MICROCOSMIC HELL

● wargamevault.com ● £4- £9.50

This very issue contains an article by Mr Jim Webster which uses a previously reviewed (in Miniature Wargames)

rule system of his: Budapest

(starting on page 32) is a WWII scenario which uses Hell and Uncivil Disorder, which one could assert, is part of his ‘Hell suite’:

a family of rules and systems. For example, Hellfire was used as the basis for a scenario called A Policeman’s Lot in issue 463 and – in last month’s issue – he wrote War on a Budget employing the same ,‘ hellish’ rules et.

Mr Webster has now sent in something aimed at a‘grander’scale for review.

Hell in Microcosm is subtitled ‘From the Trenches to the Stars’ and is an A4 soft back of 60 or so pages which is available on Amazon for £9.50 although Kindle and electronic versions are also available from Wargames Vault for as little as £4. It is – like all of his products (and as I’ve mentioned previously) – a cleanly laid out, ‘no frills’document with (cover aside) no illustration: just solid wargaming!

Aim wise, it is the antithesis of a skirmish game: it is pitched at divisional level actions and covers everything (timescale wise) from the First World War to future combat with a ground scale of 10cm to the kilometre. The author uses 6mm figures and models as markers but I guess – with that ground scale – one could go smaller. Now, effectively, this could also be a map game system and, indeed there is guidance for this using OS maps.

Play uses written orders for each Battalion (although this can vary) and rules cover pretty much everything: mines, airpower (of all kinds), armoured trains, ECM and ECCM, ammo resupply and more. Plus there’s the SF section with robots, mechs, drones, interplanetary movement and just so many elements covered. It’s fair to say that – for four quid – there’s a Hell of a lot included!