Well, I've had a chance to go through the rules & play a couple of "paper-exercise" games, running through turn sequence, firing, hand-to-hand etc.
This is not a "review" as such, merely a few ramblings on my initial impressions of the rules. First impressions are.......
Very Good Indeed! :mrgreen:
I like the way the rules are organised, it seems very logical to me & I had no trouble understanding the concepts, or looking up things I was unsure of. The fonts, page layout, diagrams, photos etc are all clear & easy to read. I like the card system, which would be ideal for games involving large numbers of players, or for soloists like me using large numbers of units. The movement, combat & morale rules all seem to work well, giving the impression that I would be able to play a large solo game easily [with the addition of some suitable solo mechanisms, like Mythic]. All examples of play explain things clearly, leaving even my old low-powered Sinclair ZX brain with no confusion.
The best part, however, is the writing itself. It would win an award in the "Plain English Awards", unlike a certain set of Ancients rules from a very educated & intelligent chap from Birmingham..... :wink:
I'm impressed that on reading the rules, the vast majority of people would assume the writers were brought up in an English-language environment [or the Black Country]- the fact that both are German is a credit to the efficiency of the Teutonic Education System :
:
Seriously, this is a set of rules I fell in love with immediately I'd read them - and that's not something that happens too often nowadays!
The free Crisis 07 scenarios are also very useful indeed.
The Ivory Gauntlet & Last Stand At Buro Falls are immediately playable - I actually have all the figures painted & ready to play!
Red Cattle Rustlers had me stumped for a minute or two, until I realised I could easily use Azande for the Raiders & Zanzibaris for the defenders. Not historical, but then again my Darkest Africa never is:
: Mahdists raiding an Egyptian area would also work.
The only one I would struggle to use immediately would be the Midnight Raid - if only because I have no WW1 toys. I'm sure I could easily adapt it to Darkest Africa British Vs Zanzibaris, though. Maybe I should buy some DA Belgians, Germans or French to spice things up a bit
So, I'm really very impressed with the whole package.
Bjoern & Christian, thank you very much & I look forward to your future publications with great interest :mrgreen:
Cheers,
Ian