Rostov '41

Race to the Don

by

Multi-Man Publishing, The Gamers

 Field Marshal von Rundstedt, in command of Army Group South, had the toughest assignment of the three Army groups in Operation Barbarossa. To Hitler he also had the most important assignment. Army Group South was supposed to capture the Ukraine and especially the Donbass. Then it was to capture the Soviet oilfields in the Caucasus. It didn't help that the Soviets that were fighting Army Group South were the most numerous and best equipped German opponents at the time of the attack: June 22nd,1941. The actual 'largest tank battle in WWII' had taken place at Dubno early in the campaign for Southern Russia. 

 The game comes with:

Standard Combat Series (SCS) rulebook (version 1.8)

Rostov ‘41 game-specific rulebook

One full color 22" x 34" map

280 counters

4 Scenarios

Box and dice

 This is the first part of the SCS Rulebook. It not only explains the games, but informs you on how to treat your opponent if need be:

"This series was designed for two reasons. First, it was meant to offset our other series which, by an order of magnitude, are much more complicated than the SCS. Second, it was designed to be a basic—read FUN—game which can be played at times when the others seem like too much of a good thing. These games are made for the “break out the beer and pretzels, and here we go” type of evening. While none of our games are designed with the beginner as their raison d’être, the SCS was designed as something the beginner would be able to was designed as something the beginner would be able to handle—as opposed to being devoured by. 

 I want to make the reasons behind a few things in this series known. First of all is our standard rounding rule. I have been forever pained by the “11 to 6? Oh, I’m so sorry, that’s only a 1 to 1 attack.” More importantly, watching players scrounge the map looking for a strength point or two to “make the odds break” is downright embarrassing. By making the “table break” happen at the 1/2 value, I hope to make players spend less time pre-calculating and more time just shooting from the hip. Its the shoot from the hip gun fight that is fun in wargaming, not the ravings of the accountant gone mad looking for each individual strength point. If your opponent starts to pre-calculate combats in this system (even after making it tougher on him), feel free to slap him silly! Sure, he can start scrounging for enough points to make that last 0.5, but only if you let him dodge around the Fog of War rule!"

 The map is fully functional and utilitarian in look. This is keeping with the whole SCS series. The games were meant to be easy to play and simple to figure out. It also helps that the terrain in the area is mostly steppe. The counters complement the map. They are 1/2" in size, and use the standard NATO symbols. The symbols are a bit small, but the numbers are easy to read.  The counters are the regulation Soviet brown and German gray and black (SS). Both of the Rulebooks are in black & white. The Series Rulebook is only eight pages long, while the Rostov '41Rulebook is also eight pages long. However, only three pages are for the actual Rostov '41 rules and the next four are the setup instructions for the four scenarios/campaign. The last page has the Terrain Effects Chart and the Combat Table Chart. All of the components match the style and price of the games in the SCS series.  

 You can play these four scenarios:

Fritz on the Don (Campaign), 14 Turns

Fritz on the Mius, 4 turns

Fritz Grabs Rostov, 7 turns

Soviet Counterpunch, 4 turns

 This is the Sequence of Play:

Initiative Player Turn

Reinforcement Phase

German Barrage Phase

Movement Phase

Barrage Phase

Combat Phase

Exploitation Phase

Supply Phase

Clean Up Phase

Non-Initiative Player Turn

The non-Initiative Player now repeats

the steps in order above.

Turn End

Advance to the next turn or end the game

if last turn of scenario.

