Jaroslaw Fils for No 1 Novina If the whole hobby appears mad keen on World War One then that is good news for this game. Produced to pretty good professional standards (the counters are old GDW style) and available from Boulder Games with a pretty good translation I recommend you take a look at it. The topic is the 1914 Eastern Front (not including Serbia) and it is done (mostly) on a Corps scale. This means our map can stretch from Riga (in the north) to Budapest, and from Wroclaw (in the west) to Minsk. I prefer the Corps level for these games, but the division is available from SPW (see below) if you prefer it. I like the clearly executed map clearly showing the major rivers and terrain. Mazuria is a maze of lakes and forests with the occasional fortification. Into Russian Poland there is a line of fortifications from Modlin to Osowiec that will frequently be used by 2nd Russian Army to recover from German attacks. Rivers and bands of forest or hill populate the Vistula plain until one reaches the Carpathians that constitute a strong border to protect the Magyar lands. The Pripet Marshes form the main feature in the east. The Austrian frontier is guarded by the cities of Kraków, Przemsyl and Lwów. Railways are clearly marked (as single or trunk lines) andvictory towns are marked with stars (though these can vanish under units). For the Russians (whose expectations of victory will feed offensives) Galicia yields 12 victory cities, with Lwów representing three. A further ten lie in the Magyar lands (and there are further victory points for breaking into these). Silesia offers seven and Prussia ten. Given the strength of the Germans once they receive Western Front reinforcements the longer term Russian offensive should be in the south. The Central Powers victory targets seem to me to further back from the front and less in number, Lódz and Warszawa offering the easiest bag. To concentrate the mind (and as a very important part of the game's structure) the map is split into three theatres: Prussia, Poland and Galicia. Prussia covers everything to the North West of a line from just north of Poznan, along the Russian fortifications to Grodno swinging north of the Pripet. This theatre is a purely German one (no Austro-Hungarian or Polish Legion troops). Galicia's northern theatre boundary runs from Silesia, north of Kraków along the Vistula to just north of Lublin and then pretty much through the middle of the Pripet Marshes. The counters are clean but simple, the Russians are in bright red, with green Germans and blue Austrians (and grey Poles of the Legion). Army Headquarters use reversed colours. Each counter has two factors - Combat and Morale. You should note that the game uses a D12 so that morale can easily be overestimated. The play aids are very useful with sheets to sort all of the counters so they can then be transferred to the scenario set-up sheets. There are a large number of scenarios, however the game uses programmed learning and, in my opinion, its value lies mostly in its final version where a number of rules combine to give a subtle bit of history. Without all these elements the training games can be tedious. In the last two cases you can reverse engineer the scenarios. The scenarios are Battle for Galicia (four turns in Galicia only), The Russian Steamroller (four turns in November with the Silesian coalfields the main target), and Hindenburg's Offensive (six turns facing the Russian with the problems of a German advance, or further pressure on the Austrians. The optional rules allow another three scenarios. There are helpful play-aid summaries. It is worth making one point about this game up front. Unless surrounded or attacked while disrupted units do not die in Ostatnia Wojna Cesarzy. Reinforcements keep the armies functioning, but supply is the real limitation. Too many attacks will eat into supplies, rallying and failed attacks will do the same. The army that stretches its forces beyond their resources will not vanish it simply will not attack. For those of you who expect lots of bodies take note. The game is played in turns of two player-turns (Central Powers then Russia) that (as much of the game) seek to be less than helpful to the attacker. The turn opens with supply being received (and disrupted units rallied at a cost of supplies). There is a then a combat phase followed by movement and a second combat phase. However to make things more fun units in reserve (basically out of the line of battle) of either side can move in a reserve movement phase. So (for example) the Russians could move up reserves just before the Central Powers attack, similarly a reserve movement could allow an enemy retreat to be followed up. There are two main rules here. The moving player can outbid for his reserve movement and one cannot have two reserve movements one after the other. These "floating phases" can have some very important effects, and make reserves very valuable items. A good use, for example, is massing on an enemy HQ and zapping it. Movement (3 for infantry, 4 for cavalry) is deliberate as the intervention of terrain can slow matters