Game review: The Moscow Option

The Moscow Option: Guderian's Gambit is one of two wargames in Command No. 37 (The other is Mukden).

It could be considered Proud Monster meets Budapest'45, because it marries a strategic option and the untried Soviet units from the first game with the combat/movement and unit roster system of the latter.

As a Budapest system game Moscow Option includes zones of control, a unit roster to track German step losses and 5/8-inch unit counters. The German player-turn starts with a mechanized movement phase, then goes to a combat phase and a general movement phase. The Soviets move and then fight.

But the game situation is drawn from an option in Proud Monster, where the Germans dedicate their supply network to supporting a spearhead of mobile units ( 9 Panzer divisions, six motorized divisions and three smaller units) lunging towards Moscow in an all-out bid to capture the Soviet capital and win the war. The 16 German infantry divisions plodding behind the armored spearheads can help hold ground, but have no attack factors at all.

The Soviet forces are all 1-step attack-defense-movement factor units identical in function to the Proud Monster Soviets. All start on their untried side, with values unknown to either player. When they enter combat for the first time their values are revealed. Being one-step units in the very attritional Budapest combat system, however, most Soviet units won't be around for long. The Soviets begin with 39 Rifle divisions, 5 cavalry divisions and 11 tank divisions. Another 28 Rifle divisions, 7 cavalry divisions, one tank division and 14 tank brigades come as reinforcements.

The German has 14 turns to capture a Moscow hex. Once he's in possession of one or more hexes he rolls two dice and compares the result to chart. The earlier he captures the hex(es) and the more hexes he holds the better his chances. For example, if he captures all three hexes by turn 6 he wins on any roll. If he just manages to squeak into one hex on turn 14 he'll need boxcars to win. The Germans win automatically by clearing the map of Soviet troops. The Soviets can win by avoiding a German win or by capturing Smolensk (which starts behind German lines).

Every turn the German will be making difficult choices. Although the German is strong enough to do anything he wants, there simply aren't enough units to do everything he needs to do. A typical Panzer division starts the game with 13 combat factors/steps. For the Soviet player, losses will be high, but he'll have a chance to attack as well as defend (the tank brigades, in particular, are not very useful defensively. While their attack factors range from 1-4, all have a defense of just 1.) Unlike the situation historically, when the Soviets had a chance to build a series of fortified belts before Moscow, in this scenario, set in August, it's up to the troops alone to hold out.

One notable rule prevents the "edge-of-the-world" flaw so common in wargames. Along the north east and south sides of the map is a "gold row" of hexes that only the Soviets can use. This prevents the German from unrealistically using the map edge to anchor his flanks. German zones of control do not extend into the gold row, so the Soviets always have an open flank available. This rule therefore encourages the German to keep his troops close to the Smolensk to Moscow highway that runs through the center of the map and is his supply line.

The map is by Beth Queman and is functional, if not overly attractive. The hexes are oversized, 7/8-inch across. The Soviet player doesn't have much in the way of helpful terrain. Part of one river covers a part of his front, while an expanse of woods in the center of the map is better than nothing. But for the most part, the terrain favors the German attackers.

The game scale is nine miles per hex, one day per turn. Most units are divisions and brigades. The 14 pages of rules describe a game of moderate complexity by wargame standards. Set up will take about 15 minutes and the game is playable in one sitting.

Recommendations:

(Yes) for Wargamers: Nice, solid wargame covering an interesting "what-if."

(No) for Collectors: No special collectibility

(No) for Eurogamers: A hex-and-counter wargame with rosters, so not your cup of tea.

Death and Destruction module review

Death & Destruction is not a standalone wargame but an expansion module for Proud Monster, Ty Bomba's magnus opus divisional level Barbarossa game. D&D covers the next two years of the war, until the Spring of 1944.As a module, no fundamental changes are made to the game system and the 15-page rule book is all special rules to account for order of battle changes and other developments as the war moves out of its initial phases.

The counters include various later war reinforcements for both sides, although the Soviets naturally benefit the most as new, more powerful units appear such as more than 100 Guards units, mechanized corps, tank corps and sundry other good stuff to allow the Soviet side some fun kicking German panzers around after having been manhandled in 1941.

The largest group of German counters actually represents a decline in quality as all the infantry divisions go through a universal downgrade in 1943.

For Germans tempted by the allure of Caucasus oil there is an expansion Map C which is added if the Germans head in that direction.

The expansion also includes two turn record cards. a German Replacement Army roster and a card with other charts and tables related to the expanded game such as a guards conversion table and even a "Game Turn to Remember List." With as many as 68 turns of play possible, it's easy to see how that might be handy.

