Front Line No Komrades

I closed out this little communist detour of the year, after last year's Cogs & Comissars, with Front Line No Komrades: another one of those games I collect for the theme, the comrades in the mountains, and all that cheerfully militaristic scenery. On the table it has the light, social atmosphere you want from this sort of thing, even if its wrapping ultimately promises more laughs than it delivers.

At its core, it is a tweaked version of Guillotine, with a few nice ideas tucked into its basic mechanism. Players move through that familiar, lightweight party-game framework, and the interaction comes from the twist on the formula itself rather than from any especially deep or complicated system.

I will not burden you with turn-by-turn details that the game itself failed to make memorable for me: the mechanism is vaguely okay, but it feels underdeveloped and the flow drags a little longer than it should. That is its practical problem; the group has time to enjoy itself, but not because the system builds into anything especially sharp or funny.

Still, we laughed. And, through mortars and minefields, last summer's champion was confirmed once again, taking the laurels just as they did last year. As an evening and as a thematic object, it had its charm; as a purchase, though, I cannot recommend it. Only if someone gives it to you.

Enjoy your tan, comrades!