Note: After much deliberation, a handful of SP and SCS rules have been changed which directly impact the play of this game. See the Individual Garne Errata for both SP and the SCS in this issue.The changes to the rules are assumed to be in effect for the purposes of this article.

What I would like to present here is a few ideas for German play in this game. Before beginning, it is a fact that the Soviet player's job is easier and has more resources to apply. Between players of equal ability, the game is easier to win for the Soviet player. Put the better, more aggressive player in the Soviet shoes and he will chew up a weak German.

Has history placed you in a bad position? No doubt. Are you perched on the edge of a cliff? Yup. Skill, however, can make a difference-and that is why we are here. The game awards masterly play-play that is only marginally better will not give major victory levels and it shouldn't.

Rule 1: Set up the Rumanians in strong stacks

Never try to form a thin line covering everything! It is important that each defended locationbe stacked to the max. Only in that way canyou keep the stack alive long enough to make it hurt him-yes, many Rumanians will die for the Reich, but when they do, make sure they have held up the Soviet use of key roads for a few turns.

Rule 2: Initial Operations: Pound 'Out of Supply' Soviets-Run for the Don-Chir line

In the first turn or two, you will discover the quality of your set up. It is also the time when you'll need to damage some of the Soviet armies which start out of supply-so that they won't be so much of a threat later. During the brief time before these armies get under way, you can much to help yourself out later.

Attack as much as possible-a single stack (handled properly) can attack up to three times in a turn. Don't waste a single ounce of power at this early juncture.

While some of the German forces tear apart the out of supply Soviets, all forces north of the Don will be running for their lives. The 11th German corps must move toward the available Don bridges-luckily for them, they have only a limited amount of pressure from the Soviet wolves.

The Rumanians aren't quite as lucky. The important thing to remember is that you must post some of them to die making the escape of others possible. Some will be surrounded and will have no hope of escape won't waste your time and their value by trying to work them out of their problem.

Make them move into even more annoying positions (from the Soviet point of view) even if they must ooze even deeper into Soviet lines (toward the north). Even one of these stacks on a key road line behind a Soviet HQ might stall the entire pincer while they deal with the problem, and evey tum counts. The detachment left in contact each turn which is to stall the Soviets must be set up to keep him from being in a position to do overruns. Naturally, these units must attack wherever possible, too.

Rule 3: Hunting HQs

I said in the developer's notes that killing HQs is a good thing. It still is. [Ed. Note: And with the changes, even better.] Many have commented that their opponent is too good to leave an HQ out to dry, and that's ok. What you are looking for is the occasional slip up or chance to surround and pop the hex.

If the HQ is too heavily garrisoned to be attacked with hope of success, try to put a useless unit astride the roads that HQ must use to be in supply and to supply other units. The point here is to do all you can to disrupt his pincers and keep the heat off of your real units to allow you some breathing room.

Rule 4: Constitute a Mobile Reserve

After doing what you can in the first couple of tums, take all the mobile forces you can find and develop your mobile reserve. The reserve should be several well placed stacks of units. By well placed, I mean unentangled widh enemy units and widh access to good road nets. A mobile reserve must never be looked at as a "force in being" and that just having it is good enough. You must use it and use it incessantly.

There serve must zoom out, overrun, attack in the Combat Phase, and zoom back. It should do two attacks and after the second be free to exploit. Exploitation must be used to reconstitute the reserve and put it in a safe place for the next turn. Only in very unusual circumstances should reserves be used to overrun in the Exploitation Phase-usually such actions make the reserve vulnerable to being embroiled in the front and trapped. That is the last thing you want for your reserve.

I take all the mobile troops of the 14th Corps, 51st Corps (yes, I tell Dolf to stick it), and anything else with a exploit tag on it. I try to make a few super stacks (ones with attack strengths of about 12) and put all the weaker units together in two or three unit stacks. The more mobile reserve stacks you have, the more options you'll have available. My favorite position for concentrating the reserve is marked on the map at right (Larger map (slower download: 70K)).

