1 11" x 17" map, 25 event chits, 130 counters, rules ; bagged for $4.95 or in the magazine for $7.95. From One Small Step (916) 362-0875) One Small Step, bloodied, bankrupt but unbowed, still haunts the game store shelves with their release of Der Kessel in Competitive Edge #12 which also includes a boardgame on Battletech-oid futuristic transforming animé-like robot war machines called Battlechrome. These games were also pulled from the magazine, folded, bagged, and sold separately for $4.95. This is one of publisher Jon Compton's best ideas, and I hope that he does more of this. I had no use for the magazine, anyway, as it is full of pedantic, boring editorials, out-of-date industry news, reviews of inane roll-playing games, and a guest editorial on how FASA should sue the U. S. Army for infringement use of FASA's trademarked "mech" term. What Compton and Graber give us in Kessel is a solitaire game of the last few weeks when the 6th Army was still on the Reich's payroll books. This, the largest army in the Wehrmacht, is trapped between the Volga and the Don rivers with the remnants of Chuykov's 62nd Army still in possession of the central district of Stalingrad. Six other Soviet armies ring the 6th Army, the weather is terrible, the supply reserves are alarmingly low, and Göring can't possibly live up to his promise of being able to supply the pocket by air. In this grim situation, the player is placed in command of this incapacitated whipping boy There is, though, one faint ray of hope: Hoth's relief force of 13 divisions which is tasked to break through to Paulus and open a corridor of 3000 tons of supplies. Hoth has a long row to hoe for this force must fight through the Soviet 51st Army, 2nd Guards Army, and 5th Shock Army, which it was, historically, completely unable to do. The game's map shows the snowy terrain inside the rivers Volga on the East, the Don to the West and Karpovka River in the South. This area is broken into 64 movement boxes which the rules say are 35-65 miles across which cannot be right since it would cover the area of the entire southern Ukraine. I guess what the rules mean is that the map area covers 35 miles by 65, in total. The interior section of the map is occupied by the 21 6th Army divisions, HQ, and various prepared positions. These unit counters do not have any attack, defense, or movement ratings but are decked out with their divisional designation, armed services' flag, NATO symbol, and picture of the unit type (soldier, soldier next to a half-track, or tank) … taken from Laurient Mirouze's World War II Infantry in Colour Photographs. The main concern of the player - the German - is how to best use initiative points (staff decisions) and the meager supplies airlifted into the pocket, modified by Luftwaffe commitment, weather, and the overall strategic situation of the front, plus how effective Paulus' airlift appeals are that turn. The player can spend an initiative point on an appeal for either more supplies or pleas to be granted freedom of action, meaning permission from Hitler to bug-out. This freedom of action is vital to get in the game, but it is not forthcoming. The player must hold his vital areas (airfields and the other two Stalingrad boxes) along with as many of his perimeter as he can to maintain morale. To do so, IPs and supply must be spent to create battlegroups and prepared positions. Moving units and attacks all cost these precious things too, but there is never enough. As the situation gets more grim, the player is hard pressed to feed all his troops much less have supply to hold the perimeter and go on attacks. Added to this are the random events, some of which can be disastrous. The game is a contest between the relief force and the start of the Soviet final offensive to liquidate the pocket. The relief force has to advance up to five boxes to get to the southern part of the board, where it then must fight some more to link up with the 6th Army, if these positions weren't already cleared. Hoth seems to have an easier time battering his way onto the map than he did historically; looks like the pro-Nazi slant is lurking in these rules, too. Just look at the elaboration of the German decisive victory where Hoth and Manstein destroy Communism, Stalin is shot, and a young agricultural student named Gorbachev sees the light and joins the Russian Motherland (Nazi) Party. Is it only in wargaming where joining the Nazi Party can be viewed as "seeing the light?" Der Kessel is an interesting little game, even though you have to mount and cut the counters. Will the cavalry arrive to save the beleaguered settlers before the Indians clobber them? Those of you who don't care about such rear echelon micro-management, save your five bucks. This is not a game of rapid maneuver and deft attack, which raises the question of why was the 6th Army chosen as the player's focal point for the game. When this army was cut off and isolated by the Operation Uranus Soviet counteroffensive, it became a model of inactivity. Paulus asked Hitler for permission to try to break out of this pocket, but Der Furher would not have it. Paulus would have to depend upon Hoth linking the front back up to him. The 6th could not really fight its way to Hoth at the time of the relief operation as it was paralyzed by the lack of supplies. It seems to me that since the Nazis were playing a completely reactive game here, it would be more interesting to play the Soviet commander, Zhukov, who had the more vigorous role of smashing through the Rumanians on the 6th's flanks, pocketing Paulus, placing reserves in the suspected avenue of the inevitable relief attempt, while also making further attacks against the Italian 8th army. Seems a lot more exciting than playing the hapless invaders in the caldron. I guess there is the perception in the Industry that when playing East Front games, everyone wants to play the Nazis. Not me. I like to play the winners. Overall. Interesting treatment, but for pure solitaire Der Kessel does not rank up with the greats (B-17, Ambush, Hornet Leader, etc.). Back to Berg's Review of Games Vol. 2 #27 Table of Contents Back to Berg's Review of Games List of Issues Back to MagWeb Master Magazine List © Copyright 1998 by Richard Berg This article appears in MagWeb (Magazine Web) on the Internet World Wide Web. Other military history articles and gaming articles are available at http://www.magweb.com