In this issue Randy Moorehead of Simulations Workship gives you the basics of Desk Top Publishing, Peter McCord reviews a few new wargames, Greg Schloesser suggests games for wives and/or girlfriends, K-ban starts his "kolumn" with "In Search of the Perfect Racing Game", Charles Vasey looks at magazine games, and Bill Krasner offers his observations on a few new wargames, new German games and selling used games.

RANDOM MUSINGS
 by Bill Krasner

SELLING USED GAMES (a brief lecture)

     I have been doing this for some time. There are others who do this also. One thing I have noticed is that there is no standardized grading system. We all pretend that there is, but there isn't. The latest catalog from someone who should know better offers this example: "the game has some staining on the rules and the box corner has been taped. A few counters have been punched. Game is in MINT condition." Example #2 (this time from e-bay): "game is unpunched, except for some of the counters". Okay, so e-bay doesn't have MENSA members auctioning their games. Still, a little common sense would apply here. I would offer the following grading system to be used in all transactions involving the sale of board games:

USED...you opened the box
UNUSED...you didn't open the box
MINT...nothing you have falls into this category

GAME NEWS

     Columbia Games has announced that their game boxes will have the retail price at the top, while rotating the box 90 degrees will reveal the lower hobby shop price. Another 90 degree turn will show sale price (30% off) and, finally, another 90 degree turn will show the game at cost.
     Mayfair has announced the release of yet another SETTLERS expansion: Lepers Of Catan. Rules and pieces for a new player. Got a pesky kid brother who won't let you and your gaming buddies play SETTLERS OF CATAN without him? Now he can play and not bother you at the same time. There is absolutely NO interaction with the leper player. He is on his own island (preferably in another part of the house) and according to the rules, if he attempts to contact you in any way, he is out of the game.
     GMT has produced an expansion kit for JUNE 6. It's called June 5 and it covers the day BEFORE D-day. The German set-up remains the same. The Allied counters consist of 3 Mosquito air reconnaissance counters and two counters representing seal/udt teams. Not much action, but the tension is so thick, you could cut it with a knife.
     Decision Games has announced that they intend to issue yet another upgunned version of KRIEG! This year's surprise hit was TOTALER KRIEG! Next year, look for DOUBLE DOG DARE TOTALER KRIEG (This Time We Really Mean It!). The ultimate WWII simulator. This game will have everything from every WWII ETO game ever produced. Includes rules for alternate realities, such as the war being fought solely by zebras or Germany being located in a rent-controlled apartment in Manhattan.

OBLIGATORY GERMAN GAME REVIEWS

     Okay, I've never really played any of these, and I understand about 20 words in German, but I have taken an educated guess as to how they are played. I seem to have misplaced my review copies, so I'll try and do this from memory.........

Kosmos' GIGANTIS: As I recall this one is about a giant moth or something that terrorizes Berlin...or Tokyo. I can't remember which.

Rio Grande's DIE GLOCKENSPIELE: Some knights with silly names are on a quest to recover the Holy Glockenspiele, which was supposedly played by the house band at the Last Supper.

TM Spiel's KRAIG UND FRIEDA: As near as I can tell, this game chronicles the domestic bliss of a middle aged German couple in Dusseldorf.

Bill Krasner plays and sells games in Vancouver, Washington.

MAGAZINE GAMES
 by Charles Vasey

     Magazine games, they run through the hobby like a slow rail-line, dependable, inexpensive (in absolute terms) but perhaps not as well thought of as their bigger boxed brothers. The days when one subscribed to every magazine (that is, to one) with a game in it are long gone for most of us. Buying magazine games is just as much a commercial decision as buying the latest boxed game. Even better designers of many excellent boxed games also design magazine games; Joe Miranda, Ted Raicer and Mike Bennighof to name but three. So what do we think of the background games?
     I subscribe to two magazines: COMMAND and VAE VICTIS. STRATEGY & TACTICS I buy most copies except those reprinting old S&T games or obscure WW2 campaigns. Looking at the three brand leaders it seems to me that one can say the following:

1. VAE VICTIS: Written in French (which is no problem to me) I enjoy VV for a number of reasons. Firstly, it is so inexpensive that buying it is a non-decision. Secondly, its games are usually pretty good and improving. Their artwork is always stunning, it is professional artwork by which I mean the guy who puts it together actually makes his living at it (rather than tries to). I also prefer the lower historical article count and the greater number of reviews and figure articles. VV comes from the British tradition it is not pretending to be written by historians (though its book reviews cover these areas).

2. STRATEGY & TACTICS: Solid games often on out-of-the-way topics let down usually by errata and finishing. One perseveres because once one has the errata there can be some great stuff. I do not read the supporting articles usually one would get more value from tackling the bibliography.

3. COMMAND: XTR produce games, and accessible games usually without too much errata. Their topics are not always of great interest to me, and their necessary switch to a less full schedule seems to have hit my particular interests, but they remain workmanlike (which is a compliment).

