A Wargamers Needful Things: Eastern Front

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Korsun Pocket 2

Pacific Rim Publishing

This is the Designer Notes for Korsun Pocket 2 that is on pre-order from Pacific Rim Publishing. The original Korsun Pocket is considered a milestone in wargaming history, and is worth hen's teeth now. Thank you Jack Radey, and Pacific Rim Publishing for allowing me to post this.

"Designer’s Notes

Korsun Pocket, Little Stalingrad on the Dnepr, was my first effort as a game designer. I fell in love with Jim Dunnigan’s and Joe Balkoski’s “Wacht am Rhein” back in the latter part of the 1970s. Immediately, I was thinking, “Gosh, that would be interesting on the other end of the war…” As I ruminated on the thing, the Korsun Shevchenkovsky Operation came to mind. I began to dig into it, and found it was just about the right size battle, and a very interesting situation. Whereas the Battle of the Bulge was pretty much a straight penetration and exploitation, Korsun Shevchenkovsky was an encirclement. Both sides would be attacking and defending. Great.

So I began digging, and found immediately that it is easier to research a game where at least one side wrote up their reports in English. But I taught myself some German, learned the Cyrillic alphabet and began to learn a little Russian. And I was aided by David Serber, who went to the archives in Washington and returned with a lot of German microfilmed records, and Leslie D’Angelo, who translated a chunk of Grylev’s “Dnepr, Karpaty, Krym” from Russian for me. Colonel John Sloan provided me Rotmistrov’s account of the battle, I translated part of Degrelle’s disgusting little book “Le Front D’Est” from French, and found the marvelous map collection at UC Berkeley. The game was proclaimed a masterpiece of research, and its researcher and designer a master of all things Great Patriotic Warish. Well…

Marx once described a fellow philosopher as “standing out like a high peak, due to the flatness of the surrounding terrain.” Wargame companies who were intent on staying in business did not devote a year to research for a game, no matter how big. The reputation I got has carried me far, but looking back, I do blush from time to time. But the world has changed… The Soviets, who documented EVERYthing, and valued their WWII experience as their national treasure, from which they drew their military doctrine, kept their data very close, and even Soviet historians had difficulty accessing it. So there were a lot of aspects of the battle that remained blurs to me. I had the basis for some guesswork, but some of it was based on SPI’s writings, and much of that was either grossly in error or was misunderstood by me.

But since those days, first perestroika and glasnost caused the archives to open for a while, before the sad passing of the USSR set in motion events that led to their reclosing. But the archives are all on war-time acid-based paper, and someone in the Russian staff realized that in twenty years or so they would be sitting on the world’s largest pile of dust. So they have begun scanning it and dumping it onto the internet… by the trainload. So when I asked my friend Charles Sharp to look into my guess that 4th Guards Army had attacked for three days and gotten nowhere at the beginning of the offensive, within 24 hours I had a rough summary of the Combat Journal of this army for the relevant days in my inbox, recounting precisely where the problems had been. Color me gob smacked. And then Helion Press brought out “Stalin’s Favorites – 2nd Guards Tank Army” (they were 2nd Tank Army at Korsun before they became a Guards army), with more detail on the strengths, losses, and activities of this army than I could have hoped to see in my wildest dreams. I have not completely re-researched the battle, this would require either exploiting the friendship I have with people who could do the massive amounts of translation that it would require, but I have gained a much more detailed understanding of the events of January and February, 1944. Consequently while you will recognize the basics of the game, there have been some changes, both based on better knowledge of the battle, and on some small knowledge of game design I have gained.

What’s the same? The basic Dunnigan/Balkoski combat and movement systems. My changes in the approach to Zones of Control, visibility, weather, etc. The broad outlines of the battle. The scenario structure. Much as one longs for a scenario for just the pocket, the notion of using all four maps just to play a small scenario seems silly. The map is pretty much the same, with a few additions. The rules about tanks are the same, but require some explanation. Why does a battalion of Panthers, say, with a tank strength of 4, break up into companies but still each has the same tank strength of 4? Shouldn’t it be less per company? After all, it’s less tanks… My thoughts, strongly supported by some friends who served in the armed forces, are that the difference between NO tanks, and a FEW tanks, is infinitely larger than difference between a FEW tanks and A BUNCH MORE tanks. The actual tank strength numbers, unlike the attack and defense strengths, are based on the effectiveness of the tanks weapons and armor. A tank with a bigger gun and heavier armor is inherently scarier and more destructive than more numerous tanks which have great difficulty damaging it. Tank size figures in to this too.

