STALINGRAD ROADS
FROM
NUTS PUBLISHING
What's in the box
Stalingrad Roads has been a game that I have been waiting for with great anticipation and enthusiasm and, I confess, some trepidation about its eventual realisation, as it continually seemed to be coming...but not yet. So, at last, with a resounding cheer, it's a reality and I must give a big thanks to Nuts Publishing for not just sending me a copy to review, but a bonus of the neoprene map...only the second one that I've ever owned. Stalingrad Roads is the third in a series that began with Liberty Roads and was followed by Victory Roads. These first two were published by Hexasim, another games company I greatly admire, though with them my focus has been on their excellent Napoleonic series.
My knowledge of the first two Roads games is purely of their physical appearance which, in both cases, was lavish with vibrant colours on the map and counters. Nuts Publishing has gone for a much more austere map and counters that in their simplicity of layout and contrast of ochre and grey have a distinctly retro feel to them.
This is a major aspect that may divide players. I’m certainly in the camp that favours the austerity of the pale wintery palate of the map that suits the span of November to March deep in Russian territory. With the counters I have mixed feelings, not so much for colour, but size. In fact, I found the multiplicity of badges on the units in the first two games distinctly distracting and one For those with the modern gaming taste for the larger and more lavish the better, they may be too small and too simple. Nonetheless, they are totally practical and clearly readable with the standard three number sequence: attack strength, defence strength and movement.
In all other respects, the contents should be uncontentious. The game contains a substantial number of double-sided Play Aids, all on thin, glossy card. An item I wish all games provided is an identical terrain, combat and weather chart, one for each player. Thumbs up to Nuts Publishing for that. So much easier than passing one backwards and forwards across the table and much more appealing than one player having a photocopy.
Both players have double-sided charts that explain the many individual Support markers each side may potentially have in the course of the game. Three more contain set-up charts for the different scenarios and a final four combine a variety of functions. One side of each presents a variety of other play aids, from holding boxes to player specific charts, while the others provide more set up displays and one contains a mini-map for the introductory learning scenario, Wintergewitter.
The rulebook (partially seen above) is a similarly attractive, glossy product of 22 pages of rules, 4 pages of scenarios and a 1 page index. It’s very compact and functional and, though the print size is fairly small, I’ve found it easy to read. Illustrations are limited, but focus extensively throughout the excellent, detailed examples of the central elements of Combat, Retreat and Exploitation.
The rules themselves are an interesting blend of the familiar and the unusual. The core of the system is a fairly basic one common to even early hex and counter games of the igo-ugo format with the Soviets having the first half of the turn and the Axis having the second half, founded on supply check, movement, combat and reinforcements and replacements.
However, a level of added complexity derives from both players having a Support Phase as well as specific individual Phases. These latter Phases apply mainly to the Soviet player and for that reason I would recommend that a more experienced player take the Soviet side at least for the first few games.
A number of points looked daunting, but in reality weren’t. The first such was the weather table and its rules. My one complaint here is that the explanation of the lettered code used in the table is given in the reproduction of the chart in the rule book and on the back cover of the rule book, but not on the Play Aids - an odd choice! When I saw that Snow and Mud are the only two weather conditions, I feared I might be in for a mass of complexity. However, as Snow predominates, it has been largely been dealt with by factoring it into movement rates and other data on the terrain chart; as a result it turned out easy to handle. Apart from obvious ground features, especially rivers, being dealt with through the weather table, so too is cloud cover which affects air support markers. Both sets of conditions have handy tracks and markers on the map as reminders - a welcome help.
Explanation of Weather Effects on Cloud Cover and Rivers
Perhaps surprisingly, weather does not affect supply, though supply itself is handled in a novel and interesting fashion. Apart from a direct trace of 4 hexes to map edge supply hexes, roads and rails are the key. This is a familiar rule; what is unusual is that you check HQs first for being in supply and then those that aren’t are removed from the map. They will return to the map in the Reinforcement and Replacement Phase which is the last Phase of each player's turn. Unfortunately, as the rules don't clearly specify, it must be assumed that they return by the same process as unit reinforcements arrive. In the final step of the Supply Phase all combat units are checked for whether they are within command range of an HQ on the map. If not, then they are marked as out of supply.
The other intriguing feature is the Combat Results table. Though it is the standard CRT with an odds ratio and 2D6 roll, unlike the very conventional single columns for each ratio with either an Attacker result or Defender result or a split result for each, there are three columns. The first column gives step losses, strangely in the rules labelled under the heading Application of Attrition Results, but then referred to from then on by the more familiar phrase "step loss." The second and third column respectively provide what are called Attacker Tactical Results and Defender Tactical Results. At first sight, several of these look familiar - AR, DR, DR1, DR2, DR3 and Eng - but the last one Eng definitely does not mean the well known Engaged Result which normally is much the same as "no effect." Here the Attacker has to roll 2D6 again and apply only the Attrition Result i.e. more step losses.
