Alan Moorhouse - 04:58am Nov 28, 1997 PST (#311 of 315)
UK, Recently played: TGWiE/TGWiNE, Tunisia and Borodino

Just my twopenny worth on Operation Spark (COA) that I obtained
yesterday. Having not seen any of the other games in the series, I may
be able to give a 'ground up' initial assessment.

This regimental level Leningrad relief game has a single pretty map;
what it lacks in colour (the terrain is very uniform) it makes up for in
graphics resolution. The overall look is similar to HBtLF I think. It
portrays a small piece of basically swamp on the south coast of Lake
Ladoga next to the mouth of the River Neva which runs down the west side
of the map. A portion of the lake takes up the top 1/4 of the map but is
used in the game as it is frozen. The germans live in the center of the
map behind a bewildering display of fortifications. They are assaulted
from the west (over the frozen river) by units of the Leningrad front
and also from the eastern side of the board by units of the Volkhov
Front. The Victory conditions are quite simple: get the two fronts to
meet in the middle somewhere.

The well cut counters are displayed in quite dark hues. The Germans are
in trad colours: WehrMacht in gray, SS Black and Luftwaffe in light
blue. The Russians though are colour coded for the Army that the units
belong to varying from crimson to olive green. Unfortunately the game
comes with several odd sized information and log charts. The roster
sheets (step loss registers) are normal letter size but the turn chart
and the unit capabilites chart are larger and very small respectively
and all 3 chart types are on different paper qualities. Gives the
package a bit of a higgledy-piggledy look.

The rulebook is substantial but there is only one of them. Looks
readable if a little busy. Care has been taken to define terms used in
the game before outlining the rules concerning them. (Classic rules
header #1: What is Initiative?). The turn sequence (daily) is asymetric
and hangs on a bidding system for initiative where you bid the number of
hexes your units will assault this turn, add a D10 and the highest gets
to move first and possibly second at well! Combat is quite involved with
both sides active in the sequence.

Several (at least three) times in the rule book is a warning that the
game is a slugfest and a case of which side lasts out the other. No
manoevre here I'm afraid.

There seems a fair amount of chrome: Air rules, dual purpose AA units,
Red banner fleet bombarbment rules, Tiger tanks and aerosans (small
icebound versions of airboats apparently but God knows what the
silhouettes on the counters look like!).

Thats about all I've got from an initial browse. If people want I'll
post more later.