Pocket battle Games, so far....

UPDATED - July 20, 2025. Anniversary of the failed bombing attempt on Adolf Hitler (20 July 1944)

This is a review "of sorts" on all the pocket battle games (aka pbgs) from the original publishers,  LPS, Inc and High Flying Dice Games, Ltd.

Up to now (Nov 10, 2019 April 27, 2021, Mar 31 2023), (Oct 15, 2023) Dec 21, 2024, June 6, 2025, LPS, Inc has put out (30) (32) (34) (36) 39 various pocket battle games (PBGs) under two different companies - Turning Point Simulations and Against the Odds magazine.  High Flying Dice Games, Inc has put out so far 9 under their company logo, but I believe more are on the way, 😉.

Now, I am not going into an in depth review or point out which is the best design or play, as what I like and believe is very good, you may not, but I am listing the PBGs that are available and what each game covers. Also note that those pbgs underlined and in blue do have a review that is linked.

Turning Point Simulations (LPS) Pocket Battle Games
#1 2nd Ed Rattankrieg* Assault on the Tractor Factory - WW2, Stalingrad.
#2 Nothing So Well Lost. The Siege of Rhodes 1022.
#3 Fateful Days, The Marne 1914 - Opening of WW1
#4 Operation Pedestal - WW2, convoy to Malta
#5 A Hard Pounding Fight* - Napoleon 1815, La Haye Sainte
#6 Rattenkrieg 2 Battle for the Barrikady Factory

ATO Magazine (LPS) Pocket Games
#1 Stand At Mortain - WW2, The stand of the 30th Infantry Division
#2 Some Poles Apart - WW2, German invasion of Poland 1939
#3 Showtime Hanoi* - Nam, Lt Cunningham's victory over Colonel Toon
#4 Morgan's A' Comin- ACW, Rebel raider Morgan crosses the Ohio
#5 The Toast of the Town - Boudica takes Londinuim 61 AD
#6 Paying The Peiper - WW2, Battle of the Bulge 1944.
#7 A Dash of Peiper - WW2, Battle of the Bulge 1944
#8 The Bagged Peiper - WW2, Battle of the Bulge 1944
#9 Just A Piper Dream - WW2 Battle of the Bulge, 1944
#10 La Garde Recule!* - Napoleon 1815, Old Guards at Waterloo
#11 The Union Forever*- ACW, the entire Civil War
#12 Operation Cerberus - The Channel Dash* - WW2
#13 Marschall Vorwarts - Napoleon, Battle of Leipzig 1813
#14 A Matter of Honor - Napoleon, Battle of Leipzig 1813
#15 The Nations Assemble - Napoleon, Battle of Leipzig 1813
#16 Trapping the Ogre - Napoleon, Battle of Leipzig 1813
#17 The Siege of Alesia - Caesar's classic battle 52 BC
#18 Behold A Pale Glider - WW2, Eben Emael, 1940
#19 Not Men, But Devils - Mexico, Battle of Camarón, 1863
#20 Imua - Unification of Hawaii, 1795 - Hawaii Civil War
#21 The Utah Beach Landings* - WW2, D-Day
#22 The Omaha Beach Landings* - WW2, D-Day
#23 The Gold Beach Landings* - WW2, D-Day
#24 The Juno Beach Landings* - WW2, D-Day 
#25 The Sword Beach Landings* - WW2, D-Day
#26 Goto Hell - US and IJA tank battle on Saipan
#27 Barring the Gate* - Napoleon 1815, Hougoumont
#28 Operation Kita - WW2, Pacific, 1945
#29 Grant Me Night… or Blücher! - Napoleon 1815, Waterloo
#30 Mind the GUIK - Cold War 1988, USSR and NATO in the Ocean
#31 Guarding the Land* - ARW 1781, Ft Griswold 
#32 Masterpiece - The 3rd Battle of Kharkov 
#33 Cherry Blossoms At Night - The raid on Yontan Airfield May 25 1945 (NEW)

High Flying Dice Games (HFDG) Pocket Games
#1 Dueling Eagles Over Malta* - WW2, British Air Defense of Malta
#2 Rock and a Hard Place* - WW2, what if German invasion of Malta
#3Thunder Gods* - WW2, Pacific, Kamikazes
#4 Lines in the Sand vol. 1: Operation Compass, December 9-11, 1940
#5 Lines in the Sand vol. 2: The Assault on Bardia, Jan 3-5, 1941
#6 Lines in the Sand vol. 3: Operation Brevity, May 15-16, 1941
#7 Lines in the Sand vol. 4: The Battle of Bir Hakeim, Jun 8-11, 1942
#8 Lines in the Sand vol. 5: The First Battle of El Alamein, Jul 1-5, 1942
#9 Lines in the Sand vol. 6: Battle of Kasserine Pass, Feb 19-20, 1943  

Note: Games in italics have reviews on this blog and are linked to those reviews.  Games in this color can actually be joined together to create the entire battle. Please note that the pbg # for HFDGs is my numbering system to keep things organized. 

