Tom Kassel - 04:52am Jan 29, 2001 PST (#4640 of 4640) Playing PoG and La Grande Guerre. From the sublime to the ridiculous, but which is which? I saw the Ragnar Brothers' Angola at Leisure Games and remembering Nick Barker and others enthusing I picked it up. I'm very impressed. It's early (1988) DTP quality but the only serious downside is thin cardstock on the (cut out yourself) counters. The 17x22 inch area map is sturdy, clear and attractive (enough). A few areas are a little small when stragglers must be detached to form a second stack, but this is a minor problem. The game is brimming with clean, clever and sensible mechanics. I had a solitaire run through yesterday, finishing 5 turns (maximum 10) with Cabinda falling to the FNLA and a likely FNLA/UNITA victory in prospect. It's intended as a four-player game with FNLA/UNITA teamed up against MPLA/FAPLA (a slightly artificial construct intended to introduce some difficulties of coordination). Pairs of factions can be handled by the same player when four aren't available. The central mechanic is a WtP/PoG-like action deck and alternating action rounds. The big difference is that each players selects the action cards to be used each turn AND the order in which they are used. The number of action rounds starts at 4 per turn, gradually increasing to 7. Action cards might be: Column x (corresponding to column x on the map) - move that column and possibly attack Command - move a column marker on the map or swap two column markers 5th Column - move one force NOT marked with a column marker Blank - do nothing. Must always be included in the deck. Lucky Unita gets two of these, while MPLA & FAPLA get one each, and FNLA has none at all The cards available are increased on turns 3,4,5 to increase options. Initially each faction gets two copies of Column A (so both could be selected allowing two move/attacks with that force), while lowly Columns D & E cards don't even appear until later, though you are still obliged to assign the markers to some force on the map. Play begins slowly with just weak infantry and the occasional armoured car. Chaotically as well. A few controlled regions are fixed, but 18 other towns/cities are randomly allocated and another 5 remain neutral. As each alliance loses turns (political tokens are won/lost as towns/cities change hands - lose more than you gain and you lose the turn with the differential reducing the opponents' threshold for victory), powerful units from SA, Cuba or Zaire arrive, while both sides acquire randomly assigned assistance in the form of engineers, mercenaries, air groups, AA or AT missiles, or friendly (and useless) telegrams from the Bulgarians. No free lunches though. Bid for too much aid and you might hand the opposition a propaganda victory which lowers their decisive victory threshold. I'm looking forward to a competitive game - any chance while on gardening leave, Nick?