The General Magazine Vol14-i2

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The A Y A L O I H I L L

Ine [ lame rlayers magazine

The Avalon Hil l GENERAL is dedicated to the presenta-

tion of authoritative articles on the strategy, tactics, and

variation of Avalon Hill games of strategy. Historical articles

are included on ly insomuch as they provide useful back.

ground information on current Avalon Hi ll titles. THE

GENERAL is published y the Avalon Hill Company solely

for the cultural edification of the seriousgame aficionado, in

the hopes of improving the game owner's proficiency of play

and providing services not otherwise available to the Avalon

Hill game buff.

Publ~cations bimon thl y with mailings madeclose to

the end of February. April, June, August, October, and

December. All editorial and general mail should besen t to

the Avalon Hill Game Company. 4517 Harford Rd..

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EDITOR: Oonal

GRAPHICS: n.llllnull I

Moores, Steve Oliff, Charles

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an. D. Burdick, S. Carus, R. Chiang, J. Connolly. J. Davis.

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Hilton. J. Jarvinen. R. Livermore. R. Medrow.

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Oleson. G. Phi llies. L. Pinsky, R. Plock. J. Pournel le. R.

Reed. M. Saha, 0.Turnbull, M. Uhl, C. Vasey, L.Zocchi.

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THEGENERA

I

I

Avalon Hill Philoso~hvPart 6

VAUDEVILLE REVISITED

At the risk of sounding like a 2nd rate

burlesque comic, this time around we've got

both good news and bad news. The good news is

that you can stop worrying-we didn't forget to

insert your VICTORY IN THE PACIFIC mapsheet

and counters i n his issue. The bad news is that

there isn't any insert I'm afraid we've reneged

on our pledge of 4 months ago to bring you

VICTORY IN THE PACIFIC as a WAR AT SEA

game variant in the Ju ly issue. After con-

siderable thought and much work, we decided

the best course was to issue VICTORY IN THE

PACIFIC

as it s own separate game. This decision

came about because VITP became far more than

a game variant-it required a 22" x 28" map,

several hundred two-sided counters, and a

game system which evolved into something only

faintly resembling WAS. This hardly left it in the

"variant" classification. We are determined not

to add to the game glut with a game in every

issue and therefore steered away from inferior

production of wha t is, for all intents &purposes,

a brand new game. The

GENERAL S

primary

purpose is to analyze games-not publish them.

And besides, VITP turned out to be too damn

good to use in a magazine formatwh ere i two uld

have suffered from inferior paper maps and

counters. The game itself has evolved into such

a sophisticated and fine-tuned effort that it is

almost difficult to remember that it sprang from

WAS. The basicsimplicity and playabilty of W A S

remains, but

VITP

is a far better simulation-

albeit a longer one.

VITP

isadvertized elsewhere

in his issue and once you've given it a try, you'll

be glad we hit you up for $9.00ra therthan afre e

paper variant that wo uld have been ravaged in a

couple of plays. If the reception the game

received at ORIGINS 77 is any indication, you'll

be playing this one many times.

So much for the perhaps bad news. The real

good news is that from now on you can expect

the GENERAL to arrive in four color splendor

wi th separate inserts for the previous tear away

departments such as counters, RBG, Opponents

Wanted and contest forms. No more defacing

your magazine to take advantage of any

magazine feature. Wi th this change, we become

a true 3 6 pp. magazine at last, and end our most

consistent complaint from you . . . the reader-

ship. It just goes to show-if you complain long

enough, eventually you'll get action.

ORIGINS

77

ORIGINS Il l in NYC was another in the series

of outstanding milestone successes for the

hobby. The con drew 2,200 to the Big Apple to

enjoy yet another well run national showpiece

for the wargaming fraternity. Over 50 tour-

naments and seminars as well as 30 exhibitors

were on hand to entertain the hobby faithful.

The Charles Roberts Awards were once again

decided by convention attendees' votes and saw

Avalon Hill walk off wit h two of the five

honors in he form of Tom Shaw's election to the

Hall of Fame where he joins Don Turnbull and

James Dunnigan as inductees. THE RUSSIAN

CAMPAIGN

was Best Strategic Game of the

Year to round out the AH awards. S.P.I. likewise

took home two Charlies for Best Tactical Game

(TERRIBLE SWIFT SWORD) and Best Magazine

(S

& T)forthe thirdstraigh t year. GDW broke in

the winner's circle with a Charlie for Be

Graphics

(AVALANCHE).

The Awards Ceremo

was followed by a spirited auction which sa

Richard Berg extracting heretofore unse

sums for used games-both collectors' item

and stil l availablegames. Among the bids: $9.

for a used KINGMAKER, $6.00 for AFRIK

KORPS, $15.00 for a n autographed copy of t

original Charles Roberts TACTICS rules, a

$60.00 for the inevitable prized copy

TRAFALGAR.

The Avalon Hill booth did a boomi

business-beating our ORIGINS II sales by

considerable margin. VICTORY IN THE PACIF

got off to a sl ow start due to the lack of pre-c

publicity, but sales picked up briskly on Saturd

and Sunday after gamers spotted the easy

learn game in play all over the student unio

But the real surprise of the convention for

was the acceptance of

RAIL

BARON-alia

BOXCARS. A few were sold Friday and play

that evening. Word spread fast and by Sund

we had sold out of a non-wargame at a wargam

convention Believe us, if you'rea t all inclined

take our advertising seriously, give

RAIL BARO

a try. We heard nary a discouraging word re: th

title and doubtless sold more of it than th

majority of the exhibitors sold of their respecti

wargames. SQUAD LEADER led our sal

parade, followed by

GETTYSBURG, VITP, RA

BARON, CAESAR-ALESIA, SPEED CIRCU

ARAB ISRAELI WARS, THE RUSSIAN CA

PAIGN,

and

KINGMA KER. ASSAULT ON CRE

was highly sought after, but wasn't ready a

wil l not be released until the fall when it wi ll o

SQUA D LEADER

i n he MAILORDER ONLY lin

Detailed information on the new releases

available elsewhere in this issue.

ORIGINS itself also took several gian tstrid

toward growing up when the 9 largest exhibito

agreed to unite to incorporate the ORIGIN

name, and form a steering committee to deci

the site of future cons. Detroit won the bid f

ORIGINS IV i n a close vote over a Chica

company. The actual host for ORIGINS 78 wil l

the Detroit Metro Gamers' Association who w

be bonded to the ORIGINS committee

guarantee their performance. The actual da

and time for next year's National convention h

been tentatively set for July 14-16 at th

University of Michigan inAnnArbor.The Detr

group has successfully sponsored a number

smaller regional cons in he past and should do

fine job. We hope to see many Midwest game

next year who couldn't make it to the East Coa

cons.

WHAT'S COOKING?

We didn't blow our whole wad at ORIGINS-

we have plans for several more new game

before the year is out.

Expansion kits for SQUAD LEADER a

already in the works. By spring we hope to hav

a revised 2nd edition rulebook available

correct any gliches which may have crept in

the firs t edition. I n particular we discovered tha

the red "plate" printed off center in a fe

Continued on

Pg 32.

Col.



TH

GENER L

P GE

PLAYING YOUR H A N D

IN KINGMAKER B y R i c h a r d B e r g

THE PLAY'S THE THING WHEREIN TO CATCH TH E KING

If Andr ew McNeil as the designer is the ather of

K I N G M A K E R , Richard Berg is n o less than its

American Godfather . It was Richard w h o dis -

covered the English sensat ion and arranged its irst

sale o n these shores b.vencouraging SPl's impor t ing

of the Philmar, L td . English edi t ion. .Just as

important l. , it was Richard's glowing reviews in

numerous h o b b y journals that w o n the game its'

initial American audience. Berg can 1a.v claim t o

mor e than just converting

fellow^

Yanks t o the

novelties o f K I N G M A K E R however . He's never

been bes ted in a game yet and considering his

fondness f or treachery and the fact that

K I N G M A K E R IS a mult i -player game where the

losers can gang u p o n the seeming leader that's a

considerable boas t . M a y b e that's w h y it's s o hard t o

get h im into a game these days w h y risk such a

record once the w o r d is out o n y o u .

Of the 3 o r so historical simulations that have

appeared in the last decade undoubted ly one of the

most unusual is K I N G M A K E R , Andrew MacNeil's

politically-oriented game o n the Wars of the Roses.

It never ceases t o amaze me tha t a game which

covers so esoteric a period in history (at least for

Americans) as the baronial conflicts in the English

15th century has caught o n with such rapid facility.

T h e reasons for this a r e interesting because they

cast light on the thought processes of the gamer , a n

area into which publishers and designers have tread

with great trepidation. Until the arrival of

K I N G M A K E R

(it first appeared in the US in its

first edition in the early spring of 1975 but had been

circulating throughout England for a t least a year

prior t o that) only one game of similar design had

ever held the public's interest more t h a n briefly:

D I P L O M A C Y . This simulation of power politics

a n d abstracted military aggrandizement had been a

cult ever since its introduction in the early 1960's. It

was immensely popula r a n d , now tha t we can look

back a t it, quite simple in its intent. It made its

players assume roles s o much so that they were

forced t o play the game with a psychological insight

never before used in even the most complex

simulations. The player was not only playing the

game. he was playing the other players And this

does not mean he was playing against the o ther

players; ra ther he was using them to further

h isown

aims. Luck was eliminated; the player survived on

his own wits entirely. He controlled destiny. a n d he

controlled it absolutely.

T h e formula worked, and D I P L O M A C Y was a

raging success-at least within the finite bu t

growing circle of simulation enthusiasts. Now, what

usually happens with success is that it gets copied.

(Witness this year's Box Office thrill,

Airpor t 77,

the

third in a series of movies designed with the dua l

intent of keeping one away from both airports a n d

theatres). But a decade passed without

D I P L O M A C Y

receiving a serious challenge. T o be

sure, o ther games of similar ilk appeared : O R I G I N S

O F W W l l is a sort of poor cousin of

D I P L O M A C Y ,

but it has neither the interest o r

elan of its more successful relative. DYNASTY was

a short-lived, "local" effort to translate role-playing

t o the Far East. It had all the elements t o produce

success, but it never got off the ground, which is too

bad a s it con ta ins some truly intriguing ideas.

Thus the Role-Playing, Power-Polit ics field was

left entirely t o

D I P L O M A C Y , a vacuum that I , fo r

one, never quite understood. T h e game was so

obviously successful; and it certainly was no brain-

twister in the Design depar tment . T h a t it ruled the

field as sole occupant for so many years is still a

mystery. Yet, Nature a b h o r s a vacuum and into this

drought of design stepped Andrew McNeil. Work-

ing for a long period of time testingdesigns, shaping

ideas and molding theories he came u p with the first

new Power Politics game t o seriously challenge-

and intrigue-the Dippy buffs. But

K I N G M A K E R

was different, for

K I N G M A K E R

did not rely solely

on the players' wit t o produce a result. MacNeil was

too familiar with the history of the period to keep

the play in the hands of the players, for the "play" of

the Wars of the Roses was never really totally in the

hands of even its best practitioners. There was t o o

much fate, t o o many uncertainties, too much out-

and-out luck-both bad as well as good. And this is

what provides the t remendous drawing power of

K I N G M A K E R ,

fo r not only does the player have t o

play the other players but now he has to battle the

Hand of Fate. T h e players are easy t o watch; it is

Fa te that often deals the cruelest blow.

T h e heart of

K I N G M A K E R

is the marvelous

series of cards which direct the play of the game.

C a r d s had never before been used t o such a n extent,

and with such amazing effect, in a confl

simulation. Perhaps other designers felt constrain

to avoid the "Monopoly" influence, o r the seemi

utter randomness of such a system. But

K I N G M A K E R

it worked. T h e two series of cards

Event and Crown-are the game. The recent, a

excellent, article in The General(Vo1. 13, No. I)

Rober t Harmon is well-worth referring to as

reminder of what each card in the game can do, a

how often it can d o it.

And knowing what the cards can d o s the key

the game.

Strategy in

K I N G M A K E R

is like going ov

Niagara Falls in a barrel: you know what you wa

t o do, but once you start do ing it you are no long

in control. And the player who usually sticks to

strict plan in

K I N G M A K E R

will usually fi

himself suffering the same fate that befalls the o

Barrel-Driver.

The best players in K I N G M A K E R follow

age-old adage: Hope for the Best, bu t Expect t

Worst. T h e former may be fleeting, but the latte

sure t o arrive somewhere a long the line. Moreov

d o not despair

K I N G M A K E R

is so cunnin

contrived that even total elimination means lit

unless it occurs dur ing the latter portion of

Middle Game o r in the End Game itself. If suc

fate befalls you , you will have t o be content w

being some major Baron's pawn. You might also

breathing in people's faces: Plague always makes

quick changes in power hierarchy and spreadin

little disease doesn't hurt.

Generalities aside, the best strategy

K I N G M A K E R is preparedness a n d knowledg

T h e player who knows the board, knows what

going on and what h a s g o n e before, and then has t

flexibility to handle all of this knowledge is

successful baron , a veritable Neville amongst t

Scropes. (A bit of historical byplay: Alas, po

Scrope, your time has passed. No longer m

players launch the once infamous Scrope Attack

made infamous in the 1st two e d i t i o q w h e r e i n t

hapless Scrope went a r o u n d like a Kamikaze in ki

and buckler, sacrificing himself in attacks the od

of which staggered the imagination, just t o kill

some nobles. T h e A H edition of the rules h

removed this bit of dastardly-and oft



PAGE

THEGENERA

infuriating-byplay. P o o r Scrope has now been

relegated to the scrapheap of nobles-a place he

fittingly deserves.)

The first cardinal rule for success in

K I N G M A K E R is knowledge of the game-board.

The board has undergone some fairly radical

changes since its initial design (changes which I greet

with mixed feelings), but the important locations

and passages are still the same. F o r example, the

most important town o n the map, in t e rms of

movement , is still Shrewsbury. (I have assumed-as

d o virtually all players-that Shrewsbury does

control t ha t fork in the road, a mat ter which should

officially be clarified sornewhere.9 (Ed. Note:

Shreu,sbur.v does conrrol rhe road.) Control of

Shrewsbury allows a player in York to whisk o n

down to London in one, fell swoop (providing he

gains Coni sboro Castle, a not-too-difficult feat).

This type of knowledge is what renders success f rom

opportuni ty and allows the wise Baron to always

remain within reach of some objective. (It is often

wise to hide control of Shrewsbury, revealing it only

when a major opportuni ty presents itself).

For a more cogent analysis of K I N G M A K E R

let us play a sample " h a n d and see what

opportunities present themselves a n d how best even

yer Three

Basic Strengtl

the worst hand may be managed. Let us assume a

four-player game (in my opinion the best configura-

tion for K I N G M A K E R ) . W e will also use the

Advanced Rules which give us a n eighth member of

the Royal Household-Edmund, Earl of Rutland-

as well a s the Dukes of Lancas t e rand York. Wewil l

be examining the different hands not s o much for

play examples a s for strategic possibilities,

weaknesses a n d opportunities.

T h e above random deal is somewhat unusual;

however, there is n o "normal" hand in

KINGMAKER. T h e beauty of the design is tha t

each play is different, each game a new situation.

initial situation inherent in D I P L O M A C Y . T h e

latter produces what a r e known a s "Standard

Gambits", somewhat in the vein of Chess.

K I N G M A K E R has none of that , s o to speak (the

merits of which will not be debated a t this time);

however, there are definite things tha t each player

must accomplish in his initial maneuvers. Basically,

his intent is to solidify his position a n d gain himself

a Contender-any Contender. Without a Con-

tender your play tends to be aimless a n d , worse,

useless. You will find yourself a t the mercy of the

stronger factions, who will use you a s a pawn and

then d r o p you like a hot Yorkshire Pudding. Get

that "prince", even if you have to steal the packet

boat to Ireland to d o it

as

LANCASTER

r I

Each player must decide what his best depl

ment is (some of the nobles being given varia

locations). Thi s is where knowledge of

gameboard comes in. T h e Lancastrian pieces

located in the center of England, with Margaret a

Edward right next d o o r to each other, while

Yorkist Household is spread around the fringes

the country. If you have a faction that is powerfu

the center by all means take advantage of suc

situation. Otherwise, t ry to base your power in o

of the fringe areas where you can grab-and

maintain in relative safety-one of the Yorkists

Further use of game knowledge can be made

assigning the offices and titles. F o r example, unl

you want t o c r e a t e a Power Base in the North (wh

is foolish unless Percy, Earl of Northumberland

one of your barons), the Warden of the Northe

Marches can prove a n extreme annoyance. He h

a n irritating habit of heighing o f f t o Scot landjust

you a r e hopping down to London, Embarrassing

best. But if you are s o lucky as to comb

Mowbray, Duke of Norfolk, with the Chamberl

o f the County Palatine of Chester you have crea

qui te a formidable Baron, with a n exceptiona

powerful stronghold in Wales-a difficult a rea

the board to approach without notice.

Let us look at the Sample Hand to see how t

principles of the Gambi t may be applied.

First, no t e the imbalance between the hand

Player one has a basic total of 330 Strength Poin

while Player F o u r has, a t best, 130. Player Two h

a seemingly miniscule strength of but 100 Howev

he possesses the Constable of the Tower of Londo

and Talbot , Earl of Shrewsbury (The Constab

should have little t rouble claiming the extra 200 m

that g o with this office (See below). That would gi

him 300 rather quickly and pull him u p to par wi

the other major factions. (It also makes him King,

Henry is his a s soon a s he enters London). Howev

a s we will see from the example of Player Tw

initial strength is misleading. It is position which

important-and it is position which will rema

important throughout the game. You must alwa

be ready t o g r a b an opportuni ty, and being rea

means being in a location from which you can stri

quickly. Sequesteringyourself in the Cheviots mig



THE GENER L

be great fo r your health(espec ial1y if you like

oatm eal); but you'll be a petty baro n all you r life if

that 's your idea of preparedness.

Player One's hand initially appears quite

strong-after all , he has two of the great Barons in

the game (Norfolk Northumb erland) and an

initial strength of 330, with the possibility of an

extra 100. However, this strength is il lusory, for

while his ba ronial strength is in the North , his Office

st rength (Dover Cast le, Canterbury, and

Chancel lor of Cornwal l ) are far to the South . Thus

much of his strength is diffuse and dissipated,

useless to him as a Power Base. Yet his position is

enviable: he has the 300 points necessary to take

York, and he has the Archbisho p to crown Richard

of York King. This move, which cannot be

accomplished until at least the second turn of the

game, i s a very st rong one and one which should be

accomplished at all costs. It gives Player one the

leading Yorkist contende r and it nullifies Hen ry as

King, should he be grab bed (and he will , as we will

see below).

Th e three nobles of One's faction are thu s placed

as closely as possible for quick consolidation. As

they are all oriented to the No rth this positioning is

easily attainable. Norfolk is placed at Wressle,

adjacent to York, whi le Northumberland is

deployed in Cockerm outh for no other reason than

i t i s an interest ing sounding place. Northum berland

can be quite a pain-a sort of Ju nio r League

Warden of the Northern Marches. He has power,

but it 's too far away from the center of things to

really do any good. Here he has been assigned

Cornwall, giving him a second Power Base, albeit

far to the South. Norfolk, in the meant ime, has

been given the two "sister" cities of Dover and

Canterbury. T his seeming di ffusion of power (noted

above) may now work to Player One's interests, for

he now has a base of operat ions close to London-a

base he may find useful when ope rating in that area

against the Lancast rians. There could be some

argument for assigning one of the Offices to Audley,

now Earl of Sal isbury. However, N orthumberland

is too strong to waste and Norfolk is too well

situated. Furthermore, the faction will consolidate

rather quickly and Audley, b eing the weakest of the

barons, will prove somewhat of a liability in this

area.

The o ne major thing to note here is that Player

One has had the luck to go

before

Player Two (who

controls the Tower, and wi th i t , London). Player

Thre e will move first (he is the Chan cel1or)and th us

On e will move before T wo. T his will enable One to

crown Richard King before Two can cal l a

Parliaament a foolish move at this stage of thega me

anyway).

Thus, One has go od st rength and good posi t ion.

He will soo n, ba rring unforeseen complications

(Plague, etc.) have a rival Contender an d become

the leading faction in the North.

Player Two has had the unfortunate

happenstance of having to discard three nice

Offices. Things like that happen all too often. His

strength a s well as his position is also basically weak,

and his bases of power are divided between North

and West. Clifford and

Scrope are of li t t le help to

Talbot , and furthermore, they are ingre at danger in

the center of Player One's Po wer.

Bur

Player Tw o is

the Constable of the Tower of London, and that

means Henry is his-if he can get there without

mishap. And t hat is why Bristol has beenassigned to

Talbot (among other reasons). Talbot can use

Bristol as a refuge (praying that th e Black De ath

doesn't catch him there) and ajumping-off point for

a quick one-turn t rip to Lon don. By the second turn

of the game he will have Henry. Unfortunately,

Player One will probably also have Richard (York)

by this time. so the effect of this will be nullified.

Once having gained H enry, Play er Two will have to

rely upon a goo d dra w from the Crown Pack to give

him aid. His baron s are weak, and he is stron g only

in London and its environs. His opportunities to

garner other Lancast rians (and thus st rengthen his

position vis

a

vis that House) are minimal,

considering Player Three's strength in Central

England. He thus seems to be t ied to London, and

only som e shrewd politicking will get him o ut of tha t

hole. Players who hang aro und Lo ndon usually end

up hanging, li terally.

Player Three's situation is enviable. He has

strength-290 points-and exce ptiona l position.

Furth erm ore, he is Chancellor of England. Not only

will he go first, but, in the obvious stalemate that

will quickly occu r, he will, under certain cir-

cumstances, be able to call Parliament (if he lives

that long). Warwick is placed in Warwick, right

nextdoor t o Margare t and Edward , where he ,

Roos , andPole can grab M argare t and t hen Edward

right off the bat. Furthermore, Herbert can waltz

right into Cardigan (an open town) and pick up

George, a Yorkist contender, on the first turn.

Player Three's position in terms of bargaining

power and alliance is thus quite enviable. He will

hold three contenders in short order, and his power

base in the center will make him quite capable of

unloading on Player Two in London , should he get

some reinforcements in the draw.

Three has not had much say in how to divide his

hand . Chancellor obviously goes to Warwick, a very

powerful noble (and the namesake of the game's

title). Admiral of England provides some interesting

sea maneuvera bility, but Three hasn't th e coastal

Nobi li ty to take advantage of i t . Note that Pole and

Roos havebee n placed within striking distance of the

Lancasters by deploying Roos at Belvoir. Player

Three has some very interesting times ahead

Player Fo ur has problem s. He has lit t le inherent

strength, and his positioning is med iocrea t best. But

he still has possibilit ies, an d this is what the players

should be aware of. From the way he sees things

developing on the board in the initial deployment,

and from the lack of strength in his hand, it should

occur t o Fou r tha t he will have to act boldly if he is

to succeed. T he key t o his success is the ship Swan.

The ship is in Berwick, but fortunately no one

contr ols Berwick by the time of Four's initial move.

This m eans the Swa n will be free to move. W ith the

intent of using this ship as a Catalyst, F itzalan has

been placed in his Southern holding, Arundel, but

given c ards w hich essentially give him pow er furth er

north, near his Welsh holding in Chirk. The reason

for this is that Four's best move is to get to Ireland as

quickly as possible, grab Edmund , and bring him

back to the Northwest (thus Fi tzalangets the Bishop

of Carlisle and the City of Lancaster). Grey,

Cromwell and Bourchier should be able tojoin wi th

him quite easily (there is usually little interference

an d/ or com bat in the init ial moves as players are

too busy get ting organized), and F our should be at

least able to set up some sort of Power Base in the

West. It 's not much, but it is a start. And it also

places him near Edward of March should he attain

the st rength to take Harlech.

From studying the above disposi t ions and

tentat ive opening moves we can formulate some

basic precepts that players should keep in mind as

they begin play:

1 Stud y yo ur initial faction carefully, evaluating it

not s o much for what i t appears at face value bu t as

to what it means in terms of position. This means

knowing the game-board and the potent ial power

bases of the players.

2) Initial strength (in term s of mercen aries, Offices,

etc.) should be given to Nobles who can take Roy al

Pieces early in the gam e. This will discourage othe r

players from picking you off. If possible, co

sol idate your Barons before grabbing the Roy

Piece.

3 Try to get an early Pow er Base, a position fro

which you can oper ate and to which you can retre

in times of danger. Position is everything, and if

player can make himself overpowering in one ar

his chances of success are greatly improved. O

course this Po wer Base/ Position should not be

far from what 's h appening tha t you become

veritable hermit. Position means theability to stri

as wel l as to consol idate.

4 Get a Royal Piece as quickly as possible. Geor

and Edm und a re virtually freebies; others are mo

difficult. However there is usually always on

memb er of Roya lty who is attainable. S tudy th

initial dispositions vis a vis your strength and a

accordingly.

In essence, the object of yo ur initial deployme

and opening moves is Power. You must obta in som

sort of power, be i t a Royal Piece ora st ro ng Pow

Base/ Position. If you have neither you will soon

at th e mercy of the players who do , players who w

be seeking to destr oy the lesser factions before th

get on to bigger business. If you have Position in t

form of a Po wer Base you can at least maintain yo

dignity.

TH

M I D D L E

G A M E

The success of a given player in the importa

Middle Section of the game (the portion whe

power divisions and factions solidify, Royal Piec

are discarded l ike sacks of mouldy flour, and two,

perhaps three, major Baronial groups emerge)

ent irely dependen t on theposi t ioning he hasdevis

in the opening port ions. T he reason for this is n

that the game will depend o n who controls what , b

rather that the player who has good position-and

pow erin and from that position-will be able totak

advantage of those incredible and all-consumin

turns of fortune that st ride through the game l ik

horde of Huns.

As players' factions become bigger they w

become m ore and more susceptible to the annoyi

Raids and Revol ts that spring up abo ut once eve

two turns (at least). Remember, nobles called

other places may not take other members of th

factions with them, so a major faction can quick

become spl intered. The good player i s one who h

enough power and posi t ion to a overcome the

sudden changes of fortune when they occur to hi

a n d b take advan tage of them when they occur

others.

Now, the re is no way fo r a player to ignore the

events. N or is it possible to ignore Plague. Howeve

at least the latter is somewhat forecas table. And,

the words of the original edition, "The Player w

has his whole force wiped out by Plague real

deserves to lose." And that is the truth. Rememb

that Royal Cast les do not suffer plague an

furthe rmo re, tha t plague is cyclical-once it h

occurred in onecity it will not occur again in that c

until the Event Pack is finished and reshuffled. (Th

has been specifically designed into th e game, and

is somewhat unrealistic to shuffle the deck eve

once and a while as plague-which represents oth

misfortunes as well as actual disease-tended not

reap pear in cities it had hit in the recent past.) Thu

careful player can take ad vanta ge of cities that ha

been hit, using them a s havens knowing that they a

safe for a while.

As for the Revolts and Raids, the player mu

learn to anticipate, to realize that certain of h

nobles will be called to places undesired at t im

unwanted. These calls are unavoidable, but t

effect of such can be minimized by careful planni

(wi thin the parameters of the amo unt of planni

you can d o in KINGM AKER ). Establ ishing

Power Base in an are a to which you ar e likely to



P GE

summoned is one way of handling these emergen-

cies; actually, it is probably the on ),way. Otherwise

you must trust to luck and theallegian ce of the other

players, which is usually feeble at best.

The Middle Portion of the game is thus best

played by players who minimize misfortune and

capitalize on tha t of others. T o this end alliance can

often be quite important. Now, be not mistaken

about alliances in

K I N G M A K E R :

they are in-

variably consummated in greed and dissipated in

mistrust. Moreover they are rife with irony and

hypocrisy for the simple reason that two factions

helping each other are usually after one goal, and

that goal can be attainable by only one of those

factions. This is not t o say that all alliances should

be avoided; just the opposite is true. You usually

cannot survive without the help of ano the r faction,

unless you control most of the major nobles in the

game. And if that happens you usually spend most

of your t ime running errands throughout the

countryside.

No, alliances are necessary and even helpful.

They can a ct as buffer zones to certain areas, and

they can often help lesser factions survive while

building or rebuilding their strength. However,

most alliances in K I N G M A K E R are short-lived.

Unlike

D I P L O M A C Y ,

where alliances can be

mutually advantageous as the players involved

divide the spoils of new areas conquered, in

K I N G M A K E R

there is little gain in controlling

areas for the sheer sake of control. You are after

Royal Pieces. And, a s at least 50% of those

personnages will most likely have had their

proverbial throa ts slit after just several rounds, th e

prize may be difficult to attain. In this fashion

wheeling and dea ling is infinitely more difficult and

requires an even more devious personality in

K I N G M A K E R , for there is usually little to bind

two factions together. It is the superior player who

can use his fellow playersto accomplish his aims

without giving them anything worthwhile.

As the Middle Game progresses the factions

begin to solidify, if they can avoid Plague and other

disasters. The Faction controlling the King usually

has a great advantage-whether you are using the

optional Parliament rules or not. This advantage

may be offset by having a rival faction-crowned

King, creating a temp orary stalem ate, or, as is more

likely, by the annoying arrival of Embassies. The

key thing to remember with embassies is that the

player who controls the King must keep a strong

faction of nobles around him at all times. Quite

simply, an unprotected King dragged off to

Weymouth o r some other such tank-town to meet

the Scots o r French ambassado r will be devoured

before he can move an inch. However, unlike R aids

and Revolts, when the King is summoned to

embassy he may take an y nobles in the same area

with him. Thu s it behooves the player to protect his

King in this fashion.

