· 1 Blitzkrieg '41
· 2 Sunrise of Victory
· 3 Samurai Sunset
· 4 Lion of Ethiopia
· 5 Hamburger Hill
· 6 Krim: von Manstein in the Crimea
· 7 Kadesh
· 8 Jutland
· 9 Inchon: MacArthur's Gambit
· 10 Alexandros
1 Blitzkrieg '41
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"Null. Not good or bad, but got me to subscribe. Didn't like Proud
Monster either..." RL
"Complexity 5. Solid first effort, fussy supply rules. Sharp counter
graphics for the time. Only played it twice." RF
"Gem, convinced me to subscribe (though not until issue #3)." DW
"Enjoyed the system. Wish some of the supply rules here had been
used in Proud Monster." MP
"Neither a gem or a dud in my book, that is, I wouldn't place it in
either extreme tail of the distribution. But I thought it was good
enough to get me to part with my bucks." JB
"A real Gem. I really enjoy this one and it makes my replay list
from time to time." HSD
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"This one had some problems with the graphics, and XTR published a German "perfect plan" for turn one a couple of issues later.
Dud." RL
"Complexity 5. Was this the one with the pink blobs? Never played
it." RF
"One of my favorites. I liked the strategic choices that you were
given at the start of the game. Good follow-on to Blitz '41." MP
"This was ok; neither a gem nor a dud, but not as much fun (for me) as Blitz 41. I didn't play any of the other first 10. But I did
buy.." JB
"Somehow not as much fun as number one, but still a gem." HSD
3 Samurai Sunset
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"Gem 'cause I like alt.hist. Much better than its only
quasi-soulmate: Op Olympic (SPI). Complex: 4. Plays great also with
counters for TTW varient." DM
"Qualified gem. I've had a lot of fun playing it, but the Allies
usually win. The suicide boats are way too effective, also." JD
"Gem. Olympic, Coronet, hunt down the Emperor, the whole shooting
match. I do remember, however, some victory condition anomaly
concerning occupation of cities. Oh, well..." TS
"Minor gem, marred by ugly map. But I never really could get into
it." RL
"Complexity 4. Terrible map. Fun hypothetical game. Biased towards
Allies in my opinion." RF
"My first Command. A gem. Hard (if not impossible) to win for the
Japanese. There is an error in the VP system, though, which seemingly gave the Japanese VPs the more you bombed their cities. We played with that a few times because we thought the reason was that destroying cities might increase Japanese fanaticism and will to resistance." SO
"Interesting topic, ok mechanics, but a Japanese victory is a near
miracle. Complexity: 5." MS
4 Lion of Ethiopia
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"Gem. Well developed look at the Italian invasion. Nice
chrome. Simple. Complex: 4." DM
"Absolute gem. Add the Tiger of Ethiopia part for some wild alt.
hist fun. I didn't think I could have so much fun with rigid
ZoCs." JD
"Gem. Good beer-n-pretzels game on the invasion of Ethiopia. The mag article was excellent, especially the sidebar on Graziani. Taught me a thing or two." TS
"One of their best efforts. Only thing that bothered me was the
boring Bulge CRT." RL
"Complexity 5. The gem of the the 10. A 'golden age' game with knobs on. My favourite." RF
"Gem, good game on a little known subject - Tiger of Ethiopia alt-hist
variant is good, too" DW
"Lion of Ethiopia. It really put me off that Tyrone lifted the whole
system from AH's Bulge and slammed it into this game. Bulge has
regimental sized units and 12 hour turns. This game has 2 week turns, if memory serves. What in the wide world of sports does a "contact" result mean on a scale like that? There was also something serious missing from the rules--something like reaction ratings or something." DAV
"I enjoyed the game but don't think the Ethiopians can win. In one
game, I exploited my opponent's error and surrounded all the
proto-blitz units in the south. within a couple of turns, Mogadishu
was completely bottled up. All remaing forces headed off to fight the
remaining Italians. Poison gas hit next turn and that was all she
wrote." MP
"Another great game, and of particular interest to me personally,
since my wife is from Ethiopia and her father fought in the war. The
Ethiopians usually lose, but I can recall an Italian defeat (due to
some VERY lucky die rolls)." SO
5 Hamburger Hill
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"Gem for Hamburger Hill. Scary bloody game. Complex: 5. Dud
for the 2nd game whose name escapes me for the moment about
invading NVN to rescue POWs. Clumsy mechanics. Complex:2" DM
"Partial gem. Slugfests can be fun and this game handles the situation fairly well, but we found replay value to be limited. I didn't like allowing the NVA player to look to see how much US fire support was left -- the results were too gamey." JD
"Gem. Watch the movie of the same name when playing and you'll get a feel why most of the guys in the movie die. Take the hill(s),
lose 50% of your force. Never played Operation Solstice." TS
"Couldn't play HH solitaire, Op solace was a fun little game." RL
"Complexity 4. Yuk. Hated this and Op. Solace - Ramboesque
rubbish." RF
"'Didn't play HH, but did play the other game in this issue, Operation
Solace which I liked even though it was kind of silly." DW
"Pretty good. I like the topic though." HSD
"Haven't played HH, but I did play Operation Solace, the companion
game once. As far as I recall it was fun, but I can't remember too
many details." SO
6 Krim: von Manstein in the Crimea
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"Partial gem. Played it a couple of times but lost interest." JD
"Pretty good. Minor gem." RL
"Complexity 5. Did not gel for me. Moved the counters a few times,
but disappointing - MBEF I' afraid." RF
