Peter Gade - Aug 1, 2010 1:21 am (36418.) (Not the world-famous badminton player) Just wrapped up a solo play of "Kabul '79" from the latest S&T magazine to get the overall feel of the ruleset for an upcoming play of "Wurzburg Pentomic," which is the sister game also included in the issue. This sucker plays quickly. It's over in seven turns or less, depending if the Soviets hit their automatic victory VP goal or not. Depending on whether the US intervenes to some extent or not, which is agreed upon by both players at the onset, the Sovs need to rack up 15-25 VP, which are depicted as 1 or 2-VP hexes in and around the city of Kabul. The map, by my taste anyway, is visually appealing and gives a sense of the city blocks, squares, mosques, and industrial areas -- even the TV tower VP hex seems to stand nobly at the top of a hill to the SE of town. Functionally, in low evening light, I had slight difficulty differentiating the city hexes from the industrial hexes, but that was a triffle. Overall, this game is bloody business. Clearly, lots of cardboard was harmed in the production of this game. The Soviets initally roll into town from the NW with a relatively modest contingent of airmobile mech infantry and arty, which are complemented by some "advisors" and other Soviet units lying in wait around a few key VP hexes in the far southeast of the map. "Hah!" I thought, "Let's use a few air transport points and some tac air from my air support roll this turn and nail those VP hexes near the airport road." I moved the Sovs into position, determined the initial assault column the attack would use, and felt pretty good about the attack. Then came the terrain shift, and another for the Afghani unit being in range of the HQ. That dropped me four cols to the left. Toss in a bad roll, and you see the Sovs retreat a hex. "So that's how it's going to be?" I looked over at the stacks and stacks of Soviet reinforcements that were meant to roll in over the next three turns and knew I'd need them. Licking my wounds a bit, I was able to move through a few more attacks in methodical fashion, yet always knowing that the clock was ticking. I'd have to keep moving, and make judicious use of air mobile capabilities to move select Soviet units into the backfield for some VP hex grabs. It was at this time that I realized just how bad I had punted my initial setup for the Afghani side. There's much to be said for covering a lot of key areas with just a single unit -- and for positiong AA assets to cover lanes that the Sovs might use for airmobile ops. Between the defender-friendly terrain and the ability of AA to deny leaps and bounds by airmobile units, there's a lot the Afghani player can do to thwart the reds even before the dice are rolled. Moreover, the random events table can spawn resistance units (of sometimes stern stuff) that can be placed in any hex free of an enemy unit or ZOC. In other words, if you're a "Neener, neener!" kind of player, the Afghani side is the side for you. As it turned out, the Afghani resistance decided to stay home and catch all the action on the fledgling CNN. And one of the two Afghani armor units, after a brave, brave withdrawl across the river that bisects the northern and southern half of Kabul, decided to defect over to the Soviet side. Fickle, fickle cardboard buggers. I'll never forgive them -- even in future games. I'm not one to forget. Thus, between a lousy initial setup and some even lousier rolls that failed to harness the full nettlesome potential of the Afghanis, the Sovs ended up moving about the map with impunity and on to victory after five turns. This one played quickly enough, interestingly enough, and featured a rules set that was easily consumed -- I'll certainly play it again solo, even with the understanding that some weak random events rolls can undermine the Afghani's chances for success. It's just good, fast, asymmetrical warfare fun, like "Ogre" or "GEV," both of which still make me glad I got into this hobby. And, if anything, I want to play it at least a few more times to see what some optimal Afghani setups look like. Maybe at that time I'll take the Afghani side against a FTF opponent and see if my thinking is worth a damn. Overall though, I like the core rules and chrome enough to eagerly plow ahead for a FTF game of "Pentomic." That should be some goodness. - Pete