From: Markus Stumptner Subject: Iron Bottom Sound II first impressions Just got MiH's Iron Bottom Sound II. A nice-looking package, and finally an appropriate home for the wonderful cover illustration that was supposed to grace VG's Tokyo Express before VG decided (for whatever reason, hopefully not because it's based on a 1944 photograph) not to use it. (Back then, it ended up on the cover of Fire&Movement #60 instead.) Anyway, what we get is a ziplock game with rules that appear to mix the original IBS with later changes from The Royal Navy and Fleet Admiral, a new torpedo system (I don't have the old IBS, so I don't know what's different), and 10 scenarios overall: The five standard Guadalcanal battles, the battles of Kula Gulf, Kolombangara, and Empress Augusta Bay, as well as one Mediterranean British/Italian convoy attack and a destroyer skirmish in the Channel, 1940. The system: Well, its what naval detail fans have always loved, lots of gunnery detail, turret fields of fire, and special damage results. Sighting and command issues get short shrift; it's still Tokyo Express for those who want to see that side of the battles. The components are very nice; the counters, while not quite up to The Great War at Sea standards, are very detailed (side view though, as always in Jack Greene's games); the reverse side has cute fuzzy reproductions from paintings that show sinking ships in battle. The land overlays are a pleasing sight (although Savo Island seems to have undergone major logging operations). There is a bit of sloppy editing (like figures having danced away from their references, or Atago and Takao being rated as having 6" main guns at, I believe, Empress Augusta Bay), but so far, only nitpicks or easily corrected. A really interesting package. From what I've seen (I haven't played it yet) it looks like a well-done face lift of a classic. Markus