S is for Supreme Strategic Surgeon - Sun Tzu

So, I was heading up to the Library and thought I'd drop into The Works and pick up a black Robot (which I did!) with a pound I happened to have on me, and found this. Looked around for the stack and couldn't find any more, asked at the counter and was told they'd been in a week or so, well; it was the last one, so I had the chap put it behind the counter and rushed-off to beg a tenner from someone I knew round the corner!

Gorgeous artwork on the 'cover' or top of the box (credited to Rolland Barthélémy, who seems to have done all the playing cards and paraphernalia as well) and nice black-line artwork round the sides (Stéphane Poinsot) which reminded me of the old World of Wonder or Look & Learn articles, or the better graphic novels of France and Spain (Catalan Communications) in the 1980's.

The figures are marked on the base True Art, the game - credited to Alan M. Newman - and designed for two players and to last around 30 minutes, is published by a company called Matagot from France as one of their Duo Collection.

The 44 figures would set you back seven squids on their own these days, so a whole game for a tenner is a bit of a steal! There are two character (command) figures and seven-each of three man-at-arms poses, in each of two colours for a count of 22 each side. A very brief read of the rules suggests no pose differential as far as play goes; they are just 21 counters.

If you have the MB Games figures from Shogun, these would make an excellent set of opponents, or peasant-levy but you would need to find a couple of sets, as there were a lot of figures in Shogun! They will also complement the Caesar figures, which they resemble in rubberyness and heavy-base style; hell - the same factory might have made them!

Sun Tzu, War Minister for the province of Wu who I think is the silver figure and the King of Chu, who as befitting a monarch of the time is a tad better fed! All the figures are really nice sculpts and - from the detail seen under an eye-glass - were probably mastered in a much larger size.

Not set-up for the rules, just an excuse for me to play with toy soldiers for five minutes! You can see how some of the soft, thin-shafted weapons could do with a bit of hot-water treatment and it's a supriseingly small board.

If I found one, there must be a few left out there, so if you like the look of these: get down to your local 'Works' or try their website.