter Commandos! You've seen the miniatures and you're probably wondering what the game they're for is all about. These quick start rules were created to give you a taste of what is in store for you in the main rulebook. That book goes into more detail and gives you more options than we have space for here.

STATS - Each Critter has a series of Stats that tell you what they can do. STR is how far they can throw a grenade. ACC is how good they can hit something they shoot at. MIND says if you'll run from the fight. HOLES say how many shots you can take. MOVE is how many inches you can travel on the table. How this all works will be explained as we go.

COMBAT - Each turn, things take place in a certain order. These actions include "Seeing Who Goes First", "Movement", "Combat", and "Taking Damage." At the start of the turn, each player rolls 1d10. The person who rolled highest will go first, then the other player. If there are more than 2 players, then play will continue around the table from the first player in a clockwise direction.

Going in that order, the players will all move their Critters. They can move any or all of them up to the distance of their MOVE stat. go find a ruler to measure the distance. Try and keep your group in the same general area in order to keep track of all the figures.

After everyone has moved, then everyone can fight. Each player chooses which Critter will shoot at what enemies, and then rolls to see if he hits. Before you roll "to hit," make sure that the Critter can see their target. If there is something in between the Critter and his target, he cannot shoot at that target and must choose another. Rolling "to hit" is done by rolling 1d10 and getting equal to or less than the ACC score of the Critter that is shooting. If you roll higher than the ACC score, you miss.

Any Critter that is hit will take damage. The weapon used by the Critter determines the damage done. Each Critter has been equipped with a weapon that matches the figure. More weapons are available in the full edition of the rulebook, Critter Commandos 2000.

The damage done is applied to the target Critter's HOLES score. Once this number drops to zero (or even lower), the Critter has run out of HOLES and is out for the episode. However, if that Critter hasn't had a chance to shoot yet, do not remove him from the battlefield until that player's turn has come up. All results of combat are considered to be happening at the same time, so that everyone gets a chance to fight. A great way to keep track of the damage a commando has is to use a 6-sided die for each one. As they take damage, put the amount of damage on face of the die. Once they run out of HOLES, they are out.

If you were thinking that these rules appear to be simple and straight forward, you're right. The basics of the game were designed with that in mind, so that kids could play the game without a lot of complex terms and unnecessary detail that a beginner doesn't need. Once you've mastered these, you can then move on to the complete Critter Commandos 2000 rulebook for all the options and some added complexity. It also includes rules for building TEKs - giant robots in the shape of animals that add a new element of wacky behavior to the mix.

EPISODES - When you sit down to play Critter Commandos, each battle is considered to be an Episode (like a cartoon show). The object of the Episode can be as simple as "survive to the end" and as complex as "go here, grab this thing, and get away." Using the Quick Start rules, simply face-off against another group to see who is tougher. More complex ones and ideas for more appear in the full edition of Critter Commandos 2000.

TEKS - These are the Giant Robots of the battlefield. Capable of taking on entire units by themselves, they are one of the most exciting aspects of Critter Commandos. We will be releasing kits for some Critter TEKs very soon. The rules for TEKs are in the main rulebook.