S&T #160 MedWar
S&T #161 Successors
S&T #162 Clontarf/Saipan
S&T #163 Seven Years War
S&T #164 Balkan Wars
S&T #165 Caesar in Gallia
S&T #166 Olustee/Savage Station
S&T #167 Austro-Prussian War
S&T #168 Operation Shock Troop
S&T #169 Peachtree Creek/Jonesboro
S&T #160 MedWar
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"I have all of these, but 161 was the *only* S&T issue game I have played since the early 1980's. The reasons are simple: the rules to Successors were short (4 pages I think, badly edited but quick and easy to digest), the game was easy to play, a complete run-through of the game only took two or three hours, and it was multi-player. All of those factors added
together made it a suitable choice for my game group, whereas the
"typical" magazine game (2-player, longer than 4 hours to play, lots o'
pages of rules) tended to be unsuitable for the group, regardless of how
interesting the subject matter might be.
I have the suggested mods from an article in Moves, but have never used.
A few holes in the Successors rules as written, but it's playable (and
fun!) with a little common sense." DLF
"Didn't like the system." MP
"Dud. The final game in the benighted Sicily- Anzio-Medwar series by
Schletter (sp). An attempt to add air/naval rules. Unique for being
unplayable w/out one of the other games in the series. A mess. Nice
counter and map. Complete with the third ideration of series
rules." DM
S&T #161 Successors
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"Not a big fan of area move games." MP
"Gem. I liked this game as a game: area move, quick play, some decent
chrome... I didn't like Kirk Schlesinger's "fix" to complicate up the
game in a later S&T." DM
S&T #162 Clontarf/Saipan
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"Clontarf was a fun little game. Saipan doesn't excite me. (like Red
Beach One)." MP
"Clontarf was semi decent. Saipan boring as a design. Herd the Japanese defenders into a corner of the island before time runs out. Frankly, a problem with all Pac invasion games. If the invaders are not thrown off the beach; your only hope is to play to run out time." DM
"I've played Clontarf a couple of times. Extremely simple. Don't
understand why there are supposed to be 24 turns in the game - it's a
bloody game where 1:1 attacks have a 33% chance of eliminating a step
(and the attacker cannot suffer any adverse result from attacking).
So with a bazillion 1:1 attacks per turn, there's a lot of blood after
8-10 turns and there's not many fresh combat units left.
It's refreshing to see a game on a topic that's truly unique. Overall,
I'd give it a thumbs up.
I'm currently trying to play with Saipan. Even though I play most games
solitaire, why is it that I rarely enjoy "solitaire"-designed games. I'll
give it a fair shake anyway." DC
"Haven't played Clontarf, but may yet do so. Saipan is an adaptation
of the Red Beach One system, but doesn't seem to work - far easier
to win big, and by the time the northern half of the island is reached,
the Japanese are reduced to wimp status, unlike the historical
campaign." MS
S&T #163 Seven Years War
------------------------
"Gem. Miranda's take on this conflict, and I enjoy his well-thought out
designs." DM
"I considered this one of Miranda's lesser efforts. Not very
impressive." MS
S&T #164 Balkan Wars
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"Gem. I prefered the first war scenario against the Turks to the
free-for-all of the second. Interesting to compare terrain, etc. to the
Russo Turk War. I've always been intrigued by these conflicts as
precursors to WW1 ever since coming across incredibley detailed
information in an Encyclopedia Brittanica of 1929..." DM
"Excellent in terms of feel and system, but the first scenario is
definitely unbalanced. Less sure about the second one. A revised
CRT was published in MOVES some time later that made charges/assaults
a more dangerous proposition and possibly redressed the balance, but
I haven't tried it yet. Notable in that the diplomacy rules can lead
to a sudden armistice as early as the first turn (and thus to an
immediate draw if it happens that early). This really annoyed some
people, I found it hilarious. Game note: if you don't want the Great
Powers to intervene to stop the fighting, don't ask them to do it.
Otherwise you might get what you asked for." MS
S&T #165 Caesar in Gallia
--------------------------
Best of the Decision S&T's. I liked the system, and these 4 games are
among the few S&T's to survive my recent wargame purge. Yeah, it had
lots of problems, but I was entertained." DEN
"Gem. Third in the Miranda series. Reread Caesar's book and followed
along solitaire in my initial intro to the game. Fun." DM
"Fun game, third in the Ancient Wars series. We did have a bit of a
problem with pit in that unlike the historical sweeping campaigns,
advances in our game always seemed to bog down in central Gaul.
Could have been our style of play, or possibly the effects of tribal
pacification are a bit weak. In any case, the map is very useful as
an extension for Roman Civil War." MS
S&T #166 Olustee/Savage Station
-------------------------------
"Blue & Gray system. Savage Station goes with Seven Days Battle.
Neither worked well. Savage Station a walk over for the Confederates.
Olustee was too small." MP
S&T #167 Austro-Prussian War
----------------------------
"Gem. I've played this literally dozens of times. Part of the Wars of
Imperial Age family. Interestingly, we'd somehow always end up with a
climactic Konnigratz-like battle. (sp)." DM
"Good series. The campaign scenario is a bit problematic in that
the Prussians can launch some of their offensives weeks before
the historical date. The decisive battle is going to happen
farther south since the Prussian will usually be able to advance
past Koeniggraetz before the Austrians arrive. Otherwise, OK
conclusion to a great series." MS
S&T #168 Operation Shock Troop
------------------------------
"Nice system, good diferentation twixt Israeli and Syrian, graphically
good. Gem. Another good from VvB, who manages to get good flavor from
simple systems." SG [ed. note - game is by Perry Moore, not V. Borries)
"Gem. A Perry Moore design. A great challenge for the Is player: run
for Damascus (but get too close and set off WW3.) Related to his Badur
(sp) design, according to him." DM
S&T #169 Peachtree Creek/Jonesboro
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"Blue & Gray system. They just didn't work well." MP
"Dud. Part of the campaigns around Atlanta series. Too simplistic
for me." DM
