Island Of Death
Watching the clash between the forces below
From up in the planes we’re flying
Survivors are taken as prisoners of war
The others are slowly dying
I shiver as we strap on our parachutes
We line up to jump out the door
We’re already here and there’s no turning back
I fall to scene of the war
–Do Or Die (Testament)
Island Of Death arrived last week. Haven’t had time to even punch the counters, much less play, but here are some general thoughts on the game.
Component-wise it’s a typical Avalanche Press game, which means nice looking counters with a horridly cheap map (Poster paper? Really guys?). Oh, and Avalon Hill circa 1982 called and they want their player aid charts back.
Rules seem rather straight forward if you’ve played wargames before and include typical rules for cohesion in airdrops. I will say the sequence of play seems a little daunting at first, with a grand total of sixty two possible segments (although depending on the turn some segments are skipped). It may not be equal to GDW’s Battles of the Third World War, which was absolutely insane with its turn sequencing, but it’s a lot heavier than check initiative, phasing player moves, phasing player attacks, non-phasing player repeats, advance turn marker. Upon closer inspection though the sequence of play as outlined on the player aid chart turns out to be simply rather comprehensive—enough so that you could probably use the aid chart to jump right into the game.
Island Of Death is about the hypothetical invasion of Malta. I’m a sucker for any type of Mediterranean invasion game, having several games on the invasions of Leros and Kos, so one on Malta was a no-brainer to add to my collection. While it features some chrome with militias, operational pre-planning, and Royal Navy and Air Force security troops I’m disappointed that there are no provisions for naval combat. All you get is a chart to roll on for how the Royal Navy affects the battle.
I’m happy to say the combat results table actually includes losses. One thing I hate about their Panzer Grenadier system is it’s not bloody enough! You end up going back and forth rolling oodles of dice and in the end you get some lame morale check. Push someone out of a hex. Advance into the hex. Get pushed out the next turn. Move back in. Gah, it’s World War One! And since they’re working on a WWI version of the system maybe the CRT will finally fit. Back to Island Of Death….
First impressions it looks like it should be a rather interesting game and I’m anxious to give it a spin. They were nice enough to even include some rules on what needs to be altered if playing solitaire, so that may end up being my first foray into the system.