This product is designed as the first of a series that will look at a range of different weapons for use in the Spycraft 2.0 game. Naturally it is of particular use if you are the sort of player who likes to go into technical detail rather than just have a handgun or a rifle; but even for those of us who are not 'gun nuts' it provides interesting flavour and detail when planning what your character is going to carry.

The stated specific focus is contemporary US Army rifles, but in fact the featured weapons are rather more experimental and not on general issue. They are the FN SCAR (popular with US Special Forces), the Heckler & Koch XM29 OICW (which is rarely used due to expense and complexity although it's a good weapon) and the Heckler & Koch XM8 Carbine. Combat specialists might well be familiar with them, however, and so it's quite interesting to give them the opportunity of having a rather more unusual weapon.

There are also notes on grenade launchers (the sort you attach to your rifle) and shotguns (surely worthy of their own supplement), and a rather strange 'airburst' system for those wanting to have indirect fire without the bother of calling in an artillery strike.

If you are seeking an unusual and distinctive battlefield weapon, these are worth a look. However, none of these are suitable for the sort of covert action you'd associate with classic espionage adventure – not even as a sniper weapon if you have an assassination planned.

Overall, this is interesting but thin – these would have been better kept for a larger work on firearms in general, too specialist for many people to be really interested in them as a stand-alone work. If you are running or playing in a very military campaign they could be useful.

Return to Bag Full of Guns: This is my Rifle page.

Reviewed: 11 February 2007