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GAME PROFILE:

RUSSIAN CIVIL WARThe Russian Civil War is the first of SPI'snew "Power Politics". games. It is also thefirst of the bookcase format games, whichmakes it different from past SPI products inboth design and physical appearance. Thecardboard game box has a printed cover andbottom, the mapboard is mounted, and a20-compartmented tray is provided forcounter sorting and storage. The boardcontains a map of the erstwhile RussianEmpire and adjacent lands, plus a number oftables and other play aids. The territory isdivided into many provinces which aregrouped into larger regions (e.g., GreaterRussia, Byelorussia, Ukraine). Movement isfrom province to province or along rail lines.

The counter mix provides four sets of combatunits in white, red, green and blue. Whiteand Red units are the contending factions,Greens represent nationalist groups (Uk-rainians, Baits, etc.) who want independence,while Blues are the foreign interventionists(France, Germany, US, etc.). There is aheirarchy of hostility. Reds fight everyone;Whites fight Reds and Greens, who fightReds and Whites; while Blues fight onlyReds. In addition to combat units, there areRed and White Leader Counters, PolitburoMarkers, Assassins, and random eventsmarkers. In addition are counters repre-senting the Czar and the imperial horde ofgold, plus identification markers for eachPlayer.

There are two kinds of combat. Units in a~ province with a hostile faction may attack as

~any stacks of enemy troops in that provinceas the Player wishes. Odds are based on theratio of combat factors, and a die is rolled ona fairly conventional CRT. There is alsosubversion, which can be used only by theReds against the Blues in an adjacentprovince. Odds are calculated as before andthe same CRT used, but only "DefenderEliminated" results are applied.

There are two other types of conflict, directedat Leader units-Purges and Assassination.Unlike combat, they may be conducted atany point in a Player's move, while Purgescan be conducted at any time during thegame as well. This allows their use at acrucial moment to supplement an attack orundercut an opponent. Red and Whitecombat units can only move when stackedwith a Leader, so an Assassination couldleave a large body of troops in limbo. Purgesallow a Player to take direct control ofanother Player's Red Leaders. Thus, judi-cious use of these weapons is quite powerful.Each Leader unit has a Leadership Value offrom one to three, which is also its CombatStrength and the number of combat units itmay lead around the board. Assassination isa die rolling procedure depending on the

by Steve Listtarget's Leadership Value and the number ofAssassins employed. Purges are usually agroup endeavor; the Central Committee ofthe Politburo can collectively purge any non-member, and any individual Player canpurge another. The more Politburo Markersand aggregate Leadership Value Points thepurgers have, the greater the chance ofsuccess and the less chance of a counter-purge. Purges are resolved by the roll of twodice on a "Purge Results Table." There arefifteen Politburo Markers in the game, andPlayers must have at least eight to setthemselves up as the Central Committee, somuch of the game involves covert and overtjockeying to form such a coalition.

The game can accomodate up to six Players,labeled A-F. At the start, Players areassigned a letter at random, and the firstPlayer to move in a turn is likewise selectedat the start of the Turn, allowing a lucky

.Player to make consecutive moves. Afterlabeling, a cup or similar container is filledwith all the Leaders, 13 Politburo Markersand a sprinkling of Assassins. Players eachdraw one counter in turn until all areselected, with the extra Politburo Markersgoing to the Players holding Lenin andTrotsky. The Leaders, and all the troopcounters, are placed on the board in theprovinces assigned them, and play begins.

The first Phase of a Player-Turn is theRandom Events Phase. The Player rolls dice,with the result usually being an epidemic inup four provinces. This causes the elimina-tion of the largest unit in each stack in theaffected province. Other possible outcomesare the doubling of units launching subver-sive attacks that Turn, or the Player gettingto draw a chit from yet another "Randomi-zer." After the Movement and CombatPhases, the Player always draws a Randomi-zer chit. This Randomizer contains the restof the Assassin Markers, and chits giving thePlayer control of a portion of the Green orBlue troops. Once he has control of one ofthese factions, he may move the units withouta Leader. There are also chits taking variousBlue factions out of play.

After all Players have had a Turn, the TurnRecord advances and eliminated non-Bluecombat units are replaced on board, subjectto certain limits. Leaders, and troopseliminated after Turn Five, are kept by theeliminating Player for Victory Point credit atthe end of the game.

