Paul Rohrbaugh - 11:03am Dec 10, 2001 PST (#9279 of 9346)
Basta imparare, comincia a morire!

OOTW is Perry Moore's latest, Valor and Vengeance: the Battle of Ulus
Kert. The DTP game covers the Feb. 29th to March 3rd, 2000 battle
between elite Russian special as well as airborne forces, and Chechen
rebels. The Russian units positioned themselves to block the flight of a
massive Chechen force fleeing from their defeat in the capital city of
Grozny. The Russian's occupied a mountain pass that offered the rebels
their only viable route to safety. The Russians were confident that
their superior weaponry and training would carry the day. They were
tragically mistaken...

The game comes with a 11 by 17 map, done in various tones of green and
tan. 250 unmounted, half-inch counters represent companies and platoons.
Russian forces also have air support from Su-25's and Hind helicopters,
mines, as well as off-map artillery. 2/3rds of the turns are night, and
weather this time of year was lousy to horrible, making all of the
additional fire power rather problematic. To add to the Russian player's
challenge, a sizeable contingent of Chechens infiltrated past the
defenses, so the Russians start the game/battle pretty much surrounded.
So much for being a blocking force.

I have only read through the rules at this point, but the game mechanics
seem simple, but logical. Solitaire play appears to be very easy to
manage without wrecking the game's mechanics. Units are rated for fire
combat, movement and heavy weapons capability. Rolling a 10-sided die,
modified for range, firing and target unit status, and terrain will
result in misses, the target being stunned, suppressed, pinned or
killed. Melee combat is in-hex and potentially bloody. The turn sequence
is chit-draw driven, each Russian formation having its own activation
chit. The Chechen player determines how many and which units activate by
the roll of the ten-sided die. A DR of 1-9 indicates how many units can
perform movement and combat, a DR of 0 means no (not 10) units may
activate despite the activation chit draw (the FUBAR factor).

Perry's commentary and designer's notes likens this one to a modern-day
reenactment of Custers last stand, albeit with machineguns and
artillery. I'm itching to get the pieces cut out and having at it with
this game in which little quarter will be asked, or given. 

Paul Rohrbaugh