From: Roberto Chiavini Subject: Three Reviews Chicken of the Sea (Gamefix) This is a very simple simulation of naval warfare in the ancient world, exactly of the battle of Drepanum, fought in 249 B.C. between Carthaginians and Romans during the crucial phases of the First Punic War. It's a little game appeared on number 3 of Gamefix, a small magazine with game inside, that has produced several good attempts at "diversity" in wargaming designs over the years. It's also Richard Berg's first naval warfare, a few years before the much more accomplished GMT's War Galley. Still, it's a valuable effort and a good (if perhaps too simplistic) addition to the Ancient Wargames shelf in your library. The game comes with 1 11"x 17" map and 100 counters (not particularly flashing for graphics, but usable without any mistakes) and 8 pages of rules. Each counter represents six quinqueremes and is marked for Crew quality and (for the optional Command rules that add complexity and historicity to an otherwise too simple movement system). Both fleets have also an admiral (important only with the Command rules). The heart of the system is movement, as combat is based on ram and shearing speed, and also on boarding assaults. Ship's speed may vary from 0 to 5, up to 1 movement factor each turn or down 1 or 2. You may also move back ("Backing Waters") if your starting speed is equal or lower than 2. Each ship has a front hexside, a stern hexside and 4 flank hexsides. On each turn, a ship has to spend all its movement points (a ship, especially a Roman one, spends movement points even for turning inside a hex) and may attack ramming an enemy ship (sinking it if the ramming action succeeds) or shearing an enemy ship's oars (crippling it and reducing its speed to 1 or 0). There are also rules for fouling (a sort of stacking inside the same hex - but it could happen even between ships of opposing sides), running aground and a little more chrome. Carthaginians are better in maneuvering and also in ramming enemy ships, while the Romans are better in boarding actions. The fight endures until one side is totally wiped off and with more than 40 ships on the board the clash may go on for more than a couple of hours, even with rules as simple as the ones presented with this game. Even if there aren't rules inhibiting solitaire play (apart from the speed declaration phase, which is certainly important in a two players game, but could be simulated in a solo game), Chicken of Sea plays better as a two player contest, as solo play may become boring after a few turns. I rate this game 6 out of 10.