"Pretty good game. Sweep across the Crimea and hammer at Sevastopol before the Soviets can mount a counter-attack." MP
7 Kadesh
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"Gem. Some of the rules were a little funky (column and leader
movement) and the surprise at the camps was also messy, but a fun
game. Great counters -- I wish XTR would strive to maintain that
standard in artwork." JD
"Gem. I loved such an obscure topic complete with Canaanites! It did have limited replay value." TS
"The rules were somewhat confusing in places (especially the rules
for camp overrun), but also the Eygptian missle capabilites was much
better that the Hittes edge in melee. I'd like to see this as a GBOH
game to compare." RL
"Complexity 6. Second to LoE in my affections. Great counters only
spoilt by the fact that my eyesight will fail me one day. Reminds of
the Command babes as well." RF
"Gem, I'm playing this with my wife right now." DW
"Played it once. Seems like a walkover for the Hittites." MP
"Beautiful counters and a very good game. Not on the quick replay
list though, still it comes back out from time to time." HSD
"The counters knocked me out! But, I never could figure out how to
play the game. As the Hittites my army just sort of oozed towards
the Egyptians in a very weird manner. Never got past that." DF
"Fun game, but longish. The command system worked ok, with some weird effects, such as divisions forming pseudopods to continue moving while their leader is bolted to the spot. Nice to look at, but I agree the colored shields should be larger - some squinting is needed to distinguish turquoise from green units. Complexity 6." MS
8 Jutland
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"Gem. IMHO one of their best ever games. Ben Knight design.
Excellent mechanics given its level of abstraction. Eminently playable. Complex.2" DM
"Didn't play it, and probably won't as long as I continue to own
AH's classic." JD
"I say gem. Components are nice (although the dark print on the
counters gets hard to read under some lighting), rules are short and
easy to learn, didn't notice any holes in the rules, game finishes in
a sitting. Nice & clean.
I've said it before but I'll say it again: this game didn't curl
my toes, because I'm used to doing this battle with a tabletop covered
in miniatures. This game just made me want to go play miniatures.
*BUT*, I could see that it is probably a perfect game for anyone who
is not a miniatures nut like me, but who is interested in naval gaming
in general or who just wants a quick fun game on the subject.
The other downer is that it seemed to quickly degenerate into a
contest to see who could roll the most sixes the fastest, but I
suspect that was a function of how we were playing it. I'd never heard anyone else make that observation of this game, so it could very well be something we were doing wrong. Overall: highly recommended." DF
"It was a lot of fun with all that die rolling, but didn't have much
replay value except as a solitaire exercise. Still, a neat little
game." WS
"Complexity 4. Hated it. Cutting up things." RF
"The system is not bad but I found the torpedo carrying small boys
way too powerful. Also, there is nothing to prevent the Germans from
running away from the Grand Fleet." MP
"Gem. I beg to differ with Terry Rooker here (or perhaps I'm just
shallow) - while the system abstracts many variables, it manages to
integrate the rest into an excellent, quick playing whole. The flaw
that the German main fleet can just run away after knocking off the
British BCs is easily fixed. A triumph of design for effect, this is
in my all time top ten in terms of realism per rule page.
Complexity: 2." MS
9 Inchon: MacArthur's Gambit
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"Partial gem. Play could be stereotyped. We found it hard to win
as the North Koreans." JD
"Gem. Even if the NKPA had limited offensive capability and few
options." TS
"I liked this quite a bit, short, well focused, easily understood. A
fine example of the early XTR paradim." RL
"Complexity 5. Enjoyed this. Number 4." RF
"Complexity 4. Have this, played it solo a couple of times. It looks
like there is a good game in there, but not for solitaire. Easy to
learn, too." DGH
"Great game!!!" MP
"Good, but I've enjoyed other titles on this conflict more." HSD
10 Alexandros
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"Dud. Without the errata the Persian can just run and never fight
until they build the countermix. With the errata, it's better, but
the melee CRT is weird, (the persians want their troops to rout as
Alex doesn't have enough troops for a good pursuit force)." RL
"Compexity 3-4. Wanted to love it, really felt let down by the
battleboard. Seems stacked against Alex, if he goes into battle. Just
did not capture the flavour of the campaigns." RF
"Don't like area games. It bored me." MP
"Really wanted to like it but after about two turns I realized the
Persian, if played right, couldn't lose. Just avoid fighting the
concentrated Macedonians and occupy every other area on the map. If you avoided that strategy I suppose it was ok." DF
"This was the third Command I bought. I think it was the first Command game with massive errata. We now use a completely different system for combat (thanks to Charles Vasey) and only play the Diadochi variant any more because the strategic situation is more interesting, and we are still tweaking it, but it's lots of fun. Strangely, the graphic appeal of its map was never quite equalled for me by any of the many siblings and descendants of this game (Spartacus, Bellum
Gallicum, Belisaire). Despite the flaws still a gem, kind of a Medwar affair en miniature. Somebody whack Mike Markowitz over the head and get him to do Byzantium. Complexity 5." MS
