Harry Rowland, one of gamedom's "Nice Guys", has got some sort of "con" going, except that either nobody can figure it out … or they just don't care. It's one thing to publish a game system as a series, à la ASL or GBACW. It's entirely another thing to publish one game as its own series, repeatedly changing the rules, the counters, the maps and whatever else you can think of … just so, it appears, you can generate sales. That Harry's magnum (and only) opus, World in Flames, generates sales goes without saying, as WiF is one of the largest selling wargames in the world. That it's success can be attributed to "getting it right" is not one of its key marketing ploys, as WiF is now in its fifth (actually sixth) incarnation, as edition 5.0 … and each one has generated volumes of errata. I'll admit that it's a big system, there are incredibly varied strategic options, and it's hard to playtest everything. But some of the problems have been really egregious. We've seen a proliferation of the series concept recently. ASL, GMT's GBH games … The Gamers seem to do only series games! This seems to be the marketing concept for the 90s. Get the system down, pray it catches on, and then sell to your existing base of customers. If the quality holds up (as it has with the Gamers, GMT, and ASL), I'd say this is a healthy thing. When it doesn't hold up, or you just push the game system onto unfitting scenarios or wars, the result is pretty poor. WiF lies somewhere in the middle of this concept. I'm a World in Flames player, something of an "Old Flamer", I guess; it's about the only thing I've played face to face recently, and I enjoy the game immensely. I always look forward to seeing what Harry can come up with, but I'm not sure whether I'd go so far as to characterize these packages as "ready for prime time". What can you say about a trio of modules that are released at Origins with 8-10 pages of errata available dated July of the same year? Planes in Flame Gold is a 2nd edition of Planes in Flames, which had many counter problems. Basically, the Gold edition updates these counter problems, deletes the Chinese Garrison and Anti-Aircraft counters from the mix, and adds a bunch of new counters/planes including the infamous fly-and-die bombs of Japan. The rules changes and errata that had previously been published for the PiF module have been incorporated into the rulebooks. Given the simplicity of this update, you'd think they could get it right. Well, think again … which is something Harry should have done. I suppose given the volume of errata and the problems with the counter-mix that re-issuing the module would be a good idea. E.g., there is some errata in the July errata set which recognizes that ADG redesignated many of the aircraft, and the scenario booklet did not get correspondingly updated. However, the Gamers, last Christmas, issued a correction sheet of counters with errata items for FREE. Here you get to pay $25 for the privilege of replacing about 5% of the counters and a few rules. I'm not a great fan of this type of thing, although I certainly bought my copy.... [Ed. Hey Bill, can I interest you in some new Cedar Creeks??] The Asia and Africa modules are definitely all new, though, although something akin to an unripened banana. Asia Aflame contains a host of divisions, scrapping the old US, Japan and Commonwealth ones. It adds artillery, frogmen/minisubs (you, too, can invade Pearl Harbor from truly "down under"), Amphibious transports, and some new units types available only as divisions - the Commonwealth 79th Armored Division which is amphibious, the Herman Goerring Flying Circus, which is para-droppable tanks, and Ski units for Russia and several Scandinavian minors - which add a lot of color and chrome to the system. Asia Aflame's map "extra" adds the Urals and removes the off-map boxes from Russia's Eastern European map-edge. The map also completes the Indian sub-continent, and with the African map, allows a wildly successful Japan to cross India and reach Persia, Iraq, and Russia's southern underbelly. But the demise of the off-map boxes changes things considerably. Now, when Russia is pushed way back, they can actually be conquered. Before, the off-map boxes required every stack to be destroyed before the box could be taken. The Scandinavian off-map boxes are also replaced with a real map, adding Murmansk, Archangel, and an area to use all those ski divisions Russia and Finland get. On the other hand, Japan is now limited by weather-based attack limits that are much more severe than the old system. With these changes and new units, I'd say Asia Aflame is a real addition to the system, and, priced at $20, quite reasonable. The July errata is minimal, and the rules pretty much work as stated. Africa Aflame, unfortunately, is less satisfying. The new counters include the previously deleted Chines Garrison units, Synthetic Oil plants, Resource