CK Lai - 02:05am Jul 11, 2000 PST (#1422 of 1444) Here it is, folks, the SftD playtest. I have the privilege of playtesting GMT's upcoming game "Sympathy for the Devil: The War in Russia, 1942-43" by Ty Bomba. It's a strategic-level simulation of the Eastern Front, just after the German summer offensive gorund to a halt at the beginning of winter. The game starts at Nov/Dec of 42. The game is a real mini-monster, all right! 2 maps, but NOT full size 22x34, thank goodness! It's about a map and a half. 176 5/8" counters. Easy set up. Charts and tables are quite manageable. Looks good. Invites playing straight off, due to low counter density and largish map. Map graphics are clear and legible (on the playtest map). Good marks here. The game proper: The Soviets go first. (Pls d/l and go through the rules for SftD from the GMT web site so u know what I'm talking about). After just 2 couplets, Stalingrad was in trouble. The 2 german Panzer corps in the south near the Caucasius were surrounded and in trouble. Most of the centre was blown wide open, around where AGS and AGC were. What started out as a neat front line on GT 1 degenerated into clumps and clusters of units locked in a death struggle! At the end of GT 1, the Germans were at 79 VPs, and the VP check for the Germans is supposed to be 82 at the end of GT3. Not good. The next couple of game turns: Leningrad: nothing much happened there. It was a sideshow, really. But south of that, Veliky Luki (Greater Luki?), was the scene of major slugfest, as the Sovs slugged it out with the Axis and came within 2 hexes of the Axis units besieging Leningrad. If the game had continued, AGN would have been in serious trouble by GT8. AGC: 2 units held out in one of the fortified areas, and the Sovs made the classic mistake of pouring everything into that point to take the town. A better tactic on hindsight (as we discussed later) was for the Sovs to just contain the Axis troops there and release the main units to fight on other fronts. The center basically disintegrated because Sam pulled back his units too far, leaving a gap that I exploited. I basically broke through and smashed up the center line, as well as breaking through the line north of Stalingrad. Once I did that, Sam pulled back and formed massive stacks of armour and infantry. While I could do anything to them, it did limit his options as well. South: 6th Army died trying to break out of Stalingrad, although the panzer corps managed to escape (temporarily). The 2 panzer corps way down south died fighting like rats in a trap :) Analysing the situation afterwards, we ralised the Axis mistake was pulling both units out of posiiton to kill of 2 pinned sov units. That allowed me to take control of a town, and move reinforcements in during my 2nd couplet. That allowed me to basically pin down the 2 panzers. once they were out of supply, it was only a matter of time. What really clinched the game was that since the center didn't exist anymore, I sent 2 of my mech inf units racing (thru the snow, as much as it could) to take Dnepro-Petrovsk and it was all over bar the shouting. By GT 3, the Axis lost with 79 points, but we continued anyway. On GT 5, the Axis lost with 66 pts (needed was 72). Post game analysis: The Sovs have a really good chance of doing major damage to the Axis line in GT 1. even though I misplaced my supply units in GT 1. I thought I had to trace a line of supply to them, while it was - all the while - a radius. Once I realised that, things went better, but it was too late to undo the results of the 1st GT. Realised also Sov inf Armies are really brittle. The Axis, if he can get a good in-supply stack can do major damage to the Sovs. The only problem is, as historically, he doesn't have enough units to do all that he wants to do. What we discovered was, once the German line shattered in the center, there really wasn't much the Axis could do to stem the Sov tide. Sam tried to recover from his earlier mistake but it was too late, although he did go down fighting to the end. +++ That was the 1st playtest. 2nd playtest, I was the Germans. I treid to hold a line in the center instead of pulling all my forces back, but still couldn't do it. The Sovs broke through at the end of GT 1 or beginning of GT 2. Altho the breakthrough wasn't as dramatic as the 1st playtest, the Sovs still broke through too early. This was, again, the region running from Moscow down to Stalingrad. Funnily enough, The Germans managed to lift the seige of Stalingrad AND capture Leningrad as well as clearing the southern map (Caucasus) of Soviet units. What we've discovered is with the advantage of terrain or a rough 1:1 parity in terms of units, the Germans can more than hold their own. What was really funny were the German Emergency Unit Reinforcements. I consistently (with 1 exception) rolled 5 or 6s for those units! Sam was SPEWING blood at that! The playbalance problem lies in the center, from Moscow down south to Stalingrad. We're still trying to discover how to hold a relatively coherent line for the Germans without having it shatter within the 1st 2 game turns. Once again, the Sovs made for Dnepro-Petrovsk, and even when I was prepared for it, the Sovs STILL managed to take it, then shunted in massive reinforcements to hold the city and the surroundings. That effectively negated my German victory at Stalingrad. At the end of GT4, with the VPs were 77. The Germans managed to hold out for the GT5 Victory Check with 73 VPs, but lost in GT 7 with 65 VPs, because they were too depleted trying to hold the center AND take back Dnepro-Petrovsk. However, if wed used the "sudden death" rule, the game would've been over by GT5. Conclusions: Play was smooth and the game mechanics had us make some really difficult decisons: move/fight, fight/move? For the Soviets, the limitations on the offensive capabilities of their units was pretty interesting. I assume this is to simulate C3 limitations. Each GT (with 4 couplets) lasts roughly about an hour, with each player taking about 15 mins per couplet. Axis observations: although tempting to pull the Axis units into "super stacks", he can't because once the line goes, it'll eventually mean an Axis VP loss, and a possible "sudden death". The Axis-allied unit are worse than useless. They shatter and disappear in the 1st combat segment of the 1st couplet of the 1st GT. Soviet observations: Proper placement of offensive supply markers is VITAL! Also, although seemingly on a rough parity with German units, Soviets also need to be handled properly, or else they'll shatter. They need to be placed in "super stacks". All in all, it's been fun. Loads of swirling battles in the centre. Toe to toe slugfests up north and south and around Stalingrad. Really fun. For both players, it's a case of always having to attack and defend in the same turn/couplet. Now it's just a question of tweaking the play balance so the Soviets don't break through so easily by the end of the 1st GT or the beginning of the 2nd. So far, in 2 playtests, we've done 7 GTs max, and the entire game is 25 GTs (or 100 couplets) long! Well, that's it. Questions, any one?