The game ends when there are no RedLeaders left on the board outside Siberia,which is a White Victory, or when no WhiteLeaders are left, giving a Red Victory. In theevent of a White Victory, Players get Pointsfor White Leaders and troops they control on

board, for Red troops and Leaders they haveeliminated, and for possession of the livingCzar and his gold, plus a few other things. Ina Red Victory, the criteria are reversed,except that the Player gets credit for the Czardead, and for the gold only if it is still on theboard. Since most Players control both Redand White forces through most of the game,there is a certain amount of indecision aboutwhat manner ofvictory to play for. Of course,it is also rare for all Players to decide to gofor the same color Victory Conditions in theend, making for a struggle to the end.My first experience with the game was highlyentertaining and probably typical in terms ofgeneral outline, if not of fine detail. Therewere five Players (which seems to be theoptimum, though four should be alright,too), and I was last to move in the First Turn.Except for that, I was in good shape; I hadLenin and Trotsky, the strongest Red.Leaders (three Leader Points each) who eachstarted stacked with an 8-Point combat unit(the largest size). I had many minor WhiteLeaders as well, one of which controlled theDon Cossacks, the only 8-Point White unit. Ihad four Politburo Markers and the only twoAssassins in the game so far as well. All thisstrength was tempered by moving last. Mostof the unattached combat units were takenby the time my turn came.After a few Game-Turns, action had reducedthe Reds to three Leaders and a single combatunit, which I consolidated into a single stackfor protection, and moved to Siberia wherethe Whites holding the Czar were similarlyweakened, allowing me to capture him. Ithen drew a chit giving me control of theJapanese Blue troops in Vladivostok, to gowith my Whites and US forces already there.These could march westward in a bloc,sweeping my Red rivals before them.Then disaster struck. At the start of my nextTurn, my own dice roll caused an epidemic inSiberia which robbed me of my last Red unit.All three Leaders and the Czar would bevulnerable to any roving enemies unless Icould pick up some troops, and precious fewwere to be had. Red Leader Frunze was inArchangel with 12 Combat Strength Points,and was controlled by one of my rivals. Hewas too strong to Purge, so my only chancewas to move to his province and attempt anAssassination. The gunsels failed, leading meto fall back on my alternative. I sent the Czaroverseas to safety and moved my Red Leadersdown to Cossack country where my ownWhites killed Trotsky. Lack of Whitestrength at this point forced me to leave theothers for another Player to pick off. I wasfurther frustrated to realize I had neglectedto move my powerful Blues out of Vladivo-stok. This delay was especially galling

because later, just as they were about to getinto combat, I drew the randomizer chittaking them out of play.The liquidation of my own Red forces wasparadoxical on the surface, as I was the mostpowerful member of the Central Committeeat the time. But by eliminating Lenin andTrotsky, no Red troop replacements wouldcome on for two consecutive Turns, prac-tically guaranteeing a White Victory. Whichis what happened. Unfortunately, I didn'twin. Another Player, who always got to movebefore me was thus able to grab the bulk ofthe White replacements and roll up Points inthe end game. His margin of victory wasexactly equal to his superiority over me inWhite units on board.

The game has much to offer-diplomacy forthe honest, skulduggery for the treacherous,and schizophrenia for the undecided. Mili-tary strategy must be properly employed todeal effectively with military strength, butpolitical strategy is required as well. Asidefrom the joys of purging your favorite enemy,the chief attraction of this game is in theproblem of defining your enemy and movingagainst him while getting him to waste hiseffort on someone else.

D/0 Strategy [continued from page 9]

The last sector is Arrow Four. This area is arather quiet area. One should continue to usethe Disengagement Attacks to keep one'scenter. intact. Counterattacks can be usedalso. The main point to keep in mind is tosecure one's center with just enough units tokeep it intact. Any spare units should be sentto Arrow Two if they are strong or if they areartillery units, or units should be sent toArrow Three if they are exceptionally fast.In conclusion, 0 Strategy is able to usesimple, but effective basic tactical skills. Nonew fancy footwork had to be devised. Thestrength of 0 Strategy lies in the properapplication of basic tactics with a soundsense of direction when undertaking theoffense. One final word on 0 Strategy andthat is timing.

In order to use 0 Strategy most effectively,one must attack both of the enemy's flankssimultaneously. The enemy will have con-siderably more difficulty with his position ifhe faces a simultaneous double threat onboth of his flanks rather than one threat at atime on either flank. He may be able to parryone threat at a time, but a double threat istwice as hard to counter. Simultaneousattacking .is an important element of 0Strategy.

All in all, D/O Strategy represents the keystone to the present series of Basic Tactics.Hopefully, a new gamer could have startedfrom just a rudimentary knowledge of anyQuadriGame rules and with the help of thesearticles could have gained sufficient war-gaming skills to give one's best wargamingfriend a "bloody nose."

YourMoves

What follows are excerpts from some of the lettersI've received in the pastfew months. You may haveyour mind boggled by the thought, but I read everyletter addressed to me (and a lot that are not). Ifyou're in the mood, I invite you to write directly tothis column. Those letters that are most likely tosee print are those that comment on topics ofgeneral interest to the readership in a thoughtful,well-reasoned manner. I particularly encourageletters of constructive criticism about MOVES andSPI products in general (after all, you are thebiggest consulting group that I have access to).

