[Elias Nordling]

Gillar man verkligen Gör det Själv, blir det inte mer hardcore än Lou Coatney. Från Consimworld verkar han vara en halvgalning som betygsätter östfrontsspel utifrån de inbördes avstånden mellan Moskva, Leningrad och Warsawa. Han har också gjort en del spel, de flesta på östfronten, som han lagt upp på nätet för gratis nedladdning.

Grafiken har han ritat själv. Färger är för veklingar, allt är i svartvitt. Allt i väldigt utskrivarfientligt format. I Moscow Defended! toppar han sig själv genom att dessutom hoppa över reglerna! Man kan räkna ut hur man ska spela genom att läsa tabellerna och förklaringarna, anser han.

Han har i och för sig i stort sett rätt, men det underlättar inte inlärandet, och en del regler är grymt understated.

Det är ett väldigt litet men ändå ganska pilligt spel på slaget om Moskva. Utifrån traditionella mekanismer har speleten massa krom med pansarfaser och enheter som blir spent och disrupted. Jag tycker inte att kromen ger någonting på denna skala, det blir bara pilligt. Den grova skalan gör också att man slår en tärning för om det över huvud taget blir någon regnperiod. Blir det inte det vinner tysken lätt. Inte så lyckat.

2 av 5 i betyg från mig.

[Elias Nordling]

Dubbelpostat:

My wife Reidun has translated for me the comments by you and others about
  Moscow Attacked!, 1st Alamein, and my politics.  Allow me to offer a few
  corrections and please post them for me under the thread.
 
The boxes - including Alamein itself - can indeed be taken, frontally, but the position
  is more usually broken open by attacks on the other boxes or in the more open
  south.  The 1st Battle of Alamein was the wildest one and Rommel's best
  chance to break through, because of the thinnness of units.
 
When defending a box, the Allied player usually invokes No Retreat! which
  means half his units can be eliminated on an R2 forced retreat result.
 
The hexes are roughly artillery range in width, which is why they stop enemy
  movement and force advancing enemy units to attack ... or pull back.  The
  mechanics are very classic, harkening back to the earliest Avalon Hill games,
  but they are effective with the spent/dispersed units rule.  Indeed, disaster
  usually occurs, if a player doesn't keep units in reserve to plug holes.
 
The game can be very close, and my older son Robert often beats me by
  taking Rommel-like low-odds risks to break open the British position and
  seize the initiative.  It has been exhaustively playtested.
 
As to Moscow Defended!, it is fast and simple, but does its job.  Rules do
  exist as notes on the combat results, terrain effects, etc. webpages.
  Some of the guys here in Norway seem to like my games, but they do
  have the designer within reach, to hold me accountable for rules
  clarifications.
 
Regarding Sturm nach Osten published in the Wargamer, it still has an
  active following, thanks to its breakout and armor refit rules,
  rubber band strengths of some units, etc.  It is hardly "boring."  
 
And probably the best game I will ever design, German Eagle vs. Russian
  Bear, is free on my www.coatneyhistory.com webpage.
 
I am running mini-tournaments of both 1stA and MD! this Friday, at ArCon26,
  here in Oslo.  http://www.spillfestival.no/arcon26/program.php
 
I was amused by Snowjerk's 180-out assessment of my politics, which would
  astonish and grimly amuse Jack Radey.  I doubt the Russians and Jack's
  other friends appreciate my research and thesis about the Katyn Massacre
  (1940) as a Cold War issue, even now.  (You can read my thesis via my
  LCoat webpage.)  And I fought the Left and Soviets hard in the public
  forums back in Alaska in the 70s and 80s.
 
Until Cheney&Bush, I considered myself to be a Reagan Republican, and it
  should be noted that Kosovo and Iraq were "neoconservative" - Trotskyist
  - operations which have caused strategic and economic disaster for the
  West, which would have gratified Lev Bronstein immensely.
 
I know Sweden is pretty remote - even here in Norway I can't find a decent
  pencil sharpener, photocopy shop, matt board to mount units, etc. - but if
  some of you fellows can make it west to ArCon this weekend,
  please drop by my table and say hei.
 
All the best.

Lou
  Coatney, http://LCoat.tripod.com/index.htm
http://www.coatneyhistory.com
  (Free games, cardstock model ship plans, etc.)