Mukden: Command #37 Review by Alan Sharif Mukden is an operational level simulation of the climatic battle of the Russo-Japanesc war of 190405. Historically, it was technically a victory for the Japanese, after the Russians were outflanked and consequently withdrew. However, the Japs had been looking to surround the Russians and annihilate them so they were disappointed with the result, particularly as they took heavy losses leaving them in no fit state to pursue their enemy. The game is designed by Ron Bell who previously designed a game entitled Port Arthur, also for Command. That particular game covered the Russo-Japanese war itself and has remained popular with Command readers, in terms of players feedback, to this day. This does not alter the fact that in my opinion it was a quite dreadful game that should never have been released without substantial further development. Like his previous effort, Mukden is a simple and quick playing game that is doubtless a success at the superficial level that many XTR games aim for. Dont take that as a slur, more a warning that if you are the type of player who is looking for a detailed simulation with some complex decision making, this, and many other Command games, is not the game for you. Over the years Command have standardised things so much that many of the games have the same feel, regardless of the period from which the battle is simulated. They still produce the odd exception but I know what Richard Berg was getting at when he described Command as a magazine with `the same game in every issue'. A game turn commences with units having to trace a path to a friendly map edge in order to be judged in supply. Those units out of supply on the previous turn, and still in that position this turn, may have their combat and movement factors reduced. A die roll determines if they start to suffer these ill effects or not. Consequently, a unit may be able to function normally without suppty. Movement fotlows and actually uses a simple, but cleaver, procedure to simulate the Russians lack of unified command. The Russian force present actually comprise of three separate armies plus a general reserve. The movement phase follows the following sequence. The Russian player moves one of his armies, the Japs move half their movement allowance, a second Russian armies units are moved, Japs take the remaining half of their movement after which the third and final Russian army is moved. This aspect of the game creates all sorts of problems for the Russian, particularly when trying to withdraw, and is a part of the game I very much like. Each time a Russian army is moved a unit can be released from the reserve formation to join the current activated army group. A single Russian unit can move by rail per turn whilst Japanese units can forfeit their move in order to bridge a River instead. This will be neccesary as Japanese artillery units may only cross rivers at bridges. Now I have to admit, so far so good, but I feel the combat phase lets it down. Japanese attacks are resolved first, with their artillery being able to barrage hexes due to be assaulted by infantry. Russian units then fire on adjacent Jap units before being assaulted. The fire combat is resolved by totalling the number of fire factors firing on a target whilst the assaults are odds based. Die modifiers and column shifts apply for terrain whilst the Japs also get an odds shift for assaulting Russian units concentricity. Combat results are almost entirely step losses with the odd retreat thrown in for assaults. The higher the firepower odds the greater the losses. Units have as many steps as they have combat factors and the current level is recorded on a separate rota sheet which needs to be copied before play. A units strength is reduced step after step until finally it reaches zero and elimination. This entire procedure slows the game down considerably and I must say I find the entire combat system monotonous after a couple of turns. This same system was used by XTR in their Budapest 4S and Gazala designs, with equally detrimental effects in my opinion. Another area of concern is that the game situation does not hold up to repeated play. The Russian line is mountainous on one flank, entrenched in the centre, but with clear terrain and somewhat lightly manned on the remaining flank. This is the only approach that will give the Jap player victory and this is obvious to any experienced player, or a novice with common sense, before even starting to play the game. The fault lies not with XTR, but in the historical situation, and if you are determined to cover a battle from this war the only other one that springs to mind was the lesser known Nanhan, which suffers not just from a lack of recognition, but would doubtless result in a game with equally low replay value. At that particular battle eight successive Jap assaults failed before the concentrated fire of Russian guns in a strongly entrenched position. Mukden is playable solo and simple enough for beginners. At the time of writing it is also the best game on the subject, if only because the other contender is the hopelessly dated and inaccurate Mukden 1905 by Spence and Gable. With a better combat system, and change of scale to match, this could have been a much improved game. As such, it is one for enthusiasts of this period only.