AGAINST THE IRON RING

FROM

VUCA SIMULATIONS

As with several previous Vuca Simulations games, Against the Iron Ring is a significant revamp of an earlier boxed game or magazine game.  In this case, Six Angles magazine game, Paulus' 6th Army, designed by Masahiro Yamazaki.  Its system has basic features very close to that in the two excellent games in the Traces of War series that I have previously reviewed.  It presents an operational treatment of the Soviet campaign that begins with Operation Uranus and continues into Winter Storm - a campaign that covers the encirclement which led to the surrender of the German 6th Army under General Paulus and Von Manstein's attempted relief.  It also covers much the same ground as Stalingrad Pocket, the first game in the Standard Combat Series (published by The Gamers).

The production bears all the hallmark qualities that we've come to expect from Vuca Simulations.  Excellent, thick pre-rounded counters, 2 maps in a muted steely grey, various play aids in solid, rigid boards and a clear, comprehensive full-colour rulebook.

All contents displayed above and the double map shown below
   

There are a few minor niggles.  The first being a small number of inaccuracies with counters, such as the Soviet unit 4MK 51st Army. Being a particularly powerful unit it has several counters to show it from its strongest to weakest strength.  Unfortunately the strongest counter with an armour symbol is missing.  Fortunately however, its corresponding counter with a Nato symbol is there - so a slightly hybrid result existence transpires for this unit.  My copy also came accompanied by the corrected foldable player aids - both the originals and their replacements display that substantial solidity that has been a hallmark of Vuca Simulations games from their outset, as do the four excellent double-sided Set-Up sheets that cover the game's three scenarios.  

Scenario 1 presents Operation Uranus's drive for the Kalach Crossings and this is played out on a single map over the first three turns, while Scenario 2 takes us to the end of the campaign in Winter Storm, again needing only single map and covers turns 8 to 12.  Finally, Scenario 3 uses both maps for the complete 12 turns of the whole campaign. 

Both the shorter scenarios are excellent for learning the rules and provide a lively and punchy experience in their own right.  If you're familiar with the Traces of ... series you may be forgiven for plunging straight into the full campaign, as none of these games need either the time or table space that could bring them anywhere near the label "monster"!  However, Against the Iron Ring provides a slightly more detailed system than that in the Traces of ... series.

So, diving in, the Turn Sequence is a fairly familiar and fairly standard igo-ugo one; with the Soviet turn being followed and mirrored by the German one in an identical sequence of Phases.

Soviet Movement Phase

Soviet Combat Phase

German Reaction Phase

Soviet Exploitation Phase

Soviet Supply Phase

German Movement Phase

German Combat Phase

Soviet Reaction Phase

German Exploitation Phase

German Supply Phase

The basic rules are also a familiar and generally standard affair.  However, there are many significant modifications and additions that give each side a slightly different quality  and character.  Consequently, both players need to get well acquainted with them to make sure they play their side accurately while being familiar with what their opponent can do that is slightly different.

Such is true of one of the features of this system that I continue to be uncertain whether I like it or not.  That feature is the colour coding signalled by division and corps for the Germans and Army for the Soviets.  As in the Traces of… series, this is largely irrelevant as units are activated according to their being within range of any HQ. In this game that is something of a relief, as some of the colours (particularly for German units), at least to my eyes, are all too similar especially under artificial lighting. However, to my surprise divisional integrity as shown by these colours does play a part for the German player in combat whether as attacker or defender.  Though this will only occasionally come into effect, the need to be on the alert for it would have been helped by more distinctively different colouring.

On the other hand what is highly useful to ease of play is each Player's substantial, individualised Player Aid.  Typically each contains the essential Combat Results Table and a range of other tables, such as Surrender Check, Supply Capture, German Mobile Unit Supply and German Supply Airlift, as well as a comprehensive Terrain Chart.  

Beyond that, each contains a very detailed Sequence of Play specific to the individual player and an equally comprehensive display that highlights the key points for Movement, Exploitation Movement, Reserve Status and Reaction.

These I've found very, very useful, both in learning the game's rules and during play.  They provide such helpful reminders not just of basic elements, but the minor individualities for that player.

One of the most significant for the Soviet player is the function of Soviet Offensive Supply Markers.  

