Introduction

I have played Europa since the beginning back in 1973 and followed its germination into its current form with varied degrees of enthusiasm through the years. During the last 5 years I have been playing hard with a dedicated group and we tackled FitE and SE in the fall of 1992. The game lasted one and a half years "real time" and we managed to play through the Jul 143 turn. The purpose of this report is to give some feedback on some of the experimental rules that have recently come to the fore in the magazine.

Before relating the specifics of the test game, I would like to tell you my impressions of FitE/SE prior to playing. I always felt that the system shortchanged the Germans in the "invisible" arts of war: command and control, flexibility of combined arms and utilization of air forces; these historically allowed them time and again to fight outnumbered and still win. Even though an admitted fan of the blitzkrieg (must be my cavalry background), I thought the ability to wage a set-piece battle was critical in a Europa-level simulation; i.e., to be accurate, the system must show maneuver warfare as well as attritional warfare.

Experimental Rules Set

With these precepts, the following rules were used for our game. All optional rules were used except Partisan Rule 40. In addition, several special rules were used (with a special nod to Victor Hauser for being patient and spending an hour on the phone with me discussing the pros and cons):

1. Balkan Front rules were utilized for the basic game mechanics. The key was the more liberal admin movement.

2. The revised air rules from TEM #25 by Gary Dickson, which are very close to what appeared in Second Front, were used. The flexible DAS and revised interception ranges proved most critical in our game.

3. German Reaction Move: If a German c/m unit did not move in its exploitation phase, it had the opportunity to move 1/2 its movement allowance before the Soviet exploitation phase. Only to be used in friendly-owned hexes.

4. RR Engineer Rules Revisions (from TEM #19, pgs 9-10).

5. Low-odds Overrun Rule (TEN #5, pg 16). Used as written except all Soviet non-guards units suffered mobility limits as per SE rules for Soviet armored divisions/cadres. (They could not start in ZOC of an enemy unit and attempt low-odds overruns nor could they have combat in the combat phase and then attempt a low-odds overrun in the exploit phase. They could still move and do a standard overrun, but not a low-odds overrun. This forced the Soviets to mass their armor for any decisive blow.)

6. Special Replacements were calculated by dividing by 2 for the Germans and Finns, and by 3 for everyone else.

7. "Improved Fort" Rules (from TEM #27, pg 43).

8. Increased Soviet Replacements starting Jun II 41 (per Victor as Charles Sharp has advocated). Dot cities give 1 RE per turn until occupied, border districts only. Increase by +1 all regular Soviet replacements from all sources until Sep 11 41. Soviets were allowed to build 15 REs per district instead of 10 to help them digest this increase in a realistic manner.

9. All Soviet tank/mech units start at full strength in the border districts with a 50% change of forming a cadre as soon as the first Axis unit moves into ZOC. Axis first turn only. Chrome only, added some excitement for the first turn. Had no material effect on the game.

10. Soviet Tank Army HQ Rule (from TEM #32, pg 21).

11. NKVD political troops were non-motorized.

12. Artillery divisions except Guards Rocket Artillery divisions were not allowed to advance after combat.

The Course of the Game

The game went very much according to history as far as the ebb and flow, right to the end. Initially, the front was pierced in many areas. Large pockets of Soviets were destroyed (over 1700 strength points in 1941 alone; German losses were over 400), but the front was never truly lacking due to the huge Soviet replacement rate. As an aside, I feel that isolated units should be harder to replace than normal; one way to handle this would be to put them in a separate replacement pool and have them cost an extra RP to replace.

The initial drive of the Germans succeeded in taking Leningrad, although in a replay I don't think the Soviet team would make the same mistakes that lead to its fall. Kalinin also fell, along with the Valdai Hills. Tula was besieged. Orel and Kursk had fallen, but Kharkov was holding out in a strong way due to an opportune mud result.

The Soviets launched their 1941 Winter Offensive and killed approximately 100 strength points of Axis troops by the first turns of 1942. The Axis concentrated full out on Moscow in the spring and succeeded after a hard-fought battle in taking the city by September 1942. To the north, the rest of the front dug in except for vicious fighting on the Finnish front. The Soviets, taking advantage of German weakness, pushed hard against the Finns and succeeded in taking back Murmansk and pressing west into Finnish home territory. Late in the year, the Germans entrenched in front of Moscow and the Russians fell back to Gorkiy/Ivanovo/Yaroslavl.