What’s different? Well, when I designed Korsun Pocket originally, I thought, “Amateurs talk tactics, professionals talk logistics.” And an encirclement battle was going to require a more detailed treatment of logistics issues. So I did some research and constructed a whole elaborate system for keeping track of supplies, and artillery ammunition (which makes up the bulk of supply tonnage). As game systems go, it worked, and pretty much produced the results I was seeking, namely that both sides were plagued by supply problems throughout the battle, as well as the supply challenge that a large encircled force produces. But looking back I fear that the operative words were “worked” and “plagued.” After the game came out, I figured out a truth of design. Time is the enemy of wargame design. Time is a constant, you only have so much of it to spend gaming, so much time you can get a team together, so much time that table will be useable. If there are a LOT of playing pieces in the game, it will take a lot of time to move them. A game with only a few pieces in play can have complex detailed rules. A game with a lot of pieces in it is already pushing the time envelope. Adding more work for the players… something will have to give.

So I set out to create a new and cleaner supply system. But being me, I dug into the research and found four credible sources who gave daily tonnage requirements for a full strength infantry or rifle division in combat. And got numbers that said 300+, 200, 100, and 20 tons a day, respectively. The 100-200 range seemed the most common number. True, none of these units was anywhere near full TO&E, but the fact is a badly worn infantry division will retain most of its artillery, even as its line infantry is worn to a nub. And artillery ammunition accounts for over 80% of the supply tonnage required. Worse, the 20 tons per day, derived from the deliveries by air to the pocket, are very well documented. I was pulling my beard out trying to come up with a compromise, so that a supply point would actually mean something in tonnage terms. And then…

I stepped back, squinted so I could not make out the details, only the broad outline of the problem. And it came to me. Doh. The bottom line truth is that while both sides experienced all kinds of problems getting supplies from railhead to fighting units, they succeeded in doing so sufficiently well to fight the battle. Only the pocket forces faced destruction when their supplies were cut off, first by land and finally by air. No complex systems, book keeping, supply points, or other fancy footwork required.

Similarly the air rules took a haircut. Bottom line, again, fighters were unable to prevent enemy air from having an effect on the battle, so why include them?

One other change evident is the counter mix. KP 1 had some holes that I filled with fudge. Some of the fudge has since failed to live up to the tasting. So: no more Ferdinands (it turns out the Soviets used the term “Ferdinand” to describe any assault gun), JS-2s, or T-34-85s. There weren’t any in the battle, they came out of my ignorance. No more killer cavalry units, they have been tamed a bit. No more tanks organic to panzer grenadier battalions, nor are the tanks that were part of 5th Mechanized Corps mushed into the motorized rifle battalions. This is a far better OB for both sides, I believe I have it all.

There is a matter that the players will have to ponder. In the order of appearance, there are a number of situations where units are required to exit the map, some of whom return, some do not. These units were usually withdrawn due to requirements for them somewhere outside of the scope of the game. Since players have no control of these events, this seems more than reasonable. The oddest may be the peregrinations of most of 5th Mech Corps, who immediately after the drive to Zvenigorodka, are forced to withdraw to the west, to reinforce a portion of the off-map front threatened by a German counterattack. After a difficult march, they were turned around and marched back onto the map area in the game, as by this time the Germans had ended their attacks and were shifting their panzers east, towards the Korsun Shevchenkovsky area.

But another matter entirely were the various inter-formation transfers that are called for in the order of appearance. While the Germans, sorely lacking in reserves, were known to pull a couple battalions from one division, attach an artillery battalion and maybe a company of antitank and another of engineers to a neighboring division in need of beefing up, the Soviets did a lot less of this. The exception would be their tank brigades, which would sometimes be detached from their parent tank corps and attached temporarily to another corps, or to a rifle corps or army when there was not an immediate need for a tank concentration. Then there is also the question of major reorganizations that happened historically. Towards the latter part of the battle, 27th Army of 1st Ukrainian Front was transferred to 2nd Ukrainian Front, in order to put the forces around the pocket under a single headquarters.

All of these decisions were historically made within the scope of the player’s discretion and in response to the developments in the battle. If the Soviets never formed pocket, would the inter-front transfer of 27th Army have happened? Would corps have transferred between armies had things gone differently? With this in mind, the players may choose to ignore all the transfers between on-map formations, or leave them up to the decision of the players – you could transfer 27th Army to 2nd Ukrainian Front, but you may decide not to. However, all withdrawals from the map are still mandatory."

