Elwyn Darden - 08:29am Nov 21, 2001 PST (#646 of 655) Enemies all around. The Bashkai, they are the worst. Gallipoli is a worthy grail. There is one on eBay right now. [I am not the seller.] There are two separate games: a naval game and a land game with two maps and three scenarios. The naval game features the fleets struggling slowly against the current through hidden minefields. The Turks have a handful of warships which do introduce a complicating element into Allied plans, but live or die based upon their initial allocation of artillery AND ammunition among the shore batteries. The land games feature a Cape Helles landing, the Anzac Cove landing, and the Suvla Bay landing coupled with an attempted Anzac Cove breakout. In each scenario the British are trying to seize the highest ground on the map, but elevation confers a defensive benefit as the attackers move up each contour line. The British landings get disorganized and the beaches can fill with temporarily useless and vulnerable overstacked troops. Turkish reinforcements arrive in unpredictable dribs and drabs but do get in the way until the artillery can show up and start killing things. What prevents the Brits from breaking out is the fact that when artillery kills a unit, infantry cannot advance after combat (they weren't in combat), so the Turks shove the bodies aside and reoccupy the position. The British situation begins desparate and soon turns hopeless. So, in that sense it is not much of a game, but it is interesting (especially if you can enjoy beating the point spread). The most competitive scenario is Cape Helles, which is also the smallest. I have actually seen the Allies win the Cape Helles scenario. When they lose, it at least looks like they came close. We played Suvla Bay and the the naval game recently at the Richmond Area Gaming Enthusiasts (R.A.G.E.). The Anzac Cove breakout failed, the Suvla bay landing got to the foothills and no further, the Fleet lost two battleships and a few minesweepers and washed out back to the Med. The worst feature of the game is the map. Each level of elevation is represented by the color of the hex. White for beach level, yellow for first level and dark brown for peaks. The problem is levels two, three and four which can be hard to distinguish, particularly in cases where adjacent hexes may have other terrain symbols in them or where adjacent hexes are more than one level apart. This game hurt my eyes fifteen years ago.