Fortress Stalingrad will be defended to the last man and the last bullet. Anyone that has even the least amount of WWII knowledge will recognize this quote from the Supreme Warlord, Adolf Hitler. Even though this was said to save face, the last man, last bullet mentality has been around for perhaps thousands of years. It's been written that it's not historically accurate for a gamer to play until his last unit has been destroyed. Well, to this, I say, why not? Granted man units through history, when faced with the prospect of bed wiped from the face of the earth have chosen to turn tail in order to fight another day. But, at the same time, history gives many examples of units that have fought to the last. For example, in the last days of the Battle for Berlin, 1945, many units fought until the virtually existed only on paper. The 5th SS Division Wiking in their defense of the Reichstag was decimated. It had to have been obvious that there was no hope of beating back the Soviet onslaught. It had to come to the realization that this was it, THE END. But did this unit turn and run, or lay down their weapons to surrender? No, although fighting to the death and surrender to the Soviets, for an SS man, meant about the same thing, the choice was still to fight to the last man, the last bullet.

What about the units surrounded in Stalingrad. By the start of the last month in the pocket, even rank and file realized what the end would be. The airlift of supplies into the pocket was murderously inadequate. Ammunition was rationed only a lucky few had horse meat to add to the 50 gram a day bread ration. Most knew by this time that Von Manstein's breakthrough/relief operation had been beaten back. But the German soldier carried on and fought by the last man, the last bullet principle. Now, admittedly, they could not have retreated any more than had already been done, but that was not the only way outl Still the order from Hitler was obeyed, men fought, men died, men suffered unimaginable hardship.

Many examples can be cited of units making the conscious decision to sacrifice in the extreme. The Battle of the Great Grass, or Little Big Horn as its known to your white folks out there. What about Rorke's Drift, Hougoumont, Bastogne, to name but a very few.

Men have put their lives on the line, seemingly without thought to obey the edicts of their leaders. Moral and unit integrity would have to be two reasons that men would fight on against all odds, against all hope of seeing another day, or of seeing their loved ones ever again. Perhaps some even have convinced themselves that the harder they fight, the better their chance to come out alive. SS units are famous for the fanatical fighting abilities. In my WWII Eastern Front battles, an SS unit has the ability to go berserk and run around the table attempting to kill unit after unit of Russians until a KIA result on the dice removes them from play.

Now I'm not saying that every game needs to be played until one side is left standing and the other is in heaps on the field or a smoking charred wreck. But I will say that perhaps this phenomenon could add a little extra to a scenario every now and then. Just use discretion and don't have the German bakery company fighting to the last against a Soviet Independent Tank Brigade.

Paramount in all this babble, research, buying, painting, gluing, basing, re-basing, is that we have fun in what we do. don't take yourself or anyone else too seriously. There are enough things in our daily lives to get stressed about without carrying it into our hobby and ruining something that should be fun and relaxing for us and others. I read too often that someone has been turned off to wargaming with others because Joe Blow is a sore loser or consider themselves the final word. Ours is a past time that too often comes under fire due to what it is derived from. No sense in giving the enemy ammunition to shoot us with. Until next time, make your gaming fun for yourself, and someone elsel