Gamers love familiarity. Many will pass up an opportunity to check out Decision at Zenta for yet another crack at Gettysburg. Although publishers must face that reality, it’s really too bad, as there are a lot of “unknown” situations that would make great games. Into this latter category falls the small but playable item from Avalanche Press, Blood on the Snow, which covers the battle of Suomussalmi - Russians vs Finns, 1939 - a name which my tongue reduced to Sumo Salami. There, two Soviet divisions were annihilated by an outnumbered, ragtag bunch of Finnish skiers. Here’s the opportunity for gamers to see why this rather important pre-WWII battle was such a frozen hell for the Ivans. If only one thing can be said about Salami, it’s that its map gives that of Piercing the Reich a good run for the money as one of gaming’s worst cartographic disasters. Representing a large area of winter-forested Finland, it looks nothing less than a slide of the skin of an Ebola victim … either that, or a new entry in Where’s Waldo. The camouflage effect is so good (bad) that hex numbers disappear and the endlessly repeating pattern takes over, causing major retina wobble. This graphic Cannae is somewhat ameliorated by the nice counters and legible rulesbook, which, unfortunately, does contain a fair share of typos and gaffes, including a missing scenario. Fear not, gamer … my review copy is not the revised one you will get when the game is released, complete with corrections. The game’s system is pretty much the same as Avalanche gave us with Leyte (BROG #16). Play sequences driven by chit pull, the chits indicating who moves and under what limitations, such as being able to move but not able to attack. The number of chits available is linked to the weather, a nice touch. Another nice touch is showing the lack of Soviet operational flexibility by having the Ivans always have less chits to start with, and having to divide these chits between their two divisions. Not much else is new. We get a standard, odds-ratio CRT (which is merciless against the attacker), bombardment tables, etc. There is some flavor-adding chrome, though. Finns get retreat before combat capability, ski cross country, conceal their units, breakdown their battalions, build ice roads … and suffer “tank fright”. [Ed. Is this the coming thing? See the Reichpiercer review.] So what do the Ruskies get? A brass band unit. Nothing like a brisk version of March Slav to accompany one into the snowdrifts. While Salami is easy to learn and play, it is essentially a solitaire affair, as the Russians have few decisions to make. They just follow the road net, capture some towns, all with an eye towards getting to the opposite side of the map. It’s the Finns who have all the fun, as the burden of stopping this inexorable advance lies with them. They even get the advantage of undertaking probe attacks, in which attacker losses are halved, thus simulating their ability to slowly attrit the Russians into oblivion. So, if you can stand the map, you’ll find The Salami a nice, albeit “little”, view of an unfortunately obscure WWII sideshow, especially if you do most of your gaming alone. CAPSULE COMMENTS Graphic Presentation: Except for the dreadful map, good. Playability: Best solitaire, as it’s too boring for the Russians. Very accessible. Replaybility: Good, with an if (as above). Creativity: Nothing new. Historicity: Nice insight. Wristage: Low Comparison: Only comparison is JPW effort; this is much better. Overall: Small pleasures, if approached with an open mind (and closed eyes). from AVALANCHE GAMES Three 11” x 17” maps; 24 plastic Playing pieces; 100 metal markers; Rules Folder; Scenario Folder; 2 Force data charts; 1 Player Aid Chart; ziplocked. TGC, 10226 Cardinal Drive, Orrstown PA 17244. $? Back to Berg's Review of Games Vol. II # 19 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