Title: Legions of Steel
Company: Global Games Company
Category: RPG System
Reviewer: Brian Peters

You are almost out of grenades and you can hear the machines coming up the corridors behind you. The sarge is dead as well as half the unit. The objective is just behind the door but no one has seen the Mark 1. Where is he?!

Knowing that you have no other choice, you have Blackburn, you only remaining heavy weapons trooper lead the way through the door. [Editor's note: kissing up to the editor by making appear heroic, is no guarantee of getting your review published. But it helps! - JRB] There is a screen of Nachtmachers behind the door, and Blackburn starts spraying plasma as he disappears into the darkness! You move through quickly and are stunned when you step out of the darkness. The academy pep talks could never have prepared you for this. It's the Mark 1 Assault fiend. He was waiting beyond the veil of blackness and now Blackburn, obviously dead, is impaled on his power trident. The metal beast turns toward you and you rattle off as many shots as you can on auto fire while running towards the next exit. One hits the creature but doesn't slow it in its pursuit. How can anything that big move so fast?!

You know it's over as you look back and see that your other troops were unable to follow through the blackness of nachtmacker grenades. You turn to face the Mark 1 and seconds later, the blast from his flame thrower envelopes you. The pain only lasts a second...

This is what awaits you in Legions of Steel, a board miniatures game that pits the UNE commandos (Shock Troops of the United Nations of Earth) against the Legions of Steel; robots created by evil invaders bent on spreading their evil empire through the entire solar system.

The game comes with a changeable map board and nineteen great metal miniatures (Over 1 lb. as the box boasts) including a miniature of the Mark 1 Assault fiend which is just dam scary to look at let alone fight against. The rules are well laid out and easy to follow, and there is a good story line about what is going on in the game. The rule book offers 8 preset scenario situations including a different map configuration for each game and story lines for each.

Over the course of the last month we have played the game extensively, (much to our enjoyment) and have found the following about the rules of the game. My friend, Dave, who happens to be a police officer, was amazed at how simple and realistic the rules on cover fire and suppression of fire were. He kept commenting on how he could use actual things he had learned in training in the game to protect his men. Unfortunately for Dave, it was to no avail. The dice turned against him and all the great tactics in the world couldn't prevent eventual disaster. Needless to say, although we found the rules to be simple, they were very effective. Since the game is basically a man versus machine battle, leadership rules come into play and the person playing the UNE commandos can use this distinctly human advantage to even the odds in a game where he is often outnumbered.

Legions of steel is easy to set up, fun to play and very diverse. The only complaint we had was that it is best suited for play by two people, but the folks at Global Games have promised us that by Christmas advanced rules, allowing for more players, will be on the market. By the way, if miniatures are your thing, Global Games is releasing miniature packs of both the UNE commandos and the Legions of Steel, and like we said earlier, no miniature collection could be complete without at least one Mark 1 Assault fiend in it.

More Reviews

Adventure Writer ™ For Windows
Minion Nation
Over the Edge
Twilight: 2000/Merc: 2000 Referee's Screen
Taslantia Product Line
Mythus Gamemaster's Screen
Astrogator's Guide to the Diaspora Sector
Legions of Steel
Bonin Horse
Darkurthe LEGENDS
Traveller: The New Era
The Complete Book of Humanoids
POD: Board Game
Black Death
Vampire: The Masquerade second edition
Dark Champions