Enemy on the Horizon The Black Baron Game Company
- Review by thrasher -
What you get
Rules book (12 pages) 40 plastic playing pieces The Playing Pieces
Enemy on the Horizon comes with 40 new plastic playing pieces - 8 for each of the 5 nations:
4 artillery units 2 commando units 2 destroyers The colors of the new pieces match the colors of the original units pretty good, except for the Japanese pieces. This can be understood easily as the Japanese pieces in the original game come in two different teints. The Japanese infantry units on one side and the other units at the other side come in a different shade of yellow. As the Enemy on the Horizon pieces come in one color they can't match both! The quality of the pieces is pretty OK. Though the level of detail is much lower then the original Hasbro pieces.
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The Rules
The rules exist of three parts: New Units, Changes to Existing Units and Other Rules Changes and Clarifications. We will take a look at all three.
New Units
Enemy on the Horizon introduces three new units to the game: commandos, destroyers and artillery.
Commandos: Two commando units are included for each nation. A commando unit basically is a special infantry unit with an increased attack value. It also has some special movement and withdraw capabilities. Destroyers: Two destroyer units are included for each nation. The destroyer has special anti-submarine capabilities. Artillery: Four artillery units are included for each nation. This unit has a special attack capability: it can 'shell' an adjacent area.
New Rules for Existing Units
Battleships now must be hit twice to be sunk. Damaged battleships can still attack or defend. They can be repaired when adjacent to a friendly industrial complex. Submarines now have the ability to travel through enemy occupied seazones. German subs ('U-boats') receive a bonus in combat to reflect the menace of the German wolfpacks. Two changes for transports. When a transport carries an anti-aircraft the anti-aircraft unit is allowed to defend against attacking air units. The movement rules for transports are changed.
Bombers have three new abilities now. The bomber unit is able to carry a paratrooper unit. They can also conduct strategic bombing on an anti-aircraft gun. Bombers can also be used to perform airdrops over friendly areas. In this fashion a country can assign a number of IPCs to a specific bomber. This bomber then flies over an area controlled by the nation you want to support and 'drops' the resources (represented by IPCs) there. This takes some risk so a die is rolled to determine if the air drop was a succes or not. For fighters things only chaned for Japan. Japanese fighters can perform kamikaze missions.
Industrial Complexes: Just as in the original game the original industrial complexes have unlimited and unrestricted production. The industrial complexes that are purchased during the game have limited and restricted production. The number of units that can be produced in a non-original factory is related to the IPC-value of the territory it is in. The production is 'restricted' in the sense that the type of units an industrial complex is able to produce is also related to the IPC-value of the area. If IPC-value of the area is only a single IPC only infantry units can be produced in the factory. If the IPC-value is 2 also commandos and artillery units can be produced. Finally, if the IPC-value is 3 armor and transports are added to the types of units the factory is able to produce. Other units can never produced in a non-original industrial complex! The new Weapon Development Chart includes a technolgy called Industrial Growth. This tech lifts all restrictions and limitations (both quantitive and qualitative) of non-original industrial complexes. I have serious doubts about this rule. Perhaps the rule is realistic But for gameplay purposes I really would like to build stuff like fighters and escorts in non-original factories. For example: I think it is much easier to defend India when you are able to build a fighter there so now and then.
The movement rules for Aircraft Carriers and Fighters are changed. Fightes may combine thier movement with that of aircraft carriers.
Other Rules Changes
This section features some minor additions to Initial Setup, a clarification of the lower right-hand corner of the map and a New Weapon Development Chart. The latter features 6 Research Paths, each resulting in 2 technologies.
Address
The Black Baron Game Co. 23 Inglis Place, Suite 201 Truro Nova Scotia B2N 4B7 CANADA
E-mail: blkbaron@istar.com
This game was designed by Mike Henderson, Greg Brennan and Joe Ballard. Boardgamegeek entry