From: Roberto Chiavini Subject: Three reviews - good one Desert Fox (SPI, in S&T 87) I approached this game only recently, with a little awe, as I have read several good reviews on this simulation of the campaign for North Africa 1941/42, made by Richard Berg on the trail of a more playable effort, after the apocalyptic Campaign for North Africa. And the awe is still here after having played the game, a terrific experience, one of the better game of the last year of play (sometimes discovering old games only now is not so bad, after all). The game come with very good graphics for a S&T game of more than twenty years ago, in particular the map, that is very good and very functional (with all the most important tables printed on it), while the counters are perhaps a little too cluttered with too much information in a small place; anyway, this part of the game is average or better even if looked with today standards as a reference. There are several kind of units reproduced in the game, but the most important difference are between motorized (the great part of the units of both sides) and leg units (a few infantry units, mostly Italian and Commonwealth). Leg units are easily noted by a colored band running on the bottom of these units. Of the several numbers on each unit the most important are the combat strength, the movement allowance, the morale rating and the stacking value. Now, let's take a look at the sequence of play that is not so smooth as it seems at first sight: first of all the Axis player roll the 2d6 to see who has the initiative for the turn; then, the first player check for reinforcements (also, for resupply, the Axis player have to roll to the Convoy Arrival Table to see how much supply he gets); then, there is the air point allocation phase (important for Malta and the Axis line of convoy, but also for combat column shift in the successive phases). The heart of each turn comes with the first movement phase, which is followed by enemy reaction phase, then combat, and then all these three phases are repeated for motorized units. The first player turn finishes with the Refit phase (where you check for Disruption, various items concerning supply, attrition for unsupplied units, etc.). Supply is the center of this game, the point where all strategies revolves around. There are three different kind of supply sources: fixed ones (normally, cities or entry hexes for both armies), supply dump (static supply source, you have to reach them with a supply line of no more than 12 Motorized Movement points) and Mobile Supply Units, that are not themselves supply sources, but may be used to form a chain of supply till you reach a supply source. More than two pages of the twelve pages of rules are devoted to the explanation of supply in all is secrets: the system is complex, but there are no particular errata, so it plays slowly, but on solid basis. Even the combat system is not standard: the CRT is atypical, with attacks resolved on different column for the attacker and the defender, several differential for Disruption, combined arms, artillery, air strike, etc. Morale of the defender is fundamental for establishing defender losses. There are only two scenarios, with the game, one a shorter version (five turns) of the 22 turns campaign game. This is a drawback, because even the short scenario needs several hour (4 or more in my opinion) to be completed, while the campaign game probably reaches at least 25 hours of play, because of the complexities of the system. But playing this game is a rewarding experience. I don't like in particular the games on WWII Desert War, as they are very mobile, but forced in straight pattern of movement by terrain and supply rules. This game is not really an exception, but I really have fun trying to play my best for both parts (I tried the first scenario solitaire, no problems in the rules) and I hope that the revised Desert Fox in the making by Decision Games could be up to this excellent standard, probably one of the finest game designed by Richard Berg (but I like several of this designs) and certainly one of the better magazine games of all times. I rate this game 8 out of 10.