I downloaded the V-Mail Postcard games #1 Malaya and #2 Unternehmung 25 yesterday and decided to make a review, because these are gems.

First of all how I made them.
Both where printed in color on normal A4 paper. If you really want, the pdf file is good enough to be blow up to A3 size if you want to, but then these wouldn't be proper pocket games, now would they.

The maps and counters was glued on 1,5mm cardboard set to dry under the weight of some books, and then covered in clear self adhesive film. (The sort public librarys use on the cover of their books.) The end result looked smashing. For good measure the rulepage was covered as well.
All in all it took me about an hour to make both games.

Now for the specific game.

Like it's brother, this little game have the feel of a proper wargame, even with it's small size.

The map is a 10 x 7 hex grid, in clear but not too bright colours. The important terrain features, mountains, objectives, rivers are all easy to identify. But the actual hex-grid is so fine it's hard to make out in the standard resolution. On the side of the map is a legend for terrain and counters, as well as a turn-chart (the game is 6 turns long, with alternating turns for Axis and Yugoslavian forces.

The counters: 7 German, 1 Hungarian, 1 Italian and 8 Yugoslavian, are nice, and some are even two sided, where the weaker side is the unit after combat damage. The counters list combat strength, movement points, and hex-# Some units have a coloured insignia, marking them as panzers or mountaineering units, with special rules.

The movement and combat is straight forward, combat resolution uses a D6, and unless the die is very nefarious, pretty evenly matched. Remember that the combat results table is open-ended (less than -2 = -2, more than +3 = +3 for results)

Now, the rules are brief, as can be imagined. They have to fit on a postcard after all, but the only real issue is deciding what constitutes attacking «across» a river. (I interpreted it as whenever a river runs alongside the hex-side where the attacker moved into the hex, or the supporting unit fires through. )Units may not move through each other. I still follow the rule that all units enganged in a combat, also supporting units, must follow the result of the combat result table.

There are no roads on the map, which seems a bit odd, but not a major issue. The Yugoslavs have bonuses when defending an objective or while in the mountains.

I found the game a bit uneven, more so than its «brother». The Germans can call on air-support, which tends to give them a definitive edge. Especially when bombing Belgrade on the first two turns, effectivly tieing down the Yugoslav forces. It might be historically correct, but I think there should been some way for the Yugoslavs to counter the effect of the VIII Fliegerkorps.

But still, a fun game, easy to put in a jacket-pocket for a quick game in a coffee-break. (All gamers carry a D6 or two for luck, right?) And you can't beat that price, so download a copy and break out the scissors and glue!