Scott Johnson puts down his drawing pen just long enough to take a quick look at some of the Vanity Press items emerging these days. THE RACE FOR SPACE by ROB MARKHAM From Markham Designs, 30 Erickson Road, New Milford, CT. 06776. $12. The Race For Space is a game on the contest between America and the Soviet Union to be first in all things cosmic from the sliderule years of 1955 to 1970. These were the early heady days for both space programs. Vast sums of money were lavished for the goal of national prestige to outdo the other in space accomplishment. Now you gamers out there can play a game on this jingoistic competition to place a man on the moon, take some photos, and bring back some moon rocks. What purpose did this serve? None, but that's besides the point. The players compete for shallow prestige, not for any bright, shining, Clarkian future where gleaming domed cities exist on the dead worlds of our solar system. The game plays in an easy, straightforward way. Income is collected and disbursed into purchasing science teams and spending on research and development. The whole game orbits around the players developing the technology to meet the goals that gain them national prestige. These goals require the development of certain technologies in launch vehicles, satellites. guidance, communication, environment, and reentry shields. If the player never wants to risk the lives of his nation's astronauts, he may opt for goals that are completed with probes and satellites and avoid the prestige-harming embarrassment of killing a manned crew in a launch. Being a humanitarian in this game can backfire, as serious prestige can be gained from the various manned missions. The game comes with four development display tables which represent the levels of sophistication of the technologies. Science teams are placed on the table with the type of technology being developed. The rolls determine the path that the development team goes, which may lead to successful results, time and money-wasting circuitous joumeys, or to technological dead ends. The player who lands on a successful technology development may continue to further develop the technology on the table to improve its reliability (success rate), or the rate can be increased by being used in launches (test launches or "real" launches). Thc players build on their technologies and maintain the old reliable ones to move on to the next level of technology to accomplish greater feats. The players decide what to develop (an evolutionary progression or risking radical development) and when to risk the publicized launches. The random events are pretty much the only thing that keeps the game from being a grueling joyless dice marathon. Those of you who liked Tom Hanks' documentary From the Earth to the Moon will probably also like The Race for Space. Those of you who found the series boring will probably confer the same feeling towards the game. SKY, SEA, AND JUNGLE by LOUIS R. COATNEY From Louis R. Coatney, 626 Western Avenue, Macomb, IL 61455. $17 (kit) or $28 (assembled). Sea, Sky, and Jungle is a strategic game from the mind of Lou Coatney on the fight for Guadalcanal and the surrounding islands. The game uses a double-blind system where both players have their own map of the region to position their pieces on. The maps were hand drawn (poorly) by Lou. They are a little different from each other in that the maps were done in the perspective of the antagonists. Just place the two "fog of war" screens between the players, lay out the various displays, and spend a half hour reading the simple rules and you're ready to go. Oops. Hold on. You have to prepare the counters first before playing. Since both side's units are backprinted on the same sheet of paper, you have to photocopy them on colored paper. paste 'em, flatten 'em, and then cut 'em. Not much time will be spent admiring the striking art of the counters because there's not much to them. At least they're not as ugly as the ones in Avalon Hill's Flat Top. The game starts with the Japanese in control of the northern section of the Solomons with the bulk of her Navy on hand. The American player starts with much fewer forces but he gets a steady trickle of reinforcements. The American must make deft attacks (mainly against Guadalcanal) but not be too bold as he faces the real danger of having all his forces eradicated in the first few turns. Remember: this is the Solomon Sea in 1942, not the Philippine Sea in '44. Combat in the game is spiced with many special rules such as submarines. PT boats, differences in torpedoes, surprise, code-breaking, and even volcano activity of Rabaul. One major wrinkle in the game is in selecting the time of day to conduct attacks. This mainly is concerned with naval and land-based air power. Night is the time of naval gun duels. The players must also balance the need of withdrawing his forces from the danger of a ruinous counteranack and also try to be in control of the sea lines to supply his ground forces, although the American can air supply with his long-range B-17s. All in all, SS&J is a good little game with a few (but rather telling) graphic drawbacks and a somewhat high price for a DTP ... which Lou insists covers the work he put into it. Maybe a few bucks to the graphic man would have been money well spent. ... and from the dice of Richard Berg, this note on WILLIAMSBURG 1862 by HAMPTON NEWSOME from Ivy Street Games and available through Mail Order Houses only. Those of you who have played Ivy's original offering, Stonewall at Cedar Creek, and liked it, should find this - which covers an early Peninsula battle preceding the '7 Days" - even better. Hamp has added some interesting 'Confederate Mission Cards" and, more importantly, the game is better balanced than its predecessor. While I still have some reservations about some mechanics, this is a good, accessible game - providing you have a good set of scissors - done in very smart, graphic style. Back to Berg's Review of Games Vol. 2 #28 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