I very much liked and learned from "Seminar!Game Rules," but felt it was limited to a designers'perspective and mentality. I'm sorry, but GDW'sPort Arthur cannot be played given the rules-as-written. Both players have. infinite supply in theirhome countries, but supply units have no combatfactor-and strategic movement capacity is interms of combat factors-so you can either movean infinite amount of supply--or none! We choosearbitrarily to count a supply unit as "one" CF; butthat allowed you to move 20 supply counters perturn! We next tried "two CF's per supplycounter." Marc Miller responded that "S" iscorrect. They also omitted stacking rules forsupply. Miller first said "three supply units per hexin addition to combat units," then changed hismind and said, "infinite stacking of supply."

AH's Chancellorsville cannot be played given therules. Two different concepts of road movementare given; one hints at strategic movement a laAnzio; another speaks of "road bonus." This wascrucial in determining whether a unit could use aroad bonus at all during a turn in which it crosseda pontoon bridge. One interpretation said yes; theother, no. The problem is that the game opens withthree free Union movement phases; so the twodifferent interpretations give the game twocompletely different opening complexions. Sorry,but games take up a lot of time; we preferred toshelve both the above games until we got the rulescleared up.

Am also fascinated by last issue's OpeningMOVES and this issue's Countermoves. Thediscussion is worth a lot more space than it got,and I look forward to throwing a few cents into itwhen my time restrictions loosen up. (I'm still busyearning a living at the moment.)

Really liked MOVES #27; getting back to why Isubscribed in the first place-namely, for "conflictsimulation theory and technique." Good, solidreading. First rate. -Mark Saha

Mark Saha is a well-known wargamer andcontributor to MO VES Magazine. -RAS

In MOVES 27, there seems to be a difference ofopinion in the area of rules. It is my personalopinion that the present style of writing is the bestI have seen, and that there is not much room forinnovation. Rules must present, in readable prose,the way in which the game pieces can act. It shouldbe precise and loop-hole free, because that willsatisfy those who demand absolute law, while stillallowing "free-thinkers" to follow their own light.Of the almost one-hundred sets of rules which I

25have read, I think that the game which comesclosest to these limitations isPatrol! Not only is thegame presented clearly, the rules were fun to read.On the basis of this, I would suggest that youretain the present structure, but make the ruleslonger by increasing the descriptive content of theindividual sections. +Carl Chandler Fristrom

We are planning to do just that. Whether or notgame rules can actually befun is another question.

-RAS

First, let me express my appreciation for yourcover article in the latest MOVES (#27). Mr.Hinsley's analysis of Mech War '77 is the besttreatment of such a subject that I've ever seen inyour magazine. Granted that Mr. Hinsley's effortwas complemented by the quality of your game,nonetheless, the narrative was lucid and asinteresting as the game itself. Please pass on mycompliments and continue to make efforts towardthis, in my opinion, remarkable success.

Secondly, let me address myselftoward your latestcontroversy about game rules. It seems to me thatthe best possible method would be a simple narra-tive of either the actual history and! or a gameplayed during playtesting. If you take a lessonfrom the interest displayed in the game as historyarticles published in MOVES, I think that youmight discover that the game rules could betreated similarly.

The decimal system that you use to number yourrules could still be applied to this narrative style intwo ways. First, in an outline similar to the onethat you now have for your rules, but more like anindex. Secondly, the numbers could be displayedin the margin of the narrative where specific rulesare explained in order to facilitate reference whenexamining the index. +Daniel J, McClure

One of my fond hopes is that Avalon Hill and othergame publishers would be influenced enough bySPI's successful format to the point where allwidely distributed wargames share a commonstructure and language. I think that suchcommonality would have a beneficial effect on thegrowth of the hobby (since we'd all be speaking thesame tongue). -RAS

One thing I've noticed over the past few years isthat there are a lot more of us (garners)... for thefirst time in my gaming experience, I actually havemore opponents than is practical (from my wife'spoint of view). This may be just luck, but it seemsto be the case on most of the East Coast... and Ithink that you have had a lot to do with it. Thereare two publishers that every opponent I've met isfamiliar with: SPI and Avalon Hill. Generally, theygot started on Avalon Hill and now play SPI gamesalmost exclusively. A good example was a recentconvert who was a Panzer Leader addict until heencountered my copy of Panzer '44. The last I sawof him, he was converting Panzer Leader scenariosto Panzer '44 units! I suppose that you must havesome idea of the effect that your standards ofexcellence have on "other people's" players, but ifyou don't, the impact is considerable. -

Another aspect that you dominate the field in isrange of subjects. This is nothing new to you, but itsure helps to get .j- novice started when you canwhip out a game that matches his interest in termsof period, scale, environment, etc., etc. This issomething the other guys just don't offer.

Your rules format is unquestionably the best in thesport and this has a great deal to do with theattraction you have for new and old players. It isone of the most critical factors in whether a game

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