This is a solid entry in the Minden catalogue.

The decision-making process in the game really boils down to resource allocation – choosing which ships to base where. In this regard, it is somewhat reminiscent of John H. Butterfield's RAF. Once that is done it's mostly down to luck, as you never know where the Germans will strike, what their squadron composition will be, or whether your nearby forces will be able to intercept on time.

Combat resolution is done via buckets of dice, but once you get the basic mechanics down it is quick enough. There's a ludicrous amount of ships however, which can make it difficult to track what's going on unless you print out a large board or, as I have done in class, use an excel sheet and move the ships from one column to another.

A very interesting title.

A fantastic, easy to learn, quick-playing game with just the right amount of chrome.

Strong narrative for such a small, cheap and accessible title, and meaningful decisions that don't bog gameplay down. Good educational tool for younger players.

Definitely worth the purchase.

Another great offering by Minden Games.

Stringbag is a good intro to the Torpedo Raiders system, which is superb.

Sniper Attack was a pleasant surprise, and I have used it in class during our lessons about Stalingrad. I set up a display on the screen so everybody could see what was going on, and organised a small group of students into three teams, each controlling one Russian sniper and taking turns to locate targets and take shots. Everybody had a blast.

The games play in under 45 minutes and require minimal explaining before diving right into the action, so there's plenty of time to have meaningful learning sessions and dissect the results afterwards.

Well worth the money.

A very good set of games for a great price.

I have used these mini-games in the classroom with great success, organising students in teams or, in the case of Torpedo Raiders, giving each a deck of cards and command of an individual aircraft. Everybody had a great time and learned enough about the history behind each battle to make it a worthwhile activity.

In particular, Torpedo Raiders is fantastic: it's easy enough to learn on the fly, it conveys a certain feeling of powerlessness when facing flak, and yet manages to offer enough meaningful decisions and tense situations to make it fun.

Minden Games have become a staple of my lessons.

This game has a lot more complexity to the tactical decisions that you have to make than appears at first. Don't be fooled by the simple range grid- working out when to Close or Withdraw or Offer Broadside has so many input factors such as who is flooding most or has turret damage etc. I enjoyed the free basic version before but this 3rd edition has so much more depth, with many optional extra rules, and heaps of counters and scenarios. Every scenario has a high replay value too.

Advanced ed. PNP Straight forward 'macro' level campaigns for individual u boat. Feels very much like you are writing your Captain's Log of events, not a minute by minute tactical action simulation. There are a number of strategic decisions to be made during each encounter - range you will attack, number of torps to fire, will you continue attacking if you've spotted multiple targets and such. As with most Minden titles, the rules are well written and easy to comprehend. Charts are presented in the body of the rules- great for learning, but does require some page flipping during play for the lesser used charts.

Enjoyable, especially if you are looking for a fun solo that isn't a brain burner.

Excellent games, very playable. Rules don't require a university degree to understand, which is good after a busy day at work. Will definitely keep an eye out for more bundles to become available. The subjects of the games are varied enough to keep everyone happy and involved. Well worth getting.

As a long time tactical wargamer I have been looking at getting Retro for awhile. I own a number of other Minden titles and they all fall solidly in the "Light" wargame category. That is not a bad thing and most of their games are either designed solo or very solo freindly which suits my playing habits well. I am not going to go deep into the mechanics of Retro and I encourage anyone unfamiliar but interested to go to the boardgamegeek.com page which has some excellent reviews and rules discussions. Rather, I am going to focus on "who is Retro good for?"

Ok, Actually I am going to start with "who is Retro not good for?" The answer is "someone who is looking for a game with meticulous detail about World War II tactics and weaponry." In my understanding, Retro was created specifically to eliminate rules minutae and provide a quick and fun experience that still maintains tactical choices and WWII "chrome." I think Retro does this particularly well...

So, who should get Retro? Anybody who wants to play WWII tactics solo or face to face in a reasonable amount of time and with minimal rules referencing. There is one very important caveat however, Retro does not provide boards or counters, you use Retro with the components of another WWII tactical game you own. Retro was designed to be played with Squad Leader or Advanced Squad Leader components but can be adapted to any other tactical system with minimal tweaking.

