David R. Moody - Mar 18, 2004 3:51 pm (#5993 Total: 6001)   
Last played: Lost Battalion (S&T), G-SoF-G (S&T), B-17, Age of Napoleon, 
Carrier, MechWarrior, Corsairs & Hellcats (GMT), Fading Legions. 
Reading: The Eustace Diamonds (Anthony Trollope), Flashman's 
Lady (George MacDonald Fraser).    
 
On The Table last Wednesday night (not last night) at Endgame in
Oakland, CA: G-Sof-G (stands for Group of Soviet Forces Germany), from
the latest issue of Strategy & Tactics magazine. 

Joe Oppenheimer and I gave this reworking of the old SPI NATO game a
try, with me taking the NATO side. We got through the first few turns,
enough to get a feel for the game and try to learn good strategies, and
also because when we stopped it was getting late and the Soviet
offensive had stalled in the face of a line of NATO units (Joe joked
that we should start digging trenches). 

First off, the game is a lot of fun—easy to learn, with some cool
chrome. Of course we used the optional electronic warfare and special
forces rules, which aren’t that complicated. I particularly liked the
NATO national cooperation restrictions, which can hamstring the NATO
player as he tries to coordinate his polyglot of nationalities. I
remember trying to counterattack one of Joe’s spearheads along the Weser
with German, British, Dutch, and Belgian units, getting a six on the
National Cooperation table, and watching my attack stall. DOH! Easy to
see it happening, though, in the confusion of battle. 

A couple of really interesting touches: first, the Russians cannot move
if adjacent to NATO units. This is a powerful advantage to the NATO
player—I found myself attacking Russian units just to get them to
retreat (and the winning player chooses the path of retreat of losing
units) so I could advance and tie up more units. Second, it is really
hard to kill units in this game. I think in five or six turns we might
have had two or three step losses total. With fluid fronts and no ZOCs
(with the exception above), you really need to surround units to have
any hope of killing them. 

At any rate, it was a wild slugfest. I tried to make my initial stand
along the Weser as Joe’s units lumbered across the border, but he
breached that line fairly quickly. I did manage to get most of my West
German territorials out and into city hexes (some of my FRG (Federal
Republic of Germany) units made an heroic stand in Hamburg, delaying the
better part of a Soviet army all game). I scraped together what units I
could, trying to counterattack and sending some of my jagers to hunt
spetznatz. US and FRG units seemed to work well together in blunting the
offensive of the Russian 8th Guards Army, though I kept lapsing into
Raglan moments (calling opposing units “Jerries” when the Jerries were
on my side). We both made mistakes—I overcommitted to the southern
front, sending all my French units and quite a few Americans to chase a
scant few Russians, while Joe, despite having air superiority most of
the game, never did use his Guards Airborne Army. It seems the best
Russian strategy is to just drive like mad on the Rhine and Ruhr, using
the special abilities of 8th Guards Army while he can. Lots of fun,
though, and we’ll definitely try it again. 

At home, finished Lost Battalion (S&T)—got halfway through the game,
with my offensive stalled (only two hexes of the Hindenburg line taken,
I Corps just emerging out of the Argonne, losses mounting, and tons more
Boche coming in ensuing turns) and despaired of fulfilling the solitaire
game VC. A fun, if slightly flawed, game. If/when I play it again I’m
going to junk the solitaire rules and try it as if I was playing ftf. Up
next is an old favorite—RAF. I want to try it with some variant rules
from Web Grognards. I might also get back into my Patton’s Best
campaign. 

Flew the latest mission in Scott Settlemire’s PBEM B-17 game—hit the
dockyards at Pola and made it back okay. Next Wednesday night probably
more Corsairs & Hellcats with Joe, followed by the Cedar Mountain
scenario from Stonewall Jackson’s Way. 


Shelly Crawford - Mar 19, 2004 6:50 am (#5994 Total: 6001)   
"The problem is that a tank is made of steel, and you are not." - 
Gds. Sgt Ivan Shelepov    
 
I also had Group of Soviet Forces Germany on the table (until last
night) and can definitely agree that the game is a ton o' fun... Played
without any of the few optionals, though, to see what the base game
would be like... 

In opposition to David's game, the Soviet only had air superiority one
the first game turn (Period.), and, trying to be oh-so-wiley and save
the airborne for the perfect opportunity, never got to drop them... 

Came down very tight at the end, even with NATO planes running amok with
the Soviets holding 29 city hexes, with the last three just out of
reach. I would state, though, that I was playing solitaire, and that
therefore my NATO opponent was a moron... Too many counterattacks in the
"American" sector cost too many steps in exchanges, and the Frankfurt
front simply collapsed in the last few turns... The "funny" highlight of
the game was one West German Territorial unit that simply refused to
"call up", until turn thirteen when the Soviets were knocking at the
Ruhr's door... I guess they were waiting for the UN Resolution to act,
or something.... 

I will definitely play this one again, with the optionals, and would
also like to try out Joe Bisio's optional "Buildup" scenario... The one
side-effect to playing it is that it makes me want desparately to run
through The Next War again, but I'm trying to push through the unplayed
pile right now... 

A good game and a good value... The only downside to it is the
exceptionally thin counter stock, which actually made it quite difficult
to use tweezers...