dermax
Posts: 4
Joined: 6/15/2010
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After a little back and forth I took the plunge and picked up Barbarossa as a little Christmas gift to myself last week. I'm very glad I did. I spent the first two days - before even starting the game - pouring over the manual. It is beautiful and informative!
It just so happens that I'm currently reading "Barbarossa Unleashed" by Craig Luther. Pairing that book with this game is absolutely awesome. I started playing last night - deciding to dabble for a bit before bed. Four hours (and two turns) later, I snapped back into the realization I had work in the morning. It's that easy to lose yourself.
The scale is wonderful. Large enough to feel like the Russian front, small enough that you can manage it - even a "micromanager" like me. There is just an indescribable feeling when you break through the Russia lines only to find... more Russian lines... and then more Russian lines. No wargame has ever made me feel as aware of what it must have been like to face an apparently inexhaustible foe.
All told I have a few questions and then I plan on starting over; taking what I learned in this first foray and going from there. So here's a couple questions in no particular order - all from the perspective of a German player...
Questions
1) Single divisions vs "Big ass Kampfgruppe". Still getting used to the scale, I feel odd moving single counters around, particularly since the Soviets seem to stack them pretty deep. Last night I had two Panzer divisions and a Motorized division traveling in the same stack. They could wreck anything they came across, but I worry that by keeping my fast divisions stacked I'm cutting down on my "grand encirclement designs" by taking less land. Thoughts?
2) Speaking of grand encirclements. Even reading the manual like it’s my job, I apparently still have a bit of an issue with encirclements and what they actually accomplish. Last night I pulled off a pretty nice – if I do say so myself – encirclement around Bialystok only to get wrecked next turn by a Soviet attack out of the pocket… to the west! Maybe I’m confused since, I guess, the turns happen simultaneously, but shouldn’t a unit inside a pocket be suffering some pretty heavy penalties? When do the penalties for being trapped in a pocket kick in? Will being trapped ever cause “surrender” or do you have mop up each pocket by force? Finally, do you have to actively surround a pocket with troops or could you – by way of a deep and wide thrust – create enough of a zone of control that enemies would be unable to break out due to penalties?
Suggestions
1) About the only thing that has caught my eye thus far is lowering the PP cost for assigning “Army Group” artillery in the first turn. I can understand once the campaign is underway it would take some clout to withdraw artillery from one army and shift it to another. On the first turn, however, wouldn’t one assume that even “supporting the blitzkrieg” the artillery would be positioned with the correct army and ready to go on turn two without a 5 PP investment? It’s not like having them sit idle is a “tough decision”.
Anyway... brilliant game thus far. I'm very excited for more quality playtime in it; and whatever you decided to do for a sequel. Or 1942 expansion ;)
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