MOVES nr. 37, published February/March 1978 opening A/lqw

Subjectivity and Style -or- What Have I Been Doing All These Years This issue I ask you to bear with me as I Circulation: 9100 engage in a little righteous indignation and artistic defensiveness. See, I get this letter Editor/Executive Art Director Redmond A. Simonsen from Tom Oleson (a very nice fellow from Managing Editor Robert J. Ryer California whom I've had the pleasure of Art Director Manfred F. Milkuhn meeting a few times). And although Tom is Contributing Editors very gentlemanly and a swell person, one of Richard Berg, James F. Dunnigan, the paragraphs in his otherwise laudatory let- Phil Kosnett, Mark Saha, Jerrold Thomas ter reads as follows: MOVES Magazine is copyright O 1978, Simulations Publications, Inc. Printed in U.S.A. All rights reserved. All You say "I am primarily a gamer and ...could editorial andgeneralmail should beaddressed t~ Simulations Publications Inc.. 44East 23rd Street, N.Y., N.Y. 10010. care less about the subject or historical lesson of a MOVES is published by-monthly. One year subscriptions (six issues) are available for $8.00 (U.S.). Back issues or game." It certainly shows! I crave bright colors, singlecopiesofthecurrent issueareavailableat $2.50percopy. Pleaseremit by check or money order(U.S. fundsonly) the more historical flavor and detail in 00B and Printing and Binding by Wellesley Press. Inc.. Framingham. Mass. maps the better, and the illusion of realism if that's ARTICLE SUBMISSIONS: Readers are invited to submit articles for possible publication in MOVES Magazine. what I have to settle for. With certain exceptions Manuscripts must be lypewritten, double-spaced, on 8Mxl l white bond, with generous margins. Please include your such as Highway, and TSS, I don't find this in your full name on each MS page, and your name and address on the cover page. If you wish your manuscript returned, in- work. Of course, not only is this your privilege, but clude a stamped, self-addressed 9x12 envelope. In no instance, however, can SPI assume responsibility for my taste may be a minority. I am only sure of this: manuscripts and illustrations not specifically solicited. it is not an insignificant minority! You remind me of Ettore Bugatti, who produced his cars only to suit himself, not his customers. - Tom Oleson So, after I recover from my short fit of thrashing about on the floor of my office and In this issue breaking a few chair legs, I think to myself, ... Tom has not been looking at much of the Expanded Three-Player Rules stuff I've done over the past couple of years and is reacting to old stuff done under more for War of the Ring ERICGOLDBERG 4 limited budgets, etc. Or, Tom is not remov- Air War: F-86 Check Flight GREGORY JOHN 8 ing his California sunglasses while playing SPI games and therefore has a monochroma- Air War DAVID C. ISBY 11 tic image burned onto his retinas. In an at- tempt to be objective about his subjective Space Opera PHILKOSNETT 16 criticism, I make a list of SPI games and rate them against TSS and Highway to the Reich Just Add Water... RICHARDBERG 18 (the games Tom feels are exceptional ex- amples of colorful flavorful work in my Cobra Errata DAVID WERDEN 23 otherwise low-key portfolio). Using Tom's 'have1 Notes DAVE ROBERTSON 24 criteria, I assign TSS and Hway to the Reich relative ratings of "9" in each of the follow- Drive on Stalingrad BRAD HESSEL 28 ing categories (drawn from his letter):

Opening MOVES REDMOND A. SIMONSEN 2 MAPS Colorfulness: Bright colors and/or many Designer's Notes SPI R~DSTAFF 3 different shades and tints of color to repre- sent different terrain. Your MOVES THE READERS 26 Historical Flavor: I assume this to meanput- Forward Observer RICHARDBERG 32 ting in names of towns, et a]., that have no effect on the game but provide historical Playback THE PLAYERS 33 reference points for the player and/or show- ing different types of terrain with different Feedback~PlaybackQuestions vox POPULI,vox DEI 34 symbology even if they have exactly the same effect in the game. COUNTERS Colorfulness: Bright and/or varicolored 'rm counters. One hits a problem in games that Simulat~onsPubl~cat~on$. Inc.. 44 ta\t 23rd Street, New York, N.Y. 10010 have only two opposing sides where each side has no logical subdivisions that could justifi- ably be made a different color. Keep this limit in mind. Historical Order of Battle Designations and Russian Civil War, but I gave it high ratings Flavor: Full unit designations on the based on its obviously lavish use of color and counters and/or the use of silhouettes or the decoration). use of exotic operational symbols when call- VERY IMPORTANT CONSIDERA- Designers ed for even if there's no functional difference TIONS: Just because a game is highly rated (for example) between an airborne unit and doesn't necessarily mean that I believe it to Notes an infantry unit. be an artistic triumph - all we're rating here Remember when looking at the follow- is whether or not the map and counters are ing chart, that I've rated TSS and Hway to colorful and historically flavorful. I know WORK IN PROGRESS the Reich as "9" as a standard of com- it's difficult to do, but when you make your Please do not order any of these titles parison - not because I think that they're own personal evaluation of these characteris- until their availability is announced in S&T. the perfect expressions of these characteris- tics, try not to let your gaming or esthetic tics on an absolute level. sensibilities intrude. Also, some of the games Campaign for North Africa Note that where the map is basically a on the list I believe to be more colorful and Awake! The design work for North display (such as in Air War) I've written flavorful than the benchmark games - but Africa is finished! The last three rules - "na" (i.e., not applicable) and also where I've restricted myself to the 0 to 9 scale. The Patrol, Air Combat and Long Range Desert the map is a multi-situation map. An excep- Outreach map is perhaps the most dramati- Forces - have been completed and are now tion is FireFight which is drawn from actual cally colored map I've ever done (so much so, undergoing testing. The rules are being ham- terrain. Of course, these ratings are simply in fact, that I think it hurts its utility). mered into presentable form and scenario my opinions of my own work - and you Tom makes a remark which I think is be- testing will continue for several weeks. may rightly be suspicious of my ability to be neath his usual style, i.e., that I design maps As requested, CFNA is a detailed opera- cold and calculating about it. I have made an and counters only to please myself and not tional level game. However, we have kept the honest effort, however, and an informed ef- the customers. That sort of broad attack is a detail off-map to simplify game mechanics. fort since I know exactly what and how many little unfair and springs from a weakness for Thus, while typical on-map counters repre- ink colors I used, how many symbols, etc., in hyperbole rather than prudent observation. I sent divisions and brigades, the basic aN the games. I've tried not to let the size of indeed have standards and a design philo- building blocks are battalions which take in- the game influence my estimate of its charac- sophy - but since I work in acommercial en- dividual strength point losses. Other ex- teristics (a problem which I believe Tom is vironment, I am sensitive to my audience amples of the game's extraordinary detail are having) nor have I allowed my fondness for (that's one of the reasons I'm going on about truck differentiation into three sizes, distinc- the game influence me (for example, I loathe this whole matter - Tom is a very active, in- tions among four types of supplies, indivi- Icont1nued onpaxe '51 dual desert generals, daily weather, and indi- vidual planes - with individual fighter pi- OR INDE CENT SP lots! Combat involves three artillery CRTs, A COUNl two ground combat CRTs (also a "Morale at the Instant of Assault" table), differentia- tion of ammo expenditure by various units, e Swift Sw tank requirements for supporting infantry in ay to the R assault to make full use of their capabilities Revolt (the Commonwealth 1940 armored divisions, Pz Gru which were comprised mainly of tanks, are Conqu now in the same mess they were in the cam- Plot to paign without any need for combat strength juggling), and prisoners (capture, care, and feeding of). This detail is enhanced by the use of two different colored dice in some of the tables, permitting results off a pattern of 36 equal possibilities (a la APBA Baseball). The detail is also reflected in the ten different types of displays that the Players use to keep . . .. track of their units and/or supplies status. Battle1 In addition, the game has been designed Canad so that it can be played without the detailed Conq~ supply rules (cutting playing time by two- r\ri.r,, "8,V.Z thirds). Have no fear, all except the first Fulda three weeks of playtesting have been with the FireFic entire supply sections (they were one of the Might first sections designed). .a.lvllnuIl Marly Goldberger & Rich Berg Modelrn Battles II Quad Napoljeon's Last IBattles Outre; Swords and Sorcery Red Sun Rising Our latest fantasy venture is set to Russian Civil Wal resume playtesting now that I have been Starsoldier assigned as the game's developer. To insure Th~rtyYears War Quad the survival of as many of the design inten- Up Sc:ope tions as possible, Greg Costikyan came down Wacht Am Rhein from Brown University for a week, and we War @letween the! States straightened out most of the ambiguities that War ir had been plaguing the game. The compo- . . . war of the Ring nents will include one map, 400 backprinted Wellington's Vict counters, 56 illustrated cards, separate charts, and a fairly long rules booklet. The [confinued on poze 291 SCENARIOS & VARIANTS EXPANDED TiMREE-PLAYER RULES FOR WAR OF THE RING by Eric Goldberg

War of the Ring was, for me, one of those +The Three-Player Game assumes that Saruman tirety, substituting "Dark Power Player" for headache projects that attracted all manner had been a bit luckier and a bit more politic in his "Saruman Player." of "assistant" Art Directors, each lobbying dealings with the Free Peoples and Sauron. Admit- V.6 Game-Turn Indication Phase energetically for one pet graphic tidbit or tedly, it is most difficult for the Saruman Player to win the game because Sarurnan must wrest the The Saruman Player advances the Game-Turn another. That the game managed to survive Ring from the Ringbearer and then keep it from marker one space along the Game-Turn Record this (and the ecclesiastical debates over what the other two Players, but the Saruman Player can Track, signalling the passage of one Game-Turn. Tolkien really said on page umpty-ump) is a make the play of the game most interesting with Note that unless specifically stated in the ensuing testament to the spirit of compromise and the various options presented below. In essence, rules, all rules for the Three-Player Game are the her handmaiden, Veiled Threat. The elabo- the Sarurnan Player is challenged to be either the same as the rules for the Campaign Game. Also rate three-player game presented here was "kingmaker" of the War of the Ring, or, should note that the term "Saruman" is used interchange- the subject of one such debate. - RAS the cards fall right, the ruler of Middle Earth. ably with the term "Saruman Player," and that the term "Sauron" is likewise used interchange- During the development of War of the Ring, ably with the term "Dark Power Player." the design team reached a decision to add a three-player game to the rules. As I was re- sponsible for playtesting at the time, the job W. Alliances of coming up with feasible three-player rules W.l How to Form an Alliance was given to me. I outlined what I considered The Saruman Player may form an Alliance with a workable set of rules in note form, and then either the Dark Power or Fellowship Player. The gave it over to the playtesting team. The first Fellowship Player may not form an Alliance with week or two was spent arguing over whether the Dark Power Player, or vice-versa. or not some of the rules truly reflected what When Alliances are Declared. Alliances may only could have happened had Saruman been be declared in the Events Phase, and they must be wiser, but after a while the playtesters settled declared after all cards are drawn. down to the task of playbalancing the game. "Lending" Units to Allies. Once an Alliance is Unfortunately, when it came time to print formed, Players may freely lend their Ally combat the War of the Ring rules, it was discovered units (but not Character units). However, Players V.l Ring Phase that they ran slightly overlength, and the ti must agree as to who will control each unit or stack The Dark Power or Saruman Player rolls the die to longer (and more complex) version that is in- of units during the Events Phase, and the Player determine Gollum's "allegiance" for the current who controls a unit or stack of units is the only cluded here was cut and changed into a much Game-Turn. The Fellowship Player can also roll Player who may move the unit(s) of his Ally (in simpler game. the die to resolve an attempt by a Character who other words, no unit may move more than once The discerning reader will notice that has put on the Ring to remove it. per Game-Turn). Under no circumstances may a the design intentions seem to be at crosspur- V.2 Events Phase Player allow an Ally to move a Character con- poses in these rules. While some of the rules The Saruman Player draws an Event Card, and trolled by that Player. are meant to reflect historical or quasi- may discard or play it or discard or play any other How to Control Allies' Units. To control a unit historical situations (such as Breaking the Event Card he possesses, as desired. The Fellow- normally controlled by a Player's Ally, the Player Staves of Power), others are meant strictly as ship Player then follows suit, and the Dark Power must have a Character capable of leading combat playbalancing mechanisms. For instance, I Player finishes the Phase in like fashion. At the units in Army Combat in the same hex as the Army will be the first to admit that I do not believe end of the Phase, the Saruman Player may form units to be controlled. The Player simply moves Saruman was intended to be as powerful as I an Alliance, roll for possible Control of the the Character into the hex with the units to be con- have made him in the Three-Player Game, Nazgul, attempt to "capture" a Fellowship trolled, and may move the stack from there. Or, a Character and/or do Mind Battle with the Dark Player may have more Strength Points than his Al- but in defense of his rating it must be pointed Power Player (Sauron the Great himself!). ly in the hex and thereby control his Ally's units. out that the Saruman Player has a good V.3 Saruman Player-Turn These conditions must be satisfied as long as a chance of being competitive if the following Player that does not normally control a unit moves rules are used. The Saruman Player deploys any units that have been mobilized. Then the Saruman Player may that particular unit (but need not be satisfied at the move any Characters or combat units under his beginning of a Game-Turn). control. After all Movement has been completed, Effect of Allied Stacks. Whenever a combat ic be- V. Three-Player Game the Saruman Player conducts all Combats. Re- ing resolved in which the units in a given stack are Sequence of Play member that Individual Combat occurs before Ar- not normally controlled by the same Player, a The War of the Ring would have gone much dif- my Combat. modification of one on the die-roll is adjudicated ferently indeed if Saruman (see E.10). the greatest V.4 Fellowship Player-Turn in favor of the Player with the non-Allied stack. wizard of the White Council, had chosen a much The Fellowship Player may roll the die to resolve That is, if an Allied stack is defending the Attack- ing Player adds one to his Army Combat die-roll wiser course of action. A very powerful being in Escape attempts by any of his Characters who are his own right, Saruman (sometimes referred to as eligible for such. Then, the Fellowship Player may while if an Allied stack is attacking, the Attacking Curunir) secretly bred Orcs at Isengard, and con- deploy any combat units that have been mobilized. Player subtracts one from his Army Combat die- vinced the Dunlendings to join forces wirh him. It After that, the Fellowship Player may move any of roll. An Allied stack is defined as any stack that was only Gandalf's timely escape when impris- his Characters or combat units. When all Move- has units, Character or Army, that do not begin oned at Isengard and his adroit subsequent actions ment is complete, the Fellowship Player resolves the game controlled by the same Player. that prevented Saruman from winning the Battle any combats he may wish to occur. Limits on Alliance. The Saruman Player may only for Helm's Deep, a battle which would have made Ally with one Player at a time. He may not have an Saruman controller of the central part of Middle V.5 Dark Power Player-Turn Alliance with both the Fellowship Player and the Earth via his military might. The Dark Power Player repeats step V.3 in its en- Dark Power Player at the same time. W.2 Effects of Alliance on Search X. Saruman and the One Ring With the Fellowship Player. Saruman may con- X.l Controlling the Nazgul tinue to conduct Searches when he has an Alliance *If the Saruman Player gains control of the Ring with the Fellowship Player, and there is no penalty and moves Saruman to Isengard, Saruman may attached for doing so (other than the wrath of the begin to Control the Nazgul. Fellowship Player). Restrictions on Controlling the Nazgul. To Con- If Saruman and Sauron Both Possess Nazgul. If trol the Nazgul, Saruman must put the Ring on. the two are Allied and each possesses Nazgul, they Before the Game-Turn in which he may begin to must decide which of the Nazgul will make up the Control the Nazgul, Saruman must spend one full (up to) three Nazgul that conduct the Search (i.e., Game-Turn at Isengard (hex W2421) in which he Saruman has three Nazgul, the Dark Power Player does not engage in Army or Individual Combat, has none; Saruman has two Nazgul, the Dark and, obviously, does not move. He may Mind Bat- Power Player has one; etc.). If the two Allies can- tle, attempt to Persuade a Fellowship Character, not agree by the end of five minutes, the Alliance is form an Alliance and move the rest of the Gollum Dissolved (see W.5), effective next Game-Turn. Saruman Player's units normally in the turn that Should the two Players not agree, there is no he spends at Isengard preparatory to Controlling Search for that Game-Turn. Of course, Players the Nazgul. may always choose to forego Search. How to Control the Nazgul. If Saruman has spent X.2 Saruman and Gollum the previous Game-Turn at Isengard without mov- Should Saruman obtain the Ring and then lose it W.3 Co-operation Restrictions on Allies ing or engaging in combat, he automatically will to the Fellowship Player, the Saruman Player rolls Control one Nazgul at the end of the Events Phase for Gollum's "allegiance," and not the Dark During an Alliance, no unit controlled by one of of that Game-Turn. If he spends another Game- Power Player. Of course, the Saruman Player may the Allies may attack a unit controlled by the other Turn at Isengard in which he does not move, play all cards that pertain to Gollum exactly as if Ally. engage in Combat, Persuade a Fellowship Charac- he were the Dark Power Player. If the Dark Power ter, or engage in Mind Battle he will be able to Player should regain the Ring but lose it before he W.4 Saruman and the Ringbearer Control one Nazgul more the next turn. On the can bring it back to Barad-dur, he again rolls for fourth Game-Turn that he attempts to Control Gollum's "allegiance." If Saruman should be in the same hex as the Ring- Nazgul, he will gain two Nazgul, and so on for all X.3 Wearing the Ring bearer when the Ringbearer is killed and the turns after the fourth. However, if Saruman fails Fellowship Player is Allied with the Saruman to spend a turn in which he does not move or en- All restrictions and benefits for Wearing the Ring Player, the Fellowship Player may opt to "give" gage in Combat, the cycle must start again, with are exactly the same as in Section M, except for the the Ring to Saruman, rather than surrender it to the spending of a complete Game-Turn at Isengard following: , . some agent of the Dark Power Player or one of his before another Nazgul may be controlled. own Characters. To do so, neither Gandalf nor Which Nazgul are Controlled. When Saruman Aragorn may be present in the same hex as the P fulfills the prerequisites for Controlling a Nazgul, Ringbearer and Saruman, though other Charac- the Dark Power Player gathers the Character ters controlled by the Fellowship Player may be Cards for the existing Nazgul and secretly arranges present. Note that Saruman may not opt to "give" the Cards in order. The Saruman Player then picks the Ring to a member of the Fellowship should he a number from 1 to the number of Nazgul that die; the winner of the entire lndividusl Combat there are (if all nine are in existence, 1 to 9), or, if obtains the Ring. he will Control two Nazgul this turn, two numbers from 1 to the number of the Nazgul. The Dark W.5 Dissolving an Alliance Power Player than counts off the cards, giving the When one of the two Players in an Alliance wishes Saruman Player the Character Cards he now con- to Dissolve the Alliance, the Player who wishes to trols. Note that the Lord of the Nazgul and Dissolve the Alliance merely states that he is doing Gothmog may be Controlled by Saruman. Chief of the so. At the completion of the Game-Turn, the Alli- Controlled Nazgul Leading Sauron's Armies. If a Dunlendings ance is considered Dissolved. An Alliance is also Nazgul Leading an Army is Controlled by Saru- considered Dissolved if Saruman and Sauron can- man (i.e., the Lord of the Nazgul or Gothmog), not agree on how to run a composite Search (see the Dark Power Player rolls a die. On a roll of 1 Chief of the Dunlendings. In the Three-Player W.2). through 3, the Nazgul and Army become Saru- Game, the chief of the Dunlendings is considered man's, and are treated exactly as a normal Forces to have a Ring Rating of 3, and can Wear or bear Immediate Effects of a Dissolved Alliance. For the the Ring. Unlike other Characters, he may volun- duration of the Game-Turn in which the Alliance of Saruman piece; on a roll of 4 through 6, the Ar- my remains loyal to Sauron. All combat units that tarily surrender the Ring to Saruman, but may not is Dissolving (it is not considered Dissolved until do so to any other Character. the next Game-Turn), all combats conducted with formerly belonged to Sauron belong to Saruman Allied stack have a die-roll modification of two as long as the stack is led by Saruman or a Saru- Saruman. Saruman does not ever become a Semi- (see W.l) versus the Allied stack. The Player who man-Controlled Nazgul. The moment the stack is Ringwraith (as this would seriously imbalance the controlled a unit normally controlled by his Ally either leaderless or led by another Leader, the Ar- game), but must still roll to take the Ring off. Like continues to control his Ally's unit(s) until the next my units become Sauron's again. the Chief of the Dunlendings, he is considered to Game-Turn, and may do anything he wishes with Nazgul With Enemy Army Units. Should Nazgul have a 3 Ring Rating for taking off the Ring. The those units within the restrictions of the rules for find themselves in a situation in which all units in only Character who can challenge Saruman to an Army Combat. the stack are Enemy (e.g., a Controlled Nazgul Individual Combat that Saruman may not refuse is Gollum. Gandalf, the Nazgul, Boromir (through Effects of Dissolved Alliance on the Following that does not "bring" the Army with him), it im- mediately flies to Barad-dur (El 128) if controlled the "Boromir Attempts to Seize the Ring" Event Game-Turn. On the next Game-Turn, any units Card), etc., must have the Saruman Player's con- stacked together with what are now Enemy units by the Dark Power Player, or to Isengard (W2421) if Controlled by Saruman. sent before engaging in Individual Combat with may either move or do Army Combat with the Saruman. units they were previously Allied with, at the Own- If Saruman Loses the Ring. Should Saruman lose ing Player's discretion (no negative die-roll the Ring and not recover it by the end of two X.4 Saruman as Ringbearer modification as the two sides are now not Allied). Game-Turns, Sauron begins to Control the (Saru- in Army Combat There is no obligation to attack a former Ally's man-Controlled) Nazgul exactly as the Saruman Under no circumstances may Saruman be killed in units. A Character who is leading a stack that con- Player Controlled Nazgul from him. Note that Army Combat. The only way to kill him is by In- sists solely of Enemy units is automatically placed Sauron may never Control any Army units that dividual Combat. on the nearest Friendly stack. That character may begin the game loyal to Saruman. Effects of the Ring on Saruman in Army Combat. move in the Owning Player's Movement Phase. Additional Benefits for Controlling the Nazgul. Generally, the Saruman Player may find it advan- A Player may not Dissolve an Alliance in the mid- The Saruman Player wins the game if he Controls tageous to have Saruman wear the Ring in Army dle of a Combat or Search; he must state that the all the Nazgul in existence, plus the Citadels of Combat. However, if Saruman is in an Army Alliance is being broken before any modifications Isengard and Helm's Deep, plus the town of Combat in which the stack he is Leading takes a are made to the die roll. Edoras (seesection Z). 50% or greater loss, and either Aragorn possessing Anduril or Gandalf the White is in the stack that ping the other). Similarly, a Character to be re- plays it; or the Saruman Player possesses fewer defeated Saruman's stack, Saruman loses the Ring leased from captivity must be released from the than 30 Strength Points on the game-map, in to one of these two Characters. If the Lord of the hex in which that Character is being held captive, which case he may not refuse Individual Combat. Nazgul is in a stack that defeats Saruman, Saru- or escorted to an agreed upon rendezvous hex. Of Once engaged in Individual Combat, Saruman man must either surrender the Ring or engage in course, a Character need not surrender a Magic may not "break off" and escape from the Individual Combat with the Lord of the Nazgul. Card or captive just because he moved to a given Combat. Effect of Reduction of Saruman's Forces. If the hex. Perfidy is not encouraged but is possible. Army Combat. Aside from the advantages listed Saruman Player ever possesses less than 30 (thirty) in X.4, Saruman may always automatically be Strength Points, any Character may challenge Sar- Y.2 Saruman and Magic Cards placed at Isengard at the end of an Army Combat uman to an Individual Combat that he cannot +In the Three-Player Game, Sarurnan may obtain in which he takes greater loss in terms of percen- refuse. Magic Cards other than the Palantir of Isengard, tage than the Enemy Player. Of course, if he is at which he obtains at the start of the game. Also, Isengard, he may not take advantage of this rule. Saruman and the Chief of the Dunlendings may Aside from that, Saruman must first satisfy the use all Magic Items as outlined below. conditions of X.4 before leaving the hex in which Army Combat was fought. Y. Three-Player Game When the Saruman Player May Obtain Magic Special Rules Cards. Any time that a Magic hex is vacant of The Chief of the Dunlendings and Nazgul Con- Y.l Barter Enemy units (units of Allies do not count as trolled by Saruman do not accrue any such benefits. *Within certain limits, Players may trade cap- Enemy units) at the end of a Saruman Player- tives, Magic Cards, Event Cards and information Turn, the Saruman or Chief of the Dunlendings Y .5 Mind Battle Character may attempt to gain a Magic Card. If among themselves. The term "barter" is inter- The Palantirs, which were originally used as a the two are in the same hex, only one attempt may changeable with the terms "deal" and "trade." communications network for the Exiles of Nu- be made, but if the two are in separate Magic hex- Who May Engage in Barter. The Saruman Player es, two attempts may be made. menor, were turned to evil uses by Sauron the is the only Player who may Barter with both other Great and Saruman the Wise. Such was thepower Players. The Fellowship Player may not Barter How the Saruman Player Obtains Magic Cards. If of those two beings that they could control a with the Dark Power Player, or vice-versa. Saruman or the Chief of the Dunlendings have ful- weaker mind and engage or distract a stronger filled the above conditions, the Saruman Player mind. Sauron used the Palantir of Minas Ithil at What May Be Traded. All Magic Cards with the rolls a die. On a 1 through 3, the Saruman Player his residence at Barad-dur to convince Denethor exception of the Ring, all Event Cards, and all cap- gains a Magic Card from that hex. On a 4 through that Minas Tirith was doomed, and later to gain tives may be freely traded among eligible Players. 6, the Magic Card remains there, and is fair game information from Pippin. Bul it was a two-way The details of any and all deals is up to the in- in succeeding Game-Turns. The Saruman Player Palantir that he projected his mind through, for dividual Players. rolls once for every Magic Card in the hex. Aragorn was able to challenge Sauron and distract Example. The Saruman Player has captured Gan- Anduril and Items Usable by Hobbits Only. Saru- him from Frodo and Sam as they made for Oro- dalf the White, who has the Magic Cards for Gala- man may hold, but not use, these Cards. He may druin. Some time in the Third Age Saruman dis- driel's Light, Elven Rope and Shadowfax. The declare that he has such Cards but, as per Y.l, he covered the original Palantir of Orthanc, and Fellowship Player wishes to regain Gandalf the may not show the Cards. learned its uses. With it, he communicated with White, but does not have the Event Card to do so. Sauron, and learned of its many uses. The Saruman Player states that he will trade Gan- Shadowfax. Saruman may use the great horse, but How to Mind Battle. Any Game-Turn that dalf the White for Glamdring (as it will aid him in the Chief of the Dunlendings may only "hold" the Saruman does not engage in Army or Individual Combat), Athelas, and Legolas and Faramir as Magic Card for Shadowfax. Combat or attempt to Control the Nazgul, he may captives. The Fellowship Player feels that he is be- Nazgul Controlled by Saruman. Nazgul Con- Mind Battle. If the Saruman Player wishes to ing gypped, and counterproposes Gandalf and his trolled by Saruman may never use or obtain Magic Mind Battle, the Saruman Character must be at Magic Cards for Glamdring, Athelas, Legolas and Cards. the Isengard hex (W2421). In the Events Phase, the Event Card that allows Orcs to go into Battle What Saruman May Do with Magic Cards. Saru- the Saruman Player declares that he will Mind Frenzy. After some utterings about unfairness, the man may use Magic Cards normally, and has no Battle. Saruman Player agrees. Incidentally, Players may restriction on the number that he "carries," but Mind Battle With Sauron. If the Sarurnan Player make deals involving future delivery of Cards or the Chief of the Dunlendings may only "hold" wishes to Mind Battle with Sauron, he rolls a die. aid (i.e., "and a Hobbit to be named later"), but three Magic Cards. The Saruman Player may trade Depending on the die-roll, the Dark Power Player the Player who promises to deliver in the future is or give away Magic Cards (and most likely will loses from one to six Shadow Points for the imme- under no obligation to do so. dispose of those he cannot use), but will only be diately ensuing Phases. If Saruman is wearing the Information About Cards That May Be Ex- able to give away a Magic Card if he has an Alli- Ring, the Dark Power Player loses from three to changed Among Players. Players may under ance with the Player that he is giving the Card to. nor eight Shadow Points (add two to thedie-roll). any circumstances voluntarily show each other Saruman and the Dark Power Player Trades In- Cards that they or their Characters hold. When volving Magic Cards. If Saruman trades or gives consummating a trade, all Cards must be placed away a Card to the Dark Power Player, it is con- face down before any of the Players picks up any sidered lost forever, unless the Dark Power Player of the Cards. Players may declare what they have at some point trades it back to Saruman. No Dark in their hands, but may not show proof. Of course, Power Player may ever use a Magic Card. Magic Cards revealed due to Combat, Event Cards (e.g., Palantirs) or by being discovered on Cap- Obtaining Magic Cards by Individual Combat. If tured Characters will be known to two or three of Saruman or the Chief of the Dunlendings is victo- the Players and will be verifiable to an extent. rious in Individual Combat, he gains all Cards belonging to the defeated Character when all In- Example. In the above example, the Fellowship dividual Combats in that hex are over. Player could give the Saruman Player a "Misty Passes Open" Events Card, instead of the "Orcs Y .3 Saruman and the Druadan Forest in Battle Frenzy" Card, thereby cheating the Saru- Any stack led by the Saruman Character may pass man Player. Of course, the Saruman Player could through the Druadan Forest, regardless of the have substituted the Sting Magic Card (assuming presence of Enemy units. Of course, Saruman may he had it) for the Shadowfax Magic Card, to com- do so himself. plete the doublecross. If it helps any, physical violence is against the rules, and the Player who in- Y.4 Saruman in Combat itiates such has automatically lost thegame. *To give the Saruman Player a fair chance, it is Mind Battle With Elrond and Galdriel. Any turn How to Trade Magic Cards. Unlike Event Cards, necessary to give the Saruman Character certain that Saruman Mind Battles with Elrond and Gala- which may be handed over, Magic Cards must be advantages, as the Saruman Player's hopes of win- driel, he may not Mind Battle Sauron, and vice- traded between Characters. When such a Card is ning are pinned on that Character. versa. If he Mind Battles Elrond and Galdriel, to be traded, a Character of each Player involved Individual Combat. Saruman may always refuse neither of those Characters may use their Sorcery in the deal must be in the same hex, and one of Individual Combat, unless he is the Ringbearer, Ratings that Game-Turn. those Characters must possess the Magic Card to and the Dark Power Player possesses a "Gollum Fellowship Characters at Jsengard. Saruman does be traded (or any Magic Card, if one Player is gyp- Attempts to Seize the Ring" Events Card, and not lose the Palantir at Isengard to a Fellowship Character until defeated by Army Combat at Isen- Y.8 Search Swords or Sorcery can be "cured" from Nazgul gard (no Strength Points remaining). Controlled by Saruman by removing them to Hand and Eye Orcs. For Search purposes, all Isengard. Y.6 Persuasion of Fellowship Characters Hand Orcs (those Orcs with a White Hand on their Expenditure of Shadow Points During Search. Saruman the Wise had great persuasive powers, shields on the back of the Search Cards) work for Saruman, and all Eye Orcs (all Orcs who do not Saruman never expends Shadow Points to Control chief among which was the employment of his Nazgul, and the Dark Power Player does not when voice. For it was said that he could sway his most have a White Hand on the back of the Search Cards) work for the Dark Power Player. If an Orc engaging in Individual Combat as a result of adamant enemies to his side by conversing with Search. them, and he certainly impressed people after his Search Card is turned during the Search Phase, power was broken by the Ents during the siege of determine which Player's Orcs are doing the Y.9 Restrictions on the Fellowship Player Isengard. It can be conjectured that if Saruman Searching. That Player adjudicates all of the and Dark Power Player had used fhePalantir to influence weaker minds he Search procedure, and need not inform the other At the beginning of the game, the Dark Power would have turnedsome of theFeNowship Charac- Player of any results of the Search. All Hand Orcs Player may not attack any unit controlled by the ters to his side. head for Isengard (hex W2421) and are moved by Saruman Player until the Saruman Player initiates the Saruman Player if they capture any Charac- an action offensive to the Dark Power Player. Ac- How to Persuade a Fellowship Character. Any ters, and all Eye Orcs move towards Barad-dur Game-Turn that Saruman is at Isengard, he may tions considered offensive to the Dark Power (hex E1128) and are moved by the Dark Power Player include Mind Battle, Individual and Army attempt to Persuade a Fellowship Character. To Player if they capture any Characters. do so, both Saruman and the Fellowship Charac- Combat with a unit controlled by the Dark Power ter to be Persuaded must be in the same hex as a Example. A Hand Orc Search Card is pulled. Player, Alliance with the Fellowship Player, Palantir. During that Game-Turn, Saruman may There is a stack of four Characters in an Area possessing the Magic Card for the Ring, and mov- not attempt to Control the Nazgul or Mind Battle, listed on the Search Card, so the Saruman Player ing a unit controlled by the Saruman Player onto but he may engage in Army or Individual Combat. proceeds to Search for those Characters. He the East game-map. Until then, the Saruman Play- discovers that Aragorn, Sam and Frodo are in that er is considered a loyal ally (small "a") of Sauron. Procedure for Persuading a Fellowship Character. hex (Gandalf has evaded Search with the Elven The Saruman Player states to the Fellowship Cloak), and successfully Captures Aragorn and Player that he is attempting to Persuade a Fel- Similarly, the Fellowship Player may not attack a Sam. The Orc counter is placed on the game-map unit controlled by Saruman until a Combat unit lowship Character. The Fellowship Player de- with the two Captured Characters, and is in all termines whether or not there are any Fellowship controlled by Saruman moves out of Isengard or ways considered to be a Saruman unit. Note that Dunland, Mind Battle with Elrond and Galadriel Characters eligible for Persuasion, and, if not, the Saruman Player need not inform the Dark Saruman has "wasted" the Events Phase. If there is undertaken, a Fellowship Character is Captured Power Player that he has discovered Hobbits via or Persuaded, Gandalf's Staff of Power is broken, is a Character eligible, that Character must suc- Search; and if the Dark Power Player has not been cessfully make his Capture die-roll (Characters or one of the other eight members of the Fellow- mobilized, this decision could be very important ship is killed or an Alliance with the Dark Power without Capture Ratings are assumed to have a indeed. Rating of 3), or else that Character will immediate- Player is formed. Until one of the above events oc- ly begin moving towards Isengard, and will not curs, a unit belonging to the Saruman Player may stop unless another Fellowship Character enters not beattacked. the same hex at the end of the Fellowship Player- Turn, and the Persuaded Character makes his Escape die-roll (again, Characters without an Escape Rating are assumed to have one of 3). Z. Victory Conditions When the Persuaded Character reaches Isengard, he is considered Captured. *Victory Conditions are included to give the Three-Player Game a purpose, and also to give the Characters That May Not Be Persuaded. Charac- Players an idea of what the forces they are repre- ters with a Movement Allowance of zero, Ara- senting strove for in the War of the Ring. It is not gorn, Gandalf (either incarnation), Celeborn or always a guide to how well a Player can play the the Ringbearer may not be Persuaded. game, for we believe that is best measured by the Escape From Isengard. The only way escape from enjoyment derived from thegame. Isengard may be made is by the "Eagles!" Event Dark Power Player. To win the game, the Dark Card. Otherwise, the Sarurnan Player must free a Power Player must have the Ring brought to the Character or Isengard must be militarily Barad-dur hex (El 128). Or, he mav win a militarv conquered. victory by controlling the Citadels of Barad-dur, Nazgul Search. If both Players (Saruman and the Y.7 Breaking the Staves of Power Durthang, Minas Morgul, Dol Guldur, Minas Dark Power) possess Nazgul, and the two do not Tirith, Do1 Amroth, Helm's Deep and Isengard, have an Alliance, Players may send up to At some time during the beginning of the Third both plus the hexes containing Hobbiton and Thran- three Nazgul to Search in a particular Province. At Age, five beings of great power came to Middle duil's Palace. Earth. These were the Istari, known to the com- that point, each Player rolls a die. The high die-roll mon folk as wizards. It was assumed that the Valar Searches first. In event of a tie, the die is rolled Fellowship Player. The Fellowship Player must sent these beings to MiddleEarth, and, indeed, the again until one Player rolls higher than the other. destroy the Ring (seesection M) to win the game. Istari themselves reinforced that opinion. Among Should the first Player successfully Search, the Saruman Player. The Saruman Player must Con- the greatest of the Istari were Gandalf, known as second Player has the option of either engaging the trol all existing Nazgul plus the Citadels of Isen- Mithrandir, and Saruman, known as Curunir. At Nazgul of the first Player in Individual Combat gard and Helm's Deep, plus the town of Edoras. and then engaging in Search (if there are any survi- the beginning of the War of the Ring, Saruman More than one Player may win the Three-Player vors), or proceeding directly to Search. If the first was acknowledged to be the most powerful of the Game, but it isunlikely that this will occur. Istari, and was made head of the White Council. Player is unsuccessful in Search, the second Player But after the defeat of Saruman's forces at the may still search, and may be challenged to Indivi- hands of the Ents and the Rohirrim, Gandalf the dual Combat by the first Player's Nazgul at the White became most powerful among wizards. He end of the Search. If the Saruman Player and the so signified by breaking Saruman 'spower object, Dark Power Player have an Alliance, only three thestaff of Power. Nazgul may Search in a given Search Phase. The The first time that Gandalf (either incarnation) Players must agree between themselves the com- and Saruman engage in Individual Combat, the position of the three Nazgul, or suffer the loser (if he may come back - i.e., Gandalf the penalties of W.2. Grey would be able to return as Gandalf the Note. If a Nazgul engages another Nazgul in In- White, and Saruman would be able to return if it dividual Combat, all Wounds scored by straight were the first time that he had been killed, see Y .9) Individual Combat (as opposed to Sorcery) count is considered to have had his Staff of Power bro- as Wounds inflicted with a normal weapon on the ken by the winner. From then on, the loser always Endurance Level Chart. In other words, a Nazgul uses theC column when utilizing Sorcery, and may may not be killed by another Nazgul unless the never become as proficient at Sorcery as he once other Nazgul uses Sorcery. Incidentally, those was. Wounds inflicted by means other than Elven PLAYER AIDS AIR WAR F-86 CHECK FUGHT Or How to Avoid a One-Point Landing by Gregory John