Big Games?

The PBGs above in yellow can be joined together and played as bigger games - for example #6, #7, #8, #9, create the Battle of Bulge; #13, #14, #15, #16, the entire battle of Leipzig; and #21, #22, #23, #24, #25, make up all five beach landings on D-Day. I have played them all, but my favorite "big" game is #21 to #25, the D-Day set. One can get advance rules to play the games combined.

Well, what are they?

In all honestly, these are not monster games with 4 or more large game map sheets covering a 4' x 6' or larger table with 1000's of counters, pages of errata, volumes of rules or the complication of said rules, and  taking months if not years to play.  Nor are they like a standard size game with an 11"x17" (or larger) game map, 80 to 100+ counters and 6 to 20 pages of rules. But, three can be considered "monster" PBGs as they have four game maps and can be join together. 😁

These are nice, simple to play games.  Complicated enough not to be able to figure out the ultimate "win all the time" game plan strategy within a few plays if at all.  If I had to say what the games are like, they would be akin to the old SPI Capsule Games or Meta-Gaming Micro games, though, much smaller, better graphics,  and a more variable play result - Easy to play, but hard to master.

Four inches by six inches (post card size), heavy duty poster board with 16 to 20 counters (most have 17 counters) each. Nicely printed with a game map on one side and rules on the other. I have noticed that each seem to have a clear coating, too.  Dice may be needed for some of the PBGs and some use a playing card system for movement and/or combat.

The games are not slapped together in a haphazard fashion, but truly planned out with attention to detail. I was once told by Paul Rohrbaugh that "it is harder to design these pocket games to be as true to history and fun, than it is to design a larger game.  Only 4"x6" of playing surface and 20 or less counters.  Fun is the key word here, as with any game, if it is not "fun" to play, then why play it?".  I agree.

Clear, concise rules that cover everything has to be provided. Units must equal what was at the particular battle.  For example, ATO #11, The Union Forever, covers the entire American Civil War to include blockade runners, Lee's invasion of the North, C.S.A. state militia and armies, Union Armies, and carpet baggers (i.e. Federal control of Southern states) (and this is one of my favorites). Another PBG, TPS #1, "Rattankrieg" (also 2nd Edition) and Rat #2 (TPS #6) covers the German attack at the tractor factory and Barrikady Factory during the Battle of Stalingrad. Design for solo play, it is not a walk over for the Germans. As a bonus, these three games are designed and developed by two of the nicest and devoted to history game designers out there - Steve Cunliffe and Paul Rohrbaugh.  Again, a lot of thought and probably a lot of hair pulling went into these games.

Ok, what about the cost and how do I get them?

The games, are inexpensive, with the LPS (ATO/TPS) series being free with a purchase (this also gets you mounted die-cut counters for your PBG as well), or if you have an ATO magazine subscription, I believe you will get a few as part of your subscription. 

High Flying Dice Games now offers 9 PBGs that are available at a very reasonable cost - 

 
Three ways to get HFDGs PBG #1 "Dueling Eagles Over Malta" -

1. When one purchases four games from HFDGs, ask for it. 
2. It is included in ATO magazine #45, the issue with "Red Dragon: Blue Dragon game. 
3. It is available for $* with a custom card set and a set of mounted counters from HFDG.  

It is an excellent little game and worth what ever it takes to get it, especially since it is a fairly easy to play air combat gaming system, that is exciting. Both have reviews on this site.

HFDG's pbg  #2 "Rock and a Hard Place" can be purchased for $* and comes with a custom card set (worth it right there as I have this card set and it is nicely done).

HFDG's #3 "Thunder Gods" can be purchased for $* and a custom card set can be bought. 

HFDGs #4 thru #9 is a set of 6 games called "Lines in the Sand Volumes 1 to 6".  This set of small format games covering six various battles in North Africa. Cost of each is $10.95.   

 

Well done, and these are just my type of games.  