down. This is especially the case with Army HQs that move at the speed of their command radius. Russians thus move only 2 MPs compared to the Austrian 3s and Germans 4s. This can make the reserve movement phase vital for placing your HQs where you need them. Larger units have ZOCs but these effect hex-edges and slow movement across these. Attacking is pretty simple. You count up your combat strength (four units can stack) but only up to 8 can be used in a single attack and compare it to the defender's strength on a CRT. The result is a number that you must score equal to or less than. Failure to do so has no effect on the attackers (though they may pay further supplies). The defender must retreat two hexes and the attackers can follow-up (depending on ZOCs) and the defender makes a morale test. Failure results in disruption and two disruptions spell death. Disruption also requires a rally throw (using 2D6) AND the payment of more supplies (casualties by another name) for recovery. A powerful enemy attack can devour the supplies one was building for one's own offensive. The Attack Success Number can be influenced by terrain and, in turn, the circumstances of the retreat affect the defender's morale. I must admit I never appreciated the advantage of changes to the Attackers' Morale. The more difficult a retreat the more likely is disruption, and the increased risk of a unit being lost. Obviously the best way to kill a disrupted unit is with your second attack (since your opponent rallies in his next supply phase). However, the designer knows this is World War One where technology and doctrine conspire to make the obvious difficult. Attacks in the second phase are much less likely to succeed than in the first. For example, 8 CV attacking 4CV in the first phase will succeed on a 1-8, but in the second phase only on 1-4. Remember also that the maximum CV is 8 even though a single hex might stack 12. The defence thus has an opportunity to survive. There are cavalry withdrawal-from-combat rules. Victory points are earned by capturing terrain, meeting certain special conditions (invading Hungary), and (for the Central Powers) by keeping the Russians from their historical plans. The campaign has a rising number of Russian VPs listed. Failure to capture these passes VPs to the Central Powers. The designer is determined that the Russian acts aggressively. There are limited intelligence rules that require reconnaissance of enemy stacks though I find this all too much for my brain. Railroads are provided. Up to two units can travel a stretch of trunk-line with only one on normal lines. Railways crossing borders drop one transport level. So a trunk line in enemy territory can only carry one unit, and a normal line cannot be used. This can in turn slow down offensives that drive into enemy territory with reinforcements debarking at the borders and marching in. Each system has a limitation on capacity, and the cost is increased if you leave one theatre or "Front" and enter another (think of all those clerks). You can make certain transfers secretly if playing the limited intelligence rules. Army headquarters are vital because units out of command cannot be rallied and attack at half strength. The low range of Russian activation (2 hexes) means that the Russians must select their attack points carefully, and ensure they deploy their slow-moving units carefully. Austrians with a 3 range look better off, but their line can be long and they often have less HQs. The Germans have two Army HQs with 4 hexes and one Group (Woyrsch) with 3. It is often the case that Austrian and Russian HQs end up in the front line. If they are disrupted a morale test for all units within range can set off the sort of collapse that decides campaigns. Supply Supply is very cleverly handled and in many ways (as noted above) represents the casualties suffered by the armies in this period. Each turn the Central Powers get 20 supply points and the Russians 15. These are allocated to the three Fronts but no more than 8 to a single front (this number is very important - see below). Each Front can have one of three action statuses: Operational Pause (no attacks), Limited Action (one or two attacks) and Offensive more than 2 attacks. It costs no supply for Operational Pause, 3 supply points for Limited Action but a whole NINE points for an Offensive. The replenishment rate of 8 compared to the cost of 9 means that you cannot keep attacking on one front to the exclusion of all others. Eventually supply will enter the crisis zone and you will collapse. We played the number of attacks as being in each phase though this may not be the case. Even worse each failed attack can cost from 0-2 supplies. This really encourages care with the second attack phase. Rallying costs one supply point per combat value point. Some powerful offensives in Galicia for Russia can force the Austrians to spend an offensive's worth of supply on rallying units. The combat system therefore consists of limited aggression across the map as supply is husbanded for offensives. Eventually each front must fall silent as supply runs out and a