From: RayFreeman@aol.com Subject: Tigers in the Mist2 admin@grognard.com 9/1/97 The following review appeared in Berg's Review of Games #25 published by Richard Berg. The review was written by Carl Gruber. Permission to post to Web-Grognards by the Author and the Publisher. TIGERS IN THE MIST, by Ray Freeman. 1 b&w map, , German and Allied player aid cards, five sheets of unmounted counters. TIGERS IN THE MIST was designed and desk-top-published by Ray Freeman. This is yet another game on that old favorite, the Battle of the Bulge. So who needs another Bulge battle, you may ask. Before dismissing TIGERS out of hand, it's worth looking at because it is a unique and interesting design. Visually TIGERS is nothing to write home about. For $15 you get several sheets of unmounted counters and a black and white map. The map uses a point-to-point (or rather circle-to-circle, like WE THE PEOPLE) grid to regulate movement. The points are connected by lines indicating major or minor roads and those roads are also intersected by bridged rivers. Units are mainly regiments/brigades for infantry and battalions for the armor. The unmounted counters are color coded for nationality and for the Germans, by branch of service. Each unit is rated for a variable number of strength points. Movement allowances as well as attack and defense factors are given on a unit factor chart on the player aid cards. The player aid card itself is very complete and includes not only the above but the sequence of play, stacking limits, movement costs, combat sequence, artillery table, unit quality priority, combat modifiers and bridge demo and construction costs. The sequence of play starts with reinforcements and then proceeds through 6 alternating Allied/German player impulses per day. The Germans move first while the Allies get to blow bridges. Combat occurs when opposing units occupy the same hex. The first step in combat is to check for artillery availability. The amount of arty available depends on the number of strength points attacking as well. Furthermore, you roll for the artillery support. The Allies can get support anywhere on the map for a DR of 1-8 while the Germans get it only on 1-6 against the Allied starting front line and 1-4 elsewhere on the map, a neat way of simulating not only German artillery shortages but their horsedrawn gun transport and road congestion. The ensuing combat sequence has defender artillery firing first with any hits taking effect immediately. In the fire phase, the defender again fires first with hits again being applied at once. Finally, the attacker gets to fire his artillery and fire his maneuver units. Combat is followed by German bridge construction. The Allied impulse follows the same order as the German except that now the Germans are the defenders and fire first in the artillery and combat phases. The entire sequence plays through very cleanly and with the help of the player aid chart, very little rule searching or lawyering is required to get you through the turn. Combat is not only simple to perform but the mechanics are unique. First of all, enemy units have to be targeted according to their quality and units can shoot only at units of equal or less quality unless no other targets are available. This makes combined arms possible since you can't shoot at tanks supported by infantry. To fight, you inflict hits on the enemy targets by rolling a number of dice equal to the strength (as printed on the counter) of your firing unit. Each die roll equal to or less than the defensive combat strength of the defender kills a step. Defenders fire first, followed by the attacker. In addition to the above, TIGERS uses various modifiers for terrain, supply status and combined arms. Like most of the other game systems, the combat procedure is spelled out step by step on the player aid chart, making it not only very easy to learn but eliminating the always-annoying rule search in the middle of a battle. Supply is handled by simply tracing through friendly-controlled areas to a friendly mapedge. Other than the ineffectiveness of the German artillery, the Germans do not have any other supply problems such as fuel shortages as they did historically. While I'm talking about what Ray left out of the game, it would be worth mentioning weather and air power. Perhaps his intention was to keep the design tight and coherent but TIGERS may be the only Bulge game I've ever seen that omitted the devastating effects of Allied air. After all, the Germans did launch their Ardennes offensive when they did for the express purpose of avoiding those punishing Allied air strikes! TIGER's other goodies include bridge blowing and building and German commandos. As usual, the bridge rules can be used by the Allies to hamper German advances. Commandos are used to hinder increase Allied movement costs through areas they occupy, to hinder Allied bridge demolition, and to create "Allied battlefield confusion" (combat drm's favorable to the German defender). Perhaps the best feature of TIGERS IN THE MIST is the impulse system. Although a defender can be attacked only once per turn, the impulse system lets you create reserves to exploit a hole that a successful attack creates. In this regard, timing of attacks and careful positioning of attackers of reserves take lots of thought. The play is somewhat reminiscent of They Met at Gettysburg or Breakout Normandy and as simple as the other mechanics are, the impulse system makes you think a lot about what you are moving and when you attack. Playing TIGERS, I found it hard to understand why the design was never picked up by a publisher. TIGERS would have fit equally well in a magazine-game or boxed format. It is also small enough and plays fast enough to appeal to all of us middle-aged dice- potatoes with too many kids and not enough time for the things that really count. Hopefully, TIGERS may draw the attention of one of our hobby's many capable publishers and receive the graphic treatment it deserves. Meanwhile, hats off to Ray Freeman for taking the initiative to DTP a fine and original little game on a perennial favorite. CAPSULE COMMENTS Graphics: To be honest, you could draw the map yourself in 10 minutes and it would look just as good. Counters are acceptable but have to be mounted. Historicity: Germans smash through as always but get mired down in bottlenecks while the Allies crank up for the big pay-back. However, an impulse system will allow a clever player opportunities to hand either an overconfident or inattentive Allied player a big defeat. No German fuel shortages, weather rules, or air power stick out as annoying omissions. Comparisons: An impulse system similar to those seen in Breakthrough Normandy and Peter Perla's recent games. With regard to the other "Bulgers", this is the first area movement version. It is nowhere near as time-or space-consuming as Wave of Terror or Wacht am Rhein but is just as much fun. System: As said above, the design is based on an alternating impulse. Other interesting features are fire priorities, unit size (steps) determining the number of combat die rolls and the uncertainty of artillery support. Overall: TIGERS is an original design and recommended to Bulge lovers, although the graphics leaves lots to be desired. Would someone PLEASE publish this game in the proper format that it deserves?