Back in the late 70’s, early 80’s, we saw the first cresting of the wargame wave, perhaps the last time that the hobby was so widespread (relatively). This period saw the entry - and exit - of a host of game designers trying to wedge their way onto what was becoming a rapidly diminishing shelf space. Out with the tide went such as Howard Thompson’s Metagaming, the mighty SPI, and Peoples’ Wargames, Jack Radey’s popular, even when unabashedly Marxist, company. That was because Jack was not only a good, albeit rather red, fellow, but he also produced East Front operational games with intricate systems and attention to detail much beloved by the hobby’s Eastfronters. That the games were graphically the equivalent of a middle class housing project in East Berlin, and that the systems required more interpretation and house-rule argument than a meeting of the local town party members, phased not those hardy Ostfrontmenchen. For everyone else, it was more or less a case of Good Riddance to Red Rubbish. Now we shift to the ‘90’s, where the craze to bring back the “good old days” has spread from the hearts of the populace - although their definition of what “good” is does stretch the envelope of reality - to the pocketbooks of a few, select game publishers, Men of Substance whose analysis of the Playing Pulse has revealed to them that the Road to Riches is paved with Nostalgia. So, taking the lead of the inimitable Doc Decision and his one-man re-do of “Night of the Living SPI Dead” - a better case of the blind leading the deaf has ne’er before been seen - a German game company, CoSi, has resurrected virtually all of the old Radey titles. As their financial partner - you can start biting your tongues now, although minor snickering is allowed - they chose the Fisk & Gould of wargaming, good old 3W. The mental picture of such a raving, but moribund, capitalist group as 3W backing the oeuvre of such an unabashedly Communist good ‘ole boy as Jack could only but warm the hearts of Marxists everywhere. So, with 3W’s cash in hand (one wonders which royalties Keith didn’t send out that month), CoSi set about re-doing three of Jack’s games - Aachen and Duel for Kharkov, as well as the titled review. It is not exactly clear who did what to which, or whether the German editions were done separately from the English. What is clear is that the entire project, like the great Russian Communist experiment, was doomed from the start … although those involved were to closely involved to see it. To be fair, or rather, accurate, the actual designer of Last Battles is Gary Helmer, with help from a fairly large group of fellow travelers, including Dave Bolt, Jack, himself, and some fellow named “Snake” … very committee-like of PWG and its CoSi inheritor. Last Battles, or Endkampf: Ostpreussen, as the boxcover says, covers the Soviet offensive into East Prussia in January, 1945, following the destruction of Army Group Center. This was the beginning of the end for Germany, and, aided by Hitler’s amazing decisions to send his best armor to Hungary, the Soviets were able to wreak major damage on the Third Reich, capturing the strategic fortresses of Thorn and Königsberg in the process. Graphically, the CoSi version is a step-up from the old monochromatic PWG stuff, although it is a small and somewhat cracked step, indeed. 3W assigned Joe Youst to do their version, and while the counters are simple and clean, with some nice color, the map is a Major Ugger. Now, Joe claims he pawned off this assignment on some lesser cartographic light, but his name is on the tab, so he takes the heat. Color choice is poor, the swamp icons look like X-Men versus the Ebola virus, and several hexes (e.g., 3112) contain three separate terrain types (in addition to clear) with no clarification forthcoming. Actually, lack of clarification is a major problem with Last Battles, starting with the non-presence of Movement Allowances on the counters, even when there was plenty of room available for such. Now, rules-writing was never PWG’s forté, a weakness not helped by giving the second edition to 3W, a company for whom editing is anathema. The original material was pretty rugged to begin with, PWG being justly famous for dense systems only partially explained in a rather loose-running narrative format, and 3W’s tender ministrations have done little to sort this out. Everything is there; you just have to find it, a task not made any easier by 3W’s decision to overload the rulesbook with historical and design commentary - 30% by space - rather than spend the time and energy to clarify, or even to give us a chart listing the various combat