Further south, Kharkov fell in the spring of 1942 and Voronezh was taken during the summer. During the final part of 1942 the Germans made a lunge for the Volga, but were not able to take Rostov or cross the Don in strength. Thus the Don River was as far as the Axis ever got in the south. 

The Soviets abandoned the Crimea, handing the Axis a tremendous gift. During the late fall and early winter of 1942 the strength of the Soviets started to make itself felt, and the Reds began to push hard against the southern and Finnish fronts, making in-roads against the Axis positions. The Axis during the summer of 1942 had started construction of a fort line running Moscow/Ryazan/VoronezhlMillerovo/Donets River/Don River and were gradually pushed back into this line as 1942 ended and 1943 began.

The Soviets lost approximately 2525 strength points in 1942 and the Axis lost 1025.

About half way through 1942 we plugged in one more experimental rule:

13. All Axis attacks including a full-strength SS c/m division receive a +1 modifier to the combat. All Axis defenses including a full-strength SS c/m division receive a -1 modifier to the combat. All Soviet attacks containing a Gds c/m corps receive a +1 modifier to the combat.

The Wrap-Up

In 1943 the Axis used the Manstein counterpunch method to attrit the Soviets as much as possible, while the Soviets pushed hard in the south against the Axis fort line. Several large battles were fought in the vicinity of Rostov and Millerovo, very reminiscent of the battles that occurred historically around Novorossiysk. The Axis preformed a reverse Kursk on the Soviets, causing approximately 650 SPs of losses during the Apr II - Jul 143 time frame vs. 350 for the Axis. The Axis armor/mech forces were still intact at the end of this battle, while the Soviets had taken about a 40% hit to their starting 1943 armor. With the realization that they had shot their wad, the Soviets sued for peace in late Jul 43 and the Germans, realizing that the second front was coming, agreed to a lenient settlement.

The two largest factors in our game, as far as special rules are concerned, were the new air rules and the low-odds overrun rule. I feel that both lent an added degree of realism compared to the current FitF/SE rules as written. The primary difference between Jay Kaufman's rule from TEN #5 that we used and John Astell's rule in TEM #40 is the fact that if the overrun is not successful with a `DE' result, the attacker suffers an HX and stops movement. Secondly, the attacker must subtract two odds levels before rolling the overrun/combat. This simulates (in my mind) the hasty attack or attack from the line of march, where shock is the main weapon and you are trusting the enemy will be overwhelmed. As is the case in real life, the chances for casualties increase greatly in this type of situation versus a prepared attack-thus the HX result. The fact that the tanks are at risk ensures that the decision to perform a low-odds overrun is not made lightly. I feel this works real well, and prefer it to John's treatment.

The air rules accurately reflected the inherent flexibility advantage the Luftwaffe had over the Soviet horde of aircraft. Throughout the game the Soviets could have air superiority pretty much wherever they wanted, but they had to concentrate to achieve it. The Axis were spread thin, but it was their air force which provided the glue that kept their lines intact on more than one occasion.

The replacement rule definitely gave the feel of the Russian hordes, as the Axis tanks cut through wave after wave only to see another wall of Russians form up during their turn. All things considered, this was the best simulation I have ever seen of the Eastern Front. Competitively, the game was a lot closer than this description probably implies. Eric Peterson and I (the Axis team) would not care to wager anything on being able to repeat our accomplishments against our now more experienced opponents, Mike Ward and George Gallie.

I would be glad to answer any questions regarding this game or the test rules we used. Many thanks to all of you who make Europa possible.

Here is a more rigidly-written version of Mike's experimental rule #9 from the prior page. Try it the next time you play FitE/SE
Rick Gayler

Initially deploy all Soviet tank and mechanized divisions having cadres with their full strength sides showing. Roll a die for each such unit:

• The first time it enters (or is placed in) an Axis ZOC, or
• Just prior to any overrun or combat it will participate in.

On a roll of 1-3 flip the unit to its cadre side. This reduction is not considered elimination for purposes of calculating special replacements. On a roll of 4-6 the unit remains at full strength until reduced through combat or other means.