These WW II miniatures rules cover company and battalion combat. Spiral-bound, they run some 55 pages, including 15 - 16 pages of weapons, terrain, and equipment data. Scales are (approx.) 1 vehicle/gun troop. A turn begins with an initiative die roll (situationally modified) by each side to see who activates a unit first. Units activate by company; activation is based on another die roll and controls what actions the company may undertake that turn, ranging from normal activity to rout.

Activation serves as a morale check for the company and feels much like an old-style WRG ancients reaction test. Companies have command radii, based on presence of absence of radios, outside of which their elements may not stray without ill effect. Players next issue orders, spot for and request artillery and air support. The fire and movement phase is interactive in that an activated element moves half, spots and fires, then the other side retums fire with fired-on elements, then the activated element moves half, spots, and fires again. Then the other side activates a unit, repeating the process. Artillery, air, and antiair combat take place simultaneously after the fire and movement phase. Movement is standard - fixed maximum distances for several movement classes in several types of terrain, with various penalties for moving backwards, over obstacles, etc. Hull-down benefits vary with the speed with which an element entered the position, the idea being that haste makes for less effective deployment.

Spotting is (yay!) probabilistic - 1d20 is cast against a spotting chart that sorts of situational modifiers. Antitank fire is ranged and involves two comparisons of a single D6 roll, first to determine if the target was hit (subject to all sorts of situational modifiers), and second, to determine if the target was damaged. It took a bit for me to figure out how this worked, but it fire is handled similarly. The indirect fire rules are extensive and address several fire mission types, differing battery sizes, fire arrival delays (all but dedicated fire may not come in when requested), and counter battery fire. Resolution is simple, involving a single die roll to determine results. Air/antiair rules are, to my tastes, a bit too detailed; with 1 - 2 minute tums, air-to-air combat should be outside the scope of the game, but simple rules for this are included anyway. Air to ground combat covers anything one could think of, including scatter (curiously omitted from the indirect fire rules).

Engineering and paradrops are also addressed in detail. Tiger!!! feels very chart-driven. The first 6 pages cover terrain and deployment and use 8 charts... This tone continues through the rest of the rules. The play mechanics are simple and sometimes elegant but the game as a whole feels as if it complicated but not complex - especially at the suggested company battalion play level. By the way - that covers WW II and the Korean War. They are quite similar to the old Tabletop Games lists, but without the wire diagrams. The lists run 77 pages and include 43 different lists, allowing players to build battalion-sized forces using point values for Tiger!!!, though conversions are given to translate elements into WRG, Firefly, and Cambrai to Sinai troop types. Tiger!!! and the associated lists are available for approximately $15 and $10, respectively, from your local game shop. - BILL RUTHERFORD

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