The big news in Wargames is the huge success that QED's Blue vs Gray has turned out to be. It comes from a company that has never produced a wargame before, is a card game that plays like a board game, and is one of the best American Civil War games ever. Now that Avalon Hill is no longer in business, the biggest and arguably the best boxed wargame publisher is GMT. They just shipped War Galley and C3i #9 and have a nice line up of games due to ship this year. Multi-man publishing (staring Phillies pitcher Curt Schilling) has started producing ASL products for Hasbro.

In German Games the newest hits are TurfMaster, Ra, and Verräter. Like Blue Vs Gray, Verräter is a board game in a deck of cards. Ra is the first of a bunch of new English Edition German games from Rio Grande. TurfMaster is a cleverly designed and beautifully made horse racing game. New Desktop Published Games include Afghanistan, Freikorps, The Battle of Armageddon, and Death and Destruction. Coming soon a simulation of the Nuremberg trials.

GMT's War Galley is Volume VII of one of wargaming's most successful series and the only serious coverage of ancient warfare--"The Great Battles of History." It covers war at sea in the ancient world from the Ionian Revolt (494 BCE) to the Battle of Actium (31 BCE). Fourteen different ship types from Biremes to Dekares. A little easier to play than the other games in the series. 1-4 players, 10 mins./turn, 1-8 ships per counter. Barbarossa, Army Group Center covers the seemingly unstoppable (until Hitler diverted half its armor and air) Army Group Center's drive into the heart of Russia. 1120 counters, 4 maps. 2 days/turn, 5 miles/hex, Division/Regiment. 1 to 4 players. Caesar: Conquest of Gaul covers Caesar's turning back the Germans, subjugation of theGauls, and invasion of Britain. 1 to 4 players, 20 mins./turn, 75 yards/hex, 100-150 men/strength point.

Saratoga is a low complexity tactical level simulation of a battle that was a turning point in America's struggle for independence. You can help a great company stay in business and influence the selection of games they print by taking advantage of their Plan 500 deal. Call 800-523-6111. QED's American Civil War card game, Blue vs Gray is generating rave reviews and comments. The cards alone--wonderfully illustrated and loaded with information--are worth the price of the game (even if you don't agree with some of the leader ratings). Not a collectable, but comes in two decks--North and South. As Charles Vasey, reviewer and editor for Perfidious Albion, says, "Quick to play, full of atmosphere cutting through the bookkeeping that usually masquerades as historical design, it is undoubtedly the game of the year for me." For more information check out their website at http://www.qedgames.com.

Storm Over Scandanavia is GRD's reprint of one of the most popular Europa games, Narvik, and includes scenarios that link this game to A Winter War and scenarios that cover the invasions of Norway, Denmark, and the hypothetical invasion of Sweden. For pre-pub deals visit http://www.grdgames.com or send email to euroboss@netins.net. Multi-Man Publication's ASL Journal #1 ($18.90) is in stock. It features a new Red Barricades campaign game and Red Barricades solitaire missions plus articles and 12 more scenarios. Coming soon from Multi-Man: Action Pack #2. Critical Hit's Scotland the Brave, Arnhem: The Third Bridge. and Platoon Leader 2.5 are in stock. ASLers have been waiting a long time for Arnhem and it's selling quickly. Nice-looking map, 1 sheet of die cut counters, 9 scenarios and a campaign game. Scotland the Brave II includes 10 new scenarios and 2 campaign games and lots of tanks. Platoon Leader 2.5 is the latest rules update for the campaign games and includes Cemetery Hill.

Pete Phillipps' View from the Trenches#23 ($4.00), VFTT Special '98, and Operation: Neptune are in stock. The Special Issue takes a look at the use of airpower in ASL and contains unmounted aircraft counters. Operation: Neptune is a Platoon Leader CG pack covering the British crossing of the Seine in '44. FASA's Crimson Skies was recently described by a customer (who likes the game a lot) as Blue Max on acid. It is a game of dogfighting and divebombing in an aviation-dominated 1930s when giant zeppelins serve as the lifelines between the independent countries of the former United States. 3-D cardboard aircraft, 3 maps. Triumph & Fall of the Desert Fox is the second part of Udo Grebe's "Empires of the Apocalypse" series. It covers World War II in North Africa and provides an easy introduction to the game system. 280 counters, 5 small maps. Corps level, 25 miles/hex, 1 mo./turn. Solo or 2 players. The first game in the series Morsecode simulates World War II in western Europe from the beginning to the end.

