One of the reasons I was excited about attending this year's Europafest was that it gave me an opportunity to give Sudden Storm a real workout in a convention setting. Several experienced players had already contacted me asking to participate, so when I arrived in San Jose all that remained was to round up the volunteers and choose sides. During the selection process several other bystanders enlisted, and so both teams were fully staffed when play began. Here is my recollection of the match that followed.

The Teams

Flavio Carrillo, Europa's Young Turk, agrees (after suitable arm-twisting) to head the Soviet team. In addition to allocating resources and directing strategy, Flavio occasionally assumes personal command where the action is hottest. Robin Roberts, besides serving as an able second-in-command, runs the Southwest Front. Steve Graham and Bruce Wright round out STAVKA as the Northern Front commanders.

As head of the Axis team I assign Jack Gillespie to command Finland, Rick Cambron to head AGN, Sam Dahman to direct AGC, and David Glassel to run Romania. After issuing a general plan of action ("Move east really fast and attack a lot!"), I assume the reins of AGS and proceed to ignore the rest of the board, much to the detriment of those commanders who actually expect coherent directives from OKH.

[As an aside, David Glassel proved to be an exceptionally interesting teammate. A longtime wargamer, he had never played Europa before and came to Europafest to find out what it was all about. I put him in charge of Romania and began to tutor him. David is obviously a sharp individual and talented gamer, because by the Aug I turn he was executing his own moves with competence. Here is solid proof Sudden Storm can be an excellent vehicle to draw other wargamers to Europa.]

Initial Set Up and Planning

Since we are using my game, play does not start until Thursday night shortly after I arrive. (Note to Winston: Fly me in Wednesday next year!) The opening set up progresses rapidly since the counters are pre-sorted by Army.

(Note: I caught a lot of grief when Flavio detected that the units were sorted by historical designation. There was a method to this madness, however: I wanted to be able to detect when I got home if any counters were lost. Happily, none were.)

The Soviets decide that they do not have enough units to construct a NODL along the border, so STAVKA orders construction of the strongest possible single line of defense. This translates into a solid wall of 8-point stacks, many of them combat/motorized.

AGC notices that Minsk is garrisoned only by the 100th Rifle XX (6-6). The division can be overrun by the 60-point panzer stack in the exploit phase, since Minsk is treated as a dot city on the Jun II 41 turn. This maneuver becomes the focal point of the Axis opening move.

Second Front: First Battlefield Report Origins/Europafest 1994

Sudden Storm at the Fest Teams and Set Up
June and July 1941
August and September 1941
October 1941 and Conclusion