This review first appeared in IPW, the newsletter for all discount games club members. Contact colin@allusedgames.demon.co.uk for details. DYNAMO (WG #53) Board Wargame - 3W You'll be pleased to hear that this is not a simulation of Operation Dynamo, the allied evacuation from the beaches of Dunkirk. What we have here is much more interesting; twelve days of fighting between 20th and 31st May, 1940 in north western France. This does not find the hapless allies being bashed from pillar to post by all units coloured field grey. At this point, the allies have their last chance to rebalance a rapidly deteriorating situation. Should they try to maintain a supplied bridgehead in Flanders? Should they attempt to smash the thinly spread German mechanised forces as they race for the coast? Should they start taking German at night school? This game can go either way. A game turn kicks off with air support, colossal for the Germans, negligible for the allies. Movement ailows only the more sophisticated Germans to overrun their enemy, the allies waiting for the following combat phase to wreak some revenge. In the final phase players place dummy units to mislead their opponent. This phase can easily be dropped for solo play. Both players have their own brands of fun. As well as massive Luftwaffe support and Panzers capable of overrun, the German player can also create schwerpunkts. That's German for 'stress point or 'point of concentration' which, in game terms, means a favourable die modification if both panzer divisions of the same Corps are involved in the same assault. For the allied player, it often spells disaster. Once in the game, the allied player gets to make his counter stroke. This may be from the South, North or a combination of the two. At this point, the allied attacks get a favourable die roll modifier until such a time as the Germans are neither destroyed nor forced to retreat by a combat, or the game ends. Many readers will be familiar with Hitler's halt order which saw the panzers stop and the desctruction of the allied pocket around Dunkirk to the Luftwaffe, despite whose efforts, thousands of Brtish and French troops were evacuated, though without their equipment. Hiterls decision is usually described as foolish, but consider this. The terrain around Dunkirk in the game is shown as watergangs, a mixture of canals and swamp, whose effect on the game is to oblige the attacker to take all results as step losses. If the German player sends his panzers into that, it'll mean big victory points for the allied player. Don't forget, those same panzers would be needed for the battles in Southern France, and, they believed, the invasion of England. If this game is true to life, it brings Hitlers decision to halt the panzers in a new light. Victory is earned by inflicting losses on the enemy and, for the allies, evacuation from Dunkirk, Calais, Boulogne or all three. Players who like to keep their feet on terra firma need have no fear. Evacuation is very simple, highly abstract and there are no naval units. Neither player is hindered by idiocy rules that force you to follow the history book. Unlike some other wargames set in 1940, this is a well balanced contest. A fast moving, fluid wargame with a short playing time. Great for solo play, those with little wargaming experience and panzer pushers everywhere. Higly recommended! Alan Sharif