NHMGS member John Fernandes was gracious enough to forward me a copy of his new rules set, WWII Micro Armor. The Game. Designed (obviously) for use with 1/285 scale models, these are the official house rules for GHQ. I've not had a chance to play these rules yet (heck, I haven't had the chance to play anything lately), so I won't review these rules, just describe them.

WWII Micro Armor comes in a fullcolor, perfect-bound soft cover book of 132 pages. Though the length sounds daunting, there are only about 12 pages of actual rules. The rest of the booklet consists of copious designees notes, bibliography, weapons data charts, orders of battle, scenarios, examples of play, charts and counters. There is data for most armies, including odd ones like the Hungarians. Color photos are used to illustrate various rules mechanics. All for only $29.95!

These ru les are geared towards the operational level, with each player running a reinforced battalion or two. Figures are mounted on 1" square stands, each representing a platoon. Each turn represents 3 minutes of real time. Ground scale is 1" = 100 yards,.

The central concept of the game Is "cohesion" This is a rating given to each sides' force to reflects its ability to carry out orders. Anything you want your units to do requires them to pass a cohesion roll. It (plus a die roll) also determines who has the initiative during each turn.

The first thing to occur in each turn is determination of initiative. The player with the initiative decides who is going to go first in each of the phases. Players then indicate which of their units are in "movement" or "firing" postures. Next comes an artillery fire phase, then a direct fire phase, a plotting phase for future indirect fire missions, the movement phase (including opportunity and covering fire), and finally a phase in which players try to rally off suppression and disorder markers. During each phase the players alternate taking turns, with each firing or moving one stand (or group of stands) at a time.

These rules cover just about everything a WWII player could want with simple and straight-forward mechanics. The game requires the use of markers on the table, which some people dislike but I accept as a necessary evil. The writing is clear and concise, and the designer's notes explain John's thinking on just about every rule mechanism. So if a rule is unclear, one can divine the intent from the notes. All in all, they seem to have achieved the author' intent to make a game that is fun and easy to play, yet has a sound historical basis.