Tag Archives: Drive On Stalingrad

Quite The Beating – Part 2

 

Oh my!  Things really start falling apart during the German 4th Turn.  A Hitler Directive has forced a German stop order along the Northern Don, but the gap east of the Black Sea can’t be plugged.  Note that the Black Sea is now the Dead Sea (upper left corner), filled with Soviet casualties.

The best I can do is try to firm up the shoulder, and hope the units along the southern Don, adjacent to the Black Sea can hold.

No luck.  Tim’s too good to mess this opportunity up, and the Soviet defenses are rolled up from the east.  Meanwhile, his infantry units advance in the center.

Not much I can do at this point.   By the end of Turn 5,  my reinforcements are too far east to have any impact.

By the end of the German 6th turn, the Soviet defenses have collapsed, and the Caucasus is wide open for exploitation.

We called the game at this point.  Quite The Beating!!!

But…..a rematch has been scheduled for the Spring.

Quite The Beating – Part 1

Tim drove over to “The Dry Side” for another game of Drive on Stalingrad.  Our first try was over 2 years ago.  This time, he had the Germans and I the Soviets.  Things did not go well for the Soviets.  Here’s a link to a quick overview of the game at BGG.

The Soviets must cover their designated initial front with units or their zones of control (ZOCs).  For the most part, the units are drawn at random, with strengths revealed only at first combat. As you can see, things are a little thin on the ground.  North is to the readers right.

During Turn 1, Tim started clearing out Soviets in the north, while waiting to begin his attacks in the South.  The Soviets received reinforcements.  Again, most of these have unknown combat strength.  They must be placed in either cities or at rail hexes along the north map edge.  Soviet rail capacity is 10 units, with infantry and headquarters counting as one, with armor counting as three.  Soviet headquarters provide supply within a hex radius printed on the counter (2-5).  Unsupplied units move/attack/defend at half strength.

By the end of his Turn 2, Tim has advanced toward the Don River in the north, and is beginning to attack in the south.  Units can leave Zones of Control only by combat.  The exception is when the Soviet player declares a strategic withdrawal.  This costs victory points.  I am willing to pay the points to get the majority of my units moving back to the east and south.  However, delaying units can be effective and some are left behind to defend at half strength.

For my part, there is a general withdrawal with some units remaining behind to delay.  I also begin constituting a reserve in the vicinity of Stalingrad.  This reserve is comprised of several units which hopefully can mount an effective counterattack.

Tim continues his advance during Turn 3, but his infantry divisions are still being delayed by Soviet resistance.  He does a very good job of using his ability to overrun units not only in the movement phase, but also in a subsequent mechanized movement phase.

While the Soviets  build a “shoulder” to the northeast of the German’s southern advance, and move additional armored units toward the Black Sea from Stalingrad, there is a dangerous gap just east of the Black Sea.  This will be my undoing…….

Tim’s Take

Here are Tim’s thoughts:

  • As the German, I’m not sure it if is better to do overruns before combat or afterwards.  More than once, I had a stack stopped and left out of position for the combat phase when it received an adverse result on the CRT.  Maybe overruns are best used to disrupt a key soviet unit (most likely a headquarters unit).  I tried that once and it seemed to work well.
  • I forgot that ZOC’s don’t extend across the Don (even though you reminded me…probably the beer had an impact…).  That explains why I put so much time and effort into that area.  I was trying to extricate a couple of motorized divisions that had gotten ZOC’d up and that I wanted to use elsewhere.  Just like Hougomont at Waterloo, a subsidiary battle took on a life of its own.
  • I belatedly realized that I’d captured Voronezh on turn 2.  There are three hexes of Voronezh and I thought you had to capture all of them to get the VPs for the city…I only needed the two I had captured right away.
  • The Hitler directives do play a role.  I lost a motorized division when I had too many motorized/panzer units in the north and I was reluctant to move units across the Don as I was afraid that a bad die roll would result in them being taken away and sent somewhere else.
  • I enjoyed playing the game and I definitely want to try it again.

Turns 2-5

During Turn 2, the Germans advanced in the north and south, cleaning up Soviet delaying units in the center.  The Soviets pushed reinforcements to conform with the requirement for a continuous line along the Don, as well as in the center.  For the Soviets, the initial crisis has seemed to pass.

End Soviet Turn 2

The Axis continues to develop its attacks in the north and south, while cautiously advancing in the center.