So should you get this if you don't own any other WWII tactical games? Maybe... I think Retro still has value if you are interested in reading a well written and clever set of rules or maybe you want to try WWII tactics but ASL is too daunting an entry point. You could pick up an ASL starter kit relatively cheap and use Retro to get you feet wet. Retro is also great for VASSAL type games or PBEM if that is your jam.

However, where Retro really shines is with people like me...I have almost every SL and ASL product produced by Avalon Hill but I haven't played a face to face game of ASL in almost 30 years. With Retro I can put the (literal) closet full of ASL game on the table and have fun again. For 20 bucks I can enjoy hundreds (thousands?) of dollars of ASL, now that is a bargain.

If Minden would just do the same thing for World in Flames...

This is a gem of a game. A wide variety of early war planes, matched one-on-one in air combat. The game system is based on a system of ratings for speed, agility, performance and damage limits. The action is determined by the draw of varying number of regular playing cards. Fast planes get more cards, hence, more choices each turn. Playing a card determines your altitude, and range from your opponent. a plane with a higher altitude, and a positive range number can fire at the other plane. The game works well with two players, or solo.

While the basic mechanics seem simple and abstract, the game play can be very subtle, and good planning is vital. There are ways to 'stay out of range', and ways to 'break a tailing attempt' and ways to 'disengage'. Some times they don't work, though, and you are in deep trouble. Learning to use your planes inate abilities takes about a half dozen games. consider them 'ground school and basic'. After that, a campaign using different planes can be very rewarding. Sometimes you have the top fighter, sometimes a second line machine, and sometimes a bomber. At the end of thirteen games you judge your success.

I now have all of the games in this series, and know i will have many hours of enjoyment playing solo campaigns. I only hope that Minden will produce more games in the series, taking the war into 1943-45.

I played three days of action last night, and love this game. So much subtle stuff is in the random event charts...fly low, more chance of flak damage, for example. Repairs matter....a lot! Guns always jam at the worst time.....like when you are firing!....After three days, I have shot down two bombers and a fighter, while using Immelmann as my pilot. My plane has no damage, the guns are clean, and it is time to try to finish the week with a string of successes.

Any WW1 air enthusiast needs this game. There is a lot of the feel of Von Richtoffen's War or Hostile Aircraft, with athe benefit of solo play, which is so difficult with those games. This game looks to have a load of replay value. I do not believe it would be difficult to rate a few later planes to use in the same system.

I bought this issue with very deliberate intent. "Der Tag-1916" is a game that I HAD to have. As a solo gamer, one of the hardest things to play is the ability for fleets to hunt and surprise each other. This game held the promise of making that possible. quickly printed, assembled, read and set up, I played a full four turn game last night, and was happily rewarded by the ebb and flow of the action. Weather is a major variable, and hampered the British greatly on most turns. The distannces from Scapa Flow and Dover will keep those forces out of many actions, leaving the German fleet with far better chances of hitting and getting away. Ship design is nicely factored into the gunnery and damage charts, making the British shipd better gun platforms, but far less able to take damage. On the last turn, the action cards sent out the German fleet, which met a small portion of the Royal Navy, did some serious damage, and left before the main fleet could arrive. The Germans won the first game. The next round will be anyone's guess. This game was worth the total cost of the issue.

"Battle over Dunkirk" caught my attention, as I have been wanting to try the "Battle over Britain" game system. I love air games. I play Table Air Combat, several of the fine games by A&A, and others. Most ar somewhat complicated, and time consuming. Minden's system sounded far more accessable. Sometimes that is just what is needed in a game. Printing and reading "BoD", I found the concepts clear, and the mechanics to be easy to follow. I have not yet played a game, but I am confident that my wife and I will enjoy this one, and other games in the series. She, by the way, is a veteran player of Hostile Aircraft and Biplane Barmy.

"Napoleon in Italy" reads as a very 'uncoventional' wargame, with players bidding to play the Austrians, then needing to acquire at least as many VP as the bid, for the Ausrians to win. The French get to 'play the spoiler'. The game looks 'easy to play, but tough to master', and should provide good replay value.

There are also a handful of reviews on games from other companies, and some nice ads for Minden's products. All in all a nice read, to go along with three most atractive games.