To say that AirWar is complex is to indulge in Marker will move, per turn, on the Accelera- ward. Do this by referring to the Accelera- the high wit of understatement. Of course, tion Progress Track of the Aircraft and Mis- tion Table. Noting that there is no provision once grasped the game mechanics seem sile Control Display. for a throttle setting when you are sitting on natural and necessary and as easy as falling the ground, we are going to arbitrarily as- Note that, when you all of these off a, uh, ... well, as easy as falling. The sume that, with a throttle setting of 0 and an problem comes in breaking through the rules around and along their various altitude of the same, you may accelerate a what you are real1y doing is manual1y barrier and getting a sense of how all the in- full 10 points along the Acceleration Pro- tricacies of the mechanics add up to the best setting all the instruments which gressTrack. mally move themselves in an actual aircraft. manual simulation of flight published to Recall that you are in the Acceleration/ In fact, both the Turn Mode Table and the date. So, listen to the Instructor Pilot and Deceleration by Power Segment when you Acceleration Table relate only indirectly to learn to fly. - RAS move that marker, and that you complete the the movement of the airplane counter on the phase by moving the throttle to the box that hex grid. Both the Dive Tableand the Climb says 'cl,, with the small 120 under it. What Table (when properly cross indexed) show immediately happens to the Movement Al- Air War is a actual hexes moved and allowance gained or game that, by its sheer bulk, may daunt the lowance Marker when you move the throttle lost. up one? Correct. The Movement Allow- beginner. Yet when a step-by-step approach Similarly, both the Roll Table and the ance Marker moves automatically. is adopted, Air War is less than the monster it Flight Parameters are criteria oriented tables appears at first glance to be. The first thing a Now we look to Segment 2, the Flight which dictate the, limitations of your plane in Attitude Decison. In this segment you are go- player should do is read Pages three through doing certain maneuvers which involve more fifteen of the rules thoroughly. Having done ing to decide whether you will climb, dive, or than just diving or climbing. roll. You cannot climb with a Movement Al- that, we have provided a "check ride" for Take Out the Aircraft and 'On- him to see how an aircraft actually in Air lowance/Throttle Setting of l. Check your trol Display and place the appropriate Climb Tab,e to find out why. Similarly, you War. where they belong: Movement can do nothing in Segment 4, because you CHECKING OUT IN THE F-86 Allowance, Throttle, and all the others, ac- have no energy yet. ~~d of G~~~-T~~~one. cording to the rules, in their respective Why theF-86? With your aircraft not moving any hexes tracks, all set at zero. (you are not airborne yet). Basically, the F-86 Performance Chart Now place three (3) of the hex maps end is simple enough to learn quickly, while at the In Game-Turns Two and Three you will to end so that "N" points to "S" on the map same time offering familiarity with perform- move the acceleration marker four boxes per adjacent. As You look at this arrangement, turn, and the engines will rev while you sit ance charts you will use later on. on your right should be the "S" the right- Briefing tight. Make sure you understand the order in hand and On your left should be the Having made the changes necessary which these things occur. Know when the 6GNvof the left hand map (see below). from the errata (see page 11 of this issue) to creeping acceleration from Case 8.44 occurs, correct for any errors, this section will talk Place F-86 counter number 1 on hex and when the Deceleration through Inducing you through the various tables on the Air- 1617, map one, facing north. Drag counters it. craft Performance chart. The Basic Informa- There are no rules in Air War which Now it is Game-Turn Four. Push the tion Table gives a range of data which aid in cover the function of take off procedures. Acceleration Marker up four boxes, through setting up the game markers as well as acting However the throttle, acceleration and box numbers 9,0, 1, and 2. So, now you have as a reference during flight for items such as movement procedures are so well coordinat- a throttle setting of two, and the Movement deceleration, energy adding, and so on. On ed in the game design that it is possible to Allowance increases by one automatically. the Turn Mode Table, when you cross refer- simulate these functions with a little imagina- The Movement Allowance marker joins the ence the Movement Allowance with the alti- tion. The Sequence of Play is printed on the Throttle Setting marker in box two. Now let tude, a number will be yielded. That number back of the Game Charts and Tables book- 'er rip. Ignore the Acceleration/Deceleration corresponds to a turn mode (e.g., 2= 25", let. Keep this available, because we will refer Segment, and go directly to Segment 5. Move 3 = 20°, etc.). After a while, when you get to to it on and off, and all movement will be ex- the aircraft counter forward two hexes to hex know the turn modes and the performance of ecuted according to the sequence outlined. 1615. End of Turn Four, and your F-86 is the plane, you will use this table less and less So, there you are, sitting on the runway, rolling down the runway. The whole process because you will remember what you need. waiting for clearance, with the clear blue has taken about ten seconds of actual time Next to the Turn Mode Table is the Ac- stretching forever (we know this to be true and moved the aircraft about 500 feet. Check celeration Table. This table will yield the because there are no cloud markers on the the distances against Case 2.4. number of boxes that the Acceleration map). Now, gradually ease the throttle for- In the beginning of Game-Turn Five, the segments we are going through will be numbered according to the back cover of the Charts and Tables booklets. Read through the sequence of play until the various steps are committed to memory. Begin Turn Five. In this Game-Turn you will gain a little altitude, so, by the numbers: Game-Turn Five 1. Accelerate four boxes (to box six on the Acceleration Progress Indicator). 2. Place the Altitude Marker in Climb 1. Accelerate, and since the marker 2. Move the Attitude marker into the I, wings level. Look through Section 10.0, enters zero, move both the Throttle Setting Pull-Through Box, noting that the Type 111 and find out that you have to consult the and Movement Allowance marker to Box 5. Climb was skipped because an F-86 cannot Climb Table to know what is happening to 2. Place the Flight Attitude Marker in execute the Type I11 Climb. Note also that your ship. After cross referencing your the Climb I Box, check the Climb Table, and there are no provisions on the Climb Table Throttle Setting (or Movement Allowance, note that you climb 1 level (move the for a Pull-Through. Basically the plane is go- whichever is higher) with your altitude Altitude marker to Box 2) and your Move- ing almost straight up (but not quite), and grouping (since you are at zero altitude, you ment Allowance marker is reduced to 4. (Seg- the Pull-Through is really a type of maneu- are in the LO group) you find that you move ment 3). ver. Go to Case 11.1, and read. Note: we are your Aircraft Altitude Marker one box along 4. Skip. assuming for purposes of this article that the the "ones" section of the Altitude Gauge. 5. Move the aircraft 4 hexes forward, ship was in the Type I1 climb for the required You also know that your Movement Allow- into hex 1610. The heading is still north. number of Game-Turns before entering the ance is reduced to 1, as the table indicates. Note how gradual your climb rate is (end Pull-Through. Note that, because a Pull- Move the Movement Allowance marker to 1 Turn Six) and compare it with the steeper Through is a maneuver, you will have to ig- on its gauge on the display. The minute you rate in the upcoming Game-Turn. nore the sequence of movement for the dura- moved that Movement Allowance marker, Game-Turn Seven. tion of the Game-Turn, as Section 11.0 in- you passed into Segment 3. This is so because 1. No Acceleration. You know why. dicates. Therefore execute the Maneuver as you accelerated/decelerated by means other 2. Place the Attitude marker into the follows: Move the Altitude from nine levels than power, namely by climbing. Climb I1 box, and refer to the Climb Table. to ten .levels. Move the "tens" altitude 4. Skip, because you never pick up Note that the Type I1 Climb is unshaded in marker up to the ten box. You are now at energy by climbing. order to provide visual clarity. Now the F-86 2500 feet. Be aware of the fact that your 5. Move the aircraft counter one hex is climbing 2 levels instead of 1, so the climb of one level was I less than you would forward. This is why the sequence is so im- Altitude marker is moved up 2 boxes to set- have gone in the Type I1 Climb, as required portant. If you had moved that counter out ting 4 (about 1000 feet). by the Pull-Through rules. Chop the throttle of sequence, you might have moved forward 3. Reduce the Movement Allowance to by 7 boxes (or points). This is required in two hexes instead of one. Do not fool around 3 because the increase in climb causes a loss your first turn in a Pull-Through by Case with the Sequence of Play, as it governs the of speed, and this is reflected in that way. 11.12. You know the cutback is 7 because game's accuracy rigidly. Furthermore, if you 4. Skip. you looked on the Aircraft Information lose track of the sequence, then many pro- 5. Move the F-86 three hexes forward, Table on the Performance Chart. The Ac- cedures (e.g., missile launch) will become into hex 1607. End Game-Turn 7. celeration marker winds down to Box 9, and confusing. End of Game-Turn Five. Review in so doing forces the throttle setting down Now, look for a moment at what you one to Box 4 (480 knots). The Movement Game-Turn Six. have done. In Turns 6 and 7 you progressed Allowance, at 3, automatically drops to 2 1. Accelerate four boxes right? Wrong! in Segments through a fluid motion. I stress because of the throttle. you can drop it be- Case 8.38 specifically forbids most aircraft to this because, when playing a game in turns, tween zero and 2, according to the Pull- accelerate by power when climbing. There- on a hex map, it is easy to forget that all the Through rules. fore, at the outset of this turn, you are faced manipulation you just did went on all at Move the F-86 counter two hexes for- with a decision. You may either gain altitude, once, reflecting continuous motion. Graph- ward (to 1605). End Game-Turn Eight. (I or level off and gain speed. Since this is not a ically, Game-Turns Six and Seven look like hope you have been moving a Game-Turn scramble, the decision is not even pressing. the figure below. marker as instructed in the rules.) For instructional purposes only, move the Attitude Setting into level flight, the throttle All of this activity happened in only five Game-Tun Nine. and Movement Allowance to 4. In other seconds; you flew the plane, it reacted, and Here we are in a Pull-Through. You can words, we are saying for the purposes of this the instrument panel varied as it was sup- leave it by either returning to a Type I1 article, that you leveled long enough to build posed to. climb, or executing a maneuver, in this case a your power and movement up; in excess of 4 For Instructional Purposes Only, move wingover. We will do the wingover. Note Game-Turns. The Aircraft Acceleration the Altitude marker to Box 6. All other fac- that as the F-86 is starting its Movement Marker is still in Box 6 and the Altitude tors, including the Attitude marker in Climb Phase in a Pull-Through but will not be con- Marker is still in Box 1 on their respective 11, will remain the same for Game-Turn tinuing in a Pull-Through, it is not subject to gauges. Let us begin Turn Six anew, whilst Eight. Case 11.17 limitations. our F-86 counter is moving through hex Game-Turn Eight. Once again, since we are performing a 1614. 1. Skip; no acceleration is possible. maneuver, the Movement Phase Sequence goes out the window, and we have to follow gone as far as you can in the turn. You will The Turn Mode of 2 thus becomes 3. In the rules. Refer to Case 11.31. find that if you follow this procedure when other words, instead of being able to turn 25" rolling, or accumulating Turning Points Turn the F-86's counter six hex-points upon entering a hex, you can turn only 20". (coming up soon) it makes it easier to grasp (180") so that it is facing south, but remains These degrees, all part of a 360" circle which what you are doing. End Game-Turn Ten. in the same hex. Roll the Flight Attitude is theoretically drawn around your F-86, Note that there is considerable separa- marker 4 points. You are now inverted. Re- divide neatly into 12 units of 30". There are duce the Movement Allowance by 1 (it is now tion between the Throttle Setting and the six sides, and six points to a hex. Every time in Box 1 of the track). Place the Flight In- Movement Allowance. If you were to engage the Turn Indicator marker passes through verted Attitude marker in the level flight box. in another maneuver, you would lose even 30°, the plane physically has turned from a Note that you were not told to climb any more airspeed and end up Departing Con- hex side to a hex point, or from a hex point to levels, nor did you pay a penalty for the 4 trolled Flight. a hex side. In other words, the nose of the points rolled. You gained no altitude because Over the next few Game-Turns, we will plane has passed through 30" of that circle. you "went over the top" and are now level, study turning, which has the biggest poten- This is the basis of logic behind the twelve- and you didn't really roll at all. What hap- tial for confusion. So, double check the set- point, 30" turning system. The system is real- pened was that, in reversing direction and go- tings on your display to make sure they are ly a mite simpler than it initially looks. right, and that will help keep you from get- ing over the top, your attitude changed By the middle of Game-Turn Twelve, naturally without any rolling. The system is ting lost: you have gone through segments I, 2, 3, 4, simply telling you to roll so that you can Throttle Setting = 5 and are ready to make your turn. The turn is relate the attitude change. In reality, what Movement Allowance = 3 not a Maximum Tllrning Mode, so there will you did during Game-Turns 8 and 9 looks Energy Points = 0 be no speed or altitude loss under Case 9.54. like this: Altitude Level = 10 (2,500 feet) Move the aircraft counter with your Attitude = level left hand to hex 1612, and count "one." Turning Indicator = 0 Since 20 Turn Points equals 4 boxes, So now that the lesson of keeping the move the Turn marker four boxes to the right airspeed up has been learned: (the direction of your bank) and count Game-Turn Eleven. "two." 1. You cannot accelerate in order to Move the aircraft another hex forward move your throttle, because you are at maxi- no turning (to hex 1613) and count "three" mum throttle now. aloud. Since you have equalled your Move- 2. Stay level. ment Allowance, end Game-Turn Twelve. 3. Creeping acceleration; Movement Game-Turn Thirteen. Allowance goes to Box 4. 1. Skip. 4. Skip. 2. Skip (we are going to continue the 5. Move the aircraft 4 hexes forward to same turn). hex 161 1. 3. Creeping Acceleration; move the 6. Skip. End Game-Turn Eleven. Movement Allowance to 4. Game-Turn Twelve. 4. Skip. Note how that attitude change took place, 1. Skip. 5. The rules say that you must enter a and that you are now flying level and 2. Roll 1 point to the right. Your right hex before accumulating Turn Points. You inverted. wing should be dipped and the tail pointing already entered hex 1613 last Game-Turn, so By now it should be clear that, with toward the "C" in the Climb I box. Don't you may accumulate those Points now. Ad- familiarity, moving around all those move into the climb box! Just tilt the wings vance the marker 4 boxes (noting that counters and markers becomes easier. End and keep in the level box! "reset" and zero count as one box). As soon Game-Turn Nine. 4. Skip. as that marker crosses into "Face and Reset" Game-Turn Ten. 5. Take note of the Turning Indicator physically turn theaircraft to the right so that You are now flying level. on the Aircraft and Missile Control Chart. its new heading is south-southwest. In other 1. Accelerate 4 points, move the throt- Each box represents five turn points words, it is no longer pointing to a hex side, tle and Movement Allowance to Boxes 5 and (degrees). This will be important, and you but rather a hexpoint. The Turning Indica- 2 respectively. will see why shortly. All turning takes place tor, when all that is through, is now in the 2. You could roll 4 points here to right during the Movement Segment, and the 10" box. Count "one" because you shot a yourself. But if you do, according to the Roll physical act of turning costs Movement Movement Point making this turn. Table it will cost you a Movement Point. Points. Therefore, when you get around to Move forward to hex 1614, heading That's Movement Point, not Movement A/- moving the aircraft, do so with one hand as still south-southwest, and count "two." lowance. There are no markers for keeping you use the other to work the Turning Indi- Move the turn indicator 4 boxes (i.e., track of Movement Points; it's like expend- cator Marker. Count out loud, because it will 15, 20, 25, reset-O), physically turn the air- ing Movement points for entering rough ter- be very easy to lose track of how many Move- craft counter to the right, facing southwest, rain in a land game. I suggest that you wait to ment Points you still possess while making a and count "three." execute your roll in Segment 5. The rules tell turn. Read Section 9.0 up to Case 9.4. You Move forward one hex, into 1515, and you that you can roll at any time in the Move- are not making a Maximum Performance count "four." End of Game-Turn Thirteen. ment Phase of the Game-Turn. Turn (i.e., your banked wings are not poin- 3. Creeping acceleration; Movement ting straight up and down). Case 9.55 in- Game-Turn Fourteen. Allowance to 3. dicates that you will suffer a penalty on the 1. Skip. 4. Skip. Turn Mode Table, but by the same token, if 2. Skip. 5. Important because you will need this you were banked vertical (i.e., wings straight 3. Creeping Acceleration, make the technique when we come to turning: Put one up and down) you would lose 1 level of alti- Movement Allowance 5, along with the hand on the F-86 counter, and one hand on tude (Case 9.54) and 2 Movement Points (see throttle. the Flight Attitude marker. Move the aircraft Case 9.55 and the penalty on the Flight Para- 4. Skip. one hex and say out loud, "one." Roll 4 meters of the Performance Chart). The bank 5. You are still turning. points and say out loud "two." Move one you are in now (called a 45") forces you to Move the Turn Indicator marker 4 more hex forward and say "three." When add one to the Turn Mode stated on the Turn boxes and count "one." the number you are saying equals the number Mode Table of the Performance Chart (see Move the aircraft forward into hex of your Movement Allowance, then you have Chart 9.29). 1415 and count "two." [conlinued on polre 141 ADDENDA/SCENARIOS 8 VARIANTS

