The redesign by Don Johnson [Not this Don Johnson]: 
brings us to the Eastern Front on a grand scale. 2280 counters, 4 maps…monster time. The rules have layers of subtlety that I see or imagine, lets hope they are learnable quickly enough to allow us to gain some value from the time we have to play it!
In some ways they remind me of Frank Chadwicks, Third World War, easy enough to grok the rules, but harder to play well without peeling back the onion one tearful loss at a time!
VP LOCATION TOTALS vs AUTO VICTORY TALLIES REQUIRED
VP’s required by turn for Auto Victory:
TURN 1: 4 [JUNE 3 / 4]
TURN 2: 8
TURN 3: 13 [JULY 1 / 2]
TURN 4: 17
TURN 5: 22
TURN 6: 26 [SEPT 1 / 2]
VP LOCATIONS TURN 1 TURN 2:
Turn 1 AV is not physically possible as best I can tell.
Turn 2 a real stretch, which means that 13 VP location points would be required for a T3 auto win at the earliest. Which to me would mean that either a Southern approach OR a Northern approach is required, but not both. Kiev- Odessa gives 5. The Dnepr gives another 5, and 2 more if your could snag Kharkov..that seems too far. But if Minsk and areas West of it are locked up that would be 8 VP. For 18 in total…. Meaning we could slip in a handful of places or be well placed for a Turn 4 win.
I think these strategies require an ability to ignore losses and go for it regardless of casualties. Otherwise you compromise the ability to succeed if you husband reserves for the late 41 Moscow or die push. Of course all of this is conjecture, as we have not started yet.
Smashing into the narrow gap around Vitebsk maybe impossible. I know as a defender I would be deep in all that terrain! Those 6 VP are critical, the hexes near Bryansk and at the edge of the marshes are nigh on impossible to reach in three or four turns. That said, it appears the consensus is the Germans with smart play can pull of a win Turn 3 or 4. Challenge accepted.
So can AGS and RO, forces must enough push to take Kiev, and capture toe cluster of 5 VP around Dnepr/18th Army area? As well as Odessa which held out historical for a fair while! Looking at the forces I don’t think so… we can but do or die!!!
So if you are interested and wish to watch us play on Vassal and Skype then tune in most Mondays at 1900 Central [just show up in Vassal and I’ll add you to skype chat.. Happy to chat as we as we are learning, no major spoilers and no rules lawyers please. We usually play for 2 hours or so each Monday.