 

Operation Compass (Vol 1)is the largest with a 8.5" x 11.0" game map and 44 counters. All the others (Vols 2 to 6) have 4"x6" game maps with 20 counters each.
 

Also available is a custom card set for use with each game. I have no idea on cost as I ordered all 6 games and took the card set as my freebie. :)

 

Click here to view the Lines in the Sand mini-games on HFDG web site.

 
NOTE - ATO is now selling different, hmmm, how to say, PBG Packs.   You can find more about them here. 

HFDG card replacement for PBGs and others...
I need to make a special note that High Flying Dice Games has a lot of card sets made up for the PBG's that uses cards. These card sets are used to replace the normal playing deck one may need in a PBG. You can click here to order.  Price is $* and shipping.  Are they worth it? Yes, as all the info one will need to play the pbgs are on those replacement cards.

note - $* - means there is a cost for them, but at this time, I have no idea what it is now (prices have gone up). Best to go to High Flying Dice web site and check it out for yourself.

So, how does one play them?
Once one figures out which PBG to play, cut out the counters as carefully as one can, grab a card deck if needed and/or a die, and read the rules then sit down to play. 

I blow the game up to 11x17 and may make new counters. I also make a copy of rules on the back, glue/mount and cut out the new counters (click here for instructions on how to mount counters), and find all the addenda I can (below are links, but there is not much). 

Note: Addenda for the Games can be downloaded from ATO or TPS for their series of games and contact High Flying Dice Games for their addenda. 

Note: The rules for combining all of the Five for Fighting PBGs has been updated and contains now the rules for the all the variants, including the USA Paratroopers. You can download them here.

 

Errata for the pocket battle games from ATO, download here.

Errata for the pocket battle games from TPS, download here. 

 

Link to the different pocket battle games from ATO, click here.

Link to the different pocket battle games from TPS, click here.

Since I know I will play the PBG a lot of times, I make sure to take care of the counters and map. These little games are well printed on very stiff poster board and can take a beating, but like anything paper, if it gets wet or mistreated, will fall apart.  

Note: Just remember that these games just like their big brothers are COPYRIGHTED by the publishers.   Not for copying to give to your friends or loved ones. And if you give your pocket game to someone else, then you need to give what you copied/made to the same person or destroyed it. It is only fair and right.

If you have made it this far, that's it.  As stated above, I have reviewed a bunch of these games for the blog and each game that I play, impresses me just that more. They are fun, they don't take a lot of resources in playing, they don't take up a lot of room (good, if you are a traveling person) and best of all, don't take a lot of time to play.  And perfect for introducing someone to the world of military conflict gaming.

 

A side note if I may - I like these little games. They keep me entertained for an hour or so and I keep coming back to them.  

Some I have play tested, found a few places where rules needed clarification and on some found nothing to report, as they were well designed before getting them. A few I have drawn the play testers maps and counters from descriptions for play testing. 

And the latest #33 Cherry Blossoms at Night, the designer's uncle was in this combat action and thank goodness was not injured. I know there are still a few more to come and hopefully LPS will still produce these from time to time, as I know High Flying Dice Games will. 

 

A FYI - I removed my updated counters and house rules, etc for these small games, due to namby-pamby jack wagons posting their XXX crap on my google drive.  If and when I can figure out how to stop these jerk wads from posting on my google drive, I may put these back up.

thanks for reading,
-ab

 

This blog is considered to be a living blog. Changes will be made to it as needed to clarify, correct errors or update with new information. And I apologize, but this review may contain references to graphics that are no longer on this blog. Long story, it was Google who removed them.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

RATTENKRIEG

UPDATED!: Rattenkrieg 1 (Rats War) Pocket Battle #1, 2nd Ed, "Assault on the Tracktor Works" is a solitaire game on a battle during the Stalingrad Campaign by the German 6th Army - the assault on the Dzerzhinsky Tractor Factory. Stoutly defended by the Soviets, who made use of the sewers and underground passages to move about the area like rats, to defend it block by block. Hence the name *Rattenkrieg or Rats War.   

For more history or information, please do a "Duck Duck Go" search on "Stalingrad".

Now what makes this game different than all the other Stalingrad games out there? Besides being solitaire, it is also the smallest game about Stalingrad ever made! And it packs a punch in it's PBG format.

UPDATE : TPS games recently updated this game with graphics by Mark Mahaffey (PBG #1 2nd Ed).  Play is the same, just better looking game map and counters.   Also an additional PBG  that adds more territory to the game series that matches the right side with additional counters. This is PBG #6, "Battle for the Barrikady Factory".  Same rules for PBG #1 are used for PBG #6.

