Date: Thu, 17 Aug 1995 22:25:36 GMT From: wdf@netcom.com (William Faulkner) Subject: Re: Great Battles of Alexander Newsgroups: rec.games.board Chris Kowalczyk (bafe3@central.susx.ac.uk) wrote: : Does anyone have any comments on this game, especially the De Luxe : edition? I am thinking of buying a copy and would like to know if it is : a good simulation. In particular, does it have effective rules for : morale? IMHO it is the best game covering the battles of Alexander. It covers all of Al's major battles, except for the siege of Tyre (a supplement that may be coming at some time in the future). There is also a just released supplement for it, Diodochi, which covers portions of the Successor's Wars. As an added bonus, the rules are very compatible with others in the GBoH series, SPQR, Ceasar, Lion of the North, and the soon (and this is a relative term) Samuri. It is very command oriented. Units may only act under orders from commanders. A unit routs when it accumulates hits greater or equal than its troop quality (TQ). Hits can come from combat (melee and missle), movement, and numerous other activities. The hits represent primarily unit disorganization NOT deaths of soldiers (although casulties are rolled into the TQ hits). Units are very vulnerable from combat in the rear / flanks. There is a chart which defines the column of the combat chart to roll on, based upon attacking unit type vs defending unit type (as well as front/flank/rear attacks). The command control plays a very key part of the game. You generally are never able to do all that you want to do, and if you try to overextend the number of commands you give, you could find yourself in a very precarious situation. The game comes with three countersheets, with many of the counters doubled-sized representing the phalanxes of the era. There are three doubled- sided maps, and one of those has two-half maps on each side. Counters and maps (and the box cover) are all done by Roger McGowan (sp?) and are beautiful. It's a great package and I love it. The battles can be a little (OK some a lot one sided) but the game does try to be historical and I think the suceed quite well. It also has a great bibliography. What else could you want? Enough rambling Bill Faulkner