modifiers. At bottom, this is pretty basic East Front, Igo-Hugo gaming. A nice twist allows players to place units in reserve, from which state they can either exploit after combat, or move after the other player’s movement - but before combat - thus allowing you to rush troops into the line before the blow falls. (Ed: cf. Tunisia review.) This allows armor to be used to its full capacity and I (along with GameFix’s Tim Kutta) would like to other games doing it. Unfortunately, combat is a hopelessly intricate procedure involving all sorts of mechanics and adjustments. Players compute raw odds by comparing barrage, support and combat strengths. They then modify them for terrain, air, armor and AT values, as well as whether the Germans involved are East Prussian or Latvian (not very PC, eh wot). Suffice to say that one combat example took up an entire page of rules. Tied into all of this is supply, points for which players must expend to use their barrage and support factors. Now, all of those ratings for support, etc., are on the counter somewhere, but insight as to exactly where is not forthcoming. The rulesbook is no help, that’s for sure. The end result is a very cumbersome, frustrating process. You do get some special rules for flamethrower tanks, Volksstrum (which tend to pop up like mushrooms), road-clogging refugees, and a host of regulations instituted so that players tread the narrow wire of history with care. Reserves are historically frozen to their actual turn of release - the Hitler Effect? - and there is even a rule preventing the Russians from attacking certain German units until they’re released. Excuse me?! Wargames should reflect history, not repeat it. You can read a book to do that. What is it that makes designers so worried that the pesky players aren’t going to adopt their version of history. Then again, you get this sort of reaction throughout the hidebound halls of academia, so why should we be any different? One of the easiest ways to tell that a game is sucking wind through a gut wound is, upon finishing the rules and setting up the counters, you look at each other and say, “So, whadda we do know?” Last Battles is one of those games. The best way through that maze of confusion is simply to follow the Sequence of Play, which is the Mylanta-like solution we applied. We started with the historical scenario, which starts with the opposing armies stacked eyeball-to-eyeball, like a rugby scrum. There’s no reason for movement, so the game starts with a long series of die-roll resolved combat, the game’s worst mechanic. There are 6 rather nice player aid cards enclosed; not one of them lists the myriad modifiers combat carries, like a steamer trunk on a camping trip. You have to memorize everything you read, as you read it, and woe betide the player who forgets that Soviet rocket divisions require that extra Support point. A few minutes of this and I started to bleed internally - obviously, when my doctor said Mylanta he was either lying or working for an HMO. How do you ASLers stand this?! Last Battles is not a fun game. The historical scenario is unbalanced and the system would appeal only to those who admire John Schettler’s work (although this is somewhat more accessible). One has to remember that CoSi is simply following in a long line of German resurrectionists, perhaps directly descended from Baron Frankenstein, himself. And once again, Poulter-as-Igor has stolen the wrong brain. CAPSULE COMMENTS Graphic Presentation: Ugh. OK counters, dismal map, non-helpful rules. Playability: Tough slogging, one of the trademarks of Radey games. Replaybility: Killed off by the situation, although optional scenarios help a bit. Creativity: Helmer et al provide lots of goodies, well-hidden in the vast wasteland of the rules. 3W hasn’t helped much. Historicity: Probably too good, given the situation. Strong feel for division-level armor tactics, together with importance of support assets. Wristage: Surprisingly minimal. Comparisons: What are there, 3000 Eastfront games? There are lots better out there, just point and pick. Last Battles is not even as good as its progenitor, Korsun Pocket. Overall: If you have to have the only game on this subject, go ahead. For the rest of you, playing this game makes Sisyphus’ task a lark in the park. from CoSi 22” x 34” map; 300 counters; Rules Book; 6 Charts & Tables; boxed. Available through 3W Games, wherever they are these days. $25 Back to Berg's Review of Games Vol. II # 18 Table of Contents Back to Berg's Review of Games List of Issues Back to MagWeb Master Magazine List © Copyright 1994 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