- ~hat/ Meant to Say Was... by David C. lsby

When Air War was under development, accumulating 20 Turning Points to the left, it 19.611 Clarification: The aircraft's Movement many considered it to be one of the most would then have 5 Turning Points accumulated to Allowance marker is not adjusted downward to complex games conceivable. Thus, the de- the left, as 15 of the Turning Points were required show the effect of Movement Points expended for signer and developer made every effort to to move the Turn Point Marker from 15 Points Rolling. keep the basic systems relatively simple to Right to 0. [10.28] Clarification: Note that the number found by cross-indexing the Levels Climbed and the avoid boggling too many minds. However, to 19.221 Clarification: Aircraft are never compel- Movement Allowance or Throttle Setting is the our surprise, it was found that the game was led to accumulate the maximum possible number Maximum Movement Allowance. The aircraft's not too complex for too many people, and of Turning Points in a hex. Note that the Air- Movement Allowance may be less than this Maxi- the complaints that were received resulted craft's Movement Allowance Marker is not ad- mum and it can be increased to this Maximum only from the compromises made in the name of justed to reflect the Movement Allowance in through acceleration. simplicity. It is this turn of events that raised the accumulation of Turning Points or in rolling. (10.31 Correction: The F-4E is at ML (not LO) many of the questions that I hope to have [9.23] (Optional) Addition: Aircraft which have Altitude. Add 60 to all altitude levels to represent answered in these errata. moved through an odd number of hexes, however, this. [10.4] An aircraft coming out of a dive [3.0] Addition: Point Values. The Point Values can "carry over" the last hex they entered into Addition: into either level flight or a less steep dive has its on each Aircraft Chart are for air-air/air-ground their next Movement Phase. Thus, such an aircraft Movement Allowance immediately reduced in cer- combat. may, at the start of the next Movement Phase, ac- cumulate Turning Points in the hex it occupies tain circumstances. If its Movement Allowance in [8.44] Clarifcation: Creeping acceleration may prior to movement. This is normally not permit- the dive is greater than its Maximum Movement not occur in a dive when the Movement Allowance ted, and it is possible here only because the player Allowance in level flight or the less steep dive, the is at the Maximum for that Dive Type. "carries over" the Movement Point spent for Movement Allowance is immediately reduced to [8.44] Correction: Creeping Acceleration may entering the hex from the previous Movement the Maximum level flight Movement Allowance. It occur when an aircraft is climbing. Acceleration Phase. Otherwise, aircraft with an odd Movement is then reduced an additional one Movement Point by power, however, cannot occur for those air- Allowance would be disadvantaged. Players for the effects of Fade-Back Deceleration (8.55). If craft that are not specifically capable of it. should note such aircraft mentally or place an in- the aircraft's Movement Allowance is still greater than its Throttle Setting, it must undergo Decele- [9.13] (Optional) Addition: Aircraft moving verted counter on them. ration (8.55). Note, however, that under no cir- toward a hex-point move in a sequence of entering [9.26] Clarification: In regard to aircraft which cumstances can an aircraft's Movement Allow- the right-front hex, then the left-front hex, as accumulate Turning Points in a series (e.g., ance exceed its Maximum Throttle Setting (while shown in the diagram appended to Case 9.12. This 5/10/5), the series continues from Game-Turn to in level flight) or its Maximum Movement Allow- sequence should not be broken at the conclusion following Game-Turn. ance as listed on the Dive Table(when diving). of a Movement Phase and may be "carried over" [9.41] Clarification: Aircraft may roll at any time into the subsequent Movement Phase. This means during their Movement so long as they have suffi- [10.41] Addition: If an aircraft pulls out of a dive that an aircraft that has moved toward a hex- cient Movement Points. Addition: An aircraft (e.g., goes to a shallower type of dive or level point, and so ended its Movement Phase by enter- (except those in a Pull-Through) may be restricted flight) it must undergo Fade-Back Deceleration ing the right-front hex, must at the start of the next in the number of Points it may roll in a Movement (8.55) for one Game-Turn if the difference be- Movement Phase, enter the left front hex. Other- Phase to the amount it can roll without Movement tween the aircraft's Throttle Setting and Max- wise, the aircraft would enter two right-front hexes Point cost if, because of the expenditure of the imum Movement Allowance is more than one, and in a row, forcing it to "slide" to the right. Ex- Movement Point cost for rolling, the aircraft for one additional Game-Turn for every two ample: If an aircraft begins its Movement Phase would move a number of hexes equal to or less Movement Points difference between the air- facing a hex-point and moves directly forward five than its Minimum Throttle Setting. Thus, Rolling craft's Throttle Setting and Movement Allowance. Movement Points, Case 9.12 would require the cannot be used to excessively slow down an Example: An F-4E comes into level flight from a aircraft to enter the hexes in the following order: aircraft. Type I dive at LO altitude with a Movement Al- right front, left front, right front, left front, right lowance of 10. It goes into level flight with a Move- [9.53] Addition: Exception. Aircraft which are in front (see 9.12 diagram). At the start of the air- ment Allowance of 7 and its Throttle Setting re- inverted banks and in Type I1 or 111 dives may turn craft's next Movement Phase, however, if the air- mains at 3. On the first turn in level flight, the at their Maximum Possible Turn Mode without craft wishes to move straight ahead, it would not Movement Allowance is reduced to 6 (7 for the losing Movement Allowance or Altitude as in Rule enter the right front hex as might seem to be re- Maximum Movement Allowance and one for 9.55. This maneuver is called a MaxPerf Turn. quired by Case 9.12. Rather, it would enter the left Creeping Deceleration). On the next Game-Turn, front hex, carrying on the sequence interrupted by [9.55] Clarifications: it is reduced by one as the F-4 has a difference of 3 the end of the aircraft's Movement Phase. Aircraft 1. The Movement Allowance Marker is moved (more than 2) between its starting Movement Al- which may "carry over" the sequence in such a backwards to reflect the required loss of speed, lowance and its Throttle Setting. manner may be designated by putting an inverted and the altimeter is adjusted to show the loss of [10.42] Clarifcation: The figures on the Aircraft counter under them. one level of altitude after the Movement Phase in Performance Charts Dive Tables under the "Lvls [9.22] Addition: Example: An aircraft with a which such losses occur. Dvd" column represent the maximum number of Turning Mode of 3 and 25 Turning Points ac- 2. For an aircraft to have its Movement levels that can be dived at that type of dive (e.g., on cumulated to the right enters a hex and, by expend- Allowance and Altitude reduced under this rule, it the F-4 dive table, LO altitude, the four possible ing one Movement Point above the normal one must have accumulated Turning Points at its Max- dives - two Type I and one each Type 11 and Type Movement Point required to enter the hex, the air- imum Turn Mode while its wings were vertical. 111 - are for 1-2, 3-5, 6-15, and 16-18 levels craft may accumulate another 20 Turning Points respectively). If an aircraft goes from one Type of 3. Note that the shift in the Movement Allowance to the right. In this case, the first 5 Points of these dive to another with less of a Maximum Movement may be partially or completely cancelled out by new Turning Points would require the aircraft Allowance (e.g., a MiG-17 diving at the Maximum Creeping Acceleration in the next Accelera- counter be turned one hex-point to the right. The Movement Allowance of 6 in a Type I1 dive at LO tion/Deceleration segment. player would then be left with 15 Turning Points Altitude going into a Type 111 dive), its Movement (the remainder of the 20 accumulated that turn) 4. When missiles turn at their Maximum Rate, Allowance cannot exceed the Maximum Move- accumulated- .~- to the right. If. on entering the next they lose one Movement Point for the whole ment Allowance for the new Type dive and must hex, the aircraft rolls left and turns to theleft, thus Phase, not one Point per hex. be reduced if necessary. [10.45] Addition: Reduction in levels dived. Air- [11.83] Clarification: The aircraft must either ex- [20.31] Clarification: Add after last sentence. craft in a Type I1 or 111 dive (not a Pull-Through) ecute a dive or go toward a dive (i.e., move the However, if the aircraft which obtained radar con- have the maximum number of levels they can dive Flight Altitude Marker downward) on the Game- tact subsequently has its contact broken, all reduced if their Movement Allowance is less than Turns following a Vertical Break. unearned radar contacts are broken as well. the Maximum permitted at that Altitude. For [13.0] Addition: More than one aircraft may oc- "Unearned" radar contacts can be converted into every Movement Point less than the Maximum cupy the same hex, even at the same altitude. Air- normal radar contacts by going through the nor- Movement Allowance in that type of dive that an craft may engage in combat with aircraft occupy- mal procedure, but with basic PN increased by aircraft has at the start of its Movement Phase, the ing the same hex, treating it as occurring at a range 50%. maximum number of levels it can dive that Game- of at least one hex, provided the firing aircraft [22.23] The last sentence in step C should read: Turn is reduced by one. Thus, an F-4E with a could have fired at the target aircraft from the The difference in altitude levels between the fir- Movement Allowance of 5 making a Type 111 dive level it maintained in the hex from which it entered ing/searching aircraft and other aircraft must at LO Altitude could lose only 14 levels - four less the target hex. equal this .... (Note that this range is counted in- than the maximum - because its Movement Al- cluding two levels as one hex.) lowance is also four less than the Maximum. [13.17] Correction: The words Pull-Through and Push-Through should be transposed. [23.0] Clarifcation: Aircraft using radar may [10.64] Deletion: Delete last sentence. [13.19] Addition: Additionally, an aircraft may not attempt infra-red contact from forward- [10.67] Clarification: Energy Points are not ex- not engage in Cannon Combat if, in its previous looking infra-red detectors. pended (except for Pull-Ups) in a dive. Movement Phase, it has: [24.15] Clarification: This includes Corridor [10.68] Clarification: The one Energy Point loss I. Performed a Lateral Rudder Roll (1 1.74) Chaff and Chaff Rockets as well. due to Case 10.67 must count toward the loss in [24.24] Clarification: If more than one radar- Energy Points required by Case 10.68. Energy 2. Performed a Barrel Roll (1 1.93) equipped aircraft searches for an ECM-equipped Points lost under the provisions of Case 10.68, 3. Rolled six or more points. aircraft, the ECM equipped aircraft may reduce however, do not receive the benefits of Case 10.67. 4. Rolled four or more points and "jinked" (ac- the effectiveness of all the radars attempting to ob- [10.81] Clarification: Aircraft that begin a cumulated Turning Points in two different direc- tain or maintain contact or lock-on. Movement Phase with a Movement Allowance of tions). [24.36] Clarification: If aircraft have lost contact zero are also subject to departing controlled flight. [13.6] Clarification: TE result = E. for any reason (including by virtue of Case 24.39, Addition: An aircraft is also subject to departing Deception Jamming), they must re-search and ob- controlled flight if it does not move at least one hex [14.14] Clarification: Note that for use of Heat- tain a new contact. and is not in the steepest type of climb the aircraft Seeking Missiles, an aircraft has the same tracking [24.4] Clarification: Radar Detectors detect lock- can make or in a Pull-Through. Addition: Air- cone as the missile it is attempting to fire. craft in a Type I1 or 111 Climb or a Pull-Through ons during the first Game-Turn of lock-on at- [14.15] Correction: In the last sentence, 8 should tempt. are subject to departing Controlled flight only if read 80. their Movement Allowance is zero or they have not [24.46] Clarification: "Enemy aircraft" should [14.19] Clarification: An aircraft may not launch entered another hex in that Movement Phase and read "Enemy aircraft or ground radar." a Missile if, in its preceding Movement Phase the aircraft has climbed a number of levels less (which occurred on the previous Game-Turn), it [24.54] Clarification: If an aircraft is protected than a sum equal to twice the aircraft's Minimum performed any of the actions which would prevent by a Wild Weasel, it may use either the Wild Throttle Setting. Cannon Combat under the provisions of Case Weasel's or its own ECM for radar jamming, [11.12] Clarifcation: The reduction in Move- 13.19. breaking lock-on, and so forth. ment Allowance required by section (b) may be [14.26] Clarification: Remember that a Missile, [24.56] Omission: The Ranges of Jamming are: counted toward the reduction required by section at the moment it is launched, acquires the same MiG-23CWW: 36 hexes; F-4GWW: 48 hexes; EF- (c). number of Turning and Energy Points that its IIIEWW: 60 hexes; F-lO5GWW: 36 hexes [11.12] Addition: Exception. This Deceleration launching aircraft has. pre-1973 and 48 hexes post-1973. For Arcs of Jam- by Power does not occur in instances ihere it ming, see Case 24.56. [14.36] Clarification: The maneuvers missiles would make it impossible for the aircraft to make perform need not be precisely the same as those [24.71] Omission: The EF-11 IEWW should use a Type 111 Climb (or I1 in the case of aircraft in- which the target aircraft performed, and they need the same table as the F-4GWW. The F-I1 IA, C, capable of Type 111 climbs) at its new Throttle not perform them in the same Movement Phase. D, and E should use the ALQ-87/91 table (ignor- Setting. [14.37] Clarification: A missile in a dive need not ing line 5) prior to 1975 and the ALQ-I 19M table [11.12] Clarification: Note that this automatic increase its Movement Allowance by the Max- thereafter. Deceleration by Power applies only on the Game- imum possible addition (Case 10.42, 2nd para- [25.41] Clarification: The range of 12 hexes does Turn in which an aircraft enters a Pull-Through graph applies here). not include levels of altitude. from a Type 111 (or 11) Climb. In subsequent [15.23] Clarification: This procedure is altered [25.62] Addition: Shrikes or AS-7s may not be Game-Turns in which it begins a Pull-Through, slightly for targets which are at a range that is less only the penalty in Case 11.17 applies; this is not- used against a target unless that target has fired or than six hexes. In such a case, the Target Marker is used its radar at least once in the preceding 20 withstanding the example appended to that Case. not placed four hexes away from the target air- Game-Turns. For Standards and Harms, this [11.13] Correction: Type 111 Dive should read craft, but rather it is placed halfway between the figure is increased to 60and 80 respectively. Type 111 Climb. Minimum Range of the missile (usually the hex [27.0] Clarification: Note that aircrew normally [11.42] Addition: Aircraft should roll four two hexes in front of the firing aircraft) and the target aircraft. Note that Heat-Seeking Missiles eject after their aircraft has been shot down. Those points when completing a Split-S. As with a aircrew who, for some reason, wish to eject before Wingover, there is no additional Movement Point may never be fired at a target at less than two hexes range including altitude. If fired at such a target, having been shot down add 10 Probability cost for this roll. Numbers to their chance of safely ejecting. [11.43] Correction: At the completion of a Split- Heat-Seeking Missiles go ballistic and are lost. S, an aircraft's Flight Altitude Marker is placed in [16.63] Addition: The second part of the first [28.3] Correction: The MiG-23CWW may carry the level flight box of the Flight Altitude In- sentence should read: add three for each hex-point 4 ASM. dicator, just as with a Wingover. turned by the target aircraft (including those turn- (30.211 Currection: MiG's Throttle Settingi~5. ed through Maneuvers); add to the number for the [11.62] Clarification: An aircraft with a Move- [30.34] Clarification: The MiG-21s are C effects of ECM (see Radar Counter Measures, Sec- ment Allowance of one may make an Immelmann, Models. expending that one Movement Point to perform tion 24.0) and subtract the Enemy (non-target) air- craft's Radar Lock-On Strength. (See Case 24.15 [30.35] Players should note that the U.S. Player the maneuver. may arm his Wild Weasel with Shrike ARMS. [11.71] Clarification: An aircraft need not be for an example). rolled in the direction in which it intends to make a [17.12] Correction: "Two pods" should read [33.0] Additions: lateral rudder roll. "one pod." 9. India-Pakistan War(197/),Indiav. Pakistan [11.82] Clarification: The aircraft's Movement [20.0] Clarifcation: Surface-to-Air Missiles may 10. Ogaden War (1977+), Ethiopia v. Somalia Allowance Marker is reduced by one less than the be detected only by Radar Search by aircraft with 11. Egyptian-Libyan Fighting (1977), Egypt v. number of Movement Points as stated on the Air- a Radar Search Strength of 9 or 10. For Radar Libya craft's Flight Parameters. This reduction takes search purposes, the size multiple of all SAMs is place after the aircraft has completed its Move- reduced by 50% (rounding down). Air-to-air [33.1] Corrections: ment. Correction: The Flight Altitude Marker is missiles may never be detected in flight by radar Iran placed two boxes downwards. search. 75- F- 14A Ethiopia C. Missile Launch Phase: MiG's too close - use 111.31 Suggested Changes: Reduce all "Game- 77- MiG-21 (late) the gun. Turns in Type 111 Climb" by 1. Aircraft with a Somalia D. Disadvantaged Aircraft Movement Phase: '6 0 11 may execute the Wingover in the same 76- MiG-21 (late) Game-Turn as they enter a Pull-Through. Vietnam The MiG moves as shown, then has its MA re- 10 May 1965 should be 10 May 1973. duced by 2 and its Altitude by 1 for the maximum Aircraft completing a Wingover are placed in a 133.61 Correction: Corridor chaff pods have for- rate turn. Type 111 climb from which they must pull out ty Game-Turns worth of chaff. E. Advantaged Movement Phase: normally. All Aircraft Performance Charts Correc- I. Acceleration/Deceleration by Power Segment: [11.4] Suggested Changes: Players using the Sug- tion: Flight Parameters Table "Type 111 Dive" None. gested Changes to Chart 9.29 should also use these should Read "Push Through." changes to the Split-S rules. Other than these 2. Flight Attitude Decision Segment: No change. changes, the Split-S rules remain the same. Again, F-86 Sabre Chart Corrections: Turn Mode Table. 3. Acceleration and Deceleration Segment: None. these are non-canonical and experimental. Throttle . Setting should read Movement Allowance. 4. Expenditure of Energy PointsSegment: None. 1. Aircraft which have a "0" listed for their "Turns in Push'Through" on the Flight Para- Acceleration Table. Throttle Allowance should 5. Movement Segment: The F-4E moves as follows: meters chart may go from a Type 111 Dive into a read Throttle Setting. Push-Through, execute a Split-S, and then be put F-5E Chart Correction: Climb Table, LO. The a. He enters hex 1010, (which takes one Move- back in a Type 111 dive all in one Turn. If, how- second 5 should be a 6. ment Point), while simultaneously rolling two ever, the aircraft has a Turning Mode of 2 or 3, it points to the left (which takes no Movement F-18 Chart Correction: Roll Table. 9+ should may be placed in a Type I1 rather than a Type I11 Points) so that it may accumulate Turning Points Dive at the player's option. read4+. at the maximum rate. It then does so, accumu- MiG-27 Chart Correction: Turn Mode Table. lating the Maximum of 15 Turning Points in hex 2. Aircraft with a "I" or more in the "Turns in Throttle Setting should read Movement 1010 (which takes another Movement Point). The Push-Through" on the Flight Parameters Chart Allowance. Turning Marker is adjusted to show 15 turn points must begin that number of Movement Phases in a Push-Through before executing a Split-S. Thus, MiG-25 Chart Clarification: The point Values accumulated to the left. aircraft with a "1" may execute the Push-Through show the Air-Air Point values for the MiG- b. The F-4 enters hex 1009 (one Movement on the first turn the aircraft starts off in a Push- Point) and again accumulates 15 Turning Points 25A/C/D, respectively; the (0) represents the air- Through. ground value of all three. (one Movement Point). The aircraft is now moved 3. Aircraft are placed automatically in the Type F-4 Chart Corrections: F-4E with slats. Use the one hex-point to the left. 111 Dive box after completing a Push-Through and c. Examining the diagram in Case 9.12, the F-4 turn Mode and Maneuver Figures before slashes, must pull out of the dive normally. not after. now enters hex 1008, (one Movement Point) and does not accumulate any Turning Points. 111.61 Suggested Change: Increase all "Game- The F-4s has F-4J electronics. Turns in Type 111 (or 11) Climb before making Im- The F-4J has internal ECM. d. Similarly, he now enters hex 0908 (one melmann" by 2. Movement Point). F-4 acceleration. ML, Throttle Setting of 7 should [11.0] Suggested New Maneuver: be 1. e. Similarly, he now enters hex 0907 (one HORIZONTAL BREAK Movement Point). [11.01] Prerequisites: Tornado Correction: Ceiling should be 260 The F-4E has now expended all seven of his Move- In order to perform a Horizontal Break, the air- F-18 Correction: Ceiling should be 220 ment Points that made up his Movement Allow- craft must have its Wings vertical and be in Level MiG-15 Correction: Acceleration at LO and ance for that turn. As he accumulated Turning Flight or a Dive. Throttle Setting of 3 is 4. Points at the maximum rate with his wings vertical [11.02] Procedures: under Cases 9.54 and 9.55, the F-4's Movement F-86 Correction: Ceiling should be 197 Allowance Marker is reduced to show a Movement Any aircraft attempting a Horizontal Break must Su-7 Correction: Su-7C should read Su-7B Allowance of 5 (Throttle Setting remains un- immediately determine if it departs controlled flight. If it does depart controlled flight, it does MiG-17 Correction: The MiG-17D is also known changed) and the Altitude is reduced by one level not perform a Horizontal Break, but rather fol- as the MiG-17C. to show 49 levels of altitude. lows the Departing controlled Flight Procedure. If Basic Fighter Maneuvers, Fig. 1 Addition: Note Note that now the F-4 is in the MiG's "slot hex." the aircraft does not depart controlled flight, it that the MiG would need to have 5 (or more) Turn- As the F-4E is at one hex range, there is no altitude may accumulate Turning Points at one Turning ing Points already accumulated before moving to difference as the MiG also lost a level and is at 49. Mode less than its normal maximum for that turn one hex point. Note also that after each air- The F-4E has a probability number of 36 (the max- Movement Phase. At the conclusion of the Move- craft moves, its Movement Allowance and Alti- imum, from adding 34 and 9) of hitting the MiG ment Phase, in addition to the Reduction of the tude markers on their Control chart are adjusted with its cannon. GoodbyeMiG. aircraft's MA caused by collecting Turning Points as both aircraft have accumulated Turning Points Note: This example shows the aircraft using the at the Maximum Rate with wings vertical, the MA at the Maximum Rate with their wings banked at a original version of Table 9.29 without the changes is also reduced by the number of Movement Points 90' angle (the only way you can accumulate Turn- recommended in these errata. required for executing a Break. ing Points except in a Type 11 or I11 dive). The MiG [11.03] Postrequisites: has its MA marker reduced by 2 and the F-4 (being an unslatted "D" model) has its Movement The aircraft may not execute another Horizontal Allowance marker reduced by one. (This informa- Suggested Changes: Break until a Game-Turn subsequent to a Game- tion may be found in the Flight Parameters Chart These are not errata as such, but rather changes Turn in which the aircraft accumulated no Turn- of each aircraft). Both aircraft also have their suggested by some very knowledgeable people who ing Points. believe that aircraft turn too fast inAir War. They altitude decreased by one. The MiG ends up at 25 New Scenarios: Fagots of the Fifties levels, the F-4D at 26. See Cases 9.54 and 9.55 and appear to make sense, but I am holding off on note that these reductions are made after each air- making them canonical until we can have further These two scenarios from the 1950s show the MiG- craft moves. (Note that this description is based on playtesting and evaluation. 15 in its heyday, coming out worse for wear the original version of chart 9.29 without the [9.29] Suggested Change: It has been suggested against Americans and Israelis. These scenarios changes recommended in these errata.) that this table is in error and that the right hand are also good for those who prefer the cannon Basic Fighter Maneuvers, Fig. 2 Addition: Note column should be moved up two lines (e.g., so that combats of the 1950s scenarios to the missiles used that both the MiG and the F-4E must lose airspeed now a Turning Mode of 1 is 20 points and a Turn- in later actions. and altitude for turning at their maximum rate as ing Mode of 3 is 10/15 Points. The last two Turn [30.14] Jebel Libni, 31 October, 1956 under Cases 9.54 and 9.55. Modes (17-27 and 28-34) should become 5/0/0/5/0 General Situation: Captain Yankel and his If the F-4 pilot had been a better tactician and less and 5/0/0/5/0/0 respectively. Note that this is wingman were on a ground-support mission when keen on showing how to yo-yo, he might have suggested and has not yet been officially they were jumped by two Egyptian MiG's. Yankel done the following: approved. spotted the lead MiG just as it was slipping in A. Position Determination Phase: The F-4 is ad- [10.3] Correction: Paragraph 3, (b). Increase the behind him. The Ouragons turned hard and the vantaged. Movement Allowance from 3 to 4. Next turn, it MiG went after number 2, but Yankel was able to B. Initiative Determination Phase: The F-4 pilot will increase to 5, trying to "catch up" with the shoot him off his wingman's tail before the second decides to move second. Throttle Setting. MiG could intervene. [conlrnued on page 141 Air.War (continued from po~e101 4. Expenditure of Energy Points Seg- total of 50 Turn Points that turn, 30 of which ment: Not applicable, as we have no Energy were accounted for in turning the F-86 one Move the Turn Indicator 4 boxes to Points. hex-point, and 20 are still accumulated on lo0, physically turn the aircraft to the next In the Movement Segment, we are going the Turn Indicator). hex point (i.e., heading west) and count to demonstrate a maximum-G "hard" turn, "three." one that uses the aircraft's best turn rate. Having done this, the F-86 now must Move the aircraft into hex 1316 and Case 9.51 shows us that an aircraft can pay the costs under rule 9.54 for having made count "four." only turn at its optimum printed Turn Mode such a sharp turn. Its Altitude is reduced by Move the Turning Indicator 4 boxes to (which is 2 for an F-86 at LO altitude with a one level, so its Altitude is adjusted down to 0°, physically turn the aircraft to the next Movement Allowance of 4) if its wings are read 9 instead of 10 levels on the Altitude hexside (i.e., heading northwest) and count rolled at 90". As the Fr86 is already rolled track of the Aircraft and Missile Control "five." End of Game-Turn Fourteen. one point to the right, it is only necessary to Display. Also subject to Case 9.54, the Game-Turn Fifteen. roll it another point (which, so far, costs no Movement Allowance marker is now reduced 1. Acceleration/Deceleration by Power Movement Points) to bring it to a 90° angle. to 2 because the F-86 Flight Parameters Segment: To show how it works, we are now The F-86 now can start to turn at maximum Chart dictates that it will lose 2 Movement going to Decelerate by Power. "Unwind" rate. Points whenever it turns at Maximum rate. the Acceleration Progress marker the max- Move the aircraft forward into hex Note that these can be compensated for be- imum 7 boxes (this information is given on 1215 and count "one." fore the F-86 has to move again by Creeping the Basic Aircraft Information Table). This Move the Turn Indicator marker 5 Acce!eration and, in some circumstances, causes the marker to move backward boxes (25 Turning Points) to the right as the Acceleration by Power. through zero, so take the Throttle Setting F-86 is accumulating Turning Points at a and Movement Allowance markers and Turn Mode of 2. Count "two." In these fifteen turns, we have seen how move them back to 4. Move the aircraft forward into hex an F-86 has accelerated, climbed, performed 2. Flight A ttitude Decision Segment: 11 15 and count "three." a Wingover, and turned. This is just a view of No change. The F-86 will remain in level Move the Turning Indicator marker the many potential moves for an aircraft in flight. another 5 boxes (25 Turning Points) to the Air War. The only limit to what an aircraft 3. Acceleration or Deceleration Seg- right. This means it moves through zero, so can do is how the player/pilot can use its ments: We are not going to accelerate or the F-86 is now facing north-northwest and strengths and weaknesses to emerge victori- decelerate other than by power. has 20 Turn Points accumulated (it gained a ous in air combat.

