ORIGINAL: dlazov66
Follow up Questions
4. Are Soviet Guards Divisions/Corps/Armies available and if so how do they effect the game (thinking late war here)
5. Are German Korps Abtuilungs available and if so how can they be created?
6. Besides German SS divisions will their also be the SS Corps HQ assets available?
7. Have the play testers made to 1943 and beyond yet? I am more interested in the middle to late war when the Soviets have a better chance and crushing and killing German units.
8. How is the Command and Control (C3) aspect handled? For example during the early part of the war (41-42) Hitler stayed out of the OKH business for the most part (until the no retreat orders came about) and Stalin's meddling in 1941-42 cost him units and Generals. As the war in the east progress the axis shifted to the Germans being completely controlled by Hitler continuing interference and confusing orders and the Germans strict obedience to follow orders (sans individualism like Mainstein, Gudieran and Hoffman, until their dismissal or death) while at the other end as the war progress Stalin would listen and let his General Staff conduct the war and operational planning. So the long and the short should be in the early part of the war the Germans should run rough shod over the Russians but as the Russians gain more experience (by about 1943) they begin to not only hold their own, but ultimately defeat the Nazi invaders.
One of the most fustrating aspects of war games (both board and PC) displayed on the eastern front is this lack of command and control and doctrinal shift of the Germans beginning mastering of doctrine and operations overtaken and then superseded by the Soviets doctrine and ultimatly the Soviet victory over Germany.
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4. Guards units get at 15 point bonus in national morale which allows them to attain to a higher experience level resulting in greater combat effectiveness.
5. If not in the game at start, they come as reinforcements. Unlike the Russian player, the Axis player never creates any new units.
6. Yes but any support unit can be attached to any headquarters so non-SS units can support SS units and vise versa.
7. Later war scenarios are still under development but some testers have played the 1941 campaign game into at least 1943 and very early on in development I ran a computer vs. computer game into 1945 to reveal any problems with the later war TOEs. I also played the Russian side against the computer in an early version of the 1943 campaign game to see how well the Red Army played. It seemed okay but that was quite a while ago and many changes and improvements have been made to the game system since then. Maybe one of the regular playtesters can chime in with some more recent experience.
8. There are no "Hitler orders" rules in the game. Most players would object to such rules and I find that you make enough mistakes yourself that you don't need any addtional ones programmed into the game.
I think you'll find the game does a very good job of modeling the strengths and weaknesses of each army and, if we get it right, explains why those doctrinal changes came about better than any history book could.
