In the tradition of West End's Junta and Doris & Frank's Banana Republic comes Queen Games' card game about Central American politics--Putsch. Lots of nice-looking cards, money, markers, score sheets, etc., but still a lot to pay for a card game. 3 to 6 players, age 12 up, 2½ hours. Eurogame's game of politics and diplomacy, Europa1945-2030, is back in stock. Ravensburger's new English Edition games: Master Labyrinth is a race for magic ingredients in a shifting maze. 2-4 players, age 10 up, 45 minutes. The A-Maze-Ing Labyrinth is a simpler version of Master Labyrinth. 1-4 players, age 8 up, 20 minutes. In Scotland Yard one player is one of Scotland Yard's most wan-ted criminals on the run in central London and the other players are detectives in pursuit. 3 to 6 players, age 10 up. Grand Prix is an auto racing game for kids. Blatz's Mole Hill is Knizia's neat little "battle of the lawn" board game for two players ages 8 up, taking about 20 minutes to play. F.X. Schmid's Zum Kuckuck is an card game where players vie for nests full of cockatoo while avoiding cuckoos. 3 to 5 players, age 12 up, 30 minutes.

Ah, the beauty of Desk Top Publishing. Where else are you going to find simulations of Caseros, or the operation to free the hostages dur-ing the Congolese Civil War or the conflict between Peru and Maoist guerrillas or a game as good as Williamsburg, 1862 for $14.40?. Simulations Workshop, Ivy Street Games, Microgame Co-Op, and Mark-ham Designs are producing the best games in wargaming and selling them for about 1/4 of what you'd pay for a boxed game. Simulations Workshop's newest game, Caseros, 1852 covers the battle that put an end to the Rosa regime in Argentina. Regiments-battalions, 250 meters/hex, 30 mins./turn. Panzers at the Pyramids covers the hypothetical 1942 drive into Egypt by the Afrika Korps. ¡Cuba Libre! simulates the Bay of Pigs. We have all 10 Simulations Workshop games in stock. Ivy Street's Chantilly is a brigade level simulation of Jackson's September 1862 flanking movement against Pope. Like Ivy Street's very successful first two games, it features a simple but elegant orders system and uses a chit pull system to increase chaos and enhance solitaire play. Includes the full day scenario, the flank march to cut off Pope's retreat to Washington, and the Battle of Ox Hill that occurred during a driving thunderstorm. Ivy Street's other two games are Stonewall at Cedar Mountain and Williamsburg 1862. You can now buy these games directly from Ivy Street Games (Hampton Newsome, PO Box 1532, Arlington VA 22210 or mmrhhn@erols.com).

Three new games from Microgame Co-op: Afghanistan is a grand tactical simulation of the critical battles of Russia's Vietnam. 6 miles/hex, battalion, 12 hrs./turn. Freikorps covers the hypothetical invasion of Germany by the Russian Revolutionary Forces in 1920 after their defeat of the Poles. The Battle of Armageddon is a 2 or 3 player game wherein the world powers meet in the Middle East for the final showdown. 40 miles/hex, division, 1 week/turn. All the other Co-op games are in stock Co-op's web page: http://members.home.net/co-op/.

Minden Games' Panzerschreck #1 is a DTP magazine "dedicated to variants and solo play of wargames" with a game in it. This issue's solo game is Reichstag: The Fall of Berlin. Also from Minden (originally from Commonwealth) is a sim of the rise of the Beatles--Yellow Submarine. Panzerschreck #2 will include Nuremberg, a simple solitaire simulation of the Nuremberg war crimes trial. Perry Moore's Death to the Soviet! covers the August '81 battle for the Panjshir Valley. 2 days/turn, 1 mile/hex, company level. Death and Destruction covers the Irag-Iran War. 1 week/turn, 5 miles/hex, battalion. Fantasy Flight's Twilight Imperium, and its 4 expansions Borderlands, Distant Suns (out of print), Twilight Armada, and The Outer Rim is by far the most successful space conquest game we stock. Or, as Inquest Magazine put it, "Twi-light Imperium warps to the stars while other science fiction games still fiddle with the wheel.". Battlemist is a fantasy board game where each player controls a race seeking to control the land of Mennarra. Like Twilight Imperium, it uses movable hex tiles for the board so that no two games are alike.

