From: "D. H." Subject: EASTWALL Hi, Over the weekend we played several turns of JD's new EASTWALL game. (John, please correct me if I'm wrong on anything since I don't have the game here. ..Yet) We played with 4 - Joe Youst and I played the Russians, Trow Davis and Richard Hazlett the Germans. EASTWALL covers the pursuit to the Dnepr after the 4th battle of Kharkov, covered in it's predecessor RING OF FIRE. The counter mix was probably about equal to RoF and also plays on one 22" x 34" map. I think it's one of JY's best maps. As in the AQotWF map, there is an underlying pattern of fields and towns on the "plain" terrain that looks great. The rules are akin to RING OF FIRE and the same combat, tank combat and barrage rules are used. Soviet HQ's are added and these determine the range of Russian barrages and also the range for the two available Soviet airdrops. One big difference in EASTWALL is that the German player has LOTS of quality armor, and this is probably the key to the German defense. Another is the inclusion of Soviet Reserve Boxes. To receive replacements, the Russians must send their units to the STAVKA reserve, run them through the Moskarovka (sp?) box, then back to the board. There is one additional reserve box, the Stalin Special Reserve. Each turn, the Soviet player(s) must roll two dice and keep that many Soviet mobile *corps* in the box. One die is rolled for leg units. And the German player gets to choose half those corps from the board, the Soviet player the other half. (This is to simulate Stalin's penchant for pulling critical front line units at just the "right" time I presume..) Our game was mostly just a learning experience (only two of us had played RoF) so we didn't plan on finishing the game but what we played was lots of fun. Trow and Richard were trying to defend with pockets of infantry, using their armor as mobile reserve. Joe and I discussed this to some length. It seems that the best defense *might* be to defend with adjacent hexes of armor, and use the infantry as reserve. Bass-ackwards, but it would keep the Soviet from ganging-up on your tanks from multiple hexes. I'll be getting this game asap. -Danny ______________________________________________ Available Now!- The Wargamer's Reference Guide 290 pages; Includes index of 13 Wargaming publications, Comprehensive lists of SPI/AH/Command Games, + Lot's More! _________________________________________________