End Axis Turn 3

Soviet reinforcements continue to arrive, with some deploying on the south map anticipating the Axis will “turn the corner” at Rostov.

End Soviet Turn 3

Heavy combat takes place in the north and south, with Axis units now advancing in the center,

End Soviet Turn 4

Intense fighting continues.  The Germans take Rostov and begin moving south.  Soviet forces tenaciously defend in the north, but gaps are appearing in the center.  Fortunately, the bulk of the Axis armor is deployed elsewhere.

End Axis Turn 5

As usual, we had to pick it up just when things were getting interesting.  BTW, this is a 27 turn game…..

 

Opinions, Rules & Playability

Lots of mixed opinions on this game, with the negative a little on the harsh side.

Special rules make Drive on Stalingrad different from its PGG predecessors. For the Axis player, these rules reflect the overarching goal of securing oil resources in the south, Hitler’s operational interference, and competing manpower requirements at Leningrad. For the Soviets, the rules reflect Stalin’s directives and political considerations. Failure to adhere to these special rules results in either a loss of victory points or units.

Most of the on-line discussion centers around the “Hitler Directives” rules. At the beginning of each turn, the German player roles a single die. On an “odd” result, the Directive Table is consulted. These directives involve operational priorities and troop dispositions. A directive remains in effect until it is superceded by another directive.

Hitler’s impact is also reflected in “No Retreat” orders, and the imperative to capture cities. Failure to adhere to these guidelines results in a loss of victory points.

Another Axis operational constraint is “Divisions Across The Don”. If the number of divisions exceeds those called for by the current Hitler Directive, then those divisions are removed for use on other fronts.

The Axis Commander is also limited in the number of mechanized divisions allowed on the north map. If this number is exceeded, these excess divisions are removed.

Both Soviet and Axis players must maintain “Continuous Fronts” on the South map, in which each hex must be occupied by a unit or a zone of control. If not, victory points are lost.

The Soviet player may withdraw from enemy zones of control during a turn, but loses victory points. And, the Soviet player must defend East of the Don River, or lose victory points.

Sure, these rules effect how the game is played; but they are part of the game. Without these rules, the game wouldn’t exist within any historical context. Frustrating, yes. Maybe in this regard, it can be considered a simulation. Axis and Soviet commanders were influenced by higher leadership, and these influence/interference directly effected operations.

Flawed? That’s always a matter of perspective and, even, taste. For me, its flaws are fewer than many games I’ve played.

Drive On Stalingrad – Getting Started

Had a great experience with Drive On Stalingrad (DOS) this weekend over at Tim’s.  Of course, there was football to view, but we were able to get several turns in after our late Friday afternoon setup and initial play-thru.  As always, the first turn was brutal, so it was a quick re-set for Saturday’s action.

The basic system is taken from Panzergruppe Guderian.  However, there are important differences.  I’ll discuss these as the game narrative progresses.

Victory is determined by cities controlled, each of these has point value.  The Axis player (yes, there are Romanians and Hungarians) automatically wins if his victory point total is three times greater than his opponent.

Each side has constraints to their initial dispositions.  The Soviet player must remain on or within a ZOC of an initial defense line stretching across the northernmost of the two game maps.  The Axis player cannot use all of his units during the first turn.

Here’s the initial setup.  North is to the left.  Only the ten or so hexes to the right are in the South map.

The Soviet player has a very limited ability to start with a defense in depth.  On the other hand, the inability to leave ZOCs slows progress for the Axis player, unless a Soviet unit is eliminated or forced to withdraw two hexes.  However, the CRT is relatively bloodless up to 10:1 odds, with most results requiring the choice between withdrawal or a step loss(es).  Punching big holes for the second movement phase (armor/mechanized units only), takes time.

Tim concentrated his armor in the North and South, aggressively advancing in the North.

The Soviets receive 27 (!) units as reinforcements in Turn 1.  A total of three can be placed in a major city, with one each in smaller cities.  Eleven units can move up to 40 hexes by rail.  All I could do was patch up some type of defense in the North, and start pushing reinforcements eastward as fast as possible, using every city I could.

One terrible mistake was to allow the German SS unit to cut my rail line at Voronezh.  Any reinforcements coming by rail from the north had “to take the long way around.”  As a result, three Soviet units were left as a “forlorn hope” to hopefully slow down an Axis infantry advance in the center.