There are also rules for:

Zones of Control

Stacking

Reinforcements

Retreats

Terrain Effects

Unit Reconstruction

Disorganized Units (DG)

 The game plays as a free-wheeling affair. It is a standard size map, but the counter density is extremely low. The Series Rule that does not allow for your opponent to inspect your stack is a nice touch for some Fog-of-war. The Standard Combat Series was the brain-child of Dean Essig, and there are now over twenty games in the series. Rostov '41 was designed by Ray Weiss. The rules have no ambiguity in them at all. They are a model of rules for wargames, in both their being easy to understand, and their terseness. The Barrage rules (both Artillery and Air Strikes), are some of the most interesting ones in the game. The Soviet player can only use a barrage during the Barrage Phase. The German player can use his artillery in the German Barrage phase and the Barrage Phase. The German Air Strikes can be carries out in either Barrage Phase, but also in the Movement or Exploitation Phase. The German players' Air Strikes take precedent over anything else. This means that if the Soviet player is going to conduct a Barrage or Movement, the German player can interrupt him and use an Air Strike before the Soviet player makes his move or Barrage. The roll for Initiative decides how many Air Strikes each player has each turn. Each player rolls a six sided die (+1 to the Germans in a clear weather turn), and this decides who has the Initiative, The difference between each side's die roll is the number of Air Strikes the player with initiative receives.

 The game plays just like in any other Eastern Front game in 1941-42. The Soviet player must decide when to hold 'em, and when to fold 'em. He must try and stop the German motorized troops from shredding and then encircling his front. Some cardboard sacrifices will have to be made. The German player does not have time on his side. First the Rasputitsa (mud season), and then the winter will throw a monkey wrench into his plans. The campaign game has only fourteen turns for the German player to take as many Victory Hexes as possible. He needs at least twenty-two+ to get a Decisive Victory. In this game the five hexes of Rostov are worth fifteen points, so the German player does not have to occupy too many others. However, leaving supplied Soviet forces behind him will cost him dearly in taken away Victory Points. 

 In summary, this is a great game with excellent rules. Thank you multi-Man Publishing for letting me review this game. I have a few other games in the Standard Combat Series that I have not given the time they deserve judging by Rostov '41.

 Robert

Rostov '41 Race to the Don:

Other Multi-Man Publishing reviews.

Monty's Gamble: Market Garden review:

Monty's Gamble: Market Garden by Multi-Man Publishing - A Wargamers Needful Things

Last Stand: The battle for Moscow 1941-42 review:

The Last Stand : The Battle for Moscow 1941-42 by Multi-Man Publishing - A Wargamers Needful Things

Baptism by Fire review:

Baptism by Fire by Multi-Man Publishing - A Wargamers Needful Things

 St-Lo: Normandy 1944 The Breakout Begins

by

War Drum Games & Quarterdeck International

 Once again with a wargame, I find my history synapses at a loss. I was always more interested in the fighting for Caen during the Normandy Campaign. Oh, I have played many tactical battles about the American Hedgerow Campaign, but I have to admit I only know the history of the actual American breakout and and end run at a cursory level. This is, however, a very good thing. I would be very surprised if many grognards are not like me in this aspect. We acquire or get ready to play a game about a period or campaign that our knowledge is not up to snuff on. Then we grab every resource we can get our hands on to read up on it. This does not mean that we watch certain TV channels about it. One of them is a fanciful landing spot for aliens. The other should change its name to the Nazi memorabilia channel, but I digress. This is one of the salient points about wargames, even if we do not play them. They give us a chance to see exactly what the forces of both sides were faced with at the moment. In truth though, a wargame is a game/simulation and was meant to be played. So let us see how St. Lo measures up on both the game and historical levels. This is what comes with the game:

One 22" x 34" Mounted Map

400 die-cut playing pieces

One US Division Display Sheet

One US Artillery Display Sheet

One German Division Display Sheet

One German Artillery Display Sheet

Rules Book

Charts and Tables

One six-sided die

 The first thing we have to describe is the map. It is mounted, but that just tells half the story. It seems to be twice the thickness of other mounted maps. It will be able to deal with years of gaming. The terrain on the map is mostly the same. This is not the map's fault. This is hedgerow hell. There are a few villages throughout the map, but the most important features are the higher terrain. The higher terrain allows either side to use its artillery. The colors of the map fit the area nicely. The counters are large at 9/16" and come pre-rounded. So, you counter clippers can have a break with these. The Rule Book is twenty-eight pages long. All of the headings for the rules 1.0 or 5.0 etc. have excellent little historical reports and information at the start of them. For the history lover these little blurbs are worth the cost of the game alone. The Rule Book is in full color. It also comes with examples of play. The six Player Aid sheets are laminated. This is a great touch. I do not let food or anything near my games, but some people like to live life dangerously. The information on the sheets are pretty much self-explanatory. All of the Player Aid sheets are in English. The game pieces have been manufactured to the highest standard. 

