CLASH OF EMPIRES

A Total Fighting Power Ltd. Game, put out by the same company that published the American Civil War Game Iron and Fire, depicts the battles of the Bohemian passes in the Austro-Prussian War of 1866. A boardless board game, it supplies counters for the maneuver elements of one Austrian Corps, the 6th, and one Prussian Corps, probably the 5th. In addition there is a Prussian "Corps Cavalry Regiment" and an attached Austrian cavalry brigade, identified as the "Sloms" Brigade -- my record would make it the Solms Brigade of the Schleswig-Holstein Reserve Cavalry Division, elements of which appeared at Nachod. Cut out terrain features are provided, and, except for the small Austrian brigade artillery counters, each of which represents an 8 gun battery of 4 pdr rifles, all counters are big enough to mount figures on. Scenarios are provided for most of the battles of the passes as well as some fictitious encounters. This game was obviously designed for miniatures.

Like The Complete Brigadier, Clash of Empires uses no dice, relying on a rather involved series of computations to arrive at "Total Combat Value" and "Fire Factors". Value is added as a result of specific orders. For example, an Austrian brigade ordered to attack a town has more fighting power while carrying out that order than it would if hit while waiting for something to happen. Moreover, tactical doctrine is enforced, Austrians using a column when ordered to attack, deep line when ordered to defend, except for Jagers, while Prussians both attack and defend in line, using the column only for maneuver, and will be considered taken in flank if hit head on while on column. Brigade artillery is treated as short range -- roughly as if it were battalion guns, although in fact it consisted of fairly long range weapons.

Most combat results are morale results, with permanent loss of combat value only resulting from extremely unequal results. Value also varies in the Austrian forces based on whether or not they are of "German", "Magyar, (Hungarian)", Italian or "Slavic" "Race".

All things considered, if you are comfortable with diceless mechanics like those of The Complete Brigadier, and are interested in the Austro Prussian War period, Clash of Empires is well worth the rather high cost, and fairly cries out to be adopted to miniatures.

Having said that, it is only fair to take a few pot-shots. Most Prussian Corps did not in fact have cavalry other than the divisional regiments, and the one jager battalion per division is excessive except for the Guard Corps -- other corps, to the best of my knowledge, had only one battalion, which took the corps number. Also, if you want to quibble, the Solms Brigade, like other Austrian heavy brigades, contained 2 cuirassier (German) cavalry regiments numbering, I believe, 600 sabers, and 1 uhlan regiment (Polish). The uhlans numbered 570 according to some very old research of mtne. C of E gives Solms 2 "German" regiments of 750 and 1 "Magyar" (hussar) of the same number. To the best of my knowledge, the Emperor Maximillian Regiment or "Mexico Uhlans" were Slavic. -- PAT CONDRAY

TFP supplies a line of 15mm figures, "Pioneer", that are designed expressly for mounting on the game playing pieces (see photo). The figures are part of an extensive line that covers the Franco-Prussian War period as well. Several supplementary packs will be available, the first being "Fire on the Iser", a supplementary reinforcement pack which retails for £5.

Iron and Fire is an ACW game using the same system and a third game (as yet untitled) commemorating this year's 50th anniversary of the Spanish Civil War should be ready by April/May 1986.

The game retails for $29.95 and is available from The Armory, 4145 Amos Ave., Baltimore, MD 21215.

ST. LO

We now return your television set to the control of the editor of this column. ST. LO, a recently-released game by West End, sells for $16.95, and is a product of the always reliable Joe Balkoski, who is not considered a genius among game designers only because of his frightening mental stability.

ST. LO is a manageable game of the breakout from Normandy in the summer of 1944. Two U.S. National Guard divisions, the 29th and the 35th, face the battered German 352nd Division and the tough 3rd Paratroop Division, which are blocking their path to St. Lo and history.

Let's face it, guys -- you can turn almost any board game into a miniatures campaign if you put your mind to it, and why not? ST. LO is a good choice, if only because it does not require hundreds of tanks and thousands of figures, and the whole thing, with a map scale of one hex = 306 yards, could easily be represented on a series of tables.

In conclusion of this column, there is something to add. Why so many West End games? Because they are actually sending us games to review. Anything we get from any historical board game publisher, should it be at all of interest to miniatures gamers (insert: "this miniatures gamer") will at least be mentioned here -- but first we have to see the game.

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