markers, Russian entry chits (à la the US entry chits), Siberians, Russian worker militia units, and Territorials. Not very African, are they. For that - and the modules' name - you have to use the map addition: Africa. This mates up with the Asia Aflame map to form a continuous map area from Japan to the West Coast of Africa. The off-map boxes for the Suez Canal sea area and South Africa are gone. So is the use of your 12-seater dining room table. The bad sign is that Africa Aflame generated a lot of errata in the July Corrections. Seems the Russia entry chit system was completely wrong, allowing an instant Russia declaration of war on Germany. The errata fixes this, although I'd venture to say that it forces Germany to garrison more heavily than before. The synthetic oil plants and the oil/production limitations seem to work well, and to show the effects of oil on the Axis powers as the war wears on and they begin to lose oil-producing areas. The Russia workers present an intriguing dilemma for the Russian player - if he adds them to his force pool, all cavalry goes to 2 build points (instead of 1). Territorials - and their beautifully, multi-colored counters - are a reasonable addition only if it is understood that they are minor countries and so cannot leave their territory until the Major Power is at War. The new alternate resource transportation system required extensive errata, and the errata I got was filled with notes that indicate that the changes are not finished. Perhaps of more interest and importance is that the new, combat, two dice system changes the combat results odds … and play-balance quite a bit as well. $20 is the cost of the ticket. The overall effect of all these modules is to crimp the Axis quite a bit. As an unfortunate side effect, they also do the same for the players. It seems clear that they were rushed into production for Origins. However, we all gobbled them up, and maybe that's the true test. If the grognards buy the module, are willing to plow through piles of errata, argue enough and come up with home-grown variants, and still enjoy it, maybe we get exactly what we're looking for. As the local store sold out of all three modules rather quickly, I'm sure ADG isn't going to change stripes any time soon. It's an interesting marketing strategy, and people who are playing the game will certainly buy these modules. But is that enough? To me, there are enough Flamers around to make it a profitable venture, and the components of Asia and Africa are certainly "enough" to justify the price without feeling gouged. Frankly, I don't like what I perceive as a captive audience attitude - which seems to justify the use of the players as "beta testers". Contrast this with Avalon Hill, which has a similar captive audience in the ASL crowd, but has considerably less errata/"beta-testing" problems than WiF. (If you haven't gotten the errata yet, Larry Whelan at the Gamekeeper, #36 The Arcade, 65 Weybosset Street, Providence, RI 02903, (401)-351-0362, can get it for you. It's also been posted on the GEnie network in Scorpia's Games Roundtable, as well as on the Internet.) Although the prices for these Flaming Modules are reasonable, I'd say that gamers deserve a bit better. On the other hand, since ADG seems committed to a continuing series of modules and new editions, we may be in for more of these things. And it is true that the chrome added by these two modules is pretty neat stuff. It certainly kept our group going. CAPSULE COMMENTS: Graphic Presentation: Usual excellent ADG job, rules are complete but need errata to be balanced. Playability: Adds a lot to the system, but rules need errata to work well. Replayability: Changes the game complexion! These modules will generate many new strategies. Creativity: Nice chrome. Most creative, though, is the way ADG gets you to reach for your wallet … more power to him, as they say. Historicity: Some problems here, but at the strategic level these are fairly minor. Comparisons: Certainly adds as much to WiF as the new ASL modules do to ASL. WiF is now a truly global game, with a chrome level un-matched by any of its competitors. Overall: Buy these modules only if you really want to spend a lifetime with World in Flames. But if you do, it's certainly worth it. Australian Design Group Asia and Africa Aflame contain 200 counters each, plus an 8-page rulebook, and one (Asia) or two (Africa) maps. Planes/Gold contains 600 counters, charts, and a rulebook & scenario book. ADG, 25 Quandong Street, O'Connor, ACT Australia. $20 and $25. Back to Berg's Review of Games Vol. II # 12 Table of Contents Back to Berg's Review of Games List of Issues Back to MagWeb Master Magazine List © Copyright 1993 by Richard Berg This article appears in MagWeb.com (Magazine Web) on the Internet World Wide Web. Other articles from military history and related magazines are available at http://www.magweb.com