Of course, such strong factions are usually

dissipated by the very Ra idsan d Revolts mentioned

above. Sometime s this can be avoided-aside from

the ways we spok e of before-in an unusua l and

daring fashion. Certain nobles are called by Raids

and Revolts more than others-theseare usually the

powerful barons E.g., Mowbray (Norfolk) hasfive

such calls in the Event Deck: s uch Offices as W arden

of the Cinque Ports (with five calls) and the "globe-

trotting" Marshal of England (with ten ) calls are

likewise embarrassing. Obviously, if you want to

make key use of Norfolk you can never make him

Marshall of England. (However, doing soa s King in

a Pa rliament, if the opportu nity arises, isa sure way

of sabotaging your worst enemy ). But if you want

to cre ate a powerful nob le who is relatively free to

d o as he wishes it might be worth your while, if the

opportunity arises, to take a minor baron such as

Grey (with 20 po ints and no calls), assign him a Title

to build his strength and a n Office with good power

and little Raid IRev olt interference such as Con-

stable of the Tower (the richest prize in offices,

especially at the beginning of the game) or

Chamberlain of County Palatinate, and then give

him a m ultitude of mercenaries. cities, bishops and

other accoutrements. You now have a formidable

baron who is free to move almost anywhere.

T o hisen d, players should note that Neville,Earl

of W arwick, is far and aw ay the best noble to hold.

He has good initial strength (50). he controls four

well-placed castles (Richmond and Raby are in

excellent position just t o the north of York;

Warwick gives a Power Base in the important

Central counties; and Ogmore is well located

between Wales and Cornwall with excellent coastal

opportunities), and he has only one call-card He

also has the largest vote faction in Parliament of any

one noble. Thus, the player who controls Neville

should use him to his fullest. Through Neville the

player can m aintain several Power Bases (given the

location of Neville's castles) and he can move with

relative freedom from call, especially if Neville can

be assigned a n im porta nt Office. Unless it is totally

unavoidable, never waste a lesser Office on Neville.

To d o so is to diffuse your major weapon. Because

of his position and freedom Neville is the single-

most imp ort ant noble-or piece-in the game.

Neville is, of course, only one of three "major"

nobles. However, the other two-Mowbray, Duk e

of Norfolk, and Percy, Earl of

Northumberland-

have almost as many drawbacks as they have

advantages. Percy has the largest household, and as

such, his strength is formidable. But his base of

power is far to the North-too far to be of any use as

a true Power Base. His westernmost castle,

Cockermouth, is in the unusual position of being a

coastal castle w ith virtually n o access to the sea

Mowbray, Duke of Norfolk, has g ood strength (50)

and some excellent castles (five of them) spread

around the country. However, Mowbray is a one-

man travelling circus a nd he is so susceptible to calls

for Raid/Revolt that he cannot be trusted. As for

Stanley, who also has a basic strength of 50, his

draw back s are self-evident (lack of power base and

constant calls to Douglas). T o give Stanley any

power other than he has or cannot be avoided is to

waste such Offices, etc. Of course, if you have

several ships at your disposal Stanley can become

more useful. But he is a question-mark a t best, and

players should be ultra-cautious ab out using him or

relying upon him to any great extent.

An important point to remember during the

Middle Game is that cards drawn from The Crown

Pack may be concealed. This is a powerful weapon,

as the players may not know that y ou are holding

Neville, who is Chancellor of Cornwall with several

group s of mercenaries and some bishops. To spring

such a surprise on the other players is usually to

carry the day, a t least locally. Knowing just when to

spring that surprise is the essence of good timing,

which is a very impor tant sense to have. The obviou s

faults of "too soon" o r "too late" are magnified in a

game such as

K I N G M A K E R

where the other

players are equally as capable of taking advantage

of presented opportunities. Actually, it is almost

impossible to act too soon in this game; players

should strike when they can and then not wait

around to see what develops later. But you can

reveal hidden cards too soon, wasting them on

trivial conquests. If you a re lucky enough t o have a

pocket baron with the power of a Neville, as above,

make sure you use him on a worthwhile mission.

There are other mechanisms in the game that

players should be awa re of, particularly Free Moves

and Writ cards. They, along with the new King's

Pard on card s, are virtually self-explanatory in the

worth , and players should be careful they make th

best use of them. Free M ove cards can be ve

valuable in plannin g a quick, decisive raid from a

area which seems far removed from the center o

play. And thec ombi natio n of a surprise noble plus

few Free Move card s can be incredibly devastating

T H E E N D - G AM E

Time was, in the early editions, when the play

with the most power would simply take h

pretender and sail for Calais, the healthiest city o

the block (no Plague ). Now we have a Plague

Calais card, as well as other French sidelights, s

that scheme is no longer valid. The end-gam

however, can bog dow n when there ar e two playe

with equal strength possessing the only tw

pretenders. By this time all the cards ar e in play an

there are few surprises left. Play tends to becom

somewhat static as neither side is willing to take

chance.

Plague, of course, can loosen this up, as ca

Embassy cards, and players must be ready tojum

at the first opportunity. S trong factions should g

rid of as many p retenders as they can. While Roy

Pieces are a n asset in the beginning and , to som

extent, the middle of the game, they become a

increasing liability as the game progresses. The

slow down movement a nd make factions more of

target. ( And remember Beaufort ) Usually, a

embassy card here, a raid card there and a hug

battle oc curs with the w inner emerging with the so

royal piece. It can so metimes take a bit of waitin

for this t o oc cur, a s players have solidified the

positions and are unwilling to make deals.

have purposely om itted discussing Parliamen

and its uses until now. Briefly, each player tends

use Parliament-as King-according to his ow

personality. That to call Parliament is importa

goes without saying-if you have the power an

there a re stron g Offices and Titles to dispense. Th

strength of the King is nowhere morea ppar ent tha

in Parliament-if his faction is stron g enough t

overide the votes of the others. H ere is where dea

ar e made-and consumm ated. Never underestima

the power of Greed, and use it to your fulles

advantage. As King you should never hesitate

give yourself the choicest appointments, and th

player who is shy and unassuming or, even wors

generous, will not be King fo r long. To be Kin

means t o have power; and to win you have to kno

how to use that power. The best players i

K I N G M A S T E R are those who use a baronia

mentality to the fullest . Trust no one, and gra

grab, grab. K I N G M A K E R is

nor

subtle; yo

cannot finesse 300 pounds of armored illiteracy

You club him into submission-and Parliament

where you pick up your bludgeons.

K I N G M A K E R

is not a game which can b

discussed in specific strategic details. Succe

depends on a state of mind. It is a game whic

demands concentration from its players, a game

which trust is an anachronism. Speed of moveme

and ruthlessness are the two key ingredients f

success. And both of these ingredients use on

source: power. Throu ghou t the entire course of th

game you ar e playing for power. W hether it be loc

power or total control, no player can survive f

long in this atmosphere without some form o

power. And to that end you must always plan yo

strategy.



THE GENERAL

PAGE

In Praise

of

Kingmaker

by Charles Vasey

Charles Vasey s apart rime Law student andself

confessed full time work dodger whose gaming

exploits trace their beginnings to 1968 when he first

obtained 1914; an acquisition which amazingly did

not change his natural leanings toward simulation

as opposed to playability. Vasey,a medieval French

name synonomous with wanton, lascivious, and

mischievous (or so he d have us be1ieve)fills his off

hours by publishing a fine gaming newsletter

entitled PERFIDIOUS ALBION which is notable

for its candid and fresh remarks on the wargame

scene. A true victim ofthe wargaming craze. Charles

hopes to make his debut in the Big Apple at

ORIGINS 77-a notable achievement for an

Englishman.

Kingmaker is a creeper of a game. When it first

appeared in England it was reviewed a s being 'fun'

but not especially accurate. It was easy to pick o n a

few 'obvious' errors (though often they were a great

deal less er roneous than the reviewer thought). T h e

basic opinion was it was for 'kids'. Yet beneath this

simple exterior was a great deal of cunning work,

work which few reviewers could spot because

Andrew

McNeil did not speak the standard

language of game design, he did not come from the

great A H I S P I tradition. Only as time passed, a n d

one tinkered with the game, did realization slowly

steal over you-one could not d o better

I have long been interested in the Medieval

period a n d tried to design games based upon this

period, using standard design procedure. They all

failed cohpletely. Militarily the W a r of The Roses is

'fai rly simple in mechanics. Armies stamped around ,

often missing each other, often engaging in private

wars with their neighbors, often running out of

food, a n d clashing in battles of frequently the same

form (three main bodies, t he side that wins is the one

tha t chases two of the enemy's off the field). Hut ton

in 1813 talking about Bosworth Field said "Battles

are singular periods; product ive of st range events.

Much may depend upon a trifle, the effects of a trifle

may be victory, a n d the effects of victory, everlast-

ing." If the actual fighting depended o n simply

marching forward a n d hacking until you won o r got

beat, t he raising of armies was much more difficult.

T h e W a r of the Roses was a very strange war

indeed. It was mainly a form of super-gang warfare

tha t was carried o n by the nobility while the

common people stayed out of it. There a r e

exceptions of course; Edward IV halted the old

practice of "Spare the Commons, a n d slay the

Lords" after he was deposed, a n d in 1461 Margare t

of Anjou let a n a r m y of pillaging northerners into

the south a n d burnt many of the "good towns" of the

Yorkists. Thi s escapade did little t o endear the

Lancastrian cause to the Londoners who could

always be trusted to s tump u p for a Yorkist

campaign, it also made the Yorkist cause synony-

mous with Law a n d Order . (Rather like the gamer

who goes a r o u n d at tacking everyone's castles, and

finds his land being dismantled in unison by players

who have forgotten their own animosities). Having

disposed of popular fervor a s a source of t roops one

must ask how the armies were raised. There seem to

be two methods.

I )

T h e personal retainers (priv

army) and vassals of the nobles. Knight-servic

which had been calculated as one knight per f

hides of land held, was n o longer a common practi

but often one's vassals would serve for pay tak

from their rents. Now the nobles would draw

contracts of service with important captains of w

(the English were remarkably willing to serve und

men of ability but little nobility) o r warlike vassa

In 1474 when Edward 1V was to invade France

issued a n indenture t o Richard Duke of Glouces

t o find, a t his own expense, 120 men at arms (i

wearing full a r m o u r ) 19 of which were to be knigh

a n d one thousand archers. (2) One could, w

varying shades of legality, issue commiss~ion

array. These called upon citizens t o muster

defense of the king. Of course the answer to "W

a r e the King's enemies?" depended o n whether y

were Yorkist o r Lancastrian. Wasi t t rai torous Yo

at tempt ing to steal t he crown from Henry, o r wa

scheming Suffolk a n d Somerset who were ensnari

the king into a form of vice-regal governme

Obviously if you were told to at tack York a

believed the latter you would deny thelegality of t

commission, o r find the first opportuni ty to van

from the army. Thus commissions, a t best, cou

only be effective when issued in one's own lands,

if the enemy t o o k t o using foreign aid. There is mu

overlapping between the two kinds of army, b

even so representing it in standard game terms cou

be a problem. O n e has t o know roughly how mu

money each magnate got f rom his estates, and wh

those estates were.



PAGE

THEGENERAL

Let me first point out that the office of Earl or

Duke did not hold great significance to the area in

question. Such a rank entit led one to the Third

Penny of all fines in the Shire Court. Th is institution

had been cut down to size by the use of Royal

Justices, and the Cou rts of Westminster Hall , and

its revenues were no t great (it could only try cases of

under 40 shillings). Also the title does not imply th e

whole county was owned by the holder, although he

may well have been enabled to interfere in the

internal power struggles. S ome border areas did

tend to be heavily in the hands of one family, but

otherwise most holdings were spread over the length

and breadth of England a nd Wales. Th e Black

Prince (Edward of Woodstock) had rents as

follows:-Chester 1,300, S. Wales 1,700, Co rn-

wall £2,350 (owned land in London), N. Wales

£3.000. but the other ma nors througho ut England

brought only £300 p.a. Th e first four are examples

of great fiefs (holdings) given en masse to one noble,

and exp lain the power of the Chancellor's of Wales

and Chester in the game. It isa useful comparison to

compare France and England. After the Conquest

most Normans received estates in many counties,

either deliberate ly or because they received land in

blocks from ejected Sax on thegns. The result was no

central block of support for a single family (except

on the borders where defense meant more than

internal security). In Franc e appa nage s were held as

blocks of land. Duke of Burgundy meant exactly

that an d on e gained all estates either as one'sow nor

as your vassals. Louis XI suffered from this during

the W ar of the Com mon Weal (1465) when whole

provinces of France rose against him, and Brittany

became practically an independent Duk edom. Thus

an accu rate map of England for the period would be

terribly complex.

KINGMAKER S

approach is

devastating ly simple. First locate castles in the areas

of great strength, these rep resent the 'loyal' regions

and the large groups of estates who would yield the

most mo neylmen. Second, give the noble family a

strength figure that represents their country-wide

wealth, resources and fame, this covers those tiny

manors hidden in far-flung counties as well as

investments. Th ird, give stren gths to various titles

and offices that represent the crown land s granted

with these posts, and the supp ort of the uncommit-

ted squir earchy wh o might follow a man with a legal

title. The result is very accurate, on e might quibble

against a certain family acquiring a certain area but

this is due to hindsight. Kent was always for

Warwick ever since he thrashed the French as

Captain of Calais (though this did not prevent their

desertion at Second St. Albans), Ulster was Yorkist

land, so was most of Wales (the Mortim er Earldom

of M arch). Even so the result is good . Especially

sensible is what, at f irst , appears t o be a rather odd

result when a n oble card joins the faction w ho have

just slain his father. This very rarely happened,

blood feuds being m ore fun. 1 prefer to look at i t as

representing the forfeiture and esche atage of estates.

One must examine the career of John Neville

Marquess of Montague. Joh n Neville had none of

his eldest broth er Warwick's skill in diplomac y, and

none of his younger brother George of Exeter's

disloyalty. He was a good soldier who won dramatic

victories at Hedgeley Moor and Hexham in 1464

removing various Percies as well as Henry Beaufort

and Lord Roos. He became Warden of the East

March es in 1463, and in 1464 was created E arl of

Northumberland and granted m any Percy estates.

So the way to rationalize the strange result is to say

that though the card may say Percy it really

represents the estates granted to someone like

Montag ue. Th e real Percy heir is hiding somewhe re

over the bord er. If he dies in battle hisestates may be

resumed by the King, the Plantagenets were an

irritatingly capable family.

So the game has good claims to accuracy in these

two very difficult areas. The final import ant feature

in this quest for accuracy is the Parliament. The

Parliament rules are what earned my inclusion in

the design credits . The rules in the game are

Andrew's re-writing of mine, with important

changes in favour of playability and accuracy. The

allocation of seats makes the definition of each

family's strength even mo re fine as it often conf orm s

to the centres of wealth and population. At one

stage the Nevilles held the Archbish opric of Yor k(5

Lords). the Earldom of Northumberland (3L/2c),

Earldom of Salisbury (Ic), Earldom of Kent (Ic),

Chancello r of England (20 possible), Warden of the

North (2c) and their own seats(4L13c)-a total with

the Ch ancellor, of 12 in the Lords and 29 in the

commons (about 15% and 20% of the possible

franchise). With othe r offices like Keeper of the S eas

and Captain of Calais their maximum army is

aro und 840 and they hold 13 castles. Not a bad

reflection of thei r real power-and all fro m a'Kid's'

game Just set up those positions and one can see

that the north is firmly held by the Nevilles and

almost every part of the country is near a Neville

town and they have ships available to keep their

empire together.

Certain noble houses (Hastings for example)

were distinctly second-rate. T heir power coming

from their own abili ty in administration or war.

Thus these gentry are practically useless

until

they

receive the pa tronage of the King or thegreat Lords

and get a title or an office. Mos t of the families

missed out (apart, perhaps, from de Vere and

Hungerford) are of this class. Their more famous

members, like John Tiptoft Earl of Worchester-

scholar and axe-murderer, were fine soldiers and

amazing characters but hardly powers in the land.

Thu s one often find s sections of the battle-front led

by very minor nobles, often clients of the great lords,

who do not appea r in the game. Remember that they

are leading the troops

r ised

by the grea t families so

the counter represents the armies rather than the

leadership of them.

Perhaps my main quibble might have centred

upon the simulation of the battles and sieges. Of

course Andrew McNeil has had to represent the

battlelsiege

nd

the preliminary skirmishing in the

large areas in each square. As such I think it works,

and to alter i t may cause a great deal of work for

li t tle return. I detail some battles at the end of the

article for those who care to test th e likelihood of

these events recurring.

Overall then we have a very neat system to

represent the complex power-structure of Medieval

England. For a l i tt le more fun and some accuracy

one s hould possibly be allowed to remove titles and

offices in Parliament. Many nobles lost offices in

times of royal strength (Joh n Neville lost Nort hum -

berland, his brother George at various times had

York and the Chancello rship removed-with a

good deal more reason than his brother). Of course

no noble cards can be removed (outlawry), no

mercenaries or towns (neither give a damn for

Kings), but bishoprics could be removed (it was

nearly always possible to find some mistake in

installing a bishop, so some expenditure in Ro me

could result in the opposition faction's client being

ejected). Should you try this out I recommend it

should require a 213 vote as i t only happens when

one faction is clearly regarded as leader.

This point of royal strength leads one to the

greatest, init ial , problem in the gam e for the history

buff. That is the representation of the royal heirs as

pawns. This causes l i t tle trouble with Henry Vl w ho

was a born pawn, and Edw ard of Wales was (a) not

grow n up, an d (b ) a nasty little swine when he was.

Margaret of Anjou was nobody's fool however.

George of Clarence was easily led. Richard of

Gloucester seems to have had genuine regard fo r his

brother Edward and never opposed him (although

he did not extend this love to his broth

Woodville's children). Richard of York was simp

an average noble. Edward of March was both

good diplomat and a fine general, and almost

Renaissance Prince. Edmund of Rutland died t

young to matter, o r to make his mark. One certain

felt that York should have been a noble like h

enemies Suffolk and Somerset. Of course, Avalo

Hill has done much to repair this with their tw

Plantagenet nobles. I would think that the factio

should only be able to kill their pawn if they ca

overcome his personal troops (if they fail he join

another faction).

The more one looks at the game the more o

feels that wherever history seems t o be disregarde

the ac tual results came very close to reality, even

their workin g was not immediately obvious. It mu

be a sign of great skill to design a gam e to which

little can be added. The Avalon Hill version

recommended for its new rules and the excelle

notes and family trees. Oh yes and those new car

and faction mark ers are really splendid; a well do

to the Art Section.

The Thorns on the Roses

or

The attles of the War

First St. Alban s (E5) 22 May 1455-The Duk e

York, Earl of Salisbury and Earl of Warwick wit

3000 men attac k the Kingand the Earls of Somerse

Buckingham, Pembroke, Northumberland , Devo

Wiltshire (or almost the whole peerage) and 200

men. Fierce street-fighting was won by well-traine

Neville troops. Th e dead included Somerse

Northum berland, and Clifford, with Dorset (Som

erset Jn r) and Buckingh am feeling decidedly unwe

Blore Heath (E3) 23 Sept. 1459-Lord Audley wi

6000 men runs into the Earl of Sa lisbury with 30

and gets whipped Audley is killed and Joh n an

Tho mas Neville ar e taken while pursuing.

Nort ham pton 1 0 July 1460-Warwick assails

defended position and is only victorious when Lor

Grey deserts and lets him in. The dead includ

Buckingham and Shrewsbury. Henry VI is r

captured (freed by York after St. Albans).

Wakefield (C4) 30 December 1460-Actually

fought outside of Sandal castle. York attac

Lancastrian s who have twice as many men. Cliffo

holds this attack while Rosse and Wiltshi

surro und him. York an d To m Neville are kille

Rutland executed by Clifford, and Salisbu

executed by the Bastard of Exeter (no that's not a

office ).

Mo rtim ers Cross (E3 ) 2 Feb. 1461-Welsh forc

under Tudors (Pembroke) and Butler (Wiltshir

and Ormonde) attack Edward of March. Yorki

right is chased off but Edward holds the centr

Lancasrrian flanking action is itself flanked an

Owen Tu dor taken. Owen was father of the Earls

Richmond and Pembroke and grandfather o

Henry VII. His major claim to fam e was 'marrying

Henry V's widow Ka therine of Fran ce thus makin

his sons the uterine half-brothers of Henry VI.

Second St. Albans (E5) 17 Feb. 1461-Warwick

with 9000 is attacked in badly positioned entrenc

ments by the Que en with 12,000 men. Jo hn Neville

overwhelmed and Warwick pulls out. Th e Kingw

re-taken by the Lancastrian s. Neville was n

executed as his brother had Somerset 's broth

incarcerated in Calais. Reads like the Godfather

Towton (C4) 29 March 1461-Prior to this Lo

Clifford (Butcher) had been shot whilst taking

drink with his helmet off

Abo ut 30,000 Yo rkists were faced with slight

more Lancastrians. Edward, Warwick and Ke

(Neville) were being pushed back by Northumbe

land, Somerset and Exeter (Holland). Norfo



THE GENERAL

PAGE

arrives and takes the L ancastrians in the flank and

rolls them up. A huge slaughter follows, Northum -

berland killed, Devo n and Wiltshire are executed.

Rest of Lancastrians ar e getting better at running.

Hedgely Mo or (A4 ) 25 April 1464-John Neville

thrashes some Northern Lancastrians including

killing Sir Ralph Percy.

Hexham (A4) 15 May 1464-The Lancastria narmy

breaks before the onset of John Neville. Somerset

finally stops running, Ro os and Hungerford ar e also

killed. Almost single-handed John Neville has

cleared the North.

Edgec ote (E4) 26 July 1469-Warwick and Clar-

ence move into England with 15,000 men-

ostensibly not as Edward's enemies. Yorkist clients

Herbert of Pembroke and Stafford of Devon march

to halt him. They argue and Devon m arches off with

6,000 men. Pembroke (14,000) is beaten and

executed. Devon is taken later and is also topped for

his pains.

Empingham (Loseco at Field)(ES) 12 Mar ch 1470-

A Neville provoked rebellion under some local

Lancastrians is stamped out by Edward who

discovers docum ents incriminating Warwick.

Barnet (E5) 14 April 1471-Edward is deposed but

returns with Burgundian money. 9,000 Lancastri-

an/Neville troops atta ck 8,000 Yorkists. O xford on

the Lancastrian right chases off Hastings, but

Richard of Gloucester does the same to the

Lancastrian left under Exeter. D ue to mutual

distrust Oxford flees the field and Edward and

Richard concentrate on Montague and Warwick.

Warwick and M ontague go down fighting, but

Oxford and Exeter show a clean pair of heels.

Yorkists lose Bouchier and Cromwell.

Tewkesbury (E3) 4 May 1471-6,000 men on each

side. Somerset launches a surprise attack on the

Yorkist left under Gloucester. Unfortunately he

falls in to another amb ush. Devon and Wenlock (a

Neville partisan ) refuse to support Som erset and are

driven off themselves by Hastings and Edward.

Somerset is captured and executed (the third of that

title to suffer this fate) but not before he bashes

Wenlock's brains out for not supporting him.

Margaret of Anjou is taken, as is her son who is

murderedlexecuted (depending on what you be-

lieve).

Bosworth (E4) 22 August 1485-The Tud or Earl of

Richmond invades at Milford Haven. Richard and

Howard, Earl of Norfolk, launch an attack but are

not supported by Northumberland o r the Stanely

brothers (Hit-men by appointment). Richard rides

straight at Henry but dies with his boots on, some

historians have suggested that the death of Ri-

chard's son had ma de him careless of life. Norfolk is

taken and executed, but his brother Surrey is

released (a typical Tu do r compromise-the iron fist

in the velvet glove).

Stok e Field (D5) 16 Jun e 1487-England having

nearly run out of nobles moves from the sublime to

the ridiculous. John de la Pole Earl of Lincoln

(grandson of Richard of York's arch-enemy

Suffolk) contrives to be declared Richard Ill's

successor as Richard was his uncle. As befits a

Lancas trian repr esenting the Yorkist cause( ) he

recruits an army of Germans and Irishmen (under

Fitzgerald) and some of his own retainers. To

complete the unlikely scenario he discovers a

pseudo-Warwick (George of Clarence's son). The

whole weird event comes to a complete end in a

violent battle with the Germ ans fighting to the

death .

Sto ke Field saw the end of the W ar of the Roses.

The last vestiges dying with Richard de la Pole

(called "White Rose") being killed fighting for

France a t Pavia. T heconclusion s of the list show the

game to be very accurate. Especially using the

advanced system which allows equal armies to

resolve matters. The loser seldom loses all leaders

but they often lost the mass of their armies-this

coincides nicely with the loyalty rule where the

noble is retained but his awards are lost. I somehow

doub t if one could accom odate BIore Heath with a

2:l defeat.

In conclusion can I recommend

Warwick the

Kingmaker and the Wars of the Roses

by Paul

Murray Kendall, a very fine American historian and

no mean storyteller. He lays bare the problems of

gaining power if one was not of the blood royal. Full

of the feel of the period and a good introd uction to

the "Great Earl" himself.

Q

****

KM By Mail

Continued from

Pg

Chichester in the first place to confer his Peace?

Should I have announ ced the prem ature calling of

Parliam ent a t all? And if I hadn't a nnou nced it at

that time, was the writ still effective the turn after?

All in all it seemed a pretty dreadful mess and there

was no way in which I could emerge smelling of

roses in all players' opinions. In the end I concluded

that th e trouble wouldn't have arisen if Parliament

had been called properly in the first place and I

didn't therefore thin k it was justified to bend the

rules in the favour of the player who, however

unintentionally, had made the original error. Mick

should have held his men in Chichester since there

alon e they w ere safe. But it is one thing to justify

decisions in a particular set of circumstances and

quite another to make a general ruling in advance

(particularly on the basis of an inadequate

rulebook). Before I start anoth er postal game I must

resolve the possible intricacies of Parliament.

Damn. I

see 1 have betrayed myself. 1 was pretty

vague in response to requests for another game

when the first was over, not because of the quality

and sheer fun of the game but with a wary eye to

other commitments. Now I have said I will start

another, a nd h ang othe r commitments. It is a very

seductive game, this

K I NGM A K E R ,

and o ne which

1 think will be with us for some years to come. M y

advice to aspiring gamesmasters should be pretty

obvious by now:

I

Keep it simple-avoid the tem ptati on to

complicate matters by trying to introduce 'realism,'

whatever that is;

2. Encourage the atmosphere by insisting on

named factions, stimulating the players into writing

press releases and using narrative style as much a s

possible in the reports;

3 Maintain the tempo by imposing short

deadlines on the players and short turnaround 'time

on yourself;

4. Keep careful account of the ownership of

castles, etc.-it's particularly easy to forget to make

the adjustments on the boa rd whe na noble is sent to

meet his maker;

5. Try if you can to introduce Michael von

Haag's 'evil precision,' perh aps in the form of a

modified zone of control ruling; and

6. Abov e all, enjoy yourself -this gam e is

infectious. Th e gamesmaster's job is fa r from a

routine slog; it is just as much fun as the players'

tasks-and that after all is why we play games .

You won't regret the venture.

*****

Q

Postal KM Mechanics

. Continued from Pg 14

name o r numbe r of place.

It

no path is given, then

the unit will be moved by the Herald, generally to

the player's disadvantage.

The Execution and ransom sub-rules, loyalty

tables and nobles killed provisions of Advanced

Battle shall be used. The latter shall be determined

by Herald die roll. Com bat shall only be initiated at

the request of one or more players, and upo

contact, tha t is both parties, attacker and attacke

shall occupy the same square simultaneously.

A player whose movement path is through

friendly tow n, city o r castle; that is one owned by h

faction or one through which he has permission

pass, shall be stopped within that place by t

Herald in the event that such place comes und

siege during the turn. O therwise, theat tack shall n

hinder his movement.

Neither battle or parliament shall prevent t

movement of other players not involved.

Parliament shall be run by the Herald,

accordance with the rules. Parliament shall b

initiated by a player, who shall notify the Herald

his intent an d furnish a list of proposed recipients

awards. All other players shall upon notificatio

also furnish a list of proposals.

Underlined moves printed in JJPwill mean th

the ord er is either impossible or th at due t o an eve

card, the noble in question has been summoned t o

place different from the intended final location.

Those squares named after a prominent fo

tification located within, such as: York; sha

henceforth be termed York (city)

York Commo

to mean the open area surrounding the nam

position. M oveme nt shall be counted a s befo

whether o r not the unit is moving to the comm ons

the fort; consequently an enemy may order

attack up on the nominal owner, before the latter h

entered the fort. T o do so, the attacker must

situated within the commons when the nob

travelling to the fort enters the commons squar

otherwise, th e defending noble is considered to ha

the opportun ity to gain sanctuary within.

Th e loyalty table shall not affect thedeat h of t

Dukes of York and Lancaster. Once dead they m

only be returned to play when the associated Ki

changes hands.

AREA

TOP

TWENTY

Ti m e s P r e v i o

Ra n k N a m e O n L is t Ra t i n g Ra n k

1 . W . D o b s o n 1 J EB 2 3 9 5

2 R. Chiang 7 FGN2156 1

3 . T O l e s o n

8 LM S1 9 4 5

3

4 .

