Playthrough | Stalingrad: Advance on the Volga | Revolution Games | The Players' Aid

[@michaelrinella6384]

Thanks for posting. While the first game of the series has done really well for us (Revolution Games and my own company) there were some take-away lessons from the first release. Things that are intuitive to someone who's been playing and designing area-impulse games for decades are not so for players new to the system. The next game will include event chits and an event chart right on the map and a track (like the one created by Stuka Joe) for tabulating each combat's Attack Value and Defense Value.

[@jerryandjamie2up]

Using Stuka Joe's game aids has made the game so much more enjoyable. The cards and the attack chart are worth their weight in gold. haha thanks for posting this play through

[@manducator824]

Great video! Here are some mistakes I encountered: 24:50 You can't merge units from different areas. Move units from 1 area and attack or spend. 51:50 You have 8 artillery support tokens in the game but that should be 7: 1 is from the Factory District Scenarion (Blue 'S' on top right). 55:10: you executed bloody streets on elevated terrain, it only needs to be done on light and heavy urban terrain (square and petagon areas).

[@MrElliptific]

How can I stare in fascination at this playthrough and not leave a like!

[@larrymcintire6466]

Get Stuka Joes play aids. As they are terrific , one sheet keeps the combat mods total as you add them up , the other are his Cards for the Random Events, each card describes the event and you can keep it face up next fo the area to the left of the 3 tracks ! Makes it so easy to refer to!

[@grandpavader1138]

Those player aids are fantastic.

[@QuayleTBird]

As always, a great summary and analysis of the game. Your sessions are always an outstanding resource!

[@varovaro1967]

great idea. thank you

[@coyi51]

Excellent walk through of what looks a tough one to win, looks as though it will be a good series of games. Many thanks.

[@johnnymustang760]

Attack at 1:07:00 was the 2nd time you attacked. The Russian has been revealed and its affect is no longer in play. So you should not have eliminated that German unit. 9.4 A Defense Strategy is applied only once, during the Action Round the Soviet unit is first Revealed.

[@juddvance8104]

I like Mike. I like Take Aim Designs. I like Revolution Games! Nice to see them get some love. They put out some tremendous games.

[@jamesayres8770]

Thanks for this, Grant. Picked this up when it first came out, going to take it off the shelf of shame this summer, now I have a primer :)

[@phd_angel]

Thanks for the video, it's a great way to learn a game. However, it seems you were missing one critical rule that's making your game much harder: the Soviet Defense Strategy (Guard, Barrage, etc.) is applied only once when it's first revealed, but you were re-applying it in a contested area.

[@raymow9683]

Nice vid Grant TY. I'd rather see more playthroughs like this where you play enough to demonstrate the various mechanics to get an idea of how the game works vs multiple vids to actually play the game... I'll do that myself if I like the game.

[@ExLibrisbyMikeBooklover]

Great review Grant! Thank you for all the info and your thoughts, you give us a very good idea of what this game is about! I am definitely adding this to my wishlist! It is a strange coincidence but just two days ago I finished reading Beevor's "Stalingrad".

[@tedbrayton]

Great job walking us thru the math. I think I’m taking that one off of the shelf next. Just gotta finish Carrier Battle: Philippine Sea first

[@martinrwhite]

X Very enjoyable - thanks Grant👍

[@SuperDevilDoctor]

Thanks for the video! Tip: I have used the “-1 DRM” markers from State of Siege games like Malta Besieged & Levee en Masse to serve as reminders when playing this.

[@goose690]

I don't think you're doing the German action rounds correctly. You may only select a single area to move and/or attack and only the units from the area you activate can be part of an attack. For example, on turn 1 you could not move units from area 3 & 4 into area 18 and conduct an attack together as you did. I am just playing through a learning game though myself and not an expert so if I'm reading it wrong, someone please correct me.

[@michaelrinella6384]

You're correct. You active one area per Action Round.

[@armandosignore3120]

You might want to get some Magic The Gathering Dice d20s, they are sequentially numbered from the 20... ie. 19 is next to 20, 18 is next to 19...etc.