The English version of the game is in full English

 The Sequence of Play is:

Weather Phase

Reinforcement Phase

Initiative Phase

Asset Phase (Does not take place on Turn 1)

Operations Phase

Recovery Phase

Artillery Rally Phase

Headquarters Phase

 The Player Notes and Historical notes are both well worth the read. The Player Notes start out as this for both sides:

German

 "You must except that the Americans assault will push you back. But remember, the American victory objectives are far behind your initial line., and the victory conditions require only that you hold those objectives for eight days. So you must plan to trade space for time. Back up and build strongholds. and cause the Americans as much frustration as you can. The game system offers you a number of subtle ways to do so."

American

"Tactically, try to drive deep and fragment the German Line. Your artillery, if it has good observation can be a shocking deadly weapon against retreating German units. Beware of letting small German units slip behind your lines. Usually, the best attack procedure is first to pin or disrupt the defender with barrage fire, and then to hit him with a deliberate or intensive attack. If you have achieved a high combat ratio, you can save time and also surprise the German player by omitting the barrage."

 The game is full of tactical flavor and rules representing:

Barrage Fire

Hasty attack

Engineers

Headquarters

Pin

Rally

Recon (US)

Entrenching

Zones of Control

 The game is different than most other wargames on this scale, especially in the way that it handles Assets.

 

 The game play for both sides is as historic as it comes. The high ground on the map (which there isn't much of), becomes the main area of fighting between the Germans and the Americans. The high ground in this game, like reality, means that you can see the enemy and use your artillery and other assets against the enemy. Historically the American artillery was its premier force in WWII. It was able to rain death and destruction upon the Axis forces whenever given the chance. The Germans in the game are as usual for 1944-45 goal is to hang on longer than they did in reality. Playing as the Germans, you will be ground down turn after turn. You will need to play the game like you are playing Poker and know when to cut and run. The American forces will grind you down. Playing as the Americans, do exactly as was done in 1944 in this battle. Use your artillery to smash the Germans into a pulp, instead of charging headlong and losing your infantry in a blood bath. Playing as the Americans, you only have eight turns to win the game. There are no German Victory Points. Victory is determined by how many Victory Points the American player can amass. The American player gets eight points for having a unit with a line of supply in one of the St-Lo hexes. He must also try to capture as many German Depot hexes on the East side of the map as he can. Three of the Depot hexes are on the map edge one or two hexes from St-Lo, and are worth two points apiece. The others are spread out over the map, and are worth one point  apiece. In the games that I have played, victory has come down to the wire. Twenty-one or higher points means a Decisive US victory. Eight to ten points gives you a marginal German victory. The German player has to fight like Jersey Joe Walcott. Always retreat, but make the other player pay for each hex, and hit back hard when the opportunity arises.

 In summary, this is an absolutely great game that plays very historically, and the components are first rate. Thank you very much Quarterdeck International for letting me review this game. Apparently, Compass Games is now selling St-Lo instead of Quarterdeck International. Please check out the other many fine products on QI's site. They carry a great assortment of hard to find European and Asian wargames. Also look at the great line of games that Compass Games is now selling.

Robert

Quarterdeck International:

Quarterdeck International

Compass Games:

Compass Games – New Directions In Gaming

St-Lo: Normandy 1944 The Breakout Begins:

Joseph Balkoski’s St-Lô – Compass Games

 

 The Black Prince and the Capture of a King Poitiers 1356

by

Marilyn Livingstone & Morgen Witzel

 This book continues the trend in Casemate Publications that I have mentioned before. To whit, never go by their titles. You would think that a book with a battle in its name would give you a little history before the battle and then end with the battle. This book actually gives the history of the entire Hundred Years War up to the Battle of Poitiers. It also gives a day by day journal of each day during the campaign. Then it finishes up with some of the events that happened after the battle. How the authors managed to get all of this in only 200 pages is pretty amazing. Because of the above, do not think that the history of the actual battle was given short shrift. The battle and the failed negotiations before it are gone into detail.

