• Derek Tocher

This set of ten scenarios was developed by Chicago's Windy City Wargamers for use in their ASL Open 96 tournament held last April. The scenario cards follow the traditional ASL format (in contrast to those in Critical Hit) and their visual appeal is much enhanced by the judicious use of colour. The picture in the top left hand corner of each card appears in full colour and the title and nationality symbols are also coloured. To the credit of the authors all the counter art is also correctly coloured, including such minor details as the red numbers for large target size and increased probability of ESB.

As these scenarios have been designed for tournament play they are relatively small, between five and seven turns in length, employing two boards or less, and with between eight and twenty-five units per side.

Despite the constraints on the size the scenarios manage to serve up a varied menu of delights.

"Will To Fight... Eradicated" has heroic Poles defending the board 12 village from Hitlers bodyguard.

"Scotch on the Rocks" sees the Highland Division go toe-to-toe with Army Group Africa a month before the final expulsion of the Germans from Tunisia.

Both "Tigers at Merefa" and "Cat Becomes The Mouse" see Tiger ace Michael Wittmann in action, the former covering his first action in Tigers as his platoon shoots up a Russian column on the steppes, while the latter deals with the latter part of the battle at Villers-Bocage.

"Abandon Ship!" has American paratroops retreating across board 24, but not too quickly, in the face of Panzer Lehr during the battle of the Bulge.

"Los Ejercitos Nuevos" is a Spanish Civil War scenario, in which the gallant Republicans try to defend hill 526 (Board 36) from the evil Nationalists.

"Eye of the Tiger" is an Eastern Front combined-arms free for all in August 1944.

"The Last VC in Europe" has an Irish Guardsman hold off a Panzer Grenadier battalion while his platoon brew char!

"Sweep Up" sees Russian ski troops harass German relief column on a winters night in 41.

Finally, "Stand and Die" sees Chaing Kai-Shek and the elite of the Kuomintang defend Shanghai from Imperialist Japanese Marines.

The aesthetic appeal and the convenient size of these scenarios mean they are likely to see frequent play, and several could well become classics. Two of the four I have played so far have come down to a couple of DR on the last turn.