Through the marsh and down the road to Zimitsov’s Farm we go!

Battlelines: Drive on Stalingrad is the latest WWII card game on the market by Lost Battalion Games. Below is a replay from a recent mission. It is by no means a full review of the game, but gives some of the mechanics and flavor of a session. It’s more for someone who has the game already and wants to see a full mission played through while referring to the cards and rules. But the session report, after action, and overall impression may be of interest to someone considering purchasing the game.

This is a replay of a mission from the Drive on Stalingrad campaign played on 6/12/03. Just for fun, and a play test of mismatched forces, the units involved, mission information, and locations are as follows:

Axis 9th Panzer Division (9th PD from Drive on Stalingrad set)
Soviet 112th Rifle Division (112th RD from Streets of Stalingrad set)
Mission - Action Report 319 from Drive on Stalingrad
Each side starts with 4 formations from which 1 is discarded.

(objective - 36pts) Zimitsov’s Farm 36 Pts. (ZF - Axis) III/102nd Artillery Batt
Bakka Ypepemyxuna (Bakka Y- Axis) 10th Motorized Reg. HQ 10th Motorized Rifle Batt (on top)
Don Marshes (Don M-Axis) (Control cost 3)
Kalatch-Romanchkin Road (K-R rd -Axis) (Soviet) I/385th Rifle Batt.
Bakka Nuuyia (Bakka N) 385th Rifle Reg. HQ III/385th Rifle Batt (on top)
(Soviet Base - 17pts) Dukovka Road Junction (DRJ - Soviet)

The formations shown above are the initial starting locations. There are no units in the Don Marsh.

I did not keep a list of the cards in hand. If they are played, assume that they came from the player hand. All player hands were refilled to the minimum at the end of each player turn. The decks were well shuffled and the cards played as they were dealt so to speak.

The Session

It is the Fall of 1942 and the Axis Juggernaut is pushing across the Russian steppes on their drive to the oil rich Caucuses. The Soviets are mounting a small counterstrike from the critical road junction of Dukovka against Axis armor forces building up at the recently captured Zimitsov Farm. The German Command shies away from deploying any forces in the Don Marshes in the event that the oncoming Fall rains turn the ground to mud and bog down the armor advance of the 9th Panzer Division. Knowing this, the Soviets decide to try and push their infantry through the marshes and make a quick dash for the farm surprising the Axis forces. A small diversionary Soviet force of the I/385th Rifle Battalion is stationed to hold the Kalatch-Romachkin Road while the main strike force is assembled under the protective walls of the Bakka Nuuyia. As expected, the Germans mass their forces on firmer ground at the Bakka Ypepemyxuna (say that five times fast!) for a push up the Red left flank.

The Soviets spring the surprise and quickly take control of the Don Marshes, though they find little in the way of cover should the Hun decide to retaliate in force. This activity now creates a thorn in the side of the Axis as they must beef up defense and deal with the pesky infantry lest they themselves are outflanked and overcome. They quickly mobilize a small but beefy motorized battalion (the 1/11th) with a distinguished leader bearing the Knight’s Cross, and move to eradicate this development. With a concerted attack and some supporting artillery, the Red Army is pushed back to the shelter of their Balkas as they are forced to withdraw. Luckily for the ground troops, they dispersed with minimal damage. Though scattered and disorganized, they live to fight another day for Mother Russia. Unfortunately for the Germans, the Soviets still control the Marshes, that as expected, have slowed the German advance and delayed their plans. The wide marsh expanse is a tough area to take and hold, and leaves armor exposed to air attack. The offensive failure causes the Soviets to rethink their plan and beef up their defenses at Bakka Nuuyia.

Meanwhile the Germans start their expected drive to take the Kalatch-Romachkin road and drive their armor towards the critical road junction the easy way. The Soviets learn quickly that it’s hard to stop a tank with bullets. But a sniper does take his toll on the distinguished German leader in the Don Marshes. The Knight’s Cross is removed from around his neck to be sent home while his body is interned in the soft Russian soil before winter makes it too hard for digging. The Soviets are also busy mining the marshes. This pretty much assures that the Germans will have to find another route of advance and safely eliminates the need to defend them any further.

Ultimately, the Blitzkrieg tactics of the Axis are too swift for the Red infantry to keep up with as they manage to drive right through the defending road forces on their way to the junction. The Soviet Headquarters under direction of their leader to hold the junction puts up a final valiant effort to hold the junction, but through mismanagement and poor communication, the entire Headquarters unit is caught by surprise and annihilated. Better to die in battle than from one of Stalin’s own bullets. “We need more air and artillery support” was the last broken radio intercept from Soviets to their rear echelon. Time for the Red Army to fall back, regroup, and dig in. Stavka will probably cause a few more heads to be lost over this fiasco.

