> SPI's World War 1 (WW1) appeared in both S&T and folio versions in > 1975. Designed by Jim Dunnigan, this is a fairly interesting strategic-level > game, especially for some of the design solutions Dunnigan used to > simulate this conflict. [Favorable review of the game deleted.] Unfortunately, the game had a fatal flaw: there exists a Perfect Plan. * Spoiler warning* * Reading the rest of this post may eliminate your enjoyment of the game * * Spoiler warning* When the game appeared at the MITSGS when it was first published, it became readily apparent that with careful play, Russia could always avoid collapsing, thus denying the Central Powers many VPs. "Careful play" included a slow withdrawl (i.e. a one-hex retreat during the first CP combat phase of each turn) towards Kiev, the final surrender city. The perfect plan for the Central Powers was developed in response to this Russian strategy. The plan dictacted that after the initial Western Offensive, the Germans would not attack at all until the Stosstruppen appeared in order to create an adequate CRP stockpile. The Eastern Front was to be totally ignored. All Stosstruppen would be deployed to the Western Front, and no attacks would be made without them. The game would end with all western resource hexes in German hands; often the Allies would collapse entirely in the west. - DDH