recuperation programme instituted. With the retreat/surround combat system the fronts must be crumbled carefully and enemy lines encouraged to withdraw from salients. Several 8 value hexes need to be opposed to low-value hexes so that a broad breakthrough can be threatened. But supply, HQ delay, and (of course) failed attacks can defeat these plans. There are three special attack types that can help. The Central Powers can use Artillery support (increasing attack success by one and decreasing defender morale) at a cost of 1 supply point. They can have three such attacks per turn but only one per front. The Russians may launch one Furious Attack ("Urra, urra, urra") per turn, this increases success chances by 2 BUT the attackers must then take morale tests. Such attacks also require at least 4 CV. Finally the Central powers may make Despair Attacks which require high morale units (10 and 11) - that is German Regular Corps. These improve attack success by two but disrupts these high level units. Trenches can be dug but at quite slow levels (one a turn) at a cost of one supply. The Russians however, with their Manchurian experience, do not pay supply to entrench. There are lots of fortifications on the map but these seldom improve beyond a few CV though Lwów and Warszawa have a powerful effect on attack success. Attacking a fortress involves first succeeding in the attack (not a great problem) and then a morale test using the best unit's morale (plus the fortress value). Failure here causes surrender. A good Austrian Corps in Lwów will have morale of 12! One can instead siege a fortress, in this case no capitulation check is made for a number of turns equal to the fortresses value. The morale of the best garrison unit is then tested by adding fortress value and deducting the CV of the surrounding force. The Russians devoted an Army HQ to clearing Przemsyl and you can see why. The Austrians need only risk a good corps as garrison. Certain units may be rebuilt (but not if encircled only if double dispersed) using replacement divisions of low morale. Though it is rare to find too many dead. The campaign game opens with few units on the map. Mobilisation occurs in the movement phase (and there are alternative war plans for both sides). The Central Powers soon exhaust their reinforcements. They can use Landsturm or HQs and if Russian cities are captured can form Polish Legion units. Most importantly they receive reinforcements from the Western Front. These are received steadily from September. However, if the Central Powers wish they can anticipate these, but at a fierce cost in VPs. That said two German corps appearing early could collapse the Russian 2nd Army if most of the forces were in Galicia. As well as the "Russian Aspirations" rule the Russians are obliged to take an Offensive in Prussia for the first three turns (27 supply points minimum will eat all the start supplies plus about 25% of new supplies, which may rescue Austria in Galicia). However if the Russians grab a German victory city they will gain 10 VPs. Furthermore the Russians want to keep some presence in Prussia or they lose 3 VPs a turn (we know they are going to lose, but nobody else did back then). Similarly capture of Silesian industry or capturing victory cities in Hungary give Russia a lot of VPs. The optional rules include the non-appearance of Austrian 2nd Army (busy in Serbia), Trans-Siberian railway uncertainty, variable supply, unit splits, and changed mobilisation plans. Ostatnia Wojna Cesarzy is not a short game: 23 weekly turns see to that. However, it is a game that forces players to moderate activity to a historical level with supply. Because it wisely chooses the corps-level it can hope to be finished in a couple of sessions, but it contains enough flexibility to be different on each occasion. Furthermore, with the smaller scenarios some situations can be practised. The supply problems with the difficulty of maintaining a strong offensive in more than one Front a turn, together with the cost in attacks and rallying all drive the game towards the point of exhaustion, just as effectively as flipping counters over for casualties. Yet the game never makes attacking too hard. One has to develop a strategy and work on it over a number of turns. Can Galicia be forced without the Germans breaking too far into Russia? The Russians must attack, but so must the Central Powers, even if with a degree of caution at first. I was very impressed with Ostatnia Wojna Cesarzy not only because of its discipline but also because of its originality of concepts. This is not just old SPI re-sprayed (as so much is these days) but an appropriate system for its topic. If World War One in the East interests you then I suggest you order copies while you can from Boulder Games. Back to Perfidious Albion #101 Table of Contents Back to Perfidious Albion List of Issues Back to MagWeb Master Magazine List © Copyright 2000 by Charles and Teresa Vasey. This article appears in MagWeb (Magazine Web) on the Internet World Wide Web. Other military history articles and gaming articles are available at http://www.magweb.com