From: Mike Szarka <MSzarka@AOL.COM>
Subject:      Re: Blood on the Snow, S...1939

In a message dated 96-04-08 10:58:58 EDT, you write:

>Has anyone had a chance to try out Avalanche's new game "Blood on the Snow,
>Suomussalmi, 1939?"  I'd be interested in hearing some comments.  Thanks.
>
Well, I only played through most of the first scenario befoure my 2 year-old
drank the contents of the chit-pull cup.  Nevertheless, here are a few
impressions.  The game is lowish complexity, with reasonably nice graphics
and well-written rules.  The battles seem dramatic, and playing both sides I
felt sure I would lose, a good sign for a tense game.

Aside from a lot of mostly conventional stuff, the heart of the game is the
activation sequence.  Each player is allowed to select a certain number of
chits, which basically allow him to move, attack, or both.  The side with
better C3i gets more and better chits to choose.  They are tossed in a cup
and drawn one at a time similar to Berg's LIM system.  The LIM system is
really still a phased IGO-Hugo.  However, what makes the Avalanche system
very different from the LIM system is that a chit allows you to act with your
entire force.  Thus, one guy could and will frequently get multiple
activations while his opponents stand still.  In the LIM system, each unit
still only moves once per turn.  So, the turns are rather chaotic with a
built-in SNAFU effect provided by the random chit sequence.

Despite the benefits of the system, I confess to some lingering uneasiness
with it.  I guess old habits die hard, but it was difficult for me to get
comfortable with the multiple turns in a row and with the resulting chaos of
the turn sequence.  Some people may love it.  Avalanche's other titles have
been a little too counter-dense for my inclinations, but their
recently-announced slate of new games include several more smallish games
which I will be interested to try.

Mike