Paul Rohrbaugh - 04:47am Sep 27, 2001 PST (#8231 of 8231)
Basta imparare, comincia a morire!

OOTW is Perry Moore's latest, Sonderkommando Junck. This is an aerial
warfare game that uses novel mechanics to simulates the still-born Axis
invasion of British-occupied Iraq in WWII. The ground game is very much
abstracted with 2 British, 1 German and a half-dozen Iraqi units moving
and occasionally fighting on a "map" that occupies less than a third of
one sheet of 8/5" by 11" paper. The counter graphics are excellent,
featuring full color profile or top-view images of the varied aircraft
that fought on both sides. The Germans have He-111's and Me-110's, the
Italians have Br-20's and Sm-79's, and the Iraqi's take to the air with
a grab bag of airplanes ranging from American-made A-17's to Italian
Breda-65's. Both sides have the ever-popular Gloster Gladiator's and the
flying coffin Audax. The British also have Airspeed Oxfords (trainers
desperately as stop-gap bombers), and Wellington bombers and Hurricane
fighters arrive later as reinforcements.

The game play is driven by cards that determine when raids occur.
Attacking and defending forces are made up in secret, so solitaire play
at this point seems to be a bit problematic (though I will work on
this). Battles between opposing air formations is resolved on a
plane-by-plane basis on altitude and tactical displays. Planes are rated
for speed, performance, defense, attack (front and rear guns), and
bombing (hard or soft target).

Although I have not played a complete game yet (this is OOTW after all),
the feel of the game is something like the old AH Luftwaffe for the
Operational aspect (planning raids and defense and keeping the big
picture in mind), crossed with Mustangs for its very tactical,
individual plane combat resolution. This is big game in a small, DTP
package. This game has very novel game mechanics, so my comparison of
Sonderkommando with the older AH titles is not meant to be taken in any
way, shape or form as literal. I will be working up a more detailed,
complete review once I have a few games in. For anyone interested in
aerial warfare games, or a simulation on a very little-addressed aspect
of WWII, this is another bargain (only $12.00 including postage) from
Perry Moore. 

Paul Rohrbaugh