Apocalypse

Designer: Mike Hayes; publisher: Games Workshop (11 Dalling Road, London, England, W60JD). This game is little more than a Risk variant, featuring nukes and a map of Europe and North Africa. Four players are possible, and sides are chosen by a random drawing of cities. Blank, colored counters are used for armies, which function similar to Risk in movement; combat is also similar, with adjustments for terrain (city, urban, rural, mountains, wastelands, and sea). A player successful in combat is awarded nuclear missiles, which can be built up into stacks (each missile adding one area of range) and fired against other areas. An exploding missile devastates its target area and all surrounding areas and destroys all armies there. The player with the most armies left at the end of the game is the winner. Some of the rules are a bit unclear, but the game is so simple they can easily be inferred. More annoying is the inane way extra armies are obtained. For example, a player receives an extra army if he holds two urban areas and an extra army if he holds three rural areas. However, if the player holds one urban and two rural areas, he receives no extra armies. Overall, any player who enjoys Risk should enjoy this game as well. One mounted map, 700 counters, rules, some plastic missile pieces, a die, boxed $??

Stalin's Tanks

Designed by Roger Damon; published by Metagaming (PO Box 15346, Austin, TX 78761). This rather small mini-game is on armored warfare between Germany and the Soviet Union in World War II. While it is short and quick, the game system does not ignore its subject like so many other games of similar size. Units are rated in terms of anti-personnel fire, anti-tank fire, and armor class. The play sequence is movement, stationary fire (units which did not move may fire), defensive fire (non-phasing units may fire), mobile fire (units which moved may fire), and second movement (phasing units may move again). The game is compatible with Rommel's Panzers, an earlier release by the same designer and publisher. One small map, 126 counters, rules, boxed $3.95

Air Cobra

Designed by Tony Merridy with Dave Collins and Tom Walczyk; published by Operational Studies Group (1261 Broadway, New York, NY 10001). This is a tactical game (100 meters per hex, 10 meter contours, 60 second turns) on the effects of helicopters and airmobility on modern combat, NATO vs the USSR. Units are scaled at infantry squads and individual vehicles and helicopters. In order to do a game on this subject, the game system must be applicable to modern combat in general. Air Cobra accomplishes this, and it can be played without helicopters with little or no feeling that something is missing from the game. All that one would expect to be in a game on modern combat can be found here. Of particular interest is the command system. Normally, a headquarters must be in command (visual or radio) to have its units operate effectively; however, a headquarters that would be out of command has a chance of operating under its own initiative (based on nationality, of course) - a rather nice solution to a perennial problem in this area of game mechanics. 2 maps, 800 counters, 4 booklets (rules, data, scenarios, study), boxed $??

Devil's Den

Designed by Leonard Millman and Dr. David Martin; published by OSG. This is a battalion level game covering the fighting in, on, and around Devil's Den and Little Round Top during the battle of Gettysburg. It is a tactical game, at 30 yards per hex, 20 foot contour levels, and 8 minutes per turn. Units are mostly in battalions and are commanded by officers. An officer runs the units of his regiment via command points, which are spent to allow units to move, fight, change formation, and the like. As is now almost universal with this level of Civil War games, facing, formations, and morale are major play considerations. One map, 400 counters, a rules booklet, a study folder, boxed $??

Assault on Tobruk

Design: Stephen M. Newberg; publisher: Simulations Canada (PO Box 221, Elmsdale, Nova Scotia, Canada BON IMO). Rommel's successful attempt to capture Tobruk (20 June 1942) is potrayed in this company level game, at 650 meters per hex. While breaking no new ground in game mechanics innovations, this game does join the ranks of those which no longer use a "ta ke-on-a I I -comers" attack factor. Instead, units have anti-tank and antiinfantry ratings. The game is simple and fastplaying, with various rules hampering the less-experienced British units ability to move and form combined arms teams. One map, 255 counters, rules, boxed . . $11.99

The Battle of Austerlitz

Designed by David James Ritchie; published by Simulations Publications, Inc. (257 Park Ave South, New York, NY 10010). This seems to be a remake of SPI's old Austerlitz game, utilizing the advances in the game system together with some new ideas and graphics. The basics of the game come from the venerable Napoleon at Waterloo system, with 600 yards per hex, one strength point equal to 500 men or 5 guns, and two hex range artillery units; the essential move-fight sequence has a rally phase added, which allows units to recover from disruption.

The system goes beyond the essentials with corps integrity, fog, step losses, and backprinted disruption states for units. The movement and combat effects of terrain differ for infantry, cavalry, dragoons, and artillery, thus making unit differentiation an important consideration. All in all, there is a lot here for a mini-game. One map (43 by 28 cm), 100 counters, one die, boxed $5.95

Across Suez

Designed by Mark Herman "with Jim Dunnigan"; from SPI. When compared to its co-release, The Battle of Austerlitz, this mini-game seems rather empty. The majority of counters in the game are blank (there are 23 Israeli counters, 22 Egyptian counters, one game turn marker; the remaining 54 counters are not needed); none are backprinted. Ostensibly on the Battle of Chinese Farm in the 1973 Arab-Israeli War, the game seems to be an exercise in finding the minimum necessary components, map, and rules needed for a wargame - mention of even map and time scales or unit sizes is omitted. The game's strong points are ease of set-up and rapidity of play. One map, 100 counters, rules, one die, boxed $5.95

One Page Bulge

Designed by Steve Jackson; published by Steve Jackson Games (PO Box 18957, Austin, TX 78760). This is a mini-game remarkably similar in format to those of another Austin business (Metagaming). This one is on the Battle of the Bulge, and its odd title reflects the designer's accomplishment of fitting all the rules on a single 8 1/2 by 11 inch sheet of paper. While I do not feel this is a significant event for wargaming, I must note that the rules to Apocalypse (reviewed above) also meet this requirement - is this the onset of a new trend in the hobby? 1 Page Bulge does illustrate the diversity of minigames: whereas SPI's Bulge portrayed the battle using few units, no stacking, and locking ZOCs, this game achieves the same end through many units (all of the counters are used), four-deep stacking, and no ZOCs. On the minus side for the game, there are no unit identifications (neatly sidestepping any questions of research), and the counters are not die-cut but must be cut out by the owner. One 16 x 13 inch map, one 8% x 11 inch sheet of rules, 112 counters (not die-cut), bagged $3.25