Siege of Port Arthur

Thumbnail Analysis Game Review

by Don Lowry


Yet another independent game publisher enters the field, known as Strife Games Company. S.O.P.A. was designed by John David Truty and Roger D. Hotz. It comes in an envelope and consists of: a 17"x 22" mapsheet with black and blue inks on heavy tan paper; one 8 1/2"x11" sheet of 1/2" square, die-cut unit counters (Russians white on red, Japanese red on white); an 8 1/2"x11" 12-page rules booklet; and an 8 1/2"x11" sheet of errata.

The subject simulated is from the Russo-Japanese War of 1904-5. It uses an "initiative" rule which the designers acknowledge was inspired by GDW's CORAL SEA. Each turn the player with the initiative (determined randomly, but the odds are 3-1 in favor of the Japanese) gets to decide whether to move first or last. (In miniatures wargaming this is called "move- countermove".)

Artillery has multi-hex range and special abilities such as: counter-batteryfire, blocking fire, harassment fire and support fire. There are 12 turns in a game, representing no particular amount of time. Each hex represents 500 yards. Most unit counters represent battalions. Infantry combat is fairly conventional except that no dice are used. Instead each player secretly writes down a number from 1 to 8. These are then cross-indexed on a matrix to produce a random number. (A clever idea, but time-consuming.)

There is also a form of hand-to-hand combat when opposing units are on the same hex. There are 26 objectives on the map. Which ones the Japanese player must take in order to win is determined by generating a random number, before the game starts, which only the Japanese player sees.

Although the battle simulated is relatively unknown, the game is interesting and innovative. It sells for $6.00, and is available from Strife Games Co., 3447 N. Pacific Ave., Chicago, IL 60634.

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© Copyright 1976 by Donald S. Lowry
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