Ring of Fire, which covers the fourth battle for Kharkov on a division/brigade scale with one-day turns, is MiH’s second release, and it is quite a nice package indeed, thanks to art director John Kranz. We are treated to a well-written book of rules and good player aid sheets. The counters are quite colorful and readable, sporting detailed silhouettes of the tank and air units involved, all of which bear a startling resemblance to the other Kharkov game under discussion, below. No need for alarm, as Kranz did the counter art for both games, apparently using a Waste Not, Want Not philosophy.
Kranz also did RoF’s map, which, at 2km per hex, gives us a nice overview of the rather flat countryside, with some rivers, lots of fortification lines, and enough forest to make James Watt see a load of deforestation dollar-signs. Unfortunately, the forest, which resembles nothing less than a cross between moss and chlorophyll kitty litter, is visually somewhat less successful than the rest of the map.
Most joyously, RoF offers far more than the typical move/fight/mech move Eastfronter. RoF has no separate “mech move” sequence. Instead, it has Reserve movement and Combat following the regular movement and combat phases, a mechanic that is also featured, albeit differently, in the Ritchie Kharkov. Here, any unit that doesn’t move more than half its regular allowance can move and fight, with limitations. Use of reserves can gain you important real estate (offensively), or halt an enemy offensive in its tracks (defensively). the side which uses their reserves most shrewdly will soon reap the laurels of victory … or at least stave of total annihilation.
Another bright gem is the special tank combat rules, wherein the tanks with the higher ratings get to roll first, and more often, when determining combat. This is bad news for the Soviets, who have lots more tanks than his Teutonic counterpart, but all of them have tank ratings of ‘1’, except for his lone KV-85. In comparison, 11 of the 29 Nazi tanks sport a ‘4’. This rating is supposed to represent not only the fantastic capabilities of machines such as the ultra-nasty Panther and Tiger 1’s, but also the superior training and experience of their crews. Curiously, this seems to ignore all those veteran Ruski tankmen fresh from their victories at Kursk, as well as some of the great Russian tanks, like the IS-2, T-34/76, etc. Also missing is one of my favorites, the original “Proud Monster”, the Soviet SU-152 self-propelled assault gun (as seen on the front page of BROG #14).
To exacerbate this situation, the Soviet armor is given artificially low movement rates. The reasons expounded by Designer Desch has much to do with, competitive play, restrictive Soviet war doctrine, and the tankers’ anxiety-ridden lives. (I didn’t know Freud was a gamer!) I say that this is all propaganda, and to hell with ‘em. At this time in the war, the Soviets were fielding very competent combined arms forces, forces which later engineered the doom of their fascist opponents and made the Soviets the happy, albeit temporary, landlords of Eastern Europe. Checking the nationalities of the credit list for RoF one gets a whiff of good, old-fashioned anti-Soviet bias.
There is no historical set-up to the game, so the players are free to screw up the important initial deployments themselves. All of the Soviet combat formations start on board, and nearly all of the New Order Boys are there,, with the bulk of the German tank divisions arriving, rescue-cavalry like, later on. The Godless Communists simply receive a steady trickle of replacements, which allow the Soviet dicer to play in traditional, “there’s plenty more where they came from” style. Needless to say, a good initial placement of line troops and reserves is vital to victory.
The Boys in Red start the ball rolling with the usual mob of Guards rifle divisions, backed by mobile reserves, pitted against the thin gray line of Germans “en fortification”. They also have twice as much air, and a big leg up with some ferocious heavy artillery barrage capability. On the other hand, when they take a fortification hex, the Soviets, not having their NSDAP membership cards ready at hand, do not get to use them! Given the all-around defend capabilities of such hexes, combined with the Simonitch-origin ZOC-link hex system, it takes a concerted effort to chew up the defenders. If the hex is fully stacked with eight steps, you may be in for a long siege. You can always opt for the “maximum effort” dieroll, wherein both sides take double losses. Strangely, there are no retreats on the CRT, as Herr Desch doesn’t appear to think that these armies had any kind of morale problem, an attitude that could probably be attributable to Hitler’s directive (or ranting rave, depending on how you view it), that “Kharkov must be held.”
After set-up, RoF plays fairly quickly, with lots of crucial decisions to make, although it is not quite as fast as the Stalingrad Pocket murder fest, probably because the German High Command had learned not to trust those Run-Away Romanians to protect their flanks. Even though the German lines are a tough nut to crack, they are thinly held. If units are placed at the front line to offer a maximum defense, this weakens their reserves, and, once the German runs out of reserves, things start going very well indeed for the Armies of World Socialism … until the panzers arrive. These are the rather nasty SS division mostly known for tacky names, such as “Der Fuhrer”, “Totenkoph”, and the like. The “Wiking” panzergrenadiers contained some of the meanest Norwegians this side of a dockyard herring bar.
RoF advertises itself as a moderately easy, enjoyable and competitive game. This, happily, is far truer in advertising than most of the usual boxback claims. (Then again, it also swears it is a great solitaire game, with which I agree only with some reluctance.) The clarity of the rules, together with their wealth of examples, make its 18 pages a breeze, especially while your opponent struggles through the tone-deaf 60 minute audio help-tape, a tape whose minimal joys are constantly shattered by a phone ringing in the background.
Probably Uncle Joe, calling from the grave, to see how the battle’s going.
CAPSULE COMMENTS
Graphical presentation: High quality, clean, sharp and detailed.
Playability: Easy to jump into, with the Soviets a bit hamstrung in the interest of balance. Solitaire is good, but not THAT good.
Replayability: Only two scenarios, but the ease of play and desire to try out different strategies help.
Wristage: Moderate
Creativity: Desch has expertly blended ease of play with innovative design.
Historicity: Fair to good.
Comparisons: Only game on Kharkov IV, with Kharkov III being covered by the Victory Boys, Last (CoA) and Lost (GMT, see below). Actually, of all the Kharkov games, I still like Jack Radey’s Duel for Kharkov best.
Overall: Solid design with good presentation. Worth the bucks.
from MiH
1 22”x34” map, 360 counters, 4 Cards, Audio Cassette; boxed.
MiH, c/o Admiralty House, POB 6253, Los Osos CA 93412. $32.
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© Copyright 1993 by Richard Berg
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