roger deal - 10:08am Nov 14, 2000 PST (#9199 of 9204)

OOTW here is 1898 by That Game Company Whose Name Is Not To Be Spoken.
Components look great as usual with THEM but the two small maps are
mounted and there are fewer than the usual number of counters for this
series. Also, as the Spanish-American failed in its duty to future
gamers there are few historic scenarios. A decent number of
hypotheticals but some of them require parts from other games in the
series. It makes you wonder if they could have been reprinted here,
expecually maps, if That Company hadn't incurred the expense of mounting
the maps included.

David R. Moody - 11:02am Nov 14, 2000 PST (#9200 of 9204)
Currently playing: Terrible Swift Sword (SPI/TSR), ASL and DiF Grand
Campaign (currently fighting in Finland), Advanced Civilization (AH
computer version)

Out of the Wrapper: 1898, by Avalanche Press.

The latest installment of the award-winning Great War at Sea series
arrives at the Moody household. This one looks like it might be a decent
intro to the series--the fleets involved are a lot smaller and don't
carry as many guns as in later volumes, so less die rolling, and no
carriers. BIG box--twice as deep as the others in the series, with a
picture of the USS Olympia at Manila Bay on the cover. Inside you get
two small mounted maps. One is the Tactical Map for resolving the
battles, while the other is an operational map of Cuba, Haiti/Dominican
Republic, and Puerto Rico (part of Florida (Miami and the Keys) is also
on the map). I wish they'd done a bigger map with all of the Carribean,
especially since Mexican and Venezuelan ships can appear in the Campaign
games (of which more anon)--a larger map would give you more room to
maneuver and more options. I suppose you could use the map from US Navy
Plan Black, if you wanted, and just use the Spanish flag markers
provided to mark the Spanish ports. The operational map is much flashier
than in previous games in the series--it is in full color and
topographical. Counters are the same style as the previous games. As
Roger said, not a lot of counters, and most are US ships. Among the
ships are early subs--the USS Holland (the US Navy's first sub) and a
Spanish sub whose name escapes me.

There are quite a few scenarios, divided (as usual) into battle
scenarios, operational scenarios, and two campaign games. Some of the
scenarios require maps from US Navy Plan Orange (the Philippines) and
the Western Mediterranian map from GWAS Vol. 1 (for operations against
Spain, proposed by Teddy Roosevelt). A couple of the hypotheticals
postulate a 1907 clash between the US and Japanese pre-dreadnought
fleets, but these assume the Russian navy surrendered to the Japanese
and the Japanese were able to absorb some Russian pre-dreadnoughts into
their fleet (counters from 1904-1905 are needed). This sounds a little
dubious to me, but I don't know enough about the history of the period
to say whether it could have happened or not. There are also
hypothetical Spanish ships (either under construction or being bought)
that can appear at the Spanish player's option. Even the navy of Kaiser
Wilhelm the Loony makes an appearance in a hypothetical clash with
Admiral Dewey's fleet in Manila Bay (players are encouraged in the
scenario notes to insult each other often to mimic their historical
counterparts). Of course, you can refight the historical battles of
Manila Bay and Santiago (if you can get a suitably masochistic Spanish
player).

There are also two campaign games--one for the Carribean, and one for
the whole war (uses the operational map with the game, as well as those
from GWAS Vol. 1 and Plan Orange). Basically, you go through a series of
steps, playing certain operational scenarios in order and keeping track
of lost and damaged ships. Every so often you get repair points which
can be used to repair ships. You also get to roll to see if certain
neutral nations (Mexico, Venezuela, Haiti, the Dominican Republic,
Denmark (?), Germany) join one side or the other or remain neutral. The
roll is affected, of course, by who's winning the war. Curiously, one of
the actions a neutral can do (and it can happen frequently) is close its
ports to one side or the other, but since only Haiti and the Dominican
Republic have ports on the map, it's pretty meaningless otherwise.
Again, a larger operational map would have made for a lot more
possibilities. Curiously, although the British have a port on the map
(Jamaica) they are not represented among the neutrals. Players also have
to make operational choices, which affects which scenario they play
next--e.g., does the Spanish player want to intercept the Oregon on its
voyage from the West Coast? Does he want to send a relief fleet out?
Does the US player want to form an Eastern Squadron, and if so, where
does it go? Looks interesting.