Yes chums (and I mean that most sincerely) it's a return of that tedious old feature (Ed: surely popular gaming item?) in which I give some unguarded comments on games that will not make it into this issue and cover my face with egg when I come to play them properly - boffo! Eighth Air Force; Lotsa lovely cards jets as well as many bombers, but who didn't read the tiny note on the box saying you needed Down in Flames (fortunately Fairy Godmother Siggins has nicked a copy off a smaller boy for me)? Fateful Lightning; What an interesting game, almost everything Perello does is different from the perceived wisdom (as Richard Berg is known these days). Yet the rule book is of readable proportions. The counters look like Airfix soldiers so high scores on zeitgeist there. I fear we may be into extensive wristage but with regimental level combat that may be unavoidable. At times the XTR striving after innovation looks rather pathetic, but at others one begins to wonder. As an alternative to 3DoGNight (the latest Bergian Mighty Tome) I will be running my mincers over this one. Pancho Villa: Dead or Alive: Look at me Ma, I'm a game-kit! Lord Phil of the Sierra Madre takes the hunt for Pancho Villa and gives lots of map detail. This is not the usual wargame map (only three towns and they were the ones that were captured) its got stuff you will never visit. The game is simple in concept (you have counters for men, weapons and transport) and you march around trying to capture or avoid capture. There are some whacky aircraft, trucks and all manner of bits and bobs. The true driver is the event table in which things happen depending on what you are doing. Driving down the main highway is thus less stressful then march across the badlands, and aircraft units behave differently from mules. A model well worth considering for colonial column warfare. It is hugely enjoyable at first, it may pall after a while but it is ahead of the pack. On To Moscow: Dear me! The map seems to think there were only towns in Russia where Charles XII passed and the whole thing looks pretty deplorable. Some dodgy views on how easy to avoid battles in the Seven Years War (apparently impossible) mean this will be approached with trepidation. Breakout Normandy: Go on then, I knew I would buy it eventually. Excellent components but Greenwood must learn to write rules to be read. He labours to be brief and becomes obscure. I still have a difficulty interesting myself in the American front (I lose but my Brits are so active!). London's Burning: Very interesting. I have only played it as a solitaire and it complements John Butterfield's RAF very well indeed. Back to Perfidious Albion #92 Table of Contents Back to Perfidious Albion List of Issues Back to MagWeb Master Magazine List © Copyright 1996 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