I'll not bore you with further details about why this issue is late. I'll let Leslie twist in the wind and grovel at the feet of the membership. Vote quickly!

Now for something completely different. TY BOMBA is a SON OF A BITCH! So let it be written ... So let it be read! I used to think that playtesting and not geting your questions answered was the worst experience you could suffer in gaming. Until our group playtested for XTR and had to put up with Bomba's stupid replies. Apparently he has a BS in Attitude from a local daycare. Never let it be said that I won't stoop to vile personal attacks against someone that I perceive to be a pompous idiot. Enough dirty laundry!

Decision Games has released their first reprints of old SPI titles. These are Battle for Germany, Ardennes Quad, World War I, and Leningrad. I haven't played any of them yet, but they DID alter the games somewhat. They improved the map graphics on all the games and I guess they figure they improved the counters. I personally think the old WWI, Ardennes and Leningrad counters are better, but if your into tank silhouettes and funny looking hats, then these will trip your trigger. The BFG counters are a minor improvement because they add a great deal of color.

I'll never be able to understand how you can take an nearly errata-free game and reprint it and make it worse. Leave it up to Chris & co. and they can do anything. Ardennes buyers beware. The maps are either mislabeled or the unit setups for at least scenarios 6&7 are keyed to the wrong map.

My limited knowledge of the Bulge tells me that the Sixth Panzer Army did not set up west of Bastogne before the campaign. Once you figure out the maps are labeled wrong you can set up the campaign. What ever happened to SPI's wonderful habit of printing unit setups on the map. Ardennes now takes twice as long to set up because the setups are printed in the stupid rules. I guess a trip to the copier for some copyright infringement is in order. The same goes for BFG, the set up is in the rules NOT on the map.

I know I'm stepping on the developers toes with this one, but here goes. I only had one gripe with the original Ardennes. There is a rule about a mech unit crossing a bridge and not being able to end the movement phase adjacent to that bridge and in the hex with other mech units. EVEN MECH UNITS THAT STARTED IN THAT HEX OR THAT MOVED INTO THAT HEX FROM THE OTHER SIDE OF THE RIVER! BULLSHIT!!!!!!

I'll give a dollar, CASH MONEY, to the first person who can convince me that this ain't one big load of CRAP. I liked all of these games in their earlier form and as I said I haven't played any of these yet. If you have the earlier games then for now I'd recommend saving your money till the reviewers verdict is in. If you don't already own the games, then run out and buy Ardennes and BFG and write DG for the eratta. I'd wait on a review of Leningrad and WWI before buying them. Both of these were OK games originally but some changes have been made. WWI had the distinction of being SPI's FIRST 100% ERRATA FREE GAME. We should be so lucky the second time around.