Now this was a game to remember, as five of us finally got together over the last weekend in April to play Enemy at the Gates. What a spectacle it was. It was one of the most enjoyable and memorable monster games I have played, partly because it is a great game and partly due to the unbelievable finish.

Mind you, Enemy at the Gates, simulating the Soviet encirclement of von Paulus' Sixth Army in November 1942, is not for the faint of heart. It is not that it is a complicated game, because it isn't. Yet with four full-sized maps and more than 2200 counters, it is a long game, especially if you are playing the campaign hummer that, short of a sudden death victory, purports to be up to 34 turns long. Of course, it was the campaign game for us (Scenario #1 -- The Winter Campaign in Southern Russia); nothing else would do. We had been planning this event for a couple of months and I arrived in Boston on Wednesday, early enough for a first-turn rehearsal with my Overall Soviet Commander, Stephen Campbell. Steve had mapped out the entire Soviet first turn including movement, combat and exploitation, for Roger Durand on the Voronezh (6tb, 69th and 40th Armies) and Southwest fronts (1st Gds), me on the Stalingrad front (51st, 57th, 64th, and 62nd Armies) and Steve with the rest of the Southwest (21st and 5th Tank Armies) and Don fronts (66th, 24th and 65th Armies).

Steve and I had as our main objectives the encirclement and reduction of the German 6th Army (Roland LeBlanc) while Roger's job was to attack in his front and keep the Germans busy. All of us had to keep a watchful eye on Gary Moody, an aggressive player commanding the defensive line manned by Hungarians, Romanians and Italians northwest of Stalingrad and who would eventually show up with van Manstein's relief force.

We started playing Friday evening at about 5:00 P.m, hoping to get at least two turns in before quitting for the night. The weather on the first turn (11/19-11/21/42) was overcast, preventing air cover which worked to the Soviet advantage. Additionally, minor rivers and lakes were frozen. As we had the choice of initiative for the first three turns, we elected to go first, receiving 25 supply points. To keep the Germans from reacting, we made no overrun attacks. In the Northwest, Roger had a little bad luck. With just two attacks, he was surprised both times with the defending Axis forces receiving a 6 and 5 column defensive shift on the combat table, both attacks ending up at 1: 1 with Ao1 /Do1 results. A bad sign.

In the center, directly to the northwest of Stalingrad, Steve hit the Romanians, creating a major hole in the Axis defensive line. South of Stalingrad, I followed my instructions to the letter, with results as anticipated, clearing out most of the Romanians and opening a major hole in the Axis line from Krasnoarmeisk to Tsatsa. During the exploitation phase, reserve armored elements of my southern force secured most of the bridges across the Don and Karpovka Rivers west of Stalingrad and northeast of Nizhne-Chirskaia. We had made good progress and Gary and Roland seemed a bit surprised by our advance. Our portion of this turn took just under two hours.

During the Axis part of the turn, they received 14 supply points and Gary made one roll for Alert Battalions (I VP), receiving three. The Axis did a goodjob trying to keep the pocket open, losing a bunch of Romanians and several German breakdown regiments to attrition from lack of supply. The Axis portion of the turn took about 2.5 hours, and we had our first victory point.

Turn 2

On Turn 2 (11/22 to 11/25), the weather cooperated, with no air and the same ground conditions as the first turn. Again, we elected to go first, receiving 25 more supply points. Roger made no attacks in the North and I made little progress in the South. However, Steve continued to put major pressure along his front. Unfortunately, I had a Romanian recon unit in my midst that I attacked but failed to eliminate. In spite of repeated warnings from my commander, I somehow managed to fail to garrison one of my supply-laden dumps; Roland captured it intact with 5 wagons and 2 SP, 3T! I was so embarrassed. As it was past midnight, we quit for the evening, having spent an hour and a half on our part of the turn. Saturday morning, we started at 9:00 A.m.

The Axis received 17 SP and rolled once for Alert Battalions, receiving just two in exchange for I VP. Now we had 2 VP and things were looking pretty good as we were closing the Stalingrad pocket.

Turn 3

On Turn 3 (11/26-11/28), we still got no air and were very happy. The ground conditions remained the same and we elected to go first, receiving another 25 SP. Spitefully, I set my sights on my captured wagons and managed to recapture three of the five along with a truck and 1 SP, 1T. Hah-redemption! In the Northwest, Roger tried to consolidate his defense against Gary's wild Hungarian offense.

Meanwhile, Steve all but closed the pocket and perimeter while I pressed forward to begin conversion of the railroad running from northeast to southwest. Our part of the turn took one hour. During the Axis portion of the turn, they received 13 SP and rolled three times for Alert Battalions, receiving just 1, 5 and 6, respectively and forfeiting 3 SP. Fortress Stalingrad was declared, doubling its victory point value and decreasing the rate of supply consumption for the beleaguered defenders. Gary was still attacking along his portion of the front. We had 5 VP.

