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Third Reich: Old and New
John Prados' Third Reich, the new edition from Avalanche Press, is the
latest iteration of a classic World War Two strategy game. Players take the
roles of the leaders of Italy, France, Britain, German, the Soviet Union and
the United States, striving to meet their nation's goals in the face of enemy
resistance.
The new game keeps many of the trappings of the old, but players of the old
version will find that many things have changed. The following is a brief
synopsis of these changes.
Components
The game board is still mounted, but in three segments rather than four in
the previous editions. The Avalanche Press standard game board is
significantly wider than the previous publisher's, and the map has been
canted to bring Narvik in northern Norway into play. Terrain in Iran and Iraq
has been deleted.
Counters are in full living color, with tank silhouettes and full-color
aircraft.
Production
This part of play retains the Basic Resource Point, the currency of the old
game. As in the older editions, players expend BRPs to build new units and
for assorted game functions.
Politics
The new game contains a large set of event chits, one of which is drawn
each turns. These range from such things as political interference in
military operations ("Mussolini is Always Right") to revolution ("Coup in
Iraq" or "Iron Guard") to technological breakthroughs ("Manhattan Project").
These events drive the course of the game, and can have profound effects.
They also insure that play is never the same from game to game.
Diplomacy
This is dramatically different from older versions. Major powers can
attempt to bring minor countries onto their side, in ways ranging from
cooperation to outright alliance.
Sea Control
In another change of focus, naval units move by sea area rather than hex.
The focus is on gaining control of a sea area to permit other operations
(amphibious landings, supply or transport, for example) or denying it to the
enemy. Naval combat is resolved without the use of tables, and the strange
modifiers of older versions (like the +1 "Aryan modifier" for Sweden, which
had not waged a naval war since 1791) are gone.
New naval unit types include aircraft carriers and landing craft, plus
submarines (which were represented in highly abstract form in the older
models, for the Germans only). Greece, the Netherlands and Finland now all
have their navies represented as well.
Operations
In the older editions, the map was divided by "fronts," with players paying
BRPs to conduct operations on a front. Now each player has a number of
headquarters, and pays BRPs to conduct operations within a set distance of
the headquarters. This removes some of the odd play possible with the front
lines.
Players use BRPs to purchase operations chits - Naval, Air Effort,
Headquarters Offensive, General Offensive or Attrition - which determine what
types of operations may be conducted. Each turn has a varying number of these
"impulses," so players are never completely sure when the turn will end.
Land Operations
Combat between ground units is also resolved with the use of tables, as
players attempt to obtain "hits" against enemy units. These hits will either
destroy enemy units, or force the expenditure of BRPs to keep them from being
destroyed.
Unit types now also include cavalry, and a number of nations have had their
force pools adjusted to more accurately reflect historic realities.
Air Operations
Once again, there are no combat tables involved. Air units can support
ground units, engage in battle with naval units, or attack enemy economic
infrastructure. There are two types of air unit, tactical and strategic.
Special Rules
The game would not be complete without oddball special rules, the touches
players love. South Africa may choose not to participate. Switzerland can now
be conquered, in which case every country except the Soviet Union suffers
economic hardship (due to disruption of international banking). Turkey will
fight until every Turkish city is captured - a near-impossible task given
Turkey's mountainous terrain. Yugoslavia may dissolve, though the Yugoslav
partisans are fearsome opponents.
The game's introductory scenarios take about four hours to play, the
longest scenario lasts 12 to 20 hours. The game is for two to six players,
though it works best with five. It is not a difficult game to play, though
the many interactions between the different aspects (military, political,
economic) make strategy subtle and hard to define.
To Order Toll Free: 1-800-564-9008
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