MONTCALM & WOLFE by ROB MARKHAM: 13" x 19" map; 112 partially cut counters; 5 play aids charts; rules. Ziplocked. From Markham Designs, 30 Erickson, New Milford CT 06776 $16. Great deal of commentary on M&W on the internet; many people liked its simple approach and interesting command system, similar to Rob's Give Me Liberty. Nice visual job by Rob. Counters (partially cut) look good, although you have to use them on a garish map. Play aid charts are better than most company's. I was less than enthused about the actual game for one reason: the combat system. I'm sorry, but I am not a fan of resolving a battle by removing all the counters involved from the map and starting a deluge of dierolling that can take longer than a lawyer's explanation. It took us over 50 dierolls to resolve the first big battle, the end result of which, out of 11 starting units, 1 remained. That, in a war which saw minimal casualties. If this is not something that bothers you, you might find the situation playable. I wouldn't play it again, though. …Richard Berg MacARTHUR'S WAR by KERRY ANDERSON; 11"x 17" map, 140 uncut counters, Area Display, Rules. from MICROGAME COOP, 10179 90 Street, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada T5H 1R8. $8 MacArthur's War is not so much a simulation of the Korean War as it is a simulation of possible nuclear confrontation. Components are not MacWar's strong point. They take longer than to cut and assemble than to play the game! The mechanics are about what you'd expect from a game where the ground scale is 50+ km/hex: divisional units, semi-locking ZOC's, a nostalgic CRT, simple trace supply, a basic Igo-Hugo turn sequence and other subjects from the Wargaming 101 syllabus. But there is enough here to let you know where you are: the US 7th Fleet, NKA surprise, Chinese Wave Attacks (Hordes waving red hankies?), et al. The Mac Special Sauce here is its use of an Escalation Ladder. The conflict starts, expectedly, as an Incident and can mushroom into Police Action, Limited War, Asian War, and the big enchilada, Global War. Each turn, as his opening move, a player may attempt to up the ante by rolling against an Escalation Number that increases with the conflict intensity. In practice, the UN will escalate ASAP to increase his chances of reinforcements. Later on, the Communist will probably escalate (to Limited War) to bring in the PLA. The secret ingredient in this recipe is mushrooms! Either player may use nukes on the battlefield, depending on the Level. However, the US outnumbers the Koreans by as much as 400-to-1 in this area, thus an ultimately pointless strategy for the Communists. Anderson designed the game to posit the perils and positives of potential nuclear exchange in the fifties, which he has done rather well. It's probably better than most magazine games with which it might reasonably be compared. My problem is that if you won't, or can't, go to the nuclear cafe, what you are left with is fighting a war across a 7-11 hex-wide peninsula. Mac's War is a one-trick pony, an old SPI Quad game in nuclear disguise. I was looking for a little more kimchi and little less mushroom! .…Richard Simon ARRIBA ESPANA by Brian Train; 1 17" by 11" map, 1 sheet of counters (cut and paste), rule book, playaids. From Microgame Co-op, $8; see above. This game on the Spanish Civil War is desk-top publishing at its least costly, a mere $8 buys you a fully working game light on the military aspects, but with a pronounced bent towards the political. It requires the usual 20 minutes of cutting and pasting. The somewhat garish map uses Areas, and the counters, representing (more or less) brigades and/or divisions, plus artillery and air assets, feature each faction having its own colour scheme. The result can be a little strong under artificial light. The game hangs upon PSPs, political support points. You receive these for capturing Regions, destroying enemy divisions, and from having foreign support. You lose points by the reverse of the previous items, for attempts to get foreign support and (for the Government) for purging the various factions that render the Reds less effective. The Sequence opens with a Random Events Phase, full of jolly events such as purges and atrocities. In the Political Phase there are attempts to influence Foreign Support. One risks lots of PSP to try to get foreign supporters to supply the equipment, without which you cannot build armies. The sequence then runs through building forces, organising them into battle groups, moving and then fighting (which can include some counter-attacks). The Rebels go first, and then the Government. Finally one totals regional control. The Political rules are very flavorful giving the Government side a taste of the difficulty of factional warfare. Unless the Government expends some of its equipment points on the factions, they reduce its PSPs. It can purge them, but the political cost is an unknown. Even worse, the various factions will not always serve together! Combat is very decisive at low levels (the losses are not proportionate to the participants) but less so where both sides have lots of units. I found the increase in unit density lagged behind the historical level so that both sides could find lots of holes to punch in a way that did not apply much beyond the early months. The First Turn is another weak point in the game. With the first move, the Rebels are substantially able to pin the Government back. Of course the Government can recapture these areas at a cost, but it is highly unlikely to reach the historical start lines. The Historical scenario is designed to take out all those political decisions. Your reinforcements, EP and AP all appear according to Brian Train's view of history. This removes the losses of PSP for seeking foreign support, a dramatic change to the tempo of the game. I would have liked a little more historical feel to the military elements in Arriba Espana. However, as an impressionistic game on the war you get a lot of what went on. Its a quick game and one is seldom secure in one's position. Its DTP production should not influence your buy decision; this is a fully formed game. …Charles Vasey STONEWALL AT CEDAR MOUNTAIN by Hampton Newsome; 1 17" by 11" map, one sheet of uncut counters), Rules book, 4 play aids charts. From Ivy St Games, c.$12?. Available only thru Boulder Games. Yet another game that looks a lot better than some pro-published boxed items, with the exception of having to cut out the counters, plus an excellent set of Play Aid charts. Essentially, this is brigade-level ACW about the complexity of Blue & Gray, but it does have some interesting twists. The most effective is that it uses a Chit system to determine who goes when, coupled with an Orders system that covers the trouble sending same over long distances. This means that, as each player spreads out, it becomes more and more difficult to have them do what you want. Nicely done. After that, it's the usual move-fight-rally, based on what type of Order that division has, a system highly reminiscent of that used by Rob Markham in his several games on pre- and early gunpowder warfare. Combat, other than the usual artillery bombardment table (mostly retreats), is similar to that in Glory, with one dieroll and a handful of DRMs that include ratios. Results are Reduceds, retreats, Rout Checks … the gamut of R-style warfare. The Attacker and Defender never take casualties from the same DR. All of this works rather smoothly, and this is a nice little system, albeit without a tremendous amount of flavor other than in its command system. The problem? Cedar Mountain is, barring immense stupidity by the Rebel, a walkover for the boys in gray. Newsome, aware of that, jerry-rigs the Reinforcement track to bring in a bunch of blue bellies to even up the fight. However, too little, and way too late. This is a really nice system, wasted on a battle that doesn't play well at this scale. ...Richard Berg. Back to Berg's Review of Games Vol. 2 #27 Table of Contents Back to Berg's Review of Games List of Issues Back to MagWeb Master Magazine List © Copyright 1998 by Richard Berg This article appears in MagWeb (Magazine Web) on the Internet World Wide Web. Other military history articles and gaming articles are available at http://www.magweb.com