My review of The Clone Wars Campaign Guide for Star Wars: Saga Edition is up on GameCryer.com. This book surprised me; the Clone Wars prequel moves didn't thrill me, and while I can see why people would adventure in this time period, I find much more flexibility and narrative depth in the Knights of the Old Republic era. Granted, you could buff up the moral dilemmas of the Clone Wars by placing players on the Separatists side, fighting against the secret evil of Palpatine and his Sith, or by deploying them as clones fighting along side (and ultimately betraying) Jedi, but I prefer the more subtle grays of the KOTOR eras Mandolarian Wars and the later Jedi Civil War.

But I digress. What I liked best about The Clone Wars Campaign Guide are its combat options, specifically its new squad, mass combat and follower subsystems. As I mention in the review, The Clone Wars mass combat system is the first d20 rule set that I felt really worked at the character and army level. We've tried a bunch of options, from D&D 2nd Edition's Battle System to Malhavoc's Cry Havoc to a home-brew mass combat system, and none of them did a good job of really integrating heroes into combat.

Clone Wars does this. Now it's true that it's job is somewhat easier -- it doesn't have to deal with fireball-throwing, lightning-bolt hurling wizards -- but at the same time, what they've done could easily be ported to other game d20 game systems. The key is abstraction; the rules are just abstract enough for you to be able to envision massive armies clashing, but retain enough flexibility -- and enough roles for characters -- that people still feel involved. All in all, good stuff, and well worth buying if you're running a Star Wars military campaign, regardless of era.