4th Reich
Puremen vs. The Mutants
for Control of the World

Game Review

by Matt Costello


Designed by Dana Lombardy
Task Force Games 1110 N. Fillmore, Amarillo, TX 79107
Released: September, 1985
Catalog No.: 2014
Price: $12.95
Complexity: Beginner
Solitaire Suitability: Excellent
****

4th Reich is a pretty strange game. In fact, it may even be in bad taste. The title alone can cause an unpleasant shiver. And that subtitle Puremen vs. the Mutants for Control of the World"! Even the racist sycophants inside Reich #3 might have blanched at such a kinky title. (Well, maybe some of them would.) But 4th Reich is an imagina- tive, exciting game. It's clever, fun to play, and not without humor.

The components are standard Task Force Games issue. The map is adequate, the rules well-organized, and the box art uninspiring. The counters are decidedly a cut above average with neatly detailed Mutants, Controllers, and Puremen forces.

The scenario runs thusly It's 2,000 years after the holocaust and parts of the planet are still dangerously contaminated. Continents are separated by jungles and wastelands, and the polar ice caps have partially melted. Chain reaction earthquakes have dramatically re-shaped the world.

Enter the Puremen of Geld led by Max Hetler. (That's H-e-t-l-e-r.) The Puremen are the last surviving, genetically pure humans, and they are surrounded by the subhuman mutants directed by the somewhat more intelligent Controllers.

The Puremen have technology and intelligence going for them, while the mutants have numbers. Mutant armies, though, need to be under a Controller or they'll stop moving and fighting while idly contemplating the barren landscape. In the balance lies the future of the world ... mutant or human?

The sequence of play for 4th Reich works very smoothly. A weather phase determines movement and combat restrictions during the upcoming turn. The Geld and Mutant player each purchases new units based on the number of cities each controls. The Puremen then move and attack, activating the Controllers and Mutants of any region that they enter. A second movement and attack phase is provided for eligible units (such as tanks). The Mutant force, under the Controllers, then receive two rounds of movement and attack, with the second round of combat restricted to Controllers and super Mutant armies.

Special rules cover Max Hetler, the Geld leader, who gives a movement bonus to any troops that he's with. Railroad movement and air transport can be used to move armies quickly, and air armies can be especially important to a trapped Controller surrounded by Puremen. The speedy delivery of a Controller can get a lackadaisical mutant army on the move again.

Opposing forces in combat total combat points (which are printed on each counter) and add the appropriate modifiers. Some Controllers, such as the Master Controller, give a special combat modifier to a Mutant army, and terrain can weaken an attacker's strength. Max Hetler (what a guy!) gives a hefty + 3 when hes with an attacking force. A simple Combat Results Table (CRT) tells whether any defending units are eliminated.

Cities are the key to the game. They determine each side's ability to buy new units. But territory has to be controlled or a unit can become isolated, weakening its combat strength. To win, the Geld player must control all 29 cities and eliminate all Controllers and Mutant Forces from the game. The Controller has to control all five Geld cities and eliminate the Puremen.

So, who would you root for? I found myself pulling for the mutants. I just couldn't get behind someone named Max Hetler. Both sides, though, have their work cut out for them, and the game is given to dramatic reversals. In one game I played, the Puremen were down to their last few units. But many of the Mutant armies were Controller-less. (Some Controllers must be in cities in order to receive new units.) By concentrating the use of his tanks, the Puremen player began a comeback that culminated in the Mutants disappearing from the world.

Exciting stuff, and the game succeeds in what I feel is the most important criterion for any adventure game. It creates a vibrant, playable world that lives in the gamer's imagination. It lives and breathes, and the cardboard counters assume a strange life of their own.

4th Reich can be played solitaire very well, and it comes with special rules for fine-tuning a solo game. Reminiscent of some of their early games, 4th Reich is an unusual winner from Task Force Games.

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© Copyright 1986 by Dana Lombardy.
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