Big Bang is the best, bar none, set of rules for simulation of real combat firearms. Useful for adding flavor to almost any rules (I love it for Fudge!) you can have your gun rules as crunchy or as fudgey as you like. The firefight is hot and heavy? Go with the quick way and you'll still have a shoot-out more realistic than almost anywhere in RPG land.

All Big Bang guides are highly recommended!

The third volume in the series weighs in at 109 pages. The contents are a little different than past volumes. This one has a cover, credits and table of contents pages (3), and a brief intro (1). But they included a page of anti-aircraft rules to incorporate into your games (1), and another two pages on anti-tank rules (2). This is followed by a page of discussion of anti-tank weapons in general (2). This is followed by a number of pages describing Iraqi biological and chemical weapons. That's the first 13 pages.

The last 4 pages are legal notices for the OGL and a few ads for other products.

That leaves 92 pages to cover in detail 28 weapons. This volume if focused on the weapons of the war in Iraq. Weapons of Australia, Great Britain, Iraq and United States are covered. Here at last you will find the AK-47 and AK-74 assault rifles, RPK machine gun, RPG-7V anti-tank, even the Al-Quds assault rifle (Iraqi variant of the AKM). Here you will also find the M16A2, M3 Carl Gustav, M-72 LAW, M-203 Grenade Launcher, M-249 SAW, etc. Not to mention the Enfield SA-80 used by the British, and the FIM-92 Stinger.

For those who think this volume has no place in RPG gaming, think again. Most (if not all) of the weapons are standard issue infantry weapons. Just the sort of weapons any party of modern day adventurers or mercs or elite unit teams would use and run up against. From hostage rescues to penetrating the top secret weapons facility to stop the evil scientist from perfecting his weapons of mass destruction, these are the weapons you will want to use!<br><br> <b>LIKED</b>: The data blocks present the basics in a well-organized manner, and the supporting text was detailed. The photos were b&w and clear. But WAY more important, all of the weapons included in this volume are mainstream, current issue and well known. This special edition/revised makes up for the disappointing contents of the first two volumes. <br><br><b>DISLIKED</b>: Not one thing! I can only hope that the folks at Alternate Realities decide to take their Big Bang series into focused small arms weapon supplements exactly like this one. I would love to see Small Arms specials on any of the following: NATO, Warsaw Pact, South American, Middle East, Central/South Africa, etc. That would be fantastic, if they were handled like this volume.<br><br><b>QUALITY</b>: Excellent<br><br><b>VALUE</b>: Very Satisfied<br>

This edition of the Big Bang Guide is both exactly what it claims to be and exactly what you probably don't want for your players. Focused on the weapons of the Gulf War, this edition contains some great information on the small arms and AK-47 variants used by the various combatants. However a lot of the page count is filled out with missiles, rockets, and heavy weaponry. It's all good information and as meticulously detailed as other Big bang weapon descriptions, but the weapons themselves are probably too destructive for the standard D20 Modern-style campaign.

That said, there is a lot of good stuff here. Ever since I bought my first Big Bang Guide I have wished that Alternate Realities would put out editions with a more unified theme, such as a guide focused on handguns, or one focused on sniper rifles. I'm still waiting on those, but this edition does give an excellent overview of the tools used in the Gulf War. And although some may find the level of detail on each weapon to be daunting, I've found that the extensive descriptions make the individual weapons more "real". This is especially useful in D20 Modern games, where most weapons have very similar game statistics.

For those GMs thinking about running a Gulf War campaign or sending characters into combat zones, this edition of Big Bang is an excellent resource. For the rest of us it still has enough regular weapons to be worth a look, although I'm still waiting for the comprehensive Big Bang Guides to handguns, sniper rifles, SMGs, etc.

It is a good collection of information, but has typos and repeats information to a large extent. It could have been done in 2/3 the space. Not a disappointment, it just shows how hastily it was assembled.

Well, the guild helps you get different weapon. But the guy seems to try to add to much stuff to the game that is all ready being supplied. It's read cool to learn about differnt guns, but it takes to long to look for any guns.