  I have never been much of a fan of the 'Black Prince'. I have always delved into the Hundred Years War before and after him. Because of this book I am now much more informed about his exploits and why he was considered a great general. Contrary to the usual history about the French, this book shows that they realized they had to come up with a plan to beat the English long bowmen. They didn't just haphazardly charge at the first Englishmen they saw. The book also shows how some Scots, fresh from fighting the English, were high up in the French war councils. The authors show that the Black Prince was brought to bay, much like Henry V, by the French maneuvering. 

 This is an amazing book that gives the reader everything he would want to know about the battle and the campaign. Thank you Casemate Publishers for allowing me to review this wonderful history narrative.

Robert

Book: The Black Prince and the Capture of a King Poitiers 1356

Authors: Marilyn Livingstone & Morgen Witzel

Publisher: Casemate Publishers

 CARENTAN

Great Battles of Small Units

from

STRATEGEMATA

This is the most recent game from Strategemata in this splendid series of small scale engagements from WWII.  Previous games in this series featured Polish units[a link to my review exploring the system can be found at the end of this review], but inevitably Carentan is exclusively an American affair.  Even more than the first two, the focus homes in on an even smaller geographical area, resulting in a map that I find particularly interesting. 

In physical terms, the components remain the same adequate, but modest quality that I have commented on in my previous review of this series.  They are functional, but lack the gloss and glamour of the major companies.  Only the move to full colour box art and an artistic depiction of action and drama adds a brighter touch.

The contents are identical in every way - an approximately folio size map of predominantly green background, a brief eight page, plain paper rule book, including a substantial number of simple, minimal-looking, illustrative examples and  small thin counters.  Once again unit I.D. is in very small print and the important colour coding unfortunately uses too many similar shades of blue.  

At set up, these start out reasonably clear because of physical grouping, but as units become intermingled in the course of play I found that a good degree of care was needed to make sure that I didn't inadvertently activate the odd misassigned unit.

Plain eight page rule book

One of two counter sheets

Perhaps the strongest of the components are the card-based player aids, in particular the double-sided set-up display for the two scenarios.

 

The set-up display and turn track for the main scenario

I'd strongly recommend a look at my previous review of this system with its innovative elements - a link to which can be found here Black Cavalry.   If you do, you may wish to pass over the next section where I'll briefly recap the key features of the system and their defining originality.  

Most notable is the lack of any dice.  Instead you'll need to supply for yourself a standard pack of cards which are either drawn from the deck or played from your hand to resolve the various game functions.

Each player starts the game with a set number of cards in their hand and there will be very limited opportunities to replenish or exchange these cards as the game progresses.  I like this slight ability to control the outcome of a limited number of your chosen actions and the awkward decisions of which choices and when to take them.  

However, possibly the most important of your choices will be how many formations you decide to try to activate when you have the initiative. A single formation can be automatically activated for free, but a single formation rarely provides many units.  More than one formation means you'll have to pay for all, including the first one.  Activation costs also cover Artillery and Air Strikes.  

So, add up all your costs and draw a card - here's where a nice powerful 10 pt card in your hand may well tempt prompt use!

Fail to get a draw high enough to cover all your costs and you get none of them.  Push your luck takes on a whole new meaning.

This is one of my favourite features of this novel game system and it closely interacts with the next novel element.  In fact, this combination is the single strongest reason that I enjoy and value the game. Only the player with the current Initiative actively undertakes the turn.  The other player can only react.  This may happen in two ways.  

Initially, the first time an active unit moves into line of sight and fire range of an inactive unit, the player without the initiative may draw a card [no playing a card from your hand] to determine Defensive Fire.  The result from 0 - 3 will allow you to place a marker that shows how many fire attacks the unit may make this turn. Alternatively you may forego Defensive Fire and choose to wait until an enemy unit moves adjacent so that you can retreat one hex. 

