I must say the more Greg works on the VITWS the smoother the rules become and the more streamlined the play evolves. This one from Legion Games is no exception.

From the original Fall Blau module which took some VITW departures and extensions to make things work just so, the more recent products produced with Compass have been very good.

Belyy which is also set on the Eastern Front around Operation Mars brings a new more streamlined level of play without taking us out of the important details nor the historical theme. For instance is each combat the attacked must roll to see how much impact snow may have on the battle, as the original Soviet offensive took place under harsh conditions.  Combat feels very familiar with some nice tweaks to arty rules to prevent UBER [is that a bad word when used in reference to Russkies? ‘) ] arty Russian stacks blowing away the Germans too quickly. We had two turns of game play to explore the initial Soviet action and I left to allow Martin Spetz to bring his Panzers on to savage my almost textbook perfect break through. 🙁

I read and heard that this will link with 2 [ I think..maybe 3 in total ] other titles in the same series all one mappers to allow the entire campaign to be played out. One of the smart adjustments or perhaps innovations is the incremental steps. Rather than just flipping and dropping then to cadre. There are now 4 or even 5 steps possible all by using the ‘strength’ chit which has numbers on a reduced side and a full and -1 step set of values for each side. This allows almost company level degradation or equivalent. The only potential downside is fumble fingers! Was it face the 4th or 3rd step? Fortunately with a limited number of counters this should not be a big issue.

The Russians must plan their moves and attacks carefully, as the number of steps allowed to stack is different from the allowed number of steps to attack OUT of a hex. This provides some neat doctrinal flavour.

Soviet turn one saw the IV Battalion of 2nd Luftwaffe take a beating as well as elements of the 352nd division to its North. While we did not capture the town of Belyy on turn 1 to the North we did make solid progress. As with all VITW games, Divisional integrity and combined arms bonus’s make a huge difference. So it is key to keep Divisions together for both sides, and ensure armour is present to boost the attacks.

Turn 2, after a limited ‘reaction’ move by the Germans who are in ‘surprise’, a scenario rule, the Soviets attack again.  Armoured elements and supporting infantry from the 150th blast into a VP hex, as well as further South and the defenders around Belyy stand fast taking losses instead of retreat.

The game uses 1.5 mile hexes, regiments for Soviets and Bns in the main for the German forces. The charts are well laid out, TEC is clear and the maps are while just playtest very attractive. Once Legion get their hands on it, she will likely be a stunner!

Not a lot of games at this scale covering all the action when we see the three put together.