     To recommend a few games (which I think are worthy of standing next to boxed games). From VAE VICTIS get NORMANDIE '44 (but you need the errata). A sort of COBRA done right, or JUNE 6th done simply this is a great little game. So is their Gettysberg Campaign which can be cross-fitted to all those beautiful Clash of Arms ACW games.
     From STRATEGY & TACTICS Joe Miranda's 19th century series is really good. Simple games, full of history with a full level of chaos they have great resilience amongst my opponents. The Austro-German War is a very interesting account of the 1866 campaign that teaches one a good deal about how an army can go wrong. And RIORIGIMENTO from Mike Bennighof covers three Italian campaigns using the same basic system.
     From COMMAND I always enjoyed the ZULU WAR game (LIKE LIONS THEY FOUGHT) clean tidy and full of the feel of the real thing, LION OF ETHIOPIA exotic and accessible and Ted Raicer's excellent LIKE EAGLES THEY FOUGHT on the Eastern Front in World War Two.

Charles Vasey is the editor and publisher of the best wargame review magazine around—PERFIDIOUS ALBION—and the designer of THE KING’S WAR, FLOWERS OF THE FOREST, DEATH RIDE, and CHARIOT LORDS.

K-BAN’S KOLUMN
 by K-ban

IN SEARCH OF THE PERFECT RACING GAME

     Okay, so I'm a confessed racing game junkie. Cars, Chariots, Barnyard Animals …it doesn't much matter. The point is there's a finish line to be crossed and damn it, I'm gonna cross it first!
     The car racing games of my adolescence included LEMANS (AH), FORMULA 1 (PB/Waddingtons) and SPEED CIRCUIT (3M/AH). All involved shifting and deciding when and whether to take chances on the corners. All of the above are out of print, their current place being taken by FORMULA DE’ (Eurogames) which features drop-dead gorgeous race courses and shifting by rolling different polyhedral dice for each of six gears.
     Ironically, my favorite car racing games are not at all realistic but a blast to play. This series was spawned from a Wolfgang Kramer abstract from 1974 called TEMPO published in Germany by ASS. In 1980 the system was refined to car racing as NIKKI LAUDA’S FORMEL 1. The central mechanisms were bidding on car ownership based on your hand of movement cards and then playing your cards to help your car while hindering your opponents. Prize money was awarded based on the order of finish. The FORMEL 1 track had a couple of nasty 'choke points' that could reek havoc with those on your tail. A movement card might move your yellow car 6 spaces, the green car 4 spaces and any car of your choice (not mentioned on the card) 2 spaces. This initial edition has become a collector's item. In 1985 ASS released a Nurburgring edition with an easier track without Kramer's permission.
     The system was licensed to Milton Bradley in 1990 as DAYTONA 500 and modified to reflect stock car racing. The game added drafting and different cornering rules but retained the movement cards and auction. DAYTONA 500, despite being mass-produced, consistently fetches $20-$30 on Internet auctions.
     In 1996 Mayfair Games returned to the original, with a 2-sided game board as DETROIT-CLEVELAND GRAND PRIX. The choke points returned as well as the relatively useless 'switch cards'.
     In 1996 ASS updated FORMEL 1 as TOP RACE adding mid-race predictions/betting that further advanced the system and a more appealing racecourse.
     Another Wolfgang, Roedesser, designed a chariot race game, AVE CAESAR in 1989, with the usual fantastic Ravensburger game components or 'bits'. Players have identical movement card decks and maintain a 3-card hand. Cars move 1-6 spaces ("6's" can't be used if you're in first place) according to cards played with hands being replenished to 3 cards. Once per race a player must maneuver his chariot into the Caesar lane and give a hearty "Hail Caesar", giving up his colored coin as homage. Some very nasty choke points make this one a late night favorite with friends on both sides of the Atlantic. The game was re-issued in 1993 with it's theme changed to car racing as AUSGEBREMMST(ASS) and adding a customizing deck element in preparing your car to suit the track. The bits in AUSGEBREMMST pale in comparison to it's predecessor but the game play is more challenging and drivers feel more in control.
     My favorite racing game is the whimsical HARE & TORTOISE by the British designer and game author, David Parlett. Originally released in England (1973) by Intellect Games, it was re-issued by Waddington's and later updated by the author for Gibson's in 1987 and by Ravensburger as HASE UND IGEL (changing the Tortoises to Hedgehogs) in Germany.
     What appears to be a children's game is anything but. Players spend 'carrot' cards to move to board spaces that have varied consequences. One has to 'chew' 3 lettuce cards and cross the finish line with less than 21 carrots - no easy feat. It has been out of print for several years but will be re-issued shortly by Rio Grande Games in the US and other English speaking countries and by Abacus in Europe.
     The German Game of the Year in 1997 was a Paddle-steamer racing game, MISSISSIPPI QUEEN (Rio Grande/Goldsieber) that features a meandering river that forms differently each time you play and 3D boats with separate wheels for indicating speed and remaining coal reserves. This great family game has spawned an expansion set, THE BLACK ROSE, that adds more obstacle-laden river tiles and 3 more paddle-steamers allowing for team play and/or a 6th player.

K-ban writes game reviews for several magazines.

BAYOU BABBLE
 by Greg J. Schloesser

     Picture this: I’m sitting at my computer (gee … no surprise there!) busily perusing the various gaming forums, when I hear the door open behind me. I swivel in my chair to see my lovely wife, clad in a short, form-fitting negligée, enter the room. "Hey, baby" she whispers. "Do you wanna play a game?" My pulse quickens in anticipation and excitement. I was in for an evening of joyful bliss.
     Sounds like a school boy’s dream? Well, I must be getting old as what immediately sprang to my mind wasn’t a romp in the bedroom, but a boardgame! Either way, I couldn’t lose! Talk about your ‘win-win’ situations!

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