This review first appeared in IPW, the newsletter for all discount games
club members. Contact colin@allusedgames.demon.co.uk for details.

DRIVE ON STALINGRAD 

Board wargame - TSR/SPI

This is a divisional level simulalion of the German drive across the Don
towards Stalingrad and into the Caucasus. It comprises two full sized
maps and 600 counters.

The concept was breathtaking. Take the highly popular and successful
Panzergruppe Guderian system, apply it to a high profile campaign like
Stalingrad and give the players wide open spaces and amoured divisions
galore. With overruns and a mechanised movement phase, how could such a
game fail?

The standard PGG syslem rules are used throughout, the only
abnormalities being supply and the Hitler Directive table. The supply
rules hamper the German player and stop him overrunning the largely
unoccupied, southern map too quickly. The Hitler Directive table
represents higher level meddling in thc direction of the campaign.
German victory poinls are cross referenced with a die roll. The results
can place limitations on the use of German mechanised divisions or other
restrictions on retreating etc. Alternatively, it could release the 11th
Army, a useful reinforcement.

The table duplicates the frustration the German player's historical
counterparts must have felt with orders from above and also adds an
enjoyable variability. Remarkably, in a campaign that lasts from June to
December, where men froze to death and apertures of tanks became blocked
with ice, there are no rules for weather. A serious oversight, I feel.

Sadly, the game has one fatal flaw. At some point during design and
development, somebody blundered and somehow the error went unnoticed by
the playtesters (did they really play the thing?). Despite the addition
of a page of errata that comes with the game, the situation, as
simulated, is hopelessly unbalanced. The German drive on Stalingrad is a
drive to disaster. Two players could conclude this game's twenty five
turns in a long day, but why bother if you know the result already? So
what can be done to fix it? Various suggestions have appeared in the
hobby press. I have prepared a list of 10 rules amendments and
suggestions, including some weather rules, together with a few
additional errata. Anyone interested can get a copy of them free by
simply writing to the Editor and asking for it.

These changes should make the game more enjoyable. My list is not
exhaustive, but reflects my personal preference. The game should be
viewed as a kit, needing some input from yourself to arrive at the
finished product.

With both the amendments and the errata, the game may aspire to the
classic status this awe-inspiring concept seemed to promise.

Alan Sharif