22" x 17" map (despite what the rules say); 100 counters; Rules pamphlet; Play Aid chart. Enveloped. PRP, POB 23651, Oakland CA 94623. (Good luck.) I dunno, $15??
One of the more intriguing curiosities in a very curious hobby is Jeff Tibbets and his family of endeavors. Jeff has the makings of a fairly good thing here: obscure, but interesting battles published with minimal, but good, production values, all priced to sell. Critical reception to the past entriesin his Just Plain Wargames series have been, essentially, favorable, and one would think that, with a little effort, a nice market niche could be forged here.
Not so. At least not with the hermit at the helm. Tibbets sightings have been rarer than a refund from 3W. The publication date on his latest release, Uli Blennemann's take on the August 1918 Allied counter-offensive around the Amiens salient, Black Day of the German Army (a subtle clue as to Uli's origins), is 1995, some two years prior to its actual release. Not even GMT can match that one (although it's getting close). It's not that everyone has been sitting on tenterhooks, waiting for Blackday; it's just that Tibbets seems to do a nice job with this stuff. One wishes he would simply do it more regularly. (Uli wishes that Jeff would simply send him a royalty check, but that's another matter.)
Whatever, what we have here is a relatively nice looking, and fast playing, little game that does provide some pleasures, although very few for the German player, I'll say that. Now, in the previous pages I lustily berated both Ty B and Joe M for publishing games in which one side has as much chance of winning as you do when you buy a lottery ticket. ("You never know" is not a viable victory condition.) I should say the same here, as it applies, albeit in reverse (it's the Germans taking a beating, for a change), except that here the German position is so desperate, it's almost challenging to take it up. Granted, it's more fun solitaire than anything else … a puzzle rather than a game … but because it plays so rapidly (I played it twice - no snickering, guys - in less than 3 hours) and because it has some nice little touches, it just felt better than the other two. I'm sure others will feel differently … doesn't make them right, though. (More letters.)
The JoYo 1km per hex map features some nice trenchwork against a most glaring "whiter-than-white" background, but the counters look nice, especially the tank silhouettes. Good use of color as an ID factor, too. The aid chart is a helpful addition, and the short rules (5 pages, big type) are clear and accurate. Nothing special, but, after all, it says "plain wrapper", doesn't it.
The system is familiar - Igo-Hugo - with some nice touches. Allied air power is randomly variable from turn to turn, as are the artillery capabilities of both sides. The Allies have a decided superiority in the latter, a superiority which, when its hits a "supremacy" level, can be quite an effective weapon. Other than that, it's just move-move, move-fight, move-fight, etc. Except for the Allied tanks.
It's not that the tanks are such powerful units. They do provide a column shift for whatever attack they are in - I say "attack", because in the two games I played not once did I ever attack with a German unit - but it's how they work. Every time you move a tank unit it just may break down (on a DR of '6'). This means, as the game progresses, you get a slowly growing trail of breakdown markers behind you. These can be repaired (once per game, and a 1/3 chance of doing so at that), but, despite their effectiveness, the use of the tanks becomes an interesting decision point for the Allied player. My general feeling was that you throw caution to the winds, at least in the opening turns, because it is paramount for the Allies to create as huge a hole as possible right from the start.
Planning on where to do this is also part of the challenge. Best bet appears to be to concentrate on the salient at the bottomost western edge, where surrounding and pounding the outmanned Germans is far easier. As the victory conditions require the Allies to get units off the eastern edge in rather large numbers, a big hole is de rigeur for Allied success. I also point out here that, unfortunately, this is one of those games that the Germans can spend the entire time getting their keisters kayboshed, and royally, and still end up winning. Design needs a bit of "reality" therein, although I simply ignored the victory conditions. (Easy to do playing solitaire.)
What is interesting is how, as the Allied turn progresses, and the Germans disappear in droves, it looks like a cakewalk, only to see the Germans capable (until the last few turns) of plugging even the most porous looking line, mostly thanks to a nice "breakdown" rule (not to be confused with tanks breaking down) that gives the German 3 or 4 dreadful units in return for 1 just plain "bad" unit. A true cannon fodder rule, one which goes far in conveying how callous the generals of the day were in using live bodies as blockades. Getting medieval on their troops, one supposes.
So, if you don't mind backpedaling as a way of life - a big "if", to be sure - Blennemann's Black Day is a nice little something with which to pass the time quickly. Nothing more, nothing less.
CAPSULE COMMENTS
Graphic Presentation: OK, especially for the money.
Playability: Excellent. Fast and easy.
Replayability: Not much; maybe once to see if you got it right the first time.
Wristage: Acceptable
Historicity: Good, for its scale. Too good for play value.
Creativity: Not bad. Nice touches to old mechanics
Comparisons: See review herein on Blitz 40 and side comment on Balkans 41. About the same, except this one has speed and easy going for it.
Overall: Solitaire only, even if nicely done. And when will the Hermit rise again?
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© Copyright 1997 by Richard Berg
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