S&T #150 Salerno
S&T #151 Vittoria/Friedland
S&T #152 Case Green
S&T #153 Felix/Zama
S&T #154 Russo-Turkish War
S&T #155 Anzio
S&T #156 White Eagle Eastward
S&T #157 Roman Civil War
S&T #158 Red Sun/Red Star
S&T #159 Zeppelin
S&T #150 Salerno
----------------
"I gave up on the MedWar system due to considering "Sicily" a
dud." PEM
"Didn't like any of the games in this system." MP
"Dud - 2nd in Schletter series. I liked his concept about combat
resolution. I was amazed at the amount of errata as the series went
on." DM
"Rules still awful, but again, with the Anzio rules, I liked it a lot.
I wonder a bit about several of the posters who referred to the
Sicily game as a reason for this and Anzio being a dud, when they did
not actually play them (or even Sicily with the newer rules). It's
not customary to judge series rules by older versions. No one who asks about The Gamers' TCS is told it's near unplayable because it tracks individual artillery shells, and the same should hold here. Which is not an apologia for the awful development job, but note that the end product can be retrofitted easily." MS
S&T #151 Vittoria/Friedland
---------------------------
"Dud. Although the Friedland system was cleaned up well enough for
the Empires at war quad." RL
"Vittoria/Friedland: I liked Vittoria, not much but it was OK. Never
played Friedland." PEM
"Didn't play Friedland. I thought Vittoria was fairly entertaining and
relatively simple (I was looking for a simple Nap. game, so that was a
plus for me). However, it seemed to lack a Napoleonic "feel". Make a few
changes and you could turn it into a game on just about any war from
ancient times to the 20th century." RF
"Okay as far as such things go." WS
"I don't have much to add to the comments made earlier EXCEPT I
loved Friedland!" DF
"I've played Vittoria, which is totally bland and uninteresting. Is this
what 1970's SPI games felt like? Could just as well have been WW2. Dud.
Friedland looks VERY interesting, but so far I've only read the rules
as it appears this will be more fun ftf than solitaire. Horribly
intertwined rulebooks and tables for the two games." MS
S&T #152 Case Green
--------------------
"A little bagatelle of a game, reminiscent of early AH offerings.
I'm surprised it's on anyone's "best" list." DAV
"Best of the 'Decision' S&T's." WS
"Dusty gem. I found it way to hard to break thru the check forts,
but it's a intresting design. Just comparing this to XTR's Czech
'38 game can give a better view of the two magazines styles that
anthing else." RL
"Neither a gem nor a dud in my opinion, but certainly a decent
game that offered some fun. In terms of play, I agree with the
other poster who noted the attritional first few turns, followed
by the butt-kicking last few turns. Overall, I thought this was
a pretty clean design with few to very few rules glitches. Counters
looked decent, map looked decent as I recall. Could the Czechs
really have held off the Wehrmacht in 1938? I don't know what the
game can actually teach us, but as a game I have this one in the top
half of the distribution." JB
"Case Green: Very bad game. But then it might be my bias against
alternate History." PEM
"Liked it. Liked Czech 38 (XTR) too. Nice contrast on two approaches
to the same conflict." MP
"OK - Invasion of Czechslovakia. Interestingly, this came out right
around the XTR game on the same subject. I prefered the latter for
playability reasons, but Case Green wasn't a bad game; Germans usually
got stuck in the mountains for a few turns, then broke onto the plains.