[continued from page 131 [30.24] The Last Fagot, MiG Alley Optional Rules: 1700,22 July, 1953 Sun Direction: NW Map Arrangement: General Situation: Lt. Sam Young led three north Pilot Capability: One of the MiG pilots (#4) is a A B Sabres of the 51st Fighter Wing into MiG Alley on Novice. a high offensive patrol. They spotted a flight of Egyptian Special Rules: MiG-15's ahead, apparently also on patrol. Lt. Aircrafttypes: twoMiG-15bis ' Young dived in with his flight and blew away one At the start of the scenario, the F-86's are in visual MovementAllowance: 5 of the MiG's. It was the last time the MiG-15 and contact with the.MiG's, but the MiG's are not in Throttle set tin^: 5 F-86 were to clash in the skies over Korea. visual contact with the F-86's and must obtain contact through normal visual search. Only MiG Energy Points: #I 4; #2 2 #I may search. Until the MiG's spot the Sabres; Wings: level Map Arrangement: they must fly straight ahead and in level flight. north Dive/Climb: Type I Dive A B Game Length: 20 Game-Turns Missiles: none C D Victory Conditions: Hexes: #I A0914;#2B0112 U.S.A.F. The U.S.A.F. player must shoot down one more Altitude: #1 56; #2 62 Aircraft types: threeF-86E's aircraft than he loses himself to win. If no aircraft Heading: W are lost or if the Chinese shoot down. an amount Movement Allowance: 4 Israeli equal to or greater than the number they lose, the Throttle Setting: 4 Chinese player wins. Aircraft types: two Ouragons Energy Points: 0 Movement Allowance: 3 A Few Final Notes Acceleration Points: 0 Throttle Setting: 3 [10.5] Correction: Third Paragraph, fourth line: Wings: level Energy Points: 0 "one Movement Point" should be "No Move- Dive/Climb: Level Flight ment Points." Fifth Paragraph, fifth line: "two Acceleration Points: 0 Missiles: none different kinds" should read "one kind." Wings: level Hexes: #I D0305; #2 D0107; #3 DO507 pl.231 Addition: If a Turkey attempts the Dive/Climb: Level Flight Altitude: #I 140; #2 139; #3 141 following maneuvers: a Wingover, Immelmann, Missiles: none Heading: N Lateral Rudder Roll, Vertical Break, or Barrel Hexes: # 1 A0213; #2 A021 1 Roll, he must roll two dice, with a Probability Chinese Altitude: 52 number of 7 of immediately departing controlled Aircraft types: four MLG-15bis's flight. If a Novice attempts a Vertical Break or Heading: W Movement Allowance: 4 Lateral Rudder Roll, he has a Probability number Optional Rules: of 3 of immediately departing controlled flight. Throttle Setting: 4 Sun Direction: E Energy Points: 0 p1.241 A Novice has the Turn Mode of his air- Game Length: 15 Game-Turns craft increase by one (e.g., a Turn Mode of 3 is Acceleration Points: 0 treated as a Turn Mode of 4). A Turkey has his Wings: level Turn Mode increased by two. Novices also have all Dive/Climb: Level Flight Game-Turns expressed in the Flight Parameters Victory Conditions: Missiles: none table increased by one Game-Turn. Turkeys have The player to destroy more aircraft wins. If no air- them increased by two Game-Turns. Hexes: #lB0411;#2BO512;#3B0314;#4A1114 craft are destroyed, the Egyptian player wins if he has fired his cannon at Israeli aircraft at least three Altitude: 130 Aircraft and Missile Control Charts: Clarifica- times. Any other circumstances are a draw. Heading: E tion: All speeds are in Knots calibrated Air Speed. Opening MO VES [continuedfrom paye 31 things to say on that tiny square of card- the graphic arts, but to all art forms (includ- telligent gamer and I assume his views to be board. . . such as historical designations. ing game design). representative of more than his own personal In many cases my design options are ex- There is a notable lack of informed criti- peeves). tremely limited by what the developer/de- cism in our hobby (to which I spoke in an ear- It's a very human trait to concentrate on signer hands me as the final map or counter lier Opening MOVES). This lack will only be extremes, remember only the very bad or set. I don't have infinite power to change ar- filled by time and the expansion of our do- very good, and to overstate the case when bitrarily the content and presentation of the main. The more people and energy that enter criticizing an artist you wish to influence. game data. There's little one can do with a the wargaming universe, the more likely it is The very fact that I've designed more maps map for a game like Frigate or Air War. You that critics of real power will appear. When and counters than all other folk combined can't put historical information on counters such a day dawns, I don't automatically ex- leaves me open to (justifiable) criticism in for a game like Patrol or any game in which pect my body of work to be uniformly any number of specific cases. The previous the designers (historians) have decided to use praised. Every artist, whether he admits to it anonymous "change" style counters. statement, by the way, is not braggadoccio, or not, is well aware of the turkeys he has it's a plain truth that I wish to emphasize in What I will admit to is that I like game publicly birthed. The commercial artist also order to perhaps broaden Tom's (and oth- components to be practical and useful. If a knows that these turkeys will be around to er's) perspective on what I do here at Strange game is complex, I encourage the developer gobble at him for a relative eternity (he can't People, Incorporated. to simplify it as much as possible without af- buy up his bad old canvasses as some egotisti- Tom (and others) may have misunder- fecting the simulational/functional aspects. cal painters do). stood the remark I made about caring less But that's not anything like de-emphasizing I confessed at the start of this column about "the subject and historical lesson of a the historicity of a game. When it comes to that it was an exercise in artistic defen- game." That was said in an introduction to color use, I believe in a harmonious middle- siveness. I am aware that one never wins such an article which attempted to analyze, in an key color scheme. Using bright colors on public debates. One inevitably get hooted at academic manner, the difference between maps simply to use bright colors is childish. in the next wave of letters. Any number of history-oriented gamers and play-oriented If one makes everything bright, then by com- these letters will take a single statement from gamers. Tom takes this out of context and parison nothing is bright - it's just garish. this column and rant on about it out of con- beats me over the head with it. I meant to Color should be used to separate and empha- text. Others will completely misread it and point out that my tastes in gaming are catho- size important features - not just to put lip- become indignant themselves. Still others lic (with perhaps the exclusion of tactical stick on apretty face that doesn't need it. will make valid and incisive judgments about games) - no particular period in history has As may be the case, Tom perceptively it based upon what I actually didsay. my allegiance. Also, I don't consider myself indicates that his taste may be in the minority One must, however, bite back once in a an historian although I have a more than (however significant). In point of fact, the while if for no other reason than to keep average interest in history. And I'm primari- whole gaming audience is a collection of one's morale up. As you might suspect, most ly interested in how well a game plays not minorities. There is no one approach that I of the mail I get is critical. This is true of how well it demonstrates some historical ob- could use that would satisfy everyone all the anyone with any sort of "public" - 1 don't ject lesson. time. I get letters screaming for the use of feel I'm being singled out in the way these It would be well to point out here who is more silhouettes and letters damning the use things operate. And even though I know in- responsible for what when it comes to order thereof. I've run Feedback questions on this tellectually that many of you basically ap- of battle information and geographic and and other facets of design and the results are prove of what 1 do, nevertheless an occasion- historical map information. Many people almost always debatable. It is my responsibil- al emotional counterreaction to the negative out in gameland (apparently including Tom, ity to attempt to respond to the various de- comments I hear is necessary for me as an ar- who I thought knew better) believe that Red- sires of my audience. It is my perogative to tist. In the community of graphic artists, my mond A. Simonsen summons the game maps establish personal standards and a style that I work speaks for itself and requires no written and counter OB's out of the Dark Universe can conscience. It is my duty to produce defense. Other gaming artists accept or reject as is his wont and whim. That just ain't so, work that is commercially viable. The syn- my work by the degree to which they incor- fellas. The game designer and developer are thesis of these three factors results in the porate it or synthesize it in their own. Never- responsible for what kind of terrain and what body of work I've accomplished over the theless, when one is subject to written jibes sort of labels get put on the map. Those guys past seven years. from an essentially non-art audience, one (the historians, Tom) do the sketch map There is a saying amongst artists to the may respond in kind (if one is lucky enough from which the final art is done (we literally effect that "everyone is an Art Director" to be an Editor as well as an Art Director). trace right off the sketch map). So if you referring to the frequent experience of Art If you care to, carefully read my Rela- think there should be more types of terrain in Directors having everyone, regardless of tive Color/Flavor Index in this column and War in Europe, see Tom Walczyk, not the qualifications, telling them what's good or note how much you agree or disagree with it Art Director. Or if you object to the spellings bad about their work or how it should be under the criteria previously described of the place names in same (as one twit did in done. It's often the very same people who (remembering to use the two benchmark a fanzine) see Mr. Walcyzk, et al. rather than decry the purported lapses of historical ex- games as a standard) and then answer the your 'umble servant 'ere. pertise in SPI's (and other publishers) games, pertinent feedback questions in this issue By the same token, whether or not who are quick on the trigger when it comes to (and write to me, of course - I always read counters have designations (or how accurate making sweeping criticisms of an area in everything you send me whether filled with they are) is the province of the designer and which they have no expertise themselves: i.e., praise or scorn). developer. The only input I have is whether graphic art. Final personal note to Tom Oleson, or not such information will fit on the Tom is not guilty of such presumption in whose letter inspired this diatribe: Your letter counter (they are small things, you know) his main thrust simply because he points to a only touched me off, Tom - much of this and how it is arranged. Perhaps four or more personal craving on a personal basis. He column is a reaction to other letters that years ago, when we had more limited typeset- drifts in this direction only when he gener- make yours seem a thoughtful song of praise ting resources, I would discourage the inclu- alizes his taste to that of a significant minori- by comparison. Only the fact that I know sion of extraneous designations because they ty. As the saying goes, "everyone's en- you to be a man of taste and intelligence pro- were so much work to do by hand (using titled.. . "; everyone has a preserve of per- vided me with a reasonable basis on which to transfer type). One thing I still do (which sonal opinion which no one has the right to use your comments as a springboard. All the may irk you) is eliminate unit size designa- discount. What is subject to discounting is best to you - and all the readers*. tions when all the units are the same size. when the unqualified presume to criticize an - Redmond Makes no sense to me to say "battalion" artist's work as if they were spokesmen for *and Ettore Bugatti, one of my favorite 1600 times when you've got more important an informed esthetic. This applies not only to automotive designers. GAME PROFILE & REb SPACE OPERA And SheOperettas, Too! by Phil Kosnett

Science fiction purist that I am, I am never- territory does little for the Imperium's receive reinforcements from another pro- theless glad to see that the family of science economy. vince; a new Emperor's succession may lead fictionlscience-fantasy games (by all pub- The RU's (or megacredits, or whatever to Civil War, again affecting the budget - lishers) has grown large enough to create the science fictional term you like) are used to but the player may elect to throw in with one sub-genre of wargaming that we now enjoy build a wide variety of ships, from scouts at side or the other, gaining or losing budget (or despise, if you are one of those who gags one RU up to battleships at 20. There are also and ships. The player may choose to appeal on sf).Even though many of the new games maintenance costs for ships, and the expen- to the Emperor for additional funding(that's are at odds with my conception of what sive craft cost a lot to keep up. Then you can defined as money that the government gets science fiction ought to be, the inevitable outfit new expeditions to form outposts, its hands on) or permission to build capital energy that they inject into the sub-genre build transport vessels, planetary defense ships. The six-sided Emperor may in turn can't help but eventually produce a few that forces, troops, jump troops (who land from grant the request or refuse to listen to any ad- meet my narrow criteria. - RAS orbit without ships; see Starship Troopers), ditional requests. In either case the Governor and tankers -which are needed to fuel ships loses Glory. Once in a while a science fiction story is leaving one of the two systems without a gas Glory is lost or gained by the loss or con- written that takes a traditional theme, one giant "hydrogen pump." Now, it just hap- quest of worlds and outposts. When the seemingly done to death by earlier stories, pens one of those systems is the most fought Glory index reaches a certain point, one side and introduces a fresh angle that gives the over no-being's-land on the map. If your sues for peace. The players then have a subject a whole new dimension, Sometimes tanker is destroyed, your whole starfleet gets random-length period of peace, which they this happens in wargames. It just happened to hang around until a new one is built and use to furiously rebuild while the fleets they in both. brought over. Assuming the enemy hasn't already had fall apart through disuse. Then Game Designer's Workshop's Im- ended the war. the loser starts another war. You see, you can perium is a strategic space game of conflict play a war in an hour or two, but the real fun between the young, strong, cocky, aggressive And since we have this wonderful array is in the campaigns, which can easily last Terrans (John W. Campbell would have of ships, we have a nice tactical combat twenty or more wars, and a few weeks of on- loved this game) and the somewhat sedentary system that resolves each battle in a few off play. This is where long-range planning and decadent Imperium which controls minutes while providing a "feel" of tactical comes in, especially for the Terran. He gets much of nearby space. The humans are ex- maneuver. Combat is by beam and missile. no victory points for colonizing empty panding at the expense of the Imperium, Missiles have higher range but beams are systems, but a couple of wars later the col- which responds by attempting to crush the stronger, so if the beam ships survive missile onies break even and start boosting the humans. The object of the game is simply to fire they'll likely finish off the missile ships. economy. (There's even an optional rule for wipe out the other side and conquer every If they survive. Then there are ships with terraforming secondary systems, which sup- star system on the map, which covers quite a both beams and missiles; monitors - which port outposts, to primary systems which sup- bit of space - 14 parsecs by 12. have the best weaponry and the strongest port rich worlds. It takes 50 turns and a good Each Game-Turn is two years. Move- shields, but no jump engines; fighter deal of resources. The point of the rule, ment is unlimited, so long as your ships are squadrons, which are strong and cheap, but naturally, is for the enemy to shove a task making hyperspace jumps between systems must be carried in weak and expensive force through around turn 48 and blow the on a jump route. Many systems are not con- motherships. Some ships can only be built by outpost to hell, ruining that huge in- nected, so you have to either go directly at one race. Then there are high intensity vestment.) The campaign ends when you've 99% of lightspeed (one hex per turn) or jump missile runs and suicide attacks. cleared the map of enemy forces. It may take through other systems until you arrive at The tactical feel is there in planetary quite a while. your destination. But if you jump into a assault, too. Ships fire missiles at the planet; This game is enormous fun, a big part of system with enemy warships, you have to planetary defenses fire back; jump troops which is provided by the flavorful graphics. fight a battle before moving on. The jump jump; regular troops land in transports (no, The cover painting is an unabashed knockoff routes are constructed so there are basically they don't; not if anybody's firing at their tin of Star Wars. The map is pretty, black and two paths between Terran and Imperium shields) or battleships; the defending troops green and red and white and yellow. The space. Not that this limits strategy in any hit the worldheads; the attackers break out extralarge counters are black on red and way. This is a game with unlimited worlds. and pacify the planet - this is all resolved by white on red for the Imperium; black on For starters, the Imperium player has a a few die rolls, but it feels good. It's done se- blue, white on blue, white on green, and certain leeway about his initial placement. quentially, with the different units joining black on green for the Terrans. The ship He can develop worlds and outposts the battle in turn. It feels tactical. silhouettes are wonderfully detailed. The clustered tightly around the provincial In most of these big strategic games, the GDW staff couldn't refuse a few jokes, of capital, Gashida, or place his holdings in player is the Galactic Overlord, making all course. One of the Imperial fighters is a more extended fashion to try to box in the the decisions for a race. Not in Imperium. sinister black. The insignia of the Terran 7th Terrans, who hold only a few systems around Well, yes, for the Terran player; he gets to Jump Troop Brigade is a six-pointed star, Sol at the start of the game. Then there is walk around in a black cape and a Samurai not five like its brethern. And the planet production. The Terran gets his Resource helmet and talk like James Earl Jones. But Remulak has mysteriously appeared (in Units from his planets and outposts. The Im- the Imperium Player is but a lowly provincial response to the Akroid (sic) and Belushi class perium Player, representing only a provincial governor, tied to random events tables. The destroyers in Battleline's Alpha-Omega, I'm governor, gets the bulk of his from the Im- Imperial economy may boom or depress, af- told). Other systems are named traditionally perial government off-map. Thus the Terran fecting his budget; a crisis in another sector (Tau Ceti), given Nivenesque colonist's has a greater motive to expand, since adding may force him to detach ships; he may names (Inferno, Midway), or given Imperial names suspiciously identical to ancient As a game, it is limited by its size and the that MetaGaming stop producing micros, Sumerian (Gashida, Enki Kalamma). One IS length of its rules. The jump route system is only that they get some big games out, too. named after an SPI employee. the same, though not as fast relative to Currently there are about six unpublished Problems: A few things I would have sublight movement in Imperium. The map micros and only two full-sized games on the done differently, but those are hardly prob- covers a fictional cluster (again with Babylo- line, as reported in Space Gamer. lems, just differences in viewpoint. The rules nian and Sumerian names, coincidentally) Star-Smashers of the Biloxi Rangers! are quite short and, as usual for GDW, some and the players start at opposite ends of the The latest SF from Lou Zocchi is Space points are murky. A little unofficial errata maps. Victory is simple; smear the enemy Patrol, a 28-page rules booklet not unlike from a telephone call with designer Marc and take his worlds. Players receive Build Traveller. Well, there are a couple of things. Miller follows. Points and construct their own ships; ship It has an outrageously campy cover - a 1. High Intensity Missile Attacks may characteristics are Power/Drive, Warp square-jawed, helmeted Anglo-Saxon not be made in Planetary Bombardment. Generator, Beams, Screens, Missiles, Missile blasting a green, antennaed BEM which This makes it harder to take worlds. Tubes, and Racks. Ships without Warp holds a nubile young wench in its tentacles - 2. A friendly Outpost in a captured Generators must be carried between stars on and a lot of distractingly mediocre line draw- enemy Primary System becomes a friendly other ships' Racks, but they are very cheap. ings within. The rules are typed, not set, World after five turns of Peace, only if the The movement rules are almost the same as though usually clear enough. The game itself enemy World in the system is held or in Imperium. One thing puzzles me - the is more combat oriented than Traveller and neutralized. warplines are used to jump instantaneously Metamorphosis Alpha, its competition. 3. A beam ship may be used to screen a between stars, but a warpline can be blocked Basic characteristics are Strength, Dexterity, friendly transport or tanker in a missile fire by placing a ship on it - but the warpline is Luck, Constitution, Charisma, and Mentali- round, even though it may not fire. only a guideline; a jumping ship shouldn't be ty - learning ability, not intelligence per se. 4. Enemy ship types cannot be copied. stopped in a hex it isn't entering. (Huh?) There is a random generation table for aliens One Imperium monitor is supplied with Ter- Combat is by beam or missile against (you might roll for a hermaphrodite wheeled ran monitor strengths. This was an error in shield, just likezmperium. The big difference reptile - with precognition and a commis- production, but you can use the ship anyway. is that the Combat Results Table is a matrix sion). Rules for gravity, equipment, move- 5. Regular troops can assault a world or of options (attack, dodge, retreat) chosen by ment, learning, personal combat, finding ar- outpost by landing in a ship, which may players, modified by speed differences. tifacts, replacing damaged cyborg parts, and undergo fire from planetary defenses. There is no die roll. The matrix determines a lot of charts and tables: There's not as 6. The Imperial Intervention Table runs hits, and damage is determined by the dif- much information as in Traveller(notablyno from 2 to 15. Die roll modifiers apply in Civil ferential between weapon and shields. That's spaceships, though this game does have War procedure. pretty much the game. It isn'J that it's bad; it aliens - which Traveller won't have until its 7. One stack may move and stop, a se- isn't. It can be fun. But next to Imperium it next supplement), but what is there is simple cond friendly stack may move, and the first really looks sad. There's so little there, enough to handle. The game master will have stack may move again. physically and in terms of game. to come up with a lot of his own answers. At 8. Ships can avoid combat by sitting on Microgame number 5, Rivets, is similar. $5, it is half the price of Traveller - but a planet surface, but they are vulnerable to It's a comedy game, where everybody's dead nowhere near half the information, half the normal planetary bombardment. but the robot factories are still churning out physical quality, or half the fun. (Footnote: 9. Monitors may not move during cretinous robot fighters called there's a short appendix which fits the game peace, not even at sublight velocity. They B.0.P.P.E.R.s - Battlefield Oriented Pre- into Star Wars; just saying which weapons must remain in the hex they occupied at the Programmed Eradicator Robots. See, when and armor listed earlier correspond to Storm end of the last war, unless eliminated the USA and CCCP were wasting each other Trooper gear, discussing the Force as a fac- through attrition. with OGRES (see MOVES 33) the Third tor of psionic powers covered by the charts. Also, my map is horribly warped. Marc World nations were wasting their economies Lou can get away with this; Gamescience is says they've fixed the problem with the buying armies of these little devils. There's too small to sue. If SPI or GDW tried it there mounted map. an autogyro called the Dive Bopper, and a would be trouble.) $5 from Gamescience, I liked this game. I wasn't particularly heavy unit called the Big Bopper, and a light 7604 Newton Drive, Biloxi, Miss, 39532. impressed by what I heard about it, but when recon unit called the (gasp) Teeny Bopper. Designed by Michael Scott Kurtick and I played it I changed my mind immediately. The artwork is breathtakingly silly (as it is in- Rockland Russo. And there are so many options, every game is tended), as is the game. The unique twist is An interesting comment from Lou: different. It may not be a giant leap forward that each Bopper type (there are six) is pro- "Kurtick assures me that role playing in simulation theory, but it's a lot of fun. On- grammed to attack only one type of enemy games must be written with a maximum ly $11.98 from GDW, 201 North Street, Nor- Bopper - we said they were stupid. The of chrome and asides, because this is the mal Illinois 61761. Or Conflict Game Com- player, representing the factory, builds and only acceptable format for role playing pany, 201 Broadway, Normal Illinois 61761. programs his mix. Afterward, Boppers can rules ... I thought Taurus had been given (See, the building's on a corner, and they get be reprogrammed only by being recalled to some very bad reviews because they spent their mail through both doors, and they own the factory. This was fun the first two times, too much time telling the rationale for the both companies. Honest!) but the novelty wore off pretty quickly. Also, rule, instead of just telling the rule. Why Warpwar is a recent $2.95 microgame you can only read the same jokes in the rule this procedure can be damned for WWII from Metagaming. It deals with many of the book so many times. Design by Robert games, but blessed as the only solution for same concepts as Imperium but is less suc- Taylor. WarpWar design by Howard role playing games, is something I cannot cessful on all counts. The micros are all Thompson. Box 15346. AustinTX 78761. understand. " graphically primitive; this one has a drab The microgames are selling quite well black on blue 7" x 14" mapsheet and 56 strip- for MetaGaming, allowing a vast expansion cut white and blue counters with nice very quickly. I'm very happy about this, but silhouettes. The small 20 page rules booklet also a little worried. The first few micros got Correction: has a four-color cover. Now, art is subjec- away with being physically primitive and Last issue's column erroneously refer- tive, but I think this poorly drawn, garish essentially skeletal games because they're so red to Starship Troopers' author as "RAS." battle painting is less attractive than the much fun to play. Warpwar and Rivets, in That's RAH, Robert A. Heinlein. The black and white covers of Imperium or Star- my view, fall short. They willbe compared to typesetter thought I meant Simonsen, I Force, done by better artists. MetaGaming is bigger, more expensive games, games like wasn't suggesting that Heinlein and counting on four-color covers to attract at- Imperium that have so much more to offer Simonsen have anything in common [except tention, and I guess this one will do it. the eye and the brain. I am not suggesting ourfirst two initials - RAS]. SCENARIOS 8 VARIANTS JUST ADD WA TERM== Navd Rules for Constantinople by Richard Berg

Sometimes an S8T game design takes on a [3.2] (addition) Naval units have strengths for [4.0] (addition, add at beginning of Sequence of life of its own and inevitably grows beyond Ramming and Melee, as well as movement capa- play) bilities. the parameters of the issue. Happily, in this 1. The Naval Phase [3.22] (addition) case, that which filled the bag too full was a A. Wind Determination Segment: Players completely independent sub-system of the FRONT Ram determine the wind direction and game in question. To make the counters, Strength velocity. Both are rolled for on the first Xerox the art below, color with pencils or Melee Impulse of each Naval Phase only. magic markers, and carefully double mount Strength NAVAL IMPULSE (Segments B through E) them on good cardboard. Note that the art is B. Initiative Segment: Players roll to arranged for backing up along the vertical determine who moves first in each Im- Oar Cruise axis. Got that? - RAS Speed pulse. High roll goes first. Maximum C. First Player Movement Segment: The Oar Ram Player denoted in Segment B to move As originally designed, Constantinople Speed first moves his ships according to the included a rather long and detailed naval Maximum rules for such. Attempts to Ram occur game. For a variety of reasons - all given in BACK in this segment. the body of the rules specific in the issue - D. Second Player Movement Segment: the naval game was excised. For those gamers The Second Player moves his ships, as interested in this aspect of the siege, as well as per Segment C. those history buffs desirous of having a com- Galley E. Mutual Combat Segment: Players plete picture, we are herewith publishing engage in combat engendered by 4/7-10 Segments C-D. Ships sunk are removed complete rules for the naval actions that took from play. Segments B through E are place at the siege. In addition, sample repeated a maximum of five times, each counters are printed for the naval units. segment being an Impulse. Players may, by mutual agreement, use fewer Additions to the Game-Map than five Impulses, but never more. The hexes comprising the coast along [3.33] (addition) The Wind Direction Table, the the seaward walls are dotted with shoals and Wind Velocity Table, The Naval Melee Combat [5.17] (addition) Begin line 6 "...combat unit, reefs. These are represented on the game- Results Table and the Ramming Table. there is a sea assault, or Game-Turn 15, whichever map by numbers, which correspond to the [3.4] (addition) As for the ships, each Byzantine comes first. See Case 1.13 for details ..." shoals and are covered in Case 15.53. naval counters equals 3-4 galleys. Each Ottoman naval "step" is the equivalent of 5-7 galleys, [5.39] (addition) Naval units may enter coastal Number Hexes triremes, biremes, fustae and parandaria (troop hexes of Galata, even if they are transporting land 2 3334 barges). units, but they may not land such units in Galata. 3 2234, 2133, 2132, 2131,1119, 1018, 0124,0114.0113 OTTOMAN UNITC (Front) OTTOMAN UNITS (Back) 4 3335, 3235, 3136, 3036, 2937, 2837, 2435, 2335, 2233, 2029, 1926, 1724, 44C 44C 22C 2 2 C 1723, 1622, 1522, 1521, 1420, 1320, Galley Galley Galley Galley 1219, 0918, 0818, 0718, 0617, 0517, 4/7.10 4/7.10 4/7.10 4/7-10 0315 5 2737, 2636, 2536, 2028, 2027, 2026, 33B 33B 22B 2 2 B 03 16 Trireme Trireme Trireme Trireme Trireme Trireme In addition, The Gate of the Lighthouse 5/8-12 5/8.12 5/8.10 5/8.10 (2536) and Gate of the Contoscalion (2129) f23B 23B 238 238 238 12B 12B 12B 12B112B are missing and should be drawn on the map. Bireme Bireme Bireme / Bireme 1 Bireme 1 I Bireme I Bireme / Bireme 1 Bireme Bireme 6/812 , 6/8-12 6/8-12 6/8.12 6/8-12 6/8.12 6/8.12 6/8.12 6/8-12 1 6/8.12 Counters The counters at right have been pro- 12A 12A vided to accompany the Naval rules. Players Fustae I Fustae 6/9.12 6/9-12 may wish to mount the cut-out units on card- board to facilitate play. Players should note that all Byzantine Naval units are galleys. Fustae 6/9-12

