From: Robert Markham Subject: Rossiya, 1917 Lately, I've been playing Azure Wish's Rossiya, 1917 and I thought I'd give a brief reaction to my first playing of the game. The game is a mini-monster with 2 maps and hundreds of counters. It covers the Russian Civil War on a military level. The first game I think that has done so. The system is interactive. Initiative is determined at the beginning of the game by where the number of political points is checked and either the Red or the White player activates one HQ first and moves units controlled by that HQ. Play then alternates as each player in turn activates an HQ and moves. When an HQ is activated, the player rolls to see how many supply points he recieves. He may expend 0 to 3 points. Depending on how many points are expended, he can perform various functions. In practice this moves the game along very well and conveys a good feeling of the frustrations that both sides must have experienced. There are also random events chits that are chosen at the beginning of each turn. Combat is a bit convoluted with a variety of different tables to check, but the learning curve is easy and by turn two, it is mastered. All in all, the system is intricate but each step is clear and concise enough to be readily understandable. The rules are basically clear, which is amazing given the fact that it is a translation of the original French rules. While there are syntex problems, overall it is readable and accessible for reference. THe game is great fun multi-player and even works with three (we found that out last week when one of the players couldn't make it). For the multi-player games, one player is the Red player and the others split the White, Allied, and national forces. Each have different victory conditions. All in all, it's the best new game I've played in the last year. Rob