"henri Arsenault" wrote in message news: ... Since there doesn't seem to be a SINGLE AAr of this game ANYWHERE on the web, here is the first AAR of this new game. As I said in an earlier message, I only got the game yesterday from Chips and Bits, and I have read the manual and played through the tutorial scenario (no. 8, Breakout at Kerch). The tutorial goes through only the first two moves and the scenario is 10 moves long. This scenario has only a half-dozen or so units for the Germans, so it is not too compolicated to play, although it did take me about 3 hours. Initially the Germans are bottled up in the neck of the Kerch peninsula, and the objective is to break out and then to defeat the Soviets while taking over most of the towns and cities, including Sevastopol, which is worth 5 points, and Simferopol (3 points). Most other cities arfe worth a single point. Victory is determined by how well one does compared to the historical case. As suggested in the tutorial, I began by bringing up my naval unit to support an attack on the Soviet unit on the left coast of the peninsula, then bringing up the two air units, one as CAP to cover the battle area and the other as ground support for an attack on the two Russian units in the city nearby. In the early moves, the odds varied from 1:1 to 3:1 (rare), so one shold expect high attrition to break through. My CAP threw back the Soviet air force. My usual bad luck had me throw a 5 and a 6 on the CRT, which meant that I took losses without any compensation, and had to carry out the second atttack without any air. I didn't do much better there, but I did manage to push back the Soviet unit on the Western coast. Soviet units were beginning to appear to the South, and if I didn't break out soon, they woould have the cork firmly set in the bottle. I hit them again and this time, I dislodged the Russians in the city and destroyed the enemy unit on the Western coast, which gave me an opening to move down. German and Rumanian reinforcements were coming down the railroad, and I was in dire need of them since Soviet reinforcements were coming in fast (they controlled more cities). For the next few turns after the first, it was raining and therefore there was no air support. My battered units were bolstered by meager but powerful (5-5-2) reinforcements and a couple of wimpy Rumanians, and I kept hammering away at the Soviets with what seems like an endless series of dice throws with numbers larger than 3. I did throw a one at a critical moment and inflictged a 3 casuaolty on a Soviet stack, which gave me an edge. Now in the middle of the peninsula, I managed to surround a stack of Soviet units that to my luck found themselves on a river and therefore disadvantaged for attack, which helped me as they took heavy losses rying to break my battered units. I managed to neak a unit to a nearby airbase and to kill the air unit there just before the rain stopped, which now gave me a decisive advantage in air power. Along the East coast my naval unit was able to give a hand to my infantry, and while they battered them, I wiped out the Soviets in the center and now had an open road to Sevastopol. I raced a bunch of units to attack the air unit stationed there, but a premature attack by a battered German unit only took more losses. But eventually the rest arrived and the air unit was wiped out and Sevastopol fell. Now it was a race to send help to wipe out the remaining Russians on the Eastern coast and to take as many cities as possible bvefore the scenario ended. To my dismay, a retreat after combat by one of the Russian units placed it squarely across the railroad, maki9ng most of my units out of supplies. This was corrected by surrounding and wiping out the unit at the cost of more time. The last move had arrived, and I raced along the railroad and through the muntains to take as many cities as possible. Three units were within one hex of Russian-controlled cities when the scenario ended. I got a grade of C, which is slightly better than historical. A nice small scenario. I had none of the optional rules like HQs, fog of war and so on, but I will try it again with more of the rules in effect now that I understand the mechanics of the game. So far the game looks great, with a few wrinkles, but really worth the money. henri