REPLAY HITLER'S WAR By Paul A Breslin August 2002 Thought this report of the 'Fall of Germany' scenario may kindle some interest in this 80's pocket battleship of a game. See elsewhere for reviews esp Consimworld where there is a good discussion board for it. Orignally by Metagaming Concepts it was given a good makeover and republished by Avalon Hill. In short it has army level units, 4-monthly turns and all of Europe on a single mapboard (and about a third of the board is charts and tables!). But don't be misled, the modelling covers the expected land, air and sea but delves into strategic bombing, U-boats, paras, partisans, air defence, V-2s and The Bomb. All this is tied together by simple economic and R&D systems that encourage the players to think grand strategy. No worrying about where to stack the motorcycle battalion in this game! Fall of Germany kicks off at the beginning of 1944 with the beleaguered Axis forces trying to hold off the Red Army in the East; defending Italy against the Allies and trying to guess where and when the Allied invasion of mainland Europe will occur. Order of movement is Axis, Soviet and Allies. This is another of my perennial solitaire learning games trying to understand the game system...so no aplogies for strange strategies here. SPRING '44 The Axis go for minor attritional attacks...and that is exactly what they achieve i.e. not much. The Soviets make large tank attacks in Southern Russia with Exploitation through to the Rumanian border. In the North the corresponding infantry armies don't make as much ground mainly due to the German armies being positioned one hex or so behind the front line. The Allies invade Normandy with two amphibious armies and get established in one hex. In Italy the 8th Army pushes right up the East coast past Rome before pulling back to defend against an Axis counterstroke. SUMMER '44 Axis counterattacks in Russia and Italy fail miserably (looks like this might be a short game). In France AG West attacks the Allied bridgehead and causes heavy casualties but fail to dislodge the forces. The Soviet juggernaut in it's turn rolls over AG North and inflicts large Panzer losses to AG B defending in the centre of the German front. Two tank heavy shock armies lead the way in encircling AG Centre (2 sp's) and AG South (3 sp's) in Russia and Rumania. Not to be outdone the Allies breakout Southwards from the Normandy bridgehead to meet the Anvil-Dragoon landings by the 5th Army in the French Riviera. This isolates AG C (2 sp's) in the Vendee for a total of 3 Axis armies now isolated and in danger of elimination. Against Rome it is the same grind but an audacious Assault by the 8th Army (6 inf, 4 armor) carries it over the Austrian alps and into Bavaria! (Go those Desert Rats!) The Axis are on the ropes with their production level down to the same as the Soviets; armies encircled and and the Allies ominously building armor only (...amphibious points can be freely converted to infantry). WINTER '44 The Axis retire into fortress Germany, the encircled armies are abandoned, construction begins on the Fuhrer bunker in Berlin (a fort in game terms) and all the remaining production is built in Central Germany. The redoubtable Panzer Armee Africa are left alone defending the Alban Hills around Rome. As a measure of how low Axis fortunes have fallen they can't even muster up much of an attack against the invading 8th Army in Bavaria(managing only 9sp's vs the 10 Allied sp's). Gulp, still 4 more turns to go. The Red army opts for a broad front attack (they have enough strength). Three tank heavy shock armies drive into the Nazi heartland. In an interesting wrinkle the Baltic Army leads the way in a rampaging Exploitation move around East Germany converting the territory to Soviet friendly hexes. This makes it easier for the two Ukrainian tank armies to use Exploitation advances to lap up to the German lines and Assault them. They just miss capturing Berlin...needed 1-2 and shook a 3. The Allies move into high gear by converting all the amphibious sp's into infantry and transporting the just-built tank units onto the European mainland. In Italy the infantry only 7th and 9th US armies finally grind their way into Rome overrunning the last remnants of the Afrika Korps. The 5th Army is, however, repulsed from the Maritime Alps (2 production points going begging there but difficult to advance into mountains). In Bavaria the 8th British drives North but is defied by a fort and the remnants of AG West. It is left to Monty and Bradley in Northern France. The 1st Canadian Army pathfinds into the Pas de Calais so the tank-heavy 1st US can leapfrog, exploit brilliantly through the Low Countries to outflank the Siegfried fortifications to end up adjacent to Berlin with an Assault in hand. The 10sp's attack the 2 German sp's defending the capital and then exploit into the unfinished fort. Voila! With Berlin captured it's VE-day in Winter '44. COMMENTARY Well, 'pocket battleship' seems an apt description of HW. Playable Grand Strategy with as far as I can tell lots of strategic and tactical options with all the various intertwined systems... and that's even before going to the Campaign scenario. Just a few immediate observations. Army unit force structure is, understandably, crucial with the basic options of infantry-heavy for attritional warfare and tank-heavy for grabbing territory. But there are plenty of other effects to cause you to vary these extremes and blend the two arms for a specific mission. For instance, an infantry-heavy Army can lead the way in an attack converting hexes or weakening defenders thus making it easier for a tank-heavy follow on Army to exploit up to the ultimate target hex and launch an Assault. I guess there are a number of defensive countermeasures but I am still working this out. Another is Forts. These are difficult to capture (esp in mountains) but can be outflanked as was done above. Their abiltiy to absorb losses make the production well spent . Lastly encirclements seem to be easily done due to the low unit density and the unlimited redeployment during the movement phase (which allows you to set up your attacks quite carefully). By the same token this makes holding the ring closed just as difficult as the enemies counter-offensive can usually find a weak spot and relieve the isolated Army. Only minor gripe is that the board does end up a bit cluttered as, although the number of Army counters are low, there are a number of markers and counters to add in and the board is quite restricted. All in all this is cracking stuff. I fought out this scenario and the introductory 'Barbarossa' in one afternoon. Next stop 'War for Europe' scenario with strategic warfare, navies, tac air, paras and R&D to develop missiles and A-bombs. HW is a super sim., use it stand alone or to explore strategies for your favourite WWII monster. "Find it. Buy it. Play it"