This last weekend I decided to pull this beauty out of the Cavern of Unplayed Games and give it another try. This was originally published in Command Magazine No. 25 back in 1993 and was designed by Ted Racier. While I'm no fan of Ted's more recent designs, his early WWI stuff is excellent and this one is no exception. There's some interesting subtleties going on, especially in the supply rules and the German's use of the "Ober Ost" counter which allows them two sets of attacks in one turn (the downside is that the counter then isn't available for two turns).
The random events are also interesting and the Germans are constantly stuggling against the demands of other fronts and having to withdraw units (at critical times, it always seems).
The Russians have some hard slogging in this game and the best approach to using them is to pummel the Austro-Hungarian forces while trying to hold off the Germans. Unfortunately, in the game I played, that didn't quite work out too well...another interesting aspect is the ammo shortage rules (the Germans get to place half of the counters for a given turn) and if used judiciously, the Germans can put a real hurt on any Russian offesive (unless the Stavka counter is deployed on the board) or even set up a good counterattack. The effect of ammo shortage is to halve the Russian's conbat factor so weak spots can be created.
Attention also has to be paid to supply. The supply rules appear to be pretty typical with the various towns on the board acting as railheads to which units have to trace a four-hex path back to. If either side can achieve a break-through in the right place (which allows the victors to advance up to three hexes), they can take a key town thereby putting the enemy out of supply and subject to elimination during the appropriate attrition phase. The defender either has to withdraw their front line or coutner-attack and hope to take back the town. It can get pretty tense and in several instances the Germans were able to perform mini-Tannenbergs.
Victory for the Germans requires a die-roll which will result in the Russian Revolution, thus ending the game. The die roll is modified by the number of cities that the Germans take inside of Russian Poland and Russian proper, along with several random event chits (the Germans definately want the "Czar takes command" chit). Russian victory conditions are pretty much impossible to attain unless they are successful in REALLY mauling the Autro-Hungarians and pushing them into Central Europe. In the game I played (solitaire, naturally), the Germans were barely able to squeek out a victory on the last game turn with a lucky die-roll.
In the end, given the overall strategic situation of Germany vis-a-vis the Allies, if the Russians survive without a revolution, then Germany is lost. Basically the Germans are working against the clock and trying to get a better die roll to trigger the revolution.
Overall, a very interesting game and definately one that deseves more play.
The random events are also interesting and the Germans are constantly stuggling against the demands of other fronts and having to withdraw units (at critical times, it always seems).
The Russians have some hard slogging in this game and the best approach to using them is to pummel the Austro-Hungarian forces while trying to hold off the Germans. Unfortunately, in the game I played, that didn't quite work out too well...another interesting aspect is the ammo shortage rules (the Germans get to place half of the counters for a given turn) and if used judiciously, the Germans can put a real hurt on any Russian offesive (unless the Stavka counter is deployed on the board) or even set up a good counterattack. The effect of ammo shortage is to halve the Russian's conbat factor so weak spots can be created.
Attention also has to be paid to supply. The supply rules appear to be pretty typical with the various towns on the board acting as railheads to which units have to trace a four-hex path back to. If either side can achieve a break-through in the right place (which allows the victors to advance up to three hexes), they can take a key town thereby putting the enemy out of supply and subject to elimination during the appropriate attrition phase. The defender either has to withdraw their front line or coutner-attack and hope to take back the town. It can get pretty tense and in several instances the Germans were able to perform mini-Tannenbergs.
Victory for the Germans requires a die-roll which will result in the Russian Revolution, thus ending the game. The die roll is modified by the number of cities that the Germans take inside of Russian Poland and Russian proper, along with several random event chits (the Germans definately want the "Czar takes command" chit). Russian victory conditions are pretty much impossible to attain unless they are successful in REALLY mauling the Autro-Hungarians and pushing them into Central Europe. In the game I played (solitaire, naturally), the Germans were barely able to squeek out a victory on the last game turn with a lucky die-roll.
In the end, given the overall strategic situation of Germany vis-a-vis the Allies, if the Russians survive without a revolution, then Germany is lost. Basically the Germans are working against the clock and trying to get a better die roll to trigger the revolution.
Overall, a very interesting game and definately one that deseves more play.
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