That board game was first released (from my limited research) in 2008 by Academy Games and a second edition followed in 2012. There were a number of expansions released for the game and the total product won a number of awards upon release. The PC iteration currently sports two expansion packs, Ghost Divisions and Storms of Steel (standalone), also available through Matrix Games. The base game is currently running for $39.99 USD. The Ghost Division expansion is $14.99 USD and Storms of Steel is $39.99 USD (all price points are for the digital download versions).
For this after-action demo review I will be playing the Partisans scenario through the Awakening the Bear Firefights module (essentially the tutorial mission presented in a non-guided format). The scenario takes place on 10/17/1941 and consists of isolated pockets of Soviet infantry units performing partisan activities against elements of the German 161st Infantry Division who are sent into the Priluki area to sweep and clear the Red Army units from the battlefield.
Game Menu
This has to be one of the most artistically rendered game
menus I have seen in any genre: the sheer brutality expressed by two bitter
enemies facing off with knives and not rifles or tanks is quite a visceral
image and one not easily forgotten. No Battlefield Academy cartoon fluff here:
these soldiers mean business.
Setup
The setup menu is essentially a no frills affair that
provides enough information to have a reasonable expectation of what is to come
without drowning the user in minutia. The firefight map to the left indicates friend
(white) and foe (red) deployment areas. The area in the top right features a short
full motion video that repeats until the user advances.
Deployment
As the scenario starts I get to deploy my forces along the western edge of the map. I have two German Rifle Squads and two LMG 34 Squads at my disposal and align them on either side of the road leading east to take advantage of the concealment of the light and heavy woods to mask my approach as much as possible.
The objective is to seize the crossroads near the center of the map: this is worth one point per turn to whoever controls it.
Turn One
I moved my units forward on either side of the road trying
to utilize the woods to block line-of-sight to the enemy. Although I did come
under fire, my forces managed to take the Crossroads Objective (by using some Command
Action Points) and eliminate a Maxim MMG unit to the northeast.
During the turn I played one Command Action card which
provided a free action at no cost to the selected unit.
Turn Two
I pressed one rifle squad forward to fix an enemy unit and
used an LMG team to eliminate it. Two Soviet Rifle Squads fell in the
firefight.
During the turn I played one Sniper card which causes the
enemy to lose a random amount of Command Action Points.
Turn Three
Another Soviet Rifle Squad goes down during some close
quarters combat and I pick up a Pioneer unit as a reinforcement.
During the turn I played one Hasty Defense card to protect
the reinforcements as they came into the battle.
Turn Four
I use two German Rifle Squads and a Pioneer Squad to trap a
Soviet Rifle Squad while playing another Sniper card to deny the enemy some of
their CAP.
Turn Five (Final)
I advance one of my rifle squads on the damaged Russian
force and eliminate it.
After-Action Reports
I actually like the basic and clean presentation of the end
game statistics as it doesn’t muddy up the screen with a bunch of data that is
not immediately decipherable.
The Germans managed to score the Crossroads Objective points
for all five turns while denying those points to the Soviets, and destroyed a
total of five Red Army units (four rifle squads and one MMG squad) for a final
score of 10-0.
Post Mortem
This is a well-polished demo that plays solid and everything
seems to work. Nothing crashed or hung up on my Windows 7 gaming rig and I am
impressed with the overall product.
Dave makes dice for a number of Kickstarter related games in his spare time:
Was able to play some demo MP games tonight (5/19/14) on the Partisan map and the last ended in a great stalemate:
Board Game
Dave makes dice for a number of Kickstarter related games in his spare time:
Was able to play some demo MP games tonight (5/19/14) on the Partisan map and the last ended in a great stalemate:
Tim, I have the game and have not played it enough. It is solid and the scenarios can get quite complex. It is worth picking up at some point and I bet it will be a game that gets discounted with the weekly Matrix sale soon. I don't think it has been yet and they are working through all of their top titles.
ReplyDeleteI really like the AP system of this game. I tend to play it with the boardgame view turned on too, which really makes it look like a table top game. I find I keep turning to this or LnL: Heroes of Stalingrad over Combat Mission since both are easier and fast to play.
ReplyDeleteUpdated with new screen shots from the box game.
ReplyDelete