The objectives are layered into three tiers: a brilliant mechanized warfare victory can be achieved by the destruction of 60 combat strength points as represented by the Soviet 149th Tank Regiment. A high speed victory can be obtained by securing the four specified objectives within seven turns, and an occupational victory can be obtained if it drags into turn eight.
The four objectives are Dubno in the northeast corner of the map, Radekhiv in the west, Kozyn in the southeast and Bridge B spanning the Styr River. The Axis forces begin this scenario in control of Radekhiv and Bridge A, although that is not an objective. There are four air assets available in the mission which can cover the vast majority of the map in a single move and are vital in whittling down the enemy.
The opening deployment of forces as dictated by the scenario designer is more than adequate to achieve the objectives in time.
The game has popup messages which offer some historical context to the chronology of events, but are not specifically useful in the action at hand.
There are several zoom levels available in the game which progress from higher level unit counters down to fairly well crafted unit models such as this He 111 H-5 bombing the 655th Artillery Regiment into extinction.
Dubno is covered on three sides and will fall during this turns combat resolution (one of my units attacking and destroying the enemy forces located in the town, with another unit moving in to secure the area once the enemy has been sanitized).
After-action Reports
A somewhat bland but otherwise to the point after-action report describes the victory condition achieved and the aftermath of the action.
The statistics panel displays various data from the scenario. I accumulated 650 resource points throughout the turns and spent 510 on a heavy tank reinforcement, only to actually win the mission outright before it could be deployed on the battlefield.
Post Mortem
This is a well-polished demo that offers two scenarios and a taste of one of the game campaigns that I have spent several hours playing. The game manual goes into an exhaustive description of Barbarossa and is like reading a military history book.
Overall I am very impressed with what I see here at intend to pick this game up at the $19.99 USD price point that it is currently offered at.
Tim thanks for the heads up. I am going to check it out also. Great price point.
ReplyDeleteThis game is on sale this week at Matrix for $9.99 (digital download).
ReplyDelete