J

Zajicek

2 CFI1930 2

5 . P . Huf fman 2 CCB1917 4

6. R. Wood 5 EFM1901 5

7

D. Cornel l 1 JE B1 852

8 . J Angioli l lo 1 CEH 1842

9 . S . Pa c k w o o d 6 D G E1 7 8 3

7

10 . R. Leach 1 CEH1761

11 . S . He inowsk i 6 DFJ17 46

8

12 . G. Kilbr ide

5

DE11744 6

13 . D. Barker 6 DFI1729 9

14 . E. Alexis

3

E H K 16 59 1 0

15 . K. Blanch 1 CDC 1645

16 . D. Agos ta 1 ECE1639

17 . C. Todoroff 1 EH J16 34

18 . F . Sma l l 1 DDF1594

1 9 . J . L e J e u n e 1 D E F 1 57 7

20 . D. Tie rney 1 CCH1534

Th e a b o v e p l a y e r s r e p r e s e n t t h e 2 0 h ig h

verified (11 r a te d g a m e s ) of t h e 3 , 0 0 0 m e m b

AREA pool . Players with a n oppon ent qual if

less

t h a n C w e r e n o t c a l cu l a te d a m o n g t h e

player ra t ings .

The following

AREA

memberships have been termina

No rating points can be awarded for games with th

~ndividuals s they are no longer members of the system

06109 01 58102 01

91 789 01

14037 01 60641 01

93555 01

45208 01 70601 04

CANAD 02

46556 01

731 39 01 OVERS 07

.



P GE

1

THEGENER L

KINGM KER BY

M

Don TurnbuN has more qualifica tions for

discussing postal KI NG M AK ER than his British

heritage. Don has been an active postalpla.ver o f a

number ofgame s rom theyear One andhis exploits

among ,fellou. AHIK Sers with his ow n fan 'zine

ALBION were so w*eN hought of that editors hip of

the first (and on lv) 50 issues of that international

classic won him accolades as the winner of thefir st

Char1ie in

he 1974 voting or the Charles Roberts

Awards Hall of Fame. More importan t for our

purposes here howlever, is that Don was the

gamesmaster for the first game o f postal

KINGM A KER playe d in Britain-the birthplace o f

KINGMAKER. Don doesn't real1.v lay down the

law, as to how to proceed in a postal KM game but

his general advice on the subject should be

prerequisite reading for all potential gamem asters

interested in bridging the gap between postal

D I P L O M A C Y a n d K I N G M A K E R .

Fashions come and fashions go-but if a multi-

player gam e is to have an y chance of lasting success

in the UK it must lend itself to postal play.

Nowadays face-to-face meetings of kindred spirits

are quite common-the twice-yearly AH lK S

Europe weekends, Ian Livingstone's Games Day,

Malcolm Watson's 'Orgies' and a whole range of

othe rs including the drop-in-and-play service

operated by some specialist games outlets. But it

was not always so. In the bad old days, when Avalo n

Hill was the only 'proper ' games producer and

Baltimore the only Mecca, the few UK enthusiasts

were spread very thin across the country and face-

to-face meetings were rare. S o the arrival of a new

game (itself a rare occasion then) prompted

immediate appraisal of its postal possibilities; if

postal play proved impossible, or even merely

awkward. the game might well be put on the shelf

and forgotten after a few solitaire experiments.

The J U T L A N D postal team game-now sadly

without support: I wonder if it can be resurrected?-

was born in this way and proved a n exciting, thoug h

long-winded. battle of wits for 6-10 players. The

Gamescience BATTLE OF BRITAIN had more

success and I believe som e games (2 players with or

without a third party acting as mon itor) are stil l in

progress after 5 or more years. AH Management

had a brief, and unjustifiably inglorious, postal

career but th ere are hop es tha t it will see the light of

day again in its new guise of BUSINESS

STRA TEG Y. The multi-player postal game provid-

ed an interesting diversion from the two-player

STALINGRADS, BULGES and D - D A Y S which

reigned supreme.

UK magazines no w offer a wide range of postal

multi-player games including D I P L O M A C Y and

its variants, O R I G I N S O F W O R L D W A R 11,

ELECTION. David Watts' excellent R A I L W A Y

RIVALS, the AH S T O C K M A R K E T Game and

BUSINESS STRAT EGY, EN GA RD E

and a

pretty dreadful thing called SOCCERBOSS. Oh

yes-and K I N G M A K E R . Old habits have died

hard.

The first appearance of K I N G M A K E R was

something of a shock; excellent concept, excellent

playing board of which the AH version is rather a

pale imitation I'm afraid. excellent game equip-

ment. but lamentable rules with more holes than a

sieve. Those who have suffered at the hands of

Philmar's first edition rules will remem ber the light-

headed feeling they induced. But the game itself had

such poten tial and those were the only rules we had

to go on. S o after late-night battles at one of the

excellent AH l KS Ep ping meetings, and encourage d

by enthusiasts of like mind about the game. I set

about devising a postal version and asked for

volunteers. In April 1975 the first postal

K I N G M A K E R game was un der way star ring well-

known AHIKS-ers Alan Youde, Bob Stuart and

Robin Hood (he's not kidding-ed.), with Clive

Booth, Mick Bullock and Mic haelvon Haagjo ining

the fun from a background of D I P L O M A C Ygames

in my COURIER magazine. (Incidentally, I little

knew what I as starting-both Robin and Clive ar e

now running postal games in their magazines; like

any other self-respecting germ, the K I N G M A K E R

bug has started t o spread).

In divising postal rules it was important to pull

together views on how to fil l thegap s in the Philmar

rules. Unfortunately I didn't have the pleasure of

meeting the designer, Andrew McNeil, until the

game was under way, and I found that in fi l l ing

those gaps I had unwittingly lost the spirit of some

of his original intentions. Particula rly I had failed to

grasp that he had virtually ignored the time-space

facto r as a deliberate policy; his concept of a

variable length of turn was quite foreign to me-

brought up on zones of control and terrain effects

charts-and I regretted one or two of the rulings 1

had devised too late to change them. The main

difference was my ruling that a noble had to reach

the designated Parliamen t venue in his normal move

rathe rthan by the instantaneous transfer Andrew

had in mind. I think we agreed that the difference

was in practice unimpo rtant-but I wish I had met

him and read the second edition of the rulebook

before starting the game.

I made myself very unp opular in some quarters

with my 'anonymity' rule, anoth er rule devised

especially for the postal game; without being too

defensive, let me explain First, 1 am quite

convinced that a pos tal version of a game can differ

significantly from the face-to-face version without

detracting from the spirit of either game; I would

defend to the last ditch the right of a postal

gamesmaster to adapt the basic rules so as o permit

exploitation of the postaldimensions; simultaneous

movement is an obvious example. I t also seemed to

me imp ortant in a postal game to emphasize the

need for inter-player negotiation-the 'diplomacy

element'-since a multi-player postal game would

be pretty dull without it. In postal K I N G M A K E R

movement had to be simultaneous in order to keep

the game to a reasonable length anyway so players

would not have the complete information which is

available to face-to-face players and inter-player

negotiation would be vital if any cooperative play

was to take place (which it should ) In additio n the

period of history we were dealing with was a pretty

chaotic one; communications were difficult at the

best of times, plague (and other unmentionable

diseases) was rife, men would not tur n up for a battle

if they had some thing better t o do (e.g. the battle of

Barnet which was only partially attended, much to

the profit of local whoreho uses) and uncontrolla ble

events dominated a ny campaign. I later found I had

correctly guessed Andrew's 'feel' of the game in this

regard-a mixture of spice, gall, subtlety and chaos.

S o decided to keep secret the ownership of

nobles. Each player would know which nobles he

controlled and which title, office. gang of archers,

etc. each of his nobles had. Everyone else would

know that particular titles and offices had been

assigned to particular nobles, but would not know

who controlled those nobles. Everyonewould know

where each noble was at any given time but would

have incomplete information about other players'

hands. If player A wanted to know which nobles

were controlled by player B and how stron g those

nobles were. he had someho w to cajole player B into

giving up his secrets. and no dou bt player B would

IL

BY Don Turnbul l

put s ome sort of price on. the information . A

alliance would at best be an uncomforta bl

partnership and the opportun ities for deceit an

treachery were endless.

I suppose this was rather a selfish rul

since it made the game much mdre fun for me a

gamesmaster and gave me great delight in th

confusion it caused. At the end of the game som

players suggested its removal and the publishing o

more complete information; others wanted t o retai

the rule as ad ding desirable spice. Despite th

opposition, I still believe the anonymity rule is

good one in the context of this game and a m glad t

see that oth er gamesmasters agree. One might eve

call the rule vaguely realistic. It did have i

unexpected side-effects, though; if a noble staye

put for a while, either because the controlling playe

wanted it to or because he had forgotten he was i

control (which did happen) everyone was apt t

assume that the noble was their own lost sheep, an

for one game tu rn

1

had no fewer than four differe

players writing ord ers for the same noble. Se rves m

right since then had to d o some careful checkin

myself. Of course th ere was at least one player wh

felt it would be in the spirit of the game to try t

confuse me by deliberately or dering nobles belong

ing to other factions; in a way he was right-

amongst the game's attractions are uncertainty

mayhem and downright dishonesty-and it keptm

on my toes throughout.

The postal game required other rule adjustment

but many of these were later incorporated into th

second edition Philmar rules and the AH rule

anyway. Board coo rdinates were not used but area

were identified by place name (York,

2

west o

Masham , south of Chill ingham, etc.) Movemen

was broken down into five movement phases pe

turn so players had to order their nobles ' exac

routes and could pause in certain phases of thei

choice if they did not want to use full movemen

Battles took place when nobles of opposingfac tion

landed in the same place in the same movemen

phase, and survivors could continue their ordere

movement after the battle. Players kept m

informed on their 'friendship' an d 'trespass' inten

tions. Nobles of different factions entering the sam

space at the same time did not d o battle if a

controlling players had declared 'friendship' wit

each oth er (this led to some fine misunderstanding

ac d a lo t of deviousness). A noble could enter

town, castle, etc., co ntrolled by anoth er player if th

latter had permitted 'Trespass'to the former. Battle

were reported openly though factions were no

mentioned a nd the nobles ' total strengthswerekep

secret. Nobles' titles, offices and religious wer

anno unce d t o all but holdings of ships, mercenarie

and to wns were kept secret. Six events cards (one fo

each player) were drawn at the end of each turn a fte

new noble ca rds had been allocated; the results we

announce d openly (e.g., a noble called away to dea

with a revolt) o r secretly (e.g. a faction getting a fre

move card) as approp riate at the end of the repo

for that turn. If two or more events cards called th

same noble to two or moredifferent places I resolve

the conflicting demands on his t ime at random t

determine to which on e he would react. I wondere

whether it would be possible t o penalize a nob

unfortunate enough not t o be ab le to deal with a

the demands upon him-what would the goo

people of England think of a noble who let a coup

of riots proceed unchecked beause he was messin

aro und somew here else? But I could not see how

levy such penalties so had to let such a noble g

away with inefficient government.



THEGENERAL

PAGE

If the King were called away by eventsc ards , and

failing instructions to the contrary from the

controlling player, I took with him the strongest

noble from the grou p he was with; if that no ble was

also called aw ay I took th e next strongest, and so on

down the line. As a converse, if the most powerful

noble in a grou p controlling a Roy al was called

away, he took the Royal with him but no one else

could go along for the ride. This ruling caused great

fun or annoyance, depending on point of view. At

least twice during the game the King was called

away in one direction and all the nobles in thegr oup

he started with were called away in others, leaving

the King uncontrolled and up for grabs. (The later

version of the rulebook specifically prohibits this, I

think to the detriment of the postalgame). I ran into

some criticism in this respect, too-but would do it

again. As Alan Youde pointed out in his end-of-

game comments, one of K I N G M A K E R S many

attractions is the rapid and unexpected changes of

fortune of any one player-no one is out of the game

until the bitter end (and perh aps this justifies the

presence of so large a luck element in the conflict

mechanics). This rule contributed a great deal to

player-interest a nd though those who suffered from

it though t it a bit harsh, not unn aturally, 1 would

retain it in the future as an essential ingredient.

Finally, and omitting minor rule changes and

clarifications which will be obvious to anyo ne

running the game, I adopted my usual irri tating

habit of announcing that I would invent rules to

cover unforeseen situations as they arose, asking

players to trust my discretion. They did-they had

to: they had already paid the game fee Actually

there was only one such occasion-a complex

business involving a premature calling of Parlia-

ment and doub ts about the King's Peace. I will

return to this later.

The game itself lasted sixteen mo nths real t ime

and 29 turns were played. I rememb er it as a

fascinating and hilarious business and I was glad t o

see that the players agreed (despite the anony mity

rule) in retrospect. T he one problem whichem erged

in the postal game was the difficulty of bringing

enemies to com bat. As Michael von Haa g put i t:-

In face-to-face play one can d ecide to double-cross,

then s tab with accuracy (preferably while theenem y

is in any case lying down). In postal play it means

marching u p hill, down dale, snicker-snacking with

one's vorpal blade every which way-usually, in my

case, with no result or otherwise finding I had

inadvertently challenged so me mug with a shoe size

twice as large a s mine. How t o introduce a n evil

precision into the postal game I'm not sure, but I'd

like to see it done. As for the shoe size bit, I think

that is a risk a player must accept (and anyway the

outcome of a battle doesn't always depend on

relative strengths) but 1 wholehe artedly agree with

th e rest (and I like 'evil precision9-exactly right for

this game). So me sort of modified zon e of control

ruling. whereby a noble's influence extend s to all

squares bordering on the one he occupies, may be

the right answer. 1 must brood on this and w ould

welcome suggestions.

1 mad e several errors in gamesmaste ring, mainly

because of failure to keep track of who ow ned which

castle. As Bob Stu art characteristically puts i t : Was

it not by some wet-weather wizardry that you

prolonged the game? When you resurrected some

noble in one of my castles, did I complain? When

you dropped my best friend into the moat, did 1 not

accept? As it happens, I don't think my err ors

affected the course of the game or i ts outcom e, but

gamesmastering was quite a tr icky job and I would

advise aspiring gamesmasters to make sure they are

going to have plenty of time to give the task.

Incidentally, you musn't take Bob seriously-he

won the game and had noth ing really to complain

about anyway. I would not however commend to

players his early tactic of attacking unoccupied

castles: this may serve to blazon one's strength

abroad to other players but i t is a dangerous

business, particularly for a player who controls

relatively few nobles. Nor would agree with Bob's

supposed 'advice' to futu re players-by-mail, written

with tongue firmly in cheek: Do noth ing lads:

gradually all the flower of England will be yours-

dished out of that crown pack. It should be

recorded that Bob rarely does what he says he

does-strong men have been known to pale on

learning. usually the hard way and too late, the

extent of his craft and guile.

In my view, no postal report iscomple te without

good press releases; aspiring gamesmas ters should , I

believe, encourage them. From the mass of press

releases provided for the game I select but two-

they ar e of: little relevance to th e gam e itself, n or

need they be, but postal gamin g is an entertaining

business and gamesmasters should encourage press

releases of quality for the sake of sheer entertain-

ment. First some enigmatic Welsh stuff from Alan

Youde:

HARLECH:

Myfanwy and Daffyd. It isagreed,

then. Only when and where remains to be decided.

Bethan and lfor may come. lorweth. Second, a

dramat ic con t r ibu t ion f rom Bob S tuar t whose

nobles had failed to unite at Fotheringhay, as

planned, because 1 couldn't read Bob's orders:

Playlet- H e Does It Again'. Scene-

Fotheringhay Castle. Hastings, Earl of Essex, sits

with Berkeley, Archbishop of York, before the fire

in the Great Hall. Each s harpens his dagger.

Berkeley: What be that ringing noise?

Hastings: Bells, I expect.

Berkeley: It be that new-fangled invention the

telephone. (Berkeley, with knowing look, answers

the telephone).

Berkeley: Hello. This be rightful occupiers of

Fotheringhay.

Caller: This be Mowbray.

Berkeley: Where a r t thou?

M0wbra.v: Haven't a clue. B Wizard of

Wrong Directions has beenat i t again. I told Wizard

to fetch me up one west of Belvoir-silly b has

struck me in the middle of nowhere. West of

Nottingham? That be Tutbury oh b

Berkeley: Were you planning on coming to tea?

M0wbra.v: Nay-was com ing to belt thee one.

Now 1 be going to Camb ridge and belt him one.

H m m m m .

I think it adds to the atmo sphere too for players

to name their factions. The best name in my game

was Alan Youde's

Wigan Peers, but unfortunately

that is an English in-joke, and Michael von Haag's

La Belsize San Merci (he lives in Belsize Park ) is my

second favourite.

Wh at of the gam e itself? Well, others' ga mes can

be bor ing fo r the on looker , bu t anyone who wantsa

turn-by-turn account can obtain it (at a modest

price) from me at

5

Greenlands, Red Cross Lane,

Cambridge CB2 2 QY, England. The swing of

fortune in a postal game seems for some reason

more m arked t han in face-to-face games. Perhaps

this is because of the tempo generated by the

simultaneous movement and the simultaneous

effects of six events cards. But 1 for o ne enjoy the

postal version more than the face-to-face, par-

ticularly if there are four o r more players. Th e

problem with all sequential movem ent multi-player

games is for each player t o maintain interest while

awaiting his next turn; happily this problem is

absent in the postal version. I t is important to

maintain the pace of the game, first by insisting on

short periods between moves, during which time

players must conduct their diplomacy and plan

strategy, second by ensuring swift adjudication;

nothing kills a postal game more effectively than

lengthy delays by the gamemaster between t

deadline d ate and the mailing of reports to playe

T h e s h e e r m o m e n t u m o f a n o n -g o i

K I N G M A K E R keeps interest alive even in playe

whose fortunes are currently at low ebb, and that

the way it should be.

I believe there is still some unresolved confusi

abou t Parliament in the postal game and can be

dem onstr ate this by reference to one incident in m

game which nearly caused some harsh wor

between M ick Bullock and myself. Right at the sta

of the game (and working only from the first , ve

inadequate, rulebook) I had ruled that Parliame

could be called at the end of the turn in which t

King and the noble from the supporting factio

summo ned by writ, reached th e designated Parl

ment venue; the actual handing out of cards fro

Chancery would take place at the end of t

subsequent turn. This gave other nobles one turn

get to Parliament by normal movement if th

wanted a chance to get some goodies. Tw

Parliaments had been successfully held by th

method when o n turn 22 Mick Bullock, who had

long suit in nobles and who controlled the King b

who had little in the way of titles and offices, sent

six nobles with the King to Chichester a

summo ned Parliament there. The trouble was th

the writ was served on Bob Stuart's Bourchier w

wasn't in Chichester at'all but was somewhere dow

near Pevensey. This meant that Mick had beena b

premature in his announcement (and perhaps

shouldn't have printed it) so I pointed this ou t to t

players, saying that I would confirm in the report

turn 23 whether Parliament would be held or n

and that any cards would bedistributed at theen d

turn 24.

In turn 23 Mick compounded his error

moving his six nobles and the King away f ro

Chichester to Farnham, instead of awaiting t

promised arrival of Bourchier at the Parliame

venue. Bourchier arriv ed in due course, but findi

neither King nor King's peace in Chichester, sl

Talb ot (Clive Booth in possession-another

Clive's bad turns of fortune) who had arriv

expecting peace and goodies but finding only

untimely end at Bourchier's blood-stained hands

reported all this and said that Parliament would

held in Chichester on turn 24 as announced so lo

as the King returned there; if not there would be

Parliamen t and no King's Peace. My logic,

respect of turn 23 or turn 24 for that matte r, sa

that the King's Peace couldn't be in Chicheste r if t

King himself was elsewhere.

Tu rn 24 was, for Bob if no one else, the high sp

of the game. Having no intention of going

Parliamen t o r any othe r such silly business, B

ordered his force north out of Chichester to me

Mick's six nobles and the King who were du

heading south again. Despite having six nobl

Mick's tota l strength was only 120 against Bo

strength of 260 in three nobles. Th e outcome-six

dead nobles, Hastings in control of the King,

Parliament and no King's Peace again (whi

surprised the two nobles in Chichester in

attacking each o ther, this t ime with n o result) . O

of the bloodiest turns of the game, and the o

which almost certainly secured Bob's eventu

victory.

1 have pondered long and hard abou t this ser

of events and my rulings. Was the writ, despite

prem ature issue, effective enough to keep Bourch

waiting for the King in Chichester until the lat

decided to turn up-in othe r words was B

allowed to m ove his Bourchier, Hasting s and Per

out of Chichester to intercept the King? Was Mi

right to expect th e King's Peace on his way to t

Parliamen t tow n, on e turn late, if the King wasn't

Continued on Pg

9

Colum



PAGE

2

THEGENER L

POST L KINGM KER M ECH NICS

Will McCullari7 goes Don Turnbull on e better

and s pe l ls ou t the pos ta l K I N GM A K E R r ules he

uses in his.fan zinc J P P . He even goes s o . far as to

provide us tcith a pos tal vers ion o f the map with

named areas and sea squares which should be o f

inter es t even to K Mp laver s w i th no p lans t o def :~ the

pos tnlan.

An undeservedly neglected masterpiece.

Huizinga's The Waning o f the Middle Ages is the

best source for background t o

K I N G M A K E R .

It is

the synthesis, the crystallization of a lifetime of

work at the University of Leyden in the field of

history of that period. ( Mo st public libraries have a

copy o r two). Huizinga's central thesis is the

contrasts in medieval life. In other words he believes

that peop le experienced life mo re intensely because

of the contrast between bodily cold and comfo rtable

warmth; hunger and well-fed; sickness and health;

love and rejection. Th e waning of th e middle ages is

seen as a process of erosion of the distinctions

between thos e extremes. C ertainly the return of the

summer sun and the exquisi te percept ion of spring

no longer move us as they once must have done.

At that time, society distinguished a superior

class known as the nobility or aristocracy. It is

comm only held th at this distinction is based on land

tenure, but it does not seem unfair to postulate that

the real basis for the distinction of nobility was

grou nded in the willingness of certain individuals to

facedeath. An aristocrat thu s is someone who is not

afraid of death for honor or loyal ty or even sport .

More t o the point , an aristocrat i s someone who, in

an age of violent extremes, is ready to exchange the

perception of life for the stone cold tomb.

The young Pole, Duke of Suffolk, wasted with

sickness, could barely stagger to the f ront line in his

bat t le ar mo ra t the batt le of Agincourt. Subsequent-

ly he was cut dow n in the first French onslaught. Yet

his place was with his King in the line. He was Duk e

of Suffo lk because he was in the line and died and he

died in the line because he was Duke of Suffolk. T o

our minds it is almost inconceivable that a man

would throw away his life in this fashion; it is no

longer chic; i t embarrasses the modern mind; yet

these are the rules of the game.

It is this boldness, resolve, confidence, or

willingness to accept risk which can make

K I N G M A K E R a really ex citing game, but which is

too often lacking. Postal games, at least in the

States, particularly suffer from timidity, some of

which may be due to unfamiliarity with the rules,

which a re different fro m most war games .

Hopefully this will change since now postal

K I N G M A K E R has about as much exci tement as

checkers matches between seven year olds. On e of

the seemingly least understood rules is the loyalty

tables for killed nobles. which allows their family to

replace subject noble, effectively returning the lost

unit to the player.

On the other hand, perhaps

K I N G M A

KERisn't

really a war gam e at all . Certainly there ar e a

multitude of alternative winning strategies. The

original form of each game is determined by the

distribution of Crown Cards in som e rand om

fashion. T hese card s represent nobles, t it les, offices,

ships, mercenaries, an d th e like. The possible mix of

12 random cards is practically infinite. Even

relatively weak nobles can be assigned a n enobling

title card, changing their characteristics and

opportunities. Essentially each 'hand' is played

differently.

In play the re is very little resem blan ce

between game s played in different 'zines since the re

By Will McCullam

is no convention yet on the distribution and h olding

of these Crown Cards. The big difference is in

whether the cards are held 'blind' or not . D on

Turnbull 's first postal game in the U.K. started the

convention of holding all crown cards blind, th at is,

no player knows who owns any nobles in play,

except fo r his own. M ost U.S. 'zines have followed

this practice, however,

J J P

identifies all cards in

play and only blinds crown cards held unassigned,

i.e. not in play. Also, it has been custom ary to

augment a n original dist ribut ion of say, 12cards , by

periodic distributions from the crown deck, but

Beaucoullon has recently initiated the practice of

dist ribut ing al l crown card s at the commencement

of play. There are only minor di fferencesamo ngthe

various 'zines apart from the above, such as

distribution of event cards, o r whether the earlier

English or newer Avalon Hill version is used.

Apparent ly there i s sti ll some sno bapp eal in owning

and even playing postally th e former, which is silly,

since the AH version is a much better game. In any

case, these are questions of detail compared with the

cited differences in crown card distribution and

holding; which have a really profound effect on the

course of the game.

Well. we have drawn a 'hand'; what nowa?

Som e cards, of course, are far st ronger than

others. The office: Chancellor of the Tower of

London , for example, not only confers contr ol of

London , and King Henry, but also an enormou s

army. However, all of these advantages do not of

themselves confer victory. Rather the contrary, for

the inheren t security one feels with this position is

more spurious than real. This relates to the other

players. F or face-to-face play, it seems that the ideal

number of players is four; five for postal play to

compen sate fo r missed moves. To o many players

results in impossibly weak factions. In this situation ,

the above becomes almost a n automat ic posi t ion.

At the same t ime, the above can become a most

dangerous position in postal play, since it will be

assumed that the Chancel lor i s in play and anyone

venturing near London will be suspect-and hence

ganged up on. It is vital to be aware of what your

opponents have; or what cards are in play;

frequently it is more useful to deny them oppor-

tuni t ies than to develop your own hand. For

example, i t is always better, when given the choice,

to capture a ci ty control led by an oppo nent , then to

capture a neutral ci ty. The form er not only gives you

four votes in parl iament , but almost as important

steals four away from the enemy. Even a card such

as the Warden of the Northern Marches, which is

considered a w eak card, since the holder is called to

the no rth freq uently by event cards can be the basis

for a strong position. The north is not favored; yet

there are four towns north of the Tees avai lable to

the Warden , that 's 12 votes, and a further four

towns and one ci ty north of the Trent . Agran d total

of 28 commons. This may be a unique advantage;

for the Chancellor of England really cannot be

risked besieging towns, w hereas o ther cards ar e well

adapted to this endeavor. The vital point is to suit

your strategy to the potential which exists within

your hand. For someone with a bunch of untitled

nobles, ambu shes may be particularly profitable; if

a 10 point noble ambushes anothe r worth 300; the

odds are either 6;1 by the die, or 10-1 against by the

event cards; whereas the payoff is 30-1.