[@johnnymustang760]

The terms are too close and a bit confusing, but for an Overrun. I see it as the original Defense of the unit has to be used. The Rule uses AT and DT which are Attack Total and Defense Total. That is not the same as the Defense Strength (which is the original value of the unit). So you are making it easy on the Germans to Overrun. The Germans could use all the help they can get though. 9.5.5 (Overrun) If the attack is a Success and the difference between the AT and DT is greater than the Defense Strength of the Soviet unit, an Overrun has been achieved.

[@billyriley492]

Interim comment - I'm still watching with interest - but I wish companies would provide chits when they provide these events...it's very difficult to remember things like this. For that particular event cycle, you're looking at 9 chits! That would help so much. And literally just after writing this, I continued the video and you state EXACTLY the same thing. Great minds Grant...or fools...take your pick. 😀 The game is looking good so far.

[@billyriley492]

I agree with you on the overrun rule by the way

[@richardfoust1801]

I have the Avalon hill game, "Turning Point Stalingrad" these 2 games look like twins. but the newer one is nicer looking... Is this game you are showing, come out of the original AH game ?

[@michaelrinella6384]

Volume 2 in the solitaire area movement series, Manila, is now out! I hope you'll do a video on it.

[@ThePlayersAid]

Once it arrives. Yes!

[@kaijessen]

Put them in a stack and flip only the top unit or into a stack and flip the whole stack is my tip.

[@ludovictiengou5014]

Hello Grant You've made a mistake on the identification of the unit It's not the 29th PanzerDivision. That units never exists. Numbered PzD were from 1 to 27th and 130th (better knowed as PanzerLehr). The 29th was in fact the 29th Motorized Infantry division. Also Stuka... well the Luftwaffe at Stalingrad don't used that many. Most of the bombers there where in fact He-111 and Ju-88. The Ju-87 came third in number involved (as they had trouble with shorter range to reach Stalingrad from their bases). The initial air strikes for instance where done by no Stuka at all. Most of the bomber units of the FliegerKorps VIII intervening at Stalingrad where 5 KG units (bomber). Those units never used any Stuka (found only in StG..which only three were involved in the battle). Also at the time the Ju-87 was found to be too vulnerable and was discarded in favor of a quite more potent plane : the FW-190 quite potent fighter bomber and less vulnerable. The omnipresence of Stuka illustration in every game is quite an historical error as they were so many in fact. Also the end of the game is not due to soviet pushing german units out of Stalingrad. It's done on the opening of the soviet Uranos offensive which cut the VI.Armee, part of the 4.PzArmee and part of the 3rd and 4th Rumanian armies (too many peoples forget about them) from the frontline and make the pocket of Stalingrad. The city itself will only be recaptured in January 1943 with the final surrender of the trapped axis units. Also strange name "the 64th and 66th breakthrough". The denomination is quite odd. The 66th launched several attacks all along the battle of the north of Stalingrad. But never achieved any breakthrough at all. All the attacks just ended in a bloodbath as the ground was totally unsuited for offensive and clearly favored the defensors. Also the 24th Army also did some offensives there. Strange not to mention it. As for the 64th it's even more odder as this army was very weak and quite incapable of making any breakthrough (south of Stalingrad) . It's only purpose was to keep a beachhead over the Volga. It's more its neighbour the 57th Army which did some reconnaissance in force on the 4th Rumanian Army to fix reserve (and was never tasked to breakthrough) Also the event results seems odd. The 29.ID (mot) withdraw because of the 64th army...well why not despise not being accurate (that unit was never withdrawn to counter any attack). But why not units withdrawn by the 66th offensive. Historically the 66th offensives kept away from the battle not trully the air support but the 14. and 24.PzD (the two units starting on the north of the map). Those two units were indeed withdrawn for the attack on the city on some occasion to bolster German defenses on the northern perimeters. German commanders were more worried about the 66th offensives than the 64th in fact. Those worries made them do a fatal mistake not listening to the warnings call done by the rumanian commander of the 3rd Army calling for one of this PzD to be sent in their sector and not in front of the 66th

[@gavasiarobinssson5108]

Looking forward to Bakhmut Battle solitaire.

[@arabulbulian2315]

Doing movement all wrong. You activate one area AT A Time. Thus,you can't do those combos with movement. Can't watch anymore of this. Appreciate the effort in posting video.

[@mikerichardson1549]

The video is useless as a result of this. Completely played wrong.

[@john-lenin]

If you have a situation where there's essentially no maneuver you have to have a system that provides tactical options. This one looks interesting.