From: "David S. Bieksza" <bieksza@APLCOMM.JHUAPL.EDU>
Subject:      Re: Devils Den ?

On Fri, 18 Apr 1997, Scott Goldsmith wrote:

> What about "Devils Den" ?

The scale is extremely tactical:  2 companies/counter, 40 yards/hex, 8
minutes/turn (not certain of those last two figures), so it's well below
the level of GBACW games.  Even though it was published in the 80's,
hardly anything has been published since in a similar scale.

> How is it at siming CW tactics ?

Even though I'm a fan of the game, I would rate it only "fair."  You
won't see much reflecting soldiers' memoirs of maintaining alignment with
neighboring companies -- counters pretty much buzz about as they please
within the regimental leader's command radius.

But IMO the rich amount of detail compensates for this.  You'll have
infantry fixing bayonets, artillery double-shotting their guns, removal
of fences to facilitate movement, etc.  I also like the command system,
where leaders must expend limited command points to issue orders to their
regiments.

> which version is better AH or OSG ?

Definitely AH.  In my (limited) experience it's the best redevelopment
job AH ever did.  The two biggest changes are:
        1) AH separated the rules into basic and advanced levels,
improving the learning curve.
        2) The Fire CRT was changed from a 2-12 basis to a 11-66 basis,
speeding play.  (That is, the old table did *not* have graduated results
like the _Squad_Leader_ IFT -- until you memorized the CRT you had to
check for a hit every time.  But with the new table if you rolled high in
a weak attack you knew you missed.)

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Dave Bieksza                 bieksza@aplcomm.jhuapl.edu
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"Comet Hale-Bopp" is an anagram for "HTML be poop, Ace."
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