Silicon Valley Boardgamers Meet Again
Europe Engulfed
Matt & Rich & I had been trying to figure
out when we might have a rematch of Europe Engulfed now that we know what we're
doing, but due to various commitments it looks like we might not be able to play
until mid-May. So Rich & I decided to try to do a game of the shorter,
one-map scenario the designer posted on BoardGameGeek and see if we could finish
it on a weeknight. It's just the Russian Front, 1942-1943. Rich took the
Soviets, I got the Germans.
For
reference, the 4 guys behind us started learning the rules for a game of
Wreckage just as we were setting
up.
The Germans have a tough choices in
the standard 1942 game - Stalingrad or Moscow? Moscow is easier, but less
valuable and not a war-winner on it's own. Stalingrad is the first step on the
way to Baku, which
is a
war-winner if you can take them both, but it's mighty tricky. In this scenario
you actually have a third choice, Leningrad. Normally, Leningrad isn't that
exciting because it's very expensive, doesn't hamper the Soviet war effort much
and further advance is hampered by hideous terrain. But, as further events would
show, I should have considered it more
seriously.
Anyway, I went with the
traditional approach of first clearing out the Don River Bend and Tula, then
driving on Stalingrad. That went well, with Stalingrad falling to the second
special action chit. Taking Baku, though, is a total nightmare. The terrain is
awful, the Soviets can build plenty of units down there, and the drive on
Stalingrad itself is likely to produce heavy casualties amongst the infantry, so
you're cracking Stalingrad itself with very expensive armor. So my whole advance
stalled out. Fortunately, I think I had mauled the Soviet army enough to spare
myself a horrible winter experience, and I went over to the
defensive.
Rich's first counterattacks
into the Don River Bend to cut off the army in Stalingrad didn't go too well;
there were heavy casualties, but a foothold was gained. From there on out it was
the standard pummeling job the Germans usually receive, with the Wermacht being
slowly attritted and pushed out of area after area. The units holding Stalingrad
had to withdraw. The line held along the "adjusted" front line (the start areas
plus Tula and the Don River Bend, which form the river line) until the last
turn, in which the Soviets ripped open a giant hole near
Kursk.
In retrospect, I have to think
that given the victory conditions, Leningrad is the target of choice in this
scenario. It can be taken without overextending yourself, and it can be taken
with comparatively cheap infantry, preserving your armor for counterattacks. It
can be integrated into a defensive line based on the Don, and the Soviets are
required to take it back to win. In the main game, Leningrad is not a strategy
in and of itself, but a stepping stone to bringing in the Finns, cutting the
Lend-Lease route, and driving on Moscow, but here, it's a game winner if you can
hold it.
German production is very
tight in this scenario - of the 50 WERPS or so usually at the German player's
disposal in the 1942 tournament scenario, only 25 of them make their way east,
and only 20 once the clock ticks over to 1943; this compared to the Soviet base
of 34, so the Germans don't have much wiggle room (unfortunately, I had screwed
up the resource count and hadn't been giving myself much of the conquered Soviet
production for most of the game - this clearly made some difference and is why I
always try to write things down, and why I wish they had given us some sort of
production counter for the track. My memory for numbers is
terrible).
We finished in a touch over
3 hours, so that's not bad at all. This scenario still has a rather annoying
end-of-the-world problem on the last turn, which I think I am now officially
tiring of even though I like the game a lot. I'm eyeing the 1941 campaign
scenario for my next game, or maybe a using the 1942 Tournament scenario as a
starting point for the campaign. Despite the preponderance of games I've played
as the Germans, I have an Allied mindset and I'm more interested in seeing the
game going full circle than in seeing if the Germans can score a knock-out punch
against unprepared enemies early on I
guess.
If you're wondering why I
mentioned that Wreckage game above, I'll just mention here that the only reason
that they finished before we did is that they threw in the towel and bailed on
the game (about 15 minutes before we finished). That's kinda scary. I think Rich
& I got a bit better bang for our gaming time investment.
Posted: Wednesday - April 07, 2004 at 12:25 PM