Some years ago, I acquired about 50 primitive-looking 54mm figures, each attired in a loin cloth and each armed with either a rock or a club. It was obvious that the little guys that were carrying clubs were ‘one up’ on the rock toters, and so, on a Friday night, I presented a game to some 6 people, using the most basic procedures I could think of. One of the gamers was Patrick, an 11 year old, and after the game, I asked Pat to evaluate the game on a scale of 1 to 10, where 10 was defined as metaphysical perfection. After some intensive deliberation, Pat decided the game was worth a measly 6 points… I had fallen far short of perfection. I didn’t dare ask any of the adults around the table for an evaluation. I divided the table top into a mosaic of gridded areas, each around 6 inches by 6 inches. Each area had a stacking limit… the maximum number of men it could hold was 5 figures. There was one special area for each side, however, termed the base camp, which could hold 10 men. The reason for this special area was to provide a region within which reinforcements could arrive. The various procedures in the sequence contained phases for movement, for combat, and for a couple of slightly off-beat procedures: a. First, as the men moved through the areas on the table, there was a chance they’d encounter a dinosaur or two. b. Then, we had a phase in which the two sides could build monuments. Monuments provided Victory Points (VP). A monument could be constructed of several sections, and each section provided a single VP to the side that built it. But a captured monument had a value proportional to the square of the number of sections of which it was constructed. Thus if your side built a monument of 3 sections, it provided you with 3 VP, but if the enemy captured it, it would provide them with “3 squared” or 9 VP. c. Next, a phase in which it was possible for a shaman to appear. Shamans were good in combat, usually pulverizing the opposition. d. And we also had a phase during which reinforcements could appear. Each side started with around 10 men, and to keep the game going, the chance that a reinforcement would pop up was proportional to the number of monuments built by a side. Combat was fought according to the old, old SWORD AND FLAME technique. The men on a side were lined up, and the first 2 were paired off. Each tossed a 10-sided die, and the higher man kept on fighting, while the man with the lesser die roll, stepped back and would no longer participate. A man with a club added +2 to the die roll, while a rock bearer added only +1. And shamans, of course, added +3. If a dinosaur was encountered, I had graded each monster with its own combat factor. Now, how simple can you get? The rules gave rise to three basic themes. First, you had to band your men together to get the maximum number of men in combat. Second, you had to erect monuments to gather victory points. And third, you had to try to capture enemy monuments to get the advantage of the “square law”. No charts, no weapon combat listings, no morale tests. But alas!, I could score only a “6” in the eyes of our youngest gamer. Where have I gone wrong? Back to PW Review May 2000 Table of Contents Back to PW Review List of Issues Back to MagWeb Master Magazine List © Copyright 2000 Wally Simon 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