 

No rules have been provided to add these together and highly probable NOT to be made. Why? It would be too easy for the German player to send all of the units to wipe out one map.  

 

With that said, nothing against making up one's own rules. PBG #1 only has 4 Air Strike Track spaces on the AST and PBG #5 has 8.  I just roll a die at the beginning of the game if I add both PBGs together and on an odd roll, I use the 4 space AST and on an even roll, I use the 8 space AST.  Also, I don't allow PBG #1 German units attack on the PBG #6 map or the other way.  

 

NOTE: There will not be any additional rules for playing the games concurrently.  

This is Pocket Battle Game #1 by Turning Point Simulations (TPS). Turning Point Simulations and Against The Odds Magazine are divisions of LPS, Inc. (Landsknecht Publishing Services, Inc.). This game is copyrighted by LPS, 2010-2022.

Rattenkrieg was designed by Steve Cunliffe and developed by one of my favorite game designers Paul Rorhbaugh (see a review of his game Kekionga! A Dark & Bloody Battleground 1790" on this blog.).

The whole game comes on a 4"x6" format, printed front and back on medium card-stock, it looks like it will hold up for a few years of play. The game board is on the front, along with the "air strike tracker". In addition to the game, a player will need five D6. I used 2 yellows and 3 black d6 myself.

Here is a German aerial photo of the area on the game map, 1942. It is of the Tractor Works. The Germans did not create aerial photography, but they had the best optics in the world for their aerial cameras.
 
On the backside of the map are the instructions. Counters are double sided and need to be cut out for play (btw, one can get a free set of die cut counters for this game and the game with an order from either TPS or ATO Magazine.).

Time to break out the reading glasses and a magnifying glass. 😀

Setup is straight forward, Soviet counters are placed upside down (no peeking!) on the red (dark grey) shields. The extra Soviet counters are placed upside down to be used as reinforcements (i.e. the "pool"). German counters are placed on the grey arrows on the left side of the game board with a maximum of 2 counters (and 1 General) on each arrow. Air Strike counter is placed on "4".

Since it is a solitaire game, the Germans are controlled by the human and referred to as "the Player". While the Soviet is pretty much programed into their spots and they do not move (I would say historically accurate as Soviet units didn't think on their on very much and were under orders "to defend to the death".).

Game Turn: (or how I won war, Ma!). Find a recording of "The Sacred War" and other Soviet War songs to play during the game or the Horst Wessel Song for the Player. Also a few swigs of Jägermeister for the Player (5 or 7+ shots).
then proceed to do the following:

Strategy Phase steps 1-3
step 1 - is Soviet infiltration.
step 2 - is German movement.
step 3 - is deadly surprise (snipers & ambush).

Combat Phase 4-7 do steps 4-7 for each of the contested areas
step 4 - is dice determination
step 5 - air strike
step 6 - hellish combat
step 7 - bloody aftermath

Victory Conditions or Terms of Victory
The player wins instantly when no Soviet counters remain on the map or loses the instant there are more Soviet counters than German on the map otherwise the game continues another turn, repeating steps 1-7.

That's it. Out of the 10 100's now or so games I have played, I have lost 85% of them. Those snipers hurt! I bet there were some wicked snipers as "Hell hath no fury" like a female sniper and I don't blame them! How close to history? Well, the Germans lost the entire 6th Army at Stalingrad! They lose it here too.

Complexity of the game = VERY LOW
Solitaire = HIGH (hell, it was design from the beginning as solo, dumb bunny.)
Fun Level = HIGH
Nail biting = 4 fingers worth. And it is my scratching finger too!
Length of typical full game = 15+ minutes. Play is fast, maybe 15 to 25 minutes. First time was 45 mins, learning the rules.

The game can be found here Rattenkrieg (click on name) on Turning Point Simulations website.

Tell them that "ab" sent ya. You won't get it for free and you'll still have to pay for your coffee.

I am glad to say, I like this little game a whole lot. I am glad it was the one that Steve picked out to send to me.  As it has been a whole lot of fun this past week playing in the wood shop while waiting for glue and paint to dry on a couple of normal wood working projects I have going on. (I best be taking photos for me other blog, huh!) 

Enjoy and Goodbye till next time!

Thanks for reading!
-ab out

Also I need to add, this blog is considered to be a living blog. Changes will be made to it as needed to clarify, correct errors or update with new information.  And I apologize, but this review may contain references to graphics that are no longer on this blog. Long story, but it was Google who removed them.