To: From: Roberto Chiavini Subject: two reviews for Grognard Attack Force (TSR) This minigame from the early Eighties might be named "Death Star assault" if not for copy rights sake. It's another microgame by TSR, very good for graphics, exceptional for space and time requirements for the wargamers like me who don't have the space and the time to set up and play any complex and long game. This science fiction version of capture the flag is set up and played during the lunch hour at least two times (perhaps three), is very easily adapted for solitaire play (you may try to "use the force" - i.e. luck - to find the hull where to put the missile to destroy the Empire killer planet) and is almost fun to play in a very light-hearted way. This is a beer and pretzel effort by a designer (David James Ritchie) which has published several other very good games in his career. The game oppose the Reb.. oops! the Arcturans strike fleet against the Imperial defend fleet and its infamous leader, Dar. oops again! Vaj Korsen, while trying to destroy the Novaship, the imperial definitive weapon of planetary destruction. In the game, the Arcturan player has 4 different strike force of seven fighters each and must try to find Novaship's Achille's heel, or, better saying, hull where to put a missile and win the game. The Imperial player has 14 different gun batteries and a fleet of Ti. Cobra fighters. This force is, in my opinion almost invincible in a game of this kind (i.e., a real die roll slugfest) and I don't see many possibilities for the Arcturan player, other than hoping in the "Force" to come to his aid (in the form of a very lucky die roll, 4 or less on two dice when one of his fighters is over the right hull). For the rest, the game is very simple: each fighter is rated for movement (5 to 7 hexes each turn), for attack range (3 or 4) and for attack and defense class. The various kind of batteries have the same ratings less movement (they may move, if they don't fire in the same turn, with a special procedure along the tunnels of the weapon satellite). In each turn the Arcturan player choose one of his 4 strike squad and move them on the map from the same edge, making one attack against a target during, or at the end, of this movement. For attacking a target, the player calculate the base value of the attack, comparing the attack rating of his fighter and the target defense rating, then roll two dice and if the result is equal to or inferior of the base attack number, the target is destroyed. Then the Imperial player repeat the same procedure (putting up to 4 Cobras on the map each turn), until the Arcturan fleet is totally eliminated from play or has achieved is objective. Considering that with normal luck on the rolls, the Imperial player may annihilate each Arcturan squad in a single turn, the Arcturan player has usually no more than three or four possibilities to roll a 4 attacking the right hull. This is, in my opinion, the only real drawback of this cute little game, a very nice design for the lunch hour, but no more than this. I rate this game 6 « out of 10.