Surprisingly few problems seem to have arisen in

postal play. Notably the seeming invincibility of the

Name

Grids

for

use

in

Postal

KM

HO ME COUNT IES NORT HUMB ERI.AN D (No. of R. Te

Widmerpool Otterburn

2 Gr~ms by 2 Hexham

2A Grimsby 3 Dunstanburgh

3 Wolverhampton 4 Flodden

4 Evesham 5 Solway Moss

5 Bosworth 6 Clif ton

6 Stamford

7 Wigton

6A Desborough 8 Alston

7 Marke t Deeping 9 Wetheral

8 Long Sulton 10 Brampton

9 Wisbech Bellingham

10 Ayl sha m 12 Peel Feel

Beverley 13 Sunderland

12 Rush den 14 Gateshead

13 Huntin gdon I5 Wolsingham

14 Peterb oroug h 16 Cons ett

15 Guyh~rn

16 Outwell

TH E M I D L AN D S (Tren t t o Tees)

17 Ely

Morecambe

18 S. lves

2 Newton

19 Lowestoft

3 C lapham

20 Ledbury

4 Settle

21 Banbury

5 Hellif ield

22 Buckingham

6 Buckden

23 Aylesbury

7 Pateley Br.

24 Bedford

8 Grassington

25 Dunstable

9 Ripon

26 Gloucester

10 Egremont

27 Newport

Borrow Dale

28 Cirencester

12 Shap

29 Bampton

13 Wiclif f (No./ Richmond)

30 Saffron-Walden

~~~f~~~

31 Mar lborough l6 Kendal

32 Reading

33 Chelmsford

17 Reeth

34 Southend

18 Darlington

35 Watcher

19 Yarm

36 Glastonbury y ~ ~ ~ o ~ u g h

37 Stonehenge

38 Basingstoke

::

?

39 Guildford

4 Wil t on

24 Bramham Moor

41 Yeovil

25 Leeds

42 Sherburne

26 Shipton

43 Blandford

27 Blackburn

Cashmere

28 Barup

45 Ringwood

29 Halifax

46 Lymington

30 Liverpool

47 Aldershot

31 Wigan

48 Petersfield

32 Manchester

49 Reigate

33 Ashton

50 Dorchester

34 Penistone

Lyme

Regis

35 Doncaster

52 Bognor Regis 36 Macclesfield

53 Brighton

37 Flash

54 Lewes

38 Sheffield

55 Tunbridge Wells :: ~ ~ ~

41 Ripley

SEA SQI I AR ES.

Nor th Channel WA LES

2 Morecambe Bay Colwyn Bay 31 Abergaven

3 Solway 2 Flint 32 Monm outh

4 Ballyleige Bay 3 Nevin 33 Haverfo rd

5 Irish Sea

4 Pen-Y-Groes 34 Bryn Mamm

6 Ribble

5 Bettws-Y-Coed 35 Armm Anfo

7 S. George s Channel 6 Bycchaw 36 Ponty pridd

8 Cardigan Bay 7 Mo ld 37 Caerphilly

9 S. David s Head 8 Bala 38 Raglan

10 Carmarthen Bay 9 Ruthin 39 Kidwelly

Lundy 10 Wrex ham 40 Lla n Tussa

12 Bristol Channel Dolgelley

13 Scilly Straights I2 Llannwchllyn DE VO N

14 Cornwall Bay

13 Cross Foxes lllfracom

15 Lyme Bay

14 Owswestry 2 Lyn ton

16 Guernsey

15 Mach ynnlle th 3 Buck s C

17 To r Bay 16 Newto n 4 Barnstap

18 Jersey 17 Welshpool 5 To rr~ ng

19 Solvent 18 Muc h Wenlock 6 Chulm lei

20 Eng. Channel 19 Abery stwyth 7 Tiverto n

21 Beachy Head 20 Pon terwyd 8 Boscastle

22 Bay of The Seine 21 Mon imer s Cross 9 Holswon

23 Straits of Dove r 22 Lampeter 10 Torqu ay

24 Dieppe 23 Llandovery Fraddou

25 The Down s 24 Llyswen 12 Liskeard

26 Hollesley Bay 25 Vowc hurch I3 Launcest

27 Aldeburgh

26 Fishguard 14 Bridestow

28 Yarmouth 27 Carmarthen I5 Tavistock

29 The Wash 28 Handyssul 16 Camborn

30 Nor th Sea 29 Merthy r 17 Falmouth

31 Firth of For th 30 Tyd fil 18 Lizard P



THE GENERAL

PAGE

IRELAND

SCOTL ND



P GE

4

Dukes of York and Lancaster cards. In JJP gam es.

neither is considered responsive to the loyalty table

and once killed. are considered t o remain dead until

the heir or King associated with them is killed. J J P

has published a map assigning names to all the

blank spaces. This is also used by Beaucoullion

however. the map is really more complicated than

necessary. and the number of squares could be

reduced by half without changing the character of

the game. Unfortunately the advanced battle rules

are not used much. No doub t they seemcomplicated

when compared with the easier s tacking and o dds;

KINGM KER RULES EXPL N TIONS

however, they are very reasonable and add a degree

of versimilitude that is otherwise lacking.

Hopefully a more aggressive spirit will soon

become evident in postal play; at least the thing

seems more enjoyable bashing heads.

The following is believed to be a co mplete list of

current publishers of KI NG M AK ER postal 'z ines

in the U.S.

The Ninth Circle-$4.50-David Bunke, 5512

Julm ar Drive, Cincinnati , Ohio 45238

AHIKS-must be 21 or over to join-Omar

DeW itt, 547 Riverside Drive. Elizabeth. N. J.072 08

Kha zad Dum-The oldest Kingm aker 'zine in

the U.S.-William A. Clum m. R.R. #I , Amesville,

Ohio 4571

Beaucouillion-$4-Dick Trtek, 2728 S E Main

St., Apt. I, Portland. Ore. 97214

JJP-$6-Will McCu llam, Fair mo unt Rd..

Newbury, Ohio 44065

Cant erbu ry Tales-Players only-Stephen

Hall, 4405 South 36th St.. Arlington, VA 22206

H O U S E R U L E S F O R P O S T A L K I N G M A K E R

Advanced battle rules will not be used. The

Gamesmaster. henceforth called Herald shall be the

sole arbiter of play

There shall be five players, each receiving 12

crown cards. which will be identified asbelon ging to

each player. Initial dispositons shall be published

separately and additional distr ibutions of crown

cards made throug hout the game. These latter may

be blind, that is held secretly by the players, however

once assigned or put into play, they shall be

published as belonging to the appropriate player.

Only one event card, applicable to all players

shall be drawn each tu rn. N on-event cards (such as

Free Move) shall be assigned to a player and

another drawn, until an event card is drawn.

Players who fail to submit moves shall forfeit

their turn, and any player who misses two

consecutive turns shall be liable to forfeit all crown

cards.

All play will be simultaneous, by phase: 1)

Ransom /Execution; 2) M ovement; 3) Com bat; 4)

Assignment of Crown Cards. If a parliament is

called. it shall substitute for the combat phase.

If two o r more players ord er their units t o a

fortified position or other identical objective then

theplayer whose units arecl oses t shall be considered

to have priority. If both players are equidistant from

identical objectives. then land m ovem ent shall have

priority over sea movement, and the larger force

over the smaller . Road movement shall be con-

sidered as one square distant. If tw o players order

their units to identical fortified objectives and the

priority forc e achieves his objective, then the second

player shall be placed in the open adjacent to the

objective. If, however, the first player fails in his

siege, then the second player shall be deemed t o have

an opportunity t o besiege the place, without having

to contest with the force of the first player.

All movement orders shall be specific and

referenced to attached map. stating place of

beginning, intended path, and final destination by

Cont inued on Pg 9 Column 2

By Mick Uhl

After a two year existence in America,

KINGMAKER sti l l retains a large popularity and

even cult statu s as evidenced by the large

reg is t ra t ion fo r the KING MA KER tournaments in

the last two O RIG IN S conventions. Being the

chairman of both tournam ents, as well as the

developer of the game, I began to discover several

comm on m isconceptions and misinterpretations of

the rules. In part, this is a result of the assump-

tions developed from the English version, and in

part due to the compromise nature of the rules,

which tend to be short for generalconsu mption, but

carefully worded for completeness. As a result, there

is too much emphasis on individual definitions of

key words and phrases. If one person's or club's

definition is incorrect, the eventual interpretatio n of

the rule is the same. This article hopes to clear up

most of these misinterpretations. O missions in the

rules will also be listed.

1. In two areas of the board, it is difficult to tell

whether a road is blocked by or bypasses a town.

These two locations are at Shrewsbury and Lond on.

Conside ring the effect of playability an d play

enjoyment ,

I

feel that both Shrewsbury and

London control all roads running into their square

and hence block all movement through the square

along these roads.

2.

a.

There has been som e difficulty determininga

noble's capabilities in alliance. T o clarify this, it is

extremely important to understand the sentence,

IMPO RTAN T: No coun te r (Noble , royal he i r o r

ship) can ever move or attack in more than one

round in a turn on page

9

of the rules. This sentence

means tha t a nob le who movesand /o ra t tacks in his

turn cannot d o either in anothe r player 's turn in the

same round, even if there has been an alliance

formed in between. A noble can defend in his turn,

then ally and defen d again with theallied noble(s) in

another turn of the same round, though. The

alliance must be made before the attack is

announced in order for the all iance to apply in

defense. In subsequen t rounds , the allied nobles can

move and attack together by choosing one overall

commander for each group operating together. A

com ma nder is not needed for allied nobles to defend

together. Unfortunately, a contradiction to this rule

appeared in my Development Notes in the

GENERAL 13.3, question 13, and should be

disregarded.

b. It is not necessary to choose an overall

com man der when makin g an alliance. It is necessary

to d o so, though, if any of the all ied nobles are to

move and attack together (not defend). A com-

mander, once chosen, can only be voluntarily

changed if a ll the nobles to operate under the

comm ander are present in the same square.

3.

To implement the Optional Victory Conditions,

it is essential to have a majority of the totalvote in

Comm ons, not just a m ajority of the vote in play or

in attendance. This is a fixed figure of 79 votes. This

is not tru e in the Lords, there it is only necessary to

have a m ajority of the vote in attendance .

4. Because of the cut of the map, it is difficult to

determine whether a ship can sail around Penzance

in the southwest tip of England. Of course. a ship

cannot sail around Scotland on the northernedge o

the board, but a ship can sail around Penzance

Consider the town enclosed in one sea square.

5. Ther e still seem s to be difficulty in determin in

from w hich sea square to enter a port . Consider eac

coastal sea square as a four-sided figure of whic

one o r more sides are coast. A port that is locate

alon g that section of coast can only be entered from

that sea square. Therefore the same section of coa

cannot fo rm the side of more th an one coastal se

square. Th e problem is in determining within whic

section of coast some ports are located. The se

square whose coastal border is closest to th eanc ho

symbo l of the port in question is the correct squar

There are two exceptions. Calais borders the se

square a t F 6 and Pevensy borders the sea squarea

(3-5. It is recomm ended, a s an aid, to take a re

ma rker and color a section of the whitecoa st close

to the p ort t o indicate i tsexact location. Note abov

the letter

R

of Rochester th at there is a black li

breaking the Thames estuary to London. Th

should be taken as a separation of the sea lane in

two squares. I t would therefore take a comple

move of 5 squares t o move o ut of the port of Caist

into the port of London. I t is appropriate to remin

you at this point that the town of Preston is a por

6. Som e question has also arisen as to whether a

attacking force is imm une to capture if i t a t tack

This is not true. If afor ceo f 50attack safo rceof 1

in batt le and a majority , 5 to 4,3 to 2 or 2 to 1 resu

is chosen the defender wins the battle and captur

the attac king force.

7.

Some people have questioned exactly wh

areas on the game board are defined as part

England. All islands and land masses except t

continent and Calais , Scotland and Ireland are pa

of England.

8.

Another frequently asked question is who ca

be forcibly summon ed to Parlia ment by a writ

Any noble on land or at sea as well as on th

mainland can be summoned. Passengers at sea ca

only ignore Raid and Revolt and Embassy

cards. A noble under siege or on an island witho

a ship cann ot respond to a writ . A ship can

loaned, voluntarily or involuntarily , to bring t

noble to Parliament only if that ship has n ot move

at a ny time previously during the ro und. This is

comply with the one move per round ruleasstate

in 2a above. I think an additional restriction is

order. A noble in refuge on the Continent or

Scotland (see Optional Event cards in this issu

cann ot be summ oned by writ whethe r a ship

available or not.

9.

Nobles summoned to a fortif ied city or town f

Parliament d o not have to be in the town or city (i

ignore Plague ) to attend . Any nobles in t

friendly faction may enter, though.

10.

One final question often arises. W hat happe

to a ship(s) carrying passengers which is forced in

an unfriendly o r neutral port, and a siege cann ot

conducted or is unsuccessful. The passengers e

the turn in the square in the open, but the ship

itself must rem ain in the po rt until the port becom

friendly.



THE GENERAL

M OR E KINGMAKER

PAGE

S U R P R I S E S

NEW EVENT CA RD S FOR KINGM AKER

By Mick Uhl

Mick Uhl is the fellow who so ld the brass at

There are three types of "Treachery" cards; one

Avalon Hill on the merits of KINGMAKER- listing one Crown card to be removed; one listing

mainly by playing it night and da y nonsrop for

two Crown cards to be removed; and one listing

weeks until we agreed to publish ir hm mm

three Crown cards to be removed. One or two cards

do I see a pattern developing here-frsr of your choice should be shuffled into the Event

KINGMAK ER now RAIL BARON.

Who is thar

deck at the start of play.

masked man anyway? As developer of the

2 .

Gales at Sea card (Stephen P. Herchak)

American that is to say Avalon Hill version of the

When this card is drawn, all ships cu rr~n tl y t

game Mick is the logicalguy top as s udgement o n

sea are sunk and all nobles and Royal heirs aboard

add-ons and variations of the popular m ulti-player

are lost. The ship cards of the sunk ships are

game. Besides he has toanswer thenut mailanyw ay

returned to the Crown deck and their ships removed

from the board. The ships of the Warden and the

Admiral are not removed, but placed in their home

Across the table sits the last remaining varlet

port (listed on the card). The Admiral and Warden

between you and the throne of England. That is,

office cards are not lost . All noblesaboard and their

between your Royal heir and the throneof England.

awards are returned to the Crown deck or the

You, of course, will serve in an advisory capacity

Chancery and the Royal heirs are removed from

only. Little does this scurrilous cad know, but two

play. It is suggested that only one or two of these

months earlier you made a secret compact with cards should be placed in the Event deck.

Percy (i.e. you drew his noble card from the Crown

3.

Refuge card (Arnold Blumberg)

deck a couple of turns ago) to aid in the cause of

Rather than allow a noble and Royal heir in the

your claimant (i.e. you are about to play the card) in

Advanced game unlimited stay in Ireland and the

order to crush his faction (i.e. with Percy you'vegot

Continent, permit only the Lieutenant of Ireland

a 4 to 1 majority) and triumphantly enter London.

unlimited stay in Ireland. Any noble or nobles and

But wait You have analyzed your

plans to the

any accompanying Royal heirs may stay in Ireland,

last detail. Nothing can go wrong. So why is this

the Continent or Scotland only if they play a

pheasant (i.e. English turkey) smirking and "Refuge" card. On the "Refuge" card is listed the

laughing in your face? You just drew a "Treachery" number of turns that a noble(s) and Royal heir(s)

card from the Event deck and have lost Percy to the may stay in refuge. Once the time of refuge has

Crown deck. A "Treachery" card? Where did that expired, the nobles and Royal heirs must either

come from? leave or be lost. Nobles and their awards are

Hear Ye Hear Ye Are Y O U tired of seeing the returned to the Crown deck or Chancery and Royal

same old plagues? Does watching your best noble heirs are removed from play.

answer the same Raid and Revolt (don't those

When drawn, a "Refuge" card is retained in the

peasants ever take time out for a meal) provoke a

same manner as a "Free Move" card. It can be

strong desire to do some raiding and revolting of traded. It is played just like a "Free Move" card

your own on the Event deck. Well, your troubles are

during the movement portion of the player's turn.

over. Now available for the first time is an

Any number of nobles and Royal heirs in a faction

alternative. Try stuffing the Event deck with some

may take advantage of the refuge as long as they

new surprises.

move to the same location (i.e. Scotland, Ireland or

Presented herein are new Event cards that you

the Continent) in the same turn that the "Refuge"

can add to the Event deck to rejuvenate Your

card is played. Additional nobles and Royal heirs

K I N G M A K E R game. We suggest, however, that

cannot take advantage of the refuge after the turn

you warn'your opponents of these additions before

that the card is played or if in another location. Only

starting play or you may just find a sudden

one group may be in refuge in one place at one time.

escalation of the war to a more modern setting.

Combat cannot occur on the Continent or in

These new Event cards are a result of the

Scotland. It may occur in Ireland.

suggestions of three people, Stephen P. Herchak, There are three types of "Refuge" cards

Craig Ransom, and Arnold Blumberg. These cards available; one for three turns, one for five turns and

will be, basically, handmade although players may one for seven turns. Any number of each may be

adapt blank Event cards in their game or purchase placed in the Event deck at the players' discretion.

new sets of these special Event cards plus blank The number of turns of refuge should be kept secret

cards from AH. The new Event cards are shuffled and only revealed on the turn that the noble(s) and

into the Event deck and utilized like the others. The Royal heir(s) must leave. Afinger ort hum b overthe

number and type of each new Event card to be used number is sufficient to hide this information. When

is up to you. A recommended number of each type the time of refuge is up or when all of the nobles

has been included in the description. although it is prematurely leave the refuge, the card is returned to

not a mandatory figure. Feel free to experiment with the discard pile. Nobles in refuge cannot be

this and any new ideas Y O U might have. Write and summoned to Parliament although they may go

tell us how it goes and include any of your own ideas voluntarily. Scotland is considered a port in the

that have proved popular.

same manner as the Continent and Ireland. Once a

noble leaves refuge, he cannot return until another

1. Treachery card (Stephen P. Herchak)

"Refuge" card is played.

The player who draws this card must return one,

two or three Crown cards held in his hand he .

As an additional and optional function of the

unplayed cards in hand) to the Crown deck. ~ h e s e

"Refuge" card, include the islands of Anglesey

cards are chosen while face down by the player on

(Beaumaris), Wight (Carisbrooke), Man (Douglas)

the left and are not revealed to anyone. If the player

and the Calais square as places which can only be

holds less than the number to be removed, the excess

occupied with a "Refuge" card. Exceptions would

is ignored.

include unlimited refuge without use of a "Refuge"

card for Stanley in Man, for the Captain of Calais i

the Calais square, for the Treasurer of England

Anglesey and the noble awarded Carisbrooke f

Wight. Any other noble to enter one of these isla

squares would need a "Refuge" card. Nobles ca

enter one of the refuge location without a "Refuge

card in order to besiege the town or castle in th

square, to attack a force in the square (not allow

in Scotland or the Continent) or to capture a Roy

heir. They must leave the next turn after the sieg

battle or capture has been resolved. The force c

and must leave whether they control the port or no

A ship cannot voluntarily enter a refuge port due

storms at sea unless it is the only "closest" port.

Permit nobles the ability to cross from t

mainland into Anglesey (Beaumaris) if they sta

their turn adjacent to that square. (i.e. in t

Caernarvon square)

4.

Vacillating Allegiance card (Arno

Blumberg)

Any number of these cards may be placed in t

Event deck. The drawer of this card during t

Event Phase immediately loses the use of one nob

for one turn. The noble affected cannot attack

that turn. The noble affected must be determin

randomly. Any system may be utilized. A suggest

method would be to take all of the noble cards of t

player and mix them up. Have another play

choose one of the face down cards to determine t

vacillating noble. The noble cards are then return

to their awards.

If the card is drawn while determining the resu

of combat, one of the nobles of the weaker of t

two factions involved in the combat must eith

return home before the battle or siege, or im

mediately switch allegiance to the opposingfactio

After the noble is randomly determined, the od

are readjusted and a die is rolled utilizing the tab

below. A noble who is to return home mu

immediately be placed on one of his home castle(s

friendly, or the closest friendly town, city or castle

unfriendly. A noble who switches allegience s giv

to the opposing faction with all of his awards. T

noble now operates with and is part of the opposi

faction.

Majority

5 4 3 2

2-1

3 1 4

Return

Home

1 6

1-5 1-4 1-3 1 2 1

Switch

Allegiance 6 5-6 4-6 3-6 2 6

Combat must continue and after the disposit

of the vacillating noble is determined, a new Eve

card is drawn to determine combat. A noble w

switches allegiance may be added into its ne

faction's strength for the combat.

A "Vacillating Noble" card is ignored if t

affected faction has only one noble in play duri

the Event phase or one noble in combat during t

Combat phase.



P GE

6

5 Catastrophe card

When d rawn , this card affects all nobles in play

and any wh o are subsequently put into play during

the period of its influence. While this card is in

effect, all strength given to a noble by office,

bishopric or title only is temporarily lost and not

counted for strength. W hen the period of itseffect is

over, the "Catastrophe" card is returned to the

Event deck and th e nobles immediately regain their

full troop strength. All garrisons (town, city and

castle) are not affected.

Titled nobles do not lose any strength due to

their t i t le . Only strengths awarded by a t i t lecard are

lost.

There are three types of "Catastrophe" cards;

one for one round duration. one for two rounds

dura t ion and one fo r th ree rounds dura t ion . The

round begins on the turn of the draw. If a

"Catastrophe" card is drawn while ano the r is in

effect, the card must still takeeffect on the tur n of its

draw. There is no additional penalty if two o r more

"Catastrophe" cards are concurrently in play. It is

suggested that one or two cards of the players '

choice should be placed in the Event deck.

The reasoning behind the inclusion of this type

of card is based on the overriding effect of

uncontrollable events on the course of history,

especially during medieval and early renaissance

periods. Any type of catastrophe, natural or

otherwise, could reduce a noble's power to the bare

minimum of his own personal entourage. These

cards represent catastrophes and events of such an

overriding nature to preclude the effective

maintena nce of large field arm ies by th e nobles. Of

course, as soon as the catastrop he o r event passed,

the war resumed a t full strength.

6

Royal Death card (Craig Ransom)

The player who draws this card rolls two dice

and consults the table below to determine the

natural o r accidental death of o ne Roy al heir . If the

Royal heir chosen has already been removed from

play, do not roll again. It is recomm ended t hat only

one card be placed in the Event deck.

Basic Game

2. George of Clarence

3. Richard of Glouceste r

4. Richard of Gloucester

5.

George of Clarence

6 Edward of Clarence

7. Henry VI

8 Margaret of Anjou

9 Edward of March

10. Richard of York

I. Richard of York

12. Edward of March

Advanced Gam e

2. Edmund of Rutland

3. Rich ard of Gloucester

4. Edm und of Rutland

5 Margaret of Anjou

6 Richard of York

7.

Henry VI

8

Edward of March

9 George of Clarence

10. Edward of Lancaster

1. Richard of Gloucester

12. Edward of Lancaster

Here are some points t o remember. Theeffect of

these new Event cards are ignored (except

"Vacillating Allegiance") if they ar e draw n durin g

combat resolution. All cards, once their effect is

over, are returned to the Discard Pile. All cards

which are returned at th e same time to the Crown

deck must be mixed when placed at the bottom of

the deck so that no one knows their order. Whe nany

of these cards are picked to resolve combat, utilize

the Advanced Nobles Killed table to determine the

nobles killed. Th e battle odds should be distributed

equally amo ng the card s; e.g. if you add 10 new

Event cards to the Event deck, two should have a4-I

majority. two should have a 3-1 majority. etc.

"Vacillating Noble", and "Refuge" Event cards

should not have any combat result printed on the

card.

N D STILL M ORE

KINGM KER

SURPRISES B y M i c k U h l

Ever wonder how the original descendants play

KIN GM AKE R? Here are some ideas that a British

games club used to put some variety into their

KIN GM AK ER games. Included, too, are

suggestions submitted by other garners. Try an y or

all of these suggestions, or some of your own.

Experiment. You may find the formula that will

aga in make KIN GMA KER the most popula r game

on your shelf.

Personally, I feel that experimenting is a healthy

approach to the type of game tha t KING MAK ER

represents. Although th e tour nam ent level, struc-

tured, one on one play that most AH wargamers

employ, precludes variation and variants; multi-

p l a y e r , d i p l o m a cy - t y p e g a m e s s u c h a s

K I N G M A K E R a n d D I P L O M A C Y , t h ri v e up o n i t.

If these new ideas show a definite increase in play

excitement, they could possibly be incorporated

into a future printing of the rules as "optionals". So

try any or all of them out and let us know how they

work f or you.

1 (Derek C arver an d the British games club) "We

have found tha t the game frequently lacked "drive"

due to insufficient men. Not enough mercenary

troops were around to encourage open coutry

battles for he sole purpose of strengthening one's

hand. It was assumed that anybod y owning a town

could raise som e form of force but with low morale.

So let the ownership of a town card provide 20

additional men. Bristol would give 30 men. Castles

would not have any troop bonus.

These men are

useful on119 in attack.

They have

no defense value.

From this i t can be seen that even the most

insignificant nob le can app ear strong. This en-

courages exciting contests because even if an attac k

fails or is delayed due to bad weather, a countera t-

tack will almost certainly succeed due to the low

defense of the assemblage. T he levies are not taken

into consider ation when calcu lating ship capacities.

The town forces, therefore, cannot be used on an

island, in Calais, the Continent, Ireland or Scotland

(see Optiona l Event cards article in this issue.). This

troop bonus is only associated with towns named on

town cards. Town cards gained by capture must be

awarded to one noble involved in the siege when

utilizing this rule."

2. (Derek Carver and the British games club) "Most

people agree that the regularity of PLAGUE is

unnatural. Therefore, we operate that each time an

Embassy card is drawn, the entire deck of Crown

card s are reshuffled (add ing the Discard Pile). This

does away with the predictability." You may also

wish to reshuffle the crown d eck afte r every

Parliament.

3 (Derek C arver and the British games club). One

of the most serious drawbacks in play is the

initiative to attack (or lack thereof). Therefore ,

allow a player whose faction successfully defeats

one o r more nobles in anothe r faction by battle or

siege to take the defeated player's next draw from

the Crown deck when it occurs. This reflects the

increase in power of the victorious faction and loss

of power of the defeated faction. It also is an

additional incentive to attack.

A future dra w from the Crow n deck can also be

an incentive in Ransom. Allow the defeated player

to trade on e or more of his future draws from the

Crown deck a s a bargain for Ransom . If i t is agreed

upon, the capturing nobles may hold on to the

ransomed noble or Royal heir until his ransom is

fulfilled (i.e. the Cro wn ca rds dra wn) and then,

must be freed. If the ransomed noble is recaptured

a subs equent battle before all of the ransom is pai

the rans om can be ignored (the defeated player,

an act of good faith and friendship, can sti l l g

through with the bargain). If the noble is n

executed on the turn of capture, he cannot

executed a t all (until recaptured after being set fre

A faction is not required t o hold the captured nob

o r royal heir, it is the controllin g player's choice.

noble left alone is immediately freed. A noble

Royal heir cannot be moved in more than one tu

in a roun d (i.e. a noble heir cannot be moved by t

capturing faction, freed, and then moved by t

controlling faction in the same round).

4. (Derek Carver, Arnold Blumberg, Stev

Herchak, and many others) Combat at sea h

probably been one of the most popular suggestio

sent in. Th e effect of this is obvious. N o longer c

ships and their passengers sit off shore for lo

periods, immune to Combat, Raids and Revo

(and in some games "Summons to Parliament"

Battles at sea can provide a n exciting alternative

land battles and it can permit a faction to increa

the size of his fleet.

Comba t at sea is fought ust l ike a battle on lan

Each ships' combat strength is represented by

passenger

capacity.

The strength of any passenge

are ignored. It is assumed that the differen

between a ship's capacity and the strength of

passengers is made up of sailors.

When o ne o r more ships of one faction enter

square occupied by one or more ships of anoth

faction (not in port) , the moving ships may

choo

to attack. Th e ratio of ship capacities of t

opposing fleets are compared an d an Event card

drawn to determine victory as in land battle. T

"nobles killed" section is still utilized. If one side

victorious, they capture all ships, nobles and Roy

heirs of the defeated faction. They may execute

ransom th em a s in normal combat. Ship(s) nam

on "Ship" crown ca rds are immediately plac

under the contro l of the capturing faction and t

"ship" card(s) given to on e or more of the no

passengers. A ship or ships of the Warden

Admiral remain under the control of the capturi

faction, but as soo n as i t touches port, i t immedia

ly reverts back to the control of the Admiral

Warden. A "Vacillating Noble" card (see Option

Event Cards in this issue) is ignored unless

"Vacillating Noble" for ms the majority of the shi

capacity. In this case, thes hipei ther goes toany po

(of oppo sing player's choice) and th e noble home,

the ship joins in with th e opposin g fleet. A ny oth

nobles on board are captured.

As an adjunct t o "Combat at Sea", a ship m

blockade a port by occupying a sea square adjac

to th e port an d naming the port being blockaded

a ship o r ships in th e port leave that port to sail, th

must stop in that hex and join battle with

blockading ship or ships.

Nobles and Royal heirs captured at sea a

subsequently ransomed, still retain control of

ships that they occupy. They must return t o a p

on their next turn. As soon as he

ship(s) touch po

the ransomed noble(s) relinquish control.

Continued on

P g 34

Colum



THEGENERAL

PAGE

T h e booming of over two hundred cannon fill

the a i r a s both armies prepare for the Confederate

onslaught. Picketts' rugged Virginians a r e to

spearhead this final drive t o break the strong Union

position o n Cemetery Ridge, south of the Little

town of Gettysburg. Success means the probable

capture of Baltimore a n d Washington a n d final

victory for the Confederacy. Defeat will

mean. we'll let history finish the story.

GETTYS URG has been 18 months in the

making. Great care has been taken that all

informat ion presented in the game is the most

accurate available from primary sources. T h e order

of battle a n d appearance has been checked a n d

rechecked; the mapboard prepared from detailed

surveys of the battlefield; a n d the game system

designed so that you assume the same problems a n d

face the same decisions that confronted R.E. Lee,

George A. Meade, and their field commander s .

GET T Y S URG

has been divided into three

mutually exclusive games, each of different com-

plexities a n d play lengths, in order to give the player

the game he wants t o play, n o matter what his level

of expertise. As a result, each of the three games is

specifically designed for a par t icular audience. One