Rule 5: Counterattack like crazy

Many a gamer has commented-seemingly in amazement-that the combat results table favors the attacker. This has to do widh my feeling that the player who goes out and does something about his situation should be rewarded for doing so-sitting on your hands in an attempt to let the enemy beat himself to death on you and passively hoping to win the game should not be rewarded.

That said, the German player must counterattack like there is no tomorrow. Does this mean a bunch of ill-considered low odds attacks? No, aim for the same good odds you would in any game, that will ensure a decent loss to results ratio-the last thing you want to do is to win the game for the Sovietplayer by bleeding yourself to death! Naturally, the "favors the attack" cuts both ways. The point is to apply that facet of the game in your favor. If he is reacting to your attacks, he isn't making his own as well as he could.

Rule 6: Guard the river crossing sites and concentrate on the southern Soviet pincer

Salvage what you can from the forces north of the Don and post them at the Don and Chir bridges. It is there you can make your stand. Since he can't overrun across the major rivers, he can only attack a bridge hex once per turn. This is where the Alert Battalions come in handy-to soak off losses at the critical bridge points. Of course, if he keeps pounding the bridge hexes he may eventually get lucky and blow across one. If this happens, use some of your reserves to counterattack. In fact, with a couple of the good German infantry divisions, such as those which show up as reinforcements, you should develop a small reserve specifically for "bridgehead busting." Properly arranged, a bridge line can last the game.

Once the northern Soviet pincer has been botded up behind the Don-Chir river line, focus all attention on the southern one. An important point to remember here is that the southern one is much weaker than the northern and is also very fragile. Use your reserves to pummel the southern pincer relentlessly.

To quote Sheridan: "Smash them up! Smash them up!" A potentially viable operation for theRumanian cavalry division and other poor quality fast units is to go back and cut the Soviet contact with entry area D. If you do so, the entire southern pincer will be out of supply until they do something about their problems. It may be a temporary distraction, but each litde bit counts.

Rule 7: Keeping losses down and worrying about the 90 unit mark

Far too many players get fixated on that 90 unit mark. They seem to believe if their losses pass up that mark, they have lost. Not so! While after the 90 unit line massive victory is no longer possible, there is no reason to give up hope of a lesser level of victory. This is akin to going to the Olympics and feeling like a total loser because you got the silver medal instead of the gold!

It is difficult to obtain the master's level of play required to win a massive victory with players of equivalent skill, and I find it hard to believe game players would want it easy to achieve.

That said, what can be done to keep losses down so that the German player can win a decent level of victory? Spreading thelosses among units and rotation of units into the fray can work for a highly skilled player. The problem with such a strategy is that eventually enough losses will build up and the dam will break giving a large number of losses rapidly. Inviting crummy units to join in on friendly attacks can help maintain the strength of your good units (they get to die if anything goes wrong), but must be managed with great care.

A word must be said about the loss rates in the game. Axis losses occur at a top rate for the first few tums as the Rumanians are rapidly dispatched. That rate of blood flow drops radically after the river line is reached. To do well as the German player, you must extract as many units as possible in the first few turns-anyone trapped on the wrong side of the river will be lost.

Rule 8: Hanging on to Stalingrad

If you are like me, when you play you want to go for all the marbles. Dropping Stalingrad in the Soviet player's lap will permanently exclude massive Victory, regardless of how well you do otherwise. I prefer to put a minimal garrison in each Stalingrad hex (a couple of units each) and use the rest of the 51st Corps to strengthen the flanks north and south of the city. A few units will be able to hang on for a while if the Soviet player tries to force his way into town; the remaining units will help keep a pocket from forming.

There you have a few more hints on how to play to win as the Germans in Stalingrad Pocket. I wish you luck. It is not an easy task to pull off a big win as the Germans in the game and it isn't supposed to be. It also isn't impossible for the skilled player.

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