Sky Galleons of Mars/Space 1889 RPG (GDW £16/£15). The longest awaited game system for some time and at last it has arrived. I must admit to initially having reservations about the background idea of the system but given its eager public reception I can only presume I am in the minority. I don't usually buy RPG's but this one is so well presented and written that it forced me to part with the readies. The rules are superbly researched, contain a feast of ideas and are a model of their kind. After reading them I was much more keen to play the boardgames in the series. Sky Galleons of Mars is the first of these and while the overall package is fine, it has one drawback. The maps are good and the rules up to the usual high standard but the plastic pieces that GDW waited so long for are rubbish. I had been hoping for ships about three inches long onto which you could plug gun turrets, cannons etc and what do we we get? Piddly little things that look as though they've fallen out of a cornflake packet. Despite this, and I see no reason why decent ironclad models couldn't replace the models supplied, the system isn't too bad. A cross between Wooden Ships and Iron Men and Ironclads, with some suitably daft HG Wellesian weapons and monsters thrown in for spice. Not at all bad, but hardly earthshattering for the 'serious' bods. Is this the same company that gave us Crimea and White Death?