We awake to the thunder and crash of a massive artillery barrage. Pressed into the hard earth at the bottom of our trenches, we seek protection from the indiscriminate death and destruction being dealt by the angry shells. Whole platoons seem to disappear in the fury of the barrage. Katyusha rockets scream into our rear areas. Our reserves are not to be spared from the wrath of the barrage.

As the first streaks of dawn peek over the horizon, some of the bolder among us rise to peer over the edge of the parapet. What they see sends shivers of fear through their bodies. Emerging out of the morning mist are hordes of communist barbarians, relentlessly surging towards our lines. The initial fear is soon dispelled, as experience and training take over. Officers and NCOs bark out orders. Machine guns are emplaced. Mortars fire pre-planned barrages on avenues of approach. Every able-bodied soldier mans a fighting position. FOs are calling in our first artillery fires. We are pleased as the barbarians receive some oj'the same treatment as we have been receiving.

Large swathes of barbarians are felled like wheat before a sickle by our artillery and mortars. But the enemy still presses forward, urged on by their masters, the political commissars. They use smoke to try to screen their advance, but there are so many of them that they cannot all be covered. The enemy barrage shifts to our flanks and rear as the communists approach our wire. Machine-guns and rifles bark as the few survivors among us engage groups of barbarians rushing forward to selflessly lay their bodies on the wire. Enemy mortars, machine-guns and infantry guns begin blasting away at our trenches. One after another my comrades are picked off. To my left, Mario disappears in a cloud qf dust as a mortar round hits the parapet directly in front of him. To my right, Enrique gets hit in the cheek. He lies dying at the bottom of the trench. I am alone in this section of the trench.

A breach has formed in the wire to my left. Soviets are rushing into our trenches. There are so many of them. They are coming down the trench towards me. I load my rifle with the last of my amino and lay two grenades on the parapet in from of me. My body shakes as I fix my bayonet. I will stand and fight the communists to the end, here in my trench, from home.

Viva Franco! Viva Espana!

A fitting end for a soldier of the illustrious Spanish Blue Division. No, I did not get the day wrong. It just so happens that my initiation into the life of a Blue Division soldier occurred on a Friday, not Wednesday. I broke open my brand new copy of the game in The Gamers room at ORIGINS and for the next 14 hours, a trio of transient Soviet players (mainly Perry Andrus) and I played the Assault of the Guards scenario.

The Game

Black Wednesday, the newest TCS game, is the defense of the Spanish Blue Division at Krasni Bor, Russia. The Soviets are attacking with three rifle divisions plus a tank brigade. The Blue Division is defending in trenches around and from within the city. The game is pretty massive as far as the number of pieces is concerned. A standard rifle division contains over 120 pieces. The Soviets have two entire rifle divisions and parts of a third. The Spanish/German force is much more manageable, about two regiments. The game plays well despite the number of pieces. The Soviets are basically limited to pushing their pieces forward in the beginning anyway, and after a while they lose quite a few of those pieces. They can also consolidate shot-up platoons.

Strategy

The basic Soviet strategy is to overwhelm the Spanish with numbers and firepower. Assuming you are playing the entire battle, the pre-plotted prep barrage should blow three gaps in the Spanish lines. The Soviet hordes bead for the gaps, then fight their way along the trenches. From here it gets rather sticky. The Soviet command system is terrible. After taking the trenches, it will take a while to get your troops moving again. Depending on how many troops the Spanish player has lost so far (dependent on whether he has committed his reserves or not), Krasm Bor may be wide open or it may be infested with Spanish troops. Either way the Soviets must continue the attack into Krasm Bor as soon as possible. The command system forces them to attack piecemeal, but hey, you have tons of troops, so get them moving. The real decision is whether to exit troops off the map or not. You may need these troops to fight in Krasni Bor.

The Spanish are on the defensive, but really have more decisions to make than the Soviets. First off, how should they deploy their reserves? The trenches provide much protection, but I recommend keeping the reserves back in Krasm Bor. Your artillery is going to be the main killer as the Soviets move toward and assault your trench line. The troops already in the front lines are sufficient to call in your artillery. It is better to use your reserves to counter-attack penetrations, defend the city, and as additional spotters for artillery behind the front lines. At this point, go ahead and thank Krom or Thor or whichever war god you want that you have plenty of artillery ammo. Artillery is your savior. Use it as often as possible. Once reinforcements arrive, limited attacks to regain lost ground will be possible.

Tactical Tips

Soviets-Advance your machine-guns, infantry guns, and 81 mm mortars with your troops. They do not have much effect on troops in trenches at long range. If they are stacked together at close range to the enemy, they provide a high strength overwatch fire every time he fires at you.

Spread out your KVs amongst your troops, one per hex. Although their firepower is diluted this way, the protection they provide the troops (2 shifts) plus the inability to knock out more than one with an artillery battery fire is well worth it.

Use smoke early and often. There is no use saving it. Screen off El Bastion and as many of your troops as you can.

Do not despair. This situation is almost like the Americans at Barren Victory. You are going to take heavy casualties. However, every hit you put into him adds to breaking the Spanish shell. The shell is hard, but once broken, there is not much backing it up.

Axis--Do not put your AT guns up front. They will be overwhelmed without doing proportional damage. Use artillery fast fires on his tanks to try to whittle them down. After his depleted tank force comes through your front lines, your fresh AT force can engage them and exact a heavy price.

Use illumination in the early turns to hit him at long range with your artillery. (Perry, you're lucky I didn't think of this on the first turn when you had all those fat stacks of infantry hiding in the darkness.) Also, do not forget your registration points (I failed to notice this rule at ORIGINS). You can spot for artillery at long range and still roll on the short range adjustment table if you have a registration point close to the target.

Do not despair. Your artillery will eventually whittle him down to manageable size. Then those reserves you have been hoarding can get some revenge.

Odds and Ends

This game is great (am I biased?). Really though, the game has some good points. Both sides have good forces that will both attack and defend during the game. The Soviets have some hard decisions in where to plot their pre-planned barrage and whether to exit troops off map. The Spanish have some hard decisions in where to deploy their reserves and when and where to employ them. The game is a challenge for both sides.

Icons. The game uses icons on the counters instead of NATO symbols. I heard comments at ORIGINS that the counters were busy. They would be busy with icons or with NATO symbols, so what does it matter? The icons look good. They do not add or detract from the technical quality of the game, but they do look good. Personally, if something looks good and does not detract from the game, then I am all for it. The icons look good. They do not detract from the game. I guess I am all for them. (If you discern some sarcasm in this last paragraph, it is intentional. Actually, these last two minutes that I have been writing this paragraph is probably the longest I have thought about the icons. I have too much funplaying the game to think about trivial matters such as that.)

My thanks to Perry and Dean for answering my questions about this game at ORIGINS. It always helps when you have the series designer and one of the major playtesters right there to answer questions. Now, if I could only get Dean to see things my way on those movement rates for AT guns dragged through the woods...

Happy gaming.