Pacific Rim Publishing:

Pacific Rim Publishing (justplain.com)

Korsun Pocket 2:

Korsun Pocket 2 | Pacific Rim Publishing (justplain.com)

From the Realm of a Dying Sun Volume II:

The IV SS-Panzerkorps in the Budapest Relief Efforts, December 1944-February 1945

Douglas E. Nash Sr.

The first volume took us from the creation of the IV SS- Panzerkorps, and all that entailed, to the battles around Warsaw on the Eastern Front in WWII. This second volume takes us to Hungary and the desperate battle to relieve Budapest. The action takes place on the Eastern Front which by that time is getting uncomfortably close to Germany itself. Hitler demanded that the besieged in Budapest be relieved. Guiderian (Chief of the General Staff) wanted as many troops as possible to keep the Red Army off German soil. He described the Eastern Front as "A house of cards. If the front is broken through at one point all the rest will collapse".

There were three relief attempts to fight through to the beleaguered in Budapest. Each operation was named Konrad. So, we have operation Konrad I,II, and III. The IV SS-Panzerkorps was in the thick of the fighting in all three operations. The backbone of IV SS- Panzerkorps were the two SS Panzer Divisions Wiking and Totenkopf. At different times during the IV SS-Panzerkorps existence, many other divisions and kampfgruppe's (battle groups) were added to its Order of Battle.

Long before the IV SS-Panzerkorps was created, both of the SS Panzer Divisions had been in the thick of the fighting in Russia. While one can be disgusted by their actions, one also has to reluctantly give them their just do. Both of the divisions were nearly destroyed several times over in the fighting on the Eastern Front. However, their cadres were able to install an esprit des corps in even their most reluctant, almost press ganged, soldiers.

The first volume was by far one of the best military history books I have ever read. This volume continues in that vein without even the slightest hiccup. In this book, like its sibling, the author seamlessly takes the reader from the highest councils of war to the individual battles for each plot of ground.

There are two groups of photographs that are in the book. The first is a portrait gallery of most of the German persona listed in the book. The second is sixteen pages of photos taken of the troops during the actual operations described in the book.

Some of the book is pretty eye-opening as far as the actual relations between the German Army and this SS-Panzerkorps. General der Panzertruppe Hermann Balck was the commander of the newly reconstituted 6th Armee. The IV SS-Panzerkorps, under Herbert Otto Gille, was subordinated to the 6th Armee for these operations. That there was no love lost between Gille and Balck is shown in several areas of the book along with Balck's actual disdain for the SS. On page 311, Gille is quoted as saying that his new deployment "smelled like a briefcase". This is in reference to the July 20th 1944 attempted assassination of Hitler. The book states that Gille believed Balck was actually trying to destroy his command in an act of treachery. This amazing piece of history is just one of the many that are found in the volume.

This book, and the preceding volume, are exactly the kind of history that history buffs want to read. From the who, what, and when to the actual descriptions of the battles, these books are almost unparalleled. Thank you Casemate Publishers for letting me review this second volume of a planned trilogy on the IV SS-Panzerkorps. I cannot wait for volume III.

Robert

Book: From the Realm of a Dying Sun Volume II: The IV SS Panzerkorps in the Budapest Relief Efforts, December 1944-February 1945

Author: Douglas E. Nash Sr.

Publisher: Casemate Publishers

Conflict of Heroes Storms of Steel: Kursk 1943 (Third Edition)

Academy Games

Kursk was one of the biggest battles in World War II, although it was not the largest tank battle. That distinction we now know goes to Dubno in 1941. Still, it was a massive clash between the Russian and German armies. Guderian had worked tirelessly to rebuild the Panzer force in the early months of 1943. He was able to build a large hard hitting force by the Summer. Kursk was an on again off again operation that kept being postponed from April until it finally occurred in July. Hitler was staking all on his new pet cats, the Tiger and Panther, and the massive Ferdinand, although the Germans took an incredible toll of the Russian forces. They also were damaged, but they just couldn't break through to Kursk. Then the other Allied Nations invaded Sicily, so the offensive was called off. Manstein had wanted it to continue to bleed dry the Russian reserves. The Germans lost a good number of tanks and men at Kursk, but they were really bled dry by the defensive battles they had to fight in the Autumn of 1943. So, this is the backdrop to the game; let us see what comes with it:

4 Folding Mounted maps (19.5" x 14.75")
1 Mounted Board That Comes With 6 Various Shaped Pop-out Geomorphic Pieces

4 d6 Battle Dice

2 Custom d10 Spent Dice

4 Counter Sheets

1 with 70 German Units
1 with 70 Soviet Units
1 with 15 German Units, 15 Soviet Units, and Hit Markers
1 with Miscellaneous counters

1 Round and Victory Track

4 Command Action Point Tracks

48 Battle Cards

7 Weapon Cards

10 Veteran Cards

1 Rulebook 40 Pages long

1 Mission Book 36 Pages - With 14 Missions

2 Rules Summary Sheets

This is the Third Edition of the game. Here is a rundown of what is new:

Featuring the latest 3rd Edition Conflict of Heroes Rules!
We have updated the maps and overlay artwork to be highly detailed and more beautiful than the original!
Storms of Steel 3rd Edition will feature a number of new firefights in addition to classics from the original!
All new counters in addition to new versions of the previous counters!

