Uli Blennemann for MIH/CH This title is the second in MIH’s ‘Turning The Tables’ system, its predecessor I made mention of in PA98. In fact this game was originally a Perry Moore DTP that, having been submitted to MIH, was converted to this game system, with some adjustment to the OOB. Having played both games my preference is for this version. The game features a standard sized Joe Youst map, 280 die cut counters and short simple rules. I find the graphics good, but not outstanding, for a professional game company. The campaign covered is the Soviet drive on the Baltic coast in 1944, which threatened to cut off Army Group North, and the resulting German counter attack, Operation Doppelkopf. Full marks for covering an East Front topic that has not been done to death and gives both players the opportunity to be on the offensive. The basic game system is little changed since the initial release. In a nutshell each player gets a number of C3I points per turn. Each player has three segments per turn during each of which he decides how many C3I points he wishes to spend. This is cross-referenced with a die roll to determine how many stacks can move and how many individual combats he can make. The more C3I points spent the higher the amount is likely to be. However, you are unable to calculate exactly how many of your forces will be available for that segment. A bad die roll can result in there being less than expected or required. Having discovered what forces you can use you then decide if you prefer a move then fight sequence of play or to fight first then move after. This, together with the C3I points, results in a game that is full of decision making and will result in you having to make compromises to suit your limited resources. The system deserves much praise in my opinion because it achieves this whilst remaining a very simple game to play. It is the decisions that are complex, not the rules. Most other aspects of the game system are fairly standard with the exception of drawing chits, which act as modifiers during combat. My only reservation is that the full campaign is a very long game. Each of its fourteen turns has a total of six movement and combat segments, three per player. I have too little time and too many other games to invest that much time in a game more than once or twice. Happily there are scenarios for both the Soviet and German offensives. This is where I find the value in this title. This is a very good game that I would highly recommend to anyone with an interest in the WW2 Eastern Front. Back to Perfidious Albion #102 Table of Contents Back to Perfidious Albion List of Issues Back to MagWeb Master Magazine List © Copyright 2001 by Charles and Teresa Vasey. This article appears in MagWeb (Magazine Web) on the Internet World Wide Web. Other military history articles and gaming articles are available at http://www.magweb.com