MGPRP: Against the Odds pocket reviews
Issues 10-19
· ATO #10: Into A Beartrap
· ATO #11: The Big Push
· ATO #12: Chennault’s First Fight
· ATO #13: Bittereinder
· ATO #14: War In The Aegean/Assault On Narvik
· ATO #15: Cactus Throne
· ATO #16: Vallée De La Mort
· ATO #17: Imperial Sunset
· ATO #18: Golden Horde: Kulikovo 1380
· ATO #19: Not War But Murder
ATO #10: Into A Beartrap
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“I found this to be a very good game covering the two day battle for the city of Grozny. Game play is dictated by chit pull - formations for the Soviets and player choice
for the Chechens. The Soviet formations enter the map in march formation headed for some key landmarks in the city of Grozny. With each Chechen chit pull a random
number of reinforcements appear and a random number of not yet activated units can be selected to perform actions. Reinforcements can be placed almost anywhere,
so it’s fairly easy for the Chechen player to stage the historical ambush that caused the Soviets such grief. Yet, given their firepower it’s also easy for the Soviets to
literally level the city block by block. It was my experience that this is what happens in the game play and the body count gets high very quickly. It is both fun and tense
to play. Some complained about the map but I found it fine to work with.” SB
“Perry Moore, on the Battle of Grozny. Simple but effective graphics, a simple fun game system, and evocative of the situation. I have some minor quibbles with the rules
presentation, the use of "heavy weapons" both as a unit type and armament type, with no way of telling when the rules referred to which was particularily annoying and
unnecessary. Doesn't stop it from being an enjoyable game.” EN
“Overall, Into a Bear Trap is a very decent simulation on such tactical level. The system also looks right, with the low intensity conflict characteristics well modeled.
We are satisfied with the gameplay after getting used to the DRMs. This is the first game simulating the city/ urban fighting with a solid game engine. It is also perfectly
suitable for solitaire gameplay in 2 days. Another hat off to ATO magazine games. B” LH
ATO #11: The Big Push
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“Well. Another game I really wanted to like. The map is very nice, though I'm not sold on the counters. I thought the rules were a mess, the developer thinks otherwise.
Still, the game isn't that hard and you should be able to figure it out with the help of the example (but be sure to use the downloadable totally revised example,
otherwise you're lost). I played the first scenario, however, and easily plowed across the map, capturing even distant objectives well out of reach from the historical
participants. Either I played the game wrong, or it is seriously out of balance. As it was, it looked more like 1918 than 1916. I'd be interested in hearing other player's experience.” EN
"Good" PJ
"(****) - Good game - fools you into thinking that you're making progress and that the next
"Big Push" will break through - but you never do." MaP
ATO #12: Chennault’s First Fight
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"Good" PJ
"(***) - Interesting design, gets a bit repetitive to play through the dogfights and the
Victory Conditions could use a few more levels." MaP
ATO #13: Bittereinder
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"A clever, rather simple game, with pretty nice graphics. There might be some calibration problem with
the sieges and british morale, but the game is simple and well designed enough that it feels worth
it to tinker with it if you want to get it just right. Handles the transition from conventonal to
guerilla warfare very nicely." EN
"This early year 2000 ATO magazine game (#13) has some very excellent map and counters,
covering the Boer War in South Africa. Some novel concepts are introduced to distinguish the two
sides: the Empire (British) and the Boers (the farmers). For example, the Empire player is
advantaged in “coordinated” attack and defense, always opt for a siege by going back into the
town they controlled. On the other hand, the Boers are strong in their homeland where they
don’t have to consume supply (i.e. War Commitment Point), a variable army strength depending
on the amount of supply spent and thus allowing it to adjust the combat strength to the optimal
combat odds. Empire morale is checked for possible reduce when the British forces surrendered, losing
territories (areas), or losing battles. I like this design of interaction between the local
siege and battle results with the national situation as a whole. The maximum 5 siege markers
on the map also limit the strategic capabilities of the Boers to launch offensive across
all areas and all fronts. All in all, there are many wits of design sprinkling all around
the system. Hats off to Hjalmar Gerber! Only one minor drawback so far is the lack of
scenarios suitable for an afternoon. Either you play the short introductory scenario
of 2 turns only in an hour, or a 32-turns campaign game long, in 2 afternoon sessions.
