One 22" x 17" map, one 11" x 17" map, two 5" x 11" maps, 700 counters, charts, rulesbooks. Boxed. Semper Fi (TCS series #10) is a tactical look at several small-unit ac ~ tions during the Korean War. The game presents four different battles, thus giving it "quad" status ... the first published by The Gamers. Semper Fi is also a bit more than a quad game since each engagement is broken down into several scenarios examining crucial points in that battle as well as variant scenanos and the "campaign" game on that battle. Like the other TCS games, Semper Fi's action takes place on the scale of the infantry platoon, weapons section, and single gun tube and armored vehicle Since most of the scenarios involve smaller forces (for Fox Hill, you have a single reinforced US Marine company of about 8 counters, holding out against wave attacks by a series of Chinese battalions), this is not a massive space-and time-consuming project like Bloody Omaha or Black Wednesday. In fact, two of the engagements are fought out on maps the size of a sheet of typing paper! However, Forester has included all of the TCS goodies, such as artillery and air strikes, and even added new features such as hidden units and Marine forward air controllers (who dramatically increase the effectiveness of air strikes). The small size and divetse situations make Semper Fi a perfect learning vehicle for anyone who has been wanting to play TCS games but was daunted by their size. And like the earlier titles, TCS also serves as a rich "laboratory" for tacticians wanting to hone their skills and develop new methods of attack and defense. The four engagements depicted in Semper Fi are the Battle For No Name Ridge, Changallon Valley, Fox Hill, and Hagaru. No Name Ridge features attacks by the 5th Marine regiment against a North Korean defender hidden and dug in on a long high ridge. The NK's are also well-armed with mortars, infantry guns, AT guns and tanks. This is the best-armed Communist force in the game and the toughest battle for the Marines to win. The Marines come in a battalion at a time and cannot even engage the enemy until they have been spotted. In this and the other scenarios, a communist unit is spotted the instant it fires or a US unit moves adjacent to it. Here, the Marines are forced to shake out a battle line and walk right into a trap that soon erupts into some fiercely punishing fire. Once the NK's reveal their positions, they bring down the Wrath of God in the form of air strikes and overwhelming Manne fire superiority. In spite of that, you can pretty well write off the first Marine assault since that battalion gets shot to ribbons. The follow-up attack can, with skillful play, win the fight for the ridge since the NK's have by now revealed their positions. This is a fight that rivals Little Round Top or Hougomont. Changallon Valley is another ambush in which a Marine battalion column supported by a company of tanks is moving down a valley surrounded by high ground full of hidden NK units. The column's tanks are road bound since the terrain along the valley bottom is rice paddies. What's worse, it's hot and Marine units have to do a morale check each time they move up an elevation level. The NK's are hidden on the high ground and the ambush begins once a "6" is rolled (simulating premature fire) or an NK unit is spotted. The Marines have to continue moving up the valley road to exit the map unless the ambush occurs. The ambush, however, must occur, since the NK's lose if the Marines exit the map edge. When and how this happens is up to the NK playa. Once the ambush is triggered, the Marines have to shake out a banle line and painstakingly clean the NK's off of the high ground overlooking the road. This is another tough fight, except that the NK's are lightly armed, though they can be very devilishly positioned to make the mop-up an extremely tough mission. The battle also includes a night scenario where the Marines, having cleaned the hills along the road, are subjected to an NK counterattack. Hagaru is a set of scenarios depicting the Chinese attack on the Hagaru airfield during the Chosin operations. The US force is a mix of Marine and US Army units, some of whom are rear-area types with morales of 6 and 7. The attack is a night one in which the Chinese come in from three directions and in overwhelming force. The Chinese also get to perform an "infil"ration" which sets them up to very neatly overrun the US outlying positions. The Marines have the advantage of a central position and supenor firepower provided by tanks. However, the Marine player is also greatly outnumbered and the Chinese wave attacks make him rush units from one crisis to another. As said before, this is also a night attack and illumination rounds have to be fired to see which often means you can now be seen too. The scenario is fairly well balanced with the Chinese holding the numbers and most of the bener-morale units and the US having, as usual, the better firepower. Still, the Chinese must use great skill to prevent their massed attacks from becoming turkey shoots. Fox Hill is a scenario for the truly John Wayne of heart. A reinforced Marine company must hold the hill against repeated battalion assaults from the Chinese. The first of these is usually repulsed with little trouble but as US casualties mount, each new Chinese attack has a better chance of carrying the position. In physical size, number of units and a straightforward situation of static defense against repeated assaults, this is the simplest of all the scenarios to play and the best one for learning the TCS system. Like the others, this battle is broken down into separate engagements (some of them at night) as well as the full "campaign" scenario. Small map reproductions are provided to draw up "op sheets" for each of the banles, although many battles have objectives so obvious that the TCS command system may be bypassed. Purists may still use it to delineate unit boundaries and, in the longer scenarios, to dig in defending units or prepare small counterattacks. Given the small size of the battles, many may be wondering if Semper Fi is playable in a few hours. The answer is yes ... and no. Fox Hill and Changallon can be played in an afternoon or less but I've spent up to 10 hours poring over the typing-paper sized map of No Name Ridge and the somewhat-larger Hagaru battle. The small maps do help the table-space challenged. If you have been wanting to learn TCS but balked at the size of the earlier titles, Semper Fi may be your ticket into the system. I've played almost all the TCS games and enjoy Semper Fi as a break from the TCS monsters. At the same time, Semper Fi offers all of the intricacy and unit interactions of its bigger brothers at a fraction of the time and space. CAPSULE COMMENTS Graphics: All very standard Garners: attractive. Playability: This is your best shot at learning TCS. The system plays naturally, intuitively and logically. Replayability: Variants for the many scenarios provide a lot of gaming in a small package. Historicity: Provides an interesting close look at the company and battalion TOE's for Marine, North Korean and Chinese units. Korean terrain and weather is highlighted by the effects of rice paddies, heat and snow. Comparisons: This is also the only tactical Korean War game I've seen. Overall: A very good package for both the experienced and new TCS player. 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