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).