MGPRP: The Wargamer pocket reviews
Issues 1-9
· Wargamer #1: Battle of the Ring
· Wargamer #2: Battle of Eylau
· Wargamer #3: Africa
· Wargamer #4: Blenheim
· Wargamer #5: Kesselring
· Wargamer #6: Condor
· Wargamer #7: Marston Moor
· Wargamer #8: Albuera/Vittoria
· Wargamer #9: Bloody Buna
Wargamer #1: Battle of the Ring
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“’I would say that all the Wargamer issues that were printed in Hong Kong were the BEST ones.plus the first of the UK ones’
You must have never seen the Battle of the Ring then in Issue #1” FD
"Had a lot of fun playing this back in my high school days.
Total unrealistic, very basic map and counters, but highly
entertaining and usually over fairly quickly. The swelling
orcish hordes surging across the map, the individual and
uniquely drawn Gondor cavalry counters, the quick and dirty
combat system... Ah golden days." ARa
Wargamer #2: Battle of Eylau
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“Eylau (WG#2? reprinted S&T 138) is a great game if you are a fan of the NAW/NLB style, i.e., simple and uncluttered,
but allows a lot of map-room to move forces. Despite some blotchiness on the map, it should appeal to all the graphics fans,
given it was a snow-covered ground. The added command /control rules and recovery of "killed" units puts some extra dimension
on the old NAW rules. I'm a novice, but my one serious PBEM game was a lot of fun and the Russians had the upper hand overall
(both sides could cry over lost chances!!). Anyway, this game has not had much discussion on Grognards that I can see, but is a good
inexpensive acquisition if you like the simpler quicker ones, with a bit of period flavour.” LN
“I liked the old Wargamer Eylau, although the original version had one or two serious errata flaws (like the ability of the Russian
reinforcements to pin the French reinforcements against the mpa edge and destroy them) which were (IIRC) fixed in the reprint.
Never could seem to win with the French, though.” RKB
“"Was the Wargamer Eylau game the same one that came out in Strategy and Tactics?"
Yes, except that they patched two of the rules-holes and changed the graphics. Otherwise identical as I recall.” RKB
Wargamer #3: Africa
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“you could even put in issue #3 "Africa" in that Bad group” KM
“Game of political influence in 'modern-day' Africa. Rather a dry affair of moving lurid coloured chits up and down tracks,
I seem to remember. Not my cup of tea.” NWr
“This was fun for late night sessions. Had more interest back in the era of Rhodesian war, South Africa, Idi Amin, mercenaries
in Angola, Wild Geese (the movie).” JM
"Another very fun game, although the subject matter wasn't
exactly PC (destabilising African nations), and history has
bypassed the scenario. A lively coloured map, as I recall." ARa
Wargamer #4: Blenheim
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“I've tried to play Blenheim before but I found it hard to duplicate Marlborough's victory. It's hard in a Blenheim game
to find an opponent as stupid as the French commanders historically were.” RuK
“A stolid situation on a map that seems too small.” RKB
"This mag's Marston Moor was such a gem, I thought this would be too.
After searching long and hard and paying too much, I learned otherwise.
Very basic system for this 1704 battle, 1/4-size map, 128 counters, NATO symbols,
little period feel, and the Nebelbach river line is nearly impregnable on the French left.
Nothing esp. bad, but it just feels so blandly mid-'70s. Rating: C-" GF
Wargamer #5: Kesselring
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“Anzio is far far better” SS
“WW2 Italian Campaign. I recall two things: the map cover extended further south than AH's classic Anzio game
(which it sort of resembled), so it was possible to use the British Paras to air drop to attack Taranto; and the system
involved Generals (corps and army commanders?) who provided command for movement and combat and could
be flipped between two modes which favoured the one over the other. Its been a l-o-n-g time since I played/saw
the game, and whilst I don't *think* it was outstanding, I'd like to get hold of a copy, just the same.” NWr
Wargamer #6: Condor
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“What can I say? I played it, I forgot it.” NWr
Wargamer #7: Marston Moor
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"A pretty nifty little ECW game. If you like the SPI quads dealing with 30YW
and ECW battles, you might like this game--it's a little bit higher level of
complexity than a quad. I wouldn't call it a gem, exactly, but it was fun." JB
"Great little game on this ECW battle. 1/2-size map, 260 counters, 3-color map,
SPI-looking silhouette counters. Similar complexity (low) to S&T's "Cromwell's Victory",
but with an entirely different focus. Chrome includes loss of cavalry control, skirmishers,
the dynamic between cavalry and infantry, more. I like S&T's game too, but this plays closer
to the actual battle. Well worth a look for players who don't have the time/energy for This
Accursed Civil War. A hard fight for the Royalists. Rating: B+" GF
Wargamer #8: Albuera/Vittoria
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“A couple of simple Napoleonic games, good even solitaire, not really more complex than the old NLB. Good.” RC
"I played only the Albuera portion of this early double game issue of the
Wargamer. The Vittoria game was on a much larger scale, and I think it was
a different system altogether than the Albuera game. It's been an awful
long time since I played it, but as I recall Albuera had a primitive, but
still workable, "LIM"-like system for getting formations to move and attack.
Of course the French were real good at it, the British were pretty good, and
the Spanish were hopeless. Graphically, it wasn't wonderful, but it was
certainly not the eyesore that some early games were. I wouldn't say that
Albuera was a gem, but it was a good game in my opinion, and fun." JB
"Two games on battles in Spain during the Napoleonic wars, each uses half the normal size map sheet.
There are two separate sets of counters and each game uses two different systems.
I’ve only played Albeura. The map is okay, counters functional, rulebook layout is very
poor and the rules are not that well written. But the game system is quite interesting,
once you work it out, losses are tracked against the parent organisations morale level’s.
The game plays nicely and is a lot of fun. Rating B" CH
Wargamer #9: Bloody Buna
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“Bloody Buna is an excellent little game on a little-gamed situation. It suffers from very bad rules organization and some foggy
writing but it is decipherable and, what's more, well worth the time and effort to straighten out the rules messiness.” RS
“I really enjoyed the games "Bloody Buna" and "The Chinese Civil War," but have never seen the actual mags they originally came in.” JDC
“Of those I've played I liked Bloody Buna...” MS
"It works reasonably well
as a simulation, but like the actual campaign htere are not many
strategic options." GP
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