Our newest space conquest game, Space Opera, comes from McSuffus Italy. While the basic game is a bit on the simple side for most experienced gamers, the advanced game has just the right amount of detail and looks very interesting. Everyone has a home world and there are three other planets per player (face down on the map so players can't see values). You win the game by controlling more than half the planets. Each planet produces food and energy, which are needed to build ground units, space ships, and cities. You can build three levels of cities which help you build more and better units and offer planetary defense. There are two types of ground troops (in-fantry and marines), four types of spaceships (transports, frigates, cruisers, battleships). Solid combat systems for ship-to-ship, planetary bombing, and troop-to-troop combat. JDQuest's Dragonepic) is a medieval/fantasy world conquest game for 2 to 4 players, ages 8 up, taking 2 to 5 hours to play.

While leading armies to new battles, you gain power by completing quests.The 26 by 30 inch cloth game board is neat but a bit drab. The 344 stand-up playing pieces and 243 cards are well done in the overly-muscled-drooler style. 5 dice, 4 Army Boards and a rulebook complete the package. It's too soon to have a lot of customer comments yet, but the few we have received have been good. The best SF Game of 1982 is back and improved. In Steve Jackson's re-make of the classic game of conspiracies, Deluze Illuminati, 2 to 6 players compete to expand their wealth and power by controlling powerful secret groups. Fantasy Bestiary, Car Wars, Car War Deluxe, Killer. Playtested for twelve years, Turfmaster is finally available and generating lots of thumbs up reviews (see Counter #3) and raves from people who are lucky enough to have already acquired a copy (mostly Europeans). The movement of the horses around the track is controlled alternately by cards and dice. The track is large and well done and the races can be run on the flat or plastic fences can be installed. The pewter horses are about an inch long and come in 8 colors with matching decks of cards and dice. In the Standard Edition each horse is one color. In the Deluxe Edition the horses and jockeys are hand painted. 2-8 players, 10 years up, 90 minutes.

In Kosmos' Wettstreit der Baumeister players are city planners vying to build the most valuable and beautiful city. Ages 10 up, 3-4 players, 45 minutes. Adlung Spiel's Verraeter plays more like a board game than a card game and is more of a war game than most German games. Two players (the Eagles and the Roses) try to conquer as much enemy land as possible. En Garde is in stock.

Rivoli 1797 is another gorgeous game from SimTac Spain. It covers Napoleon's victory over the Austrians in Italy. Battalions, squadrons, and batteries, 15 mins./turn, 140 yds./hex. Along with a very good historical introduction, there are two sets of rules, one is the second edition of SimTac's standard rules and the other is a basic rules set that is brief and easy to learn, but has optional rules that allows for a gradual increase in complexity and realism. Other titles by the producer of the world's best Napoleonic games are: Sagunto, Los Arapiles, and Alexandria 1801. Decision Games' Nuts! is a card game for 2 to 4 players simulating the Battle of the Bulge. It comes in two 150 card sets (North and South). Each set is complete and can be played alone or with the other set. Phil Eklund's innovative Lords of the Sierra Madre, has been reduced in price. Doris & Frank's Ursuppe and Ursuppe Expansion are still selling as fast as we can import them. Even as I write this huge German forests are being cut down to make more wooden amoebas. Ursuppe, Primeval Soup, has consistently generated appreciative comments from our customers. Large mounted board, cards German on one side and English on the other) and lots of wooden pieces. 2 to 4 players control tribes of amoebas and use gene cards to "evolve" them. The Expansion adds extra genes and parts for up to 6 players. We also have Doris & Frank's Banana Republic), Igel Argern, Eselsrenen, and Pico 2 in stock. You can find out more about their games at their website (http://www.am.uni-erlangen.de/~nestel).

Kuhlmann-Geschichtsspiele's Welfen und Staufer covers the 12th Century struggle to rule Central Europe. The game board is a beautiful 23 x 29 inch mounted map of the Holy Roman Empire with boxes for pilgrimages, coronations and armies. Kampf um Rom, Struggle for Rome, contains two multiplayer games--Germanica, and Huns, Romans and Germans--covering the fall of Rome and the barbarian invasions between 375 and 955. Kuhlmann's Dice Tower which lets you roll in style.