[2.0] (addition after the eighth line). First, the SOD SOD 10D 10D Players undertake Naval Movement and Combat, BYZANTINE UNITS- re r Crete BYZANTINE UNIiS one Player moving his ships before the other 1 1 1 (Front) 1 1 - 0/032 1 0/032 o/o-12 010-12 1 (Back) player, after which there is a mutual Naval Com- 1 bat Phase. This segment is repeated five times 80D 70D 70D 60D 60D l6D 20D 20D 20D ("impulses") to create one complete Naval Phase. a a Vie mpr / rnpr mprl mpr Venice Genoa Genoa (The Naval Phase is used only in the Campaign 1 1 1 1 I I / I 1 I I 0/0.12 0/0.12 0/032 0/032 0/032 0/032 010-12 0/0.12 0/0*12 0/032 Game). After the Naval Phase ... [6.12] (addition) Naval units do not exert a ZOC, [13.2] THE NAVAL UNITS must move one hexside; e.g., to change three hex- nor are they affected by Land units' ZOCs. sides it must move three hexes, adjusting 60" for The counters for the naval units represent a wide each new hex entered. An oar-driven vessel may 17.161 (addition at end of line 3) ... or get their variety of vessels, both sail and oar. They do not change direction after using its last Movement navy into the Golden Horn and use it as a represent individual ships (while the Byzantines Point. There is no cost to change facing (see Cases transport. They may embark on ships and assault had only 30 or so galleys the Ottomans had up to 14.26and 15.1). the Seaward Walls. 400 ships of all kinds!); rather they represent [7.32] (addition in 2nd line, after "on land") This groupings of ships with ratings based on capabili- [14.14] There are no Zones of Control in Naval includes land units transported to the southern ties, training, and general seamanship. However, Movement or Combat; furthermore, naval units shore of the Golden Horn or landed by Naval an attempt has been made within the game system never affect land units and vice-versa, with the ex- Assault on the Seaward Walls. See 15.5. to give the Naval Portion of the game a sort of tac- ception that no Friendly land unit may ever enter a [7.44] (addition at end of paragraph) Units that tical, ship-to-ship feel. Players should note that hex with an Enemy naval unit - and vice versa may retreat to Ottoman ships may do so, but Ottoman Naval units have reduced strengths on (but seecase 14.15). Players must remember that only one unit may be their reverse side, much the same as land combat 114.151 A Friendly naval unit may move through transported per ship. units. Byzantine ships' counters have a reverse side an Enemy-occupied sea hex under certain condi- but it is not a reduced strength; it represents a r8.261 (addition) Fire Combat does not affect tions. For the Friendly unit to so move it must naval units or land units being transported by reduced crew level when the sailors are removed enter the hex through a hexside toward which naval units. for land duty (see Section 16.0). either the bow or the stern of the Enemy unit is fac- ing. It may not move through a hexside toward [10.16] (addition) Artillery units may not be which an Enemy starboard or port side is facing. transported by ship. Furthermore, the Friendly unit may not remain in [11.41] (rewrite) On the Game-Turn after the Ot- [14.0] NAVAL MOVEMENT such hex and must leave through a hexside toward toman Player places at least five naval units in the which an Enemy bow or stern is pointing (see Case Golden Horn at the same instant, he may assume GENERAL RULE: 15.1). that there is a bridge between Pera and the Bla- Naval units may move either by sail or by oar. chernae Assault Area. Some ships may move by both, switching between the two propulsion modes at the owning Player's discretion. In general, naval units move only Bireme [13.0] THE NAVAL GAME through sea hexes. They pay a cost of one Move- 6/8-12 ment Point (or two under certain circumstances) to COMMENTARY: enter any sea hex and they may pay a cost for The naval portion of Constantinople is somewhat maneuvering (turning), dependent on the form of unusual in that it runs independent of but (ab- propulsion. All Byzantine naval units are galleys; stractly) concurrently with the land portion of the they are all sail-propelled. None are equipped with lmprl siege. By that, we mean that the naval game is on- oars. The Ottoman Player has a polyglot collec- going, while the land game is divided into alternate tion of galleys, triremes and biremes, and the periods of bombardment and assault. In the land lighter vesels called fustae. The Ottomans use both game the combat units retire at the end of an sail and oar. ANo wed Not Allowed assault period; in the naval game the ships remain Numerically, the Byzantines were outnumbered by [14.16] Oar-driven vessels have two speeds: Cruis- in place until the next Naval Phase. Unlike the the Ottomans almost 15 to 1, but the seamen in the ing Speed and Battle, or Ramming, Speed. Both land game the Naval Phase is divided intofive Im- service of the Imperial Navy, the best of which speeds are maximums; the Player - as in land pulses in which four Segments of the sequence of were the Genoese and the Venetians, as well as the movement - is never required to use the full the Naval Phase is repeated five times (see Se- excellence of their huge galleys, more than made Movement Allowance when moving his vessels by quence of Play, Case 4.1). Thus there are five indi- up the difference. vidual "turns" within one full Naval Phase, oar. Normally a Player will use his Cruising Speed although by mutual agreement the Players may use CASES: when moving his vessels, and he is thus limited to less than five (e.g., if neither side wishes to move the maximum allowance at that speed. However, that Phase-"turn"). And while the naval game is [14.1] OAR PROPULSION he may shift to Battle Speed at any time, within somewhat independent of the land game it does af- NAVAL MOVEMENT certain restrictions (see Case 14.17), and thus in- fect the outcome of the siege simply because the [14.11] Those naval units with Oar Movement crease his speed. Battle Speed is voluntary with the city can be assaulted from the sea, and, further- Allowances (see Sample Units, Case 3.21) are exception that the vessel must be in Battle Speed more, because possession of the Golden Horn is a capable of moving by oar. Naval units move from when Ramming. key to victory. There are rules for eliminating the one hex to another, in a manner similar to land [14.17] An oar-driven vessel may not use Battle naval portion of the game for Players who wish to units moving on land. However, naval units may Speed two Movement Segments in a row. Further- play a faster game. See Section 19.0 for details. enter only all-sea or partial-sea (coastal) hexes (see more, a vessel using Battle Speed has a Cruising Case 15.53). They may never cross an all-land hex- Speed of one in the Segment after the use of Bat- CASES: side (exception: see Case 17.1). Furthermore, each tle Speed - even if that Segment is in the next [13.1] THE GENERAL COURSE OF all-sea or partial-sea hex costs only one Movement Game-Turn! THE NAVAL GAME Point to enter (exception: see Case 14.24). [14.18] Certain Ottoman vessels have the use of At the beginning of each Naval Phase the Players [14.12] Naval units are always faced in a specific both oar and sail. These vessels may change mode determine the Wind Speed and Direction (the direction. The top of the counter must always face of propulsion in any Movement Segment. To Wind Direction at the beginning of the game is toward a specific hexside. It may never face - or change from oar to sail the vessel may move no North - blowing North to South; its Speed is in- point to - a junction of two hexsides. more than one hex (in oar &ode) that Segment. itially eight). Each Player then rolls a die; the high The next Segment the vessel is considered to be us- die goes first for that Impulse. Thus, a Player ing sail and moves under the rules for sail propul- could move his units twice in a row, if the die-rolls sion with an initial Sail Speed of one. To change so indicated. The first Player moves his vessels, from sail to oar the ship may not have moved more followed by the second Player. There is no combat than three hexes in the previous Movement Seg- during Naval Movement, with the exception that ment. Ramming takes place during Naval Movement. [14.19] Only one naval vessel is permitted per hex, After both Players have completed Naval Move- with the exception during movement of Case ment there is a mutual Combat Phase, with com- Correct Incorrect 14.15. Furthermore, Ottoman naval units may an- bat taking place simultaneously. The entire se- chor at the Double Columns, hex 3931, by placing quence, from Initiative Determination to Combat 114.131 Naval units (oar or sail) must always move as many Ottoman naval units as the Ottoman Phase is then repeated four more times until five into the hex toward which they are facing. Oar- Player wishes in that one hex. Such units at anchor Impulses - five repetitions of the Sequence - driven vessels may only change facing 60" - or may never be attacked. have been completed, or the Players stop by one hexside - for each hex they move. Oar-driven mutual agreement. The vessels are left where they vessels must move one hex before changing direc- [14.2] SAIL NAVAL MOVEMENT stand at the end of five Impulses and play proceeds tion (one hexside). Thus for each 60" or hexside an All movement under sail encounters two particular to the land game. oar-driven vessel wishes to change direction it problems: momentum, which, in general, means that sail-driven ships tend to keep moving at the hexsides in a single hex; they must advance at least tion (see Case 14.22). A sail or oar vessel that rate of the wind; and Wind Direction, which can one hex further before making another turn. leaves the map - for whatever reason - is treated dictate the speed and maneuverability of a vessel. When a sail vessel changes facing by two hexes exactly as a sail vessel that has Run Aground. [14.21] Each naval unit using sail has a given (120°), it may not change facing past a hexside [14.28] Sail ships (and oar ships using Sail movement capability for that Impulse. This is the through which the ship would be sailing directly at Movement) are not capable of Ramming. number of Movement Points it must expend dur- the wind. Example: Wind Direction is North (North to South). A sail vessel in hex 1539 is facing [14.29] In the event that the Wind Velocity is ing that Impulse. Acceleration and Deceleration Storm, all ships (sail or oar) in the Golden Horn or (see Case 14.22) may change this capability, but toward hex 1639 (Sailing on the Wind). The sail vessel could not turn two hexes (120") to face at anchor (i.e., in a coastal hex with a "0" move- the capability for that Impulse must be used in its ment rate) may not move that Game-Turn. For entirety. Movement capability is usually dictated toward hex 1538, because the sail vessel would have to face hex 1638 (which would face the sail ships at sea (in the Sea of Marmora) the owning by Wind Direction and Velocity. Ships entering Player rolls a die for each ship unit. If the owning the game at sea (using sail movement) enter the vessel in the opposite direction of the wind) before it could face toward hex 1538. The sail vessel Player rolls a six for a given ship unit that unit is map with a movement capability equivalent to the eliminated, along with any passengers. For all Wind Velocity for that Game-Turn. Ships starting could, however, turn to face hex 1439, if the own- ing Player so wished. other numbers (i.e., 1 through 5), the Ottoman from "anchor" (thus with azero Movement Capa- Player returns his ships to the Double Columns bility) obey the rules for Acceleration. WIND FROM THE NORTH (hex 3931); the Byzantine Player places his ships in [14.22] A Player may elect to increase or decrease either the Harbor of Eleutheris (hexes 1823, 1924, the Movement Capability of his sail vessels (Ac- etc.), hex 2129, hex 2130 or hex 2234. There is no celerate or Decelerate). A sail vessel may never Ac- other movement that Game-Turn. Ships that are celerate more than one Movement Point (Capabil- pinned from Ramming are automatically sunk. ity) per Impulse; it may never Accelerate to a higher Movement Capability than the current [14.3] WIND TABLES Wind Velocity. A sail ship may Decelerate a max- [14.31] Wind Direction Table imum of two Movement Capability Points per Im- (see page 22) pulse, regardless of any change in Wind Velocity. [14.32] Wind Velocity Table A ship that is successfully Rammed (see Case 15.1) (see page 22) has its Movement Capability reduced to zero. If the wind velocity falls and the ship Sail Speed is higher than the new velocity the ship must reduce speed, at a maximum deceleration of two points [15.0] NAVAL COMBAT per Impulse. Thus, it is possible for a ship to be moving faster than the wind, although it will even- COMMENTARY: tually slow down. It is not required that a ship in- crease speed as the wind increases; acceleration is The fifteenth century was a great watershed for always voluntary. naval combat. The advent of sailing vessels of u ocean-going capability along with the develop- [14.23] At the beginning of each Naval Phase (not Running Free ment of gunpowder and artillery was to change each Impulse within the Naval Phase) the Players naval warfare forever. Yet, in the Mediterranean, determine the Wind Direction and Velocity for WIND FROM the galley was still Queen of the Sea. The main that entire Naval Phase. To do so a Player rolls THE NORTH method of destroying the enemy at sea was boar- two dice and refers to the Direction portion of the ding. Catapults and Greek Fire were also used, Table (14.31). He then rolls two more dice and and ramming was still in fashion (but to a much refers to the Velocity portion of the Wind Tables more limited extent than in Greco-Roman days). (14.32). This rolls of nine and seven, respectively, But hand-to-hand combat was still the staple of will produce a Northeasterly wind (i.e., a wind the navy and the rules for naval combat, given the blowing from Northeast to Southwest) at a Veloci- scale of thegame, reflect this. ty of eight. Players may note Direction and Veloci- ty by placing an appropriate marker on the game- CASES: map in the Wind Direction hex (printed on the [15.1] RAMMING map) with the arrow pointing in the direction The object of Ramming, primarily, is to pin the toward which the wind is blowing (in the above ex- opposing vessel so that it may not move making it ample, the counter would be placed with the arrow an easy target for boarding parties. There is a pointing toward the Southwest hex). The game possibility that Ramming will sink an opposing begins with a Northern wind (blowing North to vessel; Ramming can also damage the Ramming South) at a Velocity of eight. ship. Only oar-driven vessels may Ram. [14.24] According to the facing of the vessel (see [15.11] For an oar-driven vessel to Ram, it must below) the wind may be blowing from the stern of be using Battle Speed and it must start the Ram at- the ship (called Running Free) or toward the bow tempt at least three hexes from the intended target. of the ship (Sailing on the Wind). No vessel may I [15.12] Vessels attempting to Ram an opposing ever sail directly into the wind; i.e., a sail ship may Sailing on the Wind not move into a hex in a northerly direction if there vessel may make no more than one 60" (one hex- is a Northerly wind (blowing from North to side) turn during the entire course of its Ram at- [14.26] A ship (sail or oar) that is not moving may tempt, and such turn must be at least two hexes South). Furthermore, each hex that a sail ship still turn one hexside, unless it has been Rammed enters that is "Sailing on the Wind" (wind blow- distant from the target hex. and pinned. Ships that are not moving always drift ing on the bow of the ship) costs Movement [15.13] In order to Ram an opposing vessel the two one hex in the same direction toward which the Points. If the Movement Capability remaining to a moving vessel must move into a hex adjacent to the wind is blowing. If there is no wind, ships drift ship Sailing on the Wind is one it must use the re- target vessel. That adjacent hex must be either to fromNorth to South. maining Movement Point by turning 120" at a cost the port or starboard (the sides) of the target of oneMovement Point (seecase 14.25). [14.27] A sail ship which enters a coastal hex in vessel. One cannot Ram a target vessel from the such a way that it may not turn and leave that bow or stern (front or rear). Furthermore, the bow [14.25] Sail ships move through sea hexes in the coastal hex is considered to have Run Aground. of the Ramming vessel must point directly toward same fashion as oar-driven vessels (with the excep- The ship counter - and any passengers - is the side of the target ship (envision Ramming tion noted in Case 14.24). However, for sail vessels eliminated. If a sail ship is forced to attempt to literally and you'll get the idea). Ramming is per- the ship counter realignment is different from oar cross a Boom hexside (see Case 15.6) because of its formed in a Movement Segment; it is not con- vessels (see Case 14.13). A sail vessel may turn one momentum, etc., it stops in the hex adjacent to the sidered combat, per se. hexside (60") for each hex that it enters without Boom hexside and is considered Damaged for the paying any Movement Points; it may change two remainder of thegame (seecase 15.34). It does not [15.14] Once the precepts of Case 15.13 have been hexsides (120") for each hex entered by paying a move through the Boom hexside. For the next Im- satisfied and the Phasing Player has announced cost of one Movement Point for its Capability. pulse, the sail ship's Movement Capability is con- that he is making a Ram attempt, he checks his Sail ships may never change facing more than two sidered zero, and it obeys the rules for Accelera- Ramming vessel's Ram Strength against the Ram Defense Strength of the target vessel. He cross- voluntary differential is -3. However, if a ship is units not at full strength may never transport land references these on the Ramming Table (15.42). adjacent to more enemy ships than it has melee units. Land units may be embarked in coastal hex- The result is the number that the Phasing Player points it must attack the strongest ship(s) at 0 and es. To pick up a land unit, a naval unit spends one must roll on a die for the Ram to succeed. If the the rest at 1or not attack at all. When one Friendly full Naval Movement Segment (of an Impulse) in Ram does not succeed the Movement Segment is ship is adjacent to a sole Enemy ship it always uses the same coastal hex as the Friendly combat unit. ended for the Ramming vessel in the hex adjacent its maximum strength. In the next Segment the naval unit plus the land to the target vessel. Such vessel may not engage in Example: A Byzantine Galley with a melee unit may move on. boarding and melee (as he is faced in the wrong strength of 8 is adjacent to, and capable of melee [15.52] Ships carrying land combat units are not direction; see Case 15.22). with, three Ottoman ships with melee strengths of affected in terms of movement or navalcombat. [15.15] If the Ram attempt is successful the two 5,3, and 2. The Ottoman attacks the Byzantine at [15.53] There are certain coastal hexes along the ships are considered "engaged," both dead in the +2. Simultaneously, the Byzantine uses two eastern and southern shores of the city that have water (see drifting, Case 14.27). However, under points to attack the 5 at - 3, one point to attack numbers in them. These numbers represent thedif- certain circumstances the target ship may be sunk the 3 at - 2, and the remaining five points to at- ficult currents in the Sea of Marmora and the and/or the Ramming ship Damaged. Consult the tack the 2 at +3. Remember, when splitting dangerous reefs and rocks along the city Walls. Ramming Table (15.42). strength the lowest differential you may voluntari- For any ship (Ottoman or Byzantine) to safely [15.16] Once Rammed both ships may attempt to ly attack at is - 3. enter one of these hexes the owning Player must free themselves, if so desired. At the beginning of a [15.25] Combat is mutual and simultaneous; both roll a number higher than the number listed in the Movement Segment the Player with the Rammed Players engage in melee at the same time. Losses hex. If the owning Player throws a number equal ship rolls a die; if he rolls a 1, the ship breaks free are taken only after both Players resolve their in- to or lower than the number in the hex the ship but is considered Damaged. It may then move. dividual battles. Thus a ship Damaged by Player counter (and any land unit on the ship counter) is Otherwise, it is still engaged. If the Player with the A's die-roll may still fight at its normal strength in eliminated. Exception: Byzantine units (only) Ramming ship desires to free the Ramming ship, the same Combat Segment that it was Damaged. moving into any of the hexes listed in Case 14.29 he rolls a die. If he rolls a 1, 2, or 3, he breaks free All Melee Combat Results are applied after both do not have to roll for possible elimination. with no damage; otherwise, the ships remain Players have finished theirattacks. engaged. [15.26] Leaders have no effect on Naval Combat, [15.54] Naval units may debark land units in any coastal hex with two exceptions: (a) land units may [15.2] NAVAL MELEE COMBAT with the following exception. Any Byzantine naval unit commanded by either Diedo or Trevisano not debark in a hex which they must cross a Wall Naval Melee Combat represents all close, ship-to- (stacked with the ship counter) adds one to the hexside to reach (see Cases 15.55 and 15.56); and ship actions, including short-range catapults, ship's Melee Strength for defensive purposes only. (b) land units may not debark in Galata. Greek Fire, and, of course, boarding. Remember that stacking rules prohibit more than [15.3] EXPLANATION OF [15.21] Naval Melee Combat takes place in the one land combat unit in a hex (though there is no COMBAT RESULTS limit to the number of Leaders). Mutual Combat Segment of the Naval Phase. [15.31] All Melee Combat takes place using the [15.55] Ottoman land combat units and Leaders Only Friendly vessels adjacent to Enemy vessels Naval Melee CRT (15.41). The attacker deter- may engage in melee. There are no Zones of Con- mines his total strength and subtracts that of the placed in coastal hexes may not move or attack un- til an Phase. (Siege Towers may be trol at sea, and combat is purely voluntary. Melee defender in order to obtain a Combat Differential Assault never is simultaneous; i.e., the Friendly vessel is attack- (see Case 15.24). He then rolls a die and refers to transported by sea, as is the case with all Ottoman artillery.) Regardless of the configuration of the ing the Enemy vessel and vice-versa at the same the Naval Melee CRT to obtain a result, if any, of hex and the Wall, such units are considered to be time. that battle. Remember, because of simultaneous outside the city until they can move across the Wall [15.22] To engage in naval combat ships must be combat, the roles of attacker and defender will adjacent to each other. Moreover, both of these often be reversed. in an Assault Phase. Ottoman combat units in counters must either be engaged (15.15) or adja- hexes such as 2028 where the Wall runs along the [15.32] No Effect means that nothing has happen- edge of the geographical city are considered to be cent through a port or starboard facing hexside. If ed in the way of casualties. both ships are not so situated the melee combat is ships waiting to climb the Walls. Such land units impossible. [15.33] Ineffective means that the ship unit suffer- are considered to be - for combat and assault ing such result is halved in movement (rounding purposes - in an unfilled Foss hex. Combat units down) for the next Movement Segment. It may not landing in a clear hex (e.g., hex 1521) treat that hex attack/melee in the next Mutual Combat Segment, as normal clear terrain. Remember, it costs three it may defend. additional Movement Points to cross an Outer (or Galley seaward) Wall. 4/7-10 [15.34] Damaged means that the affected ship unit is permanently halved in Movement [15.56] Land units (on ships) in sea hexes adjacent Allowance (or maximum Movement Capability to Walls that run along the edge of the city (e.g., for sail ships). In addition the Damaged ship's hex 2028) may not move into any hex except across Ramming defensive strength is permanently halv- a Wall hexside into a city hex. They may not move ed (but not its Ramming Capability). Melee is not laterally along the Wall (outside the city). They affected. may, of course, move out to sea again. [15.35] Lose One means that, for Byzantine ship [15.57] The previous two rules (Cases 15.55 and counters, the unit is eliminated. For Ottoman ship 15.56) must be interpreted in the light of the laws A 110 wed Not Allowed units it means that the naval unit is flipped over to of nature and common sense. Most of the seaward its reduced strength level, unless said naval unit is Walls were literally built up from the sea, and [15.23] Combat is voluntary. To determine the already at reduced strength level, in which case the Players should remember this when interpreting results of combat the attacker adds the Melee Ottoman naval unit is eliminated. The Ottoman the rules. strengths of all his attacking units and subtracts Player should note that a Damaged ship that is [15.58] Ottoman units assaulting Seaward Walls the Melee strength of the defending unit. The flipped over retains its Damaged status. that receive an R result are eliminated, unless there result is the Combat Differential. [15.4] NAVAL COMBAT TABLES is a ship available for them to retire to or they are Example: two ships with a strength of 4 each at- three hexes from the Inner Wall and may trace a tack a ship with a strength of 5. The differential [15.41] Naval Melee Combat Results Table line of hexes exclusive of enemy units or ZOCs (for would be + 3. If the ship with the Melee Strength (see page 23) this purpose friendly units negate enemy ZOCs) of 5 attacked one of the ships with a melee strength [15.42] Ramming Table though normally passable terrain to any hex out- of 4 (see Case 15.24) - remember, melee is simul- (see page 23) side the city. Furthermore, if they are to use a ship taneous - the differential would be + 1. for retreat, such ship must be within three hexes of [15.5] NAVAL ASSAULTS [15.24] As many asfour Friendly ships may attack the retreating unit and must not contain another an Enemy vessel. Four is the maximum because of The Ottoman Player may use his ships to carry combat unit. the restrictions in Case 15.22. If a Friendly ship is land combat units in an attempt to assault the [15.59] Ottoman units that gain entry to the city adjacent to more than one Enemy ship it must seaward Walls of the city - those Walls his land by Sea Assault count as only one point each for either attack all of them or none of them army cannot reach by normal means. Victory purposes, regardless of their actual attack (simultaneously with the Enemy attack, of [15.51] The Ottoman Player may transport land strength. Furthermore, such units must be able to course). To do this it may split its melee strength in units on his ships. He may transport one land com- trace a line of hexes as per Case 15.58 for them to any way it sees fit. When splitting, the lowest bat unit for each full strength naval unit; naval be counted for victory (although they may be more than three hexes from the walls for this purpose). ning Phase/Byzantine Strategic Movement Seg- 117.231 Ships to be Portaged must start the Plan- In addition, if at the end of the last Impulse victory ment with the chosen galley counter in any coastal ning Phase in any Pera coastal hex in the has not been achieved, Ottoman units making sea hex on the Southern shore of the Golden Horn. Bosphorus. assaults may be removed only if they satisfy Case During the Strategic Movement Segment, the 117.241 Portaged ships may move the Game-Turn 15.58; otherwise they are eliminated. galley is flipped over (to reveal its reduced after they have been Portaged across Pera. strength) and a Sailor counter is placed in the same Players should ignore Section 13.0 as [15.6] THE BOOM hex. The Sailor counter may not move in the Stra- now printed in the rules book. Also, Section A huge "boom," from Galata to the Acropolis, tegic Movement Segment that it disembarks but may move in any succeeding Movement Segment. 14 (in rules) now becomes Section 18.0. Sec- effectively hindered entrance into the Golden tion 19.0 (formerly Section 15.0) now covers Horn and greatly aided any galleys defending To restore the sailors to the ship simply reverse the process. The two naval Leaders, Diedo and Tre- the scenarios, of which there are three: The behind it. Ottoman ships wishing to enter the Campaign Game, the Land Game, and the Golden Horn must try to force the Boom (which is visano, may be assigned to land duty, one for each two sailor combat units. Players should note that Assault Game. represented by the "wall" hexsides running from [19.1] (change) This Case is now The Campaign hex 3429 to hex 3334). The two smaller booms on the reverse side of the Byzantine ships are for strip- ping the crews only; they do not represent lost ef- Game. It takes about six or so hours to play. Addi- the southern portion of Constantinople are perma- tions to Deployment: nent and unforceable. Only Byzantine ships may fectiveness due to combat, as in Cases 13.2 and 1. All Byzantine Naval Units, except the cross such hexsides. 15.35. Byzantine Sailor units are treated exactly as normal Byzantine land combat units. Genoese 8-0-D Galley, are placed in any hex [15.61] At the beginning of the game the Byzan- in the Golden Horn. The Genoese 8-0-D tine Player controls the Boom. To control the Galley arrives in any all-sea hex along the Boom a Player must be the last Player to occupy southern edge of the game-map on any turn hexes 3430, 3429 and 3330. (Note that as the By- [17.0] THE GREAT PORTAGE the wind is favorable, starting with Game- zantine Player already controls the Boom he does Turn Four. It may not arrive before then; it not have to satisfy any of the requirements, unless COMMENTARY: may delay its arrival awaiting a favorable the Ottoman Player gains control of the Boom.) wind, etc. It may arrive at any time during a When Mehmet found that he could not break Passage through the Boom - unless it is broken - Naval Phase. through the Byzantine naval defenses at the Boom is through hexes 3430 and 3429 only. Only the 2. 411 Ottoman naval units arrive Game-Turn (see Case 15.6) he realized that he had to find some Player who controls the Boom may make such One along the south edge of the game-map, way to contest the Byzantine control of the Golden passage. in any all-sea hex, in oar mode. Horn. Otherwise he was virtually restricted to a 115.62) Ships may not Ram through a Boom hex- land assault from one direction. Therefore, on [19.2] The Land Game (addifion) Byzantine side. April 23, having failed twice at the Boom, he Sailors may enter the game one unit per Game- [15.63] Ships that are melee attacked through a literally carried a portion of his fleet overland Turn, beginning with Game-Turn Twelve. Sailor Boom hexside add one to their defensive melee (from right behind Galata to approximately hex units enter in the Byzantine Strategic Movement strength, but not to their offensive melee strength. 3624)! By the next evening the Byzantine fleet no Segmnet. The Leaders Diedo and Trevisano may [15.64] The Boom may be broken or set on fire. longer was in some command of the Golden Horn. enter the game with any of these units (Byzantine To do this a Friendly ship must spend one full The rules below attempt to recreate this highly Player's choice). Sailors entering the game are Movement Segment adjacent to a Boom hexside unusual feat. placed in any land hex within two hexes of the Golden Horn and east (i.e., behind) of the Inner which, in turn, is not adjacent to any Enemy ship. CASES: At the end of the Movement Segment the Boom is Walls. Note that Sailor units are treated exactly as considered destroyed and the entire Boom is no [17.1] WHEN THE OTTOMANS units in reserve (see Case 15.13). Remember, the longer in existence. MAY PORTAGE Land Game is now the original 15.1. 115.651 Ships adjacent to the Boom are not sub- The Ottoman Player may not attempt to Portage 119.31 (addition) This case is now the Assault ject to drift rules. They may remain in such hex (transport over land) his ships until one of the Game. This corresponds to 15.2 in the original without moving. following two requirements are met: rules. There are no naval units in the Assault 1. The Ottoman Player has spent at least two Game. [15.7] ARTILLERY BOMBARDMENT successive Naval Combat Segments assault- OF SHIPS ing the Boom in an effort to get through. On [15.71] Only the Ottoman Player may Bombard these two successive Segments the Ottoman NAVAL RULES TABLES ships. Only ships in the Golden Horn may be Bom- Player must use at least three ship units to at- barded. tack. However, the Ottoman Player may 115.721 For each Gun Strength Point that the Ot- never attempt Portage before Game-Turn toman Player has in Pera, he may Bombard one Six; or Byzantine ship. He Bombards ships in his Bom- 2. Game-Turn Twenty. The Ottoman Player [14.3] WIND TABLES bardment Phase only. He may not Bombard ships may attempt to Portage automatically star- in a Naval Phase or an Assault Phase. Guns used ting with Game-Turn Twenty, regardless of [14.31] WIND [IL1.321 WIFID to Bombard ships may not be used to Bombard the whether or not the first requirement has been DIRECTION VICLOCITY Walls in the same turn that they Bombard the met. ships. DIE Direction DIE ity 115.731 To Bombard, the Ottoman Player rolls (from) two dice. If he rolls a 2 or a 12, the target ship is [17.2] HOW PORTAGE OCCURS 2 SE 2 I sunk. If he rolls an 11, the target ship is Damaged. [17.21] Once the Ottoman Player has satisfied the 3 SW 3 requirements of Case 17.1, he may attempt to Por- tage certain of his ships. The Ottoman Player may 4 S 4 2 Portage only triremes, biremes or fustae. He may 5 NW 5 10 not Portage any of his galleys. He may Portage as many triremes, biremes and/or fustae as he 6 NW 6 7 wishes. 7 N 7 [17.22] Starting with the Planning Phase after 8 N 8 Case 17.1 has been satisfied, the Ottoman Player rolls a die. He adds to this die-roll the Assault 9 NE 9 [16.0] SAILORS Capability Number on the Turn Record Track for 10 NE 10 4 the Game-Turn he is rolling in (see Case 7.21). If GENERAL RULE: the total (die-roll plus Capability Number) equals I1 S I1 No Wind The Byzantine Player has the capability of strip- five or more then the Ottoman Player simply 12 SW 12 11 ping the crews from his galleys to add extra men to places the ships he wishes to move in any Pera his land forces. In doing so he will correspondingly coastal hex within five hexes of 3623 (Remember, reduce the melee effectiveness of his galleys. To Ottoman ships may not be placed in Galata coastal assign crews to "shore duty" simply start a Plan- hexes). when the combat or overrun was resolved. If this is not possible, the combat result must be satisfied by taking step losses. [10.25] (correction) German units must be within [15.41] NAVAL MELEE the Command radius of one Headquarters unit to COMBAT RESULTS (as of 37 January 78) utilize the bonus on both attack and defense. TABLE (Boarding) David Werden [10.26] (correction) The American Headquarters unit may grant its combat bonuses if any unit in- Combat Differential volved in an attack is within the Command radius. (Attacker minus Defender) Post-publication playtesting has in- dicated the need for the following correc- 110.291 (addition) For supply and retreat pur- DIE-3 -2 -1 0 1 2 3 4 poses, Headquarters units do not negate enemy tions and clarifications. ZOC's in the hex they occupy. Headquarters units may not be moved into an Enemy ZOC. Counters: 114.11 (correction) German reinforcements enter Correction: The 10/10ss should start in hex 3205 east ofhex4101, not west. 4- - - I (not hex 3206). The Canadian 3rd Div. should 116.11 (correction) The German player gets one start in hex 3504 (not hex 3505). VP for each infantry "regiment" exited. "Divi- 5- - I Clarification: The IOlss, 102ss, and the 503 2-12 sion" is incorrect. 6-1 DDDLLL units are the three German Tiger Tank battalions 116.21 (correction) Victory Points for exiting U.S. and are worth one point for victory purposes. mechanized units should read: Up to three U.S. Reinforcement Track: Divisions may exit the southwest edge of the map - =No effect; I = Ineffective: for the next for Victory purposes. Impulse, the ship's Movement Allowance is Clarification: All Allied reinforcements during I VP for each U.S. armored regiment or brigade halved, and the ship may not melee attack, only Game-Turn Two enter during the Mechanized that exits the west edge of the map, hexes 0123 defend; D = Ship permanently damaged: ship's Movement Phase. There are no German reinforce- through 0134, on Game-Turn Seven. Movement Allowance is halved, as are its Ram ments during Game-Turn Two. and Melee Strengths; L = Lose 1: for Byzantine 2 VP for each U.S. armored regiment or brigade ships, the affected ship is eliminated. An Otto- Weather Table: that exits the southwest mapedge on Game-Turn man ship loses one step (i.e., it is flipped over to Clarification: The weather during the entire first Six. the reduced side unless the ship is already on its Game-Turn is clear. At the beginning of the sec- 4 VP for each U.S. armored regiment or brigade reduced side, in which case the Ottoman ship is ond German Weather Determination Phase, the that exits the southwest mapedge on Game-Turn eliminated). Differentials less than -3 (greater weather is determined by rolling on the Clear Five. than + 4) are treated as -3 ( + 4). column. 6 VP for each U.S. armored regiment or brigade Rules: that exits the southwest mapedge on Game-Turn Four or before. 16.251 (correction) All fractions are rounded up. 16.471 (clarification) This rule comes into effect [16.3] VICTORY POINT SCHEDULE the moment one Allied unit is exited off the After the Victory Points are totaled at the end of southwest mapedge. the game, Players subtract the German total from [6.91] (correction) "During his Replacement the Allied to determine the level of Victory. Phase," should replace "during his Mechanized Level of Victory Differential [15.421 RAMMING TABLE Movement Phase, after all his movement is com- Allied Decisive + 3 1 or more Ram Str~ength of P pleted. . . . " The Sequence of Play is correct. Allied Operational +21 to +30 Ram Defense: (Moving ) Ship [6.91] (addition) He may also place it on a rein- Allied Marginal +11 to +20 Non -Phasing forcement which is entering during that game turn. Shiv 1 2 Draw (Historic Result) Oto +I0 P.771 (addition) A retreating unit must be German Marginal -1Oto -1 A 1-2 1-3* 1-4* 1-5* retreated as far away (in hexes) as the combat German Operational -20to -11 B 1 1-2 1-3* 1-4* result indicates from the hex which it occupied German Decisive - 21 or less C 1 2 1-3* Conversely, the Soviet Player who can, D Travel Notes say, hold onto Rostov until Game-Turn 4 [conlinued from page 251 and Stalingrad until Game-Turn 13, will find Explanation: Turns 5-6: Concentrate on Maykop in himself down only 135 to 170, with an Axis # = Die Roll Nccucu LU rill UCICIIUI~IR arrlv, the south, while awaiting supply at Stal- automatic victory a laughable proposition, *=Roll again; ilfa5or6is rolled, the defending ingrad. and every prospect of regaining enough ship s sunk; - =- No Effect The Defending ship i . Turns 7-8: Make sure of Nevinnomyssk Points to knock the deficit well down below may rlot be pinned. and Novorossiysk in the south and shift the the 2: 1 Axis superiority criterion necessary . 3, , ., - . ,. . If a 6 1s rollea at anv [me. rne ~ammlnesnl~ IS main weight to the battle at Stalingrad. for an Axis Victory. Especially since even in consi dered Dalnagid (M ovement Establish a supplied unit adjacent to the halve d, Ram and Melee Stre1ngths halve1 the best of times, the Axis is likely to suffer Volga to garner that Victory Point. Leave some attrition of Victory Points for failing to enough in the South to worry at Tuapse and please Berlin. Georgiyevsk with. What If? - Turns 11-12: Capture Stalingrad! After playing Drive, some players may The Axis Player who meets this schedule wonder what would happen if the Hitler will find himself with a comfortable margin Directives were ignored and the Axis field for the 2:l ratio of superiority in Victory commander had a free reign on his army. Points he needs to win the game. He should This scenario is much more pleasing for the CORRECTIONS even be within striking distance of a 3:l Axis player to contemplate than for the There were two errors in Charles T. Kamps, knockout. Assuming an Axis failure to take Soviet player to consider. The capture of Jr.'s Fulda Gap Variant article in MOVES 36. Voronezh, Kalach, or Maykop on time, but Stalingrad is significantly easier if the The 14 Pz Bde 6-4, under the WG 5th Panzer success everywhere else, the score would be panzers are not sent off to the south and the Division, should be indicated in hex 1213 something like 170-70 in favor of the Axis, drive on Stalingrad is made by swooping rather than 1312. The 2nd Bde 4-6, under the 8th Infantry Division (Mech), should be indi- and the pressure wouldrbe heavy on the down on it from the north. But, then, it cated in hex 0325 rather than0326. Soviet Player (who could lose the game wouldn't be too much fun for the Soviets. outright by losing Astrakhan, for example) Perhaps Hitler was indeed Stalin's greatest to hold onto everything plus regain a lot. ally. PLAYERS NOTES TRAVEL NWES For Driving on Sblingrad by Dave Robertson

