I Ain't Been Shot, Mum!

I Ain't Been Shot Mum! (abbreviated as IABSM) is a World War II tabletop skirmish miniatures wargame produced by Too Fat Lardies.

Designers Richard Clarke and Nick Skinner started work on a set of rules for the Vietnam war. Feeling that the existing rulesets allowed too much control over their forces they set out to design a set of rules that would force a player to think as a real-life commander rather than a gamer. As such, IABSM has been heavily influenced by the Kriegsspiel approach, usually (but not always) utilizing an umpire to help decide points of issue that arise during the game such as modifiers for shooting, spotting enemies, etc.

The rules are designed to force players to adopt realistic tactics, including scouting ahead for hidden enemies as the game system uses "blinds" to simulate the fog of war. The main focus is not on military hardware but on the men using that hardware, and on morale and command and control. Rather than giving the player total control over their forces every action, the system uses so-called "Big Men" to allow players to influence their forces behaviour. It also features a random, card-driven initiative system rather than the classic I-GO-U-GO system most turn-based strategy games use. A typical company will have a card for each platoon and a card for each Big Man (officers and NCOs). The actions of squads/sections are keyed to the platoon and Big Man cards. This initiative system is designed to simulate the "friction" of war noted by Carl von Clausewitz, plus units use a dice system for movement, observation, and fire that means you never know exactly how they will perform.

The basic IABSM system provides a framework allowing players to tailor the game to specific situations or conflicts. Apart from its main focus on World War II, it has been adapted to the Spanish Civil War, the Falklands War and the Korean War.

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