While Columbia's great new block game, Victory, comes from the American wargaming tradition, it has many features in common with German games--easy, fast-playing, nice-looking components, fun, and lots of wood. Expansion Map Sets and Blocksets also in stock. Computer Eastfront for Windows 95/98 lets you play Columbia's classic over the Internet, head-to-head, by e-mail or test new strategies solo. No AI. For info about Columbia's "autoship program" call them at 800-636-3631. If you liked Timbuk II's Wadjet, you'll like Palenque. This is the only American game I know of that has better-looking components than most German games. The mounted board is gorgeous and the playing pieces are 3 inch high busts of nattily attired archaeologists (2 men and 2 women).

F.X. Schmid/USA makes a great line of kid's games: All My Ducks is a memory game for 2-4 players, ages 4 to 8, taking about 10 minutes. Eddie’s Eleven is a card game that teaches counting. On Your Broom is witch racing for 2 to 6 players, ages 4 to 8, taking about 15 minutes. My Haunted Castle is a concentration game for 2 to 4 players, ages 6 and up, taking about 20 minutes. We also have F.X. Schmid's games for older kids and adults like Call My Bluff, Take It Easy, etc. Gamewights also make great games for kids: Go Away Monster, Lilly’s Purple Plastic Purse, Frog Juice, Cows Can’t Dance, Alien Hotshots, Play Ball, etc.

Das Motorsportspiel has two 60 x 30 tracks and 6 very expensive metal 1:87 scale European sport cars. Comes in a large tube. By far the most popular racing game is Formula De. Daytona Challenge features a 3-d (vacuum formed plastic) replica of the Daytona International speedway and five 1:44 scale die cast NASCAR cars. If you're a fan of the Daytona 500 this game is for you. Real Action Stockcar Cham;ionship includes a 37 x 22 mounted board with a track on each side and 20 plastic stockcars. Easy and quick. Also easy and quick, Fast Car is a stock car racing game for 2-8. In Mayfair's Grand Prix players buy cars then use cards to move their cars around the tracks. A fun formula 1 game for kids is Ravensburger's Grand Prix. Interformic Games' One World Dominion is an unauthorized Risk Expansion that replaces the old cards with new cards that you can turn in for extra armies or play singly to give an opposing army Mad Cow Disease or use Human Cloning to get extra armies or use Black Helicopters in an attack, etc., etc. It's witty and fun and well-done. In Jolly Roger's Maul of America one player controls a bunch of Zombies out to eat shoppers, the other players, trapped in a mall. The box bills itself as a game of "mayhem, carnage, destruction, gratuitous violence, and a food court!"

Atlas Games' Cults Across America puts you in control of a bunch of religious fanatics out to dominate the USA. Spammers is a card game about junk e-mail. Baseball Tycoon lets you deal with free agents, injuries, suspensions, strikes, ticket sales, TV contracts, etc to build a championship team. In the card game Abduction you've been abducted by aliens and must escape. Avalanche Press' Airlines is now only $16.00. Airline sII is also in stock. Midnite Snack's Fridge Chess is a nice-looking magnetic chess set that goes on the refrigerator door, complete with "your turn", "you're in check", etc. notes. Western Carolina Historical Research's Pocotaligo1862 & 1864 covers the five battles fought in southwestern South Carolina during the American Civil War.

Ludopress' ¡No Pasaran! and Bailen 1808 are in stock. Both are a little on the pricey side, but good games. Paper Wars#29 reviews Sara-toga, ¡No Pasaran! and other games. Perfidious Albion #97 contains lots of reviews, comment and witty chat about wargames. As popular as German games are, it is still hard to find magazines that review them. If you want honest reviews by people who know and love German games, you have two choices: One with the uninspired name of Games Games Games, covers of all kinds of games and includes news, reviews, a buyer's guide and commentary by Mike Siggins. The other, Counter, covers mainly the German games and is jam full of reviews, letters and commentary. Games Games Games#129 contains reviews of La Isla Bohnitâ, Putsch, Blue vs Gray, Europa 1945-2030 and more. Coun-ter#3 reviews Europa, Joan of Arc, Keydom, Victory and sixteen other games and includes lots of letters, essays and commentary.