Published by decision games, each game contains two campaigns.

The systems are a blend of other old school SPI systems, notably Panzergruppe Guderian, Army Group South and Cobra and their popularity looks like we will be seeing more than just the first four modules that were planned.

The game scales are 3 - 5 miles per hex with units representing regiments and divisions. The games are intended to be played in 2 - 4 hours, by two players, but the system is solo friendly.

The games are using standard map sizes, mounted on board and 5/8 inch counters. There rules run to about 14 pages.

Arriving at the door today is the third volume in Decision Games’ East Front Battles series. I have had this in pre-order for a couple of months and it seems to have been out in the states for a while, so it is nice to see it hit UK shores.

The obvious draw to me is that this is a series game, but the bonus is that it comes with V19 rules, which are of course backwards compatible to also work with the first two games.

I am becoming a bit weary of newly released boardgames seemingly to quickly need to be on version 1.1, 1.5, 2 or whatever i.e. a bit more than simply a few errata points. It raises the question of development and it seems pointless to get a beautifully presented rulebook if you end up downloading a replacement file for printing out that just kills the enjoyment of getting the nicely presented rulebook on nice paper.

It is almost like being an early adopter, just means that you are part of the extended play test group. Anyway, rant aside, the game looks lovely. The boards are mounted with the surface having a sort of linen texture. Anyone who has volumes I or II will know exatly what to expect.

The system plugs into the nostalgia spot a bit with it being a relative of the old SPI Panzergroup Guderian, Cobra and Army Group South systems.

The two battles (always two battles per box) cover Drive to the Sea (West Prussia, January 1945) and Battle for Pomerania (Pomerania February 1945).

I have high expectations of the system and have promised myself to get this system to the table this year and play it enough to become familiar and proficient, so that it can make repeat returns to the table. Volume IV has just been released.

Unconditional Surrender! The Western Campaigns is at an amazing price of £35 in the UK (Second Chance Games) and it offers a lot for it's money. I have never owned or played its big WWII brother, but this seems a very do-able bunch of campaigns covering, Poland, France, Norway, Italy and French North Africa.

The Poland game is just half a turn long and seems a good intro to the system - I watched it being played on YouTube, which made me buy it.

Time scale Monthly Turns, map scale, 30 - 40 miles per hex, unit scale, Army, fleet or wing.

The blurb on the back of the box says it plays in ½ hour to 4 hours, has complexity rating of 5 and solitaire rating of 7.

In addition to the rules set and play book, there is a 32 page volume described as the play guide and this is very well illustrated with plenty of examples and playthrough of the France 40 campaign.

Counter density for these small campaigns is low and the map boards are all U.S. letter sized, except for the North Africa map, which is 2 times a letter size, done longways.

Rules cover land fighting, integrated with air, naval and invasion. Also production is thrown into the mix.

The play aid is a folded card document. It looks dense, but is all encompassing and superb.

There is a single counter sheet with ½ inch counters.

Each map obviously has to include all the geographic elements that are physically exist, but the non-relevent areas are shaded out to indicated that they are prohibited, so for example in the Italian campaign, in capturing italy, the map also captures the nations on the other side of the Aidriatic, but Greece, Albania, Yogoslavia and Hungary are shaded out, as is a one hex capture of North Africa .... though Tunis and 2 adjacent hexes are in.

For those that have the big WWII game, there is a section on the box that say this; ..... 'USWC is dereived from Unconditional Surrender! World War 2 in Euriope (USE). They each have the same unit and map scale and use the same rules for air, ground and combat mechanics. However more strategic elements (e.g diplomacy, strategic warfare etc) have been abstracted or removed in USWC to simplify the rules and reduce playing time'.

So in effect, if you already have USE, you don't need to buy USWC. There are 9 scenarios here and a couple are 'what if' such as France 1941.