From: Roberto Chiavini Subject: more reviews MOSCOW 1941 (Vae Victis 4) The game on Vae Victis 4 is a simulation of the German attack against Moscow in late ’41. As always the graphics are very good (with unit silhouettes for soldiers and tanks), and the game itself it’s up to the usual standard of fast play and easy to learn system. The units are rated for combat and movement only, plus a stacking factor (limiting the total to 15 points for each hex, i.e. an infantry division for the German plus a tank batallion, or an infantry plus a tank unit for the Russians). The sequence of play is choice of the HQ that you want to sustain in that turn (you have various sustain points that the German may use to attack without penalty, while the Russian may use to have a better ration in combat), followed by movement – combat – second movement – second combat. Each turn represents 3 days and the campaign game lasts 10 turns (while the short scenario only five). Each divisions have several replacement points (that may be used to restore units to full strength – each unit has two steps – or, with an interesting twist of the system, to absorb a step loss for each combat without turning the units on the map) and there are even reinforcements. ZOCs are semi-rigid; there are rules for supply (each unit must trace a supply path to its HQ, who in turn must trace supply to the friendly border), different for the two armies (the lenght of the supply path is 14 hexes for the Russians and only 7 for the Germans). Even the weather, the harsh climate of the Russian winter is very important for the strategy of the two armies. The Germans have clear disadvantages in combat if they don’t sustain their HQs, but they may use divisional integrity as a bonus in combat (while the Russians don’t have this option). There is also a bonus for using tanks and infantry in the same battle (if the defender has only troop of one kind). Victory is mostly territorial (but it’s important for both players to maintain even intact division or units on the map at the end of the match) and the victory points are accumulated only by the German Player. The situation is clearly unfavorable for the German player, who has all the weight of the offensive, struggling against an inferior army, aided by the terrain and by the weather, but the game move fast enough (I have played only the short scenario in less than two hours; for the complete game probably you need at least 3-4 hours) and it’s exciting, because you have several different defense options as the Russian. I rate this game 7 on a 1-10 scale.