A limited and finite number of these mobile units begin play on the map and the Soviet player will gain no more in the course of the game.  At what point in the game you choose to use them makes for some careful consideration, especially as they have to be flipped to their Offensive Supply Side at the beginning of the Soviet Movement Phase. They affect the HQ that they're stacked with, bestowing a series of important benefits.  First of all the HQ can act as a supply source even if it cannot trace a valid supply line to a normal supply source.  Next it allows every eligible unit within its range to undertake overruns and finally in the Combat Phase it grants units within range a +2 column shift right when attacking.

A typical Soviet HQ - 

its range in hexes being the number on the left

By contrast the German player has none of these limiting restraints, but, on the other hand, nor does it gain the Combat Phase benefit of a 2 column shift.  By and large, all the rules that give each side its individuality present contrasting or limiting modifications.  

So, regarding Reserves, the Soviet player can place a single unit per HQ into Reserve.  As there are 10 HQs that allows a maximum of 10 units placed in Reserve, whereas the German player can place 4 stacks in Reserve.  As a stack may contain a maximum of 4 steps and units range in size from a single step to 4 steps, this gives both sides considerable flexibility and diversity.  If the Soviet managed to put ten 4-step units into Reserve this would be a significantly more powerful force than the German who can marshal at best four 4-step points of strength [i.e. 40 steps as opposed to 16 steps]!

What is even more startling is the distinction between how steps are signified for stacking purposes and what they mean in terms of a unit's durability.  Look at the example below.

The number of steps for stacking purposes is shown by the dots in the top left hand corner of the counter.  However, in conventional 

terms stacking points frequently equals the number of steps a unit possesses.  Not so here, as can be seen in the example above of one of the strongest units in the game.   The Soviet 1st Tank unit is represented by 4 separate counters, each of which has the same stacking value on its front and back.  Consequently, though it has only 4 stacking points at its strongest, it takes 8 losses to eliminate  the unit!

Another striking feature of the system is the developed Supply rules.  In particular, there are 3 levels of being out of supply that affect Attack strength, Defence strength and Movement in increasingly punishing ways  and with a specially debilitating Level 3 marker for Soviet Corps units!  The final additional rule that I like here is that Levels of being Out of Supply don't just increase by continuing to be OOS when Supply is next checked, they also get worse if you take part in Movement or Combat while being OOS.

The markers for 3 Levels of OOS

The final aspect to consider is the overall quality of the Rule Book.  This is well organised and structured, supported by plentiful examples that combine both pictorial illustration accompanied by substantial written explanation.  A typical example is the one below which starts with a picture of a series of potential overrun situations.

This is then followed by a full and very substantial unpacking of the diagram.  

As I've already indicated the rules are of medium density and the rule book takes you systematically and carefully through them.

The last aspect I want to explore are the Scenarios.  The following image shows the set up for Scenario 1: Operation Uranus.  This is a 3 turn scenario played out solely on the right hand map.  As such it's an excellent introduction to the system having a fairly low counter density and short playing time.  It's also useful for honing your skills for launching the full two map campaign scenario.

Set up for Scenario 1

(with Stalingrad inset overlaid at the bottom)

One minor draw back is that an excellent expanded display of the four hexes that constitute the area of Stalingrad is printed on the other map.  If you don't want to have your units piled up high, then  creating a copy of the display (like the image below) solves the problem.

Finally in the image below, I've left the four hexes that constitute Stalingrad empty for you to see.  Normally, I leave one counter in each hex with the remainder set up, as indicated above.  Though you can overstack in these hexes, it's important to note that you can still only attack from Stalingrad with four stacking points of units and only four stacking points can be used in defending Stalingrad hexes.

Scenario 2: Winter Storm is wrongly shown in the Rule Book as being played on the left hand map.  In fact it is played out on the same map as Scenario 1 and the Soviet Deployment  Lines insert on the Soviet counter Set Up  play aid is extremely helpful in getting everything right.

My final photo is simply one of my storage for all the units by Formation. This I've found ultimately to be the best way to sort them in order to swiftly find the correct units for a Scenario and transfer them on to the player Set Up play aids.

All in all, another excellent addition to my collection which I would highly recommend.  Thanks again to Vuca Simulations for providing the review copy and a special thanks for their patience in the four to five month delay in my being able to review Against The Iron Ring because of  family health problems.