game system has not been needlessly modified to fit

v e r a ~ l e v e l sf complexity.

T h e Basic game is rated Introductory a n d is

excellent as a star ter game for newcomers t o

wargaming. T h e Confederate a r m y is composed of

25

unit counters a n d the Union a r m y is 27 counters

strong, representing all the infantry, cavalry a n d

artillery divisions a n d brigades which actually

fought. Each turn of play equates two hours of real

time. C o m b a t results between fighting units ar e

resolved by strength difference. C o m b a t can be

modified by the type of a t t ack a n d defense

format ions selected. Play is fast a n d fur ious a s the

Union player tries to stave off the Confederate

onslaught in time t o bring his greater rein-

forcements in to play.

The Intermediate game is reminiscent of the

classic attack-counterattack type of game that

Avalon Hill popularized in the ear ly a n d mid-

sixties. Thebasi c unit for al l armies is the brigade.

Each a r m y has approximately 6 to 80 brigades

within its command. Losses are taken by steps. A

brigade which loses a step also loses its ability t o

at tack for the rest of the day.

A

fierce d a y of fighting

can find both armies exhausted a n d n o longer able

to at tack without proper rest. Strategic movement

permits units t o reach the same positions o n the

battlefield as their historic counterpar ts, yet

prevents mass flanking movements which dragged

earlier versions of GET T Y S URG i n to a who can

form the longer battleline syndrome.

The Advanced G a m e has it all. All important

aspects of Civil W a r tactics ar e reproduced t o play.

Brigades can form battlelines a n d columns of

different lengths depending upon their strength.

Commander s a r e rated a s to their ability to

coordinate at tacks a n d control units in movement

a s well a s their own personal leadership. Both

armies must take care to maintain sufficient suppo rt

for their f ront lines, otherwise they may find their

whole line in jeopardy due t o a successful assault.

C a n n o n composing each battery a r e divided into

three types; napoleon, rifled a n d howitzer, a n d rated

according to range a n d firepower. Each infantry

and cavalry brigade has a n experience level rat ing its

ability to give a n d receive a n at tack. T u r n s can vary

from 20 minute periods dur ing a n at tack to a n hour

Counter illustrationsactual size.

o r longer dur ing periods of inactivity. There a r e bat tal ion a n d battery involved in the battl

many what i f ' variants which can be employed to overprinted with colorful badges a n d states (actua

keep the other side guessing a s to the strength and ly used by the units in battle) for quick sor t ingan

time of arrival of your army. A special what i f ' h a s identification, plus rules and char ts to set up a n

been created to allow you t o return Stonewall refight the greatest battle of the North America

Jackson to command, a n d see if he could have given

continent.

the Confederate a r m y the impetus for victory.

GET T Y S URG is now available for $10 pl

GET T Y S URG is packaged with a 22 x 28 postage charges from Avalon Hill. Maryla

multi-colored mapboard of the battlefield, mul-

residents please a d d 5 state sales tax.

ticolored counters representing every brigade,



P GE 8

THEGENER

SQUAD

LEADER

R u s s ~ a n .A m e r ~ c a n , nd German forces engage

In bloody street f ~ g h t s ,descend on enemy held

v~llages. ake key

hills.

o r cross open fields In the

quintessence of Infantry combat

Thls

IS

S Q U A D

LEADER- a game utlllzlng every aspect of

Infantry warfare f rom street

fighting

In Stallngrad

to armored advances across snow-covered roads In

the Ardennes S Q U A D L E A D E R 1s not just a

game-lt 1s a system e n a b l ~ n g he player who has

mastered ~t to replay v~r tua l l y ny b a t t a l ~ o n evel

actlon of W W 11 In Europe

Borrowing

heavily from mlnlatures rules, noted

game d e s ~ g n e r o h n Hill has d e s ~ g n e d n lngenlous

new game system whlch approaches the effects of

simultaneous movement w ~ t h l n a n elaborate 8

phase player turn Developer Don Greenwood has

streamlined

the system for the utmost In playabl l~ty

In what otherwise would be a n extremely com-

pl~ca t ed ame

S Q U A D L E A D E R ut l l~zesProgrammed In-

structlon to Introduce each of ~ t s 2 scenarlos

gradually so the player need read only a f r a c t ~ o n f

the overall rules to get started Once the player feels

comfortable w ~ t hhe game system he can g o o n to

other scenarlos, addlng more c o m p l e x ~ t y s he goes

The unlts are 10 man squads ,4-5 m a n c r e w s a n d

lndlv~dual leader counters They have a large

assortment of support weapons, lncludlng varlous

types of machlne guns, flamethrowers, d e m o l ~ t l o n

charges, smoke, panzerfausts, bazookas, r a d ~ o s ,

anti tank

guns and a n assortment of vehlcles a n d

AFVslnutes Eachach urnarge imulateshex thequalsassage0 metersf twof m J U&

~ . - - - J 2 8 2

actual terraln

Leaders play a major role In the game by

d ~ r e c t l n g ire, rallylng broken unlts, and generally

enhancing

the performances of t h e ~ r roops

T h e

underlying

theme of S Q U A D L E A D E R 1s one

hlnged o n morale T h e player who can ut l l~ze ~ s

leaders most effectively t o dlrect fire o n the

opposltlon whlle keeplng h ~ sw n forces under cover

& out of enemy f ~ r eanes

will

usually be the wlnner

Usual11 because nothlng 1s ever 100% certaln In

S Q U A D LEADER.1t 1s poss~ble , l though hlghly

unl~kely, hat a slngle leader could best three enemy

squads In close combat o r that a squad w ~ t h o u t nti

t ank weapons could knock out a t ank In one of o u r

playtest games a slngle German heavy machlnegun

crew pract~cal lyw ~ p e d ut slnglehandedly, a t long

range. a n entlre R u s s ~ a n at tal lon

advancing

across

open terraln In another, a squad In modera t e cover

w~ths tood he ent l re firepower (lncludlng a r m o r ) of

a

reinforced

company for

3

turns ' As In combat

nothlng IS certaln a n d w h ~ l e epulsing a R u s s ~ a r

human wave at tack, your machlnegun may jam o r

your squad may d e c ~ d e t ' s afer In the rear

T h e

unpred~ct ab l e ature of all unlts under fire 1s both

the blesslng and the bane of S Q U A D L E A D E R

commanders

In the advanced scenarlos, the game expands to

Incorporate Offboard Art~l l e ry , ~ g h t ules, barbed

1,Ilr

wlre, entrenchments, mlnefields, bunkers,

multi

level bulldlngs, rubble, f ~ r e , lver crossings snow,

roadblocks. mortar, etc Yet the b~gges t pt lon IS thc

very open-ended nature of the game Itself C o m p l e t ~

D e s ~ g nYour Own and C a m p a ~ g nG a m e systems

have been Included to allow players a n lnf ln~te

varlety of ~ndlv idual cenarlos and extended cam-

palgnsQ U A D L E A D E R comes boxed complete wlth

mmm

4

our 8

x

22 Interchangeable full color ~ s o m o r p h ~ c

boards. 716 two-s~dedcounters.

36

pp

rulebook,

S Q U A D L E A D E R 1s a v a ~ l a b l e nly by mall

S Q U A D L E A D E R I S ot for the u n ~ n ~ t ~ a t e d - r

scenarlo cards, two Qulck Reference Data Cards ,

from Avdlon H ~ l lorS12 00 plus postage Maryland

Tournament Level IV o n the Avalon H ~ l lomplex

and two d ~ c e resdent s add 5 state sales tax W A R N I N G ty scale

ounter llluatrdt~ons ctual size

roke

A8



THEGENERAL PAGE

South Dakota

' 5

V IC T O R Y I N

THE P A C I F I C

December 7, 1941. . l n Pearl Harbor , the United

States fleet lies burning, a n d the overwhelming

fleets of the Imperial Japanese Navy a r e sweeping

forward all ac ross the Pacific. This is the start of the

most m a m m o t h naval war in history-the three

years ( f rom December 1941 t o late 1944)-when the

largest navies in the world collided across the

greatest ocean in the world--the Pacific. F r o m the

time when Japanese strength was overwhelming to

the point when the mushrooming United S ta tes

Navy surpassed the mighty Japanese fleets, it was a

war of cau t ious maneuvering and carefully planned

strategies-for even a t their weakest, b o t h sides

always had the power t o destroy.

VICTORY I N THE PACIFIC is a strategic

game of the naval war in the Pacific dur ing World

War 11. It is a simple game o n the strategic level, in

which ships and units a re assigned to areas where

they will fight, a t tempt ing to causeenemy casualties

and gain control there; combat resolution is

abstract, based o n a simple confrontation of

opposing ships in the same area, like Avalon Hill's

popu la r

WAR AT SEA game. However, in the

Pacific the ocean is large and the fleets a re

enormous , and the rising deadliness of a i r power

casts a shadow over the fleets that sail the

seas. . land-based air fleets a re present, and marine

divisions t o invade and cap tu re island bases. T h e

result is a subtle test of strategic skill, in which the

players must use ships, planes and marines to

cap tu re ports, bases a n d sea areas tha t lead t o the

heart of the enemy's war effort.

The game includes a coun te r for every capital

ship that fought in the Pacificduring the crucial first

Y a m a s h ~ r o

three years-each battleship, battlecruiser, fleet _LC

carrier and heavy cruiser has its own coun te r , a s well

as some of the front-l ine light cruisers. T h e

Japanese, United States, British, Australian a n d

5 5 4 4 4 4

Dutch navies a r e all represented. T h e land-based air

fleets that fought a r e also present, f rom the United

Yamato

States '5th Air Force that survived the Philippines t o

l r ~ s h ~ m a

lash back a t Guada lcana l t o the Japanese 25th Air

A

Flotilla that opposed it; each a i r fleet has its own

coun te r . There a re even marine divisions that invade 7 9 5 C36

islands, a n d garrison coun te rs that hold them.

Air strikes, gunnery duels, "night actions",

4 n~ r

invasions, island air bases a n d submar ines a r e all in

New Jersey Houston

the game. You must choose a n d develop the winning

strategy-whether t o fight for India, fo r Australia ,

o r for the Pacific island chains, o r whether to fight a

climactic battle a t Midway a n d the Hawaiian

L

Islands

But beware The Japanese fleet is overwhelming

a t the start-but the United States is building the

most m a m m o t h , powerful navy in the history o f t h e

world. .It is three years of skillful attacks, defense

and coun te ra t tacks by both sides that will determine

the final winner of VICTORY I N THE PACIFIC.

G a m e comes complete with full color 22" x 28"

mapboard , over

2

two-sided full color counters of

varying sizes and shapes, 8 pp. rule booklet, two

Order of Battle Charts , and four dice. Not just

a n o t h e r WAR AT SEA, VICTORY I N THE

PACIFIC

a d d s sophistication and simulation

missing in its sister game while maintaining the

former's ease of play. Playing time 2-3 hours.

VICTORY IN THE PACIFIC is available fo r

$9 plus postage from Avalon Hill. Maryland

Counter ~l lustrat~onsctual sire.

residents please add 5% state sales tax.

..

Arizona

4

4 4 3

Essex

1 3 7

Alaska

3 4 7



PAGE 2

THEGENERAL

6 6 . I

I

DhRGW I

Boston6 Malne

-. in

en,

w

R IL

B R O N

uthless, cut throat compet~ t ion . .You ust

get your products to market, crossing and recross-

ing the continent f rom major clty to major c ~ t y . he

rewards are great-but the fines are enormous, if

you use a rail line that a n opponent owns. Can you

survive the ruthless competltlon and b u ~ l d ourself a

rail emplre that will squeeze your compet i tors out?

In the give and take of fines and payoffs, can you

make the money that entitles you to becomea

RAIL

BARON?

Formerly referred to a s BOXCARS In this

magazine, t h ~ s s the game which has been the

subject of more playtesting than any A H title of

recent vintage. Since we discovered this little gem

last summer, it has been the source of a n average of

three 7 PM-Midnight gaming sessions a week

A F T E R we've all punched out for the day. This

i4

ame got played because it was enjoyed-not

~8 2;

because it was anyone's assignment. It wasn't long

;- ~;w:

efore the Saturday af ternoon IGB sessions were

also dominated by multi-player games of BOX

CARS . This game has made previous fads such a s

WOODEN SH IP S IRON MEN a n d

KINGMAKER look trivial by comparison. A

simple game of luck a t first glance, it evolves into a n

amazing game of strategy for those deep into the

game system.

RAIL BARON is a friendly , family gamefor3-6

players. T h e game is simple to learn, but there are

subtle strategies involved-a perfect game for the

beginner and for the cunning strategist. T h e game

board portrays the 28 major rail lines in the United

States, f rom the tiny

Richmond,

Fredericksburg

and Potomac to the mighty Southern Pacific. Each

NP

player moves his token from city to city, collecting

money and buylng rail lines as he goes-and paying

UnionPacitle NorthernPaslllc

fines whenever he uses a rail line another player has

bought. If you d o not think you a r e going fast

enough, you can even buy a better locomotive-an

express, o r a

SUPERCHIEFl

Title cards (showing the logos of the 28 rail

lines); money, locomotive cards; movement, origin

I T

I

I

and dest~nat ion okens a n d a

16

x

33

full color C L O

CRILP

n

Q M 6 0

m a p of the United States rail net all come with the

numre

6

I

h . ~ aochw ~k GUII. wpbl

6

ohit

mm

game, along with char ts for selecting your next

destination and determining your payoff.

RAIL BARON

1s a n excellent game for clubs,

beginners, non-wargamers, a n d anyone w h o likes

good competition a n d a lot of fun. For 3-6 players;

playlng time 3-5 hours.

RAIL BARON

sells for $10 plus postage and is

available direct f rom Avalon Hill. Maryland N O ~ ~ O I ~WHI

S O U I ~ ~

.citic

residents please add 5 state sales tax.

M h C n l . ,

-

ard tllustrat~onseduced In stze

.

Atlantic Cout Line

Texas

6

Pacific

................. 111

-

SUPERCHIEF

MP I ~ m a t r P

MlUOUrI P.ClC

7

......................



THE GENERAL

PAGE 2

WIN PLACE

SHOW

WIN, P L A C E S H O W , ano ther of the after

hours favorites of the design staff, is ano the r

resurrected, redeveloped 3M game which, together

with S P E E D CIRCUIT , formed the best 1-2 entry

in the 3M line. This unique game of thoroughbred

racing offers something for everyone, a s each player

simultaneously plays the role of owner, jockey, and

even the handicapper in the stands.

Before each race there's a n auction, in which

players compete for ownership of the horses

themselves. Then it's post t ime a n d dur ing the race

they serve a s their own jockeys, making split second

decisions on position, passing, sprinting, etc.

Ingenius order of movement innovations by the

designer gives every horse a genuine chance to make

it to the winner's circle, a l though each has very

different capabilities. S o m e are fast starters , o the rs

are mudders, and the favorites tend t o run

consistently well on both fast a n d slow tracks.

Each six race ca rd inc ludes 5 a n d 6 furlong and

1% mile races with a field of 6 individually rated

horses and appropriate posted odds. Post position,

running strength, speed, endurance , a n d jockey

classification all play a part in determining which

horse is the best bet a t the posted odds. You'll want a

veteran jockey if you've got a fast starter o n the

outside rail but that extra weight allowance f o r a n where players pick the winners of the first two of a

rating 36 different horses, betting slip pad, rule

Apprentice jockey often makes the difference too. six race slate fo r really big payoffs. The game even

money and two dice. For 3-6 players; playing tim

T h e real f u n comes in the betting. where each

includes special rules for Party and Fund Raisers 2 % hours. WIN, P L A C E S H O W is available b

player tries t o pick the top three finishers a n d then

versions guaranteed t o liven up any party.

mail f rom the Avalon Hill G a m e Co. for $10 pl

lays down his $1.000 to $5,000 wagers f o r better o r G a m e comes complete with full color 24 x 22

postage. Maryland residents please add 5% sta

worse (no pun). And there's even a Daily Double mapboard , six plastic horses, six racing programs

sales tax.

SPEED

CIRCUIT

S P E E D C I R C U I T i s o u r new release of the 3M

game featuring Grand Pr ix racing on three

championship courses-Monza, Monaco , and

Watkins Glen. We've tidied up the rules a bit, a n d

added a few componen ts , but basically it's the same

game.

One of the big attractions of S P E E D C I R C U I T

is that prior t o the game everybody secretly designs

his own racer to the specs he th inks a re best fo r each

individual course (or, in the alternative version,

designs one ca r for the whole circuit). Since winning

the game entails having the best total record on all

three, you've got t o be able to incorporate the

demands of each course into your racer.

Acceleration. deceleration, starting speed, max-

imum speed. and all- important ability t o sustain

engine and brake wear a re all decided by the player.

Each course will favor certain characteristics to t h e

exclusion of others, so there is a cons tan t trade-off

in the racer's design, as it is impossible to build

everything in to its severely limited confines.

Another big plus in S P E E D C I R C U I T is tha t

except fo r very rare occurrences (such a s whether o r

not a spinout becomes a crash, o r a n engine burns

ou t f rom being over taxed) dice a re totally absent

f rom the game.

In S P E E D C I R C U I T all races a re decided

totally a s a result of the players' skill (o r the lack

go t wha t in to make. Mistakes can be costly, a s a misjudged S P E E D C l R C U l T i s a g a m e f o r 2 - 6 players,an

designing and handling their machines.

move can lead t o spinouts, burned out brakes o r is sure to be popular with bo th casual and dedicate

Speeding up for straightaways, slowing down

engines. or even a race-ending crash. S P E E D garners alike. Now available

fo r curves ( o r taking chances by nut slowingdown).

C I R C U I T comes complete with a full color 32 x

slipstreaming, pushing the engine bove its safe

22

mapboard , six metal cars, Performance Log

Price is $10. Maryland residents add 5% sales

limit-these a re all tactical decisions each driver has

Pad rulebook, and die.

tax.



THE GENER

ALEXANDER

G RE E K: RI CH AR D PL O CK

PE RS I AN: RO B E RT L I VE RM O RE

C O M M E N TA T O R : R I C H A R D H A M B L E N

ALEXANDER

is a ,ferocious attacking game.

Thanks to the .facing rules and the low

mo\~ement factors. forn~ard ovement is.faster than

lateral movetnent and is much.faster than retreats;

thus an attacker can attack much faster than a

defender can reinforce or flee, so that each

consecutive turn o f attack starts with a greater

advantage and does more damage. Also, most

powerful units are doubled on the attack-and

almost nobodv is ever doubled on defense. Best of

all, automatic breakthroughs are common-and

every unit in thegame is tremendously vulnerable to

rear attacks. An advancing attacker is aln8a.v~

threatening to break through or outflank a

defending line, which can bring on a catastrophic

rear attack .

So the attack is stronger than the defense-

which encourages both sides to attack and keep

attacking once the armies are in contact, rather than

try to fall back and regroup. This tendenc j is

enormous ,. magnified because a defeated player

does not have the time to regroup-his retreat is

slower than the enemy attack, and the defeat itself

permanent ,. weakens his army's fighting abilitjl.

causes other, unhurt units to desert and bolt from

the.field, and can even lead to his defeat even when

he has a substantial army Iefi-because every defeat

lowers his morale.

The effect on the game is clear-both pla.vers

attack, hammer and tongs, and ma.v the best attack

win. Games regularlv last two-mavbe three-turns

once battle begins; then it is over.

For both sides the tactical objective is clear;

when the battk begins, each side wishes to have a

good attack ready to go in. Also, it doesn't hurt at all

to make the

first good

attack of the game.

The elements o fagoodattack arealso clear. The

attacker needs a powerful attacking forceposition-

ed opposite a

vulnerable

defending force. For bot h

sides the cavalry (and other mobile units) are the

strongest andf astes t attacking orce, so they will be

the meat o f the attack. Missile units are very

powerful in the defense (thanks to defensive

support), so the attacking force will need enough

missile units t o negate the defending missile units by

pinning them; it is even better t o have missile

superiority

in the attack, since the ew extra attack

points can be crucial in getting a decisive

breakthrough on a constricted front. Most impor-

tant o f all, the attack ,force must contain a lot of

units, or

114 0

reasons:first, theattacker willhave to

commit a lot o f strength just to create the

breakthrough, and the attacker must have ad-

ditional units available with which ro make the

exploitation attack ^ that are tru ly devastating; and

second. the attack ,force must have enough strength

to survive the defender's counterattacks either b.v

having enough strength to wipe out the defenders

before they can counterattack, or hv havingenough

units to make a defensive line that can survive

attrition and prevent enemy breakthroughs.

The result i . ~hat the attacker must attack en

masse, with a marked superi0rit.v o f strength where

he attacks.

The peculiar nature o f the units in bo th armies

greatl~. ffects where each side can ind a vulnerable

defender. The Greek army is concentrated, which

means that it is small hut better able to maneuver

and attack in a small area; thus, the Greeks wish to

start a local battle and destr0.v rhe Persian in detail.

Converselr~, he Persian player, with his larger and

clumsier arm.,', needs to stretch the Greek line or

ou flank it; the Persians can then attack at the weak

point. The Persian attack is complicated, however,

by the presence o f the Greek Phalanxes, which are

invulnerable to,fronta l cava1r.v assault. As a result.

the Persian must maneuver their cavalry away rom

the phalanxes and attack on their f i n k s instead-

which are the vulnerable targets for the Persians,

especiallv since the clumsy phalanxes are eas.r, to

destroy once their .flank guards are gone. For the

Greeks, the vulnerable target is the weak Persian

infantry, rather than the dangerous swarm of

Persian cavalry.

With bo th armies advancing faster than they

retreat, time is litnited. Each side must rush to

deploy or the kind o f battle it needs-the Persians

hurrying to stretch or flank the Greek line with

cavalry while avoiding the phalanxes, the Greeks

rushing to start an earlv local battle, hopefully

against the Persian infantry. With the first attack

rushing down up on them, neither side has the time

to repair mistakes in placement-the most subtle

error can be an irremediable catastrophe.

Time

is the problern. An early battle is the

Greeks' aliv, delay is the Persians'-hut on v if the

Persians use the time to get into position.

The game shouldgo to the player who makes the

best use of

time

Creek Setup:

On the whole, this appears to be a reasonably

well balanced game. Th e Persians probably have an

overal l edge, but tend toascribe this to theabsolute

value of the Alexan der piece. Note that the Persian

can lose his entire army but win if the Greeks lose

Alexander and nothing else-admittedly improb-

able, bu t emphas izing the necessity for cautio n in

the use of Alexander.

The Greek advantages ar e in the greater st rength

of the individual pieces, the greater mobility of

many of them, the combined arm s capabil i ty, and

the com binat ion of set t ing up second and moving

fi rst . The Persian advantages ar e the greater num ber

of units (especially cavalry) and greater overall

st rength of the army, the importance of Alexander,

and the fact that morale i s determined after the

Persian move. Th us, as the Greek player, I must t ry

to fo rce the gam e into a p attern th at will nullify the

Persian advan tages. 1 think th at this requires that I

at tack a s quickly a s I can; to wai t for him to at tack

enables him to bring most of his army to bear upo n

me at o ne t ime, and I simply cannot afford such a

battle. I want to fight on a narrow front, hopefully

to on e side of the board where I only have one flank

to worry ab out . Also, by attackin g I make it possible

to threa ten his baggage

camp(s) in the event of a

breakthrough; waiting gives him that opportunity.

If I am able to keep the fight on a narrow front

shou ld win by virtue of the superior strength of m

units; if I am forced out in to the center of the board

probably lose. My flanks become too vulnerabl

and his greater numbers hit me from all direction

Except for minor details, his setup is probab

abou t a s flexible as he can make i t . This way he do

not co mmit himself until his sees where my units ar

I am set t ing up to advance my right wing whi

trying t o stall for time on my left. I have chosen

advance on my right because, while his units a

almost symmetrical, the board is not. I think t

eastern baggage cam p is a hai r more vulnerable th

the western one-assuming

I

can m ake i t that far

am planning a fast assault with my heavy caval

and Hypaspist infantry supp orted by javelins, wi

the ph alanxes following up to inhibit any countera

tacks. O n the left, 1 wan t to use the light cavalry

slow his cavalry advance there-he will almo

certainly make a st rong cavalry thrust on that wi

the m ainstay of his attack. T he longer 1 can del

this attack of his, the better my chanc esare . He mu

go slowly in the beginning;

I

can still shift my forc

to that side should he advance too rapidly aw

from his infantry. My 2nd Com panion and 2

Thessalian c avalry will function a s a mobile reserv

initially they will delay his cav alry adv ance , while

he waits too long they can join the attack on m

right . My Thracian G uard uni t may just a s well

that , guard the baggage camp. Soon er or later

will have cavalry units in that ar eao f the board, a

something has to protect the camp. My bagga

train probably belongs at W-I, however there ex

circumstances wherein it may be useful as a one-tu

block early in the ga me (no te that it is meaningle

to lose it before the Persian has m orale losses), and

can reach the back row rapidly enough from whe

it is.

PERSIAN SETUP:

Besides having to setup first and move second

the first a disadva ntage, the second an advantage

the Persian player has several other differences

contend with. The Persian force is over

numerically larger: in particular, i t has mo

infantry, although fewer phalanxes, more caval

and three co mmand ers to the Greek s tw

moreover, the Persian force contains elephants a

horse arch ers whereas the Greek does not . S

alone does not, however, guarantee superiority.

large army-particularly an ancient army-can

an unwieldly and clumsy army. T he major proble

with the Persian Army is to keep the pieces fro

getting in each other s way.

The compactness of the Greek army makes

easier to maneuver. Moreover, all Greek fighti

pieces can coo rdina te attacks; the Persians can on

coordinate archers wi th the at tacks of infant

cavalry, elephants or chariots. Finally the Gre

cavalry is in general faster and heavier than t

Persian. These factors combine to give the Gre

army an overwhelming superiority in terms

maneuverabi l i ty. The Greek st rategy is thus

attack the P ersian force witha locally superior for



THE GENERAL PAGE

while relying on the clumsinessand slowness o f he

Persian army to prevent the remaining Persian

forces from attacking the Greeks.

The Persian strategy requires him to buy time

for maneuver. The last thing desired by the Persian

commander is for the Greeks to engagea part o f his

forces in such a way that they have im ediate

suuerioritywhile the remainder o f he Persian forces

have to sort themselves and rush o f f toward the

emergency. The Persian strategy requires that his

whole army be deployed around the Greek army

before the armies get locked in combat. Experience

has shown that once the armiesengage they cannot

disengage until one has destroyed the other.

The longer it takes for the Persian to deploy for

full use, the greater the advantage for the Greek.

f

combat does begin before he is fully deployed, the

Persian player should try to keep it to a minimum

and try for exchanges. Exchangesare beneficialfor

the Persian, since his army is so much larger than

Alexander's.

The difference in size between the armies can,

however be used to the Persian's advantage in

delaying a major engagementof he two armies.The

Greeks cannot avoid having a flank hanging in

space. This isthe disadvantageimplicitin the army's

compactness. The threat o f attacking this un-

anchored flank imposes caution on any Greek

advance, and caution requires time. O f course the

Persian would not be dismayed by a swift advance

by the Greeks which was heedless o f its flank

problems.

My setup reflectsthe above considerations.The

cavalry isdeployed significantlyforward of he foot.

Both forcesstand centered on the East-West axis of

the board. do not know which side the Greeks will

attack. They musr attack on a side or risk two

exposed flanks My cavalry deploys and advances

forward as soon as the Greek dispositions and

movements are learned. The infantry can either

advance at some distance behind the mounted

forces,or hang back and set up adefensiveposition.

have also left infantry prepared to defend both

camps.The Greekscan only attack one camp or the

other. It would be foolhardy for them to attempt a

serious attack on both camps. The foot have

deployed forward o f the two camps: the force in

front o f he camp which the Greek finally threatens

have plenty o f time to go back to the camp and

deploy once the direction of hat threat isperceived;

the force guarding the other side is positioned far

enough forward to be moved into the battle before

the game is over.

The Persian player wants his army to be in a

position where it can 'embrace' the Greeks. To get

into this position he must avoid close contact for as

long as possible. Hopefully then the embrace will

turn into a death grip.

It

followsfrommy analysisthat the Greekplayer

must take the offensive, fheexpects to win. It isnot

merely advantageous for him to do so; it is

imperative for him to do so. The worst thing that

can happento the Greeks isfor the Persian to deploy

around and then engage in a slugfest o fexchanges.

In order to win you need the ability to force the

fight to occur when you are ready. For the Greeks

that means anytime the Persians are not. For the

Persians it is anytime that they can effectivelyuse

most o f their army. Much o f the pre-combat

maneuvers concern this crucial issue ofwho shall

have battle when and where he wants and not when

and where his opponent would have it.

SET U P

The Persianset up isexcellent. Setting up second

isamajor Greek advantage; hey canset up opposite

one winn of the Persian line and rush in to attack

and de&& it bqfore the other wing can swing

around. Here, the Persians have set up centeral ~

INITI L SETUP

and to 1herear;the.vhavegainedtime todeploy, and

shift my whole army in that direction. am still

they can bring their whole army to bear as a unit.

completely committed, and will not be until

The Persian cavalry isforward, where it has a head

right wing isclose enough to his forces to allow

start towards an outflanking move in either possible attacks. My light units are only a nuisa

direction. Excellent; the Greek set-up advantage is

but they are a dangerous one if ignored. expec

minimized.

will move a weak cavalryforce to block my adva

The Greekselect to

concentratetheirphalanxes

until his infantry can get there, which it will do

leaving the light infantr.vguarding heflanks and the rapidly as possible. Meanwhile he will organi

cavalryree to attack. All this isgood, but the exact powerful cavalry wing to attack my left. He m

placement o f the phalanx line is a problem. leave enough on my right to block my advance

Ordinarilv,the Greeks do best to rest oneflank on keep my units engaged, otherwise can go after

rough terrain, so the rough terrain can guard that baggage camp or even disengage and face my

flank; this leaves the infantryree toguard the other Thus expect cavalryon my extreme right,while

flank. Here. the Greeks have set up a little too ar phalanxes and light infantry hit my right cente

from therough terrain.They

willhave toguard both

flanks, which will force them to use cavalry in a

defensiverole-thqv just don't haveenough infantry PERSI N T U R N

I

to guard both flanks at once. He is making a major drive on my leftflank

