Warning Order - Wasatch Front Historical Gaming Society

Red VengeanceA few issues ago Iwas singing the praisesof a little game fromAvalanche Press calledDefiant Russia. Now,after about ten timesplaying it, the game isone of my favorites. Red Vengeance isbasically Defiant Russia in reverse, coveringthe destruction of Army GroupCenter in 1944 to the final siege of Berlin.For the same $20 price tag you get asmall map, a few pages of rules, and afew hundred counters. As with DefiantRussia, the graphics aren’t spectacular,but they’re functional and don’t adverselyaffect the game. There are a few morespecial rules than in Defiant Russia andfor the first few games it might be a goodidea to make some victory point objectivemarkers and keep the rules open for theleader effects.The game opens up with a stupendousRussian attack that shattersthe German line in the East.The German player, does however,get to place his panzers before thefirst turn after the Russian setup, sothere is some opportunity to tryvarious strategies. The second and thirdturns find the Germans just trying to formsome sort of line while getting continuouslyhammered.Turns 4-6 see a number of breakthroughswhere the Russian spearheadsbegin driving deep into German heldterritory. Again, the Germans are playingfor time,trying tocontainthe spearheadsandattackingRussianunits thatGame Reviewget too far out in front.Then the weather hits, plusby this time the Russian armorhas outrun it’s infantrysupport, so the Russians need to take afew turns to get re-organized. The Germanslaunch a few counterattacks and getready for the final assault.The last few turns sees fierce fightingin Germany as the German player tries tohang on for dear life and begins to runout of units. Usually, it goes down to thelast one or two turns, much like in DefiantRussia.Overall, another good little game thatis exciting to play. Playing the Germansis not for the meek! Watching your armylose 10-20 units a turn is pretty depressing!If you’ve played the Russians in anyother East Front wargames, then you willenjoy dishing out some payback. Highlyrecommended.The Mighty EndeavorGame ReviewD-Day and the subsequentbreakout from the Normandyregion has always fascinatedme. Unfortunately, I’ve neverrun across too many boardgames on this subject. FortressEuropa was OK, The LongestDay and Atlantic Wall were toobig, and Operation Cobra wasn’tmuch fun except if you werethe Allies!MMP, who now owns The Gamersseries, has released a game on the Normandycampaign in it’s Standard CombatSeries. The SCS series of games all sharethe same basic, six page set of rules, witha supplement for that particular gamegiving special rules, OBs, options, etc….. It’s a pretty straightforward system withlow complexity that harkens back to theclassic wargames of the 70’s and 80’s.The Mighty Endeavor comes with astandard 22” x 34” map, around 300counters(representing division sizedunits), and two rules booklets. The campaigncovers the initial landings in Juneand goes all the way to the end ofthe war, with the map covering allof France, the Low Countries, andabout a third of Germany.Set up is not too bad, but findingthe starting hexes for the Germansis a little tedious. The onething I do like about this treatmentof the subject is the widevariety of landing options that you have.Each beach is rated for the number ofunits it can support for an assault, followon landings, then the number of units thatcan arrive each turn. You also get a numberof beach markers to enable you toconduct several landings after the mainone.I also like theair system as theAllied player receivesa number ofair markers thatcan be used to“dominate” anarea or be used forcolumn shifts incombat as airstrikes. Dominating an areaincreases the power of the airstrikes, limitsstrategic movement, and cuts off theroad bonus for German units in that zone.Basically, the Allied player conducts amain landing somewhere along the coast,followed by a second or possibly a thirdlanding. The Germans rush in to containthe beachheads, then the Allies have tobreakout. The trick for the Germanplayer is knowing when to start fallingback and what units to sacrifice. Theproblem for the Allied player is whichport to seize, which units to ship over,and where to allocate supplies for an offensive.A very basic systemthat plays fast. I especiallylike the wide varietyof options that bothsides have and I reallycan’t see any blowoutshappening with this gameas both sides are prettyevenly matched. Highlyrecommended.Page 4WARNING ORDER