The third major feature is the handling of Initiative, using the four card-suits, Hearts, Clubs, Diamonds and Spades and a chit for each suit, with the German and American flag on opposite sides.  An initial pre-game card draw, usually of 3 cards at the beginning of the game establishes a starting set.  In Carentan, the Allied side of each Initiative marker will be uppermost depending on which cards are drawn. So if the 3 cards drawn showed a club and two hearts cards, the Club and Heart markers would be set with the Allied flag uppermost and the Spade and Diamond markers would be set with the German flag uppermost.  

As the game progresses, whatever card is drawn at the beginning of a turn to determine who has the Initiative, its marker is flipped to the reverse side.  Following our example from above, if a Heart was drawn, the Allied player would have the Initiative for the turn and the Heart marker would be turned over to show the German flag. As a result, on the next turn the four markers would now show only the  Club's marker for the American player and the other three suits' markers would all show the German flag and so the initiative draw would be much more likely to favour the German player.

For the rest of this review, I shall concentrate on the specifics of the situation in Carentan.  The major scenario is named Purple Heart Lane and covers 10th - 12th June 1944. Obviously the first consideration is the particular geography of the battle, which can be seen below.

 This is a very different situation from those covered in previous games in the series and a two page historical sketch gives an excellent summation.  It covers the importance for both the Allies and the Germans, the geography of the area and the course of the battle for the town. To the north extensive marshland and canals  made approach extremely difficult and slow.  From the east, the avenue of attack is still limited, though less so.  The map scale is much smaller and in the very centre lies the objective of Carentan, with a damaged railway embankment running from west to east.

Defending the town and area is the best German unit available in that area, the 6th Fallschirmjager Regiment commanded by Friedrich von der Heydte [a name immediately familiar to anyone who has played any of the many games that cover the Battle of the Bulge!].

The very restricted terrain means that there is little room for manoeuvre, so each play-through offers little opportunity for variety of options.  It is a good, old-fashioned slugfest.  The Allies have to batter their way into Carentan and artillery is likely to play a more significant role than in previous games.  

The scenario plays out over 24 turns and I should also add that the American units that you can see are only the at-start units and the reinforcements that enter over the middle turns will more than double their final number.  Whereas this is all the Germans have to defend with, unless you add in the optional variant that may bring in up to 6 additional German units late in the game on turn 20!  It comes as no surprise that the Allied victory condition is to control all hexes of Carentan.  

However, the German victory condition isn't simply to prevent the American player from achieving their goal.  Specifically, the German player must control the road from Auverville on the south edge of the map to either of the two hexes where it enters into Carentan at 1111 or 1112.  I understand the historical logic of this, as it would have served the Germans little to hang on to a small portion of Carentan and not have a supply line/retreat avenue south.  However, it does make the German player's task even harder and makes me feel that at best the German might achieve a draw, which is the result if neither side manages to achieve their victory condition. 

For those who want a shorter playing experience, there is a scenario of 12 turns that covers the German counter attack.  The title for this one is Battle of Bloody Gulch [must admit this conjured up images of a John Wayne or Clint Eastwood Western shoot-out rather than a WWII battle!].  Here the Germans are on the attack with slightly fewer units than the Americans who also gain another six units very early in the scenario.  The layout can be seen below.

The only advantage the German player initially enjoys is that all the American units at the start of the this scenario are single step counters or on their last step.

Overall, though I miss the additional two, very brief scenarios of Black Cavalry, I really enjoyed the intensity of this head-on collision.  Counter density is slightly higher, but by comparison with the majority of hex and counter games, this is still a small game and this is emphasised by the essential design feature of activation which means that only a limited number of units will come into play in a given turn.  Above all, I recommend this fresh and innovative approach that is easy to learn and apply.  I certainly hope that further great  battles of small units will continue to appear.

Once more my thanks to Strategemata for their providing this review copy and their friendly commitment and support.