East Front II and Blocks in the East

I was hoping to post a formatted version of this.. so pardon for the mess. Neither wordpress nor BGG are letting xls formated stuff in correctly.

I have now played some EFII. Nice game. By no means comprehensive, nor likely 100% accurate, this is my take on the the two systems this far.
Note I only have the one play of EFII and 3 plays of BitE, so take it for what its worth.

Please dont invite me to a flame war BGG fanboys of either title, this is just an attempt to side by side the features from playing one after the other with both sets of rules handy.

So here are some data points, the format sucks but the cut and paste from xls is not even. If you have a suggestion for making it easier to read I am open to trying.

They both play markedly differently, and favor very different styles of play I think.

[b]Game Element                                               EFII                              BitE[/b]
Corps Level
Special Units                                                      x                                   x
Short Scn/Long Scn                                           x                                  x
Initiative                                                              x
Note in winter turns Sov. Go first
HQ Units                                                               x                                x
similar but differences in usage note Blitz designation required
@ inception of turn & expense
of HQ CVx2. similar to BitE Exploit phase          x                                   x
where as in Bite blitz is only for Panzers.
In its own phase immediately after combat

Exploit phase                                                                                         x

HQ in BitE are tied to PP’s and require Black PP blocks to regenerate ‘pips or cvs’, and they spend them as well. Need to expand this here, lots of differences in HQ use in game for both games. HQ are pivotal for different reasons.

HQ & Airpower                                                        x                                   x
HQ in EFII apply air in an abstract manner to one combat per turn.
BitE has air untis of varying types a major factor of the game
Air units                                                                                                     x
Air HQs                                                                                                     x
Supreme or Primary HQs                                          x                                x
very different functions in each game

Movement rules similar?                                             x                             x

except EFII has disengage rule                                   x
rearguard pursuit attacks                                          x
hexside limit for combat                                           x

strat move                                                                   x                            x
different implementations

Combat
EFII one round per turn                                                x
Bite rounds continue until
one side dies or retreats                                                                              x
Air handled differently here between the 2.

Combat process
EFII – always defender first,
after air                                                                       x
BitE- Air-Arty first
(defenders arty first), then Tanks,
then defenders                                                                                        x
Separate counter attack                                               x
in effect the continuation in the defensive players active turn EFII
Combat modifiers                                                        x                            x
add or subtract dice                                                                                  x
To hit adjustment                                                          x                        x
Terrain                                                                           x                         x
variable losses depending
on unit type                                                                  x                         x
variable losses depending upon
color coded pips                                                            x
River Assault/Repulse                                                   x
Rail                                                                               x                           x

Supply                                                                         x                            x
lose pips for isolation or OOS                                       x
absolute elimination/surrender
& PP harvest for OOS                                                                              x

Production
Cost differential for unit type                                           x                          x
different types of production                                                                     x
capture production locations                                          x                         x
develop production locations                                                                   x
oilfields
repalcement purchases                                                   x                          x
cadres x
technology levels                                                                                      x
tech tree advances ahead
of historical if purchased                                                                              x
strategic war influence                                                                                 x

3 thoughts on “East Front II and Blocks in the East

  1. WordPress displays the HTML Table format, although it gives you no help in setting it up so you have to go into raw HTML mode. Search for HTML Table on google to get the format.

  2. Hi Hipshot,

    Just one BITE rules mistake I spotted: the attacker not defender arty fires first.

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