Actuall~~,he Greeks don't have any reallygood course he can always change the direction of

choicesagainst this Persianset-up. The Greeksneed

attack, but this takes time and unless act on

to be close to the center of the board, in order to cut

assumption that he is attacking my left,

across the board and chase the Persian infantry i guarantee that he does attack there. h

the need arises. Also, a centralposition forces the responded by pulling infantry and phalanxes to

Persian cavalry to make a wider circuit to get right; have also advanced a largecavalry forc

around the Greek ,flank. The set up is good-the the right o f the former center of my ar

Greeks are closer to making their attack, and the threateningthe left o f hisarmy. have screened

Persians will be delayed ingetring aroundtheflank. East baggage camp with a smaller but still effec

Nonetheless, the Persians start with an advan- cavalry force.

tage.

He cannot continue in the direction o f

The cavalry screen on the left should also advance without exposing his left flank to mas

prevent an.v hasty Persian advance. attack from my cavalry. This will probably ca

Final note: the Thracian Guard is wasted where him to change the direction o f hisattack from no

it is. Having to guard borhflanks, the Greeks will to northwest. This change in direction leads

need all their light infantry on the front line. The away from my westernbaggagecampand delay

Greek cavalr,~senough to delaythe Persian cava1r.v attack; moreover, while this change relieves

advance against the Greek baggage camp. The acuteness o f my threat to his flank, it will

Thracians can't hold

out by themselves anyway, stretch him and thus increasethe extent o fhis fl

and ifthe Persians decide to ignoreit then it isjust a

problems.

wasted unit. The Greeks will wish they had it on think that hewill turn his Army northwest-a

their left ,flank. anchor his right flank on the western rough terr

while fading a bit on his left flank. doubt tha

reek

ove

:

will attack now. He might try and 'rip o f f som

make my move as planned. am keeping my

my heavy cavalry by attacking with his light fo

left out o f his reach,but if he hurries forward will

against an exposed flank, but have disposed



PAGE

4

horse archers so that such a move on his part is open

to 3 to arrow fire before he can even try it. doubt

that he will waste even his light cavalry on 'rip o f f

trys.

The move have made gains me time in

disposing my cavalry around hisarmy. It forces him

to exchange type partial attacks, i f he chooses to

make any attacks at

all

T U R N

The Greeks begin their headlong rush to

combat. The , want to either take the baggagecamp

or orce the Persians into an earll*figh t o defend it.

The Persians withdraw their infantry, evidentlv

to gain time or their deployment. which the.y start

by advancing their cava1r.v in the long circuit around

the Greek

I q f r

flank. This is quite a good idea, but

technicallr the Persian move is l auvd . The Persian

infantry is clumsilv positioned to come about in to

position against the phalanx line-and the Persian

infantry will have to cotne about and enter the

action, since the Persian cava1r.v is not strong

enough to, face the whole Greek army b.v itselj: The

cavalry advance is also imperfect-i t is too slow.

The Persian horse could advanc,e another hex or

two. As it is, both the clumsy infan try placement

and the slow cavalry advance will slon, doun the

Persian deplo.vment. giving up some of the time h e

gained by his ext,ellent set up.

The Persian mobile troops could be a little closer

to the Greek Ieft, too, but this might precipitate an

earl, battle with the whole Greek army nearby. It is

probahlrl more prudent to hang back and wait until

the Greeks have comtnitted their forces, as the

Persians have done.

The Persian eastern flank is more of apro blem.

Withdrawing the infantry almost

certain ^

gives up

the baggage camp, which is not all that bad, since it

was either that or.fight an earlv battle. However, the

Persians can absolutelv not aff ord t o give up an.)'

additional morale in the for m of units.

So the question is, what are those seven cavalry

units doing going east? They are not strong enough

to attack or defend by thetnselves-the Greeks can

just streamroller them. They can't even create

enough of a delay to warrant the morale that willbe

lost with them, since morale looks like it will be a

Persian n~eakness.They are,just that much valuable

attack strength subtracted from the main Persian

attack force and placed where they cannot mak e a

good attack at all-a net loss in attack power.

It is eat-11. and these are subtle errors, but

A L E X A N D E R is an unforgiving game and the

clock is running towards the first battle.

Greek Move

2:

His move was

a

bit o fa shock. He appears to be

going to avoid combat with his infantry. One of us

must have misread the situation. While considered

the possibility o f his not making a full commitment

with his infantry on the first move, certainly did

not expect this type o f withdrawal. Th e cavalry

moves are about as expected, although the lack o f

infantrysupport o n his left wing makes tha t cavalry

force rather vulnerable. f he was planning to have

me engage him on my left,he should haveadvanced

his cavalry one or two hexes further-that might

have justified the infantry move . As it is, amgoing

to continue my advance with my right wing,

committing myself to making m y main thrust there.

Meanwhile, will withdraw my left out of danger, as

slowly as dare. The baggage train will head for W -

I, and the baggage camp guard will draw back to its

proper station. have advanced on my right far

enough to give him

a

couple o f argets, but he has no

breakthroughs and my counterattack would be

devastating. doubt i f he will launch such anat tack,

it does not pay. Had he added some infant ry

support, such an attack might be possible. Overall,

think his resistance here is much to o weak; may be

able to get his baggage camp.

An important consideration to always remem-

ber in playing AL EX AND ER is that an early

positional error can rarely be corrected; he morale

effectsare such as to cause a rapid disintegration o f

the weaker side once combat has begun. Hence, this

move will probably determine the winner o f the

game; if he is wrong, win; if am wrong, he does.

Since his infan try move was totally unexpected,

have no idea what he is planning and may be

walking into a trap.

P E R S I A N T U R N

2

He is definitely pressing the attack on m y le ft or

Eastern flank. am going to continue and try to

flank him on his l eft , and hold h im up long enough

on his advance toward my baggage camp so that

can hit him on his left flank before he takes the

camp. may have stripped my covering left flank in

front o f the baggage camp to o much ; perhaps

should have some infantry and some more cavalry.

will attack his force with a couple o f pieces o f

light infantry and hope for an exchange. will half

both my pieces and cost him his. Both o f hese pieces

are undoubtedly lost, but they can take something

with them and divert some o fhis forces by requiring

them to attack and destroy them.

T U R N

2

The Greeks commit themselves, splitting their

cavalry between their flanks. This gives up their

massed attackingpower, so it looks as ifth e Greeks

are planning a grinding battle of attrition-not an

easy task against the Persian host. The Greeks are

strong, but not t oo strong, on both flanks. This

means that theattacking wing (on the Greek right) is

weaker than it should be, while thedefending wing is

unusually strong. Both sides will have d~xficultyn

getting an overpowering attack. The result should

be a prolonged see-saw battle o f attrition-hardlv

an attractive prospect against the Persian horde.

The Persians continue their deplo.vrnent. The

infantry comes about, but it is clumsily arranged.

and the Persian cavalry again advances too slow[v.

The Persians have lost almost a full turn of their

deployment time.

This time the Persians should be a hex or t wo

closer to the Greek Ieft. The Greek cavalry is

divided-the Persians can

afford t o draw the Greek

left into battle if he Greeks were oolhardy enough

to advance into the teeth of th e Persian horse. Being

closer probahlv wouldn't gain that bonus, bu t it

would speed the j0urne.v towards the Greek left

flank-cutting across is the shortest route, and it

also would force the Greek left t o stop its advance-

the Greeks can hard112 aflord to advance their

vulnerable Ieft directly into the Persian cavalry

The Persians are just deploving to o much

cavalry against the Greek cavalry screen. Those

little units ,force the Persians to slow down and

deploy in line, but you don't need to send an army

after them

The Persian attack in.front o f he baggage camp

is ust wrong. Exchanges are a curious phenomenon

in

A L E X A N D E R .

UsuaN?, hey help the Persian,

on the grounds that he has more units to lose.

Actuaflv, ho~,ever,hey hurt the player with the

worst morale-and in this game it is the Persians,

with the baggage camnp,forfeit, who cannot afford

the exchange.

Even worse, the Persian attack cannot even gain an

even exchange-regardless of the results the Greeks

ll wipe out that cavalr~~flank-thePersians are

just positionedpoorl~~.he,forward units are orfeit.

and the Persian rear line is too close.

Greek Move :

More surprises. Now his infantry s headed ba

to where thought it belonged earlier, but it is

awkward formation. It takes an extra move for it

deploy into battle line. He must have expected

diff erent second move from me. Also, nev

anticipated the type o f attack he made; hejust do

not have enough strength on that wing to ta

chances with those units-there is nothing to ba

them up. am falling back on my left to keep t

units out o f danger; the odd positioning o f my lig

cavalry is to keep him from getting any automa

victories. Meanwhile, will start to shif t the faci

o f my phalanxes to his center; expect to clean

my right wing soon and will not require them there

have several easy automatic victories that do n

overextend me; will settle for that to cut h

numbers and gain a morale edge. His strong rig

wing has developed as anticipated; cannot stall t

onslaught much longer. It still ismy mjor worry, b

have been able to shift my reserves to that si

since do not need the m on the right. Had h

infantry been deployed o n L 23 to 4 2 3 at t

point, my task would be a lot harder. Asit is, thi

have achieved

a

distinct edge, and eased m

worries considerably. Meanwhile , must avo

giving him any automatic victories.

GREEK TURN

The Greeks get the first chance to demonstra

their attack, on a smallscale, and the Persian Ief

neat,v ridden down . The Greeks are stilljust a lit

roo weak on their right, however-they cou

actually A

V

the Indian cavalry this turn, too, b

they would have to leave just one hole open

riposte. Oh, or just one extra unit.

On their Iefi the Greeks demonstrate why t

Persian cavalry should have closed in. The best w

the Greeks have to refuse aflank is to pivot-to

drop back the end unit and change its acing by

degrees. In effec t, this forces the Persian cavalry

traverse another

6

degreesjust to stay even with t

retreating flank If thqv are four hexes away the

have to traverse 4 hexes-their entire moveme

factor-just to cover the 6 degrees ands tav even

they were three hexes away they could still ga

ground on the retreatingflank.

A nice Greek maneuver. The Greek play

continues t o scatter his cavalry, however; now

has left too many units out in his screening forc

Scattered cavalry cannot make an overpoweri

attack, and now the Greek cavalry is scattered

across the board. He should have a few of tho

units in with the main body-preferably with t

attacking right wing.


Ihe situation I S not good. He has me down

15% points on the morale table-one half point ov

the line. didn't get the exchange wanted and lo

four cavalry to his half . am now sure that t

covering force which started with was too wea

The problem is that his advance on my l eft towa

my baggage is much faster tha n my advance on h

left flank; he is winning the race.

cannot change strategies now, however; a

committed. must continue to try and flank him

the left. My race is both with his advance on m

baggage camp and m y decline on the morale tab

He is very effec tive ly eeping his left out o fmy rea

and doubt that can stay on table number ne

time. For these reasons am losing the race.


Time is running out The Persianplayer must b

delaying his cavalr,v unti l his infantry is in the lin

so he can attack aN across the line at once. He can

afford the time In the first place, his infant

deployment is slow-this is the turn the Persia



TH GENERAL PAGE

Turn

:

Greekadvance s predictably turning intoan oblique rightwith the Persian horsemasslng

charge the Greek Odrys~anCavalry a 3-1. Although they t a n DEand succeed inendingTurn2 w

agalnst Alexander s left. But on the Persian 2nd turn twocavalry units will lnexpllcablyjump thegun and

sl~ghtmorale edge 20-19) it a not worth the p r m they ll soon pay.

must waste to straighten out their infantry screening units-as it is the Persians who are baggage camp; that would effectivelysettle thing

deployment-and in the secondplace his cavalry is

sacrificing two units, they have diverted major

the game stands now. Most of thegame to this po

not moving south and east fast enough to be at the

forces to guard rhat flank, and they will have to

has been just the preliminaryskirmishing yet h

right place when the battle starts. His main cavalry

divert even more forces next turn. All of this

a decided advantage as a result. won heavily on

strength should be concentratedfrom J17 to J21, weakens their attacking strength against the left

right and broke even on my left. His light cavalr

where it would be an immediate threat to attack or wing. A screen or evenan openflank would have at

badly cut up and his infantry.is only now gett

continue the outflanking movement. Instead, he least divertedfewer units.

ready for action.

moves less than maximurn,hestaysto thenorth and

awqvfrom the Greeks,and he has sent much of his

Greek Move

4:

GREEK TURN 4

force to his right,evem arther away, where it is two

Now my left wing has to retreat rapidly.

t

has

Exchanging the Allied horse units is a sm

turnsfrom catching up to the Greek lefr.

served its purpose; the delay of his cavalry advance.

move. The morale exchange hurts the Persians

Thismight be allright, except the Persiansarein

decided to use my two light cavalry units to attack

more,and rheplatrment,forceshe Persian to div

morale trouble and the Greeks are already in

with because it will be an even exchange of units on

additional forces to clean up the Greeks-mor

combat near the baggage camp.

an absolute scale but the positioning have used

unitssubtractedfromthe main Persian attack. (T

It almost seems rhat the Persians are holding up

forces him to use two units to eliminate them. This

Greekseven had a better move theycouldactual

the advanceso the elephants can catch up. Thisisa

means that two units will be late reaching the main

A V the two Persians and then advance in to orm

mistake, if true-the elephants are as slow as the

battle. effectivelygiving me four units in exchange

defensivehedgehog But this is very tricky,and

phalanxes-they can not get to theflank in time.

for two.

n

addition it guarantees that hewill fall to

Greek move is quire good as it is.)

In front of the baggage camp the Persians are

the second table on morale points-a critical matter

The baggage camp attack clears awav the ou

putting up a good.fighr. This is the type of defense

with the main battle at hand. think he is sweeping

defensesniceiv. The Greeksare(playitagain,Sa

they should have relied on from the start-a

too wide with his cavalry; time is running out for

still too weak on the right-now rheyaresending

hedgehog blocking the gap. //'aew more unitshad

him. He wants the cavalry and central infantry

Odrysian cavalry away?-hut they have mis

survived, they could do it again inside the gap, bur

about one hex closer than they are. Maybe should units nicelvplacedto oin the ray in thenorth [f

the Greeks,although pressed for units, will be able

have used the Agrianian Javelinsto give mea flank

need arises.

to clear the outer defense next turn.

attack on the third Bactrian cavalry. Instead am On the 4 he Greekspivot again,and now3

Again, along the western flank, the Persians

going for the sure easyvictories. have pretty much

see oneprohlem with thepivot tactic. Unitsthat

make asacr~j?cexchangeattack. Exchangesdo not

cleared up my right wing and can start to shift my

detached, farour on the,flank-like the Mercen

help them. they are in morale trouble Theyshould

emphasis. Hence the move of the Odrysian cavalry

Cavalryand the Luncers, in this case-also have

find another way to cope with the irritating Greek

to support my left. think will be able to take the

move 60 degrees to keep theirposition on thefla



PAGE

6

THE GENERA

Creek urn The Greek riposte is swift and deadly.Odrysian attacks Saca from the rear gaininga 2

AV:

points while costing the Persians

4 .

The Persian response is far from overwhelming.The Indian

Sacesinianiseliminatedunder the hoofsof the Royal Companionsat 9-1 with theattackersmovingintoV20

Bactrian Cav will fall on the Paeoniansat 4-1 and get a DE. The Susian and Coelo-Syrianeavwillcha

after combat. Paeonian Thessalion

I

likewise AV the CadusianCavalry while the Agrianian Balacms

the Allied Light at 4-1 but succeed only in dislodgingthe Greeks

I

hex to the SE. Net Morale after tur

Javelinsfall on the ArachosianCav from the flank at 8-1. In their half the Greeks have gained 2 morale

G m k 20 Persian 16

Unfortunarelv, they have to move sideways, and

The Persians are down to 12% morale points,

attack both Darius and the baggage camp-a 1

'they can't Result? Theyhave tojly oflar anangle to and they still have the baggage camp and garrison chance of getting each-andstill becompletelysa

escape the advancing Persians.

This

was the real units to lose. Time is now on the

Greek

side-it is

The problem is, they would need to use Alexand

problem wirhpurring this cavalry out in the screen the Persians who must rush to battle. The Persians

to neutralize Darius, and they shouldput two un

last turn,insteadofkeeping it with the Royal Comp. will not be able to attack

if

they wait until their

with Alexander to make him safe-and they co

and Thess. 11:now thelight cavalryispractically out morale disintegrates.

up one unit short. Now they have.to choose

of p1a.v. Even in the north,whereall theyhave isthepoor

baggage camp or Darius, with the problem th

One more problem wirh thepivot-you'vgot to Persian infantry, the Persians should be units that deploy in one area cannot get back to

be

very careful about leaving light infantry in the advancing-the Greeks are short of units.

other or two turns-too longa delay with thecri

pivot position, because it can all back only onehex

Yet the Persians continue to deploy. Z%eyare

of the game impending.

and it is always vulnerable to attack. Usually,this

probably two turnsfrom attacking.

Darius is worth more morale, but rhe Gre

just means that you keep one infantry unit in Incidenrly, examine the Persian defense of the

player is right to go afierthe baggage camp inste

reserve, to orm the end of the new pivot line; then baggage camp-it s excellent. The Greeks cannot

The cavalry units that remain thereare too much

the units who were trappedout in rhepivor can turn get 3-1 against either unit in the camp, despite their

a threat to ignore, and wirh the Persians deploy

around and run when the pivot drops back (next

strength advantage.

into the hills there is a chance that if the Greeks

turn they come back into the new pivot position).

not take the baggage camp soon they willnor ge

Here, however, the Greek player has only two units

Greek Move

5:

at all.

on his lefi and they are

both

in the pivot hex. They

think he is coming o n too slowly. Normally this

The rest of the Greek move

s

good also. T

will be hard to extract ifhe triestopivot next turn(I

would be all right, but his morale is too low. This

phalanx shifi getsfrom the cavalry and closes in

told you so Depr.: wouldn't it be nice to have the

move am committing myself to g o after the

the infantry, both of which are desirable. The o

Thracian Guard there.righr now*?).A subtle point.

baggage camp and engage his infantry. There

is

not

problems are at the endof the IefiJlank-the Gre

PERSIAN TURN 4

a lot for me to attack otherwise. If I get the camp, he

light infantrycannot withdrawfastenough andh

will have almost n o chance; if I fail,

1

still like my

0

Stay out where it is vulnerable,and the Greek li

he hit me pretty hard this time and I

game. His attack is finally on its way; the game

cavalry isstill circlingharmlesslyaway to thesou

can

hit

him

back

hard

enough

will be bloody from now on.

I

have s o far avoided

recover and remain o n table I He is still fading and

his stron forces, while maneuvering

my phalanxes

screening off his left flank very successfully. All that

DISCRESSION: A;

this point the Greeks h

UP to him.

I

am trying to keep my cavalry out of his

done well, but they are still in trouble. Th

can

do

is to

try

and defend my baggage

camp

and

way until after his attack, then use it for a

momentum depends on the attack

on

the rig

hope to win the race.

counterattack.

where they are short of units;on their left they

PERSIAN MOVE 4

failed to take the camp, but he is still in deep

just about out of time-andjust becausethe Pers

trouble.

attack is very very late does not mean rhat it wil

The Persians are still taking their time to deploy.

GREEK TURN 5

any less devastating.

The cavalry should be positioned up asfar as, say,

The Greek position is bad, but the mor

NI5-let the Greeks attack They only have five Ah, the chickens come home to roost. With ust

situation is beginning to dominate the game. It

cavalry units on that Jlank

a littlemorestrengthon their right, the Greekscould

race now-can the Persians exploit their go



PAGE

HE

GENERAL

position before their morale breaks? With these the

stakes, the,failureo f he attack against the baggage

camp is a particularly harsh defeatfor the Greeks.

With the Greeks close, the Greek position bad

and the Persian morale collapsing, the Persian

choice is clear: the turn of battle s here.

PERSIAN TURN

Unfortunately, he got a meleefrom his attack on

the baggage camp; of course that is better than

elimination or retreat. 1can only hope that after my

counterattack, am still in possession of thecamp.

will certainly be lucky to be in possession of it by this

time next turn. 1must now rely on luck to save me;

this is aprima,facie ndication that have misjudged

the position and made a poor decision. The error

was in withdrawing too many forces from my left

flank.

1 am now fighting on the third table. Among

other things am now required to keep two of my

commanders with the two mercenary phalanxes.

Only half a point. My empire for half a point, we

can hear Darius crying. Time. Time is crucial. I am

definitely losing the race between my decline and

loss of the baggage camp and hitting his left flank.

PERSIAN TURN

5

The Persian cavalry is so far away that it must

attack a narrow ront frontally bur it is a start.

Department of strange opportunities: in the

north, the Persians actually have a 3 chance of

destroying Alexander with a rontalattack lnstecrd,

the Persians are deploying into the hills. They m

arrack Now They might even save the bagga

camp i they arrack the missile units-bur rhey

nor. Unfortunately, the Persians are

still

bringing up their units at full speed, and he s

even using all his strength in the attack-the ot

archers would bea considerablehelp in whittling

Greeks down for the next turn's attack, and r

would give the Persians additional chances

eliminate Greek units and raise the Persian mora

Finally, the Armenian Cavalry is left vulnera

to an A attack. The Greeks don't have enou

cavalry nearby to exploit it projirablv, but it i

placemenr error. The luck of the dice: So,far, he

rolls in the game have been remarkably even. T



PAGE

8

THEGENERA

turn, houever , the rolling is remarkable. ant1has a

major effect o n hotc-t l~egutneonies out. Wi th hree

shots the Greek archers hit three Persian horse

archers-a in

8

chance The Persian counterfire is

also 1uck.v and wipes out one nzhok Greek missile

unit. However, the O d r p i a n cavalry escapes.

The overall result might seem t o be onlrv lightlv

in the Greek .favor, e.rcept for the Persian morale

situation. A mass e.rchange o f luckyfire is what the

Persians cannot a[;ford They will drop t o t a b k

3

A s a result, in theattacks in the north the Persian

desperately hopes t o cause Greek casualties without

taking any losses hitnself. S o , even though h e could

wipe out the Agetna H~wspis t s , e elects t o settle.for

a melee. His luck does not come in, however; there

are n o Greek casualties. The Persians are at

9 -

table

;

versus t a b k 1,for the Greeks.

Creek Move :

This move may be a mistake, but 1 think I see a

way t o end it quickly. 1 can punch a hole in his

cavalry front a n d wipe out some of his horse

archers. Then too, I want t o use the pha lanx

immunity a n d his being o n t h e

#3

mora le table t o

attack his heavy cavalry. I a m not a t all su re about

this; it might be better t o take my time a n d g o after

his infantry a n d phalanxes. If I get t h e baggage

camp and enough units, I may win this turn. It w a s a

disappointment no t t o get it o n his counterattack.

There is n o escaping the fact tha t were it no t fo r the

morale considerations he has a n overwhelming

position. 1 can put him in a double bind; if his

commanders leave the mercenary phalanxes, they

desert. If they stay with them, they may desert

anyway a n d leave the commanders unprotected. Of

course, I have t o be careful of a possible suicide

attack o n Alexander.

I used the Agrianian I1 Javelins in a direct a t tack

hoping that a n exchange would give me the chance

t o wipe o u t his a rchers completely, a n d failed. (A

melee would have been useful, too.) Overall, I was

not t o o lucky this tu rn , a l though 1 did get the

baggage camp. Now he has to scramble just t o get

his morale back above zero, a n d he faces t h e d o u b l e

bind mentioned. He will smash the cavalry o n the

left wing, of course; the question being whether tha t

will be enough.

CREEK TURN

With the Persians o n table and the baggage

camp about to.fal1, the Greek player is aced with a

hard choice. He can make a massive onslaughr-

concentrating o n the Armenian Heavy Cavalry-in

hopes o f destroying the Persian morale in one blow;

or he can fall back, rely o n the act that he is nearlv

invulnerable t o normal attacks, and try t o whittle

the Persian morale down t o table 4, followed b y

defeat over the next feu* turns.

The key to the solution is the act that the only

ejfective attacks the Persians can make now are A V

attacks. The Greeksshould maneuver t o avoid these

attacks above all, and t h e g a m e will almost all into

his hands.

But it is s o tetnpting to attack. . .

.And the Greeks charge. The attack is well

executed, except that the Greeks should have

retreated the surviving haljlcavalry units (Saca

Armored and the Persian Horse Guards)awayfrom

the Greek,flank and advanced the Odrysians into a

blocking position. Barring that, they should have

made sure Partnenion was guarded. The Agrianian

11 archers could have done that, instead o f being

sacrificed,for n o reason o n the ront line-after all.

every unit that could be saved is less morale or the

Persians. (Notice rhat the d e a d l ~ * drysian unit

would not have been available

if

it had not escaped

the Persian attack, incidentlv.)

In the north the Greeks should attack en

masse-after all, the point o f the suicide attack in

prrsian ~~~

:

he tireeks made three atlacks in their turn:

Archers. Th e Agrianian BalacrusJarsut ls

tuusc

2-1 v v ~ t ~ y

eliminating the Indian cav with Paeonian a t 2-1 a n d advancing t o its

Uxian infantry with n o effect.

present position. T h e 2nd Hypaspist. Agrianian a n d Balacms

All the Persian Horse Archers concentrate fire o n t h

javelins attacked sittacenian in the penian baggage

camp

at 2-1

Macedonian archers a n d eliminate them at 2-1. The Saca Armo

drawing a ~~l~~ result. A~~~~ the 3rd ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ i ~ tttacked the

Persian Horse Gds. Mardian archers eliminate the Thracian L

su s i a n infantry at 3-1 a n d sent it packing minus a step for t o a l g a i n

in a 7-1 charge forcing the Achian Mercenaries t o retreat t o Q19.

of I mora le point while costing the Persians two.

Bactrian forces back Odrysian t o 4 1 8 a t 5-1. Th e Persian Foot G

Gk Mercenary Arachosian infantry with Darius in tow man

Th e Persian right finally charges but the Macedonian missile

only a meleeCrom their 3-1 o n the Agema Hypaspist. Back in

forces take away much of t h e punch with lethal defensive fire. T h e

Persian baggage c a m p the Sittaccnian infantry manage t o pro

Cre t a n archers knock a step off the the Parth ian H o rse Archersa t 1-1

their melee with a 1-2. Mo ra l e a t end of t u rn 5: Greek 19 . Pers

a s d o he ~ a c e d o n i a n s a ~ a i n s the Persian Scythian N o m a d s Horse

9 .

I I I I I I I I I I I I

~~ ~

~

~ r s e ds--cost

right. Th e Dahae Horse Archers defensive fire t a k g a step out of the

both a step. ?he Greek I1 pha lanx a t tacks the Persian infantry at

charging Ca v I in a

1 1

missile attack-one of the few bright spots in

forcing it t o retreat t o N25. Th e Agema Hypaspist is repulsed in it

a n otherwise dismal turn for t h e Persians. The M acedonian archers

vs the Persian Foot G d s a n d retreats t o 0 2 2 with the Pers

eliminate the Scythian Nomads at 2-1. Charges from Lancers. Royal

Co m p a n i o n 11. Thessalion II A V t h e Armenian Hvy. TheOdrysian

cav then takes the Parth ian a n d Persian Horse Archers f ro m behind

in a n

AV

Elsewhere things go better fo r the Persians. Th e Agrianian

Javelins are repulsed in a

1-1 o n the Macedonian archersand retreats

t o M2I. Ca v I theThrac ian L t a t t a c k t h e Mediancava t2-I forcing

them to retreat t o L17. Th e attackers advance in to the vacated hex

a n d take u p a defensive posture. Th e phalanx'draw their first b lood in

advancing into the won ground. Royal c o m p a n i o n I charges

Arachosian infantry a t 6-1. inverting it. a n d forcing it t o withdra

N24. 3rd Hypaspist loses a step in its 1-2 vs Darius and the G

Mercenaries, but the clincher comes with the fall of the Per

Baggage Ca m p . 2nd Hypaspist. Agrianian and Balacrus Jave

force the Sittacenian infantry back 2 t o S24

with a 2-1 a t tack .

Hypaspistsadvance t o occupy thecamp. Th e Greek move hascost

Persian 13 mora le points forcing him to retaliate strongly in his

just t o stay o n the board.



THE

GENERAL

PAGE

the south was to maximize casualties. Thephalanx-

es should bear down-bur 1he.v d o not. m e r e is even

another chance to get Darius-but the Greeks pass

it up.

A suicide attack in thesouth and weak attacks in

the north-the Greeks have almost given the game

awa.v on this turn. They have maximized the few

remaining Persian advantages, and now time is on

the Persian side again; how long before the Persian

cavalry will carry all before it?

Die rolls: But again, luck steps in or the Greeks:

the baggage camp falls. This might make up for all

the Greek problems .

PERSIAN TURN 6

Well, he got the baggagecamp; he would have to

be unlucky not to do so. I am now minus thirteen on

the temporary morale table It looks pretty

hopeless; nevertheless, I will execute the long

desired and always delayed attack on his left.

doubt that this attack will save the game for me,

given myhopelessmorale situation, but perhaps this

attack can show how devastating a solid attack

against an exposed flank can be. Most of the

victorieswill of coursebeautomatic; they have to be

given that 1am on table threewhile he isstill on table

one. If 1had won the race by one turn, then 1believe

that would have better than evenchancesgiven this

attack of winning. My opponents skill (certainly)

and possibly my own lack of it combined with slight

bad luck, however, prevented me from making this

attack a turn or two earlier than the time when my

camp falls and the bottom falls out of my morale.

As can be seen I destroyed nearly a third of the

Greek army on this turn. It is too late. He will kill

Darius on the next turn. am conceding.

PERSIAN TURN

Here come the Persians The attack wipes out

the Greek left in inspiredfashion. Despitesome bad

