Alan Snider  - May 25, 2005 1:10 pm (#10015 Total: 10033)  
On the Playtest Table: Adam Starkweather's "The Devil's Cauldron"; 
and announcing the "Northern Knights Wargaming Group" in Vancouver, 
Canada with a retail store of it's own at http://www.stalag17wargames.com/
 	 
GAMENIGHT, April 23rd: Nathan Hiebert and I threw together a little
impromptu game session this evening, and due to the fact hat we had
nothing really prepared to go with this evening; I suggested AP's
"Defiant Russia". This is game with a very easy to grasp rule system,
and the counter density and game length (7 turns) allow for the
possibility to complete a game in the evening. Nathan took the Germans,
and I chose to direct the Russian defence of their homeland (my first
attempt at this). 

Nathan pushed hard at the Russian lines on turn 1, and caused some real
damage to start; as the Russians chose to stand and fight for a turn.
After seeing the results of the first turn worth of attacks, I recalled
Terence Co's policy of the fighting retreat during our game (and I was
the Germans). I also chose to stick the infantry in the front lines to
take the initial attacks, in order to keep as much of my armour intact
for the Russian moves. I am not at all certain this was the best way to
go. 

Once the enemy is upon you, one simply has a choice to stand and fight
or retreat; as one must attack all units one is adjacent to after the
initial movement phase. The Russians were then forced to attack across
the river on a few occasions in order to stay behind the river for
another turn. This had mixed results, although it must be said that the
Russians will always come out on top in cases of attrition. 

On the second turn, the Germans pushed through to the doorstep of Minsk
and Riga. Guderian led the assault on Riga, and was repelled by a
ferocious Russian defence (I rolled three 6's out of 4 dice on one
attack). However, by turn 3, Riga was in German hands. 

In the South, the Romanians and various rag tag forces had much success
in slaughtering the Russians there; and they were just barely able to
pull back to reform the line behind the Dvina river to protest Odessa.
This only lasted for 1 turn, as the Russians needed to pull back yet
again during turn 4 to avoid attacking across the river (mandatory
attacks). At present, Odessa is open to be taken, but the German led
forces in the area are sufficiently banged up that their attack will
stall on the next turn. 

The Pripet marshes provided the ideal defence for the Russians, as even
the German infantry has difficulty moving through the territory; and
this forces the Germans to reorganize during turn 4 to co-ordinate their
attacks on turn 5 (next turn), The German armour lags behind due to 3 mp
cost to move through the marshes. The Russians are currently set behind
the Berezina waiting for the Germans to approach. 

The winter war did not go well, even though the Russians sent the Finns
packing back to Helsinki on turn 1, as they dished out huge damage,
making it necessary to take a big retreat to avoid elimination. On turns
2-3, they moved back into position to attack Leningrad. The Russians had
pulled back to defend Leningrad, and now must depend on the forces
within the city for defence. This may prove to be a critical error,
unless the Russians can survive the expected attack of 12 dice vs. 6
dice. A total of 5 hits by the Finns will result in the capture of the
city. 

I believe that this game will come down to the last turn and the last
set of battles, and one can not really ask for much more in a decent
game. With a fighting retreat by the Russians, this chops the potential
German attacks by 1/2; which makes it VERY difficult for the Germans to
win the game. 

Nathan and I plan on completing the last three turns (of 7) this
evening. I will post the conclusion of this game tomorrow!! 

Alan Snider  - May 26, 2005 11:17 am (#10024 Total: 10033)  
On the Playtest Table: Adam Starkweather's "The Devil's Cauldron"; 
and announcing the "Northern Knights Wargaming Group" in Vancouver, 
Canada with a retail store of it's own at http://www.stalag17wargames.com/
 	 
GAMENIGHT, May 24 (yea, I have been stuck in April all week, I Know )
Nathan Hiebert and I picked up with our game of AP's "Defiant Russia".
We have 3 turns (of 7) left to play, and the Russians look to be in
decent shape after stalling out the German drive on Leningrad at the
Dvina river for a turn. The Germans have had a tough time slogging
through the Pripet marshes, and this has essentially made it difficult
for the Germans to co-ordinate their attacks for turn 5. 

Nathan goes all out on this turn as he knows he has a fair bit of ground
to make up and will not get a decent set of exploitation moves until the
clear weather during the final turn. The Germans attacks are quite
unco-ordinated; particularly in front of the Pripet marshes. 

The Russian line actually holds up pretty well, and it is not really
necessary to pull the line back totally. Instead, the Russian pull off
three separate counterattacks designed to weaken the German forces
headed form the final 2 turns. They are pretty successful with this, but
now must face the Germans in open ground, except near the marshes where
the Russians are able to stay set up behind the Berezina river. The
Germans manage to get a one hex foothold across this river during turn
5. 

Turn 6 for the Germans turns out to be devastating!! The Germans through
some die-rolling straight out of the ice age, my dice go ICE COLD.
Inbetween the north edge of the marshes and the marshes surrounding
Leningrad I am not able to inflict one hit on the Germans attacking in
this area. They leave the Germans positions in tatters, and by the end
of the turn I swear I have less than 15 Russian units left, including
1/2 strength units. Nathan has far exceeded my ability to replace for
the turn (6 replacements, max 1 tank), and has done well enough to take
a legitimate run at Leningrad on the final turn. The attempts to capture
Bryansk and Kharkov look a little trickier to achieve. 

The Russians in Leningrad anticipate the assault on their city, and
remain entrenched within the city fighting the Finns at ridiculous odds
just to remain there. In the series of attacks and counterattacks, the
Russians do very well; and are able to push a 1/2 strength unit north to
block the Finns from have 2 hexes to attack Leningrad from (advance
after combat). A nice bit of recovery by the Russians with that move. 

The final German turn pretty much made my head spin...As the weather is
clear they have full mobility and options during the exploitation phase.
They push through to the perimeter of Bryansk, but stall; as the
Russians are able to make the necessary hits to make it a mathematical
impossibilty. Near Kharkov, a tricky bit of maneuvering allows the
Germans to attack the Russian paratroops, and they manage to hold taking
a single step loss. This effectively stops the Italian mountain troops
from advancing on the city. Kharkov stays in Russian hands. 

Guderian and a mass of full strength tank units converge on the
marsh-woods areas around Leningrad. The bad die rolls continue, and the
Germans blow straight through the Russian lines and exploit straight to
the gates of the city. The following attacks leave Leningrad with a
single remaining step holding the city, as the Germans use airpower to
knock out the Baltic fleet. the exploitation phase finishes the job,
with Zhukov not able to inspire the Russian soldiers. Zhukov is killed
in the defence of the city. The Russians to the North of the city manage
to all but eliminate the Finns, as they have but a 1/2 step unit
remaining. 

On the Russian counterattack, they send shock troops from Moscow to
attempt to retake Leningrad; as well as using replacements in the area
to bolster the assault. The attack fails, as they are only able to knock
the Germans down a single step. 

The game ends with the Germans holding Minsk, Kiev, Leningrad and the VP
for edge in kills (6 VP). The Russians hold the balance of the VP cities
and Stalin is still kicking (7 VP). This was a very close game, and I
really did feel like I blundered my way to victory (quite unsatisfying).
Nathan was brilliant as usual, and really taught me the limitations of
some of my defence approaches.