From: Roberto Chiavini <mumaye@mail.dada.it>
Subject: Eight reviews

ABBEVILLE 1940 (Vae Victis 7)

Tactical recreation of the clash fought in late May 2940 amongst the 4th
Armored Division of the French army and the German defenses at
Abbeville, this is possibly the most difficult game to has appeared on
Vae Victis (at least till number 7).

Usual very good graphics (with silhouettes for infantry, artillery and
armor), but the system it's a little too convoluted (at least for my
tastes). The game it's even not very fun to play in solitaire (as the
Germans may use several dummy units for their antitank pieces - which
are placed inverted on the map - and also fortified positions and
minefields).

Each unit is rated for shooting performance (depending on the kind of
weapons used), for its defensive value, for shooting range and for
movement. The HQ units have an activation value (that is the center of
the system), other than a defensive value and a movement factor.

Each turn, both player roll for initiative (with a single d6): the
winner (French wins if both players roll the same number) may activate
one of his HQs (or of his out-map artillery batteries, in the case of
the French). If the activation roll is successful, the player may move
and fight with the activated units (combat it's a function of movement
and you may have offensive fire, defensive fire - triggered by reaction
activation - and assault). Units have one or two steps: each two
disordered results cause the loss of one step. So, we have a situation
that cause the elimination of units only after a long attrition (it's
almost impossible to obtain a direct result of step elimination on the
combat table - which takes in account the attacking weapons, the
defensive value and several other modifiers, based on terrain and, most
of all, morale factors - units may be fatigued, disordered, dispersed,
neutralized, etc.).

A HQ may be activated more than time in a turn (up to two times after
certain conditions) and may try to be activated up to three times. A HQ
activated a second time is fatigued.

After both players have concluded their activation and
counter-activation, there is an administrative phase, during which both
players perform morale control checks, remove fatigue, neutralize and
other markers of this kind.
 
There are two scenarios (7 and 9 turns respectively), both longer than
the usual time expected from a Vae Victis game (I think more than 3
hours for the shorter scenario).
 
I'm not a great fan of this system (honestly, I don't like too much
tactical wargames of any kind) and I don't think that this game is very
indicated for a novice of the wargames world. Perhaps, the system could
be interesting for a grognard of tactical WWII games, but I think that
the situation, the poor solitaire rules and the longer than usual play
time, may dissuade most gamers to lose their time with a game of this
kind.

I rate this game 5 1/2 out of 10.