New box format, with updated tray inserts designed by Game Trayz!

The maps are very well done, and the hexes are huge at 1 1/4". They represent a lot of the same terrain, so there is not that much difference in color from map to map. However, they work extremely well and the size of the hexes makes it very easy to determine the terrain. Each hex has a dot in the middle of it. Whatever terrain that dot is in represents the terrain for the entire hex. The map hexes represent 50 meters of real terrain. Now we get to the really good stuff. The counters are fantastic and are a full inch in size. This means we can not only read them without glasses, but they are also easily handled by less nimble fingers. The unit and armor pictures on the counters are very well done. It is also very easy to see what each counter represents. The Rulebook is in full color and fits in with the rest of the components, meaning that it is very colorful and wonderfully put together. The way the Rulebook is setup up is this: You read x amount of pages and then play the suggested scenarios. After playing those you read a few more pages and then you are ready to play the next few scenarios. So each scenario has a level of the rules involved in playing it. So, by the end of the Rulebook you are thoroughly prepared to play any scenario that comes with the game. Everything about the components is meant to thrill a wargamer. Even the trays for the counters are done differently than normal. Instead of just laying in a heap, they are laid out for the player like a flattened out rolodex. The two Rule Summary Sheets are the only pieces where the writing is a bit small.

The game is played in 'Rounds' with players taking alternate Turns. Here is a description:

"The Player who has the Initiative takes the first Turn.

On your Turn, take a Single Action or Pass.

The Rounds ends when both players Pass consecutively."

"To take an Action follow these steps in order:

1.Select a Unit.

2. Perform an Action.

3. Determine the Action Cost.

4. Make a d10 Spent Check."

These are Common Actions a Player can take:

"Move to an adjacent hex / pivot.

1. Attack a Target hex.

2. Rally to remove a Hit Marker.

3. Stall.

4. Play Action Card."

As you can see the game uses many elements that we wargamers are used to. The game works with Command Action Points as its main mechanic. This way of giving each side a certain amount of points to use each turn for actions is also a well known feature of wargames. In Storms of Steel, it is the interconnected usage of these mechanics that makes this such a great game.

Storms of Steel won a ton of awards when it was first released, and it only keeps getting better. The greatest praise that you see for the game is that people believe it is one of the best games for teaching a new player its rules. The Rulebook states that you will be up and playing in five minutes, even if you know nothing about the system at all. I would believe that amount of time is right on the money. However, that does not mean that this game is a beer & pretzel one. Each player has to keep thinking, and thinking quickly, because the rules make it so that everything can change in a heart beat. All of your well laid plans can go up in smoke in an instant. The play is not only very fun, but very deep. The Third Edition has been worked on for a few years, and it includes many suggestions from players. The designer team of Uwe and Gunter Eickert originally released a winner and each edition just keeps getting better.

I was first introduced to the Conflict of Heroes series when Matrix/Slitherine were developing the PC versions years ago. I liked the games and played them a lot. One of the things I remember about them was that the designers were trying to make them as close to the boardgames as possible. A lot of the players of both were surprised how much they got right in the PC games. Now that I have had a chance to play a boardgame version of COH Storms of Steel I am completely blown away. Everything about the game feels and looks so well done. I do not think I could ever go back to the PC version. This boardgame is that good. This is pretty astounding when you add in the fact that it was meant, and succeeds, to be a players game, and not a rule heavy monster.

Than you so very much Academy Games for letting me review this excellent edition of an already great wargame. For anyone who is looking for a game that you can quickly learn, here it is. People looking for a historical portrayal of the Kursk battle look no further. Those two sentences are rarely seen together in a review about a wargame. When they do coincide you know that you have a real winner.

I changed the size of the boards to represent their actual size. I forgot to times by 2. I am still not used to this getting old stuff.

This is a blurb that one of the designers sent me that explains the difference in the Third Edition, better than I could.