Drive on Stalingrad is one of those games, Rules Errata to the South to take these cities before the the optimum operational plan for which will Before discussing the game, it is Soviet can reinforce the area. This southern always remain somewhat elusive. Because necessary to note that the original version of shift also dovetails with some aspects of the of its untried unit system and Hitler Directive the game is flawed. The nature of the flaw is Hitler Directives. rules, each playing is essentially a new game. not obvious because the flaw is not so much a Hitler Directives There are, nevertheless, some pointers well question of "realism" as it is a question of The most frustrating problem faced by worth keeping in mind as one drives across "playability." Most players considered it so the German player are the Hitler Directives the deceptively open-seeming terrain of the weighted in favor of the Soviets that SPI has that randomly create chaos in any consistent, map. Dave participated in much of the test- published a post-publication errata to correct developing plan. These directives constrain ing on the game and herewith gives you this. These errata are published in this issue geographical thrusts (tending to force ar- some of the benefit of his experience. - RAS of MOVES. The events leading to the for- mored units to take the Caucasus and to keep mulation of the errata could well form the the Germans from crossing the Don), troop SPI has recently produced another east basis of an article discussing the strategic allocations, and territory that must be cap- front game called Drive on Stalingrad, which situation of Drive and its reflection of reality tured. Generally, the supreme commander simulates the German summer offensive of in the light of playability. requires the seizure of Stalingrad. Unfor- 1942 known as Operation Blue. Subtitled Set-Up tunately, the capture of Stalingrad may be mandated without allowing the Axis player "Road to Ruin," the game is designed on a From the standpoint of playability, "grand operational" level with 600 counters to use armor in attempting to grab it. Since Drive is relatively easy to set up - the front is the directives may change, the German representing Soviet divisions, Axis Infantry printed on the map and there is no "this unit divisions and Axis armored and mechanized player may find himself shifting his forces up must go there" rule. Both players are free regiments. The playing surface is two and down the front without sufficient time to from the hair pulling experience of cross- "regular" size (34" 22") maps representing capture any cities. x referencing hex numbers with unit strengths the southern portion of the Soviet Union Axis Strategy for an hour. The set-up rules are not a roughly bounded by Voronezh and Stratov Choosing the cities for capture and try- burden on the eye or patience. in the North to Tuapse and Grosnyy in the ing to garner the bonus points available for South. Its sixteen pages of rules are based on Victory Conditions and first move some of the cities will dictate the direction the Panzergruppe Guderian system with Before the German player starts tearing and pace of the Axis strategy. For example, if modifications pertinent to the situation. through the Soviet line, he has to consult the the Axis player is to win without bonus Anyone familiar with the Panzergruppe victory conditions to see where he has to go. points, he must take cities worth 140 of the system will quickly pick up tricks of Drive. Victory is in terms of captured cities with 210 victory points (i.e., 140 vs 70). The Rus- The four major features of the parent system various point values printed on the map. The sian player can win by merely holding every- are the core of this game: cities, victory points, and hex numbers are thing north of the Don except Voronezh and a. Soviet infantry units are "untried" summarized in a separate chart with the holding Astrakhan, Elista, and the - i.e., their actual strengths are unknown to game. "Bonus" points are garnered by the Georgiyevsk and "east southern" cities. In either player until the instant of the first com- Axis for taking particular cities by a given the face of a sluggish Axis Drive, the Russian bat in which the units engage; game turn. player can just wait - he cannot lose. b. Non-infantry units have a second The Axis player must study carefully the If, though, the Axis player is aggressive, movement (or impulse) phase after combat; map and the victory point values of the cities he can get a 2-1 ratio of victory points in a and - he has to be cunning. The cities have a better way. Kalach, Maykop, Novorossiysk, c. Axis mechanized units (i.e., armor total value of 210 points. To win, the Ger- Nevinnomyssk, Rostov, and Stalingrad offer and mechanized infantry) benefit from a man needs twice as many points as the Soviet 60 bonus points, thus, the Russians can hold "doubled" combat strength when all player has at the end of the game. If the Ger- three or four more cities and still lose. This regiments of a division are stacked in the man player ever gets three times the Soviet analysis must be made, if the Axis player same hex; player's points, the game stops and the Ger- hopes to win. d. Soviet units "coordinate" supply man player automatically wins. The German Soviet Strategy from headquarters units that have a given player can also get a small number of victory The Soviet player does not have to make supply or command range. points if the Soviet player elects to make a close calculations in this game. He pulls back The new gimmicks added in Drive are "strategic withdrawal" - move from Axis and waits for his army to build up to for- these: zones of control - or the German player can midable size. He covers the Don in the North a. Axis allies (Hungarians, Rumanians, interdict the Volga. The key to victory, and slows the German drive to Stalingrad and Italians) are untried and must coordinate though, is taking the cities. while holding stronger units in reserve to be their supply from their own headquarters The difficult task of controlling a large used in the Russian counter-attack. units in a manner much like the Soviets. number of cities is made somewhat easier for Although the "real" Russian offensive oc- b. The extension of Axis supply net- the German player by the "Bonus point" curred on November 19 (Game-Turn 21), works through trucked pipelines and rail rule which grants double point value for tak- many Soviet players will not wait that long in conversion is simulated in a way like that of ing a city by a given game turn. For example, the game. Since the game "ends" after 25 War in the East and Breakout and Pursuit; Stalingrad's capture can generate bonus turns (corresponding to December 19), there c. A "Hitler directive" phase that points if it is captured by Game-Turn 12, cor- is no real reason for the Russian player to simulates the Fuehrer's rulings from back responding to September 12,1942. delay his big push past Game-Turn 15 (Oc- home and tightly limits the freedom of action Many points lie in the Caucasus, and the tober lo), or even to avoid trapping loose, for the Axis player. German player must quickly shift his armor unsupplied Axis panzer divisions. 25

Combat and Overruns Panzergruppe. In Drive, three whole mech same number of turns that the Axis player The combat system in Drive is similar to divisions can stack and both sides have plen- has to receive the bonus points). The Don in the system in Panzergruppe in the respect ty of armor to throw around. Some care is re- front of Stalingrad is the natural place for the that the same type of combat results table is quired in effecting an overrun, though, to Russian player to stand to force the Axis used with the owning player's option of avoid wearing the armor out too soon. When player to pause for his supply to arrive via retreat or taking a step reduction. The con- possible, armor should be stacked with in- repair of the Russian rail net. siderations of whether to engage in combat fantry so that the infantry can absorb losses. In the South, neither side is troubled by differ somewhat from the considerations in- Three stacked armored divisions make the having to consider frontage or extensive sup- volved in Panzergruppe because the Russian strongest force for overruns, and can literally ply problems - the Axis player has a tough depth-per-hex is greater in Drive. Certain romp all over the map (a stack of three un- time of it. Russian activity in the southern Russian units have two steps, and the Rus- supplied panzer divisions is stronger than one map depends on a strong point defense plan. sian player in Drive can enjoy the luxury of fully supplied division!). The added strength Reinforcements can be placed in the moun- holding a particular position for a longer of stacked armored divisions allows some tainous cities and a larger relief force can be period. The Axis unit density per hex is also substantial Axis operations in the Caucasus built up near Groznyy, where there is little greater in Drive, because three panzer (or where there is no hope for supply beyond chance of Axis interference for six or seven motorized infantry) divisions can stack in the that provided by the sporadic availability of turns. This southern force will be earmarked same hex. This means that Axis units can "Truck" supply. for the counter-attack and the defense of muster up to 48 strength point in a hex In regular combat and in overruns, the Astrakhan. against a Soviet maximum of 30 to 36. (In supply status of a unit is determined at the The Germans must move quickly in the Panzergruppe, the maximum is 27 - three moment of combat. Being unsupplied causes south to out run the Soviet build up. The German infantry divisions). a one-half reduction in a unit's combat bonus points for Rostov are easy to get if suf- This increased ability to concentrate strength. Consequently, some finesse is need- ficient armor is shifted from the north map in force allows the German panzers to create a ed to sequence attacks and overruns so that the second turn. The Russian player has to powerful overrun capability against isolated units may be cut off from supply when final- decide how much of his army he will sacrifice Russian units. The Axis player must quickly ly attacked. The Axis player can isolate or in holding Rostov for four turns to deny the use this to rip holes in the Soviet line and sur- eliminate Soviet HQ units and render several Axis player the bonus points. The units lost round the remnants before the Soviet player Russian divisions unsupplied in a single in a futile attempt defending Rostov are can mass his army to a sufficient strength for blow. Conversely, the Russian player can much better employed in defending the counterattack. sacrifice a unit or two by advancing them southern cities and preventing the German The German player should attack across the already extended Axis supply lines player from gaining any more bonus victory vigorously for the first few turns to eliminate to cut off the Axis front from further real points for captured southern cities. In the as many Russian units as possible - he must combat capabilities or extended movement. south, the German player must deploy his devote some attention to the nitty gritty of The chance to use this ploy comes easily on truck units to conduct attacks in spurts of in- what odds are needed to assure destruction. the double size map where long stretches of tensive activity followed by periods of deter- When the German player attacks at odds front are held by fewer and fewer units as the mined defense against a Soviet force of in- where there is the chance of an "engaged" Axis forces concentrate at the extreme limits creasing strength. The Axis player should combat result, (i.e., both attacker and of their supply lines. deploy his mountain divisions to surround defender suffer a one step loss) he should in- The Russian rail net should be seen as a the Soviets defending the Caucasus because clude in the attack at least one infantry divi- major asset of the Soviet player and the Axis only mountain units have zones of control in sion so that the strong armored units will not player should attack it as if it were a juicy the mountainous hexes. suffer the effect of an adverse result. The target - a few cuts here and there will inhibit In conducting the Big Retreat, the Axis player can use reduced infantry divisions the Soviet player's escape from the initial Soviet player should look at what the Axis to serve in this role as cannon fodder. onslaught. player must do to win, and he soon realizes When a player suffers an adverse result The Soviet player should conserve his that only certain cities have to be held to pre- he must decide whether to retreat or accept a HQ units because he needs them to supply his vent an Axis victory. Those cities form the step reduction - the opposing player may long front. Generally, the HQ units should point of no retreat. choose the path of retreat followed by his op- be one or two hexes behind the front so that ponent's unit. Since the path of retreat may they will not be trapped in a zone of control. cause more units to be encircled than would This kind of flexibility is very important for be lost through a step reduction, frequently it the Soviet player because the Axis player will Where and When is better to take a step reduction than to not hesitate attacking any Russian units if Of course, the pace of any particular retreat. they can be encircled and eliminated in game of Drive on Stalingrad is greatly depen- Combat in the Voronezh area can get detail. The HQ units cannot be bunched up dent on the particular strategies adopted by dicey, and it deserves special mention. The because they must be spread out for continui- the Players (to say nothing of Hitler). Never- Axis should not put any panzer divisions ty of supply into the rear areas (so the advan- theless, the location of the Victory Points across the Don into the city, because they will cing units can move at full movement and the schedule of Bonuses is immutable. never free themselves. They cannot escape allowances.) The HQ units with ratings of 4 The optimum Axis advance - in terms of the zones of control of adjacent Soviet units or 5 can provide supply for the flanks more Victory Points - can literally be scheduled, and they cannot retreat after combat across easily than the waste of several units with and the chances for victory by both sides is the Don. They just get stuck there. Infantry lower ratings. dependent on how well this schedule is divisions are fine to throw into the city to The Big Retreat maintained. hold to against a Russian counterattack. The When the game starts, the Russian Turn I: Breakthrough in North, a stab Axis player should avoid sending his units on player must decide how far and how fast he for Voronezh if it is weakly defended. frolics across the Don outside the city of will run away from the advancing German Turn 2: Clear as much away from Voronezh - there is nothing to gain there ex- Army. The limit in the north is the Don - it around Rostov as possible, while sending the cept triggering the increase of Russian rein- must be held and the Axis player must be bulk of the armor due East. forcements (the increased reinforcements forced to burn out some' of his divisions Turn 3: Take Rostov and breach the rule simulates the effect of the Axis' causing where the Soviet player is defending at triple Don to the south. the Soviets to think that Moscow was the ob- strength. Also the Soviet player should try to Turn 4: Sweep away any lingering jective of the 1942 offensive). slow the Axis advance toward Stalingrad by Soviets south of Rostov. If opposition is The overrun attack in Drive is a stronger denying him the bonus points for Kalach weak, try for Kalach-na-Donu, although this Axis (and Russian) tactic than it is in (i.e., the Soviet player must hold it for the will have to be with out-of-suppy armor. [conrrnued on page 231 with entries ordered by ascending code number in- cerpt above is only his summation). I agree with stead of hex number. In face-to-face play, limita- him in many respects. I would, nevertheless, still tions of time and memory would prevent this, but like to see room made for occasional excursions Your he could still easily keep an eye on "picket lines" into the exotic realm of seminal wargame design. I of hexes in order to be forewarned of approaching wouldn't expect the complexion of gaming to be danger or to corner a prey. This difficulty is radically changed into something completely dif- Moves generic, not just a flaw in the suggested way of ferent than what it is now, but innovative game coding: it is intuitively obvious, and can be proved systems (even if they are failures) are valuable with information theory, that any code known to seasoning for the more usual stew of slow evolu- both opponents and producing identical coding tionary change in wargame design. This time we have a mixture of straight com- can be cracked in such a way, and with an effort no ment and some Footnotelike material. When greater than coding itself requires. The proposed rating these bits and pieces in the Feedback, system is therefore flawed not only in technical Big Games use the rating to express your agreement or detail, but in its basic idea. Norman S. Howe: disagreement with the point of view of the let- Mr. Helfferich confirms the vague suspicions The editorial in MOVES [on big games] ter writer. -RAS that I had about the proposed system (nice try reflects something I was saying earlier: Playability anyway Dave). I nevertheless intuitively feel that and acceptability have little to do with whether or One-Way Mirror... Cracked there is a system, similar to the one suggested in not a game is actually played. Beyond this, I disagree with Redmond's suggestion that the big Friedrich Helfferich: the article, that would work. Why don't some of games need not be playable. Plot to Assassinate Under the titleISee You... Do You SeeMe?, a the more mathematically inclined amongst you ad- dress yourself to this problem, keeping in mind Hitler, a much less complex game than War in "double-blind" naval search system for gamcs Europe, is much less playable, according to the such as Fast Carriers has been suggested by David that the search system should be relatively simple to execute, may use a calculater (but not a pro- Playback in the same issue ofMOVES.The reason Clark in MOVES Nr. 36. The idea is intriguing the Monster games aren't played much is because but, unfortunately, flawed. I hope my comments grammable one), and should be broadly ap- plicable. players have other games. If War in Europe were will reach potential enthusiasts before they find the only game around, people would know it themselves disappointed by a system prone to mal- re: Opening MO YES, backwards. The attention span is not great enough function, or, worse, see their fleets sunk by an Variation vs. Innovation to encompass a huge simulation, when smaller astute opponent who has cracked the code. D.I.A. Mack: gems are available to catch the mind. As for glean- Briefly, the system tries to solve the age-old ing information from games, I find them to be problem of how to search a hex for enemy units 1. Wargames are war games, not essays in abstract conflict. They are to be enjoyed. catalytic, rather than educational. I go to books without giving your own presence away. For this for confirmation of discoveries, and sometimes purpose, both players "encode" the numbers of 2. As such they should be manageable in their physical format in the interests of setting up in for clarification of rules. A good atlas will clear up all hexes in which they are searching. Both players a terrain anomaly very quickly. The big games are use the same code. Coded lists are then compared, various types of location, of storage, and of por- tability: this inclines heavily to the concept of unit more likely to contain spurious information than and if a coded number appears on both lists, con- the small ones, simply because there is so much to tact has been made in that hex. Players then reveal symbols/counters on a map. 3. They must have a map which makes it find. At the level of War in Europe, even the their forces in such contact hexes, but not those designer cannot comprehend what he has done. that have searched elsewhere in vain. For en- quite clear where units are, the effect their location coding, the hex number is multiplied by a five-digit has on other units, what sort of terrain they are in I really wasn't advocating that big games be key number between 0 and 1, and only the first and whether any combat situations havearisen, all designed to be unplayable - what I meant was four digits after the decimal point are retained without measuring, finicking or arguing. that big games seem too well accepted by the au- 4. As the implements used by a particular from the result. For example 0810~0.40463= dience even if they are "unplayable" (which is true 327.7503; code number for hex 0810 is 7503 if key hobby they should belong to a recognisable more often than not). In the next SBT we'll see is 0.40463. Of course, the key is changed from turn 'family' just as card-games do. This characteristic Stonewall, which is the system of a big game to turn. Success of the system rests on two will have the following effects; (TSS)used to simulate a much more manageable premises, namely, that each hex number produces a. It will much facilitate the ownership by and playable situation. a different code number, and that the hex number one person of a large number of games. cannot be back-calculated from the code number. b. It will allow gamers to buy games from Neither assumption is correct. more than one company. Big Plays To demonstrate the failure of the first c. It will allow a gamer to range over a Steven Hokanson: premise, let us assume the key number is 0.15625 wide bracket of history, scale and complexity ... as to your main point that we just don't (which happens to be 5/32). We find that all hexes in his game-library. play our purchases ...that has the most obvious ex- 0001, 0033, 0065, 0097, etc. produce the code d. Last but not least, it will allow planation of all! 1 eat, sleep, wash, work 45-50 newcomers to the hobby to progress up the lad- number 1562; all hexes 0002,0034, 0066, etc., the hours a week, read voluminously, purchase life's code number 3125; all hexes 0003, 0035, etc., the der of complexity without having to learn requisites, putter around performing the essentials code number 4688. In fact, no more than 32 dif- totally new game-systems. of modern day living, engage my wife in witty con- ferent code numbers are generated for all hexes on 5. Their systems should be clear-cut and versation, and carve 10 to 20 hours out of an all- the board! A similar duplication of code numbers precise, avoiding the vaguenesses, rules-schools, too-short week to play wargames. If you can bear happens with a great many other keys, and rather and room for misunderstanding and acrimony to drop the charade that War in Europe and its elaborate key selection rules would be needed to which are still unfortunate characteristics of gargantuan cousins are 9+ hours long (noticed ensure that each hex obtains a different code 'miniatures' wargaming. someone brilliant moves this up from 6+ hours) number. To keep these rules manageable at all 6. The system now generally accepted suits and accept that each game turn of these monsters would call for code numbers with at least five these requirements admirably and this the vast is 2 to 4 hours, some quick calculations reveal that digits (one more than hex numbers have). This body of gamers know and, being sensible people, several months pass before I can complete a game. alone should discourage theuser. wish to stay with as they know also that board We played War in the East twice all the way But even if we assume a key has been selected wargaming in its present form has left the cradle through (not counting the preliminary 20 game so that, indeed, all hexes have received different far behind and is spreading well beyond the United turn through for rules clarity). The Bataille de la code numbers, we are faced with another and States. It is amongst these gamers that you will Moscova also received two full playings with a few more basic problem. Nothing then is easier than to find the true 'hard core,' the keen war garners: scenarios extra (it's nice to switch sides - especial- calculate systematically the code numbers of hexes they, and not the 'conflict simulation' fanatics are ly in War in the East where the Russian side of interest and look for them on the opponent's the ones who count, in my opinion. teaches great humility and the value/beauty of a list. Their presence on, or absence from, the list 7. That said, this is not a call for stagnation; 1-4 infantry unit). Next out was Terrible Swift gives as much information about the enemy being let innovation flourish. But on the other hand it Sword for which we lined up two other players or not being there or in thevicinity as if the uncod- would be best not to try growing an extra head or after the first couple run throughs and then played ed hex numbers had been announced for all advocating that we all drive on when the light turns twice as teams. We're currently in Wacht am searches. In play by mail, nothing but an honor red. After all, we aren't planning to fight a real Rhein the second time (aborted the first game on code to be agreed upon would prevent a player war with our armies and methods and our only turn 20 when the massive rule changes were from compiling a complete list of all hexes with foes are ourselves. published). I would dearly love to play War in their code numbers, or, with a computer, he could Major Mack was good enough to write a Europe, War Between the States, and Welling- even compile for quick look-up an "inverse" list lengthy well-reasoned letter on this topic (the ex- ton's Victory, which I own, and Highway lo the Reich, which my opponent owns. But hey, there were sold, someone must be really using and en- As I pointed out previously in this column, the just isn't enough time! joying the game. The gameuser can be happy, three statements I made at the end of my piece on In conclusion I would like to add that the some gamemaker is bound to make a game much large games were meant as (somewhat hyper- tenth time around with Panzergruppe Guderian is better than any seen before. The gameuser can be bolic) conclusions that I had drawn based upon less of a learning experience than it is a study in ap- kept in business, playing games. the games already produced and the way in-which plying previous knowledge to a simulation system. It's true enough that gamers can have a vari- they were used or not used by the consumers. The When the similarities to chess increase and the ety of reasons and intended uses for the games three statements were not an advocacy position; learning shifts from unit/terrain characteristics they buy which may be other than thosewhich the rather they were deliberately absurd generaliza- and interfaces to precision of line balance and designer had in mind. I do believe, however, that tions meant to discourage the production of such preventing or achieving 3 to 1 attacks, the flavor one is straying from the basic, existential reason- indigestible paper pizza-pies. At SPI, we respond has left the game as much as it does chewing gum for-being of games if a substantial fraction of the to the demands of the audience. I was attempting on a bedpost overnight. design output consists of mega-games, each of to influence that audience - but not dictate to it, Cost/benefit analysis: quadrigame, $3 cost in whose learninglplaying time requisites precludes since nor producing what the consumer wants is a a group of four, 2 hours per game, played 10 times the effective use of any of the others. Naturally, I certain route to being out of business. Basically, = $.15/hour; big game, $20 cost, 250 hours per am the last person to desire a return to the I'm oh-deed on Godzilla games and yearn that you game, played 2 times = $.04/hour. doldrums of the '50s and '60s - but that doesn't would be of like mind - and reflect such in your Even though Steve pleas lack of time, he ap- mean I have to encourage the seemingly insatiable feedback responses. pears to get more gaming in than most. It's in- appetite some gamers have for giant games that teresting to note that Steve feels that a game loses they're never going to use anyway. From a interest value when the player becomes thorough- business point of view, it would be in my own in- Grammatica ly expert at it. For me, that's just when a game terest to encourage game consumption of any begins to be most interesting - when the system type - and big games make big money. My per- Ivan Travnicek: becomes second nature and I can concentrate all sonalleditorial viewpoint, however, partially con- Despite your long lecture about grammar in my energies on winning and the action of the flicts with this sheerly economic stance. Some MOVES 36, I feel that your own writing some- game itself. After all, few football players enjoy readers will find it hard to believe that I could times leaves a lot to be desired. In fact, I found training camp - the thrill comes in the execution simultaneously embrace two dichotomous at- some of the writing in MOVES 36 so personally of well-practiced play in clutch situations. titudes (i.e., manufacturer's and discriminating aggravating that I am motivated to gripe at you, consumer's). I can write ad copy for and generally expecting neither reply nor remedy. Specifically, it support the marketing of big games even though I is all that damned Latin you use. How many of Gamemaker/Gameuser personally dislike them and editorially make pleas your readers have any training in Latin, let alone Edward Edwards: for moderation. I'm still a gamer (even though my remember enough of it to translate all of what you Two important questions pose themselves time for it is even more constrained than Mr. Ed- write? about games: Why are they written?, Why are they wards') and have a personal point of view distinct I suggest that liberal sprinklings of apt Latin used? The answers can be different, yet reinforce from my company point of view. Since I have the phrases are merely a form of grandstanding each other. luxury of being an Editor I can regularly inflict this egotism. Newsweek magazine, until I got mad One set of answers might be for the game- personal point of view on my friends the readers of enough to stop buying it, used to be guilty (and maker to feel: "everyone must really play the MOVES (even though it runs counter to "good probably still is) of not only sprinkling Latin all game" while the gameuser feels: "I will only buy business sense). A woman I know would say over, but also French, German and lord knows games I have time to really play." These feelings it's because I'm a Gemini. I'm just like you guys what else. It got so one had to be conversant in would doom the hobby. Under these answers, the - a complex organism with more than one several languages to understand what was suppos- hobby would not support but one or two games a frame of reference (although, face-to-face, I'd ed to be a news magazine for the masses. Articles year, if that much. Have we not been there before? agree with the woman). in Newsweek began to resemble a manure spreader Is that not where we were back in 1959? Obvious- speaking in tongues, if that were possible. ly, the hobby needs a better philosophy for what The specific article that caught my eye, we are doing. although there have been others, was the F.O. one There must be many ways for a gameuser to Large Game Requirements liners starting on page 32. You used: meaculpa, ad use the games they purchase. There must also be David C. Bell hominem and sine qua non. I more or less under- many reasons for the gamemaker to make games Consider your average book related to war. It stand the first and last phrases, but not the middle (tell us what they are someday). But here let me tends to be light and readable with little hard data, one. Try them out on some of your troglodytes discuss a way I have used a game that was purchas- acquainting you perhaps with the names of the and note the number of completely accurate ed. Maybe 1 am a map freak, but I collect road units involved and little else besides a vague im- translations they give you. maps, topographic maps, and now game maps. pression of the overall situation. You read it in an I should point out that Richard Berg is the Every time an ad or article in S&T or MOVES in- evening or two and perhaps reread it later, enjoy- author of F.O. - and since he is a lawyer he may cludes a map, naturally I go bananas wanting the ing the nuances you missed the first time. Now have a (forgiveable) tendency to lapse into some game just to get the beautiful graphics. I have the consider your average wargame. It tends to be col- casual Latin now and then. By the way, Ivan, ad World War3 map on the wall over my game table. orful and playable with little hard data, acquaint- hominem is used to describe a gratuitous remark Very little information of a historical nature is ing you perhaps with the names of the units involv- made about the person rather than the subject gained from this map. It is not necessary to really ed and little else beyond a vague feel for the overall under discussion: for example, in your last play the game for me to get my moneys' worth out situation. sentence "troglodytes" could be considered an ad of the game. I have my moneys' worth just from But now consider the reference volume. You horninem remark. the graphics. Did the gamemakers intend this use don't just sit down and read it; generally it sits on of their design? 1 am sure the gamemakers never the shelf until you want to know specific informa- intended to design artwork for the home. Certain- tion. On rare occasions you browse through it, ly the gamemakers would feel better to know their revelling in the detail; perhaps you study one sec- game is really being played. Undoubtedly, the tion carefully. Now consider the Large Game ... game is really being played, just not in my house. You make three propositions in your Let me then suggest a philosophy for game- editorial: that Large Games can be infinitely com- makers and gameusers that would be mutually plex, infinitely large; and unplayable (i.e., not reinforcing and a boost to the hobby's future. The games). I beg to disagree. When I am interested in gamemaker should feel "someone must be really the performance of ships in World War 11, I do not playing my game, for the game is showing a pro- turn to a general history of the war. I want a fit" while the gameuser feels: "I will buy this volume (perhaps "tome" is applicable here) that game, perhaps it is better than my favoritegame." details the construction and performance of ships. These answers to the questions "Why are they On the other hand, I am not interested in a book written?" and "Why are they used?" will insure that contains simply blueprints of the ships; I the future of the hobby. This way the gameusers couldn't comprehend them. The reference books I can buy games insuring the gamemaker can keep buy must deal, first of all, with the level of detail I making games that the gameusers can buy. The am interested in and, second of all, must present gamemaker can be kept in business, selling games. that detail in a coherent form. The gamemaker can be happy, if that many games I require the same from a Large Game. ADDENDA AND FOLLOW-UP DRIVE ON STALINGRdlD Corrections and Balancing Modifkations by Brad Hessel

