Review

Clash of Armor

WWII Rules


Pub. by Clash of Arms Games - I reviewed these rules some time ago in their first edition. I liked them then and I still like them. I wont rehash all of the rules mechanics here; I refer you to my earlier review in The Courier. The second edition has a more professional appearance (read: color semigloss cover; the whole rulebook is sturdier...) The equipment lists have some minor additions such as the Italian M14/41, the German Pz IIIf, the British A-27 Mk I, etc.. Clash of Armor reads essentially as did the original edition. Its undergone a bit of re-editing and is better organized. The charts are more readable and show a bit of fine-tuning, too. Its easier for tired units to recover fatigue points and harder to recover cohesion hits. Units that cannot see one another become engaged at shorter range (6 vs. 10). The biggest changes are in some of the peripheral rules. Engineers are better addressed and now have specific characteristics that make them useful as, well, tabletop engineers. Air power is described in more detail.

In the first edition, airpower was merely a form of artillery, except that it could be shot at while performing strikes. Now, the player manages multiple flights by given aircraft, along with refuelings, lag times between missions, etc. I prefer the way the first edition handled it, which was as an abstract way of hitting a point on the table hard, but players who felt that way to be insufficiently detailed will like the new rules. I did like the fact that while the original rules included only four generic aircraft types, the second edition completely redresses this, including details for 53 <%-4>different ground attack aircraft of four different nationalities. Clash of Armor continues to interest me because they offer a completely different interpretation of command control - probablistic, based on unit initiatives, as opposed to the deterministic (you exist, therefore you command...) methods used by other rules in this scale (that is, one model equals one platoon.) These rules are available from your local game shop or directly from Clash of Arms Games, the Byrne Bldg. Ste. 205, Lincoln & Morgan Sts., Phoenixville, PA 19460. Their price has risen to $18.95 - BILL RUTHERFORD

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* The Courier uses the Tobey Barrett Measurement [BM] System to simplify comparison of figure sizes. The number is the height in millimeters from the bottom of the figure's foot (top of base) to its eyes. The letter refers to the "heft" of the figure: L=light, M=medium, and H=heavy. Thus, Hs will fit in with other Hs and some Ms, but not Ls.


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