lew ritter - Aug 31, 2005 4:11 pm (#10685 Total: 10697) Author of screenplay about Abolitionist John Brown Jersey Gamers - After Action Reports Keith McFarland and Dan Dolan played Fire in the Sky, the new release by MMP. It was a deceptively more complex game than it appeared at first glance. One of the keys to the game was Oil points. They are crucial to allow combat movement and reaction movement of forces. Without oil, neither player can react to the other players moves nor can they move to engage the enemy in a favorable battle situation. Both sides must stockpile Oil from turn to turn in order to maximize movement of units. The Japanese are hampered by the lack of shipping resources. Attacks by US submarines results in critical losses of merchant shipping which reduces Japanese transport capacity for each turn. If either side failed to protect their oil assets, they will lose the ability to prosecute the naval war as well. Strategies: The Japanese must expand rapidly and build a cordon of islands with an air unit and a brigade on the more important islands. The Allies must whittle away at the Japanese fleet. This will force the Allies to fight for each island group. The Japanese must expand rapidly and then utilize an historical delaying strategy in order to reduce the chance of Allied victory. As their merchants capacity grow and they get more reinforcements, then the Allies can counter attack the Japanese defensive perimeter. Losses can be permanent(ships) or temporary (damaged ships, air and land units). Replacements for air are on the turn record chart, for the armies, its almost automatic as long as you are in supply and can pay (in transport points) to move the replacements. CV's and CVL's units that arrive as reinforcement or replacements enter the game without Naval aviation (pilot) assets. Both sides must train the naval assets. The Air assets for the Japanese become more scare as the game progresses. Turns move quickly. Battles are fairly quick and the results usually are not extremely bloody. The counter artwork was Ok... I personally like the Americans with the bald eagle, but the Japanese get that 'pansy' Cherry blossom on the counter. The map is hard to look at, although I did get used to it by turn four, but the graphic artists could've left off every known typhoon in the Pacific during that period.. the cloud cover cluttered up an otherwise nice full color map. Overall Keith liked this game a lot... its Victory in the Pacific on steroids, not overly difficult like the recent GMT release. The Mighty Endevour from the Gamers/MMP portrays the Western front from the D-Day landings to the West Wall. Most games in this genre limit invasion to certain areas. Those restrictions are lifted here, the Allies can land anywhere (sparing a few hexes in Holland). Now, it may not be wise to land on beaches that aren't capable of supporting such an endeavor but you can if you wish, the system gives you the rope to hang yourself. The Allies each turn roll for their air force, each air point received can be allocated to either air domination or tactical air support. If the rolls are low then there are tough choices to make, if they're high, then the Allied player is looking for something to bomb. Supply for the Germans is simple.. trace back to Germany anyway you can. The Allies must trace back to a HQ which in turn must trace back to a supply source. Therefore the Allied player has logistical troubles once they breakout of the Normandy peninsula. The Allies chose Normandy to begin the conquest. His landings went smoothly, by turn 2 he had Cherbourg cut off and out of supply. Landing tons of Olive drab and khaki counters they clogged the landing areas and began the push through the bocage. Being unable to stop the breakout the Germans retreated to the Seine, artfully dodging the attempted encirclement, with a strong panzer reserve in Paris. This is where the panzers using their movement and overrun ability ruined Ike's day. Flanking the defensive line hinged on Paris the Panzers roamed through the Allied rear areas causing the British army's HQ to bug out and 1 American HQ as well. Without HQs the Allies are unable to attack (although they can trace supply to trucks) HQs are returned the next turn in a hex with another HQ. This turn of events forced the Allies on turn 7 to land near Dunkirk using an end run and now outflanked the defensive line on Paris. The Germans responded and left the Seine and started heading back to the West Wall. Dunnigan’s opus on Naval Warfare, Jutland was also on the table at the JAG club. Dan and El Presidente Jeff Schulte were the opposign admirals. The game started off with German fleet sailing right to Scapa Flow. Scheer's fleet engaged Jellicoe's battleship squadrons minus the supportng squadrons from Rosyth or Beatty’s Battle cruisers. It ended up being a blood bath. The fleet's spotted each other well within range at about 14,000 yards and opened up against one another. The Germans came in Line Ahead formation, while the British had 3 columns. The carnage began quickly as both sides lost ships. The first to go was the Collingwood as the German battlecruiser concentrated on her, but then the Seydlitz blew up with a magazine explosion! The pattern would repeat itself over a few more times, the British ships would get pounded into the sea while German battlecruisers would blow up. Some highlights All in all a fun game with a simple system. The victory points were too close to call although the Germans started to overpower the weakened British forces towards the end. At last count losses were 4 German to 7 British ships. (German ships being more expensive in terms fo VP's)