FIRE! Modern Combat – Core Rulebook

We got pointed toward FIRE!, a modern combat ruleset from Spain, by the folks at Team Würfelkrieg. This isn't our first rodeo with modern combat skirmish systems as we've previously spent time with Force on Force, Black Ops, Spectre Operations, and Asymmetric Warfare, and now we want to share our impressions on FIRE! with you.

The game is available in different variants. You can pick up the hardcover rule book itself for 27,95 EUR (available in four different languages: English, Spanish, German and French), or as a FIRE! boxed set for 129,95 EUR, that comes with two small squads (US Rangers and Insurgents) as well as cardboard scenery and dice. SEN Games offers FIRE! markers that are available separately.

What Is It About?

FIRE! Modern Combat is a squad-level skirmish miniatures wargame from SEN Games, a small independent publisher based in Barcelona. The game grew out of designer Ricardo Ponz's own gaming group, who spent years being mildly dissatisfied with existing modern combat rulesets and eventually decided to write his own. That house-rule seed grew for roughly a decade before becoming a standalone product, funded via Kickstarter in early 2025 (343 backers, ending at 39.600 EUR against a 9.500 EUR goal).

Mechanically, FIRE! could handle skirmishes anywhere from the Korean War to today, but the core rulebook's focus (army lists, scenarios, equipment) is squarely on the 1990s to present. But as profiles and weapon lists are kept on a generic level, you could easily adapt it to various settings with a bit of research. This is one of the reasons why SEN Games does not only cover the rules, but books on various conflicts as well.

FIRE! is built for two players, is scenario-driven, and is typically played at 500 to 600 points, which translates to roughly 8 to 15 models per side. Games run around an hour on a 4x4ft (120x120cm) table, a very manageable footprint for a squad-based skirmish game.