"The biggest change in the 3rd ed is that a player takes an action with ANY of their fresh units. No more tracking APs. After the action, you test to see if the unit becomes spent by taking a stress test. That's it. Quick and simple
The stress test checks that Unit's cognitive suppression probability (its natural tendency not to move towards or interact in fire interchange. Units will often 'stop to assess the situation' before continuing on.
And this is what makes the 3rd ed so much different from the previous editions"

This is the Academy Games site:

https://www.academygames.com/

This is the Storms of Steel site:

https://www.academygames.com/pages/sos

This is a review I did earlier on Academy Games 1754:

https://www.awargamersneedfulthings.co.uk/2017/08/1754-conquest-by-academy-games.html

Robert

Wings of the Motherland

The Air War Over Russia 1941-1945

Clash of Arms Games

I knew of Clash of Arms Games because of their exquisite Napoleonic games. I have ones from the Napoleonic Operational series, namely Jena and 1807: The Eagles Turn East. I also own a copy of la Bataille de Ligny from their Tactical Napoleonic series. They are also famous for their 'Battles From the Age of Reason' series. From the latter, I'm extremely fortunate to have gotten a hold of The Battle of Fontenoy (one of my Holy Grail games). So, I was a little surprised at how little I knew about the rest of their stable of wargames. This is my first foray into a top down two-dimensional flight game since I played Dogfight in the 1960s. This review is about the fourth game from their 'Fighting Wings' series. The other three would be:

Over the Reich - 1994

Achtung Spitfire - 1995

Whistling Death - 2003

There were also a few add-ons made. I had played the computer versions of Over the Reich and Achtung Spitfire (these were released by Avalon Hill), but never have I seen the boardgames.

This review has to be both an unboxing and a regular review, simply because of all that comes with the game. I usually do a list from the manufacturer of what comes with the game, and then do a write up about the different contents, but in this game there is so much that comes with it. I will do the list, but I will go through the items in greater depth than normal. This is what the box says you get:

280 Aircraft Counters (1/2" square)

280 Ground Unit Counters (1/2" square)

70 Ship and Play Aid counters (1/2"x 1")

2 Game Maps (34"x22", front and back printed (4 maps total)

1 Game Rules Book (80 pages)

1 Game Rules Supplement Booklet (16 pages with play examples)

1 Game Scenarios Book (120 pages)

1 Aircraft and Ship Data Card Book (60 pages)

1 Play Aids Booklet (32 pages)

So if you have been keeping track, that is 308 pages of different books and booklets to peruse. That is simply mind boggling even for a deep wargame/simulation. The massive scenario book is much more than that. It starts out with a brief history of the War. Then it goes into the different aircraft the Soviets and Germans used during the war. There are no 'exotics' or planes that could have been listed here, The ones you are given are going to be the run of the mill planes that carried the air war on their backs. There are:

Soviet Fighters - 11

Soviet Bombers - 9

German Fighters - 5

German Bombers - 6

German Auxiliary Types - 5

There are no ME-262s or anything like that. You do not get to fly 190 Doras or ME 109 Kurfursts either. The amount of scenarios is pretty mind boggling. Here they are:

Training - 2

Introductory - 9

Standard level - 150!

Ground Attack Introductory - 10
Ground Attack Standard Level - 40
Ship Attack Introductory - 3
Ship Attack Standard Level - 20
Mission scale Scenarios - 6

Once again, for those keeping track, that is 240 scenarios to play through. The Scenario Booklet itself is in black and white with a few pictures of planes throughout. The book is so large it actually has a normal book spine to it. At the back of the book is a few pages of designer notes and play tips. The information in it is incredible, and that is over and above the actual amount of scenarios in it.

The Rules Book, as they call it, is so large that it has a three page index. These are a few sentences from the beginning of the Rules Book, and they are worth printing:

"Read the basic Rules of each chapter first. Skip any advanced Rules and continue reading until instructed to play a solitaire 'Training Scenario'. When finished, return to where you left off and continue until you complete all Training Scenarios."
"Be Patient, Have Fun! Do not expect to learn everything in a single sitting. Take your time. This is a game, so enjoy yourself as you strive to master the techniques and tactics of World War II aerial combat. Good Luck and good hunting!"