Australian Design Group's America in Flames uses the all time most popular strategic level World War II system, World in Flames, to simulate the greatest war that never happened. Moving in on XTR's turf, this game presumes the Axis powers winning World War II in Europe and Asia and now having to invade North and South America. America in Flames is a complete game. WiF is not needed in order to play. 2 maps, 840 counters. Army/Corps level, 2 months/turn, 650km/hex. Good solo or up to 6 players. Newest Magazines with a wargame in them include Command #50: Back to Iraq II.

German Games are finally appearing in game and hobby stores all over the country, making these great games accessible to more and more people and bringing prices down. Three people are primarily responsible for the spread of German games over here. Years before most of us first heard of Die Siedler von Catan, Mike Siggins was turning people on to European games, reviewing them, providing translations. Ken Tidwell built a website that was an oasis of news, reviews and translations.

And now Jay Tummelson has created a company, Rio Grande Games, that arranges for German Games to be published simultaneously in English and imports and distributes them over here. In Rio Grande's Ra the ancient Egyptian Sun God provides players with tokens (but never enough) to bid on tiles that represent various aspects of economic, spiritual, and technological growth. 3 to 5 players, age 12 up, 1 hour. Money simulates the currency market. Players bid to trade holdings and build the most valuable portfolio. 3 to 5 players, age 10 up, 30 minutes. Ricochet Robot involves moving brakeless robots about a board. 2 or more players, age 10 up, 1 hour. Klunker is a card game about buying and selling jewels. Other recent Rio Grande games include Samurai, El Caballero, Samarkand, Kahuna, Medieval Merchant, Katzenjammer Blues, and Mamma Mia! ($7.50). Coming Soon: Big City is a game of land development in the early part of this century. Union Pacific is Alan Moon's new railroad game. Evergreen covers the music industry. Cape Horn is racing from New York to San Francisco before there was a Panama Canal. Lost Cities is a game of expeditions to find lost cities. In Tayue players imitate a legendary Chinese hero by saving their land from a flood by building channels to the sea. If your local game store doesn't stock these games, tell them to call Rio Grande Games at 505-771-8813.

Finally, we don't have to smuggle Formule De and its Expansion Circuits in anymore. All have been restocked and the prices reduced. We even have Circuits 15&16: Barcelona/Buenos Aires, 17&18: Suzuka/Melbourne, and 19&20: Hockenheim/Zeltweg. (Just these last 3 circuits have not been reduced in price.) Bambus' Nanuuk! won't earn you any political correctness points. You're an Eskimo hunting seals, walrus, and whales while avoiding polar bears on an ice field that is breaking up. For a German Game the components aren't as nice as normal, but it is still an attractive game with lots of wood. 2 to 4 players, age 8 up, 1 hour. Mag9Blast, a fast paced multiplayer card game of "screaming space battles."

The first expansion for Battlemist, The Sails of War introduces a multitude of new game options, interface changes, and a radical new game board.Markham Designs' This Sceptered Isle (aka This Emerald Isle) sim-ulates four War of the Roses battles: Towton, Mortimer's Cross, Tew-kesbury, and Barnet. The long-worked-on system (vastly updated and overhauled from its 3W days) reflects the diminishing role of cavalry, the rise of infantry and the supremacy of the longbow.

Montcalm & Wolfe deals with The French and Indian War at an operational level. So far, Markham Designs is the only DTP company producing die cut counters. Charles Vasey's Deathride, Mars-la-Tour 1870 simulates the battle between the Armee du Rhin trying to retreat from Metz and the German Confederation trying to stop the French escape by turning their southern flank. Area movement similar to They Met at Gettysburg and Storm Over Arnhem, brigade-regiment, 90 mins./turn. Expensive and needing a lot of cutting and pasting (even the map), but probably worth it.