Post-publication playtesting has in- [6.39] (addition) Units may be moved from hex [14.6] (correction) Case "10.4" should be "1 1.5." dicated the need for the following additions, N2154 in hex N2253 (or vice versa) by expending [16.0 PROCEDURE] (addition) Should the Axis corrections, and clarifications for Drive on 4 Rail Movement Points. Units may be moved Player have fewer than 30 Victory Points at any Stalingrad. from either hex N2154 or N2253 to hex N3754 (or time during the game, the "30 to 39" column of vice versa) by expending 25 Rail Movement the Hitler Directive Table is utilized. However, Points. prayer would probably be more appropriate. Also, "Vornezh" should be "Voronezh" [6.42] (change) "the Axis Player can clear up to the example should cite a Die Roll Bonus of "7," not "11." The Victory Point Index, mentioned in Section three Rail hexes" 19.0 (Procedure), was omitted. [6.43b] (change) "The Axis Player may clear [18.11] (clarification) "East" means "in an One cannot move a unit from S1202 to S1304 by three consecutive Rail hexes" easterly direction;" i.e., the unit may be moved in- way of S1303. "Fractional" land hexes (such as [6.46] (correction) "east" not "west" to hexes to the east, northeast, or southeast of the 53243, S2848, and S2452) are off limits - Players (7.11 (clarification) Trucks and air units do not hex it is in. should use reasonable judgment, or roll a die if count toward the stacking limit. [18.12] (change) Any Soviet unit that is moved they cannot agree. [7.2] German Divisional Integration (change: through Enemy Zones of Control in accordance with Case 18.1 1 during a particular Soviet Move- Counters whole Case) Each German Panzer Division has one Panzer and two Panzergrenadier regiments, ment Phase may not be left in any hex in an Enemy Grosse Deutschland is erroneously indicated to be and each Panzergrenadier division has two Zone of Control at the end of that Movement an SS unit. regiments. When stacked together, units of the Phase. At the end of each Soviet Movement Phase Two Soviet HQ units were omitted: 40/Parsegov/ same Panzer or Panzergrenadier division have - Initial or Mechanized - any Soviet units that 2-12 and 38/Moskaleko/2-12 Divisional Integrity. executed a strategic withdrawal that Game-Turn that are in an Enemy Zone of Control are [7.21] If all of the regiments comprising a par- Tables eliminated. ticular Panzer or Panzergrenadier division are pre- [9.5] COMBAT RESULTS TABLE sent in a single hex, their total Combat Strength is [18.15] (addition) Any unit that attacks during the (correction) doubled on both attack and defense. Soviet Player's Combat Phase cannot execute a Ae (or De)= All Attacking (or Defending) units strategic withdrawal during the Mechanized [7.22] If all of the regiments comprising a par- are eliminated. Opposing Player may advance two Movement Phase of that Player-Turn. ticular Panzer or Panzergrenadier division are pre- hexes (see 9.86). sent in a single hex, they may be treated as "one [18.16] (addition) Any unit that executes a [15.5] GAME-TURN RECORD AND combat unit" for the purposes of Case 7.1. That strategic withdrawal during a Soviet Player-Turn REINFORCEMENT TRACK is, the Axis Player may stack three entire Panzer loses its Zone of Control for the remainder of that Turn3: the Hungarian 1-1 1 should be3-11 Divisions (nine regiments) in one hex, if he so Player-Turn. Turn 8: the Russian receives two Guards divisions desires. [19.13] (correction) Reference to Case "18.27" in the North; zero in the South. [7.23] If any regiment in a division is eliminated, should be "l8.22." Turn 13: the Mt. troops are Italian, not that division can no longer attain Divisional In- [19.17] (addition) The Axis Player receives one Rumanian. tegrity. German infantry and non-German divi- Victory Point each Game-Turn Indication Phase [16.23] Directive Contents Index sions never have Divisional Integrity. that a supplied Axis Combat unit is in a hex adja- 11th Army deployment is in effect under C and D, [8.13] (addition) Zones of Control, except for cent to the Volga River. not under E and F as listed incorrectly (16.7 is those of Mountain divisions, do not extend into correct). [20.2] (corrections) Mountain hexes. Turn2: delete "51st Army"; add "57th Army" [19.2] CITY VICTORY POINT VALUES [9.33] (addition) Whenever an attack is made Turn 8: delete "25th Guard Rifle Division" (addition) against a unit or stack of units in a Major City hex, Turn 18: add "5th Tank Army"; "58th Army" Nevinnomyssk (hex S2728) is worth 5 Victory all step losses called for on the Combat Results HQ units. Points; the Bonus Points Game-Turn Deadline is 8. Table may be doubled for both the Attacker and Rules Defender at the option of the Attacking Player. This option may be exercised only if both Players [5.12] (addition) Soviet Control Markers are also choose to stand; if either Player retreats his units, placed in the following hexes: Balashov (N0924), the results as printed are applied normally. Saratov (NO81 1, N0812), and Tambov (NO132). [9.65] (change) All Soviet Untried units have one [5.2] (clarification) Soviet Guards cavalry divi- step. Whenever such a unit incurs a combat loss, it sions are selected as reinforcements from among is removed from the game and considered other Soviet Guards divisions. eliminated. [5.21] (correction) "six Untried cavalry divisions" [9.72] (clarfication) A unit that is retreated must [5.24] (correction) "Up to 14 of the selected initial always end up in a hex as far away from the hex in forces" which it was attacked as possible; i.e., if a unit in- [5.3td] (correction) "one 3-11 Italian mechsnized curs a "D2" result, that unit must be retreated to a division" hex that is two hexes away from its initial position [5.33] (addition) "(d) one 6-9 German Jaeger divi- (or take step losses). sion" [10.23] (correction: the second sentence should be [5.34a] (correction) "nine 9-9 German infantry replaced with the following) "However, no unit divisions" may ever be moved through a Don River hexside into a hex that is in the Zone of Control of an [6.38] (change) Units may be moved by Rail from Enemy unit that is adjacent to the Don River, hex S1001 or SO601 to hexN1701 or N1001 (or vice unless that hex is occupied by aFriendly unit." versa)at a cost of 40 Rail Movement Points. Units may be moved from hex NO81 1 to NO911 (or vice versa) at a cost of 10 Rail Movement Points. [13.4] (omit entire Case) Designer's Notes [continued from page 31 Oh yes, there have been suggestions for we are toying with some new ideas. It looks reason for such lengthy rules lies in the deci- Buck Rogers or Flash Gordon scenarios. I as if we will go one step higher in unit scale (regiments for Germans, divisions for Rus- sion to include a fairly comprehensive will probably give in and add some sort of SF sians) and keep the same hex scale. A few historical background to the particular fan- fantasy stuff. Eric Goldberg tasy world interspersed among the rules, plus playtesters suggested beginning the game a Mech War month earlier than it does now (Typhoon the fact that both designer and developer I have started the inital design for the have approached some of the fantasy cliches starts November 19), when the Germans new Mech War. First, the command system were still advancing rapidly and encircling with tongue planted firmly in cheek. For will be very unique for an armor tactical huge pockets of Russians around Vyazma those who may be uneasy about Swords and game. Players will give their battalion head- and Bryansk. In Typhoon, there is not that Sorcery becoming an overly complex game, quarters orders for the individual companies much chance of this kind of mobile warfare fear not - though the game is more complex under the battalions' control. During the - mostly because of the weather and the than War of the Ring, it is by no means a dif- movement phase, players will execute their stronger Russian preparation. In general, it ficult game to learn. orders. The hard part of this will be making appears that my task will be to simplify the As it stands now, the rules will be divid- the orders specific so that players will not game so that it really does resemble a com- ed into two sections - one dealing with Ar- abuse unintended loopholes. The combat promise between those two popular SPI mies, the other dealing with Characters. system will be a function of movement. It games. Joseph Balkoski Among the odd things running through the will cost movement points to acquire targets rules are Diplomacy and the fact that the and to fire. The combat system is very re- world in which the game is set is in a solar Freedom in the Galaxy fined from October War.Since this game will system with three suns. Basically, there will be expandable to division size operations, the We have expanded the galaxy to 48 solar be around a dozen Army scenarios and about combat system cannot be overly mathemati- systems with slightly over 100 planets. The 20 possible Quests for individual Characters cal. As it stands now, the key factors are the planets are categorized in several classifica- to go on. target's height and armor class and the type tions: arid, tropical, earth temperate, cold Enthusiasm runs high for the game. At of optical system the firing unit is using. The rocky, and non-oxygen (it sounds like Bas- one point, we had SS Killer Penguins in the type of optical system will determine which kin-Robbins). Only a small percentage of the game (now just Killer Penguins). Apparent- range attenuation table the firing unit will planets are known to the rebel player. ly, several artists were taken with the idea, use. After determining range and target Various cultures are being created to fill and I have been receiving well-done illustra- the planets-human and otherwise. There is class, an attack strength number will be de- tions of such a beast (which, sadly, can never rived. Reference to the proper Combat Re- also a hefty sprinkling of creatures to en- see the light of day - in poor taste or some- sults Table (full, Dl, or D2) will yield the ef- counter, from unfriendly viruses to your thing like that). The best of the lot was done every-day beserker android. But the most in- fectiveness of the combat, In addition, there by Dave Isby's (SPI librarian and Anglo- teresting aspect, so far, is creating the will be a plethora of optional rules. phile) younger brother, but was of a mere Mark Herman multitude of races and cultures needed to in- Volksgrenadierpenguin. I am taking the rest habit the galaxy. Some of them are: Rhones, of the game slightly more seriously. your off-the-shelf futuristic humans; Sauri- Eric Goldberg The Next War ans, the local intelligent lizard mm; Segundi- The Next War playtesting is going very ans, black-skinned humanoids now running well at this time. Currently we are using the things; Twergs, your 25th century dwarves; computer at SPI for rules writing purposes. and Omegs, Turtians, Ribians, Felogians The advantages of this system enable a de- and many others. Each culture has a loyalty Commando veloper to write a first draft of the rules and, number that shows its relationship to the em- Yes, you too can be Sergeant Rock and once the rules are on the computer, correc- pire. Right now we are working on the planet His Howling Commandos, or Keith Mallory tions and additions become a very simple interaction system which will allow the rebels from Alistair MacLean's The Guns of Nava- procedure which cuts time for a draft rewrite to select various missions to carry out on the rone - either way, a lot of Germans are go- by at least one-third. Thus, rules can be care- planet surface. These will include: assassina- ing to die. The idea of the game makes it fully gone over many times, decreasing the tion of leaders, sabotage, diplomatic action, sound almost simple - just put the good number of errors that creep into the game. freeing prisoners, helping carry out coups, guys on one side, the bad guys on the other, The land game mechanics for Next War beginning smoldering rebellion and open and wait for right to triumph. are now on a firm basis, and we are beginning rebellion, information gathering, and Just try writing rules like that: "Regard- to layer on the chrome that will make this meeting new rebel characters. less of the situation, the Good Player always game unique. Besides an intensive air and The imperial player can deploy his vari- wins, preferably at the darkest hour." Clear- naval game, there will be airborne and com- ous forces throughout the galaxy. They con- ly, a different approach would be needed in mando rules. More news to come. sist of non-mobile garrisons and mobile order to come up with a game that is worth Mark Herman forces, which are divided into Line, Veteran the effort. The very nature of Commando's and Special Troops of different strengths. subject - WWII to modern day role-playing Typhoon There are also strategic fleets used for patrol- adventure - makes the game radically dif- This new tactical/operational simula- ling the solar systems. The next step will be ferent. Each player will control a character tion of the German drive on Moscow is prov- working on the integration of an active rebel or a group of characters and maneuver them ing a tough nut to crack. The title was origin- fighting force - now let's see about putting in an attempt to gain objectives from the bad ally fedback as a compromise between Pan- it on a moon of Yavin. H. Barasch guys or the opposing player@). Since there zergruppe Guderian and Wacht Am R hein. can be no "resurrection" of characters, I ex- However, the design has been presented as a Stonewall pect that the bravery associated with the somewhat more complex version of the Bat- (Battle of Kernstown) standard fictional heroes will not be too tle of the Bulge game. With a larger hex scale Stonewall is nearing completion, with much in evidence during playtesting. How- (2.5 miles) and similar unit size (battalions the map in the Art Department and the coun- ever, I am considering a Miraculous Escape for Germans, regiments for Russians), Ty- ters nearly so, the recent addition of Army Matrix for those who wish to play a Holly- phoon is truly impressive when set up for the Morale has provided the final needed touch wood type scenario (you know, the 15 mines November 19, 1941 scenario. However, for the game, stressing the value of move- below our hero's tank are all duds - quelle counter density and the plethora of unit types ment and strategy in place of bludgeoning chance), but those who wish to play Vietnam makes the game very difficult to play. Four frontal assaults. Interestingly, the outcome and other real-life situations will find that playtesters could only get through two turns of many of the games playtested here has preservation is the name of the game. in two nights of playtesting! At this moment, been resolved in heavy fighting centering around the stonewall on the Union right prototype utilized a time-scale that was inap- will actually be two games. The basic game flank (which is where it happened historical- propriate for city fighting, which can have will be a two-player military scenario cover- ly). Yes, Virginia (?) there is a stonewall on halts in the action of 30 minutes or more ing the Third Crusade (Richard Lionheart the Stonewall map... Walczyk when a unit comes under fire, due to the in- and his good buddy Phillip of France versus herent difficulties of organizing (or re- Saladin). The other scenario will be a multi- Battles for the Ardennes organizing) men scattered in buildings, player game covering the First Crusade. Ten- Probably the most popular wargaming around corners, and under Volkswagens. tative plans include up to seven players: the subject of all time is the Battle of the Bulge. When we changed the time-scale to 400 sec- Northern Franks, under Robert of Flanders, Well, now we take you back into the Ar- onds, however, we had somewhat of a prob- Robert of Normandy, and Stephen of Blois; dennes again with Battle for the Ardennes, a lem linking the game with FireFight, which is the Southern Franks, under Raymond of pet project of a freelance designer from an alternate unit move/fire sequence of play Toulouse; the Normans, under Baldwin of Florida, Danny Parker (who worked with us - in 400 seconds, a tank could be moved 30 Taranto and his younger brother, Tancred; on Wacht am Rhein). Danny - truly a Battle hexes or fire at 10 separate Enemy units. . . the Lorrainers, under Godfrey of Bouillion; of the Bulge expert - was attracted to the The second major problem was the fact that the Northern Turks, under Kerbogha; the idea of doing a Bulge game along the same the geometry of the hex-grid is virtually in- Syrian Turks, under Duqaq of Damascus; lines as Napoleon's Last Battles with four compatible with the three-dimensional geo- and the Fatamids, under al-Afdal). This is, maps, each of which could be used to play a metry of cities. Only by distorting the scale of course, subject to change - and using separate scenario (of course, all four maps and direction of the road net grotesquely to fewer players. We're going to try to use join to form the entire Ardennes). But this conform to the hexrows and fill up the hexes a system of cards, similar to Kingmaker in game will cover more than just the Battle of entirely could we avoid using any number of some ways, to cover the lesser knights, the Bulge. Also included will be the German markers to indicate whether or not a fireteam bishops, emirs, sultans, etc. Also intended is attack through this sector in May 1940, in a given hex was in the street, in a building a supply system that depends on the type of spearheaded by Heinz Guderian's Panzer on the left side of the street, or in a building hex a unit is in: you can stop for supply at the group racing to Sedan. The four scenarios on the right side of the street - and as we al- cost of MP's, or keep moving to better areas (each of which will be available as a separate ready needed markers to show what story and suffer possible attrition. Castle building, folio) are St. Vith, Clervaux, Celles, and units in buildings were on, one can see that visions (Bartholomew and his Lance will be Sedan '40. Surprisingly, it appears as if the this presented serious playability problems. I ever present), bribery, changed alignments, most popular game among these four is Se- seem to have solved the second problem - fleets, the Byzantine Emperor (and his dan. Of course, there will also be two Cam- my tenth grade geometry teacher would be powerful military presence) - all this will paign Games, one in '40 and the other in '44. astounded - by the expedient of eliminating somehow be crammed into the issue game in First reports indicate that the game is simple the hex-grid in the city. The scale has been ex- one form or another. The winner will be the in concept and clean in system. Scale is two panded from fifty meters/hex to twenty-five player who controls the most - and most miles per hex and units are usually in meters/hex (to make the buildings "big valuable - land. "Deus le Volt!" regiments. Time scale appears to be one enough" to fit a half-inch counter) and we Rich Berg Game-Turn per day. are using a fire range-finder and streets Joseph Balkoski marked off in 10-meter intervals. We have a Ty re two-map mock-up which links with the Fire- The game-map of Tyre is divided into Tannenberg Fight maps. But now we have to decide about three distinct areas. Along the bottom long- This should be a really exciting game, the time-scale, and the solution to that prob- grain edge is the Mainland from which the lem seems to me to lead away from a link with more thrills and suspense than a whole Macedonian Army tries in vain to build a season of Charlie's Angels. Will the Russian with the FireFight system. This is one of the causeway across the water to Tyre. The rest major decisions facing us these days, and Army starve to death before it crosses the of the map portrays the island city of Tyre we've been debating it back and forth. No Prussian border? Will General Samsonov and the Mediterranean Sea that surrounds matter what we decide, it looks like we'll be succeed in blowing his brains out or will he and protects it. bungle that too? Will anyone notice Ludden- far enough away from the original prototype Alexander the Great, who was besieging to require a whole lot more testing. So don't dorf doesn't always play with a full deck? Tyre with his Macedonian Army,.was sad- Will the Russians catch on that not encoding look for CityFight before the late Fall dled with a classic problem: how to get from their communications renders them liable to of 1978. Hessel point A to island B without walking on interception, and that there are Germans Izyum water. Although he had no fleet to speak of, who can speak Russian? All this, plus miles This Son of Guderian game is just about Alexander had to take the island city be- upon miles of Polish plain, Prussian to start its in-house testing (it was designed cause it lay astride his line of communication swamps, stagnant lakes, quagmires, and out-of-house, as it were, by Steve Patrick). for the conquest of Egypt. So while his Army deep, dark forests straight out of Norse Our initial concentration will be on balance, continued to build the causeway, Alexander mythology will definitely make it a game vis a vis achieving a relatively historical out- visited a number of cities and islands which to remember. If you read the report in the come. The problem, according to the design- were nominally under his domain and de- last S&T, you'll see that the scale is going to er, has been in the area of attack and count- manded the service of their fleets. The be division/corps, with 8 miles to the hex. erattack capabilities. We very much want "powers that be" in the various localities Thus, the game is not going to owe a lot to both sides to have both capabilities, so that were reluctant at first to cooperate, but one previous Quad systems. One thing it is going the game does not become a pre-ordained by one they changed their minds as Alexan- to owe a lot to is the old 1914 game, which is event. Ziyum will appear quite familiar to der reminded them that if they didn't comply one of my all-time favorites. Those phili- devotees of the Guderian system, as it they were inviting 50,000 or so mouths to stines who didn't like 1914, however, can follows the latter quite closely in its basic dinner, so to speak. The fleets (made up of take heart from the fact that there will also be system. However, we are putting in more ad- oar driven triremes) gave Alexander a two to a lot of differences such as units having only vanced supply rules and a somewhat differ- one naval superiority, but they arrived piece- one "step" for losses, which is backprinted ent leadership system as well as rules peculiar meal, leaving them open to individual on the counters. The number of counters will to the situation. Our biggest problem, how- destruction by the Tyrian Fleet. The Mace- also be a lot less - probably only 100. It ever, is trying to come up with a title a bit donia player must achieve a decisive naval should be exciting. Dave Zsby catchier thanlzyum. Rich Berg superiority so that his ships may be laden down with battering rams and catapults to CityFight The Crusades breach the walls of Tyre prior to the am- This game is at a crucial crossroads now. Work is still in the formative stages for phibious assault. The fun comes in when, Intended to link with FireFight, the original this S&T 70 game. As it stands now, there eventually, the walls have to be breached with the battering ram-laden ships (which In the two-player game, the French do not Mining operations and siting of guns 4 days become sitting ducks). At this point a num- have to be so foolish, and they have a good on the covered way to making a prac- ber of wonderful demolition derbys ensue chance of changing history. One thing which ticable breach with the Tyrian player fighting for naval is arousing much interest is the Leader-to- The capture of the breach and its 3 days superiority. Both sides have the initiative, Leader combat rules. They portray the supporting positions and the final assault of the island is a crown- nobles and their entourages hacking away at Surrender of the town after 2 days ing peak to an enjoyable and tense contest. each other during the battle. Once two com- capitulation David Werden bat units pull adjacent and resolve their com- Allowance for errors, damage caused 4 days bat, if there are leader counters present in by sorties, a valorous defense Total: 48 days Acre both units, they may choose to have personal Acre, pronounced (Ah-ker) by the combat. They undergo 10 phases wherein The playtesting is going very well with Crusaders and (Ock-ra) by the Moslems, is each leader chooses his attack posture. For the game system simulating the trenchworks, being polished at this moment. Right now instance, one leader may choose advance and relief attempts, mortar bombardment, and various aspects of the game mechanics are parry while the other may stand and attack. assaults through the breach which are being cleaned up and tested to make sure that These postures are cross-referenced to an in- desperately pressed forward and thrown the assumptions made in the "cleansing" dividual combat result table, and the fighting back. process have no hidden flaws. is resolved. The playtesters have been having David Werden The game is rich in both historical infor- so much fun with various individually rated mation and playability, and it strives to fuse nobles and the suicide squad determined to Sevastopol the detailed research into a format that turns kill King Henry that they actually enjoy play- the important aspects of the siege into gam- ing the French side in the automatic Histori- Work on Sevastopol is being completed ing decisions. Too often, games are designed cal clockwork scenario! David Werden with blind tests returning and the 19th cen- to one extreme or the other when detailed tury map engraving of the siege going into historical realism and playability need not be the Art Department. The engraving, showing mutually exclusive. We have been trying to where the parallels and saps were built fuse the information into an enjoyable and Lille historically, will be grey-toned in the final playable format. For instance, we know ex- French Marshal, Sebastien le Prestre de map, enabling players to follow the historical actly the Crusaders' siegework building Vauban (1633-1707), was an acknowledged plan without forcing them to do so. capability, and we have fashioned an exten- genius during his life time. The only engineer Both the sieges of Sevastopol and Lille sive set of rules dealing with the process. of his day to achieve the highest military rank are using full topographical maps with no After testing these rules, we found a pattern of his country, Vauban defined and ex- hex grid overlay. There are 300 counters (400 had emerged in playtesting that no matter panded the scope and knowledge of Siege really) - 200 for units, guns, and leaders, how inexperienced or experienced the Cru- Warfare both defensively and offensively. and 100 double-sized counters for trench sader was, the building program remained Vauban began his illustrious career perfect- pafallel and communication saps. The game constant. Giant catapults were built first, ing such defensive fortifications as horn- is very straightforward and is a real gem. ballistas and small catapults second, and works, demi-lunes, glacis, and ravelins, and Both rich in historical information (the first Siege Towers third, with maximum tunnel- when this was completed he spent his later rifled artillery - the Lancaster gun - is rep- ling going on at all times. Although we gave years perfecting ways to reduce these defens- resented, for instance) and playability, the the player the choice (upon learning the es in the quickest and most economical man- game has made the Friday night playtesters rules) of building siege towers first, there was ner (in loss of life) by utilizing parallels, saps eager to test it (which is a good sign), There no intelligent reason to do so. We went back and mass batteries have been wins for both sides. to the research and found that the best The city of Lille and its defenseworks The Russian field army may attempt to building program was identical to the histori- constituted one of Vauban's crowning affect the siege by refighting the battles of cal one. So - the Crusader giant catapult - achievements. Constructed without sparing Balaklava, Inkerman, and Tchernaya in a named "God's own Sling" - is now built expense, Prince Eugen of Savoy and the somewhat abstract manner. We hope to alle- and appears on a historically specified game Duke of Marlborough took Lille with a great viate this fuzzy abstraction by including in- turn. loss of life (16,000 men), and, although it was terconnecting rules for the Crimean War David Werden not taken on the strict time-table that Quad. Then, if the Russian player decides to Vauban would have set for himself if he had intervene with the battle of Inkerman, both players can play the quad game and apply the Agincourt been conducting the siege, it did at length succumb. The Siege of Lille began on 13 results to the ongoing siege. The work on Agincourt at this stage August and the town was taken and the David Werden centers on refining the game mechanics. The population evacuated under the honors of design does not abstract the battle into a war by 26 October. Lille was one of the finest mush of WWII game mechanics with feudal Vauban defenseworks in Europe, and its loss names; rather it gives the player the feeling of in 1708, combined with Vauban's death in FEEDBACK RESULTS MOVES 35 truly being present on that muddy day in 1707, signalled the end of an Age. 1415. One of the more interesting aspects of Rank Article Rating Vauban's personal time-table (in days) 1. Designer's Notes 7.17 the design is the usage of double-sized French for the progression of a siege: counters to portray the massive and clumsy 2. War Between Stafes(analysis) 6.80 French formations. There are rules dealing To invest a place, collect material, and 9 days 3. Opening MOVES 6.70 build lines with fugitives which are produced whenever 4. Raid! 6.69 From the opening of the trenches to 9 days a loss is taken by a unit. Units are arranged in 6.61 reaching the covered way 5. Veracruz lines so that when a loss is taken, the line is The storm and capture of the covered 4 days 6. WarBetween Stafes (follow-up) 6.46 lost, but the next line steps forward at its full way and its defenses 7. Without Deja Vu 6.23 strength for the next attack. The dead are left Descent into and crossing of the ditch 3 days 8. Playback 5.98 on the field of play and affect morale with of the demi-lune 9. Neither RainNor Snow ... 5.95 oncoming formations trying to steer clear of Mining operations, siting of batteries, 4 days 10. Origins 77 5.94 the carnage and Archers sallying out to creation of a fair breach 11. Conquered Again 5.90 retrieve arrows. Capture and exploitation of the demi- 3 days Testing is going ahead on a clockwork lune and its defenses 12. Captain Video 5.82 solitaire scenario with one player playing the Crossing of the main ditch to two 4 days 13. TACIS 4.76 English as the French charge ahead blindly. bastions This Issue Overall 6.48 Richard Hamblin, whom Don Greenwood it's well-written, it's remarkably playable - swears is a resident genius. But Richard has and it's historical junk food. SquadLeader is yet to produce anything original; i.e., from the Big Mac of the wargaming industry. his own mind. And Mick Uhl spent so much Why do I say such a nasty thing? (Of time and energy on the rocky Gettysburg '77 course if you're addicted to 1500 calories of that I don't think he'll even have enough plastic bread and gray meat you'll think the strength for the Big Softball Game at above was a compliment; rest easy - it Detroit. Now I only mention these names not wasn't.) I say it because I do not buy the so that I can unload on the AH staff, which is basic game system as asimulation of platoon- THE PLAYWAR PHILOSOPHY #37 undeserving of such thought, but only to fur- level WWII combat. I say that because I'have Each wargame company has its own ther zero in on my thesis for the remainder of played John Hill games for years - and en- personal philosophy, a philosophy as indica- this column. joyed almost every one of them. I haven't tive as a signature. Of course, for most small Avalon Hill does not need in-house de- gotten much historically from any of them, and/or informal companies the philosophy is signers in great numbers because it goes else- but, then again, maybe I didn't want to. pure and simple: survival. But for the major where for its product. That it has an excep- John Hill designs great games - he will companies - and especially for Avalon Hill tional knack for spotting a "good item" is sacrifice historicity if it makes the game an and SPI - the philosophy of each respective borne out by such acquisitions as Wooden iota less playable than he wants it. He knows corporate mind is important. Moreover, it is Ships and Iron Men (their in-the-works - he instinctively feels - what the even more important that a reviewer be Trireme game is also an acquisition, perhaps player/gamer wants, and he gives it to him. aware of and understand that philosophy if to be titled Wooden Ships and Tired Men), And woe betide the historical fact that stands he is to write with any depth or insight into a Russian Campaign, Diplomacy, and King- in its way! game's merits. For the primary mistake of maker, among others. It also goes out-of- For one, I cannot believe that a squad of the great slew of literary deviates who pass house for its designers when it wants to men, having lost their beloved, pink-cheeked themselves off as reviewers these days is that publish original work. John Prados did Lieutenant, is going to sit and cower in an they look at the game from the viewpoint of Third Reich for them, and Harold Hocks abandoned farm building until another what they wanted to see. Little effort is ex- came up with Tobruk. But in their newest eight-week wonder comes and rescues them. pended in examining the game from the all- Field Agent Avalon Hill has met its most Yet, the rules plainly state that units without important angle of whether the designer sympathetic and empathetic designer: John leaders may not be rallied. So much for in- and/or the company (for in large companies Hill. Ironically, even the names are the same. dividual initiative. In terms of the play the shadow of the corporate image falls John Hill is the quintessential Avalon system, this works out admirably. But as for heavily on the designer) has succeeded in do- Hill designer. He designs games. He does not simulating the effects of fire on men, it's ing the game he (and it) wanted to do. do simulations, he does games. And that is pure hoghips. (I might point out here a bit of, Whether a game is what you - or I - what Avalon Hill is in the business of hopefully, unintended humor. It seems that want it to be is purely a matter of self- publishing: games. This fact cannot be ig- when a unit takes too many casualties it loses interest. For example, I do not like simple nored when reviewing an AH product. For all its money. Well, the counter states that it CRT's - you know, DE, DR, DX and that's no one - not even SPI - puts out better is "Broke!" I assume the leader rallies them it. This does not mean that simple CRT's are games than Avalon Hill. When AH swings with promises of extra pay!) not viable; it just means that I don't like toward historical simulation, they run into Another item which fails under the them. But, in using a simple CRT does a deep trouble. Witness the totally mediocre microscope of realism is the sequence of designer achieve his ends? Does the CRT reception to Tobruk, which is as close to be- play. There's just too much happening - serve the designer's purpose? In a game such ing a game as the Mets are to a pennant. and all of it too easily. My God, everybody as Wehrmacht, a British import on the Rus- Tobruk was alien to the Avalon Hill shooting, running, stopping, shooting, sian Front, the simple CRT serves admirably. philosophy, a Stranger in a Strange Land. shooting, ad infinitum. Did you ever read The designer is not making a definitive state- But Squad Leader is right in the tried- how many men actually fired their weapons ment on Russian front tactics or casualties. and-true AH mold. True, it looks complex, during combat in WWII? An abysmally He is simply showing Russia as a strategic intricate and loaded with information. But small percentage - the actual number battlefront, and in that respect the CRT per- it's a game, and it is as a game that it suc- escapes me, but I'm sure it was lower than forms well. But in Troy, by Chaosium ceeds. People looking for incisive insight into 15%. Yet there's a veritable blizzard of Games, designer Donald Dupont has chosen WWII platoon-level tactics are going to get bullets in Squad Leader - and these are fly- to foist a remarkably simplistic combat some strange information if they go to SL. ing before movement, during movement - system onto a wealth of detail and informa- But players looking for a slam-bang evening even after movement! Lots of action - little tion. The individual characters and the of fun have hit just the right spot. insight. general level of play cry out for subtlety and And this is how John Hill designs -and To be sure, there is much that is ac- sophistication; what we get is, "Dick and what Avalon Hill wants to publish. For there curate, and informative, in Squad Leader. Jane Go Greek." is a great difference between Actual Realism Most of the artillery rules are nicely done, All of this is by way of stating that and Perceived Realism. The former is what with flavor and accuracy. There is some nice Avalon Hill's Squad Leader is a remarkably really k; the latter is what the player thinks is weapon variation as well as good Line of successful game. That it is the best game of really true. The two do not necessarily - and Sight rules, always difficult to write. But its type for this year is almost without ques- often times completely fail - to go together. then you run into stuff like Berserk units. tion (especially in a year fraught with stulte- But if you aim for the latter rather than the Granted, under fire many men simply went fying mediocrity). But in praising SL so former you will please more people in the crazy. But they went crazy as individuals - highly it is important to remember that the long run. not in a concerted effort. We even have game is designed in the Avalon Hill mode. Squad Leader is an exercise in Perceived Berserk Leaders leading Berserk units in a Avalon Hillpublishes games. They rare- Realism design. It looks like it is accurate. sort of frenzy of organized insanity. Now ly design anything themselves, which is There is so much going on, there are so many Berserk rules are favorites among gamers; no neither a Good Thing nor a Bad Thing. It is nitty-gritty rules like jeeps, fires in buildings, matter how dreary an ancient game is, if it simply the way they do business. They actual- fifteen types of terrain, etc., that it just has to has elephants in it - and if the elephants can ly have few true designers on their staff: Ran- be realistic. Hey, the men are ducking into run amuck, as they were wont to do - the dy Reed is the most prolific AHer around buildings, crawling through sewers, calling in gamers are satisfied. Now, there were few and Frank Davis is certainly a top-flight artillery with radio contact, and just GI- elephants in Europe during WWII (if one dis- man. Yet Frank is the first dyed-in-the-wool Joeing their collective ways into your counts Goering), so, for play fun we have designer hired by AH in years. There is simulated heart. It's grand fun, it's exciting, Berserk infantry units. It occurred to me as I was playing through a scenario that you could have a Berserk Heavy Weapons unit. Now there is a thought to conjure with! It all boils down to what you want. a scale of 1 (Poor) to 9 (Excellent). For the ac- Avalon Hill wants to give you a game, as tual text of the questions, see Section B of does John Hill. If that's what you want, you Feedback on page 39. Publisher Abbrevia- can't beat Squad Leader. Anything else is a tions: SPI = Simulations Publications, Inc., hit-or-miss proposition. Whether or not READER RwlM New York; GDW = Game Designers' Work- John and Avalon intended this to be a Playback ratlngs are reader evaluat~onsof shop, Normal, Illinois; MGC = MetaGaming definitive historical comment is not clear. games that are acquired through S&T and Concepts, Austin, Texas. Knowing the two Hills, I doubt whether they did. In that case my criticism is so much hot air. But it is valid. even in its inflatable state. Rich Berg