Even before you take to the skies in Training Scenario I you will learn about the following:

Counter Positions
Counter stacking Limits
Aircraft Collisions
Aircraft Movement
Fractional Value Table
Stalled Flight Procedure
Spin Procedure
Slatted Wings Effects
Wing Flap Effects

Along with more than just a few more rules and information needed to take to the skies, the first Training Scenario has you flying both a MIG-3 and a Bf 109E-7U1. The Bf 109's moves are written out in the book, and your aim is to try to get and keep the MIG-3's gun arc trained on the Bf 109. The Rules Book is in black and white, but it does have a good number of play examples in it. By the end of the Rules Book you will be level bombing, firing rockets, and also taking on enemy Naval assets. It seems like the size of the Rules Book would overwhelm you, but just take the designer's advice and "Be Patient, Have Fun!' to heart. You will be going back to the book a lot to make sure you have everything right the first time you fly or try something new. After that, I promise it should become second nature to you. This game comes with the 3rd Edition Rules Set, by the way.

The Play Aids Booklet is filled with table upon table, and also play examples to help you fight your way in the clouds. The two Rules Supplement Booklets are even more helpful for a fledgling pilot. Their play examples are also in 3D so that you can more easily visualize your aircraft and the enemies in a 3D world.

The Aircraft and Ship Data Card Book is exactly as it sounds. It is filled with the data the player needs to be able to fly his aircraft in a historical manner. Each plane, or different plane type, is given its own full page write up of its performance, firepower, and power/speed charts etc. The booklet also has the various ships', from battleship to sub chaser, information.

The counters are small, but because there is nothing that needs to be read on them (all the information is on the data cards) their size is not a handicap to the player. On them are top down illustrations of each plane in question. For someone who has read a lot or played flight simulations the aircraft are easily discernable from each other. The various ground assets that you will try and destroy are also well represented on the counters. The tanks and some other counters do have information printed on them along with the top down view. They are a little small, but even I can read them, so that counts for something.

The maps are extremely well done. They represent city, field, and also water on their four sides. The color is a bit muted and is mostly of a green and brown mixture. The size of them allows the players to have more than enough room to fight in any style. You can 'Boom and Zoom'; you are not forced to fight turning battles.

This is the Sequence of Play, Combat scale:

Initiative Phase - Initiative Rolls
Tailing Friendly of Enemy Aircraft
Sighting & Blind Arcs
Movement Phase
Combat Phase Action Steps
Breaking Off From Combat

This is a rule heavy game so to help you with different aspects there are a number of Logs in the Game Rules Book that can be copied. These are:

FW OP-Scale Mission Logs
Simple Movement A/C Flight Log
Ship Damage and Move Log
FW A/C Flight Log Sheet

For anyone who questions the price tag put on the game, I believe the above statements should clear that up. Yes, it is worth it, and we haven't even discussed the gameplay itself. As with any Clash of Arms Games that I have purchased, the proof is in the detail and artwork of the components. You will find that here, along with a massive amount of player information etc. No wonder the game took so long to actually get to the printer.

As I mentioned in another review, I was a late comer to the various 2D games that covered air war. I never really understood how a designer could give you the feeling of 3D flight in a 2D world. I am now totally convinced that I have cheated myself out of a lot of excellent game time by thinking that way. The designer of this series not only portrays it, but he takes you by the hand and only spoon feeds you what you will need at that moment to start to understand the system. I will say one thing, and that is that this system will only be worth it to someone who wants to take the time to learn it. You cannot, as a newbie, just set up the game and take to the skies to start shooting things down. Actually, I take that back. You could learn about just that part of the system in a short period, but you would be cheating yourself out of the whole ensemble of flight that COA has given you. So how is the game? C'est magnifique!. For an aviation junkie like myself it is an excellent experience in gaming. As far as its depth, if you can learn the intricacies of some Napoleonic games and tactical ground games of the Eastern Front you can learn this system. I am actively looking to get my hands on a copy of 'Whistling Death' to start enlarging my library of the Fighting Wings games.

Thank you Clash of Arms Games for letting me review, once again, another excellent product. I have had a blast taking it through its paces. Please keep up the excellent work. For those of us Grognards who only know you by your Napoleonic games, take some time and peruse the rest of their games.

Clash of Arms Games:
https://www.clashofarms.com/
Clash of Arms Games Wings of the Motherland:
https://www.clashofarms.com/WingoftheMotherland.html
I couldn't resist adding this one:
https://www.clashofarms.com/LaBatLigny.html
Robert

Ostkrieg WWII Eastern Front

Compass games

The Eastern Front in World War II was absolutely immense. It is by far the largest military campaign in history. It included millions of men and hundreds of thousands planes and tanks, and other Soviet and German machines of war. We Grognards love the multiple maps and thousands of counters that come with most Eastern Front Wargames. So, why am I presented with this small box with its tiny map and one sheet of counters? Let us see if good things really do come in small packages. First let us hear from one of the designers about the game and its history:

"Although I have played a lot of these kinds of games since I was a child, and toyed with designing one, this is my first design. I wanted to make a very simple World War II game. Why World War II? There are hundreds, perhaps even thousands of excellent games around that cover every facet of World War II, from tactical to strategic, with every conceivable game mechanic. What new perspective could I possibly bring to this topic?