The mission played out as follows (Soviet plays first):

Turn 1 - Soviets draw 2 orders. Activate text on III/385th RB and advance on Don Marshes Place a stack from the hand on DRJ of II/385th RB with Anti-tank guns attachment card

Turn 1 - Axis draws 1 order. Play stack of cards on ZF. I/11th MRB with a Knight’s Cross Leader and Panzer IIIj Company, and the 9th Panzer Div. HQ at bottom of stack.

Turn 2 - Soviets draw 3 orders and use all 3 to take control of the Don Marshes (control cost 3)

Turn 2 - Axis draws 2 orders Activate stack with I/11th MRB and attachments (on top). First use text on Knights cross to chance an Initiative Order Check 1x which fails. Then use text on formation card to advance stack to Don Marshes along with the III/102nd Arty (still on bottom of stack). Activate text on 9th PzHQ to Plan 5.

Turn 3 - Soviet draw 2 orders Activate the II/385th at base DRJ and March stack to Bakka N. Activate text on 385th HQ at Bakka N to forage, then March entire stack to Don Marshes (which is now under Soviet control - this is a march from a friendly location to a location under friendly control even though it has enemy units in the attack position).

Turn 3 - Axis draws 2 orders Use text on formation I/11th Knights Cross text first Initiative 2x which passes its chance check of 4 (due to excellent card stacking from the previous turn) and resulting in three more orders obtained. Then use the text for Observer on Knight’s Cross to call in an arty strike from the III/102nd onto the Don Marshes where the II/385th is the top formation. Results of 14 (8+6 card pull) vs. 6 (5+1 terrain defense) resulting in 2 hit cards. The hit cards drawn are a Hold 2,4 and a Hold 1,4. The chance check fails and the II/385th is withdrawn along with its attached cards. Now the Combat text off the Knight’s Cross is used for the I/11th with its attachments to attack the 385th HQ formation (now on top) with direct fire. The Soviets attack with a result of 5 vs. 5 for 1 hit card. The result is 1 Hit, Hold on 4,7. The I/11th takes 1 hit and passes the chance check to hold and is able to second fire. The second fire results are 11 vs. 4 for 2 hit cards, both of which have hits and kill the 385th HQ for the first points in the game. The next order activates text on the 9th PzHQ again for a Plan 5. The text is now activated on the III/102nd arty for a Barrage - in Contact on the remaining Soviet card in the Don Marshes, the III/385th RB. The resulting Barrage is 16 (8 yellow chevron + 8 card draw) vs. 6 (5 defense + 1 DM defense factor) for 2 hit cards. Both cards are Hold cards without hits, but the chance check to hold fails and the III/385th is withdrawn. The Don Marshes are now clear of Soviet units, but the Axis doesn’t have enough remaining orders to take control of the area. An order is used to play a Cross of Iron Leader on the I/10th MRB at Bakka Y.

Turn 4 - Soviets draw 2 orders. First a free card Elite Snipers is played on the Knight’s Cross leader on the Don Marshes. The chance check passes and the leader card is eliminated. Use an order to play a stack to DRJ (base) of I/436th Arty, III/524th RB, and 112th Sappers Activate text to March the III/524th RB and 112th Sappers to Bakka N leaving the I/436th Arty to defend the base.

Turn 4 - Axis draws 2 orders Activate text on 9th PzHQ to Plan 5 (reordering is the key to winning) Activate text on I/10th MRB with Cross of Iron and Advance them to KR rd. Initiate combat from Attack position. There is no draw for First Fire since the I/10th MRB has a blue shield and can only be attacked by units that have a blue chevron. Note: I had mistakenly pulled cards for First Fire and the result was a 4/4 tie which would have caused simultaneous fire if the Soviets were capable of attack. The results were 11 vs. 6 for 1 hit card. This resulted in 1 Hit, Hold on 2,4,6 which the Soviet chance check passes.

Turn 5 - Soviets draw 2 orders A minefield is played on the Don Marshes location (which the Soviets still control even though there are no Soviet units there and the Axis has been unable to take control of). This will effectively require the Axis to spend 5 orders to take control of the Don Marshes which is just not worth the effort. The second order is used to activate the I/436th Arty and bring down a Barrage Target in cover 5 or less on the I/10th MRB units at KR rd. This is done from the adjacent Soviet base location DRJ. Note: Arty can attack units in adjacent locations with or without Observers limited only by any text restrictions on the card. The barrage results in no hits 5 (3 + 2 card draw) vs. 6.

