From: Andy Waller Subject: Review of Piercing the Reich (MiH) Piercing the Reich (MiH) An excellent and fast moving game at the battalion level using a novel system for game turns that shows the ebb and flow of the battle very well indeed without complex supply rules. The rule book could do with some restructuring as the rules take a while to interpret mainly because of the illogical order of the booklet. It takes quite a while to learn the game but it is worth it in the end. The withdrawal rules are definitely ambiguous and even with the help of the designer (see some of the errata available) it is still difficult to see how withdrawal works in action. The new map is certainly better than the old although the units don't stand out as well particularly the US units - but you can't have everything. A thoroughly good solitaire game although the campaign game is not really suitable for this approach. The way the impulse system works, certainly slows down the 3rd Armoured attack down the Stolberg Corridor and makes it quite vulnerable to counterattack from elements of 9th Panzer. You need to think out strategy carefully as there is a random element in the combat which can allow low odds attacks to succeed and high odds attacks to fail in certain circumstances. Tank combat is abstacted to DRM modifiers on the CRT but there is a noticeable differnce when you use tanks as part of the assault. Air superiority is also abstracted to a column shift (or two) on the CRT with the US given the advantage. Reaction moves are possible but only really to reorganise positions counterattacks are possible in this phase but are unlikely to cause much damage as they are invariably hastily put together (although this isn't always the case). Overall a very differnt mechanism that makes for an intersting attack across Westwall. Well worth it in my humble opinion. Andy in Kuwait