I started design on this game four years ago. My goal was to make a simple game, that would fit on an 8½ by 11-inch map, and take only an hour or two to play. Initially I only had one type of unit, and everything was abstracted in the cards. I also wanted something simple that could be played quickly but have decision points and focus on concepts that one would not need to be a historian to understand and recognize as being important.

This game ended up having three generations. The first game was the simplest. The second was similar except that it had tanks, and then the third iteration which is the one that you are playing. This points out the importance in testing, and how key it is to refine a game’s design. Each cycle of playtesting brought up issues that needed to be addressed, and were addressed, to the improvement and strengthening of the system."

This is what comes with the game:

One map (17" x 22" map size)
One Countersheet of 9/16” unit-counters
53 Game Cards
Rules booklet
2 Player Aid cards
16 Six-sided Dice
Box and Lid
Pertinent information:
Complexity: 3 out of 10
Solitaire Suitability: 8 out of 10 (solitaire bot system)
Time Scale: Single Year Turns with alternating, multiple cards plays per player
Map Scale: Area map
Unit Scale: army-level infantry, armor, air groups, and partisans
Players: one to two, best with two
Playing Time: two to four hours

As you can see it is a card-driven game that is based on a point-to-point moving system. The map is rather a Plain Jane with all the information needed, but somewhat bland. The counters are not what I have come to expect from Compass Games. They are easy to read, but to me they seem a little thinner and the color scheme is downright ugly. I guess that is too strong a word. They work and are completely functional, but somehow reminiscent of when my children were much younger. Of course, beauty is in the eye of the beholder, and we buy these games for the game play not the aesthetics. The errata states that for both of the scenarios the Turkish Areas are out of play for both sides. I am not sure if that means there will be more scenarios or an add-on forthcoming. The rulebook is only twenty-four pages long and does have an index of the rules on the back. It is also in full color and eight pages of it is actually of play examples. So, the actual rules are only twelve pages long. The playing cards are well done and are the most eye pleasing part of the game. The game comes with a 'Bot' system, so it is very solitaire friendly.

On the plus side, the game does come with everything you would expect in an Eastern Front game. You get all of the Axis Allies, but you also get Partisans. The map does not just end at Poland, but shows the Balkans, Finland and Turkey. This means that you can also play the Partisan War that took place in Yugoslavia. Partisans can be placed through the effect of the Soviet Players cards. The game comes with two scenarios: The Barbarossa Campaign starting on June 1941, and the Uranus Scenario starting on November in 1942. The sequence of play is as follows:

The game consists of five turns, each representing one year of the war. Each turn has the following sequence of play:

Year Start - Determine first player based upon the year ( 1941-1942 the Axis player, 1943-1945 the Soviet player).

Card Play - Players alternate playing cards until both pass.

Year End - Perform a Victory Check, determine country control, add cards to hand from next year, purchase cards from discard pile.

One of the most innovative ideas in the game concerns combat and die rolls. This is a simple and easy way to show how the Soviet forces grew in actual ability throughout the war. These are the rules:

Any axis attack of defense that involves at least 1 German Armor or Infantry Unit gets one die roll for every two Units.
Any Axis defense which involves only Finnish Units gets one die roll for every two Units.
Any other Axis attack or defense gets one die roll for every four Units.
Any Soviet attack or defense in 1941 gets one die roll for every six Units.
Any Soviet attack or defense in 1942 gets one die roll for every five Units.
Any Soviet attack or defense in 1943 gets one die roll for every four Units.
Any Soviet attack or defense in 1944-1945 gets one die roll for every three Units.
If one player has more Armor points than the other in any combat, he rolls one additional die.

The stacking limits for the game are a liberal twelve Infantry or Armor points per area. The air stacking limit is two normally or four for any Victory or oil area. A Player wins automatically if he controls Berlin, Moscow, Leningrad, and Baku. If there is no automatic victory the Player who has the most Victory Points wins a Marginal Victory. If it goes to counting Victory Points, Baku counts as 2. Advances into Victory Point Areas increase your production by one. If you are able to take an Oil Resource Area, your production is increased by the number of oil symbols on the map. At the end of 1943, the Italian Card goes to the neutral discard Area and all Italian Units are removed. Bulgarian Units can only enter Greece, Bulgaria, and Yugoslavia. Hungarian and Romanian Units can never stack in the same Area. These rules are meant to show the historical realities of the time. Maybe we could add a house rule to do a die roll to see when Italy actually leaves the war, possibly starting in 1942 and continuing until 1944.