Turn 4

On Turn 4 (11/29-12/2), the weather cleared and up went the air, adding another hour to the turn length. Ground conditions remained the same as before. The Soviets won the initiative, electing to go first and receiving 25 SP, a now very scarce commodity. The German defenders drove back the entire Soviet fighterforce using Put Up or Shut Up threats. The pocket was just about closed and the game had turned into two completely different fronts-the one near Stalingrad and the one running from Svoboda to Serafimovich.

We continued to close the pocket with a fierce battle raging near Chernyshevskaia. During their portion of the turn, the Axis received another 17 SP and rolled twice for Alert Battalions, receiving the minimum of two units in exchange for 2 more VPs. At last the pocket was closed; we had 7 VPs but were in big trouble as Axis attacks destroyed our force to the north and west of Stalingrad.

Turn 5

On Turn 5 (12/3-12/5), the Germans got the flip-flop, winning the initiative and electing to go first, giving them two turns in a row. Now we were in very deep trouble since, in spite of the designer's warnings, we were not set up to take two consecutive Axis turns of attack. Luckily, there was no air and now major rivers were also frozen. The Axis received 11SP and rolled once for Alert Battalions, receiving 4 for another victory point, bringing our total to 8 VPs.

By the end of the Axis turn, they had shattered our center and my partners were ready to throw in the towel. However, being the sneaky devil that I am and having been trained by the likes of Ed Blomgren, I saw a slim chance for us. If we could get the flip-flop and move twice, we had a chance to reach and occupy a couple of ungarrisoned Axis 5 VP cities and garner the 13 points necessary for a sudden death victory on Turn 6. Of course, we would have to get the flip-flop since it would take two turns to reach the cites and once the Axis were onto our scheme, they would be able to shut it off if they had a chance. Also, we would need to carry enough fuel and supply to keep the unit moving behind enemy lines. It took me quite a while to get Steve and Roger up for this challenge and I had to take them outside and slap them around a bit to see the opportunity.

Indeed, they were not sure that, even if we could pull it off, it would be an honorable thing, but I was soon able to convince them otherwise. So, in desperation, the Soviets launched an all-out effort to reach and occupy any of the three possible cities-Stalino, Starobelsk or Voroshilovgrad, any of which would give us the game if we could hold it through the Axis portion of the turn. It was remarkable to watch the transformation on Gary and Roland's faces as they realized what we were attempting.

You could hear the rustle of rulebooks as they searched desperately for a counterscheme. Through our part of Turn 5, Roger, Steve and I made sure we broke through the Axis road net with two or three armor units, accompanied by supply trucks. By turn's end, we were well behind the Axis lines and halfway to victory. Now, it all depended on winning the initiative again.

Turn 6

On Turn 6 (12/6-12/9), the air was up and the ground remained the same. Now it came to the big initiative die roll. I plucked the green bones and threw an 8. Not bad, especially as Gary followed with a 6. With our certain capture of Voroshilovgrad by my 156th Marine Battalion of the 56th Army, Stalino by Steve's 4th Gd Armor Brigade and Starobelsk by Roger's 292nd Armor Brigade, we had gained 23 VPs (10 more than the 13 required). The Axis, totally bummed by the turn of fate, conceded the Soviet victory.

While Roger was most frustrated by his inability to bring Gary to bay, I think everybody enjoyed the game and learned a great deal about the system. Speaking for myself, I had a marvelous time and even if our last ditch effort had failed, I rank it way up there with Operation Typhoon, Terrible Swift Sword and Wellington's Victory as one of my most memorable monster game experiences.

The deceptive thing about Enemy at the Gates is that the system is so simple and straightforward. For the most part, we were able to play the game without constantly referring to the rules. And, if we played it again, I am sure the turn sequence would become second nature to us. Of course, we only managed to play six turns (actually, five) in about 17 hours, but as we went along, the turns began to go faster. I especially like the combat and supply systems. They are excellent.

On my front, I made three critical errors:

1. I failed to garrison my supply dumps, giving the Axis an opportunity to get behind my lines and capture precious supplies.

2. On Turn 2, I failed to keep a Reserve in place to react to Axis penetration of my line.

3. I took too long to close off the supply trace along the railroad at Kotelnikovo, affecting the closing of the pocket.

I am eager to play again and we are already talking about a rematch in September. Knowing Gary and Roland, they will want to repeat as the Axis and whomp our butts. Well, one thing is certainwe will not have an opportunity to grab any ungarrisoned cities. That is a once in a lifetime mistake for those guys.

This article originally appeared in Lines of Communication. Our thanks to John Leggat for permission to reprint it here.

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