From: Andrew Fairnie Subject: Review:Battle for the Factories ACT1 -LONG PRELUDE Once Upon a Time There Was A Wargame. That game was Streets of Stalingrad, a monster grand tactical company level recreation of the turning point battle on the Eastern Front. This game was re-issued in 3 parts as "Battle for the Factories", "Fire on the Volga", and an elusive bridging pack (called Streets of Stalingrad - wow!)to join the two main elements. THE STAGE The game is not about the encirclement and death of the German 6th Army. Rather it endeavours to portray, in all its "free base" enriched form, the biblical struggle for survival between Chuikovs 62nd Army and the LI Corps of von Paulus's 6th Army, amid the sprawling urban industrial complex of the Bolshevik workers city named after Stalin. Here are the increasingly deperate German attempts to sieze the city before winter, and the equally frenzied Russian "backs to the wall" defense. The game turn scale represents 1 day of real time, hexes are 300 yards. Units are portrayed at the company level. Battle for the Factories scenarios start 27 Sept 1942 or 14 Oct 1942. The longest lasts to 5 November. There are 6 scenarios which basically split the conflagration into two geographic zones, and two different time periods. Scenarios 6 and 9 are combination scenarios where 6 combines 4 and 5, and 9 combines 7 and 8, to create full map events. THE PROPS The box art is hand illustrated and a little garish - all that can be said is DO NOT BE PUT OFF BY THE BOX ! Open the box though and your worries instantly evaporate. There is a single map, 7 (yip, seven) counter sheets giving 1400 counters, 2 force sheets, 4 scenario sheets, a setup map and a terrain effects chart. THE SCENERY The map (shrug, what you can you say :-))is a big one piecer, measuring over 2x3 feet, printed on card stock, but unmounted. The artwork is IMO well done and the colours are matt and subdued. Clear terrain is a light tan colour, wooded areas have the usual green mottled effect, and slopes/crest lines are denoted by black "fringing" (is that a word?). The balka's (gullies) peculiar to this area are outlined in blue. Urban terrain is categorised as suburb/village hexes (clear terrain tan with grey buildings) city hexes (white with grey buildings) and factory and fortress hexes (white with black buildings). The city does not dominate the map, clinging as it does on a strip along the Volga. The western two thirds of the map are countryside (when you sit at the German side of the map you can just imagine von Paulus looking over the rolling landscape and thinking how near the city and that river looks!). Other rural terrain features include roads, railways, the Tartar Wall and of course the Volga's western most hexes, in blue running the entire north south length of the eastern map edge. The map also holds lots of detailed information (its roughly 30 - 40 hexes wide by 50 - 60 long) in that all the gullies are named, as are the villages, woods and railway stations! In the city all the features are there and named. Apart from the masses of looming grey Bolshevik style blocks, you'll find the 3 big factories (the Tractor Factory covers 8 hexes) and their workers settlements, the refinery and tank farms, the silicate plant, meat packing plant, the prisons, the stadium and even cemetries and a bread factory! to name but a few. I have no real maps at this scale with which to make comparisons but the effect is one of a survey quality guide map of the city and its environs. THE PLAYERS The counters? - well maybe not what we are used to these days from the likes of the Gamers & GMT. But for the pre-silicon graphics era they are very presentable. The basic colours are greens (German) and browns (Russian) with white backgrounds for indirect fire units and reciprocal green/brown backgrounds for direct fire and infantry units (basically!). But now comes the catch (and where all of you on the wrong side of the learning curve can hit the sofa)....THE SYMBOLOGY IS AUTHENTIC WW2 Russian and German tactical symbols (shock, horror). I maintain that this greatly increases the period "feel" - certainly for me. However I don't want to provoke the Not Invented Here fraternity (not much that is :-))) so I'll leave it at that :-). In any case the counters are easy to read (especially the Germans) and are quite distinguishable from the terrain background. The flip sides are redundant showing only the divisional number in white on the national colour background. This does help simplify sorting and storage, especially when there can be over 70 (thats right, seventy) counters per division, artillery markers included. THE LIGHTING The force sheets and the terrain effects sheet are little wonders unto themselves, if only they were printed on better quality paper :-( . All the terrain is portrayed with the map symbols alongside monochrome archive photos of the actual real McCoy!! The same on the force sheets, large archive photos of the men and their arms are shown with the counter symbology super imposed in the upper corners. Altogether original and very successful in adding perspective and historical feel to the package. The force sheets' reverse side also contains masses of detail about the counter symbols and a full blown sequence of play. At this stage this game begins to part company with its mass produced brethern and nonchalantly sidle up to the "Title Holders Only" entrance. Andrew. Last 3: GMT's Invasion Norway DG's Lords of Sierra Madre Yaquinto's Bomber From: Andrew Fairnie Subject: BATTLE FOR THE FACTORIES - Continued - Long We are still reviewing Nova's rebuild of The Streets of Stalingrad........ THE PLOT The sequence of play is interactive and makes for plenty of participation by both sides unlike some games in the traditional SPI format. I believe the system was based on a John Hill product about Hue. The system is basic, and quite raw (read "nothing factored in") as I suppose things should be at the company level. One complete game turn comprises the following phases:- 1. Russian Movement 2. German Reserves movement 3. Russian Attack 4. Russian exploit movement 5. Russian exploit attack 6. German Movement 7. Russian reserves movement 8. German attack 9. German exploit movement 10. German exploit attack First turns only use phases 6 to 10, as the Germans are always the attackers. Command and control is amply illustrated through movement restrictions placed on reserves and exploiting units. The Russian system being hampered by requiring to have leader counters and/or commisars present for this movement. Simple LOS rules and easy to impliment Opportunity fires further build-up the tactical combat picture. But beware, LOS's can extend fairly far, and units can call in indirect artillery as Op Fire. As always, the heart of the game is the combat system, and this heart is fully replicated in all its gory detail!. Individual units in a hex must be attacked seperately, and each unit must be elimated for the attack to proceed further. The CRT does not work on ratio's, its a matter of piling on the fire power and rolling the die. This procedure is followed for both attacking fire AND defensive fire (defenders fire first and can call in defensive bombardments). The firing units sum up their fire power and apply die roll modifiers - at times a lot of die roll modifiers; terrain; battalion integrity; leaders; armour; flamethrowers; combat engineers; blind fire; surrounded units et. al. All the modifiers are logical though, and are all listed in the comprehensive sequence of play charts so you can check them of as you resolve combat. This helps speed things up considerably. The net result of the bloody CRT, modifiers, and enemy reserve movement makes attacking a fearful business. There is however no way around it and careful planning combined with extreme caution are the watch words. Forethought, like real life, is all important. The battalion integrity rule and all the support weapons and artillery planning give you a good feel for the regimental XO's view of things (you've got A LOT of regiments to be XO for though). But combat in BFTF is still a very dangerous, and believe you me, exciting, nail biting affair. You'll see opponents visibly pale as your reserves scurry forward at the last minute, and those terrible defensive bombardment markers crashing down upon your newly formed up attackers can shake the most hardened grognard (attackers get no terrain benefits). To further punish the improvident attacker, if an attack across clear terrain fails, defenders get an additional defensive fire as the beaten off attackers scurry for cover! THE ACTING. How does it all work? Well it IS a big game so if you don't like more than a hundred or so counters forget it. However if you like a monster and enjoy the gritty, cordite aroma of the grand tactical level, this is one gaming experience not to be missed. Questions might be asked about play balance in a Stalingrad game. Well remember, this is not the strategic campaign. As the German you have got a lot of powerful and mobile forces. As the Russian you've got the terrain on your side, and some real heavy arty and a better reinforcement pool as time proceeds. I'd say its a game that allows both sides opportunites for victory. The second generation system may seem outdated to some of the younger members of the fraternity, but as a simulation of this primeval, street-to-street, house-to-house death match, it fits like a glove. The combat system, wherein attacks can potentially continue on and on against a single hex, defender firing until his last man goes under, is one you either love or hate. Things can get protracted on the big scenarios but I think this system helps a lot to convey the desperation of this kind of combat. There is a lot to manage too at this level, you've got to juggle a lot of depleted divisions in all the detail possible, including pioneers, construction battalions, snipers, assault guns and artillery (not to mention leaders and observers and Stuka's etc.) to try and hit the enemy hard enough. As the German you've got the clock to beat as well. As the Russian you've got to plan your counter attacks timely and immaculately, before your forces are split up and choked to death. A lot of the action (as it did in reality) centres around Mamayev Kurgan, a hill point in an open area of terrain that splits the built up areas more or less in two. The German player MUST capture this for his observation posts. It gives a view over most of the city and, most importantly, into the Volga and East Bank holding boxes where most of the Russian artillery is sited. The sacrifices that are made here are awesome and in all too short a time regiments can be shot to ribbons (eliminated units gain the opponent victory points) on the open terrain. As for the fighting in the built-up and factory areas? In a word: unbelievable! The feel is almost as neanderthal as something from WW1. Assaults are met with withering fire, whole battalions are enveloped in bursting bombardment blasts and your priceless leaders perish. At times you can almost taste the plaster dust and hear the crackle of radio traffic ("Is it a probe Stransky?"....."Probe?!..it's an avalanche!"). Its a game certainly worth my Oscar nomination:-) Thank you and goodnight! Andrew. Last 3: GMT's Invasion Norway DG's Lords of Sierra Madre Yaquinto's Bomber