Squad Battles / Heroes of Stalingrad

[Jeff Conner]

Don

Smoke usage is coded into the game. An allowance is then provided to each player by the scenario designer. I must have missed the discussion of lack of smoke in AOTR, but that is not an issue with the game itself, but with the scenario. And yes, there were several stock scenarios in AOTR that were not well balanced. The unit database was also locked so that no additional weapons/guns/vehicles could be added. I believe this was in part to protect the upcoming title on the second half of the war, but it did cause some consternation amongst the masses. However, all of that being said, there have been some good custom scenarios made for this title and if you look at the number of completed games by title, it is one of the highest. There must be a reason it is played so much.

Red Victory was designed by Ozgur Budak, who in my humble opinion, is the best Squad Battles scenario designer around. There are lots of scenarios, the play balance is as good as it gets and the tactical questions are numerous and well thought out. If someone asks me what SB game they should get, I recommend Red Victory.

I like Heroes of Stalingrad, but I agree with one of the other posters here that it is a luck driven game. Proper small unit tactics will work to some extent, but can be defeated by good (or bad) die rolls. An example of the difference between the two would be the use of smoke. In SB, you have a smoke allowance that is known to you. Once you use it, it is gone and there won't be anymore. And there is a very good chance that the smoke round will work properly. In HoS, smoke is placed by rolling a die. If you get a certain number or higher, a smoke marker is generated. If not, your unit is done for the turn. You can roll as many times as you have units and you will never run out of smoke. One method of smoke simulation rewards the proper use, the other makes it unlikely that it will be used very often.

Jeff