Ron
Posts: 506
Joined: 6/6/2002 Status: offline
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Purely anecdotal so take it for what it's worth. I dropped the game quite some time ago as the 'warts' were too many to overlook. However, a long time opponent talked me into buying the Lost Battles expansion and we started a new GC again. Neither one of us are great players though I am usually the stronger in most instances. Our previous game ended mid-late '42 as I recall due to mutual real life constraints etc, the situation did not favour either side at the time with the Germans only capturing Leningrad out of the big three. As the Germans in the latest game, I knew something was up by about turn 3 as the Russian defenders were considerably more resiliant than I remembered, requiring in many cases deliberate attacks to displace. The Russian ant units previously had a tendency to retreat and not rout, but now it seemed most units were simply not routing. By turn 8, when we put it on hold and likely to be abandoned, I had run into a wall of high CV Russian defenders pretty much all along the front. What's worse this early, and really too much, are the Russian Reserve activations which require a huge German committiment to overcome, if at all. The thing is this is probably the tipping point to the game as we both know the Russian will only continue to get more numerous, and stronger and stronger. No need to even worry about the 'horrendous' Blizzard rules to come! I did read the Readme and changes, but the significance of the morale changes did not really sink in until playing with them. The game always slightly favored the Russians in many aspects but this is over the top imo and is to the detriment of any head-head play unless the German is a master player versus a less experienced Russian. I don't regret the money spent though I do the time invested. It seems this games is a design in conflict with so many questionable, untested and unfinished aspects. Oh well.
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