lew ritter  - Sep 21, 2008 6:44 pm (#24639 Total: 24664)  
www.jerseygamers.com 	 

Storm over Stalingrad

This game appeared to be very similar to the area - impulse game Turning
Point Stalingrad. It centers on taking different areas of the city. The
Russians bring in reinforcements via the Ferry hexes. Seizure of Mamev
Guraghan is important for combat purposes. However the game centered
around the use of cards. the cards offered each player a variety of
advantages. 

For example, The Russians could play a Rubble card that doubled the TEM
rating of the area. They have other special cards such as Mines that
stop German movement. 

The Germans have bombardment cards and an Overrun card, Other cards are
artillery and aerial bombardment cards, which help soften up an area
without using your combat units. My favorite German card is Russian Ammo
shortage, which cancels out all sorts of Russian attacks. Units may only
MOVE or ATTACK fight and not both. The overrun card allows the German to
move one zone AND attack. 

Combat is different from TP:Stalingrad. Only the attacker rolls two dice
and adds in the attack factor of it's units. If they roll higher than
the greatest defensive strength + TEM, then the defender takes casualty
points similar to TP:Stalingrad. Attacker must have hot dice or else the
combat has no effect and the attackers are spent for balance of the
turn. Units can get spent and then retreated or eliminated. Many Russian
units have a 0 attack factor, but a strong 8-9 defensive factor. Units
become unspent at end of turn. 

The game is only six turns, but unlike the 2 1/2 announced play time, I
think it's still a 4-6 hour game. Each turn can last at least a half
hour. 

Players need a good variety of cards in order to beat your opponent. it
is a tense game on a familiar topic. It offers a lot of strategies to
consider. Should the Germans comitt all their units in an area for a
strong over whelming attack or hold back some for later for movement or
risk a low die roll resulting in no Russian casualties. 

Can the German bombardment cards reduce the Russians so that attacking
units can force retreat or elim results on defenders. The Russians get
many reinforcements and can often frustrate the Germans by moving units
into an area just about to fall to the Germans. overall, a worthwhile
game. Simple, but not simplistic.