Russian epic smash

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Finished up game 2 of PanzerBlitz Situation #9. It was a decisive German victory.

This was largely due to 3 factors:

  1. The Russians entered in road march order, which allowed some immediate German action to eliminate truck transports.

  2. The Russians attempted to take the "fast road" through Bednost, which is the obvious thing, but had to tread lightly as the Germans emplaced a pair of 75mm ATGs. That hill top is just small enough to put enemy armor into the doubled AF range.

  3. The Germans were able to move some units to block the exit road wrapping around Hill 135. This was a huge Russian blunder, and may have been a result of losing track of the turn counter.

Overall, as mentioned in the writeup for the first game of Situation #9, it feels fairly well-balanced, but it demands a high level of skill to play either side effectively. For the Germans, getting the initial emplacement is critical. For the Russians, slowing down to fight is probably a mistake, except that the victory conditions require a certain number of German eliminations.

Overall, good game. I've had it on the table all week, and was able to get through the first five turns during the week, and finished up it today.

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What to play next?

Deciding what to play next is always a tough call when faced with a closet full of games, all of which were purchased with intent to play. Here's one I'm dealing with the decision.

  • Something New: this means both something new to me and a game which has been published recently, within the last two or three years.
  • Something Classic: I've acquired a number of games properly considered "classic" which haven't yet been played. The current example would be PanzerGruppe Guderian.
  • Something Again: mastery requires constant practice, which means playing games many, many times to allow nuance to appear.
  • Something Vietnam: as I'm on a Vietnam binge. I don't have all the Vietnam games ever published, but I can say that I have a lot of them, and probably more than most people.
  • Something Obscure: as it's fun to poke around in the dustier corners of game design.
  • Something Different: break away from the same old publishers and try a game from one of the new kids on the block. Or, conversely, dip into legacy with a classic tried and true.
  • Something Light: once in a while it's nice to actually finish a game all the way through in one sitting, in an hour or two.
  • Something Heavy: if possible, it's nice to set up something big and complicated which can be left out for days or weeks or even months, for a leisurely stroll through a very large or long game.

There are surely many more ways to choose, but the above method keeps me busy enough, helps me get both breadth and depth into my play, and provides me with a sense of progress.

The odd man out

When there is an odd man out:

  • Have a solo game ready to play.
  • Keep score or advise on a game in progress.
  • Referee a game in progress.