Review of Balance of Power

Okay I’ll preface this review with a disclaimer.  I do freelance writing and game design with Catalyst Game Labs.  Now that that’s on the table, let me also say I didn’t have anything to do with the game Balance of Power and I’m actually a little ticked they didn’t include me on the playtest.  Why?  This game rocks. 

I’m an old school Risk player and on the surface this looks like Risk.  It’s allegedly set in 1815, but that only provides you with the context of the game map.  The game comes with a hard backed map of Europe.  Each player (up to six) has a bag of 45 game pieces broken down into Kings, Generals and Bankers.  These three pieces represent the balance of power in the game – yes I realize I used the title of the game in the description – cool eh?

There are six quick reference cards to help you with the rules.  The rules are pretty darned simple.  You can move – duplicate – or attack.  Generals eliminate Kings.  Kings can take out bankers.  Bankers can take out Generals.  Simple so far?  The pieces are thick wooden material – top notch quality. 

Winning the game is done on points.  You get a point for controlling enemy territory.  When you occupy a capitol with one of each of the game tokens, you get three points.  Depending on the number of people playing you need to have anywhere from 30 to 18 points to win. 

The rules are remarkably easy – I’ve actually covered almost all of them above.  This is the kind of game you can jump into in about fifteen minutes.  Best of all, it’s more simple than Risk which means you can play it with your kids (or grandkids). 

When I dug into the rules I kept wondering, “where are the dice?”  There aren’t any.  Attacks take out the enemy, plain and simple.  But you don’t need them.  This game is all about strategy.  Despite its simplicity there are nuances to this game that are important.  You have to have the right kind of units in the right place in order to successfully attack.  Play is fast, for the most part, and can be vicious.  The games I’ve played with it have lasted no more than an hour.

This is one of those sleeper games that is a great guilty pleasure.  More importantly there’s a bit of cunning and strategizing that comes into game play.  It’s fast – it’s fluid – it’s fun.  Balance of Power trades accuracy for ease of play and does it remarkably well. 

My rating – five out of five stars.  

Review: Fortress America

I am from the last generation that remembered the threat of the Soviet Union. When the movie Red Dawn came out, there was a part of us that identified with the theme…that the United States might actually be invaded at some point. In the midst of this, Milton Bradley released Fortress America. The game was cool - the invasion of the United States and the US struggling to hold the invaders at bay. It was made even more eerie when the box had a picture of Saddam Hussain and the World Trade Center towers on it.

Of course political correctness required them to reissue the game sans the artwork.  But the end of the Cold War seemed to seal the fate of this game, exiling it to eBay. Back in the day I played it a few times and enjoyed it. It had a good feel to it. Well, this year, Fantasy Flight Games re-released the game. Needless to say it was one of my first purchases at GenCon this year.

The game revolves around a simple concept. The US is being invaded. Each turn the invaders penetrate deeper into the country. The US is deploying a laser defense system that can knock out game pieces anywhere on the map. Each turn, the US gets an additional one of these. By about turn 6-7, these pieces can devastate the invaders, holding them at bay. So it's a race of sorts, knock the US out of the game or by turn eight or so you are getting blasted.

A few good changes have been implemented from the old Milton Bradley game. First, the game components are much better. Secondly, the invaders now have cards they obtain in the course of play that can help tip the odds. One card in particular, allows a player holding Colorado Springs to negate the lasers for one turn. This can turn a game of annihilation into one where there's a last minute hope for the invasion forces.

The US gets hit on three fronts; east, west and south. The east coast becomes a slugfest for DC (useful because it allows good access to the interior) or New York. The southern invader needs to decide is it a straight shot up the Mississippi or a swing into the southern states. The western invader has those pesky Rocky Mountains which forces a drive either along the northern edge of the US towards Chicago, or towards the great plains. The invaders can establish footholds deeper in the US giving them landing zones for reinforcements that get them into the fight sooner. Strategy-wise, there's a lot of nuances here that makes the game fun and challenging.


The game can be played with two players or four (one for each invasion corridor plus the US)
The US player relies on partisans which can wreck havoc and a wicked defense to buy time for more laser batteries to be deployed. The invaders have a steady stream of reinforcements but with each turn, their losses mount due to the laser batteries.
The units include bombers - which can fly deep for penetrating attacks, infantry/partisans, Mobile (APC's) which allow for transport of troops (important if you are the west coast invader), hovertanks, cities, and laser batteries.

The cards make the game, they give it flavor and can provide some interesting circumstances for both sides. You have things like The NRA organizes a rebel training camp in the Rockies or Washington is Burning! These events/cards can give you new unexpected reinforcements or can sway the course of battles.


Combat is simplistic - almost ala Axis and Allies. Hey, if you are looking or a 'historically accurate' game look somewhere else. Fantasy Flight walks the line between a detailed wargame and a beer and pretzel's game.


This game really took me back to the old version and I'm glad this one is out. My rating - five stars out of five. Time to invade America! "Wolverines!!"  

Cracking The Plastic on the Fokker E.III (Max Immelmann)

I was at Gen Con last week and made sure I spent some time at Ares Games.  I was hoping to pick up the new Wings of Glory aircraft and was fortunate to pick up the new releases!  I’m going to give a quick review of the ones I was able to snag, starting with Immelman’s Fokker E.III. 

For those of us that have wanted to slug out the period of the Fokker Scourge, this release was a welcome one.  The miniature is metal like the others in the series and comes with four elevation pegs, a base with the firing arc, and a set of maneuver cards. 

A few new things.  First off, this airplane uses maneuver deck T – I think this is the first one we’ve seen of this.  I’ve included a shot of the cards for you to check out.  I’m glad to see this.  For a while, the old Wings of War series seemed to be reusing a lot of the same maneuver decks.  With this release, we’re going to see some of the different performance characteristics of the aircraft which is welcome.  With a rating of eleven (11) for damage, the Fokker E.III seems to be a lightweight in the Wings of Glory series.  Still, I found that it had a good turning arc which should make for some good game play. 

The miniature itself is pretty good.  I feel that the paint color is a bit lighter than what I like.  One thing that the Wings of Glory/War aircraft seem to lack is any sort of weathering.  Most aircraft look like they rolled out of the factory  rather than having been in battle for a while.  

This mini is good and sturdy and I’m sure there are enough fans out there willing to take the time to repaint or weather their purchases. 

There are two other Fokker E.III’s in the series – Hautzmayer’s Fokker A.III and Buddecke’s Fokker E.III.  I picked up Immelman because, well, I like Immelman. 

Is the new Fokker worth picking up?  If you play or collect Wings of Glory WWI – of course.  We’ve needed planes from this era.  The single-winged aircraft is a neat sight in the skies of your next game.  But it’s not alone – this series includes a monoplane from the French too!  More on that to come in future reviews.