The cards are easy to read and not flimsy

So, you can see that it is an encapsulated game about the Eastern Front. Even given that it plays in year long turns and is pretty small, the game's playing time is listed from three to five hours. That should prove it is not a lightweight in the strategy department. The 'Bot' solitaire system works, especially because it does not tie the players hands, but only gives the player a general overview of what he has to do. Other than that, the player just tries to play as well as he can on the 'enemy' side. I am pretty amazed that the designers have been able to incorporate so much into so little. The game plays well, and for those who can get into its design it is well worth the cost. To be truthful, it is not my cup of tea. I really think that it is just because I have been indoctrinated into the 'bigger is better' when it comes the Eastern front. Had the game been released as one about North Africa I really do not think I would have any trouble with the designers' approach for that campaign. Thank you Compass Games for letting me review this very different approach to the Eastern front.

PS: The game has been starting to grow on me after playing it some more. I wanted to leave my initial impressions in the review to show my change of attitude toward the game. Its rules do make it work and you do get historical outcomes. It just proves you should not be so hasty in your first judgements. I have had to change my mind on block wargaming, area instead of hexes, and now bigger is not always better.

Compass Games:
https://www.compassgames.com/

Ostkrieg:

https://www.compassgames.com/ostkrieg-germany-versus-russia-1941-45.html

Robert

From The Realm of a Dying Sun Volume 1

Douglas E. Nash Sr.

This is an amazing book from cover to cover. The author not only shows you the IV SS-Panzerkorps from inception on August 5th 1943, to the end of the Battle of Modlin on November 25th 1944, he does it in spectacular fashion. You get to see the actual creation of the Panzerkorps from the ground up. From the paperwork that created the Panzerkorps, to the assigning of medical and all other staff, it is in this book. The first ninety pages are taken up by the organization and the actual officers who were to command the separate parts of the Panzerkorps. The rest of the book's 500 pages are taken up by the intensive fighting the Panzerkorps took part in on the Eastern Front.

The two Panzer Divisions that made up the Panzerkorps were the 3rd SS-Panzer Division Totenkopf, and the 5th SS-Panzer Division Wiking. Both of these divisions were already known for being in the thick of the battles on the Eastern Front. Their history after being coupled in the Panzerkorps only cemented their reputations. I think we should stop here to explain something. It is possible to read about the SS-Panzerkorps and be amazed at their level of battle-worthiness while fighting at extreme odds against the Soviets; however, you can still feel a revulsion at what the SS actually stood for. At this time of the war the reinforcements sent to the SS divisions were very rarely recruits, but ordinary Germans who had been drafted into the Armed Forces of Germany. This fact makes the actual exploits of the IV SS-Panzerkorps even more amazing. To be continually refilled with recruits and then able to give them the esprit de corps that the veterans had was pretty incredible.

One of the more interesting claims by the author is that the Warsaw Rising did not really impact the German forces fighting off the Soviets that much. As a matter of fact, Field Marshal Model was actually using the IV SS-Panzerkorps at that moment to counterattack the Soviet forces attempting to capture Warsaw.

The book is an excellent overview of what it takes to start up an armored corps from scratch. If it showed only that, the book would be worth buying. Then the author goes on to show it fighting for its life in amazing detail. From the decisions taken at the highest levels to the actual stories of the men in the tanks and on the ground, it is an unparalleled work of military history. The book comes with a good amount of pictures of the officers and troops, along with some well done maps. It also comes with a glossary of German military terms. Thank you Casemate Publishers for letting me review this book, and I am anxiously awaiting Volume II. The fighting on the Eastern Front in 1944 is usually given the short shrift in books compared to the volumes written about the Western Front at the time.

Robert

Book: From The Realm of a Dying Sun Volume 1

Author: Douglas E. Nash Sr.

Publisher: Casemate Publishers

First Look at the Upcoming 'Fire and Rubble' the First Module for

Combat Mission Red Thunder

This is just a quick sneak peek at some screenshots of what Battlefront has been hard at work on. It is called 'Fire and Rubble', the first module for their Red Thunder game. Red Thunder is one of my favorite of the Combat Mission stable of games, and I am very happy to see that it is finally getting some love. So without further ado, here are the screens, and at the bottom will be some links for Battlefront games.