With this expansion, PM/D&D become a true "monster game." While with just two maps it's not physically the biggest Eastern Front wargame, but it may be one of the more playable. As an expansion, D&D does add some set-up time. If one plays the whole campaign it can obviously be a very long game, taking up more than 60 hours of playing time.

The game will not necessarily go the distance however. On certain specified turns the Germans check to see how many victory points (awarded for geographic objectives) they have. If it's within a certain range the game goes on, if it falls outside of it one side or the other loses.

UNLESS, of course, the players want to go on (which given the investment they have made in time and effort, would be tempting). In that case the winning side gets "forgiveness points" they can use later to score later.

The Germans also have an opportunity twice to bring the game to an early end by launching go-for-broke efforts for victory. One of these occurs in the Proud Monster portion and is discussed there. But in 1943 the Germans can declare "Manstein's Gambit." This gives them extra units but requires a victory on points by the time the weather turns bad that year, or the Soviets win.
One unusual rule in D&D is "mechanized upgrades" otherwise called "stuffers." These are counters representing extra steps that can be added to mechanized units. The unit's combat values are unaffected, but it can lose the extra steps before taking actual step reductions. This adds considerable staying power to the units so blessed.

Recommendations:

(Yes) for Wargamers: If you have Proud Monster

(Yes) for Collectors: Only if you have Proud Monster

(No) for Eurogamers: Why would you have Proud Monster?

Proud Monster, a review of the Command Magazine version

Let's see. Two full-sized maps, 959 counters, 18 pages of rules, 23 player-turn "couplets." This is a big game. Especially for a magazine. Proud Monster was the issue game in Command Magazine No. 27 in 1994.

While not the largest "monster" game about the Eastern Front in World War II, Proud Monster may be the most playable. While there are 18 pages of rules, the game is only of moderate complexity by wargame standards. The game is basically your standard hex-and-counter wargame with an IGO-HUGO turn sequence.

Units are generally brigades and divisions. German mechanized divisions have four steps, infantry divisions have two and Axis allied units one. On the Soviet side nearly all the units have one step, with the reverse side of the counter showing the unit in an untried status. This rule gives the game a lot of its character and helps speed play because there's no "factor counting." The exact strength of any given hex or group of attackers is usually unknown. This creates an appropriate mind set of "I'll send six divisions to attack that city or I'll hold the line with 24 divisions" instead of looking for the exact last factor for a 3-1.

The game is sweeping in scope, covering the first six months of the invasion of Russia. The Panzers rampage where they will, send fistfuls of Soviet units into the "dead pile" while the infantry struggles to keep up. Meanwhile, zombie-like, the recently slaughtered Soviet units return to play, along scores of new units. This is actually a nice touch. The Germans woefully underestimated the size of the Soviet military establishment and within a few weeks of the start of the war had already destroyed more divisions than they thought existed before the war.
There are a lot of little things that help make the game playable despite its vast size. For example, the map's hexes are slightly larger than standard helping fingers handle the large stacks of 1/2-inch counters. All the different types of Soviet units are color-coded, making set up and running the reinforcement/replacement system easier.

The game includes several of Bomba's signature East Front interpretations, including the "GAS" line, about halfway to Moscow, where the German supply system attenuates. The Germans can avoid the penalty if they declare a "pause" and basically suspend their offensive for a turn. This is always a difficult choice. Another big decision for the Germans is whether or not to concentrate supply on 18 mobile divisions for a final push, at the cost of starving the rest of the army. (Bomba returned to this idea in The Moscow Option, which is essentially a "what-if" mini-game of Proud Monster playing out the drive on Moscow proposed by Guderian.

The Combat Results Table is the same odd-based step-loss-result system familiar to players of Command Magazine games.

While billed as 12 "turns" long, each "turn" is really two turns as the term is used in most wargames. Here they are called "couplets." The game could just as easily have been called 23 turns long, with every odd turn starting with a reinforcement phase and every even turn ending with a victory check phase. This is a long game, and will take at least a weekend to play. Setup will also takes time , and will probably need to be done before the play date.

While it can be a long game, it may end early. Every turn the Germans check to see how many victory points (scored by capturing cities) they have achieved. If it's more than that turn's goal then the game ends in German victory. Naturally the amount need increased every turn, but this rule prevents the Soviets from merely high-tailing it to the rear at top speed. On turn I the Germans need just 4 VPs, which they can achieve by taking just Kaunus, Vilnius, Minsk and Kishinev (near Odessa). The game scale is 20 miles per hex, two weeks per turn.

Recommendations

(Yes) for wargamers: A very big, but still playable wargame on the biggest campaign in history. Really captures the vast scope of the campaign. There's a new edition available, so players will presumably prefer that one.

(Yes) for Collectors: Sought-after.

(No) for Eurogamers: Way, way too much wargame.