Superpowers at War (Cont.)

Played out Game Turn Two over the weekend. Initiative was determined and NATO, fortunately, came out the winner for the first phase and proceeded to fall back to form a new line. For the most part, the Soviets managed to breach the Rhine defenses at several points, forcusing on areas that lacking urban/city hexes. The Soviets were able to isolate Bonn but the West German forces were able to retreat taking advantage of the rule that ZOCs don't extend into city/urban hexes nor accross rivers.

The replacement rules do some distance in remedying the bloody CRT although the rules are unclear as to where they enter. I interepreted them allow replacement units to enter wherever there was a unit (in supply) of their respective army.

Thank god for the Belgian Territorials- they were able to provide a backstop along the wooded/rough area just west of Bonn. NATO was able to get air superiority so were able to transport in the remainder of the 1st Cavalry Division and the division was able to take up positions to the north, just west fo of the Rhine. The one big problem was that I lacked enough units to take advantage of anchoring the NATO line on the major city/urban complexes just west of the Rhine, towards the north end of the board because you would need a unit to occupy each hex since ZOCs don't extend in. So the alternative was placing some units in not-so-optimal terrain. The 82nd Airborne and Belgian Special Forces units were retained off board as a reserve.

The Soviets came surging forward and now that they were able to shake out and fully deploy, were able to blow some large holes in the NATO defences. Because of the lack of air superiority, the 103rd Airbone Division was retained off-board. Lucky for NATO, they rolled high for initiative in the second phase and were able to patch together another line. The Dutch 304th Territorial Brigade was then shifted north towards Venlo to backstop the northern flank since the Belgians too some heavy losses in that area.
Impression so far. Not quite a cakewalk for the Soviets but it's only Game Turn 2 and they're making some good progress. Hopefully the arrival of the French III Corps will help slow things down.

Game Impression: Not a broken game by any means but definately was not fully developed as it should have been. More soon.