The game turned around when this would happen." DM
"Liked Zama. Easy to play ancients with some interesting command
rules (but then, I like the Prestags, too). Haven't played Felix
yet." MP
"OK/ Dud. Invade Gib and beat Hannibal all in one issue. I was
underwhelmed by both, though Felix was odd enough to intrigue me for awhile." DM
"Didn't play Felix. Zama was fun, and a decent enough simulation if you use the Advanced Game Rules. It seemed to give something close to the historical results. The hex grid, IMHO, is going the wrong way. Instead of directly facing each other, the units are turned at an angle, like some ancient chorus line (I changed the rules slightly, and had the counters face a vertex, instead of a side). Maybe not quite a gem, but I
liked it, and would be willing to buy other games using the same
system." RF
"Okay for both but little replay value. Felix needs San Marco
Marines (random comment by an Italophile..)" WS
S&T #154 Russo-Turkish War
--------------------------
"Gem. At first I really hated this, but I've grown more found of
it over time." RL
"Russo-Turkish War: Good game, I like the system. The best in the
series, in my opinion." PEM
"Gem. Another in Miranda's Wars of the Imperial Age series. A
hoot." DM
"Excellent sequel to Franco-Prussian War. Like the Prussians, the
Russians start in the offensive, but combat is less predictable due
to different chits and keeping supply and retreat routes open is
a chore. Really fun." MS
S&T #155 Anzio
--------------
"I _REALLY_ got annoyed getting this series by then... Dud." RL
"Anzio: See coments on 'Salerno' [#150]." PEM
"Dud - 3rd in series." DM
S&T #156 White Eagle Eastward
------------------------------
"Worst of the 'Decision' S&T's." WS
"I had eagerly been awaiting this one for awhile as a replacement
for Red Star / White Eagle. Another dud." RL
"There's some variability of opinion in some or most of the games.
But we're all of a mind on this one: It's a dud. At least one other
poster mentioned the explicit comparison to Red Star/White Eagle that
was in his mind when this game was punched and played. Certainly,
that was true for me too. On almost every dimension, and for me,
especially on the highly subjective "color" and "feel" dimensions,
RS/WE is so, so far superior to WEE that there is just no comparison.
That might not be completely fair to WEE, or to any other game either
I guess. That is, it might not be fair to evaluate a game in the
context of some older, and perhaps classic title. But whaddya gonna
do: RS/WE is prime rib, WEE is not even a McBurger." JB
"White Eagle Eastward: Complete dud. A game where supply is a major
consideration, represented by counters, and the chart for arrival of
these counters was absent in the original version. Bad even after
errata." PEM
"Liked it. The game had an interesting flow that captured the real
campaign." MP
"Dud - Man, I wanted to like this game. But it was underdeveloped
with some key errata." DM
"Very disapointing; it could have been a good game." WS
S&T #157 Roman Civil War
------------------------
"Good game. Not my favorite system, but kinda interesting." PEM
"Gem - I actually prefered this to Trajan as a more interesting
"game."" DM
"Didn't get the hang of the system." WS
"Great sequel to Trajan, with a quite different feeling since both
sides use Roman troops. Only so-so with the original map that cuts off
Spain - we always play with the western map from Caesar in Gallia. The
only flaw is that the political rules seem to be a bit weak." MS
S&T #158 Red Sun/Red Star
-------------------------
"A rather overwrought combat system. There may be a game in here.
I never played it, though I've been meaning to.." RL
"There's a good game there somewhere, but I've got that feeling
something important was lacking. No dud, no gem." PEM
"I was a playtester on this game (though DG didn't see fit to
mention that). The game that came out in the magazine made small
but critical changes that really screwed up the game. Where some
designs are underdeveloped, this game suffered in development." MP
"Dud - Soviets go through Japanese like a warm knife through
butter." DM
S&T #159 Zeppelin
------------------
"Worst of the 'Decision S&T's. I can only pick one from the well
stocked kennel? How about #159 Zeppelin, with dishonorable mentions
for Schettler's Italian campaign series and the Atlanta campaign
'quad'." DEN
"Incredible dud. I couldn't even figure out the sequence of play.
I really wanted to like this one to. Oh well. 'Luftschiffe' is
better." RL
"Dud. A complete one." PEM
"Dud - I'll go out on a limb here and say this was adequate as a game
design "kit". I was/am very interested in this subject; didn't know the
Luftschiff game was out there (the definitive Zep game). So I reworked
this game entirely a ka a FGA game (spent an enjoyable summer on the
project). Hated the cheap neon counters though. Then, got
Luftschiff." DM
"Wanted to like it...just to many holes and too much die rolling.
My wrist still hurts." WS
