From: Hank Meyer Subject: KRIEG! Preview (updated) Preview of KRIEG! (revised 25 March 1996) - Upcoming from Decision Games Scope: grand strategic WWII in Europe Scale: corps/army level, 60 miles per hex Stuff: 420 counters,100 cards, 2 maps This is a hot item. I've playtested it with Alan Emrich last year and saw the almost finished pre-release version this last weekend. The game has changed substantially since I last played with it. Here's an update: Nine telescoping (formerly monthly) game turns to the year: Jan-Feb, Mar-Apr, Apr-May, May-Jun, Jun-Jul, Jul-Aug, Aug-Sep, Sep-Oct, Nov-Dec. Terrain includes: clear, rough, city, and road/rail hexes; mountain, river, and ferry hexsides. Combat units represent corps, armies, army group headquarters, air support, and naval bases/beachheads. Infantry types include infantry, cavalry, mountain, fortress, and airborne. Armor types are armor, mechanized, and cav-mech. Combat units build-up and break-down, with one-step corps being the basic unit. For example, a single-step German 1-2-3 Inf corps combines with a single-step 2-2-4 Pzr corps to yield a two-step 4-4-3 Pzr army, which in turn can be combined with another single-step 2-2-4 Pzr corps to form a three-step 8-6-3 Pzr army. Army group headquarters units act like reserves, and have a two-hex "range" of combat influence. Some "special" formations exist in the game, such as Panzer Armee Africa, the 6th SS Panzer Army, Patton's 3rd Army, and the combined German-Finish 20th Mountain Army. These have either special characteristics or are stronger than normal. The earlier five 1940 campaign start-points have been replaced by a single campaign game beginning in the Aug-Sep 1939 game turn. The use of card options (somewhat like Days of Decision) take the place of the ahistorical starts and can result in either a historically developing game or one radically different in direction. Only one option can be played in a quarterly interphase (which take place at the beginning of the Mar-Apr, May-Jun, Aug-Sep. and Nov-Dec turns, AND you had to have selected it in the PREVIOUS quarterly turn! This means you are locked into a strategic decision you made two or three turns earlier prior to seeing what your opponent has done. This works very well to create uncertainty and can result in major surprises (both good and bad). Some of the options available or results that can occur are: Axis/Allies/Russia Declare War on [target country] [Target country] Joins Axis/Allies/Russia Mobilization (required before going to Total War) Poland Cedes Polish Corridor Baltic States Settlement Turkish Border Dispute Free Passage thru [target country] Border War with [target country] No Nazi-Soviet Pact Restrictions Appeasement Restrictions Military Takeovers/Coups Increased Volksturm Special Weapons [success/failure] Command Paralysis Roosevelt Commits to a Pacific Campaign Roosevelt Increases Foreign Aid Soviet Military Unprepared Festung Europa ObK Conspiracy Succeeds German National Redoubt Local Armistice Separate Peace The game is three-sided in that the Axis, Western Allied, and Soviet Allied are treated as descretely different sides even if the Western Allies and Soviets are being played by the same person. The Soviets always move after the Allies and they treat the other as enemies for puposes of the rules except that they may not attack each other. The turn sequence is symmetrical - each side (not player) does the following: Quarterly Phase (if applicable) x Option Card Segment x Reinforcement Segment Initial Administrative Phase x Political Event Phase x Organization Segment (players first combine, then breakdown, multistep units) x Air Superiority Segment Operational Movement Phase Transport Phase x Airborne Transport Segment x Naval Transport Segment Combat Phase x Blitz Combat Segment (allowed when playing a Blitz offensive card) x Regular Combat Segment x Airdrop Resolution Segment Reserve Movement Phase Final Administrative Phase x Conditional Event Segment (related to card play or on board situation) x War Declaration Segment (related to card play or on board situation) The game can end by automatic victory at the end of any game-turn, at the end of 1945, or at the end of 1946 IF a SEPARATE PEACE SCENARIO has been enabled by card play or the situation on the board. In this case Western Allied and Soviet units are free to attack each other for the duration of the game. This game is going to be FUN!!! Hank hcmeyer@uci.edu