Turn 5 - Axis draws 2 orders A Tactics aircraft strike is played on the I/385th at the KR rd. with a 7 vs. 5 causing 1 hit card. The result is Hold 4,5 which the Soviet fails causing the unit to withdraw. The Axis units take control of the position for free. Text on the I/10th is activated to advance them to the Soviet base DRJ and attack. The Soviet Arty there cannot attack the MRB since they don’t have a number in their blue chevron. The attack is 8 vs. 5 resulting in 1 card which is a 1 Hit and Hold 2,4,7 which they pass. The base still has not fallen.

Turn 6 - Soviets draw 2 orders The Tactics card “That’s an Order” is played to use the I/436th Arty to fire on the I/10th MRB. The attack fails to result in any damage. The last order is used to deploy a stack with the 524th Rifle Reg. HQ with an attached 524th Colonel to the base DRJ.

Turn 6 - Axis draws 2 orders Text on the 9th PzHQ is used to Plan 5 (such a great card) Activate the I/10th MRB with the Cross of Iron Leader. Use the Combat text on the Leader card first. The Soviets get First Fire and miss. The I/10th MRB attacks at 7 vs. 4 (DRJ has a 0 defense shield) and get 1 hit card. The card drawn is hit 1 killing the HQ and taking the Leader with it to the Axis victory pile. Now the combat text on the formation card is used resulting in a final hit on the remaining I/436th Arty, killing it and ending the mission with the fall of the Soviet base.

Total German Losses - 0
Total Soviet Losses (including base pts.) - 56
Neither side opted to pull reinforcement cards making them available for the next mission. The Soviet 112th, II/385th and III/385th in the withdrawn pile did not have any hits on them and will be shuffled into the deck for the next mission.

After Action Report

This mission went pretty much as expected. The Juggernaut of a Panzer Division against a Rifle Division gave the predicted results. It’s very difficult to stop the Axis cards with armor shields when your rifle divisions don’t have the capability to attack them. They truly become cannon fodder.

The best Soviet tactic with the 112th Rifle Division is to hammer the enemy with artillery. Use battlefield cards to slow the enemy and make any advances use maximum resources. If things really look bad, use Forage to deplete your deck and minimize the enemy’s victory points by ending the mission as soon as possible. There are plenty of Soviet cards to get rid of enemy Leaders. This needs to be done to keep them from gaining further Initiative and orders. Save your bombing missions and barrages to force the armor and motorized unit into withdrawal. If possible, use your big push of infantry for an end run around the enemy armor in a drive for the objective.

The axis probably should have started out with units in the Don Marshes since it was under their control to begin with. Losing it to the Soviets caused more resources to be expended in retaking it and ultimately they could have been better used. A 3-order card never came up for the Axis, thus once the Marshes fell, they could never be regained. Once the Soviets mined them, it was futile to even bother with that route of attack. Once the I/10th MRB was on the table, they were blitzed into the weak Soviet left flank where their infantry couldn’t put up a fight. The push up the road location is a much better route since it provided less cover to the enemy than through the Bakka. With the motorized advantage, the trick was to push hard and fast to obliterate the Soviet base. It’s a good thing the mud and snow hadn’t set in yet. It’s critical to watch what formation you leave on the top of your stack when it’s not your turn. Better to leave artillery on top protecting a HQ if that’s all you have there since the HQ may have better text to execute.

It would be interesting to have a rematch between these units in the Streets of Stalingrad where the Soviet infantry has an advantage.

Overall Impression

I really enjoyed playing this mission. The variety of cards provides many options and possibilities. The luck of the draw in combat keeps battle from being a certain outcome. Even the play of missions is not linear, with each mission giving you new locations with their benefits of cover and/or defensive shortcomings. Even though the campaign was the Drive on Stalingrad, I couldn’t help evoke an image from the movie Enemy at the Gates, when my Soviet sniper team took out the German Leader with the Knight’s Cross. I felt like I had control of my forces during the game. There were critical choices to be made in whether to deploy more units, mobilize and utilize the ones in play, or even use a Tactics or Fog of War card to throw a curveball at the enemy when they least expect it. This game has definite replay value. It has critical elements that allow you to mitigate the amount of luck in the game from the recycling of cards out of the discard pile, to pre-arranging cards in your draw pile. The game plays fast also, as each player has only a limited amount of orders to accomplish their game plan. There is potential for planning strikes or reactionary defense. There is also plenty of player interaction through the combat element whether you’re initiating a full out strike or launching a fighter-bomber attack. Finally, It fills a perfect WWII card game niche between the tactical card combat in the classic game Up Front (AH) and the strategic play of the recent release, Battlecards (DGA). This one is almost pegging out the db levels on the Mulder Meter for the time being.