From: Dave Cann Subject: Balkans '41 notes/review Just finished a solo-playthrough of Balkans '41. Overall the game is good - great map, well written rules, counters are fine... As you would expect this is a VERY one-sided affair. On turn one - the Yugo and Greek air units are all but obliterated. For the rest of the game, I didn't see enough merit in using the Commonwealth's air units for fear of losing them, which is 3 VP's each. So for the entire game the axis was able to make ground attacks and combat support freely with just a couple of TAC's placed in the air superiority area. The first couple of turns saw the strong axis armor units closing in on the main Yugoslavian cities Zagreb, Belgrade and Nis. Zagreb fell in the second turn, Nis in the third, and finally Belgrade held out until the 4th turn. The slow movement factors of the Yugo units (4) and pinning ZOC's really prevented any reinforcement of Belgrade. Despite falling on the fourth turn, Yugo never surrendered by the end of the game (a roll of a 5 or 6 is required). In Greece, the 6 mechanized German division broke through to Salonika in just three turns. The withdrawal of the massive Greek forces on the Albanian front was slow given the terrain and again the slow MF's (4 or 5). The race to Athens was facilitated by a hole in the defenses created by an airbourne assault. The extra movement phase for the German mechanized units allowed a couple of divisions to run to Athens and attack the Commonwealth forces holding the city. With a lucky roll on a 1:1 Assault (with the help of two Axis air units providing close air support from Salonika) the defending units were forced to retreat. Again, despite losing control of Athens in turn 5 Greece did not surrender up to the final turn. This resulted in a lot of clean up operations and even an airbourne assault of Crete where Herakleon was taken. All in all, the Axis won a strategic victory. I like the game system - some won't like the lack of supply rules per se - all units always use their rated attack and defense strengths as well as their rated movement factors (Each turn is one week with the entire game lasting two months). However, if a unit is in supply - i.e. within the command range of a HQ unit AND that HQ unit has a RR hex within it's command range which links to a supply source - up to three "Logistics" points can be spent which each give one column shift in combat. Given that the CRT seems a little slanted toward the attacker anyway, the Germans can be assured of a lot of high odds attacks. If I'd do it over again, I think that the Yugos really need to concentrate on obtaining defensive positions (I don't think the Allies made more than 2 or 3 attacks the whole game) and also break the supply lines to keep the column shifts to a minimum. I think the Greek units need to pull off of the Albanian front immediately and form defensive lines near Thermopylae and Salonika, something I didn't do very well. The VP's are based on eliminated units and control of cities, so it makes sense to hold up in cities and pray for the game to end. Overall, I like the system most of all - would like to see this applied to a hypothetical invasion of Denmark, or maybe part of the Barbarossa campaign, maybe Crimea. Anyway, thanks for reading and I hope to see someone else's comments. - dave