5.68 6.1-6.8 5.32 6.4-7.1 7.78 6.85 6.5-7.2 6.23 5.51 6.3-7.0 4.71 6.3-6.9 5.80 6.1-6.7 - 3 6.34 5.49 6.2-6.8 CONVENTIONS 3 5.39 6.2-6.8 Up and Coming The following is a list of some of the conven- tions scheduled to be held in the upcoming year, including place, name of convention, and .14 7.33 5.51 6.1-6.8 whom to contact for further information. 340 88% 54% 77% March 24-26 TEXCON, Stephen F. Austin Hotel, Austin, Texas. Contact: Dan Kagan, Austin Brigade of the Republic of Texas (ABRPT), P.O. Box 12385, Austin, Texas 7871 1. March 25-26 SCANCON 1, Goteborg, Sweden. Contact: WWI, Box 18, S-59040 Kisa, Sweden. March 30-April 2 AGGIECON IX, College Station, Texas. Con- *Ogre, part of MGC's Microgame Series, contains an 8%"x 14" map and unmounted counters. tact: Sven Knudson, Chairman AggieCon IX, MSC, Texas A&M University, P.O. Box 5718, OCTOBER WAR Into West Germany; divisional integrity, un- College Station, Texas 77844. Design: Irad B. Hardy tr~edunits, air power, chemical warfare, April 1-3 Development: Mark Herman nuclear weapons. Bruxelles, Belgium. Contact: J. Venden Art: Redmond A. Simonsen Borre, Rue du Bonheur 14, B-1070, Bruxelles, OGRE Comments: Tactical combat In the Middle Belgium. ~~~i~~:steveJackson East during the 1973 Yom Kippur War; scen- April 15-16 arios and Campaign Game; observation, Comments: Science-fiction Micrograme, pit- ting men against a "cybertank" - a huge CAPCON 1, Ohio State University Union. range attenuation, indirect fire, panic based fighting machine; odds/ratio combat, tanks, Contact: T. Downie, 1739 N. High Street, on unit casualties. m~ssiletanks, artillery, Infantry, command Columbus, Ohio 43210. BATTLEFLEET MARS posts, scenarios; opt~onalrules for camou- May 20-22 Design: B.E. Hessel and flage, mines, self-destruct~on. GAME 78, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. Con- Redmond A. Simonsen tact: CANGAMES 78, 201-360 Dundas Street, LA BATAILLE DE LA MOSKOWA Development: Greg Costikyan Vanier, Ontario, Canada, KIL 7W7. Guest: 2nd Edition - Art: Redmond A. Simonsen SPI's Jim Dunnigan. Comments: The 2nd Edition of award- Comments: Strategic and tactical simulation July 14-16 game on the Battle of Borodino; re- of interplanetary confl~ctin our solar system, done artwork on game-maps (all four) and ORIGINS 78, Ann Arbor, Michigan (organiz- set in 21st Century; morale, production, tacti- counters; includes new organizational chart ed by Metro Detroit Garners and featuring the cal ship-to-ship combat, political interactions. AH-SPI Softball conflict). Contact: Al Slis- for both sides; separate booklets for rules and inger, 19941 Joan, Detroit, Michigan 48205. FULDA GAP scenarios. September 2-4 Design: James F. Dunnigan PEARL HARBOR 3rd Annual GEN. CON. WEST^^ '78; GEN. Development: Thomas Walczyk Design: John Prados CON. WEST'^ '78 Miniatures, Villa Hotel, Art: Redmond A. Simonsen Comments: Strategic simulation of World San Mateo, California. Contact: Gen. Con. Comments: Regimental and brigade level si- West, P.O. Box 4042, Foster City, California War I1 in the Pac~f~c;air, land, and naval mulation of hypothetical Warsaw Pact assault rules. 94404. 32. What is theaverage number of hours you spend play- 61. Midway 1942 ing simulation games each month? 0= none; 1 = 1 hour or 62. Stalingrad 1942 less; 2=2-5 hours; 3=6-9 hours; 4=10-15 hours; 63. Normandy 1944 5= 16-20 hours; 6=21-25, 7=26-30; 8=31-40; 9=40 or more hours. 64. Dien Bien Phu 1954 Feedback 33. How many simulation games (of all publishers) do 65. Suez1973 MOVES nr. 37, published Feb/Mar 1978 you possess? 1 = 1-10; 2= 11-20; 3=21-30, 4=31-40; 5=41-50; 6=51-60; 7=61-70; 8=71-80; 9=81 or more. The following questions relate to the discussion of flavor and color in Opening Moves (see especially the chart on 34. Did you send in the feedback card for your last issue page 3). Please don't answer these questions unless of MOVES?l =yes; 2= no. How to use the Feedback Response Card: After you've you've read the whole of Opening Moves including the 35. Pick the onearea about which you would most like to chart. Basically the EditorIArt Director is asking you to finished reading this issue of MOVES, please read the see games and articles done: 1 =Ancient (Rome, Greek, act as a check on his own biases and perceptions concer- Feedback questions below, and glve us youranswers by Biblical, 300 BC-GOOAD); 2=Dark Ages and writing the answer-numbers on the card in the response ning the rating of SPI game-maps and counters for color Renaissance l6M) AD-1600 AD); 3=30 Years War and boxes which correspond to each question number. See and flavor. For each game listed, examine the rating in the pre-Napoleon~c(1600 AD- 1790); 4= Napoleonic centerfold for card printed chart on page three and then give your Overall 11790-1830); 5= Civil Warllgth Century (1830-1900); Rating of that game's color/flavor. If you've not seen a Please be sure to answer all questions (but do not write 6=World War 1 (1900-1930); 7=World War 11 (1930- game, write "0." If you've not read Opening Moves or anything in the box for question-numbers labelled "no 1945); 8=post-World War II (1945-present); 9= Present don't wish to respond, also write "0" for all the questions question"). Incompletely filled-out cards cannot be and future (anything goes). in this series. Keep in mind that the overall Average processed. Rating measures only the colorfulnesslflavorfulness of What the numbers mean: When answering questions, The following questions concern a proposed new series the components - not how attractive the overall effect "0always means NO OPINION or NOT APPLICABLE. of games to be published under the title "Great Battles of may or may not be. Remember also, the "benchmark When the Question is a "yes or no" question, "1" means History." This series of games would cover some 24 to 30 games" Hway to the Reich and TSS are automatically YES and "2" means NO. When the question is a rating of history's most important battles, and would be pub- rated "9" as a standard of comparison. Try not to he in- question, "1" is the WORST rating. "9" is the BEST lished over a period of four to five years; they would be fluenced by your likeldislike for any game system or sub- rating, "5" is an AVERAGE rating, and all numbers in be- sold on a subscription basis. Each game would cover a ject. Rate only on the basis of how much color you tween express various shades of approval or disapproval. specific battle, ranging through time from Ancient Greece perceive, and how historically flavorful you sense the to the Modern era, on either a tactical or an operational graphics of the components to be. Rate "1" to "9." SECTION A level, depending on how the subject could best be han- (Note: due to lack of question space, the titles Canadian 1-3. No question. (leave blank). dled. The battles covered would be ones which have not Civil War, Air War and Up Scope have been omitted from been the subject of games previously published by SPI. the list). Questions 4 through 18 ask you to rate the articles in this All games would include a single map, 400 counters, rules 66. Revolt in the East issue on a scale of 1 = poor, 9 = excellent; 0 = no opin- booklet, charts, and a 16-page historical article. This arti- 67. PanzerGruppe Guderian ion). cle would be done in SBT style, with various modules 4. Three-Player War of the Ring covering the battle itself, order of battle, organizational 68. Conquistador 5. Air War: Check Flight information, plus modules on that particular period of his- 69. Plot to Assassinate Hitler tory, concentrating on the leaders, state of warfare, tac- 6. Air War: Errata 70. Road to Rlchmond tics and combat doctrine, etc. The games would be pub- 71. October War 7. Space Opera lished somewhat randomly rather than in chronological 8. Just Add Water ... order. Games would be released approximately 8 to 10 72. South Africa 9. Cobra Errata weeks apart. They would retail individually for $10 or be 73. Veracruz available through subscriptions for $49.95 per set of six 10. Travel Notes 74. Raid (or more cheaply if demand is sufficient). 11. Drive on Statingrad Errata 75. Cobra 36. Would you be interested in the "Great Battles of 76. Afterthe Holocaust 12. Opening MOVES History"? 1 =Would definitely subscribe to the flrst set I6 13. Designer's Notes games) of the series; 2= Would definitely subscribe to 77. BattleFleet Mars 14. Your MOVES (overall) more than one set of the series; 3= Would possibly sub- 78. Conquerors scribe to the series; 4= Not tnterested in subscribing, but 15. Forward Observer 79. Drive on Stalingrad would definitely buy selected titles; 5= Not Interested in 16. Playback subscribing, but would possibly buy selected titles; 80. Fulda Gap 17. Thls issue (overall) 6 =Not sure yet (would like to see the first game); 81. FireFight 18. Was this issue better than last one? 7 = Definitely not interested eitherway in theseries. 82. Mighty Fortress The following questions ask you to rate the various letters The following 29 battles are being consideredas potential 83. Minuteman and responses in Your MOVES on a scale of 1 =total topics for the "Great Battles of History" series. Please 84. Modern Battles II Quad rate them on a scale of 1 to 9 with "1" indicating a strong agreement ...to 9 = total disagreement. 85. Napoleon's Last Battles disinclination to see the game published as a part of the 19. One Way Mirror series (400 counters, one-map format), up through "9," 86. Outreach 20. Variation vs. Innovation indicating strong enthusiasm to see the game so 87. Red Sun Rising 21. Big Games published. 88. Russian Civil War 22. Big Plays 37. Marathon, 491 BC 89. Starsoldier 23. GamemakerIGameuser 38. Arbela (Gaugamela) 331 BC 90. Thirty Years War Quad 24. Large Game Requirements 39. Zama 202 BC 91. Wachtam Rhein 25. Assume that you don't subscribe to MOVES. Would 40. Philippi 42 AD 92. War Between the States the quality of this issue alone mottvate you to subscribe? 41. Adrianople 378 93. War in Europe 26. For how many issues have you had a continuous 42. Chalons451 subscription to MOVES?O= I don't subscribe; 1 =This is 94. War of the Ring my first issue; 2=This is my second or third issue; 43. Tours732 95. Wellington's Victory 3=This is my fourth or fifth Issue; 4=This is my sixth 44. Hastings 1066 96. No Questlon Issue, 5=This is my seventh through eleventh issue; 45. Manzikert 1071 6=This is my twelfth issue; 7=This is my thirteenth 46. Liegnitz 1241 through eighteenth Issue; 8=This is my nineteenth or subsequent issue, 9= 1 am a MOVES Lifetime Subscriber 47. Crecy 1346 SECTION B (regardless of number of issues received). 48. Vienna 1527 The results of the following survey are used in our 27. What level of complexity do you prefer in games? 49. Panipat 1526 PLAYBACK system. This system reviews games by Rate your preference on a 1-9 scale, with hlgher numbers 50. Lepanto 1571 showing the response of the people who play the games. indicating tncreased complexity. Use the following games 51. Sekigahara 1600 Questions 104-188 are part of PLAYBACK. as guidel~nes, 1 =Strikeforce; 4-5= Chickarnauga; After each game title there are thirteen questions [lettered 7 =Parrot!; 9 =Air War. 52. Naseby 1645 "A" through "N"1. Unless otherwise noted, these ques- 53. Blenheim 1704 28. Your age: 1 = 13 years old or younger, 2= 14-17; tions are answered with a "1" [poor] through "9" [ex- 3 = 18-21; 4 = 22-27; 5 = 28-35; 6 = 36 or older. 54. Poltova 1704 cellent] rating. 29. Yoursex: 1 =Male; 2= Female. 55. Plassey 1757 Question A-What did you think of the physical quallty 30. Education: 1 = 11 years or less; 2= 12 years; 3= 13-15 56. Quebec 1759 and layout of the mapsheet? years; 4= 13-15 years and sttll in school; 5= 16 years, 57. Saratoga 1777 Question B-What did you think of the physical quallty 6= 17 years or more. 58. Trafalgar 1805 and layout of the rules folder? 31. How long have you been playing confllct simulation 59. Verdun 1916 games?O=lessthana year; 1 =lyear;2=2years.. .8=8 Question C-What did you think of the physical quallty years; 9=9or more years. 60. Warsaw 1920 and layout of the unit counters? D-What did yaw think of the game's "ease of play'' Ihwwell the game moved along)? t3ue$tbn E-What did you think of the "completeness" ,NEW INSTRUCTlO.NS TO AUTHORS a$ game's rules (was everything thoroughly FOR MOKIB ARTICLES F-What did yw think of the game's play g&&m(was the game interesting for both sides)? Most of the articles in MOVES are written by page. Min-max length: 6 to 30 manuscript &e&on G-What did you thlnk about the ap- its readers. We'd like to give it a try - if your pages. Pages should be numbered and tagged mess of the length of the average game? article is well written and on a subject of in- with author's 1qtname. Cover sheet should MionH-What did you think of the amount of "set- terest to readers. there's a good chance it will give date written, full-name, address, phone he'' needed before you could begln playing the see publiegtion. number, suggested title, and honorarium R? The Subject of your article is up to you. From preference. q tW&ion J -What d~dyou think of the appropriateness time to time the Editor will suggest potential Hmaamiums. Eor all published submissions at &a complexity of this game? article topics. Don't be afraid to write oIPother (except letters and Footnotes) MOVES ' Question K-What d~dyou thlnk of this game's reakm? publishers games-MOVES is not a "house or- Mag@te pays an honorarium at the rate of $4 Question L-What d~dyou think of this game overall? gan" that ignores the rest of the gamingworld. per wing10" of edited text, calculated to the Types of Articles. The kinds of articles we're nearest half column. Altetwtiveiy, Authors Quest~onM-Would you stiil have bought this game if SPI you knew then what you know now about it (1 = Yes; 2 looking for fall into the following general may elect to take their honorarium in pro- = No). categories: ducts at the rate of $8 per 10" rendered against the list price of the items. Honorariums (cash Question N-Do you think you rw~vedyour money's 1. OperationalAnalysis. Deals with the tactics worth w~ththis game7 (1 = Yes; 2 = No). or credit slip) will be rendered 30 days after and strategy of play in a specific game. publication. you rate six you We will ask to garne9. If have not played 2. Gome Profil/Review. Description of a these gem, or have not played them enough to be able CogyrlStbts. AU submissions to MOWS auto- to evaluate them, then simply place "0" in the baxes. game or games with particular attention to its mticaUy become the property of SPI. Be it simulational system rrnd flayab'ity. Any criti- uaderstood that any text, concept, or creative cism must be well-support& by logical atgu- work submitted may be used by SPI as it sees ment and fact (not simply personid opinion). fit, whetha or not such submissions are 3. Documenttad Play. Description of and com- publied m articles. No attribution ment on the move-by-move progress of an ac- or compensation necessarily be rendered VERACRUZ tual two-player or multi-player game. Docu- for such material save that: normally granted la, A (mapsheet) 111. H (&-up tcme) mented play should be the result of several when published as an article in MOVES. In 1W. 6 (rules) 112. J (complexity) playings, the most relevant of which being the submitting material to MOVES, the author af- 106. C (counters) 113. K (realism) subject of the article. firms that his submission is neither published M7. 114. L (overall) D (ease of play) 4. Meld Report. Provides organized, valid in- nor under consideration for publication ltW. E lrules completeness1 115. M ('then and now) elsewhere and that no part of his submitted 109. 116. formation on some aspect of conflict simula- F (balance) N Emonev's worth) tion of general interest. material is copyrighted. 120, Q (length) 117. No question 5. Scenarioplex. An experimental section of Pl~einclude with your submission a AIR WAR scenarios (each no longer than two typewritten stamped, w1f-add& postcard. On the 128. A (mapsheer) 125. H (sez-up time) pages) in the style of the parent game rules. message side oftllecard write the name of your 111). B (rules) Ue. J ~compk!%ity) article. This card wiil be used to infwm you of I%@. C (counters) 127. K (realism) 6. Footnotes. Short essays (no longer than SOD the status of your submission. Articles and il- l21. D (ease of play) 128. L (overall) words) on almost any subject relW to gm- lustrations cannot be retutned. %12, E ~nrlescompleteness) 129. M (then and now) ing. No honorariumis paid for Foota-. 12.9. F (balance) 130. N (money's worth) 7. Miscellaneous. Articles that &oa*t & in the Addtcs9 aU submissionsto: @4. G (length) 131,132. No question specific categories, but amthe autbor feels Redmond Simonsen, Editor MODERN BATTLES II appropriate for pub~OaMQVES. MOWS MAGAZINE m. A (mapsheet) 140. H (set-up time) Manuscript Re.cl&W&m, Typewritten, 3PI Is. 9 (rules) 141. J (complexity) double-spaced on wWe Ibond. Line length $5 e4ht23rd Street 135. C lwnters) 142. K (reafimt to 65 ebara~s;it@ wore than 25 kes per New York, N.Y. 10010 2%. D lease of play) 143. L (overall). E%X. E.Sm1;~stampleteness) 144. M (then an0 now) W. F Bf38laWj 145. N (monpy's worth1 ISs. G ~ler@I 146. No question What to Do: SQUAD LEADER (AH) A Special- Plea When YOU decide to move, notify SPI h mediately (it's never to0 ear& t0.do this). MI. A Emapsheet) UO. H (set-up time) I This concerns changes of address. Now 14. B kmles) XSS. J Icomplexity) keep reading, even though I know it's Give us Your old address, Your new ad- 11149. C ffmnterst W. K ism) boring and you're not planning on mov- dress, and the date UPQn which Your L-m.D (ease of play! 15f. L all) ing tomorrow. Eventually all of you new address becomes effective. Just m. M (then and 04 change your addrms - and it causes send it to SPI Customer Service (a simple 159. N (money's worth) perhaps the wowt single set of service postcard is best). Prominently title your &z: ::z 160,161. No question problems for SPI and you. Many of you message "COA." In addition, when You DAUNTLESS (Baffleline) (somewhat undmtandaMy) neglect to file your COA with the Post Office, tell 162. A Imapshwtl 18. H (st-up time) notify SPI in advanw of your move. This them that You wish to have Your f hiid 9LBS, 0 {rMssl 170. J (comphity) means that your orders and subscrip- Class maif forwarded. They'H do this at n t-l&(.C tcounWfs) 171. K (realism) . tions get fouled up and mis-routed. It Your expense - but I think ~ouql 14% D ksase of play) lT2. L ~EEWM also unnecessarily increases our order that the small cost invow he 66. E (ruias cornm-1 173. M (then and mvd made up for by the timely receiptaf 174, handling costs (which ultimately gets 169. C ~bJancs) N ,km#s wbrth1 ~~fand~~VEs. IQs. G thWRl ' passed on to you in the form of price in- TR&VEUEIt1%. (GDW)'Fjo question creases). I realize that in the rush of mmhg, g I ask your cooperation in this matter few Wple Cover all the and rsJ. 176. A H fwt-up time) - mainly for your own benefit and that ~~erworkinvolved in such matters. - 177. 6 lruh 184. J (complexity) But please try to mwnber Your SPI 178. C (cot 185. K (real~sm) of all the customers that do notify us m subs and notify US at least six weeks in 139. D (ear 186. L (overall) time, but nevertheless bear thebuden of paying for every other guy's failure to do advance. so. Thanks so much. Rt Simulations Publications, Inc. 44 East 23rd Street New York, N.Y. 10010 ADDRESS CORRECTION REQUESTED

Four-Player Game of Political Confrontation

The players of Canadian Civil War control the Government Officials, lnterest Groups, and Con- stituencies who adhere to various schools of thought in regard to Separatism vs. Federalism. It is the interaction among the players during any given turn that affects the course of the game. The game map is not a map of Canada, but an abstract representation of the areas where political and military events occur. These all sur- round the Crisis Zone - where control of the issues is often decided. In addition to counters representing the political forces - such as Premiers, Civil Servants, lnterest Groups, and the Prime Minister - there are also military units in- cluded In the game which may take part in any National Emergency. The game does represent a political contest, but violence lurks just beneath the surface, waiting to be triggered by a desperate player. The election procedures in Canadian Civil War are virtually identical to those of the Canadian Parliamentary system. If, after a National Elec- tlon, the player with the plurality cannot muster a majority, he must negotiate to form a coalition. Negotiation, coalition, political maneuvering - these are what Canadian Civil War is all about.