die rolling-none of the Persian conventional

attacks caused a casualty-the Persians claw

themselves back near table 3

Bur . . he left Darius on the front line, on top

of a mercenary? Oh-oh.

The Persian mercenaries desert.

Greek Move 7:

This does it. I almost threw the game away with

that last move of mine-not the idea, but the details.

There were two distinct blunde -first of all, there

was no need to leave Parmenion on the Mercenary

phalanx sincethere was no chance of desertion;then

I should have taken a step from my Achian infantry

and completelyeliminated his 2nd Bactrian cavalry.

That would have prevented the rear attack. came

out of it in good shape because of his morale

problems; attacks on table 3 are not good no

matter what the odds. Now he is down to table 4,

which gives me even better odds. And the desertion

of his mercenary phalanxes guarantees me the win.

He gambled (correctly, 1 think) on being able to

keep them; now his commanders are naked.

My move is by no means the best possible; it is

the obvious one. It wins the game this turn, so I did

not bother to look for beiter. Note that it assumes

that a lone commander does not even block entry

into a hex, being eliminated without preventing

other combat. The importantpoint is the elimina-

tion of DARIUS; the attack on the Persian phalanx

isjust added insurance. 1could probably get Bessus

instead of the phalanx. 1 am certain to cost him

more than a dozen morale points, while the

formation have set up prevents him from gaining

much back. Since he attacks on table 4, he needs

better than 5 1 on each battle to have a chance. My

defensivefire will probably cost him anothercouple

of morale points.

ersian

Turn

:

The Persian unleashes a flurry of

AV

attacks against

the Greek left but it may

be

too late. The victimsinclude:the Thracian

Light (8-1: 1st 2nd Chariot): Cav I(100. Albanian Mesopotami-

an); Lancers (8-1 Median): Royal Companion 11 (7-1: 1st Bactrian.

Caucasian Archers); Thessalion 11(10-1: Cappadocian Hvy);Cav I1

(64:

Saca Armored); Veteran Mercenary Parmenion (8-1: 2nd

Bactrian, Persian Horse Gds. Mardian Archers); Agrianian 11(12-1:

Arabian 11, Gedrosian. Median. Carian infantry); Odrysian (34:

Dahae); and the 3rd Hypaspist (7-1: Persian Ft Gd. Greek Mercenary

11. Casusian infantry).

In conventional attacks the Persians low morale prevents ma

gains. The Persian cav advancing over the AVed remnants of Ca

attack the Macedonian archers at 5-1 and force a retreat.

Hyrcanian cav's 3 1 attack on the Cretan archers is repulsed to R

The 3rd 4th chariots lox a step in their 3-1 on the Ach

Mercenary. In defensive missile fire the Balacrus Agriania

Javelins extract a step from the Cadusian Uxian infantry in

attacks. Turn ends with the Greek left nowhere in sight but

Persian morale reduced to 4 and the worst table while the Gr

morale remains high at 16. The Persian Mercenaries desert.

reek Turn 7: Alexander circles what's left of his center and rides down Darius on his right before the

Persian throws in the towel. The Greek 1st Phalanx eliminates the 2nd Bactrian Cav at 9-1; the Cadusian

infantry is AVed at 7-1. enabling the Thessalion Cav to take the Persian Ft Guards from the flank while the

Roval Comvanions attack frontallv-extractina a stev loss.

t h e ~ a i d i a nrchers take a sted loss in their;olley ;xchange with the Cretanarchers. Coenuseliminates

Gedrosian at 5-1. Craterouseliminates Coelo-Svrian

infant^

at 5-1. The lllvrian ahalanx takesa stea out of

the Babylonian infantry at 3-1. No other attacks result in losses.

GREEK TURN 7

PERSIAN TURN 7

The Greeks pull it out with a last, weak mass

Well, the Persians surrender anyway, so

attack-the Persians just cannot gain back rhat

doesn't matter. But, 1he.v did have one last

SO

much morale if 1he.v eliminate everybody in reach

chance

o

winning thegame (which ust goes to sho

Except.

you how strange a game ALEXANDER is-an

how close a game this was).



PAGE 3

THEGENERA

Consider: i f the Dahae go t o P20 (which the

Greek pla.ver should have blocked, incident ,.) and

attack Craterous,frotn the,f lank, and the elephants

go to M22 and charge, aided b y two commanders,

and the Mardian archers,join in t o make it a 3-I-on

table 2 , because o f he cotnmanders. . then a 2 , 3 , or

4 die roll would win the game.

But the Persians surrendered.

Greek Summat ion:

T h e Persian player resigns without moving. T h e

results of my 7th turn combat cost him 19 morale

points, making it necessary t o gain a minimum of

15% points on his riposte in the game. This requires

the elimination of every combat unit I have, a n

obvious impossibility. T h e alternative. eliminating

Alexander, is not possible since the best he can

manage to get o n that phalanx is a 1-2 at t ack o n

table #2 (using both commander s) . This combat has

n o wins for him.

His first move pretty well set the stage for this

result. Once he has his infantry out of position, I was

able to gain enough of a morale advantage to make

it almost impossible for him. Even my blunder on

the sixth turn did n o more than give him a n outside

chance. It is a n interesting demonostrat ion of one of

the facets of the game; the fact that the early non-

combat turns a r e so important in deciding the

winner. It is also a clear demonstrat ion of the

importance of a morale advantage; a s shown by the

way this carried me through his sixth turn at tacks.

P E R S I A N S U M M A T I O N

My biggest er ror was made o n the first turn. I

undercommit ted to my own left f lank. 1 needed

more infantry and cavalry-two of each type in

order t o hold out . Possibly I should have remained

defensive a n d not at tacked him when I did, but

given the weakness of left flank 1 thought I could

delay him longer by at tacking rather than standing

and defending. He screened off my massive right

wing at tack by keeping his forces just o u t of my

reach, but close enough so that he could deliver a

heavy at tack if I pressed him t o o much. He knew

that 1 would not want to take the first heavy blow.

This was the key to his very successful screening of

my right flank. Perhaps another error was in not

being willing to take that first knock. Afterall, I

would probably have still been super ior to him a n d

thus could probably deliver just a s heavy a counter-

blow. T h e only fact which helps here is that the side I

played also lost a n d did not even kill off the Greek

sub-commander-Alexander did that later while

drunk. Thus I did d o better than Darius, but then

that isn't saying much.

S U M M A R Y

A L E X A N D E R is an unforgiving game, and

nobody ever plays a perfect game. The nice thing

about A L E X A N D E R (if y o u have strong nerves,

that is) is that every mistake, n o matter how subtle

or small, comes back to haunt you-there isjust not

enough t ime t o recover.

The Persians made their mistake with the little

cavalry expedition into the teeth o f the Greek

advance. It cost morale that , ulrimately, couldnever

be regained.

The Greek error was scattering their cavalry,

thereby reducing their attack potential. In the end

this did not destr0.v them-largely because the

Persians were so slow t o deploy. Of course, the

Greeks almost did give thegame away o n turn 6 but

he knew what he was trying t o gain, and he was

willing t o pay the price-and it might have won the

game right there, i f he had been just a little more

careful with hisplacement. A s it was, though, he was

lucky t o win-lucky at the baggage camp, lucky t o

get Darius.

It was a very close game.

A N IMPORTANT NOTICE TO

ELITE CLUB TICKET HOLDERS

Good news for Elite C l u b members. F r o m now

this qualifying order . When placing such a n orde

o n your Elite Club Discount coupons a r e good

be sure t o ask for your Elite Club membership

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Hill Elite Club eligible for discounts o n mai

Discounts are applicable only to those mem-

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rest

your

hers of the ~ l i ~ ~l u b who staple their 1977

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or

lost

Elite Club tickets are not replaced under

This offer does not include a free subscription

a n y circumstances.

t o the G E N E R A L , a n d is not to be confused with

the initial offering made in 1974. Your game orde

can a member

the

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To qualify you must place a mail order for

membership a n d can not include a n y game more

any six Avalon Hill games. No discounts apply to

than once

Might-have-been department: during thegame both

sides had chances t o wipe our the other's leader-

ushich, the way things worked out , would have been

immediatelv decisive. Darius was vulnerable o n

turns 5 and

6 ,

and Alexander was vulnerable o n

turns

and

7

A n interesting point about ALEX-

A N D E R : guard your leader He is every inch the

King o chess bur

in A L E X A N D E R

no One

check.

Now let's look at the chancier decisions in the

game. The big Greek attack o n turn 6 was meant t o

drive the Persian morale down; actually, combined

with the Persian counterattack, the Persians gained

1 2 a morale point. Similarly, the Persians attacked

o n turn 5 to gain morale; they actually lost a point

even ignoring the immediate Greek counterattack.

Final v, it must be said thar the Greeks had

betrer luck, not

so

on their

own

bur in

the bad luck the Persians had. One or two extra

an?lwhere in the game have

kept the Persian morale o n a higher table-and in

the end, it was the morale drop-and the conse-

quent loss o f t h e Persian Mercenaries-that lost the

game.

OUT OF THE CLOSET

"Geez, it's stuffy in there, and besides, yo

can't even see the player cards in the dark. I wi

those mean old wargamers would let us play in th

C IU b rO O m like

H O W O F T E N H A S T H I S H A P P E N E D T

YO"? You're a sports gamer, and you want to b

recognized but you've got no place to go. We

good news Pretty soon Avalon Hill will have

magazine just for you, a n d you won't have to hid

in the closet a n y more. We haven't got a n a m e ye

but We've Ienty of

great

ideas'

O n e thing we could use, however, is YOU.

you consider yourself a n avid spor ts gamer , d r o

us a line. Maybe you'll just tell us what you'd lik

to See in the magazine' O r

us

about

your du

Or league' Who

knows' maybe you'11

have a

tha t we want

to

publish (and pay you for,

C o m e o n out of tha t closet, and get in touc

with

Write to me, B C Milligan,

T h e Avalon Hill G a m e Company, 4517 Harfor

Rd.. Baltimore. Md. 21214.

NEW KINGMAKER EVENT C A R D S

Are your K I N G M A K E R games getting a bit

well a s 23 blanks for use in your own variants. Th

dull? You can spice them u p with the new Event entire deck is backed by the same ric

Cards described elsewhere in this issue. Avalon Hill

K I N G M A K E R design which makes the game suc

is making available in a special expansion kit a new

a joy to play a n d cards from thc two decks will b

deck of 48 Events cards including 25 printed indistinguishable from the rear. This special car

Treachery, Gales At Sea, Refuge, Vacillating deck is available for $2.00 plus postage. Marylan

Allegiance, Catast rophe, and'Royal Death cards a s residents please add 5% sales tax.

GENERAL RETAIL DISTRIBUTION

If you own o r manage a game outlet a n d are not

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boat o n what has proven to be a very effective sales

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Thereafter you receive bi-monthly shipments of

whatever quantities you care t o keep o n standing

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we're so sure you'll be happy with the G E N E R A L

t ha t we'll guarantee their sale. If, af ter 90 days, you

can't Sell them, return a n y remaining copies for full

more earn 55% discount with FFA. Complemen

credit.

your games s e c t ~ o n ow, order the G E N E R A

All dealers earn 50% discount o n orders of 6 o r

today. Direct all bulk rate inquiries t o the at tn . o

more. Wholesalers order ing in quantities of 144 o r

Ms. Gertrude Z o m b r o c / o Avalon Hill.



THE

GENERAL

PAGE 3

A SQ U A D LEADER PREVIEW

THE BUILDING OF S Q U A D L E AD E R

Y

ohn Hill

We were quite pleased to ad d John Hill to our

generally agreed upon.

SQUAD LEADER

was to

corner hat l i tt le shed or that hedge o

stable o free lance designers as he practically

be a basically simple game that could be gotten

that l i tt le porch sticking out from the chateau. O

invented the breed of third world designers. His

into quickly. It had to have a high emphasis on

out in the country your soldiers will advanc

games V ERDUN, KASSE RlNE PASS , OVER-

playability with ready access to playingda ta . We

through rows of waving wheat. It will not b

LOR D, HUE, and JERUSAL EM have aN been would avoid the usual polyglot of different tables abstr acte d t will be there n the h

accepted in the realm ofprofessionalgam edesign as

and charts and confine ourselves to one basic country here are mountains and cliffs th

imagina tive efforts but he really set the scene for

systems char t tha t would calculate the effect of people can be cornered against all in a

"non-professional" designers with the publication

everything. All basic play erin fo would becon taine d

S Q U A D L E A D ER

will have the most beautiful

of BAR L EV-wid ely acclaimed as the best post

on on e sheet, printed both sides. Bookkee ping detailed, relevant terrain features of a board game

W W ll wargame by m any even now. He expects, as

would be kept to a minimum. Graphically, i t should date. On

TOBRUK

we spent a fortune researchin

do we, that the combination of his unique design

b e t h e m o s t

visuallydescriptive gameever

printed. the charts. On

SQUAD LEADER,

we spent it o

talents with AH graphics excellence and develop-

AN D within all these pre-set para mete rs of the boards. And counters, well, the individu

men aid will result in a new level of gaming

playability all the following effects of infantry NCO s and officers have been distinctly create

sophistication in the form of the soon to be released

combat must be portrayed:

Even their silhouettes o n th e c ounters have distin

SQUAD LEADER. personalities.

As the GE NE RA L is not a full color magazine

1. Firepowe r diffe rentials between differe nt

We then had the nice clean system we ha

we cannot illustrate the board as we would like but

Squads'

demande d, and the total graphic presentation th

have included a sampling of the counters John refers

2. The effect of differing ability of individual

would bring the game to life. ~~d then we started

to. The difference in counter size is not only

NCOs a nd leaders.

build. After a few frictions as Do n and I got

attractive but functional as vehicular counters are

3. Effect differences between all main infantry

know each

game phi~osop hies and tec

not allow ed to stack and their increased sire makes

type

niques the building went faster and faster. But, w

4 A

system that would capture all the

always kept the programmed technique in min

hem

dflerentiated romh infantry

subtle psychological differences in different nation-

forced

attempt

to

perfect each separate segme

ounters. We hope you e njoy this sneak preview o f

SQU AD LEA DE R which is just now going into

alities, situations and types of cover.

before it was hun g o n the game skeleton it w

final playtesting.

5. The effects

of

in a n

infantry

presented individually. Each scenario was treated

ment must be realistically portrayed, b ut the effects

if

alone

was

the

game

and hence

we

focused

In many respects

S Q U A D L E A D E R

was not

of armor vs. armor could be simplified.

it . To help Do n and his playtesters focus on ea

designed but built. Th e difference is subtle, but

6 . Mechanical armament

na-

segment I developed each scenario in sets of thre

significant in term s of gam e evolution. Often, when tionality.

Hence, the American scenarios were not eve

a game is designed the designer knows fairly well

7 .

The

game show the concept

of

leader-

started until all the earlieron esalong with their ow

how everything is going to go before he even sits

ship as i t portray s pro bable tactical success.

special rules were de-bugged. This often led

down a t the typewriter. In his mind, he decided that

8. The

game must as leaders

impatience

as

both

of

us felt the urge to get o

this system would work for movement, this for

squads and platoons become casualties the overall

with it.

But, each brick, in the game

we we

combat a nd such an d such for supply. Mentally, he

performance of an entire battalion suffers.

building had to fit. All combat effects still had to

then simply plugs it all together and out comes

Now, all those nice realistic effects have been

back

the already defined F I R E

EFFE T

game . Unfortun ately, the vast majority of games

captured and portrayed before, BUT never under

TABLE, When it

came

time to introduce flam

aregenerally do ne that way. Then et result is that the

the very strict playability standards that wereclearly

throwers and demolition charges the

designer dum ps on the developer and playtest-

defined prior to listing the realism standards. And

temptation was to say, ..well, these

are

sorts spec

ers a complete new child. These folks then knock

both Don Greenwood and myself agreed that we

weapons ets look up the specs and make

off the rough edges, ad d a bit of polish and POP* would both become quit e strict if either I, a s the

special

table

for

That would have been to u t c o m e s a n o t h e r g a m e m a y b e , d es ig ne r, o r h e, a s h e de v el o pe r , a t te m pt ed t o w at er

easyway but soon we would've been

up

to

our

nec

good maybe bad. 1 have been designing games

dow n the playability and reference ease stand-

in ..special So, we forced ourselves

to

rela

for some time, most were good, an d on e was great.

ards that we originally set down. Compromises,

these weapons to what

we

had

already defined,

BUT, 1 rellly knew that ther e had to be a better way. could and would be made, only with great

terms of

game

system. In terms of work, it mea

And in S Q U A D L E A D ER we found it.

hesitation.

S Q U A D LEADERwould

pr imar i ly b ea

,

but

in terms

of

playability it was

a

mo

Looking back a bit at one of AVAL ON HILL'S players game.

worthwhile discipline. The basic structure wi

more successful games,

T O B R u K

we saw t he Very

And that 's how

it

began. For such strict

almost n o change accepted each new buildin

great advantage of the programmed appr oach to standards, the programmed design technique

brick

as the game progressed

This

was the who

guide the gam er a little at a time into wh at is a very would indeed be tested. The n bit by bit it w as

point,

every

new

wrinkle

whether it be Quad

complex game. By building up the complexity, not

constructed. A unique FIRE EFFEC TS table was

machine guns, a minefield or an artillery barra

just by rules, but by ascending scenarios, a person

set down that captured all the possible variety of

had

to plug in to

the

same

INFANTRY

FIR

soon had logically built an understanding. In the firepower intensity with its attendan t effect on

TABLE as a light machine gun. And it did.

wargamers mind, the und erstanding of TOBRUK

.soldiers' livesan d morale; it showed not just morale

Th e final crowning touc h of mod ular plu

was built , no t presented. Here, I felt was a good

checks but degree of morale checks. Th e effects of

ging

was

the

final little

effect of

buildings on fi

way not just to present a game, but to design it. A

all weapons from flamethower, to sub-machine gun,

having the fire

spread

to other

parts

of he buildin

very firm, solid game system would be created that

to a 150MM shell burst were able to be quickly

The question of

when

to roll

for

naturally cam

would have enough flexible

handles

that a ny resolved without chart shuffling or endless cross

com bat effect could be simply plugged in or out like references. Even the differing tactical ability of UP.

a replaceable module. In many respects even thou gh

individual leaders and better shots was easily

Way back in the beginning, when we creat

this would lend itself to a building technique the

plugged in. All these effects are portrayed in a

S Q U A D

L E A D E R S phase System we decid

overall constructio n techniques tha t were to be used

Combat Results Table no more complicated than

that all moving squads would fire in the ADVA

had to be thought out in advance though the that of AVAL ON HILL'S classic; BATTLE OF

CING FIRE PHASE.

~t was one of the ba

particulars c ould be left to a later date. Thi s idea of THE BULGE. Th e clearness of the system is a real

structural points of the S Q U A D L E A D E R syste

building a game through programmed design Whad

breakthroug h. T h ough, in all honesty, i t was only

And we now had come to the last little point. W

intrigued me quite a bit and I had developed a achieved after discarding roughly three dozen other

then simply said that to see if a fire in a buildi

number of systems that would lend themselves to attempts. S o this was the first step. advances oll in the ADVA NCING FIR

this methodology without really having a particular The next step was the very specific game boards

PH AS E. Hence, the last designed element of

game design problem in mind. So, the basic system

in terms of what it actually is . S Q U A D L E A D E R

gam e beautifully dovetails int o one of the first. T

vehicle for

S Q U A D L E A D E R

actually was fairly has a city, and what a city it is complete with

then, was how we designed

SQUAD LEADER

well done even before the idea of an infantry World sidewalks, sewers and rand om sized and structured

What can you expect when we unveil it

War I1 game was decided upon.

buildings all in full color. Hence Line of Sight

OR IGI NS We've already mentioded how

The first step was in defining what both definitions take on new meaning. Instead of hexes four isomorphic boards would be scenica

AVALON HIL L and I wanted in the game. After and hexside blocking fire the gamer will actually

som e discussion the following objectives were have his sight blocked by that building's

Continued on Pg 34. Colum



PAGE 3 THEGENERAL

A.H.

Philosophy

. Continued rom

Pg 2

Col.

3

instances. This resulted i n the diagram on page

6 making lit tle sense. Try to visualize the red fire

lines on that page as % lower unti l we can get

you a revised 2nd edition. Don't worry-the

revised editions wil l be provided at no charge to

original purchasers of the game.

CAESAR-ALESIAhas been transferred to the

retail division due toa good sales record and fine

reviews. It is already in its second edition with

slightly amended rules, and should be arriving in

your outlets by September.

Making its debut as an Avalon Hi ll title thi s

fall will be Gamma Two's NAPOLEON.

NAPOLEON is the third and best of a three game

series of wargames by this Canadian company

which has pioneered one of the most innovative,

playable and enjoyable game systems the hobby

has yet seen. Put briefly, NAPOLEON utilizes

quality wooden playing pieces to incorporate

both step reduction and fog of war uncertainty

in regards of your opponent's move. The three

dimensional wooden blocks are stood on end

with the type (infantry, cavalry, artillery, horse

artillery) and strength visible only t o the owner.

The opponent sees only the standard blue, red or

green back of the un it un ti l he moves his pieces

into the same area for battle. Each time a unit

takes losses the square tile is flipped clockwise

to reveal its new strength. Combat resolution is

simple and faintly reminiscent of WARATSEA,

although more sophisticated and realistic. The

overall effect is hat of a short and very enjoyable

operational level game that even one's wife

could readily understand. We'll limit our

development of the game to minor cleansing of

the rules and addition of playing aids such as a

battle reso lution card and perhaps a roster pad.

Another outside design which will see AH

release this fall is Battleline's SUBMARINE

game which w e'll develop and re-dub U-BOAT.

The Battleline people are the ones who first

designed our WOODENSHIPS

&

IRONMENtitle

and SUBMARINE is a similar design approach

which is even more enjoyable due to the wide

variance in play created by WWll weaponry as

opposed to the age of sail. The wolfpack

scenarios have proved to be especially enter-

taining as a multi-player game. Mick Uhl wi ll

handle the AH development chores on this

release and t he revision could prove extensive.

For all of its enjoyable qualities, SUBMARINE

suffered from poor graphics, organization, and

more than a few historical inaccuracies due to

the original designer's haste. Our more leisurely

development of the same title should correct

Steve Peek's original faults and bring out the

true brilliance of his game system. We'll also be

adding extensive Campaign Game and Random

Scenario sections while improving the already

novel submarine hidden movement system.

Before the Rising Sun

proved to be our most

popular seminar at ORIGINS. Larry Pinsky

packed them in and held over 1 00 Pacific war

enthusiasts spellbound for two hours with an

ongoing description of his yet to be published

design. So eager was their anticipation that

many indicated a willingness to pay $25.00 and

up for the game. But you'll just have o be patient

a while longer. THE RISING SUN is as close as

we'll ever come to a monster game and has

scored the highest on our possible titles survey

so we're not about to botch it with a rushed

effort.

THE

RISIN

SUN has spent a relatively long

time in the preplaytest stage. The reason for the

long development process is the enormous

difficulty i n attempting to capture heessence of

a situation that spans the limits from the

extreme strategic to the extreme tactical. The

original motivation was to design a game that

accurately presented the strategic sparring in

the Pacific while still maintaining a strong

tactical flavor when

it came to combat. The game

as it now stands, at the beginning of it s

playtesting, has succeeded. It remains to be

seen just how playable the mechanics wind up,

and how long it takes to play a campaign

scenario.

The game turns represent two weeks of

actual time and each contain 2 identical Naval

Operations Phases. There is a very workable

hidden movement system that does not

require

any written record keeping. The strategic

movement is almost entirely exe cutedwi th Task

Force substi tute counters and wit h a Task Force

Organization Display, to keep the Task Force

Compositions straight. The game is strongly

slanted toward the use of substitute counters in

all aspects. All of the ships down through light

cruisers are included in the game as individual

units. Destroyers and transports are

represented as Divisions and Half Strength

Divisions, and are freely exchangable. There is a

Hit Record Pad to record damage suffered by

ships. The mapboard uses a scale of 150

nautica l miles per hex and extends from Hawaii

to India and Ceylon, and from the Aleutians to

New Zealand. The commonweal th and Chinese

unit s are included, and the Campaign games

contain the entire scene, inc luding land combat.

The in itial hope was to provide a Pearl Harbor

to Hiroshima game, but to keep the game to

reasonable size, the published version will only

run through early 1944. It is currently planned o

have a mail-order extension kit available

when the game is released that will contain

additional counters, rules and scenarios, taking

the game through 1945. The relatively un-

balanced situation duri ng the last year and a half

of the wa r means that there are relatively few

interesting scenarios excluded from the

published version. The game will contain

scenarios presenting mini-games that

recreate virtually all of the surface actions and

major carrier air battles of the war. These mini-

games wil l take anywhere from 10 to 6 0

minutes to play and will mostly involve the

tactical portion of the game system. If things

continue as now scheduled, the gameshould be

released in the spring of next year.

ARE A MULT I PLAY E R RAT I NG S

Over the past fewyearsAvalon Hil l hascome

up with several games which have the capacity

for being played as, and i n some cases are much

better as, a multiplayer game. Unfortunately for

those who prefer the multiplayer style of play

and happen to be interested i n the AREA rat ing

system, there has not been a method for

incorporating the rating of these games into the

AREA system due to the many irregularities

involved. The following narrative, however,

comprises a system for rating the multiplayer

game. It can be utilized either i n team competi-

tion, such as that found i n WSIM,or in he sole

winn er multiplay er game, suc h as

DIPLOMACY and KINGMAKER.

To have an AREA rated multiplayer game you

only need three ingredients: a suitable game, a

bunch of players, and someone who wi ll act as

the Qualified Moderator (OM) and record the

results. Oh yes, one must also have a system

that can handle the irregularities and present

the final results to the AREA technicians in

acceptable form. So here goes

Each player must know his AREA rating

the start of the match and submit it to the O

(Note: In his system a player's rating atthest a

of the game is used.) The OM then finds th

average player rating or tha t game by adding

players' ratings and dividing by the number

players in the game. Once this has be

accomplished, the OM establishes a poi

pool where each player contributes to the po

that number of points he would have given

had he ost to a player with the average rating.

the conclusion of the match the point pool

distributed evenly to all participants in a dr aw

given outright t o a sole winner. Simple yes, b

this system, as .you might expect, has th

inevitable exceptions.

The first i s that when compiling thescores

one of the par ticipants is a Verified player, the

points will be tabulated as if all of the playe

were verified, i.e., points contributed wi ll

halved. This policy may be circumvented if a

only if the OM receives i n writing a stateme

from the Verified player that he will waive th

Verified Player Stabilizer for this particu

game. (Note: this statement must be submitt

wit h the AREA rating sl ipswhen they are turn

in.) The second exception is that if there is

possibility of a sole winner then the number

points contributed wi ll be reduced by 40%. Th

reduction, however, wi ll not occur if thegame

question was already reduced once due to the

being a Verified player in the game; therecan

only one reduction per game. Finally, tocover

present and future situations there will be

minimum and maximum level imposedon ARE

points contributed and received. No player w

contribute less .than 2 0 points, and no play

may gain more than 300 points for any on

game.

All of the recording, verification, and mis

paperwork will be executed by the OM, who

the way wil l not be allowed to participate in o

of his own moderated games. OMS must

licensed, so to speak, before they wi ll be allowe

to perform this service. I n order to be licensed

prospective OM mus t come from the ranks of th

verified players and be familiar with at lea

three Avalon Hill games. Also, they must b

willing to contribute

1.

to the current

O

Coordinator to help him defray the cost of th

project. Once this has been done, one need on

follow the format laid out i n the followin

paragraph to have a rated multiplayer game.

(To prospective OMS)The participants i n th

game mu st give you, at th e start of the game,

victory cla im sheet tha t contains: (1) the

signature; (2) their AREA number; (3 ) the

current rating; (4) he name of the game; and

the date th e game was started. (Note: If the O

cannot establish a player's current rating, eith

he or the player should write Ron LaPorte, th

AREA technician, and request a rating check.)

a pbm game theOM Coordinator(N0TtheARE

technician) should be notified that a rated pb

multiplayer game has been started. This is

precautionary measure taken only for pb

games to protect the individual players shou

something happen to the moderator during th

course of the game. If this procedure for pb

games is not followed, it could cause your gam

not

to. be accepted. When the game is com

pleted, the OM should attach the victory claim

and any misc. informat ion to a sheet of 8 x 1

paper. Send this data sheet along wi th the nam

of wh o w on (or who particpated in a draw) an

how much should be added/subtracted fro

everyone's score to the O M Coordinator. (Y

should also include a stamped envelope.) Th

Continued on

Pg

34 Col.



THE

GENERAL

Gentlemen:

I

ead with interest the article by Mark Saha

in TH E GEN ER AL 13-6. 1 was especially

interested in the TOBRUK-by-mail system

suggested. As a player o f a T OBR UK PBM game

using a similar system. would like to make a

suggestion regarding the fire system.

The simultaneousmove and fir e segmentsare

exceptionally good to use with the TOBRUK

system hut eel the fire system should he truly

simultaneous. To allow for such fire, each tur n

should hedivided nt o I5 wo-second intervals. In

two seconds, a she ll fro m a Pz 111J (for example)

should travel about 20 hexes (i.e.. muzzle velocity

=

825 mlsec, hex

=

75

m). Under norma l

conditions, therefore. any shell ired should affect

its targe t wit hin 2 seconds. This enables the

construction of a table of firing intervals for each

rate-of-fire in hegame. In hecomhat system,fire

is resolved n order for each weaponeligible to ire

in that interval and the damage is noted. Thus, if

Tank A K-kills Tank B in the first fire interval.

Tank B does not fire i n the second even if

scheduled to do so. Note that this eliminates the

dueling rule because each weapon fires when its

particular interval comes up. Using the stock

exchange CRT suggested by Mr. Saha requires

only listing the units in order, then resolving the

fire by that order in each interval.

X X X X

z

X X X X X X O

X X

C: X X X X X

X X X X X O

z X X X X X

0 X X X X X

X X X X X X X O

C X X X X X

0

X X X X X

X X X X O

Each weapon fires when an x is ndicated n ts

interval. The Bofors fires twice when a 2 is

indicated and three times for a 3. Of f hoard

artillery, smoke and infantry fir e is resolved on

interval 8 and is simultaneous.

I eel that thissystem will add much realism o

the TO BRUK P BM system and I lso recommend

that it also be tried FTF. I t s especially easy to

use with the fire fights.

Jim Burnett

Clinton, TN

Gentlemen:

T h e Avalon Hill GENERAL s dedicated o

the presentation of authoritative articles on

strategy, tactics. and variations of Aval on H il l

games o f strategy

Where have

I

eard the above quote before?

think it was printed in he last few GENERAL'S on

page 2 Note the italics, the word is'game'. Should

it not he WARgame?Inthethreeyears

I

ave been

reading THE GEN ERA L ave yet to see one

article complimenting the strategy or t actics of a

NONwargame. No, now that hink back, there

may have been one article on 'OUTDOOR

SURVIV AL', hut that was a 'HOW T O TUR N

THIS GAME INTO A WARGAME' type of

article.

With the additions of the 3M. Diplomacv.

.

.

ctc. companies you have, toquote yourow n words

'a huraconinp lane of a ll ouroose STRATEGY

GAMG-~O;2 strong and still growing."

(Avalon Hill Philosophy-Part

60

THE GE NER AL should include articles ike

WHAT ARE T HE BEST LINE-UPS IN

'BASKETBALL STRATEGY?

.T HE EASIEST WAY ACROSS THE

DESERT I N OUTDOOR SURVIVAL'.

Letters to the Editor ...

. .

'BUSINESS STRATEGY'-

PROBABILITIES AND PROFITS.

OPENING (M1DDL.E. OR END)

GAME MOVES IN TWIXT.

HOW NOT TO LOSE YOUR SHIRT IN A

'STOCK MA RK ET CRASH.

. . .

WHERE TO PIT YOUR PEBBLES I N

'OH-WAH-REE'

.

WINNING PLAY OFTHECA RDS N

'FOOTBALL STRATEGY'.

.

ETC., ETC.

now the very title of your magazine has

military connotations and that there may be a

minori ty o f readers who would be interested n one

or two articles of this type. But I hink that the

non-wargames are worth more than ust a passing

word in"THE AVALON HILLP HILOSOP HY

or a H page ad.

Jim Pulles

Dallas. TX

We agree and n his issue are announcing he

availability of a quarterly magazine similar to the

GENERA L dealing with A H non-wargames.

Current plans are to ma il the first issue free o

charge. later this year, to everyone ono ur mailing

list as a semi-catalog and special introductory

issue.

Dear Sir.

Now his is what all a good issue A

sensational cover (too had i t isn't on the game).

detailed game profile from several different

viewpoints, a wellsonsidered near-perfect plan

for the old Russian Front gang, the most

educational Series Replay yet on PAN-

ZERBLITZ, a very funny piece of science fiction

(sure it is, speculation on a trend). Reedanswering

several questions ad on SST and five shotgun

features to placate anyone who doesn't own

STARSHIP TROOPERS. Sensational, the best

GENERA L yet

If may be allowed a variant on a variant,

question Richard Hamhlen's use of neodogs n his

otherwise excellent "Saga o f the Bug War." He

adds them for their scouting abilities, but ignores

the drawbacks which kept the neos from being

effective. Often in the early days neos would

suicide at the sight of a Bug. Eventually this was

bred out of them, but neodog casualties were stil l

high, and when a neo was killed h is partner would

be so traumatized he would require months of

therapy to recover. Likewise he neo would he hurt

if anything happened o ts partner. To hrlng these

int o the variant, add the following:

I.The first time a neodog and a Bug occupy

the same hex (as a result of either's movement) roll

a die. 1-2 means the neo is KI A immediately.3-6

means the neo has a strong stomach and is not

rolled fo r again. The ro ll is made independently

for each neodog. This is not used for later-

generation neos. Decide be fore the game which

breed is i n use.

2. If a neodog suffers any combat result it is

KI A. When a neo suic~dcsors

killed

11s partner rr

cons~deredWIA for the remainder of the scenario.

though there is no ro ll o see if special weaponsare

lost. In the campaign game, dead neos and their

disabled partners are replaced with fresh teams,

the partner being a recruit.

3. If a partner is KIA his neodogsuicides. Ifa

partner is WI A or Heavy Damaged his neo ravels

to his hex by the fastest routeand will not leave his

side.

Phil Kosnett

North Bmnswick, NJ

Dear Sir,

To my astonishment and anger ave just

read n he GENERAL(V o1 14, No 1)that foreign

customers are forbidden to order directly from the

company.

vehemently protest against this case of

unfai r business-policy By outlawing direct orders

you force your customers in hese countriesto pay

exorbitantly high prices. you establish an un-

threatened monopoly-position for the dealer in

those countries, al lowing h im to charge whatever

he fancies.

In the meantime will inquire with the

Bundeskartelamt n Germany and theappropriate

Trade Commission in Washington what they

think of this very peculiar situation The fact

that you find it necessary to protect this kind of

policy proves that the business of your distributors

in these countries are not exactly

flourishing-

small wonder at prices like these

Didier DEMUYNCK

Volkmarsen, Germany

Your letter was one of many cries ofprotest

we receivedas a result oftheannouncement in 14.1

banning direct mail order sales to readers rom

countries in which we've granted exclusive

distributorships. While your ire s undersrondable

it doesn't show much regard or thepl ight of the

overseas pioneer game impor ters. These dealers

risk considerable sums in cash game purchases

(normal domestic dealer credit terms are not

available to them), shipping andimpo rt duties. On

top of this they have to lay out funds for init ial

tapping of the wargame hobby market in their

respective countries-such advertising of an

entirely new concept in consumer produ cts is

extremely expensive unt il he hobby has gotten ts

start in his countrv a nd his lor

is

made easier by

wordof mouth advertising and a eliable clientele.

Ad d to tha t the extreme expensefaced by these

importers in pr ovidin g native language

translations of the components and you

real1.v

can't complain about the nearly double prices

these companies must charge or their spade work

in getting Avalon Hillg amingentrenched n heir

respective countries. Wecan hardly expect them to

uncover new hobbyists n heir countries and hen

turn them over to us through direct mail order

sales when thqv've done all he work i ngetting the

hobbv started "over there". However, hosegames

and services not carried by any of our exclusive

distributors can still be acquired by mail rom

Avalon Hill n the nor mal manner.

Dear Sir.

been a subscriber to your magazine o r

over three years now and would hketogl;c you my

rmnrcsslonof vour latest ~ssueforMav-June 1977.

Although it contained some very interesting

articles, especially for Caesar, I ave it a mediocre

rating for tw o reasons. First of all, it lacked the

Series Replay article which is one of my favorites.

This was the first time in four years that there

hasn't been one so it was missed. However.

suspect there may have been extenuating cir-

cumstances involved that caused this. Secondly

and most importantly, ould have to give your

Infil trato r's Report a very poor mark for this issue

because, ound no mention whatsoever of one of

the country's biggest wargamingconventions. The

Cincinnati Games Convention. This was a

disappointment for me as TH E GENER AL s my

main source of such news. hope to see an

improvement in his department. Overall. must

say though that TH E GENERA L is still the best

deal for my money. Keep up the good work

Recently. ave seen many etters expressing

the desire to hear about games that are being

produced

by Avalon Hi ll way before they even

approach he finished product. ould like to take

the opposing side to this matter and say that

don't care to hear about a game that won't be out

for several months or over a year.

I

would have

you wait unt il you have a fir m date set for release

of the game to avoid thedisappointment ofhaving

the original idea changed or waiting after one

delay after another holds up the release of the

game. ealize that 1am probably in he minority

concerning this and should note that sually

don't buy brand new releases at all, hut wait for

reactions and opinions to be expressed before

deciding to buy one. As for the matter o f your

company's competition printing hings about you,

refer not t o see them mentioned at all i n TH E

GEN ERA L except in reference to something

important such as a convention.

Ronald Haas

Terre Haute, I N 47803

PAGE

hr Series Replay is our most dffr

feature to present due to both the grap

involved and the extreme

difficulfy of recor

such a game from start to finish without

mistakes--which also turns out to beagoodga

You can't p1a.v the game out an d say that w

great game-kt's do a Sereies Replay on it

short, it > hard o get a good one.

As to convention announcements-we p

no avorities: fsomeone takes the trouble to w

us with an announcement of a convention at ea

months i n advance of the convention date w

glad t o pass the information along.

Ij

howe

somebody waits ti ll the last minute o r send

scant? information or information whichdoes

spell out how the convention would be of inte

to our readers then we exercise our perogativ

letting such material go by unnoticed. This

seems like ag ood ime to mention that notice

gaming convention n he GENE RAL carries w

it no official A H sanction. We know no m

about them than the next guy andarejust pas

along the information we are provid ed with

fact, we feel many conventionsare over~rice

under orwnn ed and or that reason we officr

recommend onlv the Natronal ORIG INS ronv

tions (njhich are bonded for performa

obligations) to o w readers with any real c

fidence in the quality of what is being orered

Dear Sir:

***

o not know whether any one has, or e

will decide to submit an article on "Richthofe

War." hut believe that this game has so

outstanding features in it's design hat are wor

of discussion, and experimentation, namely

indiv idual maneuver schedules and the maxim

and minimu m speeds for each aircraft i n hega

as well as climbing and div ing speeds as presen

in the tournament rules, whereby movem

points of the aircraft are subtracted due to

process of climbing and are added on due

diving.

I

o not know to what purpose thedesign

incorporated these features Into the gam

composition, but

I

m certainly pleased that t

did.

I n my own experiments with the game,

discovered that it is possible for an aircraft

inferior firepower to come out best in battle w

another aircraft o f superior firepowerjust by

use of the climhingrule n he right way at the ri

point in time. For example-The Spad U7 vs.

Alhatros D2. The Alhatros D2 a two front g

alrcraft fires on Column A on the T.D.T. wh

makes orextremely hard hittingfirepower.0n

other hand, the Spad #7, a single front gun aircr

fires on Column C of the T.D.T. with j

mediocre firepower. Combat between these t

aircra ft at the same altitude level usually result

the Alhatros D 2 making short work of the Sp

117 But ave discovered that by climbi ng

Spad one hundred and f ifty meters or so hig

than the Alhatros, and also while climbi

maneuvering he Spad tightly and in close to

Alhatros gives the Alhatros one of two choices

a method of attacking the Spad: (I) Either atta

at a lower level than the Spad, which will resul

the Alhatros firing at a longer range, which wi

tur n weaken his firepower t o some degree or.

Climb the Alhatros t o the same level as the Sp

and attempt an attack from there. I f he Albat

trys toclimh , and attack, the enforced subtract

of his movement points will put a crimp in

maneuver schedule so that qurie often he ;s no

posttron o attack at theend of his cllmbrnemo

l f the A lbatros attacks at a lower level tlhan

Spad. he will either do only minor damage to t

Spad. or else miss completely (depending on

dice ro ll and his engthened range) hereby wast

his ammo. If he attempts to

climb to the sam

altitude level as the Spad, he usually does not ha

enough movement left to aim his guns wh

means that he is unable to fire at all.

Every now and then when the Spad play

feels a high dice rol l coming up for him, he c

drive the Spad down on the Albatros and st

chopping away hut always try to arrange it so th

the Spad is at a higher altitude when the Albatr

is doing the attacking.

o not imply that these methods could

used with any comhination of aircraft that mig

be matched against one another i n he course o

game. I t depends on the speed and the maneuv

schedule comhination. While the Spad U7 w

inferior i n firepower to the Albatros D2. I t w

superior to the Albatros D2 in Speed a

maneuverability in any flight attitude.

Robert Duncan

Ch~cago. L



34

THEGENER L

r r n t w n s n nr

IiTlI: WAR AT SEA 6.00

SIUICT:

WW ll Strategic Naval Action for the European Theatre

W A R A T S E A was the32ndgameto undergo

healthy 2:1 victory ratio. In the next ed ition .

analysis in the REG. ranking a disappointing2S th changes will be made to solve these play balance

overall with a cumulative rating of3.2 1. The result problems by countlng all POC ties as Allied wins

reinforced ou r earlier suspicions that game ratings and addi ng I to all Allled reinforcement dice rolls.

are often a matter of how complex a game is. It has

been

a n

observation that

wargarners

tend to

0 the positive side of the ledger. the game

overrate complexi ty and detailed

when

rewarded o ur use of it asan introductory title, with

rating

games,

But maybe that.s

sour grapes

a 2nd best ever rating in the Easeof Understanding

category, and a

similarly

impressive(6th ) effort for

W A R

A

T S E A ranked in the bottom

of

Completion of R ules. Thls ease of play capability

the

REG

list in

four separate

categories, led by a

coupled with the quick playing time 0169 minutes

29th ranking in ~ ~ ~ l i ~ ~ .-he

game

is a n abstrat-

goes a long way towa rds explaining its popularity

ed'strategic system of capital ship employment and

in lerm s games played.

W A R A

T S E A may

as such, is

not

all that

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ t l ~

e well thought of as a simulatio n, but it is played

many garners cannot equate any semblance of

by

hard newcomers

and

even

realism with an area movement system game in

lhe dist ff side of the

which no tactical maneuvering takes place. The

mapboard rating (27th) also did little to enhance

the game's cumulativescore-again weassume the

1

area movement system to be the main culprit.

2

although the small II x 14 size and lack of

3

realistic colors on the abstract board may have

4

played contributo ry roles. The last poorperform-

ance came in the area of Play Balance (24th)

5

where the Axis has a decided advantage despite 6

numerous changes to the Jedko version which

7

improved the Allied chances. Yet with top level

play, the ga me is still a tou gh win for th e British.

At the recent OR IGI NS 111 W A R A T S E A 9

tournament, the Axis had the better half of a 10

6 M 8

~n f lb

1h ~ . , min.

T H I R D R E I C H:

Q.

Assume a major p ower declares war on a

minor and uses an Att r i t ion Opt ion on the turn of

declaration. Can an opposing major power use its

own forces to satisfy any attrition losses of the

minor?

A Yes. if the opposing major power is both

a lready a t war and has uni ts adjacent to the

attacker on the front in question. The attacker in

an Attrition Option can not direct casualties

against a certain area or nationality-it is the

defender's c holce of which adjacent units will be

lost. After the initial invasion,

i

the opposing

major Intervenes it may satisfy attrition losses of

the minor merely by being on the same front.

Q.

May all 5 units o n a Beachhead counte r be

calculated in an Attrition Attack?

A Yes.

Q

An a irborne unl t may not move from the hex

on which it was dropped until the following turn.

but if it att ack s and eliminates an opposing unit

may it occupy the defenders vacated hex?

A. No. 4 7 takes precedence over 3.321.

Q.

e n o p e nh a g en b e a m p h ib i o us l y as sau lt ed

and ~f so fro m where?

A Yes. from an y East Fron t (8alt1c) base.

Q

If only partisans attack in a turn, does an

Offensive Option have t o be paid for by the

controlling players?

A Yes

Q.

Since Kiel isa tw o front port, do Germ an naval

units based there count toward the 25 factors

Germany must keep on the Eastern Front?

A

No-although fleets based at Kiel can execute

movement on either front, the port itself is in the

Western Front.

Q.

Does alr interception occur in a particular hex?

A No-the intercepting player may choose a

point of in te rcept~ on anywhere a long the op-

ponents path of movement within its range.

Q

Can a country taking a Pass Option fly

~ntercept ion , s the C apabi l it ies Tablea t theend of

the rules suggests?

A Yes-but only against enemy naval missions.

To intercept DAS requires that the interception be

In an Offensive Option.

COMING UP NEXT TIME

N OCTOBER

A.H.Phi losophy Continuedfrom Pg.

32

Col.

3

Coordina tor will r e c h e c k t h e re su l t s , w r i t e t h e m

in a s t a n d a r d fo rm , a n d f o r w a r d a l l p e r t i n e n t

informat ion o n t o t h e A REA t e c h n i c i a n fo r

overa l l t a b u l a t i o n . O n l y mult ip layer g a m e

r e s u l t s t h a t a r e ident i f ied a s b e i n g f r o m t h e QM

Co o rd i n a t o r will b e a c c e p t e d by t h e A REA

t e c h n i c i a n .

T h e official QM Co o rd i n a t o r is c u r r e n t l y

S t e v e Heinowski , 1 6 3 0 W . 2 8 t h S t . , Lorain, O h i o

4 4 0 5 2 . H i s g a m e z i n e . Ter-Ran is a v a i l a b l e t o

AREA m e m b e r s i n t e r e s t e d in p o s t a l r a t e d p l a y o f

AH mult ip layer g a m e s fo r 6 2 / 1 0 i s s u e s s u b -

scrip t ion . T h o s e i n t e r e s t e d in s t a r t i n g h e i r o w n

fa n ' z i n e a n d b e c o m i n g a n official AH Q M s h o u l d

c o n t a c t S t e v e ( w i t h a S A S E provided) a s o n l y

he-as t h e s o l e QM Coordina tor-can l i c e n se

O M S a n d re p o r t mult ip layer s c o r e s fo r A REA

tabula t ion .

Q

M o r e K M Surprises

Continued from g 16

5

(Steven Herchak) After the early turns of play,

siege tends t o become t o o powerful a tool fo r t h e

a t tacker a n d a s a result, t h e weaker faction prefers

t o fight in the open rather than hide in t o w n a n d risk

a siege. F o r example, a force of 200 a t tacked in the

open by a force

o f4 0 0 would have a

50-50

chanceof

survival in the basic g a m e but a force of 200 in a

t o w n besieged by a force of

400

would only have a I

in 6 chance fo r survival. Also sieges could, a n d did,

last years a s exemplified by the siege of Harlech. S o

a n a t tacking force confronted with the task of

capturing a town, city or castle h a sa c h o i c e of one of

t w o m e t h o d s t o t a k e it:

a

T h e at tacking nobles m a y at tempt t o storm

t h e town, city o r castle by conduct ing a battle

aga inst the garrison plus a n y defending nobles

within. If t h e battle is successful t h e t o w n a n d

occupants a re captured . If t h e battle is unsuccessful,

they may try again o r t u rn t o siege o n the next turn ,

o r

b. Th e a t tacking nobles m a y at tempt t o siege by

stating s o aloud. A siege is never resolved t h e t u rn it

is announced, but the town, city or castle is

considered under siege tha t turn exactly a s if a

Bad Weather Delays Attack card had beendrawn.

O n the next turn, a n Event card is d ra w n to resolve

t h e siege.

Of

course, within this period, thedefender

c a n a t tempt to lift the siege.

S q u a d Leader Preview. . Continued rom

beautiful. a n d h o w the counters, will

charac te r that will m a k e you remember d

Kirch a n d friends. But there is much more. S

L E A D E R is a very personal g a m e in which

become a n infantry

l eaderwi thacareerspan

of t h e major fronts of Europe. It is a career

rather t h a n a campaign game, in whic

personal counter sta r ts out a s a corpora l

experience a n d a t tempts t o maste r t h e

infantry leadership. If you blunder y

demotion o r t h e fa te tha t often accom

blunders in combat , but if y o u survive a n

significant points of e lan a n d skill your pro

could c o m e quite fast . As you advance

leadership a n d mora le ratings a lsoadvance a

each new scenario you face greater tasks a n

responsibility. Of course, if you are ki

captured , then, the career g a m e for y o u is ov

tha t is war, a n d war, a s has been said

cruelty, a n d cannot

be

refined.

With S Q U A D L E A D E R you will

be

fight f a m o u s battles, a s the d a sh over the R

Bridge o r t h e Stalingrad Tractor Works a n

not s o fa m o u s ones su c h a s a Hedgehog at P

t h e Bitchie Salient. You will partake in de

street fighting as The G u a r d Counteratt

y o u will a t tempt t o escape in the night with

de tachment f ro m the d o o m e d citadel of

Luki. T h e scenarios are all historical a n d a

different-each introducing a new segm

W W l l infantry combat .

Th e g a m e is not limited t o t h e hi

scenarios o r Ca m p a i g n Game.

S Q U A D L E

has a unique point system tha t enables you t

a balanced scenario with widely divergen

types, be it a special i n f a n t r y l a m o r task fo

hold a t a l l costs rear guard delaying

Decisions have t o be m a d e fast a n d right

with t h e complete isomorphicnessof the boa

the point system you can merge two, three

m o re g a m e boards together a n d create tota

encompassing whole brigades, a n d find

m a k i n g decisions o n many levels of

deployment. Yet t h e c o m m o n denomina tor

the infantry leader. You don't plot mov

map-you m a k e the decision where t o c

street. D o c s tha t overhanging balcony bl

MG's LO S ? You'll haveonly o n e c h a n c e t o f

O n e historian in writing a b o u t the

World W a r said tha t the tanksgot the headli

the infantry won t h e war. If this is so. then

S

L E A D E R may very well be t h e g a m e tha t p

t h e true heart and auts of World W a r 11. A

Q w i l l b e i n i t .

AVALON HILL RBG RATING CHART

5

RICH TH O F EN 'S

6 CA ES A R

-

ALE:

2 2 . BLITZK RIEG

29 TA CTICS



THEGENER L

P GE 3

Vol. 14, No. 1 had a cumulative rating of

3.56-not one of our better efforts but that was

to be expected considering the emphasis on

CAESAR-ALESIA.Mail order games possessed

by a minority of the readership always fare

unfavorably when utilized as an issue's feature

content. Individually, the articles ranked as

follows on our 1200 point scoring system.

Red Options 7 4

Summer of 5 2 B.C.. 93

Competitional Afrika Korps 1 7 0

TRC The Second Time Around 57

ALESIA The Battle

...................................

11 2

Red Ball Express . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6 5

Roman Fort Deployment in Alesia 6

Avalon Hill Philosophy.. 45

ARAB ISRAELI WARS Programmed Instruction.. 4 2

Manning the Ramparts 0

Breaching the Ramparts. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 3

PBM Luftwaffe

........................................

1 8

We continue to make strides in the sports

game field. So much so that we have decided to

publish a bi-monthly gaming magazine similar

to the

GENERAL

devoted to sports and non-

battle games. Transformation of this idea into

reality should occur sometime prior to 1978.As

a consequence, we are looking or additional R

&

D personnel to work in the sportsgame field. If

you think you're qualified, drop us a sample of

your game playing expertise and literaryskills in

the form of an article dealing with an AH non-

battle game.

Many of you have no doubt noted the

emergence of Bruce Jenner as a promotional

figure for

WHEATIES.

AH wasalmost involved n

a 3-way connection with

WHEATIES

and

Jenner. TV promotion would have enabled us to

sell thousands of updated

TRACK MEET

games

with Jenner's statistics in a boxtop tie-in deal

with the popular breakfast food. The deal has

apparently fallen through, but we were close to

the bigtime for awhile. Itwould haveeasily been

the largest exposure of an adult simulation

game to date.

The Italians might not have fared too well in

WWll but you wouldn't know it by the success

enjoyed by our exclusive Italiandistributor Dott.

Alfredo Gentili. In only his second year of

operation Gentili has surpassed all our foreign

language distributors in volume. Prime reason

for their success-so far they've translated 30

AH titles into Italian.

Those interested in getting an early look at

the convention site for ORIGINS IV might want

to take in he University of Michigan Simulation

Players' 2nd Annual Convention on Sept. 9-1 1

at the Ann Arbor Pioneer High School. From

there it's just a hop, skip and a jump over to the

University of Michigan campus in Ann Arbor

which will play host to ORIGINS 78. Further info

from John C. Finley, Room 4000 Michigan

Union, Ann Arbor, MI 48109.

Apparently one of the larger regional cons of

recent vintage is the Great Lakes Convention

presented by the Western NewYorkWargamers

Association scheduled for September 16-1

8

at

the Sheraton Lockport Inn in Lockport, NY.

Among the Avalon Hill events planned are

tournaments in

AFRIKA KORPS

and

KINGMAKER. More information is available

from Richard J. D'Angelo, 395 South Shore

Blvd., Lackawanna, NY 14218.

Northwest Indiana area gamers looking for a

place to congregate should contact Bradford

Enslen at 1527 Sheffield Ave., Dyer, IN 46311.

The Calumet Wargames Society meets every

three weeks in Calumet. IN.

Collectors may or may not be pleased to hear

that we are dropping two more games per-

manently from the line. The GETTYSBURG '64

edition has been replaced by the completely

different '77 game and is already out of stock.

KRIEGSPIEL will be finally retired this coming

fall when existing stocks are exhausted.

Laurence Gillespie of Nova Scotia reports

that wargames have made it to the TVscreen in

Halifax in he form of aweekly half hour program

entitled BROADSIDE, which is carried on the

local community cable channel there. The show

features game reviews, strategy tips, a "game of

the week", and coverage of wargaming news at

the local and national level. Laurence who

produces the show would be interested in

corresponding with anyone who hasexperience

in the field to exchange ideas, scripts,

videotapes, and perhaps entire shows. Sounds

like a good side program for ORIGINS IV.

Potential producers can reach Laurence at 23

Robert Allen Drive, Halifax. Nova Scotia B3M

3G9.

Congratulations to all the winners of the

many tournaments at ORIGINS 77. As the

largest tournaments of their kind they tendto be

recognized by us folks at AH as the national

championships. The biggest winner was local

talent Dale Garbutt of Baltimore who won the

prestigeous AH Classic 500 along with $100.

Phil Evans took 2nd. Peter Kemp 3rd, and Joe

Angiolillo 4th. Rounding out the top 16 winners

in the 112 player field were in order: L. Newbury,

F. Preissle,

J.

Zelinski, W. Mattern, G. Boden, G.

Dayton, L. Heydolph, B. Mundell, W. Rumph, C.

Adamec, K. Crocco, and D. Macminn. 17th

through 32nd place won free subscriptions to

the

GENERAL.

Robert J. Clifford of Arlington, VA took top

honors in the 110 player WAR ATSEA tourna-

ment. He was followed in order byprize winners

C. Olson, F. Cunliffe, L. Horne, D. Vigor and A.

Garnache.

KINGMAKER

was once again one of

the largest tournaments with 135 entrants. Tom

Filmore took top honors and was followed in

order by Tom Dougherty, Paul Bean and and

Noah Lerman.

W S I M

again drew over 100

participants and was won by Chris Raskopf of

Smithtown, NY. Other prize winners were T.

Schaap, B.Addison, J. Casazza, C. Morrison, and

G. Taylor. In

FOOTBALL STRATEGY,

designer

Tom Shaw finally reigned supreme with a 20-10

win over last year's winner Don Greenwood.

Coming in 3rd and 4th were traditional three

time runners-up Pat McNevin and John Strand.

The

RICHTHOFEN'S

Demo Derby again drew

over 150 pilots-the most successful of which

proved to be Anthony Becker of Bethesda, MD.

Coming in second with six kills was Jeff

Farrington followed by Roger Cooper and Pat

Carson.

DlPLOMACYwas

once again the largest

tournament held and was run under the

auspices of the I.D.A. drawing over 160 en-

trants. Dan Zablozki proved to bethe best double

dealer followed in order by Michael Perfit, Frank

Mcllvaine, and Alan Rowland.

Although we can't endorse it,

TRC

enthusiasts might be interested in an AREA

PBM tournament being sponsored by Kevin

Combs of 11225 Old Baltimore Pike, Beltsvil le,

MD 20705. Entrance fee for the RUSSIAN

CAMPAIGN

tournament has seen set at $4.00.

That'll teach us to think we're so smart W

got an enormous number of correct entries f

Contest 76 giving different solutions-it tur

out that our solution (from the last GENERA

was only the third most popular among t

possible answers, so we had to draw t

winners by lot from among the correct entri

(all variations were acceptable, as long as th

were correct). Our apologies for making t

contest so easy. we'll get you guys next tim

The winners in no particular order: V. Paxso

Orinda, CA; P. Owen, Va. Beach, VA; D. Smi

Myrtle Beach, SC; W. Bainbridge, Marion, IN;

Pollard, College, AK; P. Schulmeyer, Stuttga

W. Germany; A. Nilson, Oronoco, MN; A. Ba

China Lake, CA;A. Chiras, Northbridae, MA;a

T

Ehara, San Franciscn

CA

To solve Contest No. 77, it is necessary

take the British home base with the 21/3 Rec

unit (the only unit that can reach),which in tu

means that every British unit mustbeAV'd.A

of entries got that far; the problem is in t

implementation. There are four tricks to t

solution. The first one is that the Axis have o

58 attack factors and they need at least 55 to

all the British, so the Axis can afford to ma

only 3 attacks (maximum) at better than 5

odds; this is crucial because the Axis forc

contain only four of the 3 factor units that a

necessary to make up 5-1 attacks exactly. Th

the Axis must arrange their attacks so as to

multiple British units in the same attack.

The second problem is the three inter

British units, which have to be AV'd from t

escarpment side. This takes 15factors.Theth

problem is the 2SA/2 recce, which is doub

and unapproachable from the sea side until4

Motor is AV'd. Since there are not enough A

factors behind the escarpment, 4SA must

first. The final problem-and the lulu-is whe

to put the supply unit. The supply path for

attack cannot pass through the defender's ZO

even if the defender is AV'd by that attack (

path can go through units previously AV'd th

turn, of course). This means it can't be on t

seaward side of the British formation and s

supply the attacks on the British interior un

Plus the supply unit must end its turn within

hexes of all the attackers, which means it cann

end on either flank of the British formation.

Result: the supply unit must be on t

escarpment, and, due to the problem of getti

around 2SA/Motor (whose attacker must be

M42 due to the factor shortage behind t

escarpment), the supply must go to L44. T

attacks that result are executed count

clockwise from the eastern end; each AV clea

the supply path to the next group of attacke

The interior British units go first, in one ma

AV











Documents

The General Magazine Vol14-i2