Tally Ho

by

Minden Games 

 Tally Ho by Gary Graber of Minden Games is another study in minimalism  by  Minden Games. It is either a solo or two player game of air battles in WW II during the early years of 1939-1942. Tally Ho is actually a compilation of four other earlier games by Minden. The game comes with 119 different planes, fighters, bombers, and also transport aircraft. Tally Ho gives you the following:

Flying Tigers - Far East

Faith, Hope, and Charity - Malta and North Africa

Battle over the Pacific - Pacific

Battle over Britain  - Blitz and into 1942

+ more added planes

 You can buy just the game rule book, which contains all of the items needed for play, and then print them off. Your other choice is to buy the 'dogfight display' and combat results table along with the plane counters from Minden. You will have to supply a regular deck of cards, and a six-sided die. Did I mention minimalism? The game rules take up just sixteen pages, and this includes scenario information for the various campaigns you can fight through. Just like the other Minden games I have played, there are advanced and optional rules to make the game closer to a simulation. There are also rules for playing a campaign. This is like many other game campaigns where the player or players play X amount of scenarios and add up the points from each scenario to determine the winner.

Dogfight Display

 At heart, the game is meant to to be a quick playing game with relatively simple rules for the players' quick foray into air combat. The advanced and optional rules enhance the game for a bit more  immersion. This is my third Minden game that I have played, and just as with the other two, I am impressed. Not only for what gaming you get for such a small price, but just the games themselves. Of course it is not a detailed simulation, and it was not meant to be. However, the game mechanics seem to represent the differences between aircraft quite well. In this fast paced world of ours the inclusion of solo rules is a great free add on.

CRT

 The following will be a play through of a scenario that occurred many times over Malta. It will feature an Italian MC (Macchi) 200 against a Hurricane. I will be using the normal rules, and playing solo against the Hurricane. I am a sucker for Italian planes.

 On the first card draw no one has the advantage.

 On the second card draw the Hurricane does, but fire is not allowed from the Spades to the Diamonds hex row. If the  Hurricane were in the Hearts or Clubs hexes he could try for a hit.

  On the next draw the Hurricane has pulled off a three and the MC200 a jack of Clubs. To check to if you can open a fire, an ace   is equal to1 and and all numbered cards up to and including 10 are their stated number. A Jack, Queen, or King are all 0. So long as one number minus the other is more than 0 the plane with the advantage can open fire. The Hurricane rolls on the 3 column of the CRT, and rolls a 1 for no hit.

  
 The MC200 now has the advantage, but cannot fire because the difference of the cards is -1. 

 The Hurricane now has the advantage, and can open fire because the difference of the cards is a +5. The Hurricane drew a 10 of Hearts, and the MC200 drew a 5 of Clubs. Rolling a 5 on the CRT the Hurricane gets 5 hits on the MC200, but also gets to roll on the critical hit table. The Hurricane rolls a 5 again for engine damage. 

 This reduces the hand/speed of the MC200 by 1. We could continue, but just as in real life over Malta the MC200 really stands no chance. It is destroyed two rounds later. The game is quick, fun, and easy to learn. As mentioned, you can add the optional and advanced rules to put more of a kick into the game. 


Robert

NavTac: Coronal and Falklands

World War I Naval Miniatures Rules

by

Minden Games

 This is a set of naval miniatures rules for naval tactics (NavTac), and combat in the first years of World War I. The gun size goes up to 13.5" so the games ships will be preDreadnoughts and Dreadnoughts, but no super-Dreadnoughts.
 

  For play you will need two six-sided die, a ruler/tape measure, and paper and pencil. The turns represent five minutes of time. The game was setup to represent 500 yards to the inch. For those with a smaller area (in the first instance ships 22,000 yards apart would be 44 inches away from each other), you can use one centimeter to 500 yards. You will also need ship miniatures, or you can copy the eleven pages of top down ship pictures in the manual. Minden Games also sells  'NacTac Ship set A'. These are sheets of heavy paper with the ship pictures on them. These make it a breeze to make your own counters. Minden Games graciously sent me a copy of the ship set.

 The basic rules are only nineteen pages long, and have two additional pages of optional rules. The advanced rules bring into play ammunition usage, end on damage, and weather, etc. The rest of the rule book is filled with the various tables and charts needed along with play examples.

 The players can decide to use IGOUGO or WEGO  for each move. Ship movement is 1/2" (or 1/2 centimeter) for every three knots. So a ship making eighteen knots would move 3". Ships can turn 22.5 degrees for each 1/2" moved. Ships cannot turn more than 90 degrees during one turn.

 The rules for fire combat at first seemed a bit daunting. This is coming from a gamer who had limited exposure to miniature gaming many years ago. Just as in the real world you have to do ranging fire in the game before regular fire. This means that once you have straddled your enemy with a broadside you can then open up with more sustained and faster fire.

 The game comes with eight scenarios, but the player is only limited by his imagination with creating more. 

 This will be a few moves of the "Escape of the Goeben" scenario. Before World War I, England was building a few capital ships for the Ottoman Empire. When war broke out they were seized by the British government for the Royal Navy. The German battlecruiser Goeben and the light cruiser Breslau were cruising the Mediterranean right before the war. In an effort to sway the Ottomans to the Central powers, Germany offered her to them. In reality the Goeben was only half-heartedly pursued by the Entente naval forces. She made it to Istanbul where she was renamed the Yavuz Sultan Selim and became the flagship of the Ottoman Navy. This scenario represents an encounter during her flight through the Mediterranean. 

 Historically the Goeben and Breslau just really evaded encounters on their way to Istanbul. In this scenario I have chosen to have the Goeben fight it out with four armored cruisers that are stalking her. The Goeben is more heavily armed (10X11" compared to 6X9.2" guns), and the Goeben is .5 faster than the armored cruisers. We start with the Goeben and enemies moving, and then fire from both sides will take place simultaneously. The Goeben stays on course to be able to deliver a broadside with four of her five double gunned turrets. The British cruisers will only be ably to reply with three of their six guns. We start with the Goeben getting one hit on the Duke of Edinburgh. This is just ranging fire until the different ships get the range. The Goeben strikes for a damage of 2750 points, but because it is ranging fire, and because they are German, they only hit for one-third of the damage. The Duke of Edinburgh hits for two out of three, but because she is English and it is still ranging fire she only actually inflicts one-tenth of the 200 damage points.

 I inflicted a large amount of damage on two of the British cruisers, but my unlucky die rolls were matched by a lot of lucky British ones. It ended up as a marginal British victory because they inflicted enough damage to lower the Goeben's speed to three.

 The rules are easy to follow, and with all of the optional rules to add in to make the game more of a simulation, the game to me is a winner. I am even looking to buy some 1/3000 ships for use in more games. The counters work fine, but I believe it will add to the immersion factor. For my first foray into miniatures after so many years, I am very impressed. When I first looked at the rules they seemed a bit intimidating, and I was worried that the game might actually be a snooze fest. Thank you, Minden Games for showing me the error of my thinking. This opens up a whole new genre of gaming for me.


Robert