Recommended. B+." LH
"Needed work as published, a favourite after amendments." PJ
ATO #14: War In The Aegean/Assault On Narvik
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"Not read and played. Disappointed with the way of printing the mini game, rendering it unplayable.
The main game rules on the interactions of land-naval-air look solid. Maybe there is a hidden gem
here." LH
"Needs work" PJ
"(**) - Lovely map, rules seem okay, but basically nothing much to do all game for the British
after the initial invasion except get bombed !" MaP
"Wonder if the final version still has the feature that a full British battleship task forces is unable to stop a slow transport from slipping through a 20-mile strait
in broad daylight. IMO that was symptomatic of the thought spent on the design." MS
"Air-sea-land system with complicated rules, play it if you are really
interested in the subject or the A-S-L aspect." PJ
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ATO #15: Cactus Throne
"Covers the European intervention in Mexico in the early 1860s that lead to the French occupation of that country.
I played one of the shorter scenarios and with one big important exception found it overall interesting. That big
exception was that resolving battles was long, tedious, and not very productive. I'd like to see it done with a
different combat system, possibly something similar to what is used in For the People maybe. I give it a "C"." SB
"I tried it, a little, but couldn't get into it. The huge piles of counters that produced attacks of 167/89 and
such made it seem to be a clear scale mismatch, maybe it would have worked better with the units being one scale
up?" EN
"Average" PJ
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ATO #16: Vallée De La Mort
"A huge disappointment. Seemingly has all the ingredients to be a great game, but just like
trying to sort out the pieces from a dozen different jigsaw puzzles dumped all together in a box,
this one is pure frustration. I like the graphics a lot, but just can't get past the rules which
just don't work in actual play (believe me, I tried). Even more disappointing, this is a
so-called upgrade of a prior DTP release. What the hell happened? LVDLM just begs to have someone
come in and clean this mess up so that it finally makes some sense. My rating: D" SC
"Agree with both of Steve's ratings 100%. Would really have to give La Vallee an "F", though,
because there's no excuse for a game that's going through it's 2nd edition to end up like this.
The mechanics -- and now the fixes -- are just so awkward." GF
"Needed work as published, good after amendments" PJ
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ATO #17: Imperial Sunset
"I did some playtesting for this, that I didn't get credited for. Probably just as well, as it seems most
of my feedback was ignored anyway, to the point of being errata for things I pointed out more than once
in my playtesting feedback. Anyway, I found the system tedious and the combat results skewed (a carrier
alpha strike could hardly make a dent in a cruiser), and couldn't bring myself to finish a game. I think
they fixed the combat, but I still think the game system still makes the whole thing move in slow motion.
For a situation that isn't terribly tense in itself, that's a bad thing." EN
"Decent enough game, rules are easy to follow, but the Japanese have a tough time winning.
I have played it in a 4-5 hour session. There us an off rule that dive bombers
and torpedo bombers cannot attack a carrier surrounded by other craft,
you have to knock a hole in the screen first. I have played this solo,
but there is hidden movement." PJ
"(****) . I liked this one once the set up had been corrected. Tends like many naval games to have
too much surface action" MaP
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ATO #18: Golden Horde: Kulikovo 1380
"Sequel to Suleiman the Magnificent and using the same system as GMTs Men of Iron. This time the graphics
look much better (at least to me), and the game situation is much more balanced. Add to that that the system
itself is a blast, and you have a winner." EN
"Good" PJ
"(***) Map legibility could have been improved - telling different slopes apart is hard." MaP
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ATO #19: Not War But Murder
"An area movement game, it captures the essence of the Cold Harbor campaign in a fairly simple system
(some rule questions, but easily cleared up) Both sides have a tense series of decisions to make...
the CSA looks at all of those Yankees and thinks...How am I suppose to stop that blue tide....
on the other hand the Union looks at the clock, looks at the CSA entrenchments and wonders if he will
ever get across the rivers...much less into Richmond. I believe that Not War is One the best
ATO games so far.... Rating: A" JV
"I was going to post a pocket review for NWBM (ATO 19), but I see John V. has covered it
nicely already. Great FTF and good solo, too. Excellent graphical presentation. My rating: A" SC
"A favourite" PJ
"(*****) - Interesting design with well balanced outcomes" MaP
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