From: "Chas Argent" Subject: mih MiH's Tunisia 43 Hello All- Well yesterday (finally) in the mail came Moments In History's "Tunisia 43", the latest in Dirk Blennemann's Triumphant Fox series of games, the first two of which are "Triumphant Fox" (the Gazala battles) & "Piercing The Reich" (Aachen). I am a big fan of these designs as well as the topics, especially since I'm WWII North Africa freak anyway. The rules say that T43 has a "streamlined & revised" game system compared to its two sisters but is clearly still a blood relative. The main focus of the game are the Germans operations called Fruelingswind & Morgenluft which led to the battle at Kasserine Pass. For those unfamiliar with this system it is at the operational level; each turn = 1 day, each hex = 2 miles, and units ranging in size from company to brigade, as well as individual HQ's. The heart of these games is an Operation Cycle, wherein one player will have the initiative & can perform various activities, the most important of which is a Formation Activation. In a Formation Activation the initiative player can activate individual units or an entire formation (such as a division), which receives a certain number of Action Points that it can spend on various actions. The more times a Formation is activated during he course of a turn (i.e., a day), the less capable it is. So there is a point where you really run the risk of wearing down a Formation & going to far with it through too many Activations. The opposing player will have many opportunities to perform Formation Reactions based on what the initiaive player is up to; so the system is pretty nicely interactive. Here is a cursory look at the components. The box is a pretty flimsy affair, which has neither a top nor a bottom, but rather opens at either end & lets the components slide out. I prefer this to a ziploc because at least this box could stand up under its own power on a shelf. Don't try stacking anything on top, however. The box has some interesting artwork on the front; on the back is a description & some black-and-white graphics (including counters but no map sample) which I guess is better than no graphics at all. Obviously some money is being saved here. Once inside there are 1 and a half countersheets with 1/2" counters in the TF style. My sheets are extremely well printed & the units featured are American (medium green), Brits (tan), French (blue), Germans (gray), & Italian (light green), plus various game markers. There are 6 charts & tables printed on cardstock; unfortunately neither the Game Turn Record Track nor the Formation Activation Track fit on the map (I guess) so they are on separate cards. One mapsheet covers the playing area; the area covered is a virtual dead-ringer of the map in Vance von Borries' "Decision At Kasserine" (Wargame #23) with a little more room to the east depicted here. I like the muted browns & tans of this map; some will no doubt call it bland but it has a nice Tunisian feel to it (not that I've ever felt Tunisia) & the counters stand out well against it, which I appreciate. Lastly there is a 36-page rulebook with many examples of play (ALWAYS welcome) & fairly small print but the layout looks familiar. THANK YOU for the Index as well-I HATE IT WHEN THERE ISN'T AN INDEX!!! I will be looking forward to playing this one & then also comparing/contrasting it with VvB's new Kasserine game coming from GMT. I only have two quibbles here; the first is that there is no Feedback "card" but a form printed on the next-to-last page of the rulebook; so presumably I have to photocopy it to fill it out, since cutting it out isn't an option (Homey don't cut up his rulebooks, gang). This smells like a Critical Hit choice, for in many other of their ASL games I'm asked to destroy the folder the game came in so that I can cut out counters or overlays or whatever. Spend 12 more cents & put a separate card in next time-I don't mind buying a stamp. But that's all I don't mind. The second is much more of a beef than a quibble; I pre-ordered this game back in June of 1999, and at that time the release date was the Fall. I'm used to CH not living up to their time forecasts so it didn't bother me that it took 10 months to get this game because I'm a big MiH fan & supporter, but this is what did bother me-last night I went to CH's website to see if anything new had been posted about K43 & found an offer available to anyone who orders the game between now & April 15-two free Tank Commander card decks & the TC Player's Guide. So I don't understand how someone like me who shows his support to this company by pre-ordering a game 10 MONTHS IN ADVANCE should pre-order anything from CH anymore, since you'll just miss out on the goodies that you could have gotten by waiting until the game was released. Regards, Chas Argent wargamer@thegrid.net