And now for something completely different
On top of these are several new results: E, F, S and R. Unlike "E" usually meaning Eliminated, here it means Exploitation and its effect is influenced by a surprising number of additional rules for a single CRT result. It is a Tactical result only found in the Attacker columns and allows a limited number of units to make exploitation and attack moves in the Exploitation Phase that immediately follows the Combat Phase. The number of Attacking units allowed to take part is changed by such things as whether an armoured attack had been declared and terrain. Added to that, the type of units chosen may mean that some can only move, while others can both move and attack. Again an interesting and new approach replaces what is usually handled by the standard, conventional Exploitation Phase of many games. On the other hand, the F, R and S are all Tactical Results that can only occur for the Defender and mainly add extra choices between retreats and additional or reduced step losses.
The final and crucial development in the novel twists to well known war game tropes is the Support Phase - what I might call the Good, the Bad and the Ugly (well, ok the last adjective doesn't apply) of the rules. The fact that it is given its own separate Phase and both players get a double-sided aid to explain the use of each support marker signals its importance. First of all, there are far more potential Support Markers in this game than I have come across before in most games. Then the Soviet Player has four separate Available Marker holding boxes, while the rules for Support markers take up almost a full page of rules and unfortunately several other Phases separately contain details that affect the use of Support Markers. At this point when learning to play the game, I began to feel that a little less might have been a lot better. When mastering the information about the markers and the rules that govern them became far heavier to memorise than the whole Combat process itself, I felt a little overtaxed. However, though they do add quite a bit to the learning process and to the complexity of game play, they also add a lot of chrome and historical feel to the game which I enjoy and appreciate.
Just a few of the many and varied Support Markers
So far, I've concentrated on what I would call the expected generic areas of rules as well as some of the intriguing individualities of the "Roads" system. The last part of the rules that I want to consider are those designed specifically to simulate historical elements of this campaign, Operation Uranus. Considering that this was a major and crucial Soviet offensive, it's not too surprising to find in the Sequence of Play a Soviet Offensives Phase. The Soviet Player starts the game with one Soviet Major Offensive marker and will gain two Minor Offensive markers as reinforcements. The conditions for launching a Major Offensive are closely bound up with the Support Markers just discussed, though the player is at liberty to choose the moment of launch whenever those conditions are met.
Also highly important is the Stavka Phase. This covers rules for releasing Reserve units generally during the course of the game and none of these reserves could be more important or valuable than for release at the beginning of the Major Offensive! The Stavka Phase is also vital for withdrawing units and rebuilding them. So far, these are all areas of the rules that help to give the Soviet Player both their characteristic feel and specific punch for this campaign. The final element of specifically Soviet rules should be equally familiar to students of this period of the war and that is Soviet Lost Momentum. The negative effect of these rules is closely bound to the number of times Soviet HQs move - a good incentive for ensuring that your HQs stay in supply and so don't have to execute lots of movement to return!
The final special Soviet Phase is the grand sounding Operation Mars Progress Phase. This is designed to cover how a parallel Soviet Offensive launched by Stalin in another sector might have impacts on Operation Uranus. It couldn't be easier to apply, as it is abstracted into a simple 2D6 each turn, from Nov IV to Dec III. Depending on the dice roll, the marker on the Operation Mars track will either stay still or move on the track. Possible outcomes may be a Soviet Collapse or a Soviet Breakthrough. If neither has happened by the Dec IV turn, this Phase no longer occurs.
All in all, these rules work together very well with a minimum of effort and plenty of flavour, as do the brief rules on German Superiority and Major Soviet Successes. The very last section to consider is the Fortress Stalingrad Supply Phase. This can be declared by the German Player, if both hexes of Stalingrad are German occupied and these units are out of supply. It brings with it a substantial level of extra rules and is cancelled if the German units in at least one Stalingrad hex regain normal supply and, of course, may recur if both hexes again are out of supply. It is obviously highly historical and again strongly adds to the game's "feel." Whether it is worth the extra complexity and rule commitment will, I think, be dependent on the individual players and I would suggest that players discuss its implementation. I'd expect more experienced gamers to go for it, but less experienced might like to leave it out until they felt comfortable with the overall system.
Finally, there are the Scenarios which offer a very good range in both length and complexity. Without doubt the Wintergewitter Scenario is truly "introductory", as the rule book says, aimed at getting to know the basic, underlying "Roads" system.
The three shorter scenarios range from 3 to 7 turns and use a reduced section of the full map.
Operation Uranus - a 3 turn blast that sees the campaign kicking off, using part of the full map. Be careful to note the reminder that you use the set up for the full campaign, except for those units whose hex placement is in red. The rule book advises playing this, above all, to familiarise yourself with the rules that pertain especially to this game's situation and I would go along with this suggestion. Its brevity allows you to learn and make mistakes and try it out again.
Operation Star and Gallop - seven turns. This has the advantage again of fewer turns and units at their last gasp. It also follows on from the fall of Stalingrad and so helps again to experience situation rules specific to this game without having to master the added depth of the Fortress Stalingrad rules.
Backhand Blow - 5 turns. It too has the same advantages as Operation Star & Gallop and having encountered this in several games devoted wholly to this part of the war, I greatly relished having this to play as a scenario. In my view a great bonus.
Finally, it's the main attraction, the full campaign game scenario:
On The Brink of Disaster.
Soviet forces poised to launch their envelopment
A substantial 17 turns. Fairly modest on map counter presence at start, with plenty of reinforcements to follow for both sides.
Initial Soviet Set Up Forces
Inevitably the full campaign for me remains the major draw in any game, but it's always pleasing when there are several shorter scenarios, as here, which all provide a solid play session.
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