Purple Heart

An Ambush! Expansion Module

Review by Kerry Lloyd

Designed by Joseph Reiser
Victory Games,, Inc, West 33rd St., New York, NY 10001
Release: January, 1985
Catalog No. 30010
Price, $12.00
Complexity: Intermediate
Solitaire Suitability: Specially Designed

Two years ago, Victory Games brought out Ambush!, a WWII game based on man-to-man combat between German soldiers and American GIs in the European Theater of Operations (ETO) from June 6, 1944, to the end of the war. The game is similar to Squad Leader in concept, but is specially designed to be played solitaire, with eight thrilling missions for a squad of hardy veterans.

One year ago, they brought out Move Out!, the first supplement for Ambush!, with four additional heart-pounding missions. Now, they have released Purple Heart, the second supplement, with six more exciting, action-filled missions to challenge GIs of the player's squad. Whee! I love it.

The Purple Heart box is the standard black back-ground for the Ambush! series, with an illustration of a tough GI sergeant, helmet flying and cigarette firmly clenched in teeth, chucking a grenade into the turret of a German tank. inside is a wealth of components: 13 double-sided mission cards, 3 new maps, 60 character/ vehicle cards, 108 counters, and a 32-page mission/paragraph booklet. Warning: the player must own the Ambush! game to play Purple Heart; the basic rules and additional assorted equipment provided in Ambush! are required for play. The maps included in Purple Heart attach to those in Ambush!, for example.

A number of rules expansions are provided in the mission booklet with specifications for three new vehicles and an additional weapon to be used in the missions. Errata for Ambush! are given as well, and a set of hints and reminders make the player's life in WWII easier if followed. The booklet also holds 19 pages of paragraphs which control the actions of the various German soldiers, and the results of assorted actions by the American squad members.

The six missions in the Purple Heart pack are dated, as with both the Ambush! and Move Out! missions, but do not need to be played in chronological order. The six are quite varied, involving a night parachute drop (D-Day, but a good bit different from Mission 4 in Ambush!), a recon mission with jeeps (July '44), a homecoming after a difficult commando raid (August, '44), guard duty at a fuel depot (September, '44), a race to destroy bridges and trap retreating Germans (March, '45), and holding position during the Battle of the Bulge (December, '44).

Numerous surprises are included in the missions Murphy's Law: nothing ever goes the nice, simple way it's supposed to - and there is plenty of action for even the most ardent WWII addict. Special conditions and rules are given for each mission, such as paradropping and prior ammunition expenditure, and these help make the missions even more exciting.

Replayability of missions is higher in Purple Heart than it has been in the previous two sets. There are sufficient different courses available in each of the six missions to allow many playings of the same mission, each with a different outcome. Authenticity in the mission layouts is high, although it is admitted in Ambush! that few soldiers other than Audie Murphy, perhaps, saw a tenth as much heavy action, even in major battles, as the player's squad members do in Ambush! '

If you have Ambush!, Purple Heart is a must for six excellent new missions and great adventures. If you don't have Ambush! and are at all a WWIII